We Rock and We Roll Over State-Lines and Dollar Signs

As we entered Alex and Rian's place, my phone started playing Calling All Cars, signaling that someone was calling me. I pulled my cell out of my bag and checked the caller ID.

“Shit, my mom's calling me.”, I said to them.

“Here, let me answer.”, Jack said, reaching for my phone. I handed it to him and watched as he answered it confidently. The rest of us looked on as Jack's smile began to falter. I could hear my mom yelling into the phone and I had to put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing.

“Jack looks pretty scared.”, Alex whispered in my ear. I nodded and snickered a little bit, which went unnoticed by Jack. After a few more minutes, Jack held the phone away from his ear and hung up.

“Dude! You just hung up on my mom!”, I exclaimed, snatching my phone out of his hand and quickly shutting it off.

“She called me a lowlife criminal who was going to rot in prison for my heinous crime!”, he defended himself. Everyone got quiet for a moment before we burst out laughing, much to Jack's dismay. He folded his arms across his chest and sat down on the couch to sulk. “Why are you guys laughing?! It's not funny..”, he complained.

“Actually, it's hysterical because I can totally see my mom saying that.”, I replied, trying to calm down.

“And because I'm trying to picture Jack as a lowlife criminal in an orange jumpsuit.”, Katie added, which made me start laughing again. Jack glared at us until we all calmed down and sat down.

“So now what?”, Rian asked. We all looked at each other for an answer but no one said anything.

“I think we should make that red velvet cake.”, Katie suggested. We all agreed and made our way to the kitchen. Rian went and printed out the recipe from the computer since none of us really knew how to make it. We hovered over the recipe and each went to grab some ingredients. Katie and I began cracking eggs and putting them into a bowl while the boys measured out the other ingredients.

“Nice egg cracking, guys.”, Jack said, holding back a laugh. I stopped picking out the bits of egg shell and took a few steps towards Jack. I didn't say anything, but I grabbed some flour and flicked it in his face. “You did not just do that.”, he said faking a gasp.

“Oh but I did.”, I replied with a smirk. He grabbed some flour and flicked it back at me, which prompted Katie to join in and throw some on Jack. Pretty soon it was an all out war and by time we were finished, we all needed to get changed. We went our separate ways to get changed and I had to borrow one of Alex's shirts because I didn't bring enough.

When we returned to the kitchen we promised to not throw food on each other anymore and to focus. Zack and Alex began pouring the measured ingredients into the mixing bowl but ended up messing it up and having to start over...twice.

“Baking a cake is not easy.”, Alex complained after they messed up again.

“You're telling me.”, Zack agreed. I chuckled at the two of them as they went back to re-measure. On their third try, they were able to do it without messing up.

“Success!”, they both exclaimed, giving each other a high five. I shook my head at them and passed the bowl to Katie so she could mix it. As soon as she was done, I got a cake pan and poured the mixture in it. I made sure everything was evenly distributed before placing the pan into the pre-heated oven that Rian had waiting. Jack had abandoned helping us after Alex and Zack messed up the first time.

“Now what?”, I asked, seeing as we had an hour and a half before it would be ready.

“Let's play Guitar Hero!”, Zack exclaimed. Katie and I groaned as Alex and Rian agreed excitedly. They all raced down to the basement as Katie and I followed slowly behind.

“I love that boy, but I swear, he's got an addiction to Guitar Hero.”, she said, shaking her head. I laughed slightly and nodded.

“Yeah, apparently. This is going to sound random, but Zack's got major sex hair going on today.”, I told her. She laughed and agreed, calling him her Mr. Sex Hair. As we got down to the basement, Zack and Alex were already battling it out while Jack and Rian impatiently watched.

“Hey Mr. Sex Hair.”, Katie and I greeted Zack simultaneously. He turned toward us in confusion which made him mess up and allowed Alex to win.

“Yes! I won!”, Alex exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air. Zack sighed frustratedly and sat down next to Katie on the couch.

“I'm sorry babe.”, she said, kissing him on the cheek.

“It's okay, just a game anyway.”, he replied, giving her a peck on the lips. They both smiled at each other as Jack and Rian got up to play. We all watched as Rian beat Jack with ease. Jack muttered curses to himself as Alex took over and played Rian. For the first two rounds, Alex and Rian were tied, then finally Rian won.

Just as Alex was going to complain, the timer from upstairs went off, which meant out cake was done. We all ran upstairs and Alex pulled it out of the oven, setting it down on the counter. Zack and Katie grabbed the frosting and put it on the cake, creating designs as they went.

When they were finished, we all stood back to look at it, surprised that we actually were able to do it.

“Ya know, that actually looks really good.”, Jack commented.

“Yeah, it does. I think that maybe we should eat this one. We could always make another one, now that we know we can do it.”, I suggested, looking at the cake with hunger. Everyone agreed and we all got plates and forks. Rian cut up the cake and gave each of us a piece.

“Holy shit, this is good.”, Alex said with a mouthful of cake.

“Who knew we were good bakers?”, Zack pondered as he ate his piece. We wordlessly agreed as we enjoyed our cake thoroughly. After we were all done and cleaned our plates, we felt a bit of regret.

“Now we have to make another one...”, Katie reminded us. And so the process repeated itself.