Separated by Love

Jack loved parties, and he loved drinking. It was his favourite past time. Jack was what some people would call the life of the party – or everyone who’d ever had the pleasure of partying with the boy at least. However, when Jack, there was one issue. Without fail at one point during the night he became very, very flirtatious. This wasn’t limited flirting either – it was with everyone, and everything. There were more than a few stories to be told of him flirting with inanimate objects.

It was about 8pm and they were getting ready to leave for the party that Rian had decided last minute to invite Jack to. It was his friend Zack Merricks party, he went to a different school but he and Rian had been friends since they were kids he explained to Jack – so Jack was a little nervous. He’d be right as soon as he got some alcohol in his system though.

Without fail, the minute the lanky boy had walked through the doors, he made a beeline for the kitchen, with Rian in tow. “Thank the lord for free beer man, I’d be broke if I had to supply my own every time.” Jack said, quickly downing his first of many for the night.

Rian chuckled, “I know right man, I could never afford to fuel my drinking habits. Just do me a favour and don’t get too pissed yeah? We don’t want a repeat of last time.” Jack barely remembered it – his memory of the night extends to downing his fifteenth beer and proceeding to dance on a table; it was a bit blurry after that point.

“I’ll limit myself this time, I promise. Just enough to loosen me up you know?”

It was about 11pm and Jack already failed to keep that promise. He was currently competing in beer pong, and even in spite of his drunken state – he was drawn with Zack’s friend Matt Flyzik, both with only one cup remaining. At this point though, Jack was a bit too far gone to be capable of getting the ball in Matt’s single cup – each shot hitting a solid foot away from the target. So when Matt sunk the ball in Jack’s final cup, no one was surprised. Jack’s ego had been crushed a bit however, “Fuck you Flyzik you cheated. I know you did, there’s no way you could beat me if you didn’t.” Jack slurred, drunkenly.

“You wish mate! Now stop sooking and down it like a man.” This last drink, Jack knew would be his downfall – but nevertheless, down it went. The now warm liquid coating Jack’s throat.

“Alright, that’s me for tonight fellas. Gonna go take a piss.” Jack began to walk, or stumble away from the other boys who were about to start a game of Kings Cup. He made his way through the crowd of people littered throughout the house, and up the large staircase in search of an empty bathroom. Thankfully, the first door he opened was the bathroom – he wasn’t too keen on walking in on anyone in a compromising position.

Jack was almost finished doing his business when the door opened and someone walked in. Without even thinking, Jack turned around exclaimed, “Hey dude what the hell?”

The sight he was met with was one that he sure wasn’t expecting, a very drunk Alex Gaskarth. “Bro you wanna like, put that away or?” Alex slurred. Jack quickly fixed himself and flushed the toilet, all the while very aware of Alex’s presence.

“Fuck. Why are you here Gaskarth? And why the hell did you just barge in on me?”

“Needed to piss, and I’m mates with Matt, old family friend. How about you?” It was at this point Jack noticed the change in the other boy’s personality and attitude towards Jack. He wasn’t entirely sure if the alcohol had something to do with it or not.
“Rian’s friends with Zack, he asked me to come with him.”

“Oh yeah, cool.”

The two boys stood in silence for a bit before Jack spoke up again, “So like, why aren’t you insulting me.”

Alex looked taken aback, “Oh, um. I guess, maybe I’m too drunk to think of anything to say, maybe not.”

Jack looked at Alex, who was leaning against the wall, unable to hold himself up properly without it. The first thing he noticed was how good Alex looked in those jeans. Light blue, ripped at the knees. The converse he wore every other day, striped shirt that seemed to stretch just right around him, and a denim jacket slung on top. Maybe it was the alcohol in him, but Alex looked better than ever. His thoughts were cut short by Alex waving his hand in front of Jacks face, “Hey man you good? How much have you had tonight?”

Alex’s words flicked an imaginary switch in Jack, and a mere second later Jack had his head in the toilet bowl, throwing up the drinks he’d just minutes ago consumed. Within seconds Alex was by his side, rubbing the taller boys back. “Good thing we’re in the bathroom hey, Jacky?” In response, Jack merely groaned; the rest of the night becoming an awful blur.



Jack was alive. Barely. The lovely effects of the beer were now replaced by pain, a gross feeling in his stomach and a whole lot of regret. It’s not as if he wasn’t used to this, but it never gets any better.

Jack opened his eyes slowly, shutting them again as the sunlight peered through the window to his left, straight into his eyes. After letting himself adjust for a few minutes, he opened his eyes fully this time and looked at his surroundings. Thankfully, and confusingly; he was in his room, his clothes on the ground in a neat pile.

From his left, the familiar sound of Blink-182 filled his ears; along with an obnoxious buzzing. Even rolling over to pick up his phone was an effort, but somehow, Jack managed. “Uhh yeah hi, hello.” The boy mumbled into his phone.

“Man you sound like shit.” Rian’s now, very loud and annoying voice seemingly yelled through the phone.

