shelter me oh genius words

Mistakes We Knew We Were Making

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:12:01 GMT

Title: Mistakes We Knew We Were Making
About: The Maine, A Rocket To The Moon
Progress: In Progress

Chapter One

“I don’t get how you have so much stuff, baby.”

Nicole looked up from the box of stuff she was sorting through, glancing at John as he carried two more boxes of stuff into her bedroom.

She laughed. “I don’t have that much.”

“Um, yes you do,” John replied, setting the boxes down on the floor and looking around the room. “Look at this.”

He motioned his arms around the room, which was already filled with several large boxes piled in various places. “And there’s still more out in my truck.”

“Whatever,” she replied, laughing again and throwing a throw pillow from the box in front of her at John. “Some of this stuff is yours anyways.”

John ducked the pillow and gasped dramatically. “Hey now, is abuse any way to treat your amazing boyfriend who oh-so-lovingly volunteered to help you move into your new apartment?”

She grinned, navigating her way around the boxes and walking over to John. She wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled as she looked up at him. “Your right, I’m sorry. I loooove youuu.”

“That’s much better,” John grinned down at her, wrapping his arms around her. He leaned down and kissed her briefly. “I love you, too.”

Nicole grinned again before pulling out of John’s arms and walking out her room. She didn’t need to look back to know that he had followed after her. “How much is still left in your truck?”

“Just a few boxes and that will be the end of everything that goes in your room,” John replied, following her out of the apartment. “Halvo and Courtney went to go get the rest of her stuff, and they’re bringing the couch for the livingroom, too.”

She nodded her head as they reached John’s truck. They finished carrying the rest of her stuff into her room, and John helped her start unpacking and getting things set up while they waited for Eric and Courtney to return.

They had been unpacking Nicole’s things for a couple of hours when John got a text from Eric.

“Get out here and help me bring this couch up,” John read outloud. “Jeez, so demanding.”

Nicole laughed, following him out of her room.

“Seriously, not even a ‘please’ or anything,” John replied, shaking his head as he walked out the front door.

Courtney walked into the apartment carrying a box, followed by the boys, carrying the couch.

“Why are Johno and I the ones who are moving your furniture in instead of a group of actual movers?” Eric groaned as soon as he crossed into the front door.

“Because why would we hire movers when we have perfectly capable boyfriends?” Courtney replied with a shrug.

“I don’t know if you’re familiar with us, but Johno and I aren’t exactly the bodybuilder types, babe,” Eric replied, breathing heavily from his struggles with the couch. “We’re not the type of guys who were built to be carrying couches up a flight of stairs.”

John shook his head as they set the couch down in the spot the girls directed them to. “You’re making us sound pathetic, I think you should probably just stop Halvo.”

“Besides, Johno volunteered so it’s not like we forced you two into helping,” Nicole added.

“Pft, I was threatened to have cuddles taken away for a month if I didn’t help,” Eric mumbled, shaking his head.

Nicole and John laughed and Courtney grinned, ruffling Eric’s hair.

“You poor thing, it must be so hard to help your girlfriend,” she replied.

“Pft baby,” Eric replied, swatting Courtney’s hand away from his head.

“Oh, stop being so silly and go get the rest of the stuff out of the van,” Courtney replied, shaking her head and laughing slightly.

“Yes ma’am, whatever you say,” Eric replied, saluting Courtney before turning and walking back out the front door.

John shook his head at Eric before grabbing Nicole’s hand and pulling her back in the direction of her room so they could finish unpacking her stuff.

“See? Aren’t you glad I’m not whiney like Halvo?” he asked her.

Nicole laughed. “Yes, I am. You’re so helpful and non-whiney.”

John grinned at her, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

Courtney followed them into Nicole’s room, looking around at the progress they had made.

“Wow, you guys have already gotten a lot unpacked. You made a lot of progress while we were gone,” she observed.

“You heard my boo, I’m really helpful,” John grinned.

Courtney laughed. “Oh, so John you did all this?”

He shrugged his shoulders then nodded. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Nicole threw another pillow at John. “Such a liar.”

“Again with the abuse. You should be nicer to me, I just volunteered to help you move without you even having to ask; you didn’t have to threaten to take anything away from me like Courtney did with Halvo,” John replied dramatically.

Nicole laughed. “Being helpful doesn’t give you license to lie.”

“Pft,” John replied. “Who moved all your bedroom furniture in yesterday?”

“Um, Tim was the one who ended up bringing the majority of it in with my dad,” Nicole replied.

John’s jaw dropped as he looked at Nicole. “That is such a lie, I was here too.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t do much,” Nicole laughed.

“Baby,” John gasped. “I pretty much put your bed together all by myself, and I helped Tim move in the majority of your furniture while your dad started hanging up stuff around the apartment.”

Nicole laughed again. “You know I’m just kidding, you’ve been very helpful. Especially today since my parents had to go out of town and couldn’t help me finish moving.”

John grinned at her. “See? That’s much better.”

“You’re lucky Johno’s not whiney like my boy,” Courtney said.

“Speaking of Halvo, shouldn’t you be helping him bring your stuff in?” Nicole asked.

Courtney shrugged. “I’m sure he can handle it.”

“Pookie!” Nicole replied, laughing and shaking her head. “You had furniture and a lot of stuff still, you can’t just make Halvo handle it alone.”

Courtney grinned. “He’s a strong boy, he can handle ittt.”

John’s phone dinged to indicate he had knew text and he pulled it out of his pocket to find it was from Eric.

He sighed. “Apparently he can’t, because he wants me to go help him with your dresser.”

“Well I didn’t know he was bringing in the dresser, I thought he was just getting boxes out of the truck,” Courtney replied.

John shook his head as he walked back out of Nicole’s room.

“Don’t shake your head at me John O’Callaghan!” Courtney called after him.

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” John replied, shaking his head yet again.

Courtney helped Nicole unpack things from one of her boxes while the girls waited for the boys to return with Courtney’s dresser.

“Maybe we should go check on the boys,” Nicole suggested after nearly ten minutes of waiting for the boy’s to return.

