Be My Romeo

“Zack, come on man. We’re going to be late if you take any longer,” his best friend, and right hand man Jack yelled hoping to get Zack out of the house so that they could get down to the beach as soon as possible. Jack would be damned if Zack was the reason he missed out on seeing all the girls down there getting wasted and throwing themselves at anything that breathed and had a dick. Maybe tonight would be the night he would finally hook up with Maddie Carlson; but he couldn’t do that if Zack was still in the bathroom doing whatever it is he does in there.

“Keep your pants on man,” Zack said walking out of said bathroom smoothing out the shirt that was covering his chest. “The girls will still be drunk when we get there. You don’t need to stress so much.”

“I’m sorry I don’t want to stand here and watch you act like a girl when I could be hooking up with a real girl,” he said giving his slightly older friend a pointed look.

“Whatever, I’m ready so let’s go before you freak out even more,” the older boy said as he slipped his phone into his pocket and reached for his car keys.

“Thank god. It took you long enough.”

With a roll of his eyes Zack pulled open his bedroom door and let his lanky friend out to his car. Climbing into the car Zack made sure everything was still in place, while Jack pulled out his phone and immediately started texting.

“Rumor has it that Gaskarth’s gang is going to be there too,” Jack said as he looked up from his phone and over at Zack only to see him grip the steering wheel tighter and clench his jaw.

“That’s just perfect. Tonight was supposed to be about relaxing, not dealing with those idiots,” he said with a shake of his head. “That kid clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing. His crew is all over town fucking shit up and he just lets it happen,” Zack said referring to the fight his friends Jeff Maker and Alex Grieco had had earlier that week with Gaskarth’s right hand man Rian Dawson and Danny Kurily earlier that week. “Thankfully I’ve never met the guy, because I don’t think I’d want to.”

“The other rumor is that Gaskarth himself is going to be there, so you might just get your chance to meet him and tell him how stupid you think he is,” the younger boy said with a laugh, earning himself a glare from Zack.

“I think I might just have to give you my gun for the night,” he said as an afterthought making the two of them break out into laughter as he pulled into a parking spot.

“Just remember, if Gaskarth tries anything when you finally meet him, Grieco and Jeff kicked his guys asses the other day,” he said with a pointed look before opening his car door and climbing out. Taking a quick look around the parking lot Jack quickly caught sight of his affection and smiled. “Well I see Maddie; I’m going to go get in there before she gets too drunk and hooks up with someone else. See ya.”

“See ya,” Zack yelled to Jack’s retreating back, shaking his head at his friend. He’s watched Jack try to hook up with Maddie more times than he can count, and she still says no every time.



Meanwhile across the parking lot Alex Gaskarth was sitting atop the hood of his car talking with his best friend Rian. He held an open beer bottle in his hand, but was too busy looking at everyone around them to worry about drinking it.

“Dude, you need to lighten up,” Rian said shaking him out of his thoughts. “Why don’t you go find a nice, hot piece of ass and just forget about everything for a little while?”

“Because if I do you and Danny might go start another stupid fight that you’re probably going to lose,” he said through gritted teeth while purposely punching Rian right where he had a still healing bruise to prove he was still too weak to fight. “And I really don’t want to deal with your shit tonight. I’m pretty sure that Merrick kid thinks I’m a joke because of your guy’s stunt.”

“Who give a fuck what he thinks” Rian asked with a laugh before taking a swig of his own beer. “I’m going to go find Cass,” he mumbled as he slid off the hood of her car and went to find his girlfriend.

With a shake of his head, Alex let his friend go; Rian was too drunk to realize how stupid he was the other day anyways. If he had been sober Alex knew he would have been apologizing for the fight. Rian along with the rest of his crew knew he didn’t like violence, but sometimes he had to use it when Merrick’s gang got too close to his family’s territory. But then again, if their families weren’t feuding this wouldn’t have to be an issue.

“Sitting here sulking again?” Danny asked as he jumped up onto the hood of the car and leaned back against the windshield looking over at Alex.

“I’m not sulking. You know how I feel about partying,” Alex said tipping back his beer and finishing it off.

