Five Minutes To Midnight

Fallon Davis was, as far as Jack Barakat was concerned, the most amazing girl to walk the planet. He'd been in love with her since the moment he laid eyes on her across the lunch room the second week of Freshman year of high school when she had transferred to Dulaney.

If the core group of girls Jack and the rest of the guys were friends with didn't immediately adopt Fallon into their group, Jack would have been willing to pay them all to make sure he got to hang out with her.

Jack thought Fallon had the most amazing blue eyes. Her blonde hair was just the right amount of shiny, that Jack always thought she looked like she was glowing. Her smile was big and bright enough to light up any room. She had the most amazing personality, and always seemed to be the first to laugh at Jack's joke, even when they might not have been all that funny.

In short, he loved her, and no matter what he did, or how hard he tried, he couldn't be sure if she felt, or would ever feel the same.

To Fallon, Jack Barakat was one of, if not the sweetest guy she had ever met in her entire life. His smile was the kind that put a smile on your face the second you saw it. And anytime Jack was giggling, Fallon had to laugh a little herself. It never really mattered if she had no idea what he was laughing about; she just couldn't help herself.

Fallon thought Jack was the best kind of friend anyone would want to have, based solely on the fact that he was always there for you. If you were in a jam, Jack was your go to guy. And Fallon had many instances in her life since she met Jack where she needed him for something and he happily came running.

There was that time where she was babysitting and she had become certain that she didn't like the way the family's dog randomly growled at her and thought the dog was a little bit evil and maybe hated Fallon just a little bit more. She had called Jack at close to 11:30 at night and she barely got a full sentence out before Jack assured her that he would be right over to keep her company and protect her in case the crazy dog attacked, but not to answer the front door until he called her and told her he was there.

And then there was that time where she was in desperate need for a date to her cousin's wedding. She had an original date (her boyfriend) but he fed her some lame excuse and got out of going. Fallon only mentioned her dead-beat boyfriend and Jack was quick to give up his Saturday night to escort her to the wedding.

He'd been a perfect gentleman that night too. He pulled her chair out for her when ever she went to sit down. He held every door imaginable opened for her. And when she managed to shiver for one second, he was quick to offer her the jacket from his suit. Oh, yeah, and he also got dressed up for the occasion.

Fallon always thought Jack was close to the world's perfect boy. And at the same time always thought why she didn't feel anything more towards him than friendship.

She had been dating her boyfriend Nate for close to a year (on and off) and even though Fallon would never admit it out loud, she knew their relationship had many more downs than ups.

"Nate, I thought we agreed to spend New Years with my friends this year," Fallon pouted.

Nate sighed, "Fallon, don't make this a big deal. If you want to be with your friends, and I want to be with mine, why torture ourselves?"

"What do you mean 'torture'?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Nothing. How about I'll do my thing for New Years and you do your own thing. And we'll just make up for it together another day?" He shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Whatever, Nate. I thought you knew how important this was to me. But I guess it doesn't matter." She huffed, gathering her jacket, gloves and scarf before storming out of his bedroom and his house. It didn't surprise her that he didn't come running after her to beg for forgiveness. He'd stop doing that long since after their first fight.

Since before she could remember, New Years was Fallon's favorite holiday. She loved the idea of celebrating an entire year's events in one night, and looking forward to all the things a new year could bring. She loved the idea of starting fresh. If you didn't like the way things went this year, the following one was your chance to turn things around.

Her absolute favorite thing about New Years was the idea of kissing someone you love very much at the strike of midnight. She felt like it was a sign of good things to come if her midnight kiss was good. And at this point, 2008 was looking pretty shitty since she would have no kiss.
***

"I just don't get it," Fallon huffed to her best friend Amy, dropping down on the couch in Rian's basement where the guys were getting ready for practice. "Nate swears he loves me and that he wants me to be happy, but then he pulls something like this New Years bull shit."

Amy nodded slowly. She wasn't the biggest fan Nate after the first time he and Fallon broke up. "You shouldn't have to put up with it."

"I know. It's not even like it feels like we're a couple. The last time we got back together, it at least felt right. This time around it feels almost like he'll just say and do whatever it takes to get laid." Fallon said, probably louder than she should have seeing as the second she mentioned 'whatever it takes to get laid,' Jack snapped his head in the direction of the two girls so fast he may have gotten whiplash.