“Yeah, they are taking longer than they did with the couch,” Courtney agreed, following Nicole out of her bedroom and downstairs to the livingroom.

The girls reached the front door just as Eric crossed over the threshold.

“Did you pick the heaviest dresser you found baby? Good lord,” he groaned, looking at Courtney.

“You helped me pick it,” Courtney replied, shaking her head.

“Well I wasn’t aware it was so heavy,” Eric replied exasperatedly.

“I don’t see why you’re complaining, I was in the back coming up the stairs so I had to carry the majority of its weight,” John said, shaking his head at Eric as the boys put the dresser down at the foot of the stairs to the upper level of the apartment for a rest.

“Whatever,” Eric replied. “I was still doing a lot of work, I had to walk up the stairs backwards.”

“Oh, you were walking up the stairs backwards? Holy damn Halvo, forgive me for underestimating the effort you were putting into carrying your girlfriend’s dresser up the stairs,” John replied sarcastically, causing the girls to giggle.

Eric shot both girls a look before turning back to John and giving him a glare.

John grinned in response before replying. “Let’s just get the dresser upstairs into Courtney’s room already.”

Eric looked up the stairs with a strained face, sighing dramatically. “Another flight of stairs. I don’t know why you girls had to pick an apartment with two floors instead of a normal, single level apartment.”

“You complain so much, Halvo,” Nicole laughed.

“Well I’m just saying, it seems unnecessary,” Eric defended as he and John picked the dresser back up and started making their way upstairs.

“Because we liked this apartment and not a single level?” Courtney replied, hurry up the stairs ahead of the boys.

“Once again, I don’t see why you’re complaining when I’m in the back,” John added, shaking his head.

“Well I don’t see why you’re complaining about being in the back when you’re the one who put yourself there,” Eric replied.

“First of all, I’m not complaining. Second of all, it’s not like I was like ‘oh hey, let me go in the back.’ You were already in the front when I went outside to help you and you told me to get this end,” John argued, shaking his head.

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Eric mumbled.

Nicole laughed at the two boys. “Do you two need help? Is that why you both keep acting like drama kings?”

John turned slightly to look back at her where she stood behind him on the stairs and grin. “Nah baby, I got it. Unless Eric needs help up there in the front.”

Eric glared at John as he reached the top step, causing Nicole and John to laugh.

“By the way,” John added, turning to look at Nicole once they were upstairs. “I’m not a drama king.”

“Yes you are!” Eric replied as they reached Courtney’s bedroom.

“I am not. I’m not the one who’s been whining about moving stuff all day,” John replied.

Eric opened his mouth to argue but Courtney shook her head at him and held her hand up to silence him.

“No no, no more of that. You’re both drama kings,” she said before directing the boys where to place the dresser.

The boys set the dresser down where Courtney instructed and she nodded her head in approval.

“I don’t know why everyone is abusing me today,” Eric sighed.

“Probably because you’re being extra whiney today, baby,” Courtney replied, patting his arm.

Eric pouted. “I’m not being extra whiney, the furniture is heavy. Excuse me for not being a body builder.”

“Johno’s not a body builder and he’s not being so whiney,” Courtney replied.

“Yeah Halvo, if I can handle it so can you,” John replied, leading the way out of Courtney’s room, turning back briefly to look at Eric . “And it’s not like you have a broken wrist or anything.”

Eric rolled his eyes at John’s back and Courtney laughed. “Besides, I prefer that you’re not a body builder babe, too bulky.”

“Speaking of your hand,” Nicole said, looking at John as they made their way downstairs side-by-side. “Is it bothering you?”

He shrugged slightly. “A little, not too bad.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, looking at him a little disbelievingly. “Are you lying to me?”

“No, I swear I’m fine,” he replied. When she looked like she still didn’t believe him he grinned at her, kissing her cheek.

“I think maybe you guys should wait to finish with the furniture until Tim gets here,” she replied.

“I’m down with that,” Eric replied with a sigh, sitting down on the couch and pulling Courtney down next to him.

John laughed, taking a seat next to Courtney and pulling Nicole onto his lap. “Of course you are.”

Eric glared at John. “Don’t abuse me John.”

John laughed and Nicole poked him. “Be nice to Eric, John. You have been kind of abusive of him today.”

“Thank you! Finally someone sides with me,” Eric replied dramatically.

John pouted at Nicole. “I’m not abusing him, I’m just joking with him. He’s my best friend, that’s how we roll.”

“Psh,” Eric replied.

Nicole laughed, looking at John. “Well you should roll a little nicer.”

John sighed. “Fine.”

Nicole smiled, patting John’s head and kissing his cheek. “Good boy.”

“Let’s go finish up in your room while we wait for the others to get here,” he suggested, pushing her up from his lap and standing as well.

“That sounds like a good plan,” Nicole nodded, allowing John to take her hand and lead her back upstairs.

Your Heart Is The Compass That Leads Me Home

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:24:23 GMT

Title: Your Heart Is The Compass That Leads Me Home
About: Jackson Rathbone
Progress: In Progress

Chapter One

“Ugh I’m so bored!” Courtney sighed loudly, plopping down dramatically onto the living room couch.

Nicole looked up from the magazine she was reading, raising an eyebrow as she looked at her best friend. “And you’re how old? Five?”

Courtney rolled her eyes before whining again. “I’m serious.”

“So am I,” Nicole replied with a slight laugh before returning to her magazine.

Courtney pouted. “Entertain me.”

“Entertain you?” Nicole replied, not bothering to look up from her magazine. “You’re twenty years old; I think you’re old enough to figure out a way to entertain yourself.”

“I can’t,” Courtney whined. “There’s nothing to do in this stupid little town.”

“Stupid little town?” Nicole replied with a snort. “We hardly live in a little town; more like a big city. We live in LA, there’s plenty to do.”

Courtney sighed dramatically, staring at Nicole intently. She watched as Nicole’s eyes quickly darted back and forth around the page as she continued to read her magazine. When Nicole still didn’t look up at the sound of her sigh, Courtney leaned over and lightly kicked her in the shin.

