This Could Be All I've Waited For

I should have known better than to think that I wouldn’t act stupid when I was upset. I should have known that the guys would realize that something was up. I should have known that they would try to get to the bottom of it.

“You should slow down,” Zack warned from behind me as I finished my shot of Jack Daniels and ordering myself a strawberry daiquiri.

I chuckled darkly, “I am aware of my limits, Zack,” I told him taking a long gulp of my drink. “Vinny,” I called out looking around for him.

“Cadence!” he called back smiling as he took a sip of his drink.

“We’re dancing!” I announced grabbing his wrist and towing him out to the dance floor and leaving my bag and drink with Zack who was frowning deeply at me.

“So what’s with you and Jack?” Vinny asked over the music.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, “No sir, we are not talking about that right now,” I said throwing my hands in the air and continuing to dance.

I didn’t understand why everyone was determined to get in the middle of everything. Honestly, I figured that hanging around guys would mean less meddling but it was becoming pretty clear that boys were just as bad as girls were in situations like this.

Vinny stayed with me for a couple of songs before he went back to the bar and his drink. I continued dancing alone but was quickly joined by Alex who had definitely had too much already.

“Oh, Cade!” Alex called out in a sing-songy voice.

I turned around and laughed a little as he stumbled over to me throwing an arm around my shoulders.

“What happened?” he asked getting straight to the point.

I sighed, “Nothing, Alex, don’t worry about it,” I said shrugging out from under his arm to continue to dance.

“Don’t lie, Cade,” he whined as he started dancing next to me.

“You were wrong,” I told him trying to get him to leave.

“Wrong about what?” he asked taking one of my hands and pulling me towards his ear so he could hear my answer.

“The bet, Rian won,” I told him pulling away, “Jack isn’t interested.”

“Don’t be stupid Cade,” Alex said rolling his eyes.

I shook my head and turned away from him knowing that he would leave if I ignored him. I sighed dancing with strangers and trying to forget about my conversation with Alex and the walk back with Jack.

When I finally got tired of dancing I went back to the guys to find that Vinny had finished off my daiquiri and was completely wasted along with Rian. Zack and I were the only sober ones out of the group and Alex had apparently wandered off to his room.

“Wanna help get these idiots to their rooms?” Zack asked me as I stole the remainder of Vinny’s drink from him.

I nodded picking up my duffle bag and throwing the strap over my shoulder. Vinny flung his arm around me leaning all of his weight into my side causing me to roll my eyes and help him to the elevator. Zack was right behind me with Rian.

We went to drop Rian off in his room first only to find that Alex hadn’t actually made it back seeing as he and Rian were supposed to be rooming together. Zack took Vinny from me and we made our way to his and Flyzik’s room.

“You guys weren’t supposed to get wasted,” Flyzik complained watching Zack and I help Vinny into bed.

“Yeah well shit happens,” I said throwing the comforter over Vinny and turning to leave.

“Who did you lose?” Flyzik demanded looking both stern and concerned.

Sometimes I wish that little punk wasn’t so good at his job. Zack sighed and scratched the back of his neck, “Alex,” he said looking at the floor.

“You guys are idiots absolute idiots,” he said covering his face with his hands.

“Keep your pants on gramps,” I said waving away his worry, “I’m sure he just went to go bother Jack or something.” With the way Alex was going he was probably telling Jack all of the secrets he had been keeping for me all summer in hopes that it would change Jack’s mind.

“Find him,” Flyzik said rolling his eyes at me and going back to his papers. Sometimes I think that kid is more uptight than I am… which is pretty damn uptight, when I wasn’t upset or just feeling reckless.

“Aye aye captain,” I said saluting him and leaving the room with Zack. Maybe I had drank more than I thought; I felt silly and giddy.
Zack and I split up; he went back to the bar and I went back to the floor that Jack and I shared with Rian and Alex hoping that he had gone to mess with Jack. Though, at the same time I was hoping that he hadn’t made it to Jack and I would find him curled up in the hall way somewhere.

I had just rounded the corner when I found Alex stumbling away from mine and Jack’s room. Great, he made it. I could only hope that Alex was too drunk for Jack to believe him.