"Fallon," Amy sighed after a second. "If Nate loves you like he says his does, he'd be there for you for New Years. If Nate loves you like he says he does, he'd know that New Years is your favorite holiday, and why. If Nate loves you like-"

"Okay, I get it." Fallon sighed.

"And, let me ask you. Since you've been back together, has he gotten laid?"

Fallon looked away and Amy rolled her eyes.

"Honestly Fallon, he doesn't deserve you." Amy shook her head.

"It's the only time he actually acts like he wants me." Fallon shrugged sadly.

"Bull shit." Amy shook her head again. "I say dump him. He's worthless. Chances are he's going to be screwing some other chick at Bobby's part and that's why he'd rather you guys split up."

Fallon looked down at the floor sort of disappointed until she was met with the tops of Jack's Nike's. "Hey," she smiled when she looked up at him.

"Faaaallon!" he smiled back, climbing up on the couch next to her, practically sitting on her lap and pressing a wet kiss to her cheek. "Sup bud?"

"Hey Jacky," She giggled when he pulled away from her cheek.

Yes, one day Fallon took a liking to call Jack "Jacky" and never once since that day did Jack tell her not to call him that.

"You know you're the only one who can get away with calling him that right?" Alex told her, settling himself on the arm rest of the couch and dropping an arm over Amy's shoulder, kissing her cheek quickly.

Fallon smiled, looking over at Jack. "Yeah. I know," she nodded, patting his knee, him still half sitting on her lap.

"I mean, one day I tried to call him that; he punched me in the arm. I mean seriously, he punched me." Alex said, shaking his head at the memory.

"We were also drunk," Jack said. "And you were in your super affectionate "I love everyone" mood," he continued, cringing slightly.

Anyone who was at all associated friend-wise with any member of All Time Low had probably been drunkenly felt up by Alex at least once.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Jack asked Fallon softly, and she nodded. "Like, in the other room?"

Fallon smiled and stood from the couch after Jack climbed off her and followed him through the door to Rian's kitchen.

"What's up, Jack? Everything okay?" she asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"I think so," he started. "I overheard some of what you were saying to Amy. I wasn't exactly eavesdropping, but you guys were a little loud."

Fallon laughed a little. "Okay?"

"And, I just figured I'd let you know, if you were interested, I'd love to be your escort for the New Years party at Alex's. I mean, I know how important it is to you and all." Jack said, nervously twisting his hands around.

Fallon smiled big and threw arms around Jack's shoulders. "You are an amazing friend, Jacky," she gushed, kissing his cheek. "I really don't know where I'd be without you sometimes."

Jack smiled, almost wanting to frown when she dropped her arms from around his shoulders. "You'd be home alone on New Years, that's where you'd be."
***

When Jack picked Fallon up before Alex's party, he could not believe that one person could be so beautiful. Her long, usually straight, blonde hair was curled into soft ringlets that flowed down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a silver dress that fell just above her knee, and seemed to hug her curves in all the right spots. Her makeup was just about minimal. Jack never saw a reason for her to wear it anyway.

He remembered a time when Fallon had been in the hospital for a few days after having her appendix removed. He had gone with Alex, Amy and Zack's girlfriend Britney to visit her and bring her flowers. He remembered her laying there, drugged up on morphine and antibiotics, in one of those ugly hospital gowns, and still looked like the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

"Fallon, y-you look b-beautiful." Jack choked on his words once he and Fallon got into his car.

"Thanks Jack," she smiled. "You clean up rather well yourself," she nodded, taking in Jack's appearance of his button down black shirt and his dark blue jeans.

"Thanks," he blushed. "But you definitely look better."
***

"Okay, I know this is totally lame," Fallon said, coming up behind Jack and sneaking a sip from his drink. "But, I really, really like this song. And I want to dance."

Jack looked over at the people dancing in the middle of Alex's living room. He had moved all the furniture out of the way to make room for that specific reason. "You and Me" by Lifehouse was playing from the stereo system. He looked back at her, blinking a few times before asking, "Are you serious?"

She pouted slightly, "Please? It's a slow song. It doesn't take that much effort."

Jack sighed, knowing that he was screwed and that the second she started pouting he was done for. He would be dancing with her, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself he wasn't. "Okay, fine," he caved, smiling when her face lit up and his hand slipped into hers.