“Ow!” Nicole replied, snapping her head up to look at Courtney. “What the hell, Pookie?”

“It was just a little tap, don’t be a drama queen, Pookie,” Courtney replied, waving a hand dismissively.

“I’m being a drama queen?” Nicole replied, looking at Courtney as if she were crazy.

“Yes, now back to my boredom,” Courtney replied, nodding her head.

Nicole shook her head. “What do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know, entertain me,” Courtney repeated. “Let’s go out or something.”

“And do what? I thought there was nothing to do in this ‘stupid little town’?” Nicole replied, doing air quotes around Courtney’s previous words.

“And you claim there is, so prove me wrong,” Courtney countered, shrugging slightly.

Nicole laughed slightly, shaking her head at Courtney again. “I see what you’re doing there. Trying to trick me into entertaining you by challenging me. Clever, Pookie.”

Courtney grinned at Nicole, trying to look innocent. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just saying, if you say that there’s stuff to do around here then you shouldn’t have any problems finding something for us to do.”

Nicole sighed, getting up from the couch. “Fine. I think I remember one of the local bands I know having a show tonight. Let me go check.”

Courtney grinned up at her. “I love you Pookieee.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Nicole grumbled, throwing her magazine at Courtney as she stomped off to her room to check an email she had gotten from the band asking her to come out to their show.

Nicole returned to the living room a few minutes later, after checking her email, to find that Courtney was now lying on the couch, flipping through her magazine. Nicole smirked before grabbing a throw pillow off the recliner and throwing it at Courtney.

“Hey! What’s with the abuse?” Courtney shouted pouting at Nicole.

“Get up, lazy,” Nicole replied. “The band’s playing at 24k Lounge tonight with a couple of other bands. Doors are in an hour and a half.”

Courtney grinned, sitting up. “See? I knew you’d find a way to entertain me; I win.”

“Whateverr,” Nicole replied, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “I need to look for a few new bands for work anyway.”

“So it’s a win, win situation,” Courtney grinned, standing up and heading to her room to change and get ready.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head as she followed after Courtney, heading into her own room to get ready.

It was two hours later when Nicole and Courtney approached the door to the 24K Lounge. Once they were inside the door Nicole informed the doorman that they were on the guest list and the girls showed him their ID’s.

Nicole watched Courtney pout slightly as she was forced to hold out her hands so they could draw X’s on the back of her hands, indicating she was still underage. Nicole smirked slightly at Courtney as she held out her right hand so the doorman could put a blue wristband around her wrist to indicate that she was 21.

Courtney pouted again as she and Nicole made their way inside. “You know, there’s only a few days left that you get to be the only getting a wristband when we come to shows.”

Nicole laughed. “I know, so I have to take advantage of it while I can.”

“You’re so cruel,” Courtney pouted.

Nicole laughed again. “You know I’m only kidding. I’m excited for you to finally turn 21 so I can have a drinking buddy at shows.”

Courtney grinned at Nicole in response.

The first opening band had already started so the girls made their way to the stage. They were happy to find it wasn’t very crowded, there were only about forty people standing around the stage, the rest were by the bar.

They decided to hang back a little bit to get a feel for the band that was playing and decide if they liked them enough to get closer. When after two songs it was decided that neither were really feeling what the band had to offer, Nicole decided to get a drink.

Courtney followed Nicole to the bar, pouting slightly again as Nicole ordered a drink and she ordered a bottle of water.

“Oh, stop pouting,” Nicole laughed. “You’ll be 21 soon.”

Courtney sighed. “Not soon enough.”

Nicole laughed again, shaking her head. “Just a few more days, don’t be silly.”

Courtney sighed over-dramatically, causing Nicole to roll her eyes as she paid the bartender for her drink. “Patience.”

“I have none,” Courtney replied simply.

“Clearly,” Nicole laughed, shaking her head at her best friend.

You Put The Sun To Shame

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:23:08 GMT

Title: You Put The Sun To Shame
About: Forever The Sickest Kids/ All Time Low
Progress: In Progress

Chapters 1-2
Chapters 3-5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7-8

Chapter Nine

“Sooo,” Courtney began, shooting a glance at Nicole.

“Hmm?” Nicole replied, looking up from the text message she had just received from Alex, complaining about how boring the interview he was doing was.

“Have you talked to Kyle since this morning?” Courtney asked.

Nicole nodded her head. “I have.”

“Really?” Courtney asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nicole nodded her head. “Really.”

Courtney stared at Nicole for a few seconds, waiting for her to elaborate. When she didn’t, her jaw dropped slightly. “Aaannddd?”

“And what?” Nicole replied, raising an eyebrow at Courtney.

“What do you mean ‘and what?” Courtney replied incredulously. “And what happened is what.”

Nicole laughed slightly. “And we’re ok now.”

Courtney sighed dramatically. “Details. I want details. Don’t be so vague.”

Nicole laughed again. “You're kind of nosey, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. Get used to it,” Courtney replied, trying not to grin. “But seriously, I want to know what happened.”

“He came by when I was setting up and apologized again. We talked and decided we’re good now. We hugged; we’re friends,” Nicole replied.

“Aww, you guys hugged?” Courtney replied, smiling.

Nicole nodded her head, grinning.

“Aw, how cute,” Courtney replied. “It’s good that you talked.”

Nicole nodded. “Yeah, I’m glad we did. He’s going to come hang out and keep me company during All Time Low’s set.”

“Good,” Courtney smiled. “So do the guys know about you liking Kyle?”

“Jack and Alex do,” Nicole replied. “They know me better than anyone, so they figured it out right away.”

Courtney nodded her head. “You haven’t told the others?”

Nicole shook her head. “No, I don’t really intend on going around and telling everyone.”

Kyle was walking back to his merch table from soundcheck. He was a few feet away from the All Time Low table but still out of sight of the girls when he heard them talking. He paused briefly to hear what they were saying, making sure that they couldn’t see him.

“What about Zack?” Courtney asked.

