I'll Keep You a Daydream Away

The band had really taken off in the following three years, they were starting to record songs and EP's for various people. They had filmed a video for the song Circles, they were even planning stuff for after graduation. Things had never cleared up between Alex, Joslyn, and Zack. There was still this awkward tension between the three of them, it was almost unbearable at times. Alex tried to let it go by dating Lisa, that never helped. It just caused even more tension between Joslyn and him. Thinking of all these complicated romantic issues he let his head thud against his wall as he sat in his room. It was the summer before their senior year, it was suppose to be perfect. Nothing was going as planned, he had fought with Joslyn on the last day of school about his and Lisa's relationship. She had told him that Lisa was cheating on him, which she had been, but he wouldn't believe her and told her to stop being jealous. Joslyn had been so upset that she didn't go to graduation, she just went home and didn't come back. Alex looked out his window to the large tree that had been growing there since before he had moved in. On the other side of this large tree was Joslyn's bedroom window, he wanted to go and talk to her. Sit in the tree and practice his guitar, something to get her attention. He knew that she was still angry about it all, she hadn't called him, or come to any rehearsals. He knew that she was pretending none of them existed; he'd asked Jack if he'd seen her, he hadn't.

Joslyn sat on her floor staring at her window, on the other side of the giant oak was Alex's room. Was he thinking about her? Probably not. She frowned and picked up her book, she wanted to talk to him or someone. She knew that if she did it wouldn't be good, she would get upset because she got really emotionally attached to him. In the end she would probably cry, she didn't want to do that. She could hear Asa playing downstairs, he was calling out to their dog Bigsby. The idea of Alex made her want to cry, she missed him so much she could almost hear him playing Circles. She focused on the sound, he was singing. Just outside her window, she just knew that he was there. She rushed over to her window and looked to see the rather skinny, rather awkward Alexander William Gaskarth seated in the tree playing guitar. She knew that her eye's had lit up, she knew that he was there, she knew that she felt better.
"He was the poet and she was the muse, she had a pen that she knew how to use." He sang in time to his strums. She smiled again, her window open. The humid summer heat of Baltimore was blowing through her window moving her curtains. She tugged on her vans and crawled out of her window onto a tree branch.

Alex smiled as he heard the tree rustling; he saw her skinny, pale figure coming into view through the branches. She perched herself on the branch next to him, they didn't say anything. Finally he finished the song, he looked over at her. Her long messy black hair was pulled into a high ponytail and held back with a black bandanna. She had a smile on her face as she sat next to him, she looked over and said "I missed you, Lex."
"I missed you too, Jos." Alex looked over and saw her face, she was so pale and sweet looking. He shook his head, his messy black hair falling around him. He had just dyed it the week before, she looked at him and commented "I didn't know you dyed your hair."
"Yeah, I had Zack help me. He's done it so it wasn't so hard."
"Awesome, it looks pretty good." He grinned again, compliments from her still made him the happiest.

"Joslyn, sweetheart!" Jack yelled as he ran up to her, he wrapped her in a large hug and smiled. She was standing in the middle of the Barakat household, in a pair of shorts and a tank top. The muggy summer heat beating down outside.
"Oh my gosh, I've missed you so much." Jack said grinning.
"I missed you too, Jack. It's only been like a month."
"Exactly! A month! I've missed you so much, it's been such a sausage party with out you."
Joslyn started to laugh, she hugged him again.
"Alex and Zack have been lonely without you here." He whispered softly in her ear. He knew that she really liked Alex, and he knew that Alex liked her. The only downside to this cute unrequited romance was that Zack liked her too. He knew that if it got worse than it already was then the band might break up. The situation needed to be defused, quickly. He really wanted Alex and Jos to get together but he also didn't want Zack to be hurt in the process.

"Okay, so now that we're all together on this we should have a fun night. We should totally go to the park tomorrow during the day and like maybe we should go have a big picnic and stuff!" Jack decided at the end of practice about a week after Joslyn had emerged from her room to hang out with them again.
"And do what?" Joslyn asked as she sat on the couch that was in the garage.
"Maybe we should have a water gun fight or maybe we should go to the beach!"
"I like the beach idea." Zack butted in.
"Yeah! Beach!" Alex cheered. Rian shifted uncomfortably behind the drum set, Joslyn noticed and spoke up.
"What's wrog Ri?"
"There are gonna be tons of almost naked girls, you wanna go with a bunch of guys who are gonna be staring at their boobs the whole time?"
"I guess so. That should be fun, I'll get a reason to slap you all."
"That's true." Rian agreed.

