Status: Comment, sub, rec :)

The Mixtape of Hatred

macy's day parade

Jack noticed that his 'flashbacks' are consistent.

They happen at least once a day, when he's asleep, and it always ends up pretty much stalking his younger self and his ex-best friend who was pretty much in love with him and it ends with his ex-girlfriend lecturing him with her annoying voice. Then, he wakes up and the title of whatever song that was playing when he had the 'flashback' appears with something that he doesn't remember if Alex'd ever said it written underneath it.

He's now on his third flashback.

Well, technically, he's awake and staring at the CD case, listening to Billie Joe Armstrong's raspy but melodious voice fill up his room. He wondered why he didn't magically fall asleep this time, why did a studio recorded Green Day song get stuck in this mixtape when all the prior songs were original songs by Alex and were a nicely recorded live performance with the crowd cheers were lowered to perfection.

But he did know why it was Macy's Day Parade.

It was the first song he'd ever learned on guitar, and the one who taught him the song was the Gaskarth boy himself.

He waited patiently for the flashback to hit him in the face, to see what this mixtape's planning to force him to watch.

He took some wild guesses, was it prom? Was it homecoming? Was it the day they got so drunk they woke up cuddling with no shirts on? Was it spirit day?

When the song ended, he sighed, gave up, and went to bed.

*****


"Why did you wait for the flashback." Verity's voice filled the air, he opened his eyes to see only the two of them in the middle of an empty, white room with no windows nor doors.

Jack shrugged.

"Why did you wait for the fucking flashback, Jack. I'm serious."

"I dunno," he sighed, "I just thought maybe if it didn't take me by surprise, it would make me feel less horrible."

Verity laughed dryly, "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

"Where are we, anyway?"

"Your brain, duh." she answered, "I was looking for the surpressed memory to access so I can drag you to a third perspective of your high school years, but since you waited for it and couldn't stop thinking about it, I can't find it."

Jack sighed, "What are you looking for?"

"Macy's Day Parade."

And before Jack could utter another word, he found himself staring at young Alex's naked body.

He noticed that he was in a bathroom, and the boy just got out of the shower, wiping his wet face with the white towell before wrapping it around his waist. Jack's face burned red and he was flustered, and he couldn't believe he's feeling this way in front of a projection of his ex-best friend.

Alex hummed as he walked outside of the bathroom, naturally, Jack followed him to his room and sat on the comfy bed in the middle of the room. He tried not to peek at him as he dropped his towell to put some boxers and jammies on, he wondered why Verity wants him to pretty much sta-

"Alex!" he heard his pre-pubescent, high pitched voice sing, making him and Alex grimance, "I have graced you with my presence."

He saw Alex smile aww.

"Greeting, thy fair Lady Gaskank," young Jack said, "I had offered thee thy pizza from thy greateth landeth of dominoth's."

"My deepest gratitude, Sir Barafag," Alex grinned, "I'm gonna go grab some sodas, want anything?"

"Nay, Faireth, I shall wait for you, right hereth."

Alex giggled, "Goddammit, Jack, stop it."

"Fineth, my Lady, only for you."

He thought he'd never say this, but damn, he has some smooth moves, he wondered why he never used this to get in girls' pants.

He observed as his younger self made himself comfortable in the young Gaskarth's bedroom, grabbing the guitar as he laid down on the floor, plucking aimlessly and enjoying the sounds that came out of it.

When Alex returned, he say how wide his smile was and how he brought two cans of beverages; a can of beer and a can of coke, making him smile because this boy knows him too well.

"Thanketh, thy fair maiden."

"I'd do anything to get into your pants," Alex said as he threw the beer towards young Jack, "Side note, though, I didn't know you played."

"Me?" the younger raised his eyebrows, "Naah, it was just plucking."

"Really? Sounded pretty good to me."

The room fell silent for a while, as both boys took a big gulp from their drinks, Jack predicted that his younger self would break the silence, he was known as the talkative, hyper-happy-go-lucky boy.

"Want me to teach you?"

Wow, okay, he was wrong.

"That would be super duper rad!" the younger exclaimed, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"

Alex laughed, "Alright, dude, calm your tits," Alex sat beside him, "Sit on my lap,"

The younger raised his eyebrow.

"Dude, I'm not gonna fuck you or anything, it'll be easier this way," Alex said, Jack observed as his younger self scooted onto the boy's lap. Alex wrapped his arm around his waist and used his free arm to guide his fingers through the guitar.

He stared in awe as he watched himself grin as his friend showed him a few chords. He noticed how excited he was when it sounded right, and how proud his best friend was of him.