The song was about halfway through when they stepped onto the dance floor and Jack began to wonder why he ever protested the whole slow dancing thing when Fallon slipped her arms around his neck and instructed him to put his arms around her waist.

"This isn't so bad, right?" she whispered in his ear as they swayed almost too slowly to the song.

Jack smiled, looking down at her. "No, it's actually really nice," he admitted.

"Yeah," she smiled and rested her forehead against his shoulder as his hands moved to rest on the small of her back.

"Fallon?" he asked quietly, looking down at her after the song had ended and long since switched to a random Pussy Cat Dolls song, but regardless Fallon and Jack hadn't changed their position.

"Yeah?" she asked just as quietly; her eyes meeting his.

"I uh-" he tried. "I want to um-"

I want to kiss you. How hard was it really to say? Jack would never know.

"What?" she asked, noticing her eyes zeroing in on Jack's lips.

"I-" he paused, as their heads began to move closer to one another and just as their noses were touching, Fallon jumped back, pulling her cell phone that was vibrating from her sweater's pocket.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, looking at the name of who was calling. "Thank you for the dance. But I need to answer this."

"Oh. Okay," Jack shrugged. He felt only mildly heart broken as she walked away, her phone pressed to her ear. He hated that he'd noticed the 'NATE' flashing across the screen.

He could never understand how her boyfriend was such an idiot. Nate had, hands down, the most incredible girl in the world and he didn't even seem to care about her like he should. He didn't love her like Jack did. He didn't look at her the way Jack did. He only cared that she looked pretty hanging off his arm when he needed her to be and was a pretty good lay when he needed to get off.

Jack couldn't wait for the day Fallon would see, or finally admit, what a douche bag Nate was and realize how perfect Jack was for her instead. Jack figured that day wasn't today when Fallon came back inside, shoving her phone in her pocket and smiling big.

"Nate said he's gonna make it over here to be with me for midnight," she smiled. "So it looks like you're off the hook."

Jack nodding slowly, his stomach twisting in a way that he was sure he was going to throw up. "Oh," he faked a smile for her. "That's great Fallon. I'm happy for you."

Fallon smiled. "Thank you." And before she could kiss his cheek, Jack turned on his heel and said he needed to find Alex.
***

"Fallon, you're an idiot." Britney told her, Amy nodding in agreement. "How could you do that to Jack?"

Fallon looked down, sighing slightly. "I don't know. I was happy that Nate wanted to be with me."

"When are you going to wake up and realize that Jack is a million times better for you than Nate?" Britney huffed.

"Better for me? How so?"

"Fallon, he hasn't stopped staring at you all night. I overheard him tell Alex that he'd never seen anything as beautiful as you tonight." Amy said.

"If you noticed, he's held any door he'd had to open for you. Anytime you mentioned you were thirsty, he brought you a drink. If you noticed, he's not drinking tonight because he doesn't want to get stupid and make you have a bad time. He slow danced with you to a fucking lame love song. Come on, Fallon." Britney added.

"When was the last time Nate held a door open for you?" Amy asked.

Fallon sighed, closing her eyes for a second. The truth was, she didn't think Nate ever held a door open for her. "He's my boyfriend, you guys."

"Just barely. Don't think I didn't see you and Jack almost kiss out there." Amy said.

"What? We did not kiss." Fallon argued.

"No, but you almost did. Face it, Fallon. Jack's perfect, and you're just too stupid to see that." Britney said.
***

"Jack?" Alex asked, confused for a second to find his friend sitting on his bed in his bedroom. "What are you doing in here?"

"Sulking. I think I'm going to go home," he shrugged.

"What? Why? It's like ten minutes to midnight. Where's Fallon?"

"Probably upstairs somewhere with Nate." Jack sighed.

"Nate? Here?"

"He called her and said he'd be here by midnight. What was I thinking that this would work out for me and Fallon tonight?"

Alex sat down next to him. "I'm sorry, dude. It sure looked like things were working out."

Jack stood up, shrugging a little. "I'm sick of being like her little puppy. I'm always there for her when she needs me, but I feel like she doesn't appreciate it."

"She does," Alex assured him. "I just don't think she realizes how much she does."