Joslyn could hear Alex tapping on her window, she opened her eyes and looked over. There he was, perched in the limb near her window. She tossed her legs off the side of the bed and grumbled as she got up, she opened the window and beckoned him inside. He was wearing board shorts and a plain t-shirt, over his shirt was a black hoodie.
"Just go outside and come in from the actual door so that my mother doesn't try to figure out if you were sleeping in my room." Joslyn laughed.
Alex chuckled and then said "Aw, but your mom loves me."
"I don't think she would love the thought of you being in my room this early in the morning."
"Early? It's like almost eleven."
"Hush, early." Jos shooed him out of the window.

Joslyn and Alex went to the beach to meet the rest of the guys, she parked in the lot and got out to get her stuff from the trunk. Alex hopped out of the car and dashed onto the sand to find the others, Jos watched as he kicked up sand at Jack and ran away.
"Come back here you little-!"
"Jack! Children are here!" Joslyn yelled as she walked towards them. She pulled off her tank top, but left her shorts on. Her messy black hair was once again in a pony tail with a bandanna holding in the stray pieces that may have fallen out. Her messy, choppy, bangs covered the very top of her sunglasses. Joslyn rubbed a ton of sunscreen onto her cream coloured skin, she looked at Zack and gestured for him to put sunscreen on her back for her. He smiled and nodded. She sat very still as he put the sunblock onto her. The lake was busy as it normally was in the summer, Joslyn and Rian sat on their towels next to their picnic table. Frisbees and Supersoakers sat on the table near them, a couple of picnic baskets and a three pizza boxes were waiting for them to eat them when the evening started to wind-down.

Alex grinned as he pushed his hair off his forehead, it was thoroughly soaked. Another jet of water hit his chest. He whipped around and shot Joslyn straight in the stomach, she shrieked in surprise. It was later in the evening by the time they were messing with the water guns and other 'toys'. Joslyn had already had a phone call from her little brother wishing she had taken him. She promised that next time she would bring the seven year old with them. Alex dropped the gun and decided it was time for one last 'swim'. He rushed over to Joslyn and picked her up over his shoulder, she screamed for him to put her down. He pretended not to hear her pleas as he carried her to the water, as they reached the shore of the lake he prepared to throw her in. As he went to let go of her, she grabbed onto him pulling him with her. They both landed in the water, Alex on top. Joslyn looked up at him, her eyes wide with surprise.
"Oh! Uh! I'm sorry." Alex stammered out as his face turned red, her arms were still wrapped around his bare shoulders.

"We should go to Patterson." Jack said as they finished eating their pizza. Joslyn looked up and said "I think it should be pretty tonight, we should go lay out on the grass and watch the sky."
"I like that idea." Zack agreed.
"Then it's settled! After we're done here we should go." Jack seemed really excited at the idea of playing on the slides and swings.
"You look like Asa when he's excited." Joslyn laughed.

Zack and Alex both quickly walked to Joslyn's car; Alex rushed for the front seat, Zack tried to go for it as well. There was a bang as they both ran into the door, Joslyn looked up and saw them fighting for the door handle.
"Guys! Stop it! You're gonna scratch my paint!" She cried out as she rushed over to separate them. Alex stopped immediately when he saw the panic on her face, he didn't want to upset her. Zack stopped as well, he looked at her and then went to hug her.
"I'm sorry, Jos." He pulled her into a hug.
She pushed away from him and he frowned, "You're both in the backseat."
"What? He started it, I was here first. I rode with you, he came with Rian I think he should have to ride back with him!" Alex said like a spoiled child.
"Alexander. Stop behaving like a two year old. Get in the backseat now."
He frowned and muttered something about it not being fair that he got in trouble too.

Joslyn parked next to Jack at the park, it was almost 10:00 at night, they got out. Alex and Zack had been pouting in the backseat the whole way from the lake back into Baltimore. Joslyn shut her door, the group of teenagers quickly made their way to the play equipment. Jack jumped onto the slide and went down it. Joslyn darted for the swings, Alex smiled and jogged to go push her. He got behind her and gave her a large push, she squeaked in surprise.
"Whoa!" She called down to him as she was on her upward path.
"Whats up?"
"Other than me?" She called as she started to come backwards towards his hands.
"Yeah." He said softly into her ear as her back met his palms.
"I feel like I can just grab the stars from up there." She said as he pushed her forward again.