“Are you kidding? Zack freaked out when he found out I wanted to date one of his band mates,” Nicole replied.

Kyle sighed, shaking his head and walking back towards the stage. He didn’t need to hear anymore about Nicole and Alex.

“He would completely freak out on me if he found out I like one of his friends,” Nicole went on. “He gets so over-protective of me, especially when it comes to guys in bands. I think it’s best if he just doesn’t know.”

“Wait wait wait, who did you date? Or want to date or whatever?” Courtney asked. “You haven’t mentioned this yet.”

“Oh. Jack, but it was a while ago,” Nicole replied.

Courtney’s jaw dropped slightly. “You dated Jack?”

Nicole nodded. “It was only a couple of dates a couple of years ago. Zack found out after our second date and threw a fit. He said he didn’t want me dating one of his bandmates, even if he was one of my best friends."

Courtney raised her eyebrows. "What exactly did Zack do?"

"Well we hadn't told him, we really hadn't told anyone but Alex because we wanted to see where it would all go. So Zack somehow found out that we had gone out on a couple of dates and he shows up on our third date,” Nicole began.

“Whaat? How did he even know where to go?” Courtney asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t even know!” Nicole replied, shaking her head and laughing slightly. “I don’t know why or how Zack does half the things he does.”

Courtney laughed slightly. “He’s a stalker?”

Nicole laughed as well. “Perhaps. I’m sure he’d say he’s not.”

Courtney laughed again before telling Nicole to continue with her story.

“So Zack shows up right? And he starts going off on Jack. Like, how dare Jack go behind his back and try to date me when he knows how Zack feels about me dating guys in bands because for some reason Zack gets all over protective when it comes to the guys I date, especially when they’re in bands. So Jack and Zack start arguing because Jack starts saying how Zack should trust him of all people because they’re friends but Zack says that clearly he can’t since Jack ‘went behind his back’ and blah blah blah,” Nicole explained. “And then Zack got after me for pretty much the same thing, and it was all kinds of ridiculousness.”

Courtney’s eyes widened slightly. “What the hell? I didn’t know Zack was so crazy.”

Nicole laughed slightly. “He’s really not crazy, he’s just… over protective.”

“Still,” Courtney replied. “There’s at least a little bit of crazy going on there.”

“Perhaps,” Nicole laughed.

“So then what happened with Jack?” Courtney asked. “Did Zack scare him off?”

Nicole shrugged. “I guess he got a little freaked out, but it’s not like Zack scared him out of dating me. It was more that we realized since Zack and Jack are such good friends and in the same band, there wouldn’t really be a way for us to not have to see Zack or avoid him, and we realized that it would probably be awkward. We didn’t want Zack to end up doing something to break us up and then have that end up hurting our friendship, so we decided to just stay friends.”

“Silly Zack,” Courtney replied, shaking her head. “Poor Jack.”

“I guess things worked out ok anyways though. Jack’s still one of my best friends and he and Zack got over their argument right away,” Nicole replied. “I think Jack got over it pretty well. And who knows, it might have just ended up being weird for Jack and I once we got into a serious relationship, and that could have ruined our friendship.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Courtney replied. “And since you didn’t end up with Jack, that means you can pursue Kyle.”

Nicole laughed. “Yes, perhaps.”

“What? Why this ‘perhaps’ nonsense?” Courtney replied, raising an eyebrow.

Nicole shrugged. “Well I don’t know, it’s barely a day into the tour; I don’t know if it’s too soon to be pursuing anything. Besides, I don’t even know if he likes me like that.”

Courtney shook her head. “Don’t be silly. It’s not like you’re going to go jump Kyle and start getting raunchy or anything today. You just need to… start laying some ground work.”

Nicole laughed at Courtney’s word choice. “And what exactly do you suggest I do?”

Courtney shrugged. “I don’t know, flirt with him. He’s going to come hang out with you tonight, just subtly make it apparent that you're interested in him as more than just a friend.”

“And what if he doesn’t like me in that way, hmm? I don’t want it to be awkward with us if he figures out I like him and doesn’t like me back,” Nicole replied, raising an eyebrow.

Courtney shook her head. “Again with the silliness.”

“I’m not being silly,” Nicole pouted. “Just because I like him doesn’t mean he magically likes me.”

“But it does,” Courtney replied, nodding her head.

“What? It does not,” Nicole replied, shaking her head and laughing. “Now who’s being silly?”

“I’m not being silly,” Courtney replied. “Kyle likes you, I can tell.”

“Oh really?” Nicole replied, raising an eyebrow at Courtney. “And just how can you tell?”

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you, he can’t take his eyes off of you,” Courtney replied, smiling.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Nicole replied, shaking her head.

“Of course it does,” Courtney replied. “In all the time I’ve known Kyle, I’ve never seen him look at a girl the way I’ve seen him look at you.”

“And just how is that?” Nicole asked.

“Like he’s studying you,” Courtney replied. “Like he wants to know every little detail about you.”

Nicole tried to think back, had she caught Kyle looking at her this way? She had to admit, when they ran into each other outside of Jonathan’s kitchen the night before he had a spent a couple minutes looking at her before he had said anything, almost as if he were trying to take in every detail of her appearance. Had he really been studying her?

“And when you’re not looking, sometimes I catch him looking at you kind of with this longing look in his eyes,” Courtney went on.

Nicole raised an eyebrow and was about to speak but Courtney shook her head, knowing what she must be thinking. “No, I don’t mean in a ‘man I want to get in that girl’s pants’ sort of way.”

“Then how?” Nicole questioned.

“I don’t know, like he just wants to be around you. Like this morning when we were all at Denny’s, he was talking to Kevin but he was watching you, and he had that look in his eyes like he wished he was the one sitting next to you,” Courtney explained.

“Then he should have sat next to me,” Nicole replied. “He was being silly this morning, he didn’t need to look at me like, he could have just sat next to me.”

“Weren’t you still mad at him this morning?” Courtney replied.

“Oh, yeah, I guess that’s true,” Nicole sighed. “But still.”