"I'm done." Jack decided. "I'm not gonna let her walk all over me anymore. Let her be with Nate. I hope they're happy."

Alex shook his head. "You don't mean that."

Jack shrugged. "Whatever. Can you make sure she gets a ride home? I'm just gonna go."

"Yeah, of course. But are you sure you wanna go?" Alex asked following Jack up the stairs from his bedroom.

Jack nodded. "Yeah. I don't really need to see them kiss at midnight."

Alex nodded sadly. He hated seeing his best friend upset. "Alright. Happy New Year, Jack." he offered, hugging his friend quick before he snuck out the back door.
***

"Nate, where are you?" Fallon asked. She was standing outside of Alex's house, clutching her phone in her hand pressing it to her ear, hugging one arm across her chest in attempt to warm herself up.

"What do you mean you lost track of time? Nate, it's almost midnight," she sighed.

"You know what, don't apologize to me Nate. I don't want to hear it. And don't bother calling me anymore. This is over. And it's over for good!" She yelled into the phone, sniffling slightly when she heard someone yell from inside the house that midnight was one minute away.

"Fallon?" Jack asked when he saw her standing in the driveway, looking kind of lost.

She spun around to see Jack walking out of the gate from the backyard and felt more tears in her eyes. "Jack. Hi."

"What's wrong?" He asked, quickly coming to her side despite the voice in the back of his head that screamed he wasn't supposed to care.

"Nate's not coming," she sniffled.

"Oh," he said, fighting down an 'I told you so.'

Twenty seconds! someone yelled inside.

Fallon closed her eyes, a few more tears slipping down her cheeks. "Where are you going?" she asked, noticing he was wearing his jacket.

"Home," he shrugged.

"Because of me right?"

Ten seconds!

Jack didn't say anything. But the way he turned his head away from her was enough for Fallon.

"I'm sorry," she sniffled. "If tonight is any indication of what next years going to be like, I'm screwed. I'm hurting my closest friends. I look like an idiot because Nate continues to screw me over. I have no one to kiss at midnight and it's like five seconds away. This is so important to me and I just-" she was rambling and sniffling so much she had missed the count down in the house progress to "3... 2... 1..."

And just as the shouts of "Happy New Year" came from the house, Jack lunged himself at Fallon and pressed his lips to hers. For a second, Fallon was confused, but quickly started to kiss Jack back. Jack tried to keep the kiss simple. But the second he started to feel her kiss him back, every emotion he ever felt towards her passed through his lips and he kissed her with everything he had in him.

"Jack," she whispered after he pulled away.

"There. You had someone to kiss. Goodnight," he said and started to walk away from her.

"Jack wait!" She called and grabbed his wrist before he was out of her reach. He looked at her confused for a second before she pulled him back to her and crashed her lips to his.

Jack seemed to tense for only a second before Fallon's arms wrapped around his shoulders and she deepened the kiss. Jack's hands found her waist, and held onto her so tight, he wrinkled up the fabric of her dress a little.

Fallon was so lost in the kiss that she completely forgot about being cold, the fact that it was New Years and that Nate had fucked her over.

"That was awesome," Jack sighed when they broke apart, blushing immediately. "I didn't say that out loud, did I?"

Fallon smiled, kissing him lightly. "Yes you did. And yes it was."

Jack smiled, playing with a piece of her hair that hung in her face. "Just so you know, that wasn't just for New Years."

"It wasn't?"

"Fallon, I'm crazy about you. I have been since the day we met."

Fallon smiled a little, a few tears slipping from her eyes. "Really?"

"Yes really. Why are you crying?" Jack asked, wiping a tear off her cheek.

"Because this should have happened a very long time ago," she sniffled.

"What should have happened a very long time ago?"

"Us," she answered, tightening her arms around his neck and kissing him again.
***

Later that night, or way early the next morning, Jack and Fallon lied together on Alex's couch, while a few party stragglers waited for rides or helped clean up a bit.

"So, what does 2008 look like now for you?" Jack asked, combing his fingers through Fallon's hair and kissing her lightly.

Fallon smiled, lifting her head off Jack's chest so she could look up at him. "It looks like it's gonna be the best year ever."

"Why's that?" Jack asked, as she linked her fingers in between his.

"Because," she smiled, kissing the tips of his fingers. "Now I have you."