Prompts

“Well,” he laughed, “My name is Alexander Gaskarth, I'm seventeen years old and I sing.”

He looked at the men with the big cameras facing directly towards him. In his mind, Alex remembers that before he sat down, the director had told him to explain a little bit about himself, what inspired him to do what he does, so he opened his mouth and spoke. “What inspires me to pursue music was probably my brother, Tom. He passed away last year,” Alex faltered, feeling warmth beneath his eyes that were dangerously close to spilling over, an uncomfortable tightness in his throat, but he controlled himself. “He helped me become who I am today.”

The cameras still were facing him, so he continued, “I was able to pull though with the help of music, whether it may be listening to it, creating it, or playing it. It was something more powerful than any drug I could take, and that's what I focused my life on.”

The director made a hand motion, one that told Alex that he should keep talking, so he did. “My boyfriend has also helped me with my music dream, and he's here today and supporting me like he always had, like he has been since we were fourteen.”

“Cut!” Someone yelled, and Alex felt relief flood through him. He got up from the stool he was on, and then started walking over to the corner of the room where he had set down his bag and his guitar. The director came over to him and smiled, “Good job. You'll be going on stage in just a few minutes. Get ready.”

Alex felt an overwhelmingly painful amount of nerves at the thought of being in front of so many people, but he refused to take Xanex or any other kind of medication. He knew that admitting the problem was the first step towards repair, and we all recover, so he kept his bottle of meds at home, in his desk drawer.

“Lex.” Jack said, finding Alex and engulfing him in his arms. “You did good. Are you ready to go on stage?”

“No,” Alex said nervously, “and I never will be.”

“But you'll do good, I believe in you.” Jack smiled at him, then kissed his cheek. He pressed his lips to the elder's ear and whispered, “I love you.”

Before Alex could reply, directors were corralling him towards the dressing rooms, and Jack was left behind. In the rooms, there were big mirrors with all kinds of powdery makeup that they had put on him to not look so pale in the harsh light. There were other contestants beside him getting ready. He saw a girl in cowgirl attire, and a drag queen with a lot of makeup.

Alex had on tight black skinny jeans, the kind that he got at a garage sale for ten dollars, and a black Blink-182 shirt. His 1987 Gibson Les Paul acoustic guitar, his baby, was slung around his shoulder, Jack's 'Jack Skellington' pick in hand. He briefly wondered what he looked like to everyone else, if he was good looking or if he just looked desperate. Then, Jack came rushing towards him and hugging him tightly.

“I found you.” The lanky teen said, pressing his forehead against his boyfriends, going cross-eyed as he attempted to look into the other's eyes.

The elder smiled, saying, “I'm glad you did.” He was leaned in quickly, pressing a firm but chaste kiss to Jack's lips and the pulled back, admiring how beautiful his love was.

Now, Alex stood by the curtains, heart racing faster than he's ever felt before, and saw the current contestant walking backstage where Alex was. Nick Canon was suddenly standing beside him, talking to him, but Alex could only hear the sound of his heart, the pulse of his throbbing head, the monotonous ring in his ears, the inhalation of his breath and the ever so soothing sound of Jack's voice whispering in his ear, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

Someone was guiding him to the stage, and all of a sudden, Alex was in the middle of the stage. When he looked back, he saw his mom, dad, sister and step-brother, Jack and his family, Rian and his parents, Zack and his sister, and Nick Canon, barely visible through the jungle of family members, but visible enough to know that he was motioning for Alex to keep walking.

Alex looked to his right, seeing an overwhelmingly large wall in vibrant, patriotic colors that read, 'America's Got Talent.' To his left, he saw the panel of judges. He made his way to the center of the stage, nervousness intensifying and the guitar strapped around him felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

“Hey sweetie, what's your name?” Heidi Klum said, sipping on a coke from the panel.

“Alex Gaskarth.” The teen said, feeling the heat of the light directly focused on him. He tried not to look at the thousands and thousands of people in the large room staring at him, directing their attention to him.

Howard Stern, with his curly hair, looked at Alex through his dark glasses and said, “Are you gonna blow us away today?”

“Uh, I sure hope so.” He said, growing impatient though not showing it. He just wanted to play his song and go home.

"What's brought you to America's Got Talent?" Howie asked.

"I'm here to sing."

