Just for a Moment

I literally just got here like half an hour ago and my day is already ruined because Max wants to be a complete J-E-R-K. I will avoid him at all costs; I do not need another stressful year. I walk over to my bed and pick up a pair of jeans to fold up and put it in my dresser when Lizzy barges in. A wide smile spreads across my face as she tackles me with a hug. One second we're talking, catching up a little. Then next thing you know, we're throwing clothes at each other. We have giggling fits as Lizzy throws jeans at me while I aim panties and blouses at her. I win with a pillow going square in her face. She falls back onto the floor, laughing hysterically, causing me to join her. I'm so happy that things are back to normal with Lizzy and I, actually better.

I toss a teddy bear onto her stomach before going back to more fits of laughter. I love this feeling. Just then Kellin barges in. I'm glad that I've got past the point of not liking him, because if not, he would've ruined this moment. I actually somewhat kind of missed him. A little. He alerts Lizzy of Vic's arrival so she hops up, gives me a kiss and a hug, then she's gone with Kellin. Leaving me with this mess. I sigh and get up from my bed, regretting the clothing fight. I pick up a pair of jeans from the floor and start folding them up and slip them into my dresser. My mood suddenly changes back to the way I was feeling before Lizzy came in to rescue me from the thoughts of Max. I plop down onto my bed, pushing some clothes aside. I mope to myself as I wait for Vic to make his appearance, beaming about his experience at Warped Tour. After a couple of minutes, he lets himself in, a big smile on his face.

"It's about time," I mumble.

He holds his arms out, waiting for me to embrace him. I get up and jump into him arms, my hair flowing around his neck. He squirms from it tickling him and let’s go.

"So tell me," I bat my lashes, "how did it feel being at Warped tour?" I sit back onto my bed.

"It was awesome," he sighs dreamily as he falls onto my bed.

"Details please," I roll my eyes.

"Right. So since we were new, we didn't have such a big audience, but there was a nice crowd. We played some awesome sets, oh! We got to talk to All Time Low again so that was cool." He sits up and hugs me. "I'll tell you more about it later. I missed you, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." I give him a cocky smile and cross my arms.

"I hope you know how sorry I am about-"

"Don't even bring it up," I interrupt him by hitting him with a pillow, "don't talk even about it."

I shrug and get up. He nods with a weary smile.

"I just wonder if Lizzy feels the same."

"There's only one way to find out. If you'd actually try to talk to her instead flaunting her best friend's ex around, you guys could at least get back to speaking terms." I absently pick any clothing item from the floor to continue folding. I raise up a bra and Vic gives me a sly smile.

"Uh..I think that's my cue to go." He laughs and gets up from the bed.

Kellin walks in, stopping Vic from leaving and giving him a fist bump. Then he approaches me and smacks the bra out of my hand.

“Stop making Vic feel awkward.”

All of sudden, they start catching up, as if I weren't even in the room. Jerks.

“Alright, that’s enough, you guys can do this somewhere else,” I say pushing them both out of the room.

“Alright, see you later loser,” Kellin said as he walked out.

Vic squeezes my shoulder, thanks me again, then follows behind Kellin. I plug my phone into my iPod radio. After raising the volume to The Way That I Loved You by Ashanti, I go back to folding my clothes. I get through a good portion before Lizzy comes back to my room. I could tell she saw Vic because she looked a little distracted. She shoots me a glare as she walks over to the radio.

"No sad music," she says as she changes the song.

She keeps pressing skip till she lands on As Long As You Love Me by Justin Bieber. I'm not a big fan of his, but when I heard this song, I had to put it on my phone. The beat is great. She walks back to the bed and returns to folding. As she starts singing the chorus, I start to dance to the second verse and we start laughing.

"You should have been a dance major," she says looking up at me as she puts a blouse onto a hanger.

"Yeah, right." I snort. "Good thing I’m not though, because then I'd be stuck with that loser."

She purses her lips and mouths 'right'.

When we finally finish putting my clothes away, I stop the music and turn the TV on. I sit on the bed, flipping through the channels, landing on Heroes. I love this show. Lizzy joins me on the bed and lays her head on my lap.

"How was it going back home?"

"Oh, it was great Liz," I say, stroking her hair. "Mami and papi were so happy when I gave them my money from work. I don't really need it, so whatever, right?"

She smiles, staring at the TV. "Yeah, that's nice. Now they can get the boys some new sneakers and stuff."

"Mhm." I allow our silence to fill the room, with the TV in the background.

Max came back to mind and I got a little uncomfortable. I could tell now that if I’m not distracted every single second of the day, he's going to linger in my thoughts, which is his goal. I can't let him win.

"Lizzy.." I start up.

"Yes?"

"Do you...would you happen to know who Max cheated on me with? I mean I know that you guys have like no connection at all but-"

"Yes," she said, cutting me off.

I instantly got that dreadful pit in my stomach that I always get when something isn't going well. I cross my arms, shivering a bit. I wasn't cold, just nervous. She sits up and pushes her hair behind her ear.

"Okay, don't be upset with me," she says, raising her hand in defense. "I know I should have of told you before, but you were in a bad place. I didn't want to make you feel worse. Plus I thought it would be better to tell you here in person so that I wouldn't mess up your time with the family." She waits for a response, but I stay silent, staring at her.

After a moment, I clear my throat, having to brace myself for the impact of her words.

"Okay..so who was it?" I bit my lip.

"Tally," she said with no hesitation.

