Moonstruck

I finally reached the front door of my house in Baltimore, Maryland. It wasn’t necessarily a mansion, but it wasn’t small either. It was just a decent sized house with a pretty typical brown-bricked and white-paned exterior. It had a garage for all the cars our family possesses, which was four. One for my mom, one for my dad, and one for my brother, Alex. The fourth was for me – should I ever learn – not that I particularly need to, I just would like the skill in the case of an emergency, or if I wanted a drive-thru burger in the middle of the night.

It’s a pretty ridiculous number of cars. Especially since Alex isn’t even here right now. He’s touring with his band, All Time Low. They’re pretty famous in the pop-punk scene. And I love the whole band to pieces. And whilst Alex is my favourite member by default because he’s my brother, and not to mention the lead singer of All Time Low – if I could pick, I would choose Jack Barakat. The guitarist and my brother’s best friend. Not just because he’s insanely talented and a hilarious guy, but because we’re best friends too. But in a totally different kind of way.

Jack and I have a bit of a ‘flirtationship’ going on. It’s nothing too serious. Not to the other guys at least, but there’s something about the way he looks at me when we’re alone. Something about the way he hugs me for just a second longer than he should. Something about the way he doesn’t do it when his girlfriend’s anywhere near him.

Her name is Cherry. She’s nice. Lovely even. An absolute perfect match. But I feel like the roads got crossed along the way. I feel like she wasn’t meant for him. I felt like I was. She has red hair, matching Jack’s streak, she has green eyes – which is his favourite colour, and she has an overtly sexual sense of humour. She’s basically Jack’s soulmate. I hate that.

Rian and Zack, the other members of All Time Low, are practically like brothers to me. They’ve been there my whole life and I honestly wouldn’t be able to tell them apart from actual brothers. So why is Jack so different? Is it just the way he jokingly flirts with me? Or is it something to do with the way we act when we’re alone? It’s not that much different to when we’re with other people, it’s just way more intense.

I snapped out of my thoughts when my mother opened the door. I smiled sadly at her and gave her a hug.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart?” She asked. I shrugged and sighed.

“It’s nothing. Just a tough day.” I answered. She smiled at me and put her hand on one of my shoulders and stroked it with her thumb.

“It’ll get better.” She said. I took off my shoes like I usually did, took my phone out of my handbag and plopped that on the table, then I shoved my phone into my pocket. “There’s a little something for you in the living room when you’re ready.” She told me. It was probably just a package or something uninteresting, but I went in there anyway.

“Surprise!” A barrage of people yelled. Alex, his fiancé; Lisa, Zack, Rian, Jack, and unfortunately, Cherry. The whole band was there. I was smiling uncontrollably as the confetti exploded out of the party poppers and balloons were being tossed around. A sign was hung up reading SURPRISE! And on top of that, there was a cake reading the same thing too.

“What’s going on?” I asked with confusion but warmth in my voice.

“Well, Kaydence, my sweet little sister…” Alex began with a grin on his face.

“You’re coming with us for the rest of the tour!” Jack screeched in excitement.

“Seriously?” I asked in utter shock. I squealed happily and ran to hug Alex. He picked me up and spun me around like he used to do when we were younger.

I was quite a bit younger than Alex, but only by about seven years, so it wasn’t that bad. I was the youngest out of all the siblings. My dad had a couple of daughters before he married my mum, but we don’t really know them all that well. And then there was also Tom. He passed away soon after I turned one so I don’t remember him, but I know how much he meant to the family. There was a pretty big age difference between Alex and Tom. Tom was ten years older than Alex, making Alex and I closest in age between the siblings. Alex and I always shared a very sibling-like bond. Okay, I know that may sound a bit obvious, but we were closer than most siblings were probably because of our age difference.

It’s hard being so close to someone and not being able to tell anyone about them. Because of his rising fame I had to pretend that I didn’t know him, and that my last name and location had absolutely nothing to do with Alex Gaskarth, lead singer of All Time Low. All throughout school I didn’t tell a soul about him because I didn’t want people treating me differently. It was so difficult. All I wanted to do was to scream from the rooftops that Alex Gaskarth is my brother and he’s the best, but I couldn’t. I had to refrain myself from doing so.

