Sanctuary

"So, exactly how willing are you to go to a friend of mine's house show tonight?" Jack asked as the two of them walked together to Jack's sixth period math class, which was conveniently on the way to Alex's class.

It had been six days since the two of them had made their confessions on the younger boy's bedroom floor. Since then, their friendship had flourished into something strange, yet beautiful. Each day they grew closer and closer, and at the same time more and more worried as to what this may become. But for the time being, they were content with being best friends, because that's what they were.

"Depends," said Alex, glancing over at Jack with a raised eyebrow.

"On what?"

They stopped now outside of the advanced math classroom, where a small crowd of students waited for a teacher to let them into the room. Alex had a few moments to spare before he had to dash to the other end of the hall in order to make it to civics on time.

"Will there be alcohol?" Alex mumbled beneath his breath.

Though the idea of a house show was extremely appealing to him, the stereotypical American high school party scene caused him to worry a bit. He had never been to a real party in his life, so he had not a clue what to expect. Were they just like the parties in movies, with tons of red solo cups and a flock of people and dirty dancing everywhere?

Jack's caterpillar eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, something that drove Alex wild.

"Well, yeah, more than likely. You don't have to drink it if you don't want to." Jack gave a nonchalant shrug, shoving his hands into the pockets of his gray uniform pants.

"What about," Alex glanced around to ensure no one was paying attention to them, "substances that shall remain unnamed." This was always something that was a touchy subject for the teen.

Jack only chuckled, raising his shoulders in an 'I don't know' gesture. "You head off to class before you're tardy, mister. And think about it, alright? It'll be fun."

The British boy gave him a quick wink before briskly making his way down the hall.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Alex's mother was washing dishes when he confronted her later that evening. He was a bit nervous asking her to attend this house show, considering she'd only met Jack once and was extremely protective over him and cautious about the places he went. He already knew the answer before he even had to ask. It was worth a shot, though, right?

"Mum," he said softly, entering the kitchen timidly and ensuring that his father was out of the room before he even dared to speak to her. He had a habit of jumping into conversations that didn't pertain to him.

"Yes, dear?" she asked, not even looking up from her labor.

"I was wondering if I could go to a... um... a house show with Jack."

The woman looked up, gently setting down the dish she was washing and leaning against the counter to face him. He could tell by her face that she had not a single clue what a house show was. "It's like… when a small, local band puts on a concert in someone's basement."

He prepared himself for a bombardment of questions.

"Who's going to be there?" "Who's playing?" "Will there be drugs?" "Will there be alcohol?"

And, of course, he lied to his mother, telling her what she wanted to hear as opposed to the truth. It was the only way he could even hope of attending the show. But before she could give him an answer, his father shuffled into the room, a scowl on his rotund face.

'Go the hell away.'

"What's this I hear about a house party?" the older gentleman grumbled, leaning against the island in the center of the kitchen. He was a bit on the heavier side, with sufficient hair loss and a thick mustache. It wasn't a rare occurrence for his friends to comment on how frightening he was when you first met him. Little did they know, he was frightening all of the time.

"House show, Dad. And one of Jack's friends is hosting it. If given your permission, he'll be here to pick me up at eight thirty. It doesn't end until kind of late, so I'll probably just spend the night at his house. That okay?" Alex had tried his best to mask the annoyance in his voice, but found no such luck.

His mother and his father exchanged glances, sending signals to each other via brain wave. It was something that Alex could never, and probably would never, quite decipher.

"I don't know. Probably not," said his father, adjusting his glasses. Something about the way he said the words made it sound as if he was only preventing him from going because he knew that Alex really wanted to go. That was Peter for you, never allowing any fun whatsoever. Not in this household.

"And why not?" Alex said as the dull flame inside his stomach that was his temper began to grow.

"First, we barely know this little punk. Second, your grades could be better. And lastly, what is this 'house show?' I'm sure it's just going to get raided like that party a few weeks ago. I'm sorry, Alex, but I just don't want you hanging around those types of kids. We don't know them."

Alex's temper snapped like a rubber band.

