Status: complete.
Won't Buy You Daisies
Won't Buy You Daisies
Alex watched as Jack pulled himself onto the wall that surrounded their high school, chatting away to his three best friends. He was smiling and laughing at some joke one of them made and Alex wanted so bad to hear that adorable laugh. Alex was sat by himself, deciding he’d rather admire his crush from a distance than eat lunch with his friends. They told him as he declined the invitation that he had no chance in hell of being with Jack Barakat, the ‘bad boy’ of the school, but Alex dismissed their accusations, insisting that he was just going to do some homework and wanted no distractions. They, of course, didn’t believe him for second, knowing their friend far too well to know that he certainly wasn’t doing homework, he’d do that at the last minute and pass with a near perfect mark.
Alex picked at the new spring daises that were finally growing after a long winter as he watched Jack interact with others, his black jeans and jacket making Alex feel like he was going to overheat just looking at him. He longed to go over and introduce himself to the tall boy, make himself known to the others world. Except, he knew that wouldn’t work, so he allowed himself to stay on the warm grass, picking at blades of grass and tying them together.
Unknown to Alex, Jack had spotted him staring from the get go. He could barely hide the grin from his face as his friends talked, watching from the corner of his eye as he plucked at daises and made chains out of them. Jack checked his phone to see that they had five minutes before the bell rang to signal the end of lunch break. “I have to do something, meet me in my car?” Jack spoke after Danny suggested they just skip their last lessons. His friends gave him confused faces but nodded, saying goodbye and walking off towards where the students parked their cars. He waved them off and smirked when he noticed Alex still sitting by himself, daisies and grass entwined through his fingers. He looked so innocent to Jack. He casually strode over to his unaware admirer. “Hey.” He spoke up, towering over Alex as he remained seated cross legged on the grass.
Alex looked up at the sudden voice and when he saw the brown eyes staring back at him intently his breath hitched. “Hi.” Alex squeaked, surprise obvious in his features.
“I couldn’t help but see you staring.” Jack started, sitting himself down beside Alex. “You’re Alex Gaskarth, right? My brother’s friends with your brother, Tom,”
“Uh, yeah, I’m Tom’s brother.”
“I’m Jack.” Jack stuck his hand out for Alex to shake and Alex took it gingerly, taking in how it felt soft yet slightly rough at the same time.
“I know.” Alex had meant to mutter it under his breath but Jack caught it nonetheless.
He chuckled and noted how Alex’s cheeks had painted crimson. “You’re cute Alex. But-” Jack took the daisy Alex was twiddling in his fingers. “Daisies don’t work on me.” Jack winked as he stood up again and walked off. Alex was mortified, he was sure even his ears were scarlet from embarrassment.
At home, after revising for the maths test the next day, Alex got set on devising a plan to win Jack over. He tore some lined paper from his notebook and took a pen from his desk draw. He put a bullet point on the second line down on the paper and beside the bullet point wrote Daisies, with a dash through as Jack told him himself that they wouldn’t work. He put a second bullet point on the line underneath and beside that wrote Misbehave.
The next day was Tuesday and so Alex put his plan into action. He had been so excited that he had hardly slept the night before, actually looking forward to English for once. When their teacher called on Alex to ask about the irony of the main character in the book they were studying pretending to be in a Hollywood movie when he claimed to hate them, he replied, to his own shock as well as everyone else’s in the room, “I don’t care, Sir.”
From across the room Jack smirked at Alex’s words. Clearly he was trying, and Jack would be a liar if he said that it wasn’t working already. He was glad Alex got away with the “outburst” with only a warning, seeing as he was an almost straight A student with a perfect record and he didn’t want to tarnish the boys reputation. Though really, if Alex ended up getting what he wanted, he’d probably ruin his reputation anyway.
At break Alex sat by himself again, clearing the top of the bench he was sitting at to make space for his list. He had folded it to fit into his jeans pocket and once he had flattened it out and taken out a pen he made a third dot on the fourth line down, in the margin like the other two dots. Beside this one he wrote his third idea of how to win the bad boy over down: Lying.
Luckily for Alex he got to put this one into action a few minutes after writing it down as Jack came and sat down in front of Alex, on the other side of the bench. “Hey again,” Jack spoke to get Alex’s attention.
Alex looked up from his book and nearly dropped it when saw who it was. “Hey.” Play it cool Gaskarth Alex scolded himself.
“I know what you were doing in English by the way, misbehaving to impress me?”
Alex scowled at Jack and placed his bookmark in his book before closing it. “I didn’t do anything to try and impress anyone.”