“That wasn’t the only time though,” Courtney replied. “When Caleb and I were heading over here so he could get the guys for soundcheck and you were talking to Jonathan, Kyle was watching you two and he had that look again. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t watch you in a creeper way, it’s more of a cute way that makes it obvious that he likes you.”

“But that could just mean that he wants to talk to me so we can be friends,” Nicole argued.

Courtney sighed. “You’re really stubborn, you know that?”

“I know,” Nicole replied, laughing slightly. “Alex tells me that all the time.”

Courtney sighed again, this time shaking her head at Nicole.

“I’m not trying to be stubborn,” Nicole pouted. “I just don’t want to end up making things awkward with Kyle by making it obvious that I like him, on the off-chance that he doesn’t like me.”

“Well it’s not like you have to confess your love to him or anything,” Courtney replied. “Like I said, just flirt with him, drop hints.”

Nicole sighed, frowning slightly.

“Why are you frowning?” Courtney asked.

“I just, I still don’t know,” Nicole replied, sighing.

“I don’t get why this is so hard for you,” Courtney replied, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. “I see you flirting with Jonathan and you don’t seem to have a problem.”

“Yeah, but that’s easy because Jonathan is flirting with me in the first place,” Nicole replied. “Besides, I actually know for certain that he’s interested.”

Courtney raised an eyebrow at Nicole. “How do you know that?”

“Jack told me, apparently Jonathan told Jack last night,” Nicole replied.

“Well look at you, having all the boys after you,” Courtney replied, laughing slightly.

Nicole laughed as well, shaking her head and giving Courtney a slight push. “Oh hush.”

Courtney grinned at her, wiggling her eyebrows.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head again.

“Well I’m guessing that since you have no problem flirting with Jonathan, you don’t mind him liking you,” Courtney replied.

“He’s really cute, and I really like his accent; I could probably listen to Jonathan talk for hours,” Nicole replied with a shrug. “I don’t know, maybe if things were to not happen with Kyle…”

“Don’t be silly, they’re going to happen with Kyle,” Courtney replied, shaking her head.

Nicole laughed. “I’m just sayin.”

“So what did Jack tell Jonathan when he said he liked you?” Courtney asked.

Nicole shrugged. “Something about my heart already being accounted for, for now or something like that. He didn’t want to tell him that I already liked Kyle because Kyle was with them.”

“So Kyle knows Jonathan likes you?” Courtney asked.

Nicole nodded. “I guess so.”

“No wonder he was looking at you two the way he was this afternoon,” Courtney replied. “He must be scared that you like Jonathan or something.”

“You and your theories,” Nicole laughed, shaking her head.

“Whaaat?” Courtney replied.

Nicole laughed. “You know what.”

“Pft, I don’t make up theories,” Courtney replied.

Nicole was about to respond but Caleb walked up to the two girls. He walked up behind Courtney, wrapping his arms around her waist. He kissed her cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder.

Courtney turned her head slightly to smile at Caleb and he grinned, pressing his lips to hers.

“And just what are you two talking about?” Caleb asked the two girls.

“About how Nicole likes Kyle,” Courtney replied with a grin.

Nicole poked Courtney, making a face that said Courtney was supposed to be keeping that information to herself.

“Whaaat?” Courtney replied. “As if I wasn’t going to end up telling him anyways.”

Nicole sighed slightly, shaking her head.

“Don’t siiigh,” Courtney replied, poking Nicole.

“You really like Kyle?” Caleb asked Nicole, smiling slightly as he remembered his conversation with Kyle the day before about the “cute girl” he had run into and how Caleb had figured out it was Nicole.

Nicole sighed before nodding.

Caleb’s smile brightened, thinking of how happy he was sure Kyle would be over this.

“I keep telling her I’m sure he likes her too, but she doesn’t believe me,” Courtney replied.

“What? Why not?” Caleb replied.

“Because she’s silly,” Courtney replied, shaking her head.

Nicole sighed again with a pout. “I’m not silly, stop calling me silly.”

“But you are,” Courtney replied, grinning at Nicole.

“I’m not,” Nicole replied. “You’re silly for assuming he likes me just because he looks at me.”

Caleb realized he hadn’t told Courtney about his conversation with Kyle and how he thought Kyle liked Nicole yet, because he was sure if he had Courtney would have used that as more proof for Nicole. He wasn’t sure if Kyle would want Caleb to tell Nicole that he liked her yet, if Kyle obviously hadn’t made any move to show Nicole that he did.

I’m not assuminggg,” Courtney whined.

Nicole was still shaking her head and Caleb realized that she probably wouldn’t believe that Kyle liked her based just on what Courtney assumed.

“But Kyle does like you,” he finally said, deciding that maybe if Nicole knew Kyle liked her, she would let Kyle know she liked him. He had a feeling Kyle was going to end up being a little shy about his feelings for Nicole, so he was going to need reassurance that she liked him before he did anything about it.

“What?” Nicole and Courtney replied at the same time.

Caleb nodded his head. “Yup, he does.”

“How do you know this, baby?” Courtney asked him, wanting Nicole to hear more proof of what Courtney had been saying.

“Well, he kind of told me yesterday,” Caleb replied.

“What do you mean kind of?” Nicole replied.

“Well, yesterday after rehearsal, before we all went to Jonathan’s he started telling me about how he had met this really cute girl earlier. He said she had accidentally run into him, and then when we met you and you said you had already met Kyle because you guys ran into each other, I put it together and knew you were the girl,” Caleb explained. “By the way Kyle was talking about you I could just tell that he liked you.”

Nicole smiled slightly at the thought.

“And whyy didn’t you tell me about this?” Courtney asked Caleb, turning slightly to poke him in the stomach.

“Well Nicole was with us when I realized it and I wasn’t going to just blurt it out in front of her,” Caleb laughed. “Then it just slipped my mind.”

“Silly Caleb,” Courtney replied, shaking her head slightly before turning to Nicole and poking her as well. “Seeee? I told youuu.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, stop poking me,” Nicole replied, shaking her head and poking Courtney back.

Courtney grinned. “Now you can get your flirt on with Kyle and you don’t have to be scared about things being awkward because he likes youuu.”