The only person I could tell was my best friend Riley Ryan. We laughed once about how ridiculous our names sounded and hit it off instantly. She was a bit surprised, but she didn’t really care that much. She was just happy I could be honest with her. To this day she’s been the one person I could confide everything too.

Once Alex put me down, I started asking questions.

“When are we leaving?”

“Tomorrow.”

“What time?”

“About eight o’clock.”

“Will I be on the same bus as you guys?”

“Yes.”

I was asking them a constant volley of questions until Rian started laughing.

“Dude, what are you doing? Go pack! You’ll find out everything soon.” He said putting me in a headlock and messing up my hair. I giggled and swatted him away from my head.

“Yeah, okay.” I said. He released me from his grip and I sprinted to my room.

I put the phone on speaker as I rang Riley.

“Hey Kay. What’s going on?” She asked.

“I’m so glad you asked that. I’m going to join All Time Low on tour!” I said excitedly.

“Holy shit!” She said happily. “When?”

“Tomorrow apparently. And I’m going to be sharing a bus with the boys!” I answered.

“Oh my god! Will Cherry be there?” She asked as I unzipped my suitcase.

“Not a clue. I hope not.” I said, suddenly realising that if she was going to be there, then perhaps it wouldn’t be the wisest idea to go on this tour.

“Dude, it’s not a big deal if she does. They’re not gonna last.” Riley said supportively.

“Yes they are. They’re perfect together.” I said adamantly, making her laugh. “What?”

“You just don’t see things sometimes. There’s no love between those two. At best lust, but for her, it all just seems like a game until she finds the right guy. Meanwhile, Jack is in love with you, and he doesn’t know what to do about it.” She said. I scoffed.

“You’re out of your mind.”

“Am I? It’s pretty obvious.” She said. I rolled my eyes, even though I knew she couldn’t see.

“Listen, I’ll call you back. I need to get packing.” I said before hanging up on her.

I crammed all my essentials into that suitcase. Everything I could possibly need. It was really, really heavy, but I managed to carry it halfway down the stairs before Jack noticed me. He came up and gave me a hand.

“Here.” He said, taking the heavy luggage out of my hands. “Whoa. Is the kitchen sink in there too?” He asked, making me giggle.

“Yeah, it’s a little heavy.” I agreed. He put it down on the steps before lifting it up again. He needed to feel more prepared. “Hey, um, are Lisa and Cherry coming too?” I asked.

“Nah. They’re both busy with work and stuff.” He answered. That made me feel slightly more relaxed.

“Cool.” I said nonchalantly.

“You okay? You seem a little off lately.” He said. It’s not often Jack notices changes in me, or at least asks me questions about it, so I knew I must’ve been acting really out of the ordinary around him.

“I’ve just been having a hard few months, but it’ll get better. I mean, I’m going on tour with you guys! I can’t wait!” I said. He nodded his head. We walked down the stairs together and wheeled my suitcase to the front door.

“Listen, I know we joke around all the time – mainly because you’re sexy as all hell – but if you need anyone to talk to…” He started to joke, but then we heard familiar footsteps come into the hall.

“Jacky!” Cherry exclaimed. She gave him a hug and they pecked each other’s lips. I tried to look away as discretely as possible. God! It’s hard enough having this massive crush on Jack, but it feels like they’re rubbing their relationship in my face. Once they pulled apart, Cherry looked at me with a smile on her face. I turned back to face her. “Hi Kay, didn’t see you there. So, are you excited about going on tour?” She asked me. I smiled sweetly and nodded my head.

“Yeah, of course.” I answered. “Sad to hear you’re not going though.”

“Well, someone has to be the clown of the office. They couldn’t let me go for too long.” She joked. I know she means well, but I should be allowed to hate her secretly at least. It sounded like she was boasting that everyone loves her anyway.

