Snapped Guitar Strings and Broken Hearts

It seemed like hours later that Jake’s Suburban pulled up beside me. There were a few tears that had dried on my cheeks by then. He opened the door for me and I jumped in automatically, setting my eyes on the road instead of looking at him.
“ I know.” I mumbled, finally taking a look at him. His forehead creased and I reluctantly took my eyes off his face.
“ About…what? What do you know?”
“ Craig, Caleb and Brent…they’re all vampires…aren’t they, Jake?”
“ Umm… they might be…” He slyly said.
“ Jake, tell me the truth.” I spoke sternly, not realizing that my hand was edging closer to his, which was placed calmly on his thigh.
He sighed. Clearly this was a secret that he didn’t trust me with. “ Yes. They are.”
Before my hand could barely touch his thigh, he picked his hand up and ran it through his spikes. They seemed softer and I had a sudden urge to touch them.
I was slightly startled and pulled my hand back. He noticed and gave a cheesy grin, effectively changing the mood to something less serious.
“ Oh, you liked my kissing so much, you wanna come back for more?” He wiggled his eyebrows once more. I rolled my eyes.
“ Jake…” I whined, leaning my forehead on his shoulder.
He kissed my hair. “ You know you love me.” He chuckled.
“Yeah. I do.” I mumbled into his shoulder. It was muffled, so he wouldn’t be able to hear.
“ What was that?”
“ Nuthin’.” I raised my head so he could hear.
“Liar.”
But I refused to say anything more and he pulled up to an unfamiliar house.
“ Where are we?” I asked, puzzled.
“ My house.” He smiled playfully and took me into his arms. This was a great surprise and I yelped. “ Don’t be so squirmy…Gosh, Gwin.”
Jake held me to his chest and I inhaled his scent. It smelled like fresh air almost. Not cologne. Like a forest, vaguely.
“ Jakey, please, let me down.”
I took my chance and wrapped my arms around his neck, one trailing up to stroke his hair. It /was/ soft. Like I’d expected.
“ Hmph.” He scoffed. “ You’re petting me and want down at the same time?”
I rolled my eyes. “ Okay, I’ll stay up here.” The corner of my mouth twisted upwards and he leaned to kiss me on the cheek. I raised my head to meet him. But our lips touched instead.
This wasn’t what I’d expected from Jake, but he stayed, lips moving against mine in a rhythm.
I felt his lip ring brushing against my lips and he groaned in pleasure. I tangled my hand that was on his head in his hair and the other tightened around his neck.
Sighing, I slightly parted my lips, closing my eyes. My heart was thumping in my chest as I slid out of his arms and into a standing position on his front yard.
He pulled away, slowly, his arms still around my waist. I let my hand fall from his hair and my arms took their place at my side, pushing his off.
“Maybe…you should take me home…” I mumbled, opening my eyes.
“ No.” He replied, taking me by the arm. Jake led me into his house. But his tone, it had an almost desperate edge to it. I couldn’t say no.
There was no other cars in the asphalt driveway that led into a garage besides the obvious, so I didn’t really expect anybody to be in the house. Besides, it was only 9:30. Nobody would be home yet.
“ Jaaaake!!!!!!!” Screamed a familiar voice as soon as we’d walked into the door. Jake managed to shut it before an elated Caleb ran into the room, crashing the three of us to the floor.
He ruffled my hair and flicked Jake in the nose—apparently he was used to it—before asking a question. The words came out of his mouth so fast it was almost incoherent. It took my mind a minute to process, but Jake had beaten me to answering.
“ Why’s Gwin here?”
“ She knows.” Jake responded calmly, snaking a protective arm around my waist.
“ She knows…what?” Caleb wasn’t confused. I could clearly see that in his expressive eyes.
“ I know that you, Craig and Brent are…” I took a sharp breath. “ Vampires… I didn’t want to be in class with him.” I was still reluctant in calling them vampires. It was a hard thing to believe. They were so…normal. Well, normal to me.
“ Dammit, Jake!” He roared, slapping him in the face. I gasped in shock. Clearly he was dangerous.
“ No, no, it’s not his fault!” I whined desperately, trying to helplessly pry Caleb from Jake.
“ Then how’d you find out?!” He demanded, crawling off of us and sitting a yard or so away. I sat up, and Jake did the same.
“ I…I was eavesdropping…” My voice was filled with anguish and shame and I hung my head. Jake nuzzled my neck with his nose. He mumbled assurances and things like ‘You would’ve found out anyways.’ Cautiously, he pulled me into his lap.
“ I see.” Caleb muttered plainly, scratching his head. “ But, wait, you’re not scared?” It was a question, though it didn’t sound like one.
“ Only of Brent. I trust you two.” I murmured, trying to shrug Jake off my neck. He pulled away, the movement slow and reluctant.
“ That’s what Jake said…when he’d found out, a couple of years ago…” Caleb said, a bit surprised. He glanced at his friend, who was staring at me intently.
“ Caleb, why are you here?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and changing the subject. It was my turn to ask a question anyways. “ Shouldn’t you be at a place called school?”