“Alexander Gaskarth,” I said putting my hands on my hips and giving him a stern look. Okay, so maybe I was a lot closer to being sober than I thought.

“Cade!” he exclaimed wrapping his arms around me in a hug, “I just talked to Jack.” His breath fanned across my face and I felt my stomach do a nauseating flip, I don’t know how well I’ll be able to hold my liquor tonight.

“Great,” I said unenthusiastically, “Why aren’t you in your room?”

“I just told you silly,” he giggled as I tried to lead him to his room and get my phone out of my pocket at the same time. Alex reminded me of a very slutty girl when he was drunk, very diva. Maybe he was Barbie in another life.

“Right. Jack,” I said rolling my eyes and scrolling to Zack’s number in my phone.

Zack answered on the first ring, “Please tell me you found him.” Obviously Zack thought we’d really lost Alex, the thought made me want to roll my eyes. Alex was stupid when he was drunk but he usually kept it within the building… except that one time that the TV ended up in the parking lot…

I chuckled, “Oh I found him alright,” I told him, “I’ll lock him in his room just call Matt and tell him to quit being such a girl.”

Zack let out a breathy laugh of relief, “Will do,” he agreed before hanging up.

“We talked about you,” Alex said as I opened his room door. I would have gladly dropped that boy into an open elevator shaft at that moment.

“Excellent,” I grumbled pushing him towards his bed not really caring wether he made it without tripping or not.

“Cade!” Rian called from his bed happily. Rian was an overly happy drunk and I was not in the mood to be dragged into one of his “isn’t life beautiful” speeches right now.

“Oh I am out of here,” I said putting my hands up, “Go to sleep both of you,” I commanded.

-------------------------------------------------

I sighed standing outside of mine and Jack’s room. I did not want to have an awkward conversation with Jack, especially about this. I took a deep breath and opened the door only to find Jack standing at the end of the short hallway that served as the entrance.

“Well hello to you to,” I mumbled stepping inside, dropping my bag and closing the door behind me.

“Cady,” he sounded like he had a lot to say and it already sounded like an apology. I could feel my eyebrows starting to pull together with the pain in my chest growing; I did not want to hear any of this right now.

“Nope it’s cool,” I told him turning around but not meeting his gaze. “I get it, I was being stupid.”

He took a step forward, “What are you talking about?” he asked sounding slightly confused.

“Earlier,” I said looking to his face but still avoiding his eyes, “on the way to the hotel.” I searched his face hoping that maybe just maybe this wouldn’t change our friendship and we could laugh about this in the morning. “We’re friends and you want us to stay that way,” I said making sure he knew that I understood.

It happened so quickly that it took me a second to register. Jack took two quick steps towards me and took my face in his hands pressing his lips to mine. At first I didn’t respond or kiss back but that only caused Jack to kiss harder. When I finally gained my bearings I kissed him back with everything I had tangling my fingers into his hair. I felt his stubble scrape against my chin and cheeks as he moved to press my back against the hotel room door. His hands moved from my face to grip my hips and mine grabbed fistfuls of his t-shirt.

Soon we broke apart his forehead leaning against mine as we tried to catch our breath. Jack’s breath didn’t smell like alcohol of any kind. No, instead Jack’s breath smelled sweet like he’d just finished drinking a soda.

“How much have you had to drink tonight?” he asked still breathing heavily.

“Not much,” I told him my hand still gripping his shirt.

“Good,” he said before reconnecting our lips and pulling me closer to him.

I felt like my body was on fire and new flames erupted wherever his hands touched me. I never thought that this would be how tonight would end up. Both of our breaths became heavier and heavier with each kiss and every touch. Somewhere along the way Jack lost his shirt and mine followed soon after. We’d moved away from the door and I now had him pressed up against a wall.
Jack didn’t let me keep control for long and was soon pushing me back onto a bed.

“Are you okay with this?” Jack asked placing kisses along my jaw and down my neck.

I laughed and nodded, “Definitely okay,” I told him as he made his way back to my mouth.

This was not how tonight was supposed to go. Though, good things rarely happen as the result of events following any sort of real plan. I would definitely take what I could get.