"No you're not sorry, Dad. And Jack isn't a little punk, he's actually really cool and the first person at that stupid hell hole of a school that isn't a total douche bag." Alex paused for a moment, struggling to form words in his anger. "I know exactly what this is about. You're so scared that I'll end up like Seth, that you won't let me do /anything/. Do you think that's fair to me? Thanks to you, always being a coward, I have zero friends."

Peter rushed forward, getting into Alex's face.

"I'll have you know," he growled, "that this has nothing to do with your brother. You-"

"Dad, I'm almost sixteen years old," Alex cut in, "and I've never been to a real party in my life! Plus you know I don't do drugs or drink! I've never tried any of that aside from the times you've offered me sips of your drinks."

"I don't care!" shouted peter. "The thing I do care about is your grades, and right now they're shit."

"It's Friday night! I'll study all weekend or whatever. Just let me live for once! I'm sorry I'm not a straight-A son with a bright future in engineering for you. I'm sorry I can't be a child prodigy. But y'know what, I really fu- freaking try. You just don't care. You don't care about me, you don't care about anything but yourself. You'd probably be happy if I wound up like Seth!"

Alex regretted the words the moment they left his mouth. He had gone way too far and crossed the line. His father's jaw dropped a bit, and his mother went wide eyed with a hand over her mouth in astonishment.

There was a long moment of silence before Peter whispered, "Go to your room."

The teen didn't hesitate and quickly fled up the stairs, small sobs coming from his mother downstairs.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"You made your mom cry? That's pretty low, dude."

Alex sighed into his cell phone as he threw himself onto his bed, landing on his back with a small grunt. He felt absolutely awful about what he'd done, and Jack wasn't alleviating it whatsoever. He was angry, sure, but to bring up Seth that way? Jack was right, it was low, even for him. His temper never flared up quite like that.

"Look, I didn't mean to, I just… I have temper issues sometimes, okay?" Alex huffed.

"I'll say."

"Wh- Jack, you've never even seen me angry."

"Well, no, but you're British."

Alex let out a long, low grunt, covering his eyes with his arm. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know. British people are always short and snippy. Anywhore, it's fine you can't go. Honestly, if you're not going, I don't want to go. We can just talk on the phone, or play Xbox live or whatever." Alex could hear in Jack's voice that he had really wanted to go to this show.

This was Alexander Gaskarth's biggest talent, upsetting people and letting people down. He had once again damaged the relationship between he and his parents, and he had disappointed Jack, all because he just couldn't fucking control his temper.

"Maybe if you go apologize, they'll let you go," Jack suggested.

Alex stood now, wandering across the room to retrieve a stress reliever ball he kept on his dresser. He was furious. Furious at himself, furious at his parents, just all around angry with the world. Everyone was out having fun tonight, and here he was locked up in his bedroom like the world's biggest hermit.

"I highly doubt it. Fuck, I just wanted to go out and have a little fun for once," Alex grumbled. In a fit of rage, he threw the hard sphere across the room. It hit the window with a small thud, further opening the already half-opened pane.

As he went over to shut the window, he peered out into the back yard, and it suddenly occurred to him just how easy it would be to crawl from the window onto the wood awning, then jump down to the ground and sneak out the back gate to the street.

"Jack…," he said softly, tossing the stress ball aside and pushing open the window enough that he could fit his body through it.

"Yes?"

"Be here at eight thirty."

"But-"

"Be here at eight thirty. Park a block away from my house. Don't be late."

~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At precisely 8:21 PM, Alex found himself tucking several pillows beneath his comforter, giving the illusion that he was fast asleep in his bed. By 8:23 PM, he was dangling by his fingertips from his bedroom window, his feet only centimeters from the awning.

Alex had grown up always abiding by the rules, never stepping out of place. Sneaking out was something very abnormal for him. He was scared to death of the consequences of being caught, but it was worth it if it meant seeing Jack. Plus, he'd be living for once. He was already feeling the adrenaline rush coming on.

After his feet landed on the wood with a soft thud, the boy reached up and gently pushed the window into a shut position. He had not locked it, but he had to shut it because any moment now his parents would be turning the alarm system on, and they would be notified if they tried to arm the system while his window was open even in the slightest.

This also provided an issue with getting back inside. On Saturdays, his parents typically woke up around six, and turned the alarm off shortly thereafter. This meant he wouldn't be able to get back into his house until six, and he had to be extremely cautious because they would be up and moving. Thankfully, though, it would still be dark.