Mel B. smiled at him and said in her accent, “Then show us what you've got.”

The crowd began clapping and cheering, and the lights began to dim and focus only on Alex. He laughed nervously, but stared down at the fretboard of his guitar, imagining that Jack was standing next to him and whispering in his ear the words to the song.

“Inquisitive and thoughtful, she was the challenge he'd been waiting for. A reminder that creativity runs deep, like secrets.”

He could hear his voice echo around the large room from the house mix, and the monitor mix of his guitar in his in-ear monitor. As soon as Alex had sang the first sentence, the audience clapped and cheered more, giving him a boost of confidence, though he kept his eyes closed as he strummed his guitar. He had a difficult time getting a good grip on his pick because his hands were getting sweaty already.

“Dark eyed dreamers, they were a dangerous pair. Q next to U, scribbled out on paper. They stop, they go, they're done.”

Alex took a leap of faith and opened his eyes, staying silent for a moment to evaluate the crowd. He started playing his guitar once again and sang as loud as he could with intense emotion into the microphone in front of him, thinking of Jack as he did so.

“Go back to the place we knew before, retrace our steps to the basement door. I'll ask you if the rain still makes you smile. Like so much time that we spent in the fall, put color in our cheeks while the air turned cold, preceding what became our bitter end.”

He briefly played a guitar riff, hearing people scream, then continued to sing but softer, gentler with closed eyes.

“Round in circles, let's start over. Round in circles, let's start over.”

When Alex opened his eyes, he saw thousands of people on their feet cheering and clapping, and a couple of the judges were on their feet. Despite all of the people, the only person he could hear or see was Jack, who was standing side stage and wiping at his eyes, covering his mouth as he cried. Regardless of the crowd, Alex was singing to Jack, and Jack knew it. He could feel it, he just could.

Before he knew it, there was a voice saying, “That was... absolutely amazing.”

Mel B. was talking, leaning into her microphone and laughing, “You don't even know how well you can sing, do you?”

“Uhm,” Alex laughed, feeling like he wasn't even really standing there at all, “I guess.”

“Do you have people supporting you here today?” Howie asked, his bald head shining in the light humorously.

Alex instinctively had a flash of Jack's face in his face, almost feeling the younger's soft lips on his. “My amazing boyfriend, Jack, and my band members, and family.”

“Your boyfriend? Can we see him?” Heidi asked.

Alex couldn't help but smile. “O-of course!” Then, he looked at side stage and beckoned for Jack to come. He did, the lanky teen running over to the elder and hugging him, picking him up and swinging him, much to Alex's discomfort.

Despite the people at home watching on their TV's and the people in the room, Alex leaned in and kissed Jack, chaste and soft as girls in the crowd screamed. Alex held the younger's hand and leaning into the mic, saying, “This is Jack.”

“Oh, he's a cutie.” Mel said, looking at Jack.

“You said you had band members, are you in a band?” Howard asked.

Alex didn't miss the opportunity to talk about the band. “Yea, it's pop-punk. We're called All Time Low. Jack's the guitarist, Rian's the drummer, Zack does bass and I sing.”

Howie nodded and said, “So you've been on stage before then?”

“Actually,” Alex said, gripping tight to Jack's hand, “we only preform in our garage. So coming here today was the boldest thing I've ever done, really.”

“That's amazing.” Heidi said, then looked at the other judges. “Well, I think it's time we start voting? I give you a big, 'Yes!'”

Alex gasped and covered his mouth with his free hand as Howie smiled and said, “Yes.”

Heidi and Mel both said yes as well, and with shaking arms, Alex hugged Jack so hard that he think his sternum popped. He ran off of the stage and waved, holding Jack's hand again. Side stage, Nick Cannon high fived them both and said, “That was amazing!”

After Alex hugged his family and friends and cried a lot, they went out to eat a celebratory dinner at a fancy restaurant even though the Gaskarth's were poor. They got home and Rian and Zack had decided to spend the night and hang out in the morning. Most importantly, Jack had spent the entire night curled up next to Alex and pressing kisses to every inch of his body.

“I'm so proud of you. You did amazing, just like I knew you would.” Jack said in the darkness, nudging his nose against Alex's jaw.

“I love you, Jack.” The elder said, wrapping his arms around Jack, feeling their bare legs tangle.

Jack kissed his nose. “I love you too, Alex.”