We're Stuck Halfway

Skylar sighed as she bunned up her golden hair again for the enth time. Her hair seemed to slip out of its tie while her head bobbed up and down as she strummed the guitar, trying to write a new song for she needed something to do take her mind off things.

She wanted to her forget that it was all her fault.

She was very much aware of everything being her liability; her own misfortune caused by herself. She remembered her own slurred words, the begging that had to be done to get what she wanted. She wasn't used to not getting what she asked for, but in the case she was in, no one wanted to give her what she requested even if she cried. They were wise to say no, since she herself regretted what she did then; they just weren't wise in agreeing to her when her bawling crossed over the line. Her drunk self thought she had everything planned out; obviously, she wasn't even close to that.

“Are you scared?” a voice from behind asked her. When she turned around to face him, he scoffed. “Who am I kidding? Obviously not.”

She rolled her eyes. “At least you got that second part right,” she muttered.

The boy sat beside her, sighing when Skylar suddenly turned the piece paper over to cover up what she'd been writing. “I'm not going to let what happened before happen again, alright? As long as I'm here, those bastards will stay away unlike before.”

“You know I can handle them myself, Ty,” Skylar said, leaning into him as he draped an arm around her. “Like you said, I'm not scared.”

She was scared. Despite what she always told herself, she was afraid of the outcome of everything; the fear didn't stop her for being excited about it any other way.

The boy rolled his eyes, smirking. “I know you can handle yourself, of course you're capable of that.” He looked down at her, hesitating before he continued. “I'm not scared for you, I'm scared of you, Skylar. I'm scared of what might happen again, because this time, I'm pretty sure if anything happens, it's you leading them on. Thing is, is that you just throw yourselves at guys. You... I'm just worried about this tour because it might bring you to... do stuff... if you know what I mean, since we're practically... uhm, always legal around Europe and-”

Skylar pushed Ty away before he could continue further. “Mind you, Tyler Mannings, that I will absolutely not do anything overseas. I will not let anyone take advantage of me like a piece of crap. And, for the record, I only throw myself at helpless boys who seem to be lost to give them something because it actually makes me feel like something worth dying for with them goggling over me and all that shit.” She cursed as she wiped her eyes ferociously. “What happened between John and Joel and I... I couldn't explain it. They both we're throwing themselves at me, and I'd only realized it too late.”

The last time The Exhilarated toured together with The Maine and This Century, Skylar caught herself stuck right in between a relationship that consisted of John and Joel at the opposite ends. She had no idea before that either boys were taking her relationships with them so seriously; she only realized how much they liked her when she heard them fighting each other for supposedly her on the last day of that tour.

Word spread out afterwards, and Skylar couldn't even look at her Twitter mentions and Tumblr asks at peace anymore because almost every time someone was asking about how she was with any of the boys. In other words, it was hell month. The spamming of questions to never be answered faded away eventually, although every once in a while a curious fan would ask her and yet again she'd just ignore them once more.

Tyler tucked her into his arms, the warm leather of his jacket warming her bare arms. He kissed her temple and stroked her hair before speaking. “I'm sorry I used that term. It's not an accurate one for the situation you're in.”

Skylar shook her head, the bun on her head coming undone. “It's actually really accurate. I do throw myself at guys who I barely know. I don't throw myself at people I'm bound to meet again, but I do at strangers, and I'm disgusted with myself for that,” she sniffled.

“You shouldn't be disgusted with yourself- you're a tremendously beautiful girl, who creates music for the sake of making others happy and changing many other persons' lives. It's not your fault you're this way anyway,” Tyler whispered to her ear. “We've gone through a hard life. You do what you do not 'cause you want to, but because you need someone. You need a stranger every once in a while, and I accept that; not only because I'm forced to since you're my sister, but also because I love you.”

Skylar smiled, and looked up at her brother. “So you won't-”

She was interrupted by the sound of her cellphone ringing in her sweatpants' pocket; she apologized to Tyler before heading over to her terrace to answer the call. She was about to press the green button until her mind comprehended the name of the caller flashing on her screen.

Joel Kanitz



Joel toyed with his lip piercing, feeling the cold against his tongue. His heart was palpitating, due to the endless rings from the other line of the phone. He needed to talk to Skylar; if she was just going to push him away like that he wouldn't know what to do.

He trailed his eyes across his room and smiled as he watched Skyler, yes Skyler, his cat, sleep on his bed, her soft purrs ringing around the quiet room. He closed his eyes, remembering the time Skylar met Skyler; that was the day he was certain he had fallen for her.