8:24. Alex peeked his head over the edge of the awning, seeing if either Peter or Isobel were outside. The door which led from the living room to the patio was lit up, meaning they were more than likely in that room and Alex would have to crawl on his belly to get to the gate on the other side of the yard.

8:25. The Brit was dangling from the awning, slowly lowering himself onto the grill just a few feet beneath him. Just as his feet were about to reach the surface of the grill, he lost his grip and landed on the metal lid with a not-too-quiet crash.

In a panic that his parents had heard, he quickly threw himself onto the ground behind the grill, curling up as far as he could into the shadows.

Sure enough, he heard the glass doors slide open a few moments later and the bright lights from the patio illuminated the entire back yard. 'Shit shit shit shit,' he thought as he very slowly crawled behind the corner of the house.

"What was that, Peter?!" he heard his mother ask with distress in her tone.

"Like I would know," his father mumbled.

Footsteps came in his direction, the shuffling of grass. In the light of the back patio, his father's shadow appeared, growing larger as Peter came closer to the corner of the house. He paused, looked around, and stood there for a few moments. Alex kept as quiet as possible and didn't move a muscle.

Then his father returned to the patio, where his mother was waiting with a broom in her hand, ready to launch out and sweep anyone who came near her to death. Alex was safe.

He checked the clock on his cell phone. It was now 8:27 PM. He had only three minutes to crawl across the yard, then sprint to the end of his road, which shouldn't be too big of a deal. But first he had to give his parents a few moments to settle back inside. It was also just his luck that they had failed to turn the back light out, further increasing his chances of getting caught.

"What am I doing?" he whispered to himself, rubbing his face with the palms of his hands. He could have just stayed inside, where it was warm and he didn't put himself at risk of being grounded for life. But, no, here he was crouched down in the shadows beside his house, calculating his odds of getting seen as he made a mad dash to the gate on the other side of the yard, almost ten yards away. Was it really worth it?

'Just think of how you'll feel if you get away with this, though. You're smarter than they are, Alex. Well, street smart, that is. You're wise and cunning and quick,' he tried to reassure himself as he got down on his belly and prepared himself to crawl.

'3…2…1.'

He was off, wriggling like a snake on the outskirts of the yard since they were the least irradiated. He didn't even dare to look towards the window as the gate grew closer and closer. Alex only thought about how fast he was going to run once he got through those metal bars. 'If you think you're invisible, you become invisible.'

With shaky hands and a speeding heart, his fingers struggled to get the lock open. 'Hurry up, hurry up!' It took several seconds of valuable time to work the gate open, but finally, the latch slipped open and the metal entrance creaked open. Once he had managed to shove the steel back into place, he made a mad dash for the end of his street. He was out! He was free!

"Fuck you, Peter!" he choked, panting heavily as he came to a halt at the street sign. "I can't believe I made it out." Alex laughed now, throwing his fists into the air. He was absolutely as jovial as could be. Alex Gaskarth, most over-protected boy in the United States, was running unrestricted about the streets. Now he was off to have the greatest night of his life at his first party.

Alex then realized that Jack was nowhere in sight. In fact, the streets were completely deserted; there was not a soul around aside from him and the soft hum of the street lights. He had just broken free of his prison cell of a home just to find that his ride wasn't there.

It took a few moments for it to register that Jack had actually stood him up, and once it did, he was furious once again.

"I did all of that for nothing?" he growled to no one at all. It was impossible for him to be truly angry with Jack, but boy was he ticked off at the moment. He had just risked his life (metaphorically, of course) to meet up with him, and he had the audacity to just not show up? Now his parents had probably armed the system and he would have to wander around the neighborhood until six A.M.

There was a sudden screeching of breaks behind him, and he whirled around, nearly pissing himself in fear.

"It's 8:29," Jack said from the driver's seat with a smirk, "so I'm not late."

Alex put a hand on his chest, his heart thumping against his skin. "Give me a heart attack, why don't you? You have no idea how ticked I was about to be!" he griped.

"Yeah, yeah. Get in, we're going to be late."

He didn't have to be told twice.

As Alex climbed into the passenger's seat, he began to wonder whether tonight would be a success, or the biggest mistake of his life.