They all laid on the grass where soccer was usually played, Joslyn sat up and shivered.
"Here, use my jacket." Alex and Zack managed to say at the same time.
"Uh." She stuttered, her face was confused and she didn't seem to know what to do. Alex draped his over her shoulders, Zack glared at him.
"Thanks Zack. Thanks Alex." She muttered, her face was bright pink. The bright moonlight was glinting off her pale skin enough so that you could tell that she was blushing. Jack laughed and said "Aw! She's bright pink! That's so cute."
"Jack!" Joslyn snapped.
"Love you Jos." Jack smiled at her and put an arm around her shoulders in a comforting manner. Joslyn laid back down after putting the hoodie on properly. She started up at the sky and smiled, it was a wonderful night. "Look there, that's Orion's Belt. That one over there is Cassiopeia. It looks like a crown because Cassiopeia was a queen of a Grecian kingdom. She told Hades to go to hell and he killed her and told her she was better off in the sky." She explained the mythology of the stars, soon that excitement started to fade as she because sleepy. She rested her head in Alex's lap and dozed off all together.

"Alex, can you take her home?" Rian asked as he looked at her sleeping in Alex's lap. Her messy black hair splayed across his uncovered legs. He knew she was chilly, her usually smooth skin was covered in goosebumps.
"I'll take her home." Zack said looking over at her as well.
"Dude, she lives right next to me. I got it." Alex said slightly defensively.
"Why can't I just take her home?"
"Because she's my next door neighbor."
"So?" Zack snapped.
"Zack, you need to calm down bro. Just let Alex take her home, they live right there together."
"Fine, whatever. Not like I have a chance to begin with, since when doesn't dibs count?"
"She's a human, you can't call 'dibs' on emotions." Alex snapped.
"Whatever, fuck it. Fuck you. Fuck this." Zack stood up and started to walk away.

Rian assisted in lifting her onto Alex's back as he carried her to her car again. He wrapped her legs around his waist, he felt happy and complete to have her like this. Her face happily buried in his neck, her breathing even in his ear. He smiled widely as he walked to the car with her on his back, he opened the door and carefully put her into the passenger seat. She woke up slightly and looked at him.
"Night-night." She mumbled with a smile.
"Night." Alex smiled softly.
He got into the drivers side and started to drive home, at a long stop light he pulled out his phone and sent a text to Joslyn's mother saying that she was staying over at his house because it was late and she was sound asleep. A few minutes later he got a reply saying 'Thank you, love you both.'.

His driveway only his car sitting in it, his parents were out for the rest of the week. He walked around to her side and picked her up, bridal style. She woke up again and looked at him with foggy eyes, her voice was soft and slightly crackly.
"Where are we?"
"You're just gonna stay at my house tonight." He said gently. She nodded, he carried her up the stairs and to his room. He set her on the bed and she sat up, she kicked off her shoes. She was clearly still sleepy.
"Can I borrow some shorts and a shirt?"
"Yeah." He mumbled; the idea of her wearing his shorts and his shirt, in his bed made him turn a bright shade of red. He turned around and went though his dresser, he found an old shirt that may have belonged to Tom long before. It was a shirt that had the sleeves cut off, on it read Sex Pistols. It was a tattered, faded, black shirt: it was perfect for Joslyn. He found a pair of old basketball shorts that were dark red. He handed them to her and said he could leave if she was to tired to go to the bathroom.

He stood in the hallway until he heard her call out to him.
"Lex, you can come back in."
He opened his door and went back into the room, Joslyn was seated on his bed her legs folded up on themselves. She looked at him and mumbled "It's okay that I sleep in here with you? I usually have my dog sleep with me because I get scared."
"It's fine, don't sweat it. Sorry if I hold onto you, I have a habit of doing that to like pillows and stuff."
"That's perfectly fine, me too." She still looked so sleepy; it was three in the morning, of course she was tired. He walked over to his light switch and shut off the lights, carefully he picked his way back to his bed. He crawled under the sheet and wrapped his arms around her waist, she turned around in his arms. He opened his eyes and saw her looking at him, her large light brown eyes met his.
"What is it?" He whispered to her, it was quiet in the room for a few more moments.
"I just kinda wanna do something but I don't think I can."
"Do what?"
She didn't say anything more, she just leaned forward and kissed him full on the lips.
"That."

Alex opened his eyes the next morning, Joslyn was curled into his chest. He gently ran his hands through her wild and messy black hair, trying to smooth it away from his face. He noticed her eyes fluttering open as well, she looked up at him and said "Good morning."
"G'morning Jos." He kissed her forehead. She smiled at him and said "I've really liked you since freshman year, maybe before."
"I've liked you a lot too."
He couldn't believe that he finally told her, a smile worked its way onto his face.