“Ooo someone’s scared to flirt with Kyle?” Caleb asked, grinning at Nicole.

“No I’m not scared,” Nicole replied.

“Pft,” Courtney cut in, shaking her head.

“I’m not scared,” Nicole repeated, giving Courtney a look. “I just didn’t want to make it obvious that I liked him if he didn’t like me and end up making things awkward between us.”

“Aw, because you’d rather at least have him as a friend than not at all because things get awkward?” Caleb cooed.

Nicole laughed, nodding. “Yes Caleb, that’s why.”

“Well isn’t that cute,” Caleb replied.

Courtney nodded her head in agreement.

Nicole was about to reply, but quickly quieted when she noticed that Kyle was approaching. It looked like he was approaching his merch table but when he spotted Caleb he quickly changed paths straight to them.

“You two nee-” Caleb began but Courtney cleared her throat when she spotted Kyle, elbowing him in the stomach.

“Ow baby what was that forrr?” Caleb whined with a pout, leaning over her shoulder so she was sure to see that he was pouting at her.

“So you would hush,” Courtney replied quietly, nodding her head towards Kyle.

Caleb followed her gaze to Kyle, who was only a couple of feet away.

“Oh,” he replied quietly, nodding his head.

“Hey guys,” Kyle said with a smile once he reached. He was happy to see that Alex was no where around.

The three greeted him and Courtney and Caleb grinned at each other when they noticed Nicole and Kyle’s eyes lingering on each other for longer.

“So what are you up to Kyle?” Courtney asked, clearing her throat slightly to break Nicole and Kyle’s concentration on each other.

“Huh?” Kyle replied, turning from Nicole. “Oh, I’ve been looking for Caleb. We have to do an interview.”

“We do? Since when?” Caleb asked, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

Kyle shrugged. “Apparently Robbi told Jonathan to let us know, and Jonathan forgot to tell the rest of us about it.”

“Of course,” Caleb replied laughing slightly.

“Did the guys abandon you?” Kyle asked, turning to look at Nicole.

She laughed. “They had to go do an interview, but Alex keeps texting me to nag about how boring it is.”

“You guys probably have to go do the same boring interview,” Courtney told the two boys with a laugh.

Caleb made a face before asking, “What time did we have to be there?”

Kyle pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking the time. “Ten minutes ago.”

Caleb laughed. “Well as long as we’re not late.”

Kyle laughed as well. “Well we wouldn’t be if I wouldn’t have had to just spend the last fifteen minutes wandering around looking for you.”

“It’s not my fault you spent fifteen minutes looking for me,” Caleb replied, shaking his head. “I’ve been here with Courtney and Nicole since after sound check.”

“Pft it is your fault because you wouldn’t answer your phone when we tried to call you to see where you were,” Kyle replied.

“Whaat? No one has called me,” Caleb replied, looking at Kyle like he was crazy.

“Yes we have, check your phone,” Kyle argued.

Caleb felt around all his pockets for his phone, finally finding it in his hoodie pocket. He pulled it from his pocket to find that he had accidentally put it on silent during sound check. He checked his call list, finding he had three missed calls, one from Austin and two from Kyle. “Oh.”

Kyle raised an eyebrow, giving Caleb a look that said “I told you so.”

Caleb grinned sheepishly at Kyle in return.

Courtney laughed, shaking her head at Caleb. “Good job baby, way to go.”

“Well pft, I didn’t even feel it vibrating in my pocket,” Caleb replied.

“Once again I repeat, way to go baby,” Courtney replied with another laugh.

“Pft you were leaning against me and you didn’t feel it eitherrr,” Caleb replied, poking Courtney.

“I’m not the one who they were calling or who had the phone I my pocket,” Courtney replied, poking him back.

“Don’t poke me,” Caleb pouted, poking Courtney again.

“You poked me first,” Courtney replied, poking Caleb back again. “And you keep poking me, you silly boy.”

Nicole laughed at the two. “No guys, it’s not like the boys have an interview that they’re late to. Please continue your poke fest.”

Kyle laughed, nodding his head in agreement. “Yeah, seriously. It’s not like we have anywhere to be or anything.”

“Well pft, it’s not like the boys were hurrying to get to their interview anyways. They were just standing here chatting and debating about whether or not Kyle and the guys had been calling this silly boy,” Courtney replied, poking Caleb one more time, grinning at him when he pouted.

“I’m not silly, and stop pokinggg,” Caleb whined. “I already stopped.”

Courtney laughed. “Don’t pout at me, Caleb Michael.”

“But I’m so abused,” Caleb replied, sighing dramatically.

“Aw baby, you know I love you,” Courtney replied, wrapping her arms around his waist from the side. She smiled up at him before getting on her toes to kiss him.

Caleb grinned before kissing her again.

Nicole smiled at how cute of a couple they were; they seemed, in her opinion, to have the perfect relationship. They got along perfectly, but they were still comfortable enough to poke fun at each other and pick on each other some. Even when they picked on each other, you could see the love behind it.

“I love you too,” Caleb replied with another grin when they pulled apart.

“So are you two just not going to go to your interview?” Nicole asked the boys.

“I vote no,” Caleb replied, shaking his head.

“Are you trying to get rid of us?” Kyle asked her, pouting slightly.

“Noo,” Nicole replied, shaking her head and laughing slightly. “I’m trying to keep you two out of trouble.”

“That’s pretty much a wasted effort,” Courtney told Nicole with a laugh. “These two are trouble.”

Caleb gasped. “Baby, I am not. Now Kyle…”

“Hey! Neither am I,” Kyle added indignantly, giving Caleb a slight push.

Caleb grinned at Kyle, pushing him back.

“See what I mean?” Courtney asked, laughing slightly and shaking her head. “Trouble.”

“Pft baby, we are not,” Caleb replied, shaking his head.

“Yeah,” Kyle agreed, nodding and pouting slightly. “Don’t give Nicole misguided notions about us.”

Nicole laughed. “I think I’ve already picked up on the fact that you guys are trouble, Kyle.”

