We're Stuck Halfway

2012. Boston, Massachusetts.

This boy always liked keeping things to himself. Secrets were secrets; they were his life, they were what he took care of. You could even call them his little babies if you had to.

Now, how his band mate found out about one of his deepest, darkest secrets was beyond him. Way, way beyond.

Maybe he wasn't as good as he supposed he was at hiding feelings from others. It was either that or his friend snooped into his things and found a few ripped pieces of paper and put them together, forming what was supposed to be a letter that stated the certain secret.

He regretted not choosing to burn the condemned paper strips. The thing is, though, he remembered writing that letter a couple of years ago and that was way too far from recent. He shrugged it off and still went with the latter because the thought of not being able to hide his feelings and wearing his heart on his sleeve frightened him too much.

He was frightened that everyo ne else already found out about his secret and band mate #1 was the only one brave enough to mention and confront him about it.

He shook his head, dismissing the idea. Band mate #1 was less likely to call him out on it rather than band mates #2 and #3. He breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as he continued driving towards his home.

His smile twisted into a frown as he realized that there were still many rough and rowdy roads and pathways to pass. The feeling of agitation filled him again.

'Beauty and The Beat' by Justin Bieber suddenly filled his car's interior, and he struggled to get his phone out of the pocket of his jeans. He rolled his eyes once he read the name flashing on the screen, and then answered the call.

“Hi.”

“I got her to tour with us.”

“What?”

“Leigh’s our merch bitch.”

“Eric Halvorsen, don’t you fucking mess with me.”

“Nick Santino, I am not shitting with you, man.”

“Fuck off.”

He ended the phone call and gritted his teeth, his truck jerking to a full abrupt stop. Not long after, smoke seeped out from under the hood, making him jump out of his car, a string of curses escaping his mouth.

Everything happened at once, his phone then vibrating to indicate that a message was sent to him.

Leighton Keeves
Hey Nick, thanks to you and the rest of the band for taking me in as your merch girl for the upcoming tour. I won’t let you guys down! It’s going to be a fun month; a great way to relax from college. :)

He sat on the edge of the steamy pavement, letting out a frustrated groan as he buried his face into his hands as he literally heard the thump of his heart in his chest.

When he said he was going to encounter a lot of rough roads, he thought he made it clear to life that he meant it figuratively.



The morning air chilled her to the bone, though the cup of coffee she had next to her made her morning tolerable.

She wasn't usually an early riser, but the day before she hadn't slept due to waiting for her best friend to arrive from New York at the airport, causing her to fall asleep at 6PM the day before and wake up at 4AM.

It was rude to fall sleep before the newly engaged got back to their home.

She cursed and took the eraser off the table, erasing a tiny part of her sketch. It had been a long time since she had tried sketching a landscape, her being far too busy with her (love) life.

It had been weeks since she had first met Alexander William Gaskarth, and hell did she know that he was the perfect man for her.

The only problem?

He had a significantly horrible timing to everything.

“And that's why he claims to be approximately ten minutes late to everything,” she muttered to herself bitterly, erasing a large amount of strokes.

A few days before Charlie had been sitting on a couch inside the ATL tour bus, Alex's arm draped around her torso with his hand resting on her hip bone. She had her head on his shoulder, eyes flickering from the screen of the flatscreen TV to his featured face and back.

“Would you want me to film myself watching a movie and burn it to a DVD? It seems to interest you more than The Change-Up,” he asked her, a cocky grin playing on his face.

She wrinkled her nose in distaste, lifting her head from his shoulder, “I'd rather something else, thank you very much. Something I really, really want.”

He chuckled slightly, taking hold of her hand. “And what is that something, babe?”

“You've got a cold hand,” she murmured suddenly, looking anywhere but his brown gaze and steering the conversation away from what she wanted the most. She didn't want to ask for a relationship; she wanted to be the one given the decision on whether to start it or not.

He tightened his grip on her hand then, “Naaaaaah, you just have a hot body,” he remarked, wiggling his eyebrows afterwards.

She cursed as she stood up, pretending to have forgotten to do something important. At any other moment a pick-up line would've done her good, but it made her realize that she probably just was a phase in Alex Gaskarth's life.

He never knew that there were tears in her eyes as she left the small room.



His mom always made jokes about them getting married, teasing them just before their dates out together; his dad, on the other hand, always warned them before they’d make it up the stairs on the way to his bedroom, saying to save everything for when they married.

He’d never admit it to himself, but he’d actually believed all of it was true.

