Oh, Calamity

“And now I just don’t know what to do. I still love him, a lot, but… I don’t know. I’m just mad that he didn’t trust me enough to believe that I was telling the truth.”

Dr Way nods and writes something on his clipboard. Tour ended the day after Jack and I fought, about a week and a half ago. We haven’t spoken since then, me keeping my oath to be tough. This is my first session back with Dr Way, and even though I haven’t had any panic attacks or mood swings it’s good to have someone who I know will give me some good advice.

“Well, it’s good that you’ve managed to stay so strong in this situation,” he says after a pause. “So tell me, how would you like for this situation to end?”

“Well, I want to be with Jack, of course. But I want him to trust me. I know he’s sorry and regrets what he did, but I don’t want to take him back just to have him still not trust me and think that it’s okay to accuse me of things like that because I’ll take him back in the end.”

“Yeah, I get it. But maybe a second chance wouldn’t be a bad idea. You love him and you know that he loves you and regrets what he did. You could make it clear to him it’s a second chance, and if he does something like that again then you know you shouldn’t trust him.”

“Yeah, I guess. That’s probably the only way I can try and fix things, huh?”

“Maybe. It’s up to you, though.”

“I’ll think it over and maybe talk to Jack about it. Thanks, Doc.”

“Hey, don’t forget these!” Dr Way tosses a small bottle of pills to me as I turn to leave. They’re the bipolar pills I left behind before I went on tour, so I guess I should probably start taking them. I nod to Dr Way and head home.

I bolt upright in my bed a few nights later, woken up by a loud crash coming from my balcony. Shit, am I being robbed or something?

I slip out of bed and tiptoe out of the room with a shining torch in one hand and my acoustic guitar in the other. I don’t have any weapons, so I figured this is the best thing I’ve got if I need to beat someone up.

Then I hear… music? I can definitely hear someone singing and strumming on a guitar. And what’s more, it’s an All Time Low song.

“It’s such a shame that we play strangers,
“No act to change what we’ve become.
“Damn, it’s such a shame that we’ve built a wreck out of me.
“Oh, calamity. Oh, calamity.”

It’s Jack, sitting on my balcony playing a guitar and singing at four in the morning. I didn’t recognise his voice because he doesn’t sing very often. He’s not the best singer, but he’s actually not too bad.

“Jack? What the fuck?” I say, unlocking and opening the door to the balcony and shining the torch in his face.

“Ah, fuck, you made me screw it up!” he exclaims, the music ceasing as he raises a hand to shield his eyes from the light.

“Jack, what the actual fuck are you doing? And how did you get there?”

“I’m serenading you. And I climbed up the building wall and onto the balcony. Sorry about your pot, too. I kinda broke it,” he says sheepishly as he points to the smashed flowerpot on the ground. I guess that’s what the crash was.

“You climbed up… with a guitar?” He nods and I just shake my head, not wanting to question it further.

He drops his guitar and comes over to me, taking my face in his hands and tilting it up so I’m looking him in the eyes. His beautiful, chocolate brown eyes.

“Alex, I want to apologise to you and I couldn’t think of how to get your attention, since you’ve been ignoring me.” At that he gets down on one knee, taking my hands. “Alex, I’m literally begging here. I love you, more than I’ve ever loved anyone. And I’m so, so sorry. I don’t know how to make it up to you except to tell you that if you give me a second chance I swear to you I will never fuck it up again because I can’t bear to lose you. Please, believe me. I love you.”

I have to take one of my hands back so I can wipe tears away from my eyes. “Stand up, you idiot.” He stands and I immediately take his face in my hands and kiss him, slowly and sweetly. “Jack Barakat, I am very mad at you. But if you promise to listen to me next time and believe in me, I will give you a second chance, because I love you too.”

“I promise,” he whispers.