Jack chuckled and Alex fought his instinct to smile at the noise. “Whatever you say,” Jack mocked, swinging his legs over the bench seat and leaving without another word. As soon as Jack was out of sight Alex took his list and pen out of his bag. He put a score through the last two ideas and put yet another dot on the paper. This time, however, Alex was having a hard time coming up with another and decided to leave it until he got home.
Later, when Alex was collecting his books for his last lesson, Jack appeared by his side, Alex only noticing his presence when he closed his locker and Jack was there, smiling. “What is wrong with you?” Alex hissed as he tried to regulate his breathing after the scare he had just received.
“I’ve got something that I want you to have.” Jack replied, handing Alex a piece of folded paper and walking off without explanation. Alex wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to the randomness of Jack’s appearances, or the abruptness of his leaving.
Alex waited until he got home to unfold the paper, flinging his bag onto his floor and closing his door with his foot as he flattened the creases to reveal a number. He scoffed at the cockiness Jack seemed to have but entered the number into his phone anyway. He considered texting the taller boy his own number but then his fourth bullet point came to mind: Don’t call first.
On the Wednesday Alex told Jack how he felt about his random appearances after he did it again, appearing by Alex’s side as he entered the school with ten minutes to spare before the bell rang. All it did, however, was cause Jack to smirk and bite his lip. Alex caught onto this and when Jack disappeared again, after informing him that he had a date with a girl called Holly that night and that Alex should back off with his advances on him, he took out his paper and wrote down a fifth bullet point: Be a jerk.
Although Jack ditching him like that for some girl hurt, Alex was still sure he could get Jack to like him. He crossed out not being the first to call and instead sent Jack a text, telling him that he looked good in black. It was pretty much all he wore, so he was implying that he thought he looked good all the time. He didn’t really care if Jack got the subtle hint or not, he just wanted to show Jack that he wasn’t going to give up so easily.
If Jack was being honest, he hated that Alex was chasing after him. He didn’t want the kind of life he had to be put onto the intelligent boy. Jack drank more than he should, he smoked, he got into trouble and he slept around. He wasn’t so sure if Alex understood the extent of what he got up to in his spare time but it sure wasn’t homework and family time. What Jack didn’t realise was that Alex’s little crush wasn’t going to waver and for the next few weeks he kept up his attempts to win Jack. Only, after getting his attention, he’d brush Jack off like it was nothing, just to piss him off, and piss him off it did. Jack hated that he loved the way Alex was a jerk to him, that he continued to pretend like he didn’t care for the other at all.
It took five weeks of this torture for Jack to finally corner Alex on his walk home from school. Jack had given himself the day off and had spent the last twenty minutes hiding near Alex’s home, cigarette in hand as he patiently waited. When he saw a figure wearing all black turn the corner onto the street Jack knew immediately that it was Alex. He dropped his half-finished cigarette to the ground, rubbing it in to put it out with his Dr Martin clad foot, getting into position to pounce on the unaware boy.
When Alex had just passed him he jumped out of his hiding place and grabbed him around his waist, hauling him off his feet and into the gap between Alex’s neighbours house and his own. “What the fuck- Jack?”
Jack smirked at the glare he was receiving and pinned Alex against the wall, chests nearly touching, but not quite. “You wanna be bad, Alexander?”
Alex was stunned, but he knew he couldn’t back down. He was getting what he wanted and didn’t plan to waste the opportunity. “I don’t want to be bad,” Alex started and rolled his eyes at Jack’s scoff. “I just wanna be bad enough for you.” Alex could have laughed at Jack’s shocked expression. “Careful, you’ll catch flies.” Alex added when Jack didn’t reply.
Jack caught on to the playfulness in Alex’s tone and let the act of being mad drop, letting his arms fall to his sides and stepping back from Alex. “I never did have a date with Holly.” Jack confessed, much to Alex’s surprise.
Alex couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that he had been lied to. “Why did you lie to me?”
Jack shrugged and then produced a crumbled piece of paper from his pocket, a piece of paper Alex recognised very well. “Lies apparently work on bad boys.”
Alex was mortified and all but shouted, "Where did you get that?" before snatching it back. "I'm not a bad boy, Jack." Alex muttered, after the embarrassment had worn off and reality set in.
“Oh really,” Jack quirked an eyebrow, “I seem to remember you trying extra hard to get me afterwards.” Well he had a point there. “So what do you say, Alexander, want to misbehave with me?”
