The Sun vs The Moon

The car ride to Matt's Music Shoppe was short, since the apartment Jack lived in was nearby. The drive was filled with New Found Glory blaring in the speakers, but in a totally good way.

Alex and Jack both secretly got excited when 'Head-on Collision' came on, and they both sang. They sang loudly; Alex with his beautiful voice, and Jack with his not so beautiful voice. Alex loved it all the same.

"And it feeeeeels like, I'm at an all time low. Slightly bruised and broken from our head on collision," They sang loudly, "I've never seen this side of you, another tragic case of feeling bruised and broken," They sang more.

Alex likes this song so much that someday he wanted to start a band and call it All Time Low, just because it's part of the lyrics. He voiced this to Jack, and Jack told him that it was a great idea, as they pulled up to the Matt's Music Shop.

It was a ratty, run down, hole in the wall music store in Towson, Maryland, but it was owned by nice, trustworthy people and the customers had good friendships with the workers. In Alex's opinion, it was perfect.

The two boys stepped out of Jack's car, making sure it was locked (There had been some break-in incidents in the past and there's nothing wrong with being really cautious, 'kay?). Jack looked for his phone in his pockets while Alex childishly ran to the entrance, eager to get inside.

It was warm and inviting inside. There were several people of all ages scattered around the store and near the checkout counter, buying instruments, CD's and sheet music books.

There was a man, probably in his late seventies, asking the wall if they had the latest Pink Floyd album. Danny, a worker there, guided the older man to the correct section and away from facing the wall. Danny pulled out the album The Dark Side of The Moon and handed it to the old man, who looked very excited. Alex silently wondered if the man was on LSD.

Then there was a young teenage girl, about fourteen, checking out an album by One Direction. She had long, curly blond hair and a shirt that had a picture of Justin Beiber on it. Her brother, who was standing beside her and looked to be about sixteen, was checking out the albums by Metallica. The boy had long black hair with a red streak that covered his eye and a band shirt with the words Sum 41 all over it. Alex smiled at the sight.

"Alex!" Rian said from behind the counter with a smile. "C'mere!"

Alex ran over to Rian, who engulfed him in a big hug. At that time, Jack just entered the store. He saw the two hugging and smiled.

"I didn't see you here last week." Rian said, going back to ringing up the items on the counter.

Alex took a seat on the counter. "I had lots of testing at school, so I couldn't stay at Jack's place for the entire week. I only got to see him at the end of the week."

"That sucks," Rian said. "But please get your ass off the counter."

Alex laugher but complied and decided to look around for some albums.

"We got an acoustic guitar the other day." Matt said, walking into the room suddenly. "I think Alex would like it."

"Matty!" Alex said, running over to Matt and hugging him as well.

"What's up, little one?" He asks, ruffling Alex's hair.

"Busy, busy, busy, but I've finally saved enough money to buy Enema of the State. That shit is expensive." Alex whined.

"But worth it." Jack threw in, rearranging the guitar pics.

"Dude, you should have let me know you wanted that! We sold the last one a few days ago." Matt said with sympathy.

Alex groaned, because dammit he really wanted that. "Shit." He crossed his arms. "I blame Jack for not bringing me here sooner, otherwise I would have bought it."

The younger boy looked over to sneak a glance at Jack, who looked quite guilty. He sighed and moved on to rearranging guitar strings.

"Hey, I'm kidding, Jay." Alex said, noticing Jack's expression. Alex was sitting down once again on the counter even though Rian told him not to.

"Yea I know. Sorry." Jack says, waving his hand dismissively at Alex. "I'm just thinking right now."

"S'fine." Alex said, giving Jack a million dollar smile to reassure him that it was okay. He went back to conversing with Rian.

Rian talked about how this cute guy at his school asked him out, but he didn't want to say he's because he has his eye on someone else.

Jack watched Alex and Rian in the distance, thinking that they would in fact, make a very cute couple together. Rian had just turned eighteen two months ago, and Alex was almost sixteen. The two had a lot in common and bonded well together.

"Who's the lucky guy you like? Is he cute? Is he tall? Oh my God, tall guys are the best. What's his sexuality?" Alex spoke a mile a minute, excited for his friend.

"I... I can't tell you. You'll find out someday though, okay?" Rian grinned and sat cross legged on the floor behind the desk. No one was buying anything right now anyway.

"Oh, come on. Just tell me, does he go to your school? Do I know him?" Alex pried, nudging Rian's shoulder.

"No, he doesn't go to my school but you known him." Rian said, knowing this was a bad idea.

Alex looked shocked, but then leaned close to Rian and whispered, "Is he in this store?"

Rian nodded a yes and bit his lip. Alex looked around, noticing the people in the store. One of these guys, Alex thought,is liked by Rian, but who? Vinny Petrocelli, who was a cool guy that wore and sold lots of band merchandise, was looking through the record players at the end of the store. He was about twenty three, twenty four. He didn't seem like Rian's type though.

Alex then spotted Jack who was messing around with the electric guitars, but then quickly figured that there's no way Rian likes Jack because Jack belongs to Alex, okay? So no way.

The blond boy looked around the store more. He saw some regular customers; Evan Kirkendall, a cute and short teenager with platinum blond hair was looking at sound equipment. Not Rian's type.

Jeff Maker was a scruffy looking guy, although very kind. He was looking through some boxes of Vinyl records, but he's like, thirty, and totally not Rian's type.

Alex Grieco was setting up drum equipment in the back. Alex could barely see the other Alex, but he knows who he is already. They're both drummers, so they have that in common but he wasn't sure if he would suit Rian.

Danny Kurily worked at the store. He was managing through the guitars, making sure they looked pristine and ready to sell. He was cute, but still, he couldn't see Danny and Rian together.

"I'm totally fucking lost. Who is it? Is it Alex Grieco?" Alex said, unaware. "Is it Vinny? Oh my god, is it Matt?"

Rian laughed at Alex. If only he knew.

"I swear, if you like Matt, I will totally flip. He's like, totally straight. Plus, you work with him and that'd be so weird to date your boss." Alex said. "Just tell me who it is. I won't tell anyone."

Jack had nearly finished his work consisting of tuning the guitars and cleaning them. He was shining a purple guitar at that moment, listening to Alex complain to Rian, and Rian refusing to say anything.

He watched carefully as Rian reluctantly agreed to tell Alex who his magic crush was. Rian cupped his hands over Alex's ears and whispered something that Jack couldn't hear.

He watched as Rian pulled back and bit his lip, anxiously waiting for a response as Alex's expression changed from one of shock, curiosity and then to possibly one of excitement.

Jack snapped out of it, realising that he shouldn't be eavesdropping (even though Alex and Rian are in a public area and everyone can hear them perfectly fine). Jack plucked each string, finger on the fifth fret to make sure they were all in tune.

Noticing now the high E string was a little bit out of tune, he tuned it correctly and almost snapped the string when he heard Alex exclaim, "Of course I'll be your boyfriend!"