And I Will Give You Every Part of Me

Arizona definitely has great wonders to offer. Last night, before finally drifting off to sleep Maddie told me about the lake we were heading to and it sounded like a great place to just relax and not think about life. I rode shotgun with Maddie when we went up to meet the guys. John, Kennedy and Garrett rode with us. And I had to move to the back seat so John could drive and Maddie could sit on the passenger’s side. I found myself sandwiched in between Garrett and Kennedy but I really didn’t mind, I was too pissed to care. Maddie had me woken up at 5 AM because she couldn’t find her two-piece and she me digging through my luggage but instead we found it at hers. Maddie knew I was a morning person. Man, I was pissed.
I decided to entertain myself with Adele’s nice tunes and drifted back into a deep slumber. But my slumber got cut off a little too quickly since we already arrived at the place. Kennedy, being a gentleman that he is, helped me with my bag. I was still too oblivious when I got off of the car and I found myself in the middle of Maddie and John bickering about something so small. “Guys, please! It’s too early for this and my head is pounding so please stop talking loudly!” I snapped, and went off to put my stuff down.

“You okay?” Kennedy asked a bit worriedly as I flopped down on one of Maddie's folding chairs.

I nodded in reply. “I’m just not a morning person.”

He let out a soft laugh before sitting down next to me. We did one of those really peaceful and somehow cliché and sweet thing when we just sat and silence and observed the water as it continued to flow endlessly.

Maddie and John had stopped arguing and went on to their separate ways. John already had a bottle of beer in hand, while Maddie was too busy putting sunblock all over her skin. “That’s gross.” I stated, as she filled her hand with the cream.

“It protects my skin and keeps me pretty!” she cheered. Kennedy laughed and so did I.
“It’s still gross.” I repeated, closing my eyes and tried to get back to my nap.

After an hour of lying down and pretending to take a nap, Garrett announced the arrival of the other guests. Vito, Gary, Moose, Dirk, Nick, Halvo, Andrew, Justin, Jess, Stephen, Josh, John, well I could go on forever. So I got up from my chair and went to meet everyone, turns out I was the only stranger there and that fact kind of made me feel, I don’t know, out-of-place. Maddie laughed when I whispered it to her, and told me I should stop being silly.

“Jules, this is Josh, he was the one who volunteered to satisfy—” Maddie started, but I cut her off quickly. I did remember Josh, by his voice and his name of course. We shook hands and gave friendly waves at each other before carrying on to the other guests.

So far I have met The Maine’s crew and everyone from a band called A Rocket to the Moon and The Summer Set. I felt more oblivious and kind of bad when I’d realized that I didn’t know any of these bands, and based on Maddie's words, they all sounded like they’re really good. And so I excused myself from everyone and borrowed my Maddie's iPod. Suddenly, I kind of felt the urge to listen to their music all of the sudden. And I’m pretty Maddie has it.

I was heading back to my chair when I stumbled across one of the guys from The Summer Set, or so I think. He had a dark shaded hair and a lanky body and if I’m correct, his name’s Stephen—or he could be the other John. But I bet my life that it was Stephen standing in front of me, with his black ray-bans covering his eyes. “Hi” he said, a smirk forming across his lips. I said hi back and sent him a friendly wave. As I walked pass by him, brushing my shoulder against his by accident, he turned to me and offered a drink. But I politely refused since I feared that I might end up a total mess like what had happed a night ago. When I had finally reached my chair, I reached for Maddie's iPod on my pocket and popped the ear buds on.

I’m gonna lose it
Jump off the roof screaming, “I can fly!”
Dare me to do it
What’s taking over my brain tonight?
Must be the music
Must be the music.

The Summer Set is good, although their vocalist had a very nasal-y voice. Maddie told me his name’s Brian, the one with the Disney star girlfriend. And I had laughed maybe a little bit too much about it. I carried on to listening to The Maine’s music.

Count ‘em one, two, three
you look so cute when you get that mad
you drain the life from me and it feels
oh, so good…

My head bobbed to beat of their song. But I was startled when my eyes landed on Kennedy who was now seating next to me once again. “Your music’s too loud, I can hear it from here.” He said. I took the ear plugs out and said “what” blankly. He repeated what he said and I kind of felt myself blushed a little.

“Sorry.” I stated.

He laughed. “What are you saying sorry for?”

I shrugged, before offering him the other ear plug and he took it from my hand. I continued playing the song and he sang along to it. That was the first time I’d ever heard his voice, singing. He sounded like an angel, welcoming me to heaven. Okay, that was a stupid statement. But I guess that’s the only sentence that could describe what I felt when he starting singing. He was so good, I felt butterflies in my stomach and I felt uneasy. While he just continued singing and hitting the right notes until the song ended.

“Good lord” I gasped.

He let out his infamous laugh and asked, “What?” innocently.

I shifted on my seat to face him, letting the ear plug fall off of my ear. “Are you sure you’re just the guitarist?” I asked, with an eyebrow raised.

He laughed at my question and shook his head. “And back-up vocals.” He added.
“You should sing more.” I stated, lying down on my back again. I mean, John is good—really good. His voice defined sexy and arousing, making me feel all fuzzy inside. But Kennedy had it too, a great singing voice. I asked him why he didn’t sing more and he just shook my question off.

“I tried it, I failed.” He said. I looked at him curiously as he started telling me about his last band called ‘Last Call for Camden’. He was with Stephen and John Gomez, and Jess Bowen who were now a part of The Summer Set. They released an EP before they disbanded, he said. “Oh” was all I could say. I didn’t ask for further details anymore since I felt like it was a touchy subject.

Maddie walked up to us with 3 bottles of beer clutched on her arm. “Here you go. One for you, one for you and one for me.” She said.

“Uh, I don’t want to dri—“

“Shut up and just drink it.” Maddie cut me off, raising her bottle and waiting for me to clink mine with hers. I sighed before following her command.

-&&&-

The scorching heat of the sun had already given Josh a shade of tan when he got out of the water. I kind of laughed when I saw him because he looked like one of those guys from Jersey Shore. Maddie, on the other hand, was having a good time with John. Regardless of their sudden fights, it was obvious that they liked each other too much.

“Aren’t you gonna go for a dip?” Stephen, with a black ray-ban covering his eyes, appeared on the empty chair next to me.

I shrugged. “Nah, I’m good here.”

“Are you sure? The water’s pretty cool.” A smirked appeared on his lips.

“Yeah, I’m good here.” I replied.

We both remained silent for a while. And I continued observing everyone having fun, drinking beers while swimming. I wasn’t exactly sure where Stephen was looking at, but I could feel his eyes on me.

Stephen shifted in his seat and turned to me. “You know, you look prettier than what Maddie had told us about you.” He started, taking off his glasses. I drifted my attention towards him, my eyes meeting his. He stared at me for what seemed like a long while. Suddenly, I forgot what it felt like getting a compliment from a guy.

“Really?” I said, scrunching my nose.

He nodded and laughed. “Really. Like, you’re ten times prettier in person than in words.”
I felt myself blush. It’s not like it’s the first time I got a compliment from a really attractive guy. Yeah, Stephen was way attractive. “Oh, why thank you Stephen.” I managed to say. The next few minutes went by with Stephen talking about how pretty I was person, and I thoughtlessly whoring myself unto him. The next thing I knew was, we were both flirting hard. “So, uhm Julia…” he started.

“Hmm?”

He scooted closer, and I could feel the distance closing in. “Uh, I was wondering if you’re—”

“Hey, uh…am I interrupting something?”