“Okay, firstly – don’t yell at me you asshole. Secondly, fuck you.”

“You’re worse off than I thought, I’m talking normally. How’s the head feeling?”

Jack sighed, the obnoxious ringing in his head becoming more prominent now that he’d started paying attention. “Feels bad man, what’s on today?”

“Well, when you’re up for it – Zack’s gonna come round and we were thinking of having a bit of a jam. I got a new snare and I wanna test it out. He might bring that Flyzik kid too. We have a LOT to talk to you about.”

“Sounds good.” Jack said, before he realised what Rian had said, “What’d he want to talk about?” Jack thought nothing of it.

After a hot shower and a good feed thanks to Jacks mum, the boy was now feeling a lot better than he was upon waking up. He walked up to Rian’s house with his guitar in hand. Soon enough the 4 boys were hanging out watching TV, having given up on playing, after a string on Zack’s bass snapped, causing a great deal of anger from the boy.

“Now, Jack. How was your night?” Rian spoke, causing the other three boys to look at him, then at Jack.

“I mean, great. Until I threw up, that kind of sucked.” Jack said, slightly confused as to Rian’s intentions.

“Do you remember much after that?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

This prompted a smirk from the other boy who followed up with, “Not even the part where Alex Gaskarth carried you into a taxi and went home with you?” Jack instantly froze. This memory completely unfamiliar to him.

“He did what?”

“Yeah, he was real sweet with you. Did I not say that he totally has a crush on you?” Rian mused, chuckling at Jack’s now paling face.

“No, no! Absolutely not. You’re lying, he wasn’t even there!” As Jack spoke, he suddenly began to remember what happened after he blacked out in the bathroom.

Within seconds Alex was by his side, rubbing the taller boys back. “Good thing we’re in the bathroom hey, Jacky?” In response, Jack merely groaned; the rest of the night becoming an awful blur.

“Hey hey, get it out Jacky. It’s okay, I’m here.” Jack was almost totally unresponsive. They sat like that for about an hour before Jack had seemed to stop throwing up. Alex, now almost sober took that as his cue to call a taxi. When it arrived, he picked Jack up bridal style after cleaning his mouth a bit. He carried him out to the taxi, texting Rian from Jack’s phone to let him know what was going on.

Thankfully for Alex, Jack had his keys on him and he was able to open the door, not before he nearly dropped Jack multiple times. He made his way upstairs and helped Jack into bed. From there he was a bit unsure of what to do, should he leave him? Or should he stay for a bit? He ended up staying for a while, just to make sure the boy was okay.

Jack now thinking back on the night, could recall all of this. In his zombie-like state, he could almost swear he even heard Alex mumble a, “Good night Jacky.” Before heading out the door, but then again; maybe his memory was failing him.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe this.” Jack said, head in his hands. “What’s going to happen on Monday? He’s going to hate me again I know it. God this is going to be so awkward.” The other boys merely laughed, earning another expletive from Jack.

Rian chuckled again, “Alright, wanna play Dammit guys?”



When Jack woke up he was hit instantly with nerves. He wasn’t too sure why. He just didn’t have a good feeling about the upcoming day. With knowledge of Alex’s uncharacteristically kind actions towards Jack, he wondered what interactions the two would have. Would Alex still hate Jack, would he try to talk to him or would he ignore him? Despite the nagging feeling in Jack’s gut, he was still determined to get through school, also known as hell. He, no matter what was to happen regarding Alex, had a terrible day. He would have to suffer through Chemistry, English, gym and Maths. He thankfully had a free period for his 5th, so that was at least an upside. Usually on Mondays he would go home and play guitar for a few hours before dinner and then play video games, unless he had homework, in which case he would still usually play video games.

After pressing snooze on his alarm for the fifth time, Jack finally got out of bed, checking the time and noticing that he had only half an hour before he had to be in the car on his way to school. Quickly heading to the bathroom, he decided that all his hair needed was a little bit of a brush followed by some wax. He then washed his face of the crusty feeling he always got when he woke up. Jack’s morning routine really didn’t consist of a whole lot of steps, mainly just freshening up and making sure his hair was at least half presentable, even though he knew by 3rd period it’d be completely flat and gross, but hey – who was he trying to impress anyway?

Jack was about half way through dressing when Rian called him, the obnoxious sound far too loud to be hearing at 8:30 in the morning. “Sup man, how’s it goin’?

“Hey man,” Rian spoke, seeming stupidly awake. “Did you want a lift this morning? Mum let me borrow her car.”

“Shit yeah, you know I love riding with Rian the soccer mum.” Jack joked, referring to Rian’s mums large SUV.

“Yeah yeah, joke all you want but at least I have a car to drive.”

“Touche, see you in 10 then.” Jack had yet to get his licence; he didn’t really have a need to when his mum or two older siblings could drive him everywhere anyway. He was thankful for Rian though, because at least Rian would play good music like Blink or Green Day. Plus, he looked a little less lame coming with Rian, even in his soccer mum car.