Alex smirked and stepped close to Jack once again, arms moving to wrap around Jack’s shoulders and lips just barely touching his as he spoke, “I’ll misbehave if it turns you on.” Jack pushed their lips together firmly but not for long and was soon pulling away. He took Jack’s hand and pulled him to his front garden. Alex stopped them at his front door and left Jack confused for a few seconds as he knelt down and plucked something from the ground. He turned back around to face Jack with a grin on his face and a white and yellow flower between his fingers. “Are you sure daisies won’t work?”
Alex picked at the new spring daises that were finally growing after a long winter as he watched Jack interact with others, his black jeans and jacket making Alex feel like he was going to overheat just looking at him. He longed to go over and introduce himself to the tall boy, make himself known to the others world. Except, he knew that wouldn’t work, so he allowed himself to stay on the warm grass, picking at blades of grass and tying them together.
Unknown to Alex, Jack had spotted him staring from the get go. He could barely hide the grin from his face as his friends talked, watching from the corner of his eye as he plucked at daises and made chains out of them. Jack checked his phone to see that they had five minutes before the bell rang to signal the end of lunch break. “I have to do something, meet me in my car?” Jack spoke after Danny suggested they just skip their last lessons. His friends gave him confused faces but nodded, saying goodbye and walking off towards where the students parked their cars. He waved them off and smirked when he noticed Alex still sitting by himself, daisies and grass entwined through his fingers. He looked so innocent to Jack. He casually strode over to his unaware admirer. “Hey.” He spoke up, towering over Alex as he remained seated cross legged on the grass.
Alex looked up at the sudden voice and when he saw the brown eyes staring back at him intently his breath hitched. “Hi.” Alex squeaked, surprise obvious in his features.
“I couldn’t help but see you staring.” Jack started, sitting himself down beside Alex. “You’re Alex Gaskarth, right? My brother’s friends with your brother, Tom,”
“Uh, yeah, I’m Tom’s brother.”
“I’m Jack.” Jack stuck his hand out for Alex to shake and Alex took it gingerly, taking in how it felt soft yet slightly rough at the same time.
“I know.” Alex had meant to mutter it under his breath but Jack caught it nonetheless.
He chuckled and noted how Alex’s cheeks had painted crimson. “You’re cute Alex. But-” Jack took the daisy Alex was twiddling in his fingers. “Daisies don’t work on me.” Jack winked as he stood up again and walked off. Alex was mortified, he was sure even his ears were scarlet from embarrassment.
At home, after revising for the maths test the next day, Alex got set on devising a plan to win Jack over. He tore some lined paper from his notebook and took a pen from his desk draw. He put a bullet point on the second line down on the paper and beside the bullet point wrote Daisies, with a dash through as Jack told him himself that they wouldn’t work. He put a second bullet point on the line underneath and beside that wrote Misbehave.
The next day was Tuesday and so Alex put his plan into action. He had been so excited that he had hardly slept the night before, actually looking forward to English for once. When their teacher called on Alex to ask about the irony of the main character in the book they were studying pretending to be in a Hollywood movie when he claimed to hate them, he replied, to his own shock as well as everyone else’s in the room, “I don’t care, Sir.”
From across the room Jack smirked at Alex’s words. Clearly he was trying, and Jack would be a liar if he said that it wasn’t working already. He was glad Alex got away with the “outburst” with only a warning, seeing as he was an almost straight A student with a perfect record and he didn’t want to tarnish the boys reputation. Though really, if Alex ended up getting what he wanted, he’d probably ruin his reputation anyway.
At break Alex sat by himself again, clearing the top of the bench he was sitting at to make space for his list. He had folded it to fit into his jeans pocket and once he had flattened it out and taken out a pen he made a third dot on the fourth line down, in the margin like the other two dots. Beside this one he wrote his third idea of how to win the bad boy over down: Lying.
Luckily for Alex he got to put this one into action a few minutes after writing it down as Jack came and sat down in front of Alex, on the other side of the bench. “Hey again,” Jack spoke to get Alex’s attention.
Alex looked up from his book and nearly dropped it when saw who it was. “Hey.” Play it cool Gaskarth Alex scolded himself.
“I know what you were doing in English by the way, misbehaving to impress me?”
Alex scowled at Jack and placed his bookmark in his book before closing it. “I didn’t do anything to try and impress anyone.”
Jack chuckled and Alex fought his instinct to smile at the noise. “Whatever you say,” Jack mocked, swinging his legs over the bench seat and leaving without another word. As soon as Jack was out of sight Alex took his list and pen out of his bag. He put a score through the last two ideas and put yet another dot on the paper. This time, however, Alex was having a hard time coming up with another and decided to leave it until he got home.