“ You’re right. I should be at school. But I’m not. That’s just too bad for all the teachers. They’ll be glad anyways.” He paused, snickering. “ Besides, Jake said he was bailing, so of course I was gonna bail with him. I didn’t know what he meant when he said he was going to go get somebody though. But here you are.” Caleb shrugged, grinning.
“ Okay, so you guys skip frequently, I’m guessing? I mean, that’s cool, I wish I had a car.”
“ Yup! Thank God for driver’s licenses.” Jake smiled into my hair. I felt his lip ring graze my scalp.
“ Jesus isn’t real.” I whispered lowly. Caleb broke into laughter, rolling on the floor. That alarmed me and my eye twitched.
“ Finally!” He breathed through his laughter. “ Somebody else who agrees with me besides Jake!”
“ You guys are so weird.” I announced, leaning my head back on Jake’s shoulder. He moved his chin against my neck, causing me to stiffen a bit.
“ Oh, we know we’re weird.” Caleb nodded. Suddenly, his eyes were stern again and he started to ask me another question. “ Hey…did you tell anybody…about Craig, Brent and I?”
“ Um…” I searched to remember. “ Only Rob. Y’know, he has the right. Craig and him… they’re close.”
“ Yes, they are close…but… would you freak if I told you something?”
“ Depends on what it is.” I felt my eyes narrow. This was weird. Oh, please don’t tell me Robby’s a vampire now, too.
“ Craig… I thin- well, this is just a theory and all… don’t take it seriously. But it’s a possibility.” He paused. “ I think Craig bit Robby. On accident, for sure…but I’m pretty sure he did…”
I nodded. It made sense. Robby’s neck hurting, his skin getting paler…
“ That makes sense…” I spoke, feeling Jake’s arms around my stomach now. He was interesting. I reached a hand back, stroking his hair again.
And Caleb sat there, staring awkwardly. The poor boy was all-alone… Dang, that must suck. Robby and Craig had each other, Jake and I…but Caleb was…alone.
“ Heeyyyy….” Caleb interrupted, throwing a pencil at us. It hit me in the head.
“ Hey what?” Jake asked.
“ Do you wanna screw around with our instruments or something? I mean…. I just can’t sit here and watch you two go all… lovey on each other, y’know?”
“ ‘Kay, whatever.” I stood up, stretching my arms out and whacking Caleb in the head on ‘accident’.
“ Ouch…” He muttered, walking across a room and to a door. Apparently we were walking across a dining room and then a kitchen. Jake had a nice house.
Caleb opened a dark, maple-colored door and we stepped into an empty garage. There was a crappy drum kit in the corner, along with around 4 guitars propped up haphazardly. One was acoustic, there was a nice black Fender that looked like mine—minus the stickers, a red and black Les Paul, and a really crappy looking Thunderbird.
I saw a microphone hooked up that lay on the ground and 3 amps scattered.
“ Which one do you want to play?” Jake asked, gesturing to the guitars. I didn’t know, truly. I didn’t want to screw up the Les Paul, so I took the Fender from its place and slung the strap around my head.
Jake took the Les Paul. I remembered him bringing it to Robby’s once. The sound was always so beautiful. He tuned it effortlessly, and I tuned the Fender, slightly struggling as I tried to pry my eyes from him.
Once I had the guitar tuned, Jake plunged into a random song. Caleb caught on and then I did. The upbeat guitar rhythm and Jake singing made me realize what it was.
Headfirst for Halos.
“ You and I…. We’ll fly ho-o-o-ome… now honestly that’s what I said to her. That’s what I said to her… Yeah!” Jake sang. I realized what came next, and that we were ending the song soon.
I put my all into the last verses, singing into the same mic as Jake.
“ Think happy thoughts, Think happy thoughts, Think happy thoughts.”
Well, that was kinda easy to do, since my mouth was moving so close to Jake’s and I was playing guitar. Ah… How much MCR can do for you…
When I strummed the last chord, Jake collapsed on a holey couch by the drums. I followed him, propping the guitar I had borrowed on a workbench, next to Jake’s. Taking a place in his lap, I received a smack in the head by an agitated Caleb.
“ Hey, you deal with Craig and Robby all the time, why not us!?” I asked, hitting him back.
“ I have no idea.” He answered, turning away as Jake began to bite my neck and kiss it. So /this/ is what Craig was doing to Robby.
“ Jake…”I hissed, trying to hold in a moan.
“ Mm-Hm?”
“ Jake…get off…. my…neck…” I gasped, and his lip ring moved against my neck, indicating that he was grinning.
“ Nope.” Jake answered defiantly, placing his hands on my shoulders.
“ Jaaaake….” I whined, trying to pull my neck from his mouth. But he held me still and I was unable to get out of this mess.
But I loved Jake. I loved him so much it isn’t even funny. I loved him enough to hurt a vampire. To choose him over a beautiful, seductive teenager that was my age. If I loved him, I could deal with this. But if he left a mark…and I’d go home with it… He’s buying me cover-up.