We Were Both Young

•THREE YEARS LATER•

After getting pregnant, a lot of things changed. I finished college and now have a job as a doctor's assistant in a pediatric center.
Danielle has successfully become a high school English teacher, and was now in a relationship with John, after months of being courted by him. They had even bought a house together down by the beach, which I lived in with my 2 year old son, Jackson Alexander Baker. A.K.A. Jack, Zacky's son.

The guys never came back to visit after they left that morning. I got a few phonecalls from each of them here and there, and as far as I knew, Zacky still wasn't aware that he was a father. He would be proud too, Jack is a wonderful kid.

Danielle and I worked hard to be honest to him and teach him manners. And everyday that he got older and smarter, the more he looked and acted like his dad. When he asks me why daddy isn't around, I just tell him that he's working so we can have things that we need one day. Its not exactly lying to him.
There were times I had picked up the phone and dialed Zacky's number, intent on telling him about Jack; only to hang up nervously after he answered. I called him private each time so he couldn't contact me in return. I couldn't bear to hear his reaction over the phone. So I settled on telling him in person...eventually.
One day though, I came across a pretty decent idea.

"Mommy!" Jack yelled from his room down the hall.

I sat in the living room with Danielle, watching TV.

"What baby?" I asked.

Jack emerged from the room, running down the hall towards me. He stopped in front of me, looking up at me with green eyes, identical to his father's. His coffee brown hair was disheveled from playing all morning.

"Can I have some food please?" He asked, leaning into my legs.

"What do you want?" I asked, getting up.

I followed my adorable son into the kitchen and watched him pull a box of pop tarts from the bottom cupboard. He opened the box, with a little trouble, and handed a package to me.

"If you eat these, you have to share the other one with me." I said opening it.
I knew he would only eat one anyways.

"Hey Kailynn, you ever been to warped tour?" Danielle asked from the living room.

Jack and I walked in and sat on the couch.

"No why?" I asked, biting into my poptart

Danielle pointed at the TV.
when I looked, it was a commercial advertising Warped Tour, with Avenged Sevenfold headlining. The screen showed Brian and Zacky standing back to back playing a song on stage.
When I looked over at Danielle, she had a firm look in her eyes.

"We need to go. Its time." She said.

I looked down at Jack, eating his pop tart quietly.
Danielle was right, I couldn't hide him from Zacky forever. And they had just put out a new album, skyrocketing their career. If anything, now was the right time. I sighed, and looked back up at the screen.

"Just twenty bucks for an all day pass!" Said the spokesperson.

I guess we were going to warped tour then.

The next morning, Danielle and I were getting ready for Warped tour before waking Jack up. He only took a few minutes to get dressed and brush his teeth anyway.

Ten o clock finally rolled around, and I had Jack brushing his teeth in the bathroom. He was already dressed, in plaid brown shorts and a little red hoodie. All we needed to do now was pack his breakfast for the car ride.
I left him to go into the kitchen and start making it.
I just threw some animal crackers in a baggy, Doritos in a baggy, and a caprisun all in a lunchbox and placed it on the end table near the front door.
Jack came out from the bathroom, showing me his hair that he did all by himself.
He had used my hair gel to spike his hair up. It didn't look to bad, but I reached down and fixed it so it looked better.

"Where'd you learn to do your hair Jack?" I asked.

"Uncle John taught me." He said sweetly, making me chuckle.

When we were ready to go, the three of us piled into my Jeep Cherokee and left for San Diego.
Jack was good throughout the hour ride, eating his to go breakfast. After he ate, he slouched over in his car seat and fell asleep like he usually does on long rides.
The closer we got to arriving, the more nervous I became. I didn't know exactly how I would find Zacky, or tell him that he had a son. I wasn't just gonna jump up on stage and announce it to the world. Maybe I would find someone back stage to hear me out, and let me wait for Zacky to finish playing or something.

It was 11:30 exactly, when we pulled into the dusty parking lot at warped tour. There were people everywhere, sporting tattoos, piercings, crazy hair and band shirts. So far I didn't see any young children, just a lot of teenagers. I knew people would give me weird looks for bringing my son to a rock festival, but I had more important things to do than worry about what other people thought of me.
We parked and I didn't bother trying to wake Jack up. I just unbuckled him and carried him to the main entrance, still asleep.

Danielle paid for our tickets and I had to wake Jack up so the man at the gate could put his wristband on. When we got in and walked down the dirt path towards the stages, Jack wad wide awake and observant.

"Mommy, when do we get to hear the music?" He asked.

"Can't you hear it Jack? Its just really quiet."
I told him, pointing to the first stage about 500 yards away.

He looked, and smiled when he saw the band playing, and the audience jumping around.

"I wanna go over there!" He said.

"We will baby, Mommy has to do something first."

We kept walking, looking for the main stage, where the guys will be playing at 4. I wanted to find Zacky, and just get this over already.
Danielle and I circled the stage a few times looking for anybody of interest, but didn't have any luck.
After 20 more minutes of searching, Jack began to announce that he was hungry. So Danielle and I gave up for a while and left to find a foot stand.

"What do you want to eat?" I asked Jack.

"French fries, mommy." He answered.

Danielle left to run to the bathroom, so I took Jack over to the food stand across the path.
The man behind the table politely asked what I wanted.

"Can I just get a small thing of fries please?"

He handed me a small cup if fries and I paid for them, then carried Jack over to a patch of grass a few feet away. Then I realized I forgot the freaking napkins.

"Sweety stay right here where I can see you, I'll be right back." I said.
Jack nodded, and continued eating his fries.
I walked the few feet back to the food stand and asked the man for napkins.

•MEANWHILE•
Jack looked up, waiting for his mother to return and, there!
The woman with golden, cascading hair walked past. Why was she going away?
Jack got up and followed his mother, and when he reached her; called to her.
"Mommy wait." He said.

When she turned around, she was definitely not his mother. She smiled, then continued walking the other way.
Jack stood, looking around for his mother. Where was she?
He started walking, searching for her. But he couldn't find her. So he ran. Past the big stage with the music, past the next one and the next one. He ran, scared of being alone.

***
When I turned to go back to Jack with the napkins, he wasn't in my sight. I rushed over to where he left the unfinished cup of fries and looked around.

"Jack?" I called, expecting him to jump out and surprise me.

When he didn't, I panicked.

"Jack!" I shouted, walking out into the open to see if I could spot him.

Oh my God. Did I just lose my son?

Danielle approached quickly, seeing my dispair.

"Where's Jack?" She asked.

"I dont know!" I cried frantically.
"One minute he was here, and the next I'm calling him and he's nowhere in sight!"

Danielle helped me search all over for Jack. I could barely see where I was going because of the tears constantly flooding my eyes.
If I didn't find my son, I dont know what I'd do.