Later, when Alex was collecting his books for his last lesson, Jack appeared by his side, Alex only noticing his presence when he closed his locker and Jack was there, smiling. “What is wrong with you?” Alex hissed as he tried to regulate his breathing after the scare he had just received.
“I’ve got something that I want you to have.” Jack replied, handing Alex a piece of folded paper and walking off without explanation. Alex wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to the randomness of Jack’s appearances, or the abruptness of his leaving.
Alex waited until he got home to unfold the paper, flinging his bag onto his floor and closing his door with his foot as he flattened the creases to reveal a number. He scoffed at the cockiness Jack seemed to have but entered the number into his phone anyway. He considered texting the taller boy his own number but then his fourth bullet point came to mind: Don’t call first.
On the Wednesday Alex told Jack how he felt about his random appearances after he did it again, appearing by Alex’s side as he entered the school with ten minutes to spare before the bell rang. All it did, however, was cause Jack to smirk and bite his lip. Alex caught onto this and when Jack disappeared again, after informing him that he had a date with a girl called Holly that night and that Alex should back off with his advances on him, he took out his paper and wrote down a fifth bullet point: Be a jerk.
Although Jack ditching him like that for some girl hurt, Alex was still sure he could get Jack to like him. He crossed out not being the first to call and instead sent Jack a text, telling him that he looked good in black. It was pretty much all he wore, so he was implying that he thought he looked good all the time. He didn’t really care if Jack got the subtle hint or not, he just wanted to show Jack that he wasn’t going to give up so easily.
If Jack was being honest, he hated that Alex was chasing after him. He didn’t want the kind of life he had to be put onto the intelligent boy. Jack drank more than he should, he smoked, he got into trouble and he slept around. He wasn’t so sure if Alex understood the extent of what he got up to in his spare time but it sure wasn’t homework and family time. What Jack didn’t realise was that Alex’s little crush wasn’t going to waver and for the next few weeks he kept up his attempts to win Jack. Only, after getting his attention, he’d brush Jack off like it was nothing, just to piss him off, and piss him off it did. Jack hated that he loved the way Alex was a jerk to him, that he continued to pretend like he didn’t care for the other at all.
It took five weeks of this torture for Jack to finally corner Alex on his walk home from school. Jack had given himself the day off and had spent the last twenty minutes hiding near Alex’s home, cigarette in hand as he patiently waited. When he saw a figure wearing all black turn the corner onto the street Jack knew immediately that it was Alex. He dropped his half-finished cigarette to the ground, rubbing it in to put it out with his Dr Martin clad foot, getting into position to pounce on the unaware boy.
When Alex had just passed him he jumped out of his hiding place and grabbed him around his waist, hauling him off his feet and into the gap between Alex’s neighbours house and his own. “What the fuck- Jack?”
Jack smirked at the glare he was receiving and pinned Alex against the wall, chests nearly touching, but not quite. “You wanna be bad, Alexander?”
Alex was stunned, but he knew he couldn’t back down. He was getting what he wanted and didn’t plan to waste the opportunity. “I don’t want to be bad,” Alex started and rolled his eyes at Jack’s scoff. “I just wanna be bad enough for you.” Alex could have laughed at Jack’s shocked expression. “Careful, you’ll catch flies.” Alex added when Jack didn’t reply.
Jack caught on to the playfulness in Alex’s tone and let the act of being mad drop, letting his arms fall to his sides and stepping back from Alex. “I never did have a date with Holly.” Jack confessed, much to Alex’s surprise.
Alex couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that he had been lied to. “Why did you lie to me?”
Jack shrugged and then produced a crumbled piece of paper from his pocket, a piece of paper Alex recognised very well. “Lies apparently work on bad boys.”
Alex was mortified and all but shouted, "Where did you get that?" before snatching it back. "I'm not a bad boy, Jack." Alex muttered, after the embarrassment had worn off and reality set in.
“Oh really,” Jack quirked an eyebrow, “I seem to remember you trying extra hard to get me afterwards.” Well he had a point there. “So what do you say, Alexander, want to misbehave with me?”
Alex smirked and stepped close to Jack once again, arms moving to wrap around Jack’s shoulders and lips just barely touching his as he spoke, “I’ll misbehave if it turns you on.” Jack pushed their lips together firmly but not for long and was soon pulling away. He took Jack’s hand and pulled him to his front garden. Alex stopped them at his front door and left Jack confused for a few seconds as he knelt down and plucked something from the ground. He turned back around to face Jack with a grin on his face and a white and yellow flower between his fingers. “Are you sure daisies won’t work?”