He made plans too soon, thinking that since their relationship was perfect, he should start preparing for the future. He’d already picked the house two streets behind his house and her old home - it was right in the middle so that they could visit their families on a regular basis. He had settled on buying her a female German Shepard once the time came, and they’d raise her and make sure she had a bunch of puppies to give away to their little cousins or to donate to the shelter. He’d considered on buying a pickup truck like Kennedy’s in place of his little yellow Cavalier. The part which hurt him the most was imagining falling asleep to the beat of her heart every night. It all seemed too good to be true. It wasn’t a wonder on how it all just ended with a snap.

The fact that she was marrying another man was just something he couldn’t comprehend.

Their story ended too soon- although to some seven years was a whole lot, to him it was barely enough. He wanted more, but now that he had Selina... The thought of wanting Holly didn't seem right at all.

The voices in his head were interrupted when his phone started to ring, causing him to lift the record player's arm off the vinyl.

It was an unknown number, so he was cautious on how he answered the call, making his voice less accented than it was usually. “Hello?”

“Am I talking to Garrett, Garrett Nickelsen from The Maine?” the voice asked. It was masculine and low, obviously not the average fangirl voice.

He ended up responding with a, “This is him.”

Multiple exclamations of 'yeses,' Were heard on the other line, then the voice returned again. “Hi Garrett this is Jesse, Jesse Eckhart. Holly's er...”

“Fiancé?” Garrett finished for him, managing to let it out without missing a beat. It hurt to swallow afterwards, though.

“Yes, yes,” he agreed. “Well, I'm going to be shooting a TV show this- while your band is on tour, and well it happens to be in the same continent and for a few days we'll be in the exact same location.”

“Where is this getting to?” Garrett raised a brow, fiddling with his record player aimlessly.

“I was just wondering if you can take her, Holly, with you guys on this tour,” he answered. The news left Garrett's mouth dry, billions of thoughts scattering in his brain. Didn't he know my history with Holly?!

When he didn't answer for a short while, Jesse supported his statements by saying, “I've also talked to your friends, This Century, just now. They agreed to bring Charlie for their merch girl if you guys just agree for Holly. It'll all be a piece of cake.”

Without even thinking of an answer, Garrett replied with a yes and ended up smacking himself on the head for doing so. Jesse thanked him for the help and ended the call, Garrett still dumbfounded with the idea of everything.

A knock sounded on the rough wood of Garrett's bedroom door, and Pat emerged from behind it when no answer came.

“What's wrong?” he had asked.

Garrett looked up at Pat from where he was sitting on his bed, his face masking pure astonishment. “I think I just agreed to World War III.”



“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU AGREED TO BRING HER ON TOUR?” Kennedy screamed. He was sleepy and tired after a whole day of some rough exploring with Kota, but the news of Garrett agreeing to bring Holly on tour with them without their consent erased every thought of wanting to rest.

“I don't know,” Garrett murmured, breathing heavily with his head in his hands.

The whole band plus Larry (their tour manager), Tim (their manager), and Matt (their tech) were seated at the rectangular 8 seater table.

Pat called all of them for an emergency meeting right after Garrett had told him the news. It was grave matter since they all knew how Holly affected Garrett and the way he acted; another reason was because Kennedy and Pat had plans on inviting Leighton as their merch bitch in a surprise, informing her only a few hours before the actual time they leave for the airport.

“So long for the surprise!” Kennedy said. He closed his eyes, explaining to them what he was planning to do for Leighton, and how the plan went all ballistic.

John remained calm, only a small amount of sympathy for Kennedy evident in the tone of his voice. “It's not all Garrett's fault- you should've informed all of us about it.”

Kennedy groaned. “You don't think I would if I could? My only problem is is that there are certain people here who can't keep others' secrets even if their life depended on it,” he replied. From sounding so angry, he started to sound helpless.

Larry and Tim had a tiny chat behind the others' backs, something about a text Tim had received.

“So, Pat, do you remember Charlie Smithson?” Tim had randomly asked. He joked his brother teasingly, adding “your ex-girlfriend?” in a whisper.

Pat, intrigued with the sudden topic, let go of his hair and nodded, a suspicious look on his face.

“Well you're going to be seeing her on tour apparently,” he made eyecontact with Garrett, “just like how we're going to be seeing Holly,” he looked then at Kennedy, “and just like how we're going to be with Leighton since the boys on A Rocket requested for her,” his eyes locked with John's, too, “and last but not least, we will have to Skylar of course.” He looked at Jared and praised him for not having any drama in his life. Then, before adjourning the 'meeting,' he looked at Garrett, “and did Ronnie ever tell you that she's going to be there for the tour, too?”

All eyes immediately went to Kennedy, who just groaned and stormed up the stairs, stopping only to snap for Kota to follow him.

Tim clapped his hands, standing up from his chair at the head of the table. “So, since all of this bullshit has ended, see you all tomorrow by 9 for practice.”