"Okay, I'm gonna teach you how to play Macy's Day Parade."

"Isn't that hard?"

"What? No, it's pretty simple once you've learned all the basic chords, and you did that ten seconds ago!"

True.

Alex then started talking about how the song works, all the technical things like the strumming patterns, the chord progression and how fast the tempo of the song is. Young Jack looked lost at first, but after the third time he fucked up the bridge, he finally got it and mastered the song.

"Congrats, man, you mastered your first song!" Alex smiled.

"Thanks," the younger chuckled, "Couldn't have done it without you."

"Anything to get into your heart."

*****


This time, he didn't jolt awake, when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by Brent's worried face.

His boss' face softened when he realised that Jack was finally awake.

"Thank god, dude, you're so stiff I thought you were dead."

Jack shrugged, "I had a nice dream."

"Fair enough, your shift starts in thirty minutes and we have fresh meat for you to grill."

Jack sighed, training a trainee? It's not even January yet!

"You owe me, Brent."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

*****


What he didn't expect was for him to get home after work and find Verity sitting on his sofa.

"What're you doing here?" he asked.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here'? The mixtape's voodoo. I can go wherever without my body following my soul," she retorted, "Plus, I haven't given you my 'annoying lecture' and you haven't read the CD case yet, so if you go to sleep now, the flashback continues."

Jack shrugged, grabbed a pillow and attempted to sleep on the couch.

"What the fuck?! You idiot, don't go to sleep!"

"Why not? I'd kill to re-live that memory! We looked so happy there and-"

"Do you really want to know what happens next?! Okay, here's what happens next. You ask him if that skank would say yes if you asked her to prom, you went to prom with her, you fucked her in the backseat of your car, you drove home, not caring how you pretty much left your best friend in the gym, alone, because his date had to leave early and you were his ride! He had to walk home in the pouring rain because of you!" she screamed, "You selfish, egotistical idiot!"

"You know that if I could take it back, I would, but I can't! I just want to be happy again, okay?! I want my best friend back!"

"Well, you can't have him back! He loved you and you pushed him aside for the millions of whores that spread her legs for you! Can you imagine how shitty he must've felt? How badly he wanted to tell you, but he knew that if he did, it'll ruin everything? And turns out, it did!"

Wait, what?

"You know what happened that day?" he asked.

"Shit, shit, shit, this ruins everything." she muttered.

"Tell me what happened, Verity."

"I can't, not right now."

Jack groaned, "What am I gonna do?" he sighed, "I lost my best friend because I wanted to get my dick wet, and now, my only chance of getting him back is to let the memories of the good times we shared hit me in the face like a shit tonna bricks because the person who made the fucking mixtape won't tell me what happened that day."

"Jack, I'm not lying, I literally can't tell you," she sighed, "What happened that day can only be accessed by you, even if I tell you, nothing will change. We can't just skip to the ending, Jack."

"I wish I could just speed things up a little," he groaned, "Life would be so much easier if I could just talk to him about it."

The idea hit him like a shit tonna bricks.

He knew how to speed up the process. He had to see the boy and beg him for his forgiveness, possibly give him what he's always wanted, which was his love and live happily ever after. It was a great idea!

"That's the worst idea you've ever come up with." Verity scoffed.

Jack rolled his eyes, "C'mon, dude, all I need is a second chance, I'm sure he'd give me one, since you can't fall out of love that easily."

"Dude, it's been years since you last saw him, it's impossible. Trust me."

"Just, tell me where he is, and you will never have to give me annoying lectures about how much I've hurt him ever again."

"Like I'd ever tell you where he is."

After that, she disappeared.

Jack grabbed the CD case and looked at the writing.

"I'm glad you told me the truth, otherwise I would probably still be pining over you like a total idiot."

He sighed, then, another idea hit him.

He grabbed his laptop, googled Alex Gaskarth, checked his bank account and did what no one expected him to do.
♠ ♠ ♠
my internet fucked up guys i'm sorry for the delay

also i had to re-write this chapter from scratch bc i lost my first draft

and my cousin decided that she wanted me to come with her to her school camp thing needless to say they thought i was a student and made me do 30 push-ups i know my cousin's school is kinda fucked up

also the guy i used to pine over in high school decided to start a serious relationship and sigh it's been a bad month for me

Anywho i'll probably edit this later bc i made lots and lots of mistakes

Literally the original one had less drama but i cant remember it so gah i am so sorry

Kellicxo
sapphyreblood
Bringmethe_kellic_