Kyle pouted more. “I’m not trouble; don’t believe the lies.”

Nicole laughed. “Well maybe you’re not trouble, but I’d say you guys seem mischievous, especially Caleb.”

Kyle snickered slightly as Caleb’s jaw dropped. “Whaaat? I am not.”

“It’s the hair,” Nicole replied laughing slightly as she ruffled his hair. “Redheads are naturally mischievous.”

Caleb pouted as Kyle laughed at him. “Serves you right for saying I was trouble.”

The four continued to talk for another ten minutes until the boys were found.

“There you two are,” Robbie said, looking at them both crossly. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you. You were supposed to find Caleb and bring him to your interview, Kyle.”

“I did find him,” Kyle replied, innocently grinning at Robi. “I was in the process of trying to try to persuade him to come do the interview, but he was refusing to come.”

“What?” Caleb asked, his jaw dropping again.

Kyle nodded his head vigorously.

“That is such a lie, Kyle,” Caleb replied. “You didn’t want to go do the interview either; you were all for skipping it.”

“Pft,” was Kyle’s only reply as he shook his head at Caleb.

“See? I told you guys you were trouble,” Nicole said, raising an eyebrow at the boys.

Caleb sighed, shaking his head, ready to retaliate until Robi cut him off.

“No, save it. You two are coming with me,” he said, shaking his head and grabbing each of the guys by the arm. “You can at least still catch the end of your interview.”

“Aw, but Robi, we don’t wanna,” Caleb whined, pouting at Robi as he started pulling them away.

“Oh goodness, I’m dating a four year-old,” Courtney muttered so that only Nicole could hear her, shaking her head.

Nicole laughed slightly.

“Yeah Robi, we want to hang out with the girls,” Kyle added, nodding his head.

“Aw Robi, don’t steal our boys away,” Nicole laughed. “We’ll miss them.”

Kyle couldn’t help but grin slightly at how she was kind of claiming him as hers in a way, even if it was in a very indirect way.

Robi shook his head, muttering about how they were making his job difficult. The boys continued to whine as Robi dragged them away; the girls couldn’t help but shake their heads and giggle after them.

Everything's Magic

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:20:39 GMT

Title: Everything's Magic
About: Cobra Starship
Status: In Progress

Chapter 1-4
Chapter 5-7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9-10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12-14

Fifteen

Nicole and Gabe didn’t wake up until 7:30 that evening when there was a loud knock on the door to their hotel room. Sighing slightly, Gabe rolled out of bed and walked over to the door. When he opened it he found Alex and Courtney on the other side.

He nodded his head into the room and stepped aside, allowing them to enter as he covered his mouth to stifle a yawn.

“Who was it baby?” Nicole asked, walking over to the door to see. She smiled when she saw Alex and Courtney. “Oh hey you two, what’s up?”

“We came by to see how Gabe was feeling,” Alex replied as he and Courtney followed Nicole and Gabe into the room.

Nicole and Gabe sat down on the bed they had been napping on and motioned for Alex and Courtney to sit on the other bed.

“I’m feeling better, a lot better,” Gabe replied, nodding his head. “Nicole’s been taking care of me and making me better.”

“Nicole’s been playing nurse?” Alex asked with a slight laugh.

Gabe nodded, wrapping an arm around Nicole’s shoulders and kissing her temple. “My baby takes good care of me.”

“Of course I do, I want my Gabanti to get better,” Nicole replied, smiling up at Gabe before leaning her head against him.

Gabe grinned, kissing her forehead.

“So what have you two been doing today?” Courtney asked, smiling as she watched the two.

“Cuddling,” Gabe replied with a smile, “and taking a nap. But most importantly, cuddling.”

“Aw, how cute,” Courtney cooed. “You two are rather adorable.”

Nicole and Gabe grinned at her in response.

“So what have you two been up to?” Gabe asked them. “Nicole told me you guys had lunch with her and Nate.”

Alex nodded. “We just walked around for a while after we split up from Nicole and Nate.”

“And we went shopping in a few stores that we came across while we were walking around,” Courtney added.

“More like Courtney dragged me into the stores and talked me into buying her some new clothes,” Alex laughed.

“Pft Alex, you offered to pay for them,” Courtney replied, pushing him slightly.

“Yeah, after you kept pouting at me,” Alex replied with another laugh.

“Pft, you still offered,” Courtney replied.

“I know, because I love youuu,” Alex cooed, grinning at Courtney before leaning over and kissing her.

“Well now look who’s also cute,” Gabe smiled, watching them.

Nicole nodded in agreement and Courtney and Alex grinned at them in response.

“So anyways, since Gabe is feeling better, we were going to see if you guys wanted to go out and get dinner with us,” Alex said, eyeing Nicole and Gabe as Gabe wrapped an arm around her, pulling her as close to him as possible.

“You want to go to dinner baby?” Gabe asked Nicole.

“Do you think you can handle going out and behaving so you don’t get worse?” Nicole asked looking up at Gabe.

Gabe sighed dramatically. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, I always behave.”

Courtney laughed. “Don’t lie, Gabriel.”

“Pft Courtney Jean,” Gabe replied.

Nicole laughed. “Don’t pft her Gabe, she has a point.”

Gabe pouted. “But babyyy.”

“Nooo don’t pout,” Nicole replied, shaking her head at him before turning to Courtney and Alex. “If Gabe can behave and wear a jacket, then I’m in for dinner.”

“Well Gabriel, are you going to behave?” Courtney asked, looking at him expectantly.

Gabe sighed. “Yes, I’ll behave.”

Nicole smiled, patting his leg. “Good Gabey.”

He grinned at her before turning to Nicole and Courtney. “Give us a few minutes to get ready, we’ll meet up with you guys in a little bit.”

They both nodded before standing up. They made their way to the door and Alex called out for Gabe to text him when he and Nicole were ready before they stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind them.

“Are you sure you’re up to going out tonight?” Nicole asked Gabe as she stood up and walked over to her bag.

Gabe nodded, standing up as well. “I’m feeling better, a lot better.”