“Well, I’m sad to say that I have to. I’m gonna go and see Alex.” I told her. I went into the living room where everyone was nattering. I sat down next to Alex and Rian. Alex and Lisa were telling everyone in the room their wedding ideas. Rian nudged me with his elbow.

“Hey. You okay?” He asked. It seems like everyone can read me like a frickin’ book. Of course I wasn’t okay. Still, I nodded my head and pretended like everything was fine.

“Yeah, I’m good.” I answered. Jack and Cherry came walking in a few seconds later.

“…And we’re gonna have the actual ceremony under an arch decorated with real flowers.” Lisa said.

“Have you decided on a date yet?” Mum asked.

“Yeah. April ninth.” Alex confirmed.

“Oh a spring wedding, how wonderful!” Mum replied with. I guess she’s extremely excited because I’m her only daughter, and let’s face it, I’m only 20, I don’t have any plans on getting married soon. Especially seeing as I’m not with Jack.

“You sure you’re okay?” Rian whispered. I just nodded my head slightly. Jack was cuddling with Cherry. He had his hand placed on her thigh lovingly.

“Well, now that everyone’s here, how about we take orders for pizza!” Dad said.

“Meat feast.” The majority of the group said.

“Veggie for me.” Mum answered.

“Just plain-“ I began.

“With extra cheese and sweetcorn?” Jack guessed my order correctly. I smirked.

“How ever did you guess?” I asked sarcastically. It’s my usual order.

“I’ll call the place now.” Dad said. He got up and left the room for some peace and quiet.

“So, Kay, what’ve you been up to?” Alex asked. The attention in the room was focussed on me. Hooray!

“Not much really.”

It’s true. I don’t go to university or college, so I’m not getting any education, and I have no clue what I want to do with my life so I don’t have a job. I don’t want to get a boring job in the meantime because then I’ll be less inclined to get a job I actually like. Just to get some extra cash I’ve been doing a bit of babysitting but that’s about it. Riley’s my only friend as well so I don’t talk to many people. I guess I’ve hit a bit of a slump.

“Come on, that’s not true. You must be doing something?” Cherry pressed. I shook my head.

“Really…” I began.

“Well what do you want to do?” She asked. I shrugged and looked down sadly.

For the first time since Riley and I lived together, I didn’t have a clue about where my life was headed. Okay, maybe I never really knew, but when I lived with her I thought that something would come to me. Then she moved in with her boyfriend at the time and I had no money so I moved back in with my parents. I felt like a bit of a failure after that. Everyone assured me that it was fine and perfectly normal but I felt a bit stupid to be honest. When Riley and her ex broke up she decided to keep the apartment, but seeing as it was a one bedroom, I couldn’t move back in. It was quite awkward in the room. Everyone else was aware of my situation for the most part. I guess Cherry was totally oblivious. I wonder why Jack doesn’t speak to her about me?

“Pizza will be here in about half an hour.” Dad said entering the room, alleviating some of the awkward atmosphere.

“I’ll help set the table.” I said adamantly. I left the room in a hurry and rushed to the kitchen to get the plates put on our big dining room table. I heard footsteps coming near me. I didn’t bother to turn around to look at who they belonged to. I knew who it was.

“You okay?” Zack asked. The heavily muscled man was hard to be heard, but when he does speak, usually wisdom comes out.

“Yeah, just a little tired.” I lied.

“She didn’t know, you know that right?” He asked.

“Yeah, of course. I know that she’s a really lovely girl and I know she didn’t try to do anything wrong-“ I began.

“She’s really not.” Zack said.

“Huh?” I asked. I turned around to face him with watery eyes.

“She’s not really a lovely person. But don’t worry about her. I wouldn’t bet on her lasting till the wedding. Trust me.” Zack said. I smiled slightly and gave him a hug. I really missed Zack. He’s practically a wise old owl.

“Thank you.” I said.

“No problem. Hey, try and get an early night. We’re leaving really early in the morning.” He said. I smiled genuinely and nodded my head. As long as Cherry wasn’t going to be there, this tour might actually be a good thing.