“Awwww, you cutie pie!” Skylar stroked Skyler's fur just as Joel handed his cat to her.

Skyler wasn't always the most welcoming cat, the same feeling was mutual with Skylar. They both didn't let people in their comfort zones too fast, though they really liked to cuddle. How alike they were amused Joel, he found himself laughing at them both as they communicated with each other.

Skylar scowled at him, her eyebrows scrunching up. “What's so funny?”

“You both are just too cute.”

She laughed and rolled her eyes, the way her eyes chinked up when she smiled melting Joel. “You know what, Sir Kanitz? You should congratulate yourself for finding the perfect cat, but you were so close yet so far from giving her the most beautiful name in the world.”

Joel's eyes opened at the sound of Skylar's voice filling his ears. His heart literally stopped.

“'Sup fucker? Haha kidding, mom and dad, I love you. Anyway, I'm out and far away from my phone right now, so leave me a message after the beep and I'll probably call you again!”

Joel cursed under his breath, his heart sinking. A few months back Skylar didn't have a voicemail, explaining the sudden rush that came to him when he thought she had answered.

“Hey Sky, just uhm... I want to talk to you, but I don't think you feel like it. I just want to clear out stuff... I hope you're not mad at me, too, because I just really want everything back to normal. See- see you on tour, alright?” Joel contemplated really fast whether or not to mention that he missed her, and by accident the words just slipped out with a stutter.

He ended the call quickly, wondering if she'd call back in a moment to tell him she missed him too. It was wishful thinking, exactly why his band mates had described himself as a 'hopeful romantic.' He wanted Skylar, true. He could lose his dwindling friendship with John just for her, true. He'd do anything to have Skylar even if she didn't want him, false.

But how she just let him have her, how he made the first move and how she continued everything... he knew the feeling of wanting each other was mutual.

Joel let out a breath, watching the cold air fog up before him. The bands were just two weeks into the two-month long tour, they were on their last Canada date before they headed back to North America then down to South America to continue their Americas tour. He was treasuring the final moments he had of really breathing natural cold air, meanwhile the other band people and crew were partying in a nearby club.

He was sitting on the hard parking lot ground; he didn't really mind this as he was enjoying the soft silence and buzz of the neon lights from diners. Quiet seemed to be his thing lately, aside from the music he had stored in his iPod for travel use so that people wouldn't mind him most times. He felt like getting away from people at that point in his life, and even he couldn't explain why.

He bowed down his head, cupping his face in his cold hands. It wasn't long before he heard the faint music from the club grow louder and softer again, the bang of a door and gravel crunching that seemed to grow louder by the second.

He lifted his head just in time to make out a pair of black leather boots in front of him. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to get the black spots out as the figure sat down in front of him.

“What are you doing here?” Skylar asked softly, as if there were people sleeping right next to them. Her blond hair was spilled across her shoulders, her cheeks damasked and lips pink from the cold. She had a new jacket wrapped around herself, and a bitter feeling ate at Joel's gut with the thought of some filthy man inside the club giving it to her. She chuckled softly as she realized he was glaring at the jacket she was wearing. “Oh, this?” She wrapped it tighter around herself. “The club was damn cold because of air conditioning, so John demanded a jacket from some poor guy and well, John could get pretty intimidating when drunk.”

Joel bit the left side of his lip, avoiding the right side for he had already hurt himself with his piercing there before. “Oh that's... that's nice of him.”

Skylar nodded in agreement, then shrugged. “It was good natured, but not good entirely.”

After a short silence, while Joel was watching Skylar as her eyes flickered at their surroundings, she smiled. “You actually enjoy all this?”

“I like cold and quiet.” Joel shrugged. “I'm barely in the mood for parties nowadays.” His gaze lingered on the jacket once again, and in a matter of seconds Joel had his sweatshirt off, revealing his shirt that supported Skylar's band. Skylar laughed when she saw the shirt, but stopped abruptly when Joel handed his sweatshirt to her.

“What's this for?” she asked him, raising her brow.

Joel smiled softly, mostly because he accomplished in stopping the shiver that came to him. “For you. If John steals a jacket, I'll be the one to return it.”

Skylar took off the leather jacket, hesitantly pulling Joel's sweatshirt on. Joel stood up and took the leather jacket in his left hand, helping Skylar get up with the other.

A soft gush of wind passed by, Joel releasing the shiver he had hindered moments back involuntarily. Skylar laughed, shaking her head as she fixed Joel's hair. Her hand lingered on his face for a moment; before Joel could restrain himself he bent down to catch her lips with his.

The thought of Skylar kissing him back warmed him enough for the whole night.