“I just don’t want you to get sick again,” Nicole replied, turning to look at him.

“I won’t baby, don’t worry,” Gabe replied, smiling at her concern. “I’ll be good and wear a jacket.”

“Good,” Nicole smiled before turning back to her bag. She grabbed out a shirt and walked into the bathroom to change.

Gabe started digging through his bag as well, finding a long-sleeved black shirt. He was pulling it on when Nicole walked back out of the bathroom wearing the new shirt.

“You ready?” Gabe asked her.

“Almost, just let me fix my makeup real quick,” she replied, sitting down on their bed with her makeup bag in hand. It only took her a couple minutes to touch up her makeup before she put her makeup bag back in her bag and turned to Gabe. “Ready to go?”

“Yup,” he nodded, getting up from his spot on their bed and turning off the tv.

They each pulled on a hoodie and Nicole pulled a scarf out of Gabe’s bag, holding it out to him.

“Wear it, please? So you don’t get worse,” she asked him.

Gabe nodded, taking it from her and putting it on.

Nicole smiled at the fact that he had listened to her without whining or arguing. “Thank you for not being stubborn and arguing with me this time.”

Gabe grinned, leaning over and kissing her cheek. “Of course, I know you're just trying to take care of me.”

Nicole smiled and nodded her head.

Gabe took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. “Shall we?” he asked her nodding his head towards the door.

Nicole nodded her head. “We shall.”

Gabe smiled leading her out the door. They made their way down the hall to Courtney and Alex’s room, hand-in-hand, and Gabe knocked on the door when they reached it. Gabe grinned and leaned over, kissing her cheek while they waited for them to answer.

“What was that for?” Nicole asked with a smile.

Gabe shrugged. “Just because.”

Nicole’s smile broadened and she squeezed Gabe’s hand slightly.

Courtney opened the door and smiled at the two when she saw them waiting, hands clasped. “You two are adorable, you know that?”

Nicole laughed slightly. “I think you might have mentioned it once or twice.”

Courtney laughed as well. “Well it’s true.”

Gabe grinned at her before asking. “Are you and Suarez ready to go?”

“Let me just grab a jacket,” Courtney replied with a nod. “And Alex, I guess.”

Within a minute Alex and Courtney were walking out of the room, hand-in-hand.

“Are we all ready to go?” Alex asked.

They all nodded, so the couples made their way to the elevator. When they reached the lobby Nicole turned to Alex and Courtney.

“Where are we going?” she asked them.

Alex shrugged. “I don’t know, let’s see what we find.”

“Didn’t you guys spend all afternoon walking around exploring?” Gabe asked, laughing slightly. “And you still don’t know where we could go get dinner?”

“Well excuse me, I was kind of busy being dragged into a ton of shops, I didn’t have a chance to pay attention to restaurants,” Alex replied as he led the group outside of the hotel.

“Stop complaining, you know you loved it, we already established this,” Courtney laughed, poking Alex with her free hand.

“I’m not complaining,” Alex laughed, poking her back lightly. “I’m just explaining to Gabe why I don’t know where we should go eat.”

Courtney grinned and Alex leaned down to kiss her quickly.

“See? You two are cute also,” Gabe replied with a smile.

They both grinned at Gabe in response before Alex kissed Courtney’s cheek.

The four walked around for a little while longer before they found a Chilis and decided to eat there. They were seated at a booth and chatted while they looked over their menus, until their waiter came to take their orders.

They chatted for a little while longer until their food was brought out. They ate in a peaceful silence, the only outburst occurring when Gabe tried to steal Courtney’s french fries.

“Gabriel Eduardo Saporta!” she shouted. “You stay away from my fries, you have some of your own.”

Gabe grinned at her. “But yours look better.”

“Pft Gabriel, stay away,” she replied, swatting his hand as he reached for her plate again.

“Oh come on Courtney Jean, you know you love me,” he replied, grinning again.

“I know nothing like that at all,” Courtney replied, shaking her head.

Nicole laughed. “Gabe, be nice; keep your hands to yourself.”

“Keep my hands to myself huh? But what if I want to hold your hand?” he replied.

Nicole laughed. “You know what I mean, keep your hands away from Courtney’s plate.”

Gabe grinned, grabbing her hand and kissing her cheek.

The rest of dinner passed without incident. Once they were done eating, Nicole nudged Gabe.

“Yes?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Can you let me out? I need to go to the bathroom,” she replied.

Gabe nodded, sliding out of the booth and letting her out.

“I’ll go with you,” Courtney said, nudging Alex out of the booth.

“We’ll be right back,” Nicole said to Gabe.

He nodded, kissing her cheek. “Suarez and I will be right here waiting for you.”

Nicole smiled and nodded before she and Courtney walked off.

Alex watched Gabe as he slid back into the booth, his eyes still on the girls. Gabe smiled as he watched them walk off.

“You seem really happy with Nicole; I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy,” Alex said to Gabe, breaking his attention away from the direction the girls had walked off to.

“I am; I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy,” Gabe replied.

“You really like her, huh?” Alex replied.

Gabe nodded. “She makes me feel like I’ve never felt before. It’s crazy, but I already can’t imagine not being with her. It’s like she’s the perfect girl for me; she was made for me. She gets me in a way that no other girl has. She doesn’t mind that I can be a complete idiot and a complete asshole at times. She knows how to loosen up and go along with me when I want to do something crazy, instead of being all uptight, but at the same time she knows how to keep me in line when I’m taking things too far. I don’t know, it’s like she’s my other half.”

Alex smiled. He knew Gabe’s relationship history so well; he couldn’t believe that Gabe was changing so much for the good this time around. Gabe never would have been opening up and admitting to any kind of feelings so early on in the past, but here he was doing just that. “I’ve never heard you talk about a girl this way, especially not so soon into a relationship.”

Gabe shrugged slightly. “I’ve never felt this way before. I guess I’ve just never had a reason to talk this way.”

“Ooo Gabanti’s falling in love,” Alex replied, wiggling his eyebrows at Gabe.

Gabe shook