I was instantly filled up with rage. Tally? Kellin's ex? Vic's old girlfriend? That Tally?

"I can't believe it," I blurt out. "How did you find out?"

"Well, Jack told me."

"Jack?"

"Yes, but don't be mad at him either, he didn't want me to tell you because he didn't want it to ruin your performance. Then he talked to me about it a week after you left and I told him to leave it to me to tell you. After he told me I went to go confront Max, and Tally was there," she pauses and looks at me to see my reaction, then continues. "So I punched him-" I snort, mentally giving my sister a high five. I mean Lizzy punching someone? That's crazy! "That was after he told me his reasoning though." My smile automatically vanishes as I wait for her to tell me his story. "He said that it’s a little game that they play. Every year they find a new victim to 'date'," she puts in air quotes, "to see which of them is more lovable or whatever. Very stupid if you ask me."

"Yes, it is." I get up and pace the room. Now I hate the both of them even more. "Who does that? Like seriously, that's so dumb. Why would you go around dating other people unless you really don't like the person you're already with? It's so stupid!" I say louder, throwing my pillow onto the floor. "They can't just do that! Go around and make people fall for them, draw them closer to them then break their hearts. They can't!" I shout.

"Alright Ally," Lizzy said, getting up from the bed. "Calm down, I know you're mad but you don't want to go do anything stupid." She grabs my shoulders, forcing me to stay still, "They're not worth it."

"You're right. But Vic is. Kellin is," I look up at her, "you are."

She sighs and let’s go of me, "Look Ally, I appreciate that you care for me, but I can't let you go and do anything that'll earn you another strike."

"Who says I'll get a strike?" I smile slyly. She gives me a look which all in itself tells me not to be an idiot. "Alright alright, I won't do anything. If she tries to even say something slick, I'll give her the same treatment you gave Max."

She smiled at this, pushing me onto the bed.

"Don't worry about that, she looked so scared that day, I had her shaking in her boots." We laugh in unison, shocked by Tally's attempt to look tough at the group table but alone she was just a punk.
Oh, I pity the poor girl. So dumb as to let her 'boyfriend' go from girl to girl, slowly losing his feelings for her. I don't care what Max may say, I know without a doubt that he felt something for me, that's why he tried long and hard to be with me. "Well, he lost a prized gem," Lizzy shrugged, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking. "He'll regret it, you just wait and see."

After a long lunch in my room and catching up with my dear sister, I lend her a pair of sweatpants, putting a pair on myself.

"Alright, let’s go. You have no idea how much I missed playing flag football."

"Yeah, let’s go kick some butt," she says, winking at me.

On our way to the field that we usually play at, we run into Kellin and Roxy, as if they sensed us coming or something.

"Hey!" Lizzy's face lights up as she runs to hug Kellin.

C'mon, it's only been like 3 hours since you've seen the guy, it's not that serious. Roxy flashes me a big smile, greeting me with a hug.

"Hi, Ally. We missed you on campus; it's nice to have you back. Lizzy wouldn't shut up about how much she wanted you to come back." Roxy smiled.

"Seriously," Kellin agreed.

Lizzy shrugs and we continue to the field. When we get there, pretty much the entire group is there with flagged belts on. We run to grab the remaining belts and strap them on, ready for the game. It starts with Gabe throwing the ball over to Tony, and everyone starts stampeding over to him. Throughout the game I can't help but surrender to fits of laughter. Between Naomi's butter fingers and Justin's reactions to his teammates' loserdom, I can't help but crack up. When the game is over, I go around high-fiving everyone, commending their efforts to try. That's when I spot Jack. He was talking to Kellin, using his hands to dramatize whatever point he was trying to make. This is the first time I'm seeing him today, which is surprising because you'd think he'd come running to me once he knew that I was here.

I walk up to him, unsure of how he would feel about seeing me after the last time we talked. My heart speeds up when he notices me, actually when Kellin points me out. His distressed expression turns into a small smile. I approach him and he gives Kellin a look, saying 'get out of here man'. Kellin rolls his eyes and makes a face at me while I stick my tongue out at him as he walks away. I face Jack again, giving him my full attention.

"Hey there little lady, fancy seeing you around here," he says with a low southern accent. I giggle, smacking him lightly on the arm. "Hey!" He frowns, grabbing his arm.

"Guess what?" I smile slightly.

"What?" His eyes widen, probably expecting me to announce something spectacular, like people usually do after they say 'guess what'.

"I missed you," I say, poking him on the chest.

"Oh," he looks away as a toothy grin forms on his face.

"Mhm. Sorry I didn't answer your texts by the way, I just wanted to focus on my family while I was with them."

"Are you saying that I'm distracting?"

"No, I never said that."

"But you implied it," he says with a satisfactory nod. I roll my eyes, beginning to walk away but he grabs my wrist before I get the chance to.

"I uh," he let go of my wrist, scratching the back of his neck, "I was wondering if we could hang out at the amusement park tonight, after dinner?" I tilt my head to the side, like a curious puppy, raising an eyebrow. "Because, you know, it's your first day back and all. I just wanted to-"

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Panic fills his face as he thinks of an excuse.

"Um, ha, no. I was just-"

"But you implied it," I smirk, cutting him off. He drops his head, feeling unsuccessful. "I'd like that," I say, and he lifts his gaze.

"Really?"

"Mhm. See you later partner," I say in a girly southern tone. I pivot and walk off, smiling to myself. Boy, have I gotten myself into trouble or what? Whatever, it's totally worth it.