“Alex, you need to get out there and have some fun. You need to live up to the normal stereotype of a gang leader. Grab a new beer, find someone hot to dance with and dance into the night,” Danny said with a smirk. “Get out there and show Merrick you’re a better gang leader than him.”

“Drinking and dancing with someone attractive is not what makes a great gang leader.”

“By societies standards it does, now get out there,” Danny said as he pulled his foot closer to his chest, before quickly kicking it out effectively shoving Alex off the hood of the car. “Just remember to watch out for Merrick.”

“I’ll try my hardest; just remember I don’t know what he looks like. It’s been five years since I’ve last seen a member of his family and he never seems to be with them,” Alex said as he reached down into the cooler on the ground and grabbed a fresh beer, using the side mirror to open the bottle.

“Whatever, just go have fun. I’ll hold down the car,” he smiled as he spread out on the hood and got comfortable.

“Okay, just remember not to crush it,” the gang leader yelled over his shoulder as he walked over to the group of dancing drunks. His plan was to just walk through the group and make Danny think he was in the center of it dancing, so that he would get off his back.

As he made his way to the other side of the makeshift dirt dance floor he stopped and took a few steps back as he caught sight of someone standing near the trees laughing. He loved the way the guy’s eyes lit up as he laughed at some joke his friend was telling him.

Alex, not wanting to start rumors about himself quickly made his way over to a group of stoners a few feet in front of him and asked them for one of the papers they were using to roll up their joints. Thankfully, along with an endless amount of tiny papers to roll up their drugs, some of the girls also had a pen with them so then he didn’t have to go around searching for one.

Going over to a nearby cooler he quickly crouched down in front of it and started scribbling out a note. Once he was done he gave the girl who lent him the pen a crisp twenty dollar bill and had he go deliver his note to the guy by the trees.



“I still can’t believe you actually did that,” Zack said with a laugh as Jeff started blushing.

“Sorry I was trying to impress a girl. I was sixteen and stupid; there’s really nothing else I can say to explain it,” Jeff shrugged trying to defend himself.

“Did you at least get the girl?” Grieco asked with a smirk, already knowing the answer.

“You and I both know that I didn’t get the girl. After I made a fool of myself you had to swoop in and steal her from me,” he said shoving his friend and making him stumble slightly.

Before anyone else could say anything else a young, very nervous looking boy walked over to the group and tapped Zack on the shoulder. Without saying a word the boy handed Zack a paper and quickly walked away, trying to get away from one of the city’s biggest gang leaders before the guy could ask for his name.

“What was that about?” Jeff asked as he turned around to watch the slightly shaking man walk into the middle of the dance floor and disappear from sight.

“Guess I’m going to have to read this to find out,” Zack said waving the small piece of paper in the air before opening it and reading. Meet me in the trees in five minutes. You’re bright smile makes me want to know you.

“So?” Grieco asked as he watched Zack’s face light up as he read.

“Come on man, tell us what it says?” Jeff said trying to grab the note out of Zack’s hand.

“I’ll tell you when the time comes,” the gang leader said quickly shoving the paper into his pocket. “I’m going to go get another beer. Be back soon.” With that Zack left and quickly made his way towards the trees, forgetting that they were standing right next to a cooler.

He wanted to know who was sending him such sweet notes. He was guessing because of the horrible chicken scratch looking handwriting that it was a guy, but he also had to be prepared for it to be a girl. As nice as it would be to see a girl taking charge and making the first move, he always hated having to tell them that he wasn’t really interested in their gender.

“You know he’s not coming back anytime soon, right?” Jeff asked as they watched their boss walk into the tree line and disappear from view.

“As long as he has fun and isn’t uptight tomorrow I don’t really care when he comes back,” Grieco said as he reached over to the cooler that was right next to them and opened a new beer.

Zack made his way over to the trees, looking around carefully to make sure no one was getting ready to jump out at him. The further away he got from his friends, the more he realized that he could potentially be walking into a trap. What if Gaskarth had someone send him that note to trick him and ambush him.

With a deep breath Zack walked into the trees and hoped for the best.