The minute Jack hopped into Rian’s car, the shorter boy was talking his ear off, telling him about some girl who apparently got broken up with in his home room or something that Jack, if he was honest – didn’t care too much about. “And then she was all like, ‘Well if you really loved me you wouldn’t do that.’ Like how dramatic is that, I’m so glad I’m single, I really couldn’t be bothered with that stuff.”

“Yeah I suppose.” Jack responded absentmindedly.

“You all good man? Got Alex on your mind?” Rian just flinched away in time before Jack’s hand collided with his arm. “Hey! Don’t hit the driver.”

“ I wouldn’t have to if the driver wasn’t an ass. I’m just nervous man, like he was so weirdly nice to me! What’s going to happen? Is he just gonna forget about it?”

“I guess we’ll find out.” Jack hadn’t even realised that they were at school already until Rian shut the car off.

“Shit, what do I do?”

“Nothing? I bet nothing will change. I don’t even know why you’re freaking out.”

“You’re probably right, I guess.” The two walked through the large double doors at the front of the school, Jack slightly behind Rian, who was naturally a really fast walker.

“Barakat! Have fun throwing up all night on Saturday? You should really learn how to hold your liquor, man up a bit.” Came the voice of none of than Alex Gaskarth who apparently was waiting for Jack as he came through the doors.

“Shut up, you’re one to talk about manning up Gaskarth, you just about babied me all night. ‘Aw it’s all good Jacky.’ ‘Just get it up Jacky.” Jack, with a surprising amount of confidence threw back at Alex who had fallen into line with him.

“It’s a good guy act you know, help those weaker than me. Chicks dig it.”

“Yeah so that’s why you took me home as well, because chicks dig that so much.”

Alex’s obnoxious smirk faltered, “Don’t lie Barakat, didn’t you mother ever tell you that that’s a shitty quality.”

“Could ask you the same thing.”

“Whatever, I hope you’re ready for gym today. It’s dodgeball and I’m team captain.” Alex spoke, his smirk returning just as Jack’s left his face. Alex ran off towards his locker, laughing as Jack’s head hung at the realisation of what was to come.

“Dude nice job, you totally stood up to him that time.” Rian said as they reached their lockers that were conveniently next to eachother.

“Yeah I won’t be standing at all after dodge balls over, I can’t play for the life of me.”

It was 12 o’clock now, approaching gym, aka hell today. Jack was nervous. He already knew what was going to happen. He would be chosen last, and be on the opposite team to Alex, who would take every chance he got to get Jack out. The worst thing, is that Jack’s gym teacher was kind of an asshole and didn’t like Jack. Basically he hated anyone who didn’t want to participate in sport, or those kids who were just plain terrible. He was also especially hard on the boys. So while Jack tried, he was terrible. Unlike Alex, who was one of the coaches favourite students. He was one of those people who didn’t play any sports but was naturally gifted in everything. Something Jack hated. It wasn’t just in sport but in classes as well. While Alex didn’t do any AP classes, out of sheer disinterest and laziness, he was in most of Jack’s and did really well, without even trying.

Jack walked into the gym after getting changed, dread filling his gut. As he walked to the bleachers to take a seat with the rest of his class, he made eye contact with Alex, who shot a smirk to the boy, upon noticing the anxious look decorating the boys face. Jack was honestly terrified for this, he hated dodgeball. Not only because he was terrible at it but he always got targeted. He’s the kid who’d try to catch the ball but would end up dropping it and getting hit by another ball in the progress, and this time he had Alex’s promise of going for him – or that’s what was being insinuated at least.
“Alright listen up losers, today we’re playing dodgeball. You all know the rules, now Alex and James are the team captains. Boys, pick your teams.”

It started off as usual, with the same people being picked. The sporty people, the good throwers and the people who liked to be involved getting called up first and everyone else waiting behind. “I’ll take Jack.”

Jack looked up at the sound of his name being called, which was weird because he was usually in the last two people picked. What was stranger was the person behind the voice who called his name; none other than Alex Gaskarth. Jack stared up at the boy in shock, and received a mere smirk instead – as was usual with the boy. Alex seemed to always have this shit-eating grin plastered to his face at all times. Truth be told, it was beginning to really annoy Jack.

The game was all but over, with Alex’s team down to Jack and Alex, of course. Jack couldn’t help but find a bit of humour in the highly clichéd situation. There was only a few people left in the other team, and Jack was terrified. This was due to not only the sheer number of balls flying at him from every direction but also the fact that Alex was yelling at him, calling for him to take shots and to ‘try harder, dumbass’. Jack was slowly getting more and more confident, managing to get a few people out by catching their throws and even managing to hit someone square in the stomach, winding them. The last thing he remembers of that game is jumping up into the air to catch a rouge ball, the feeling of a hard body slamming into him from the other direction, only to be knocked back due to his small frame and loud thud his head made as he hit the shiny wood flooring of the court – before his vision went black.