Hold On Till May

Alex opened up the door to his room and found a silent Aurora sleeping in his bed the way he left her over an hour ago when he got a phone call and didn't want to wake her up. Lisa was complaining about how he always spent time with Aurora and not her, but Alex had to remind her yet again that they weren't even together so it shouldn't matter how he spends his time or who he spends with with.

"Where were you?" Aurora asked sleepily when she felt Alex's body sink back into the mattress next to her. She opened her eyes tried to find him in the dark, finally landing her eyes on the shirtless boy who went through a series of good and awkward events with her just hours prior to this moment. Alex laughed lightly and moved hair away from her face.

"It doesn't matter, just go back to sleep. Sorry for waking you," he said while resting his head closer to her and draping his arm across her body. She nodded while yawning and drifted back off to sleep in the snap of a finger. It took the boy longer than her to fall asleep due to the past 8 hours of his life. Too many thoughts to take in and way too much to not find realistic -- he was simply in a state of surrealism.

Around 6:30 a wide awake Jack Barakat busted into Alex's room and spotted the two sleeping on the bed. With the door being swung open with much effort, it bounced off the wall and swung back at him, making Alex bolt awake in a second with panic. Once he spotted the lanky kid, he rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Go away," he whispered and nodded his head towards the red headed girl lying next to him, signaling that she was fast asleep.

"Did you tw-"

"No, we didn't do anything. I didn't want her getting yelled at so she crashed here." Alex made sure to keep his voice as low as possible. Jack walked towards the bed and sat down at the foot of it. "Leave," Alex almost yelled and pointed towards the door. Jack chuckled and started bouncing up and down trying to wake their female friend. Slowly, she woke up and almost started yelling at Jack to stop.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!" Jack greeted her when her eyes met with his. Alex shrugged and gave her a weak, apologetic smile. She groaned and flipped over, shoving her face into Alex's spare pillow.

"Go away, Jack!" Aurora screamed into the pillow and tossed herself back over onto her back. "It's too early."

"Yeah, this is too unusual for him," Alex added and sat up in bed. "So what do you want?"

"We're leaving the state after school, my friends." Aurora and Alex shot each other the same look of confusion and terror. Jack laughed at them and started to explain. "Okay, so, I met this guy and he said All Time Low should come down to the Big Apple this weekend to hear us." Alex was in shock and couldn't say a word.

"That's a long drive, doll face." Aurora told Jack who was slowly inching his way up to the front of the bed.

"It's like four hours!" Jack protested.

Aurora just laughed. "With our friends, it's about eight." The girl was right. It was always bathroom breaks, fast food, stopping at certain stores, cigarette breaks for Aurora, and sightseeing.

"That's true, so thankfully we don't have to be there until tomorrow night." Jack raised his eyebrows waiting for her excitement. "Plus, my dad’s putting us up in a hotel for the weekend." Aurora's face suddenly went from half-asleep to wide awake and lit up with excitement.

"I like this idea, Jacko," she winked at him and leaned on Alex's back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Alex grabbed up and placed a hand on her wrist, still completely dumbfounded and speechless. "Say something!" She yelled into his ear.

"We're going somewhere, I can feel it!" Alex was giddy with happiness, trying to collect his thoughts while his smile was reaching his ears.

"Get packed, girls!" Jack screamed while standing up and heading towards the door.

"I bet he's already packed," Alex mumbled under his breath. Jack turned around and pounced the two teenagers.

"Bet your ass, I am! Couldn't sleep, and now I need a ride across town to wake up that one bassist dude." He rolled over onto his back and gave Aurora the sulking puppy dog face, frowning with his bottom lip all the way out and blinking his eyes uncontrollably. When she didn't answer for over a minute, the big started whimpering like a puppy with a hurt paw.

"I don't have my car, so quit it." Alex shook a finger at her and flung her off of his back, sending her backwards to almost hit the wall behind her. She scoffed and hit the back of his head.

"C'mon," he said offering her a hand off of the bed. "I'll take you two to Aurora's house and she'll drive you to Zack's while I shower and pack." He picked up his keys from the top of his dresser, put on a hoodie, and started walking to the door with the two behind him. Aurora and Alex were still in sweatpants, but neither of them cared.

Once arriving to Aurora's, Jack and the girl quickly ran upstairs for her to change into school clothes and cram as much as she could into a small bag.

"You pack like a girl," Jack complained as he paced the length of her room. She shot him a sarcastic smile and rolled her eyes and finished packing.

"Mom," she knocked on the door. "Mom!" The girl yelled while walking in. "I'm going to be with the guys for the weekend." Her mom lifted a hand and woke up slowly.

"Whatever," she yawned. "Take money with you and call whenever." She truly didn't care at all, but Aurora didn't seem to mind it suddenly. "Love you," she said before falling back asleep. The teenager smiled, she hadn't heard those words in the longest time.

"I love you too, mom." She said quietly before exiting the room and collecting Jack, her bags, and money from her mom's purse.

+++

The pair arrived at Zack's and barged in without a care, running up to his room. Downstairs, the Merrick's weren't even remotely startled by the break in. They sat and had their coffee, almost as if they hadn't noticed.

"Zack!" They both yelled while bouncing on his bed. The boy was fully ready for school, but didn't want to get out of bed until the last second.

"What?!" He yelled and threw a pillow at Jack that missed him and slapped Aurora in the face causing her to fall onto the bed with force.

"Asshole!" She swore and hit his leg. Zack laughed and sat up. "Pack your shit, we're leaving after school and aren't coming back until Sunday." The girl used a monotone voice, still mad about the pillow that whipped her in the face.

"Wait... What?" Zack's head was foggy; he wasn't fully awake or ready for the day. "Let me go ask?" He questioned, wondering what was going on.

"Shit, what if he can't go?" Aurora frowned.

"Then we'll need to start looking for a new bassist," Jack smiled at Zack.

"A show?" Zack asked.

"No, bud. A record exec." Jack smiled. Zack ripped the covers off and started to run downstairs to ask his mom if he could go without hearing any of the details. The others slowly trailed to the kitchen behind him, waiting for the moment that Mrs. Merrick would call one of them downstairs on queue.

Just as they arrived to the doorway, she was ready to yell upstairs. "Oh, hello," she said in surprise.

"Before you say no, he's a good exec and it’s in New York and we're using my dad’s van and we have hotel room." Jack summed it up and she sighed.

"I guess," she told Zack.

"Go pack!" Aurora yelled and jumped up with excitement

"Take care of these boys and make sure you all call me." She told Aurora. The teen nodded and smiled.

This weekend was going to be the best one in a long time. There was only one more person to ask and it that was Alex's duty. Right on time, Jack got a call from a screaming Rian.

"We're going to New York!!!" He shouted with excitement into Jack's ear.

"Someone's excited." Aurora laughed and hugged Jack as they walked out of the door. "We'll be back after school. Love you, ma!" She screamed behind her.

"Love you too, kids!" She laughed.

The entire way down the driveway Jack and Aurora bounced up and down with excitement while screaming as loud as they could. The weekend was going to bring great things for the boys and they knew it. They could feel it in their bones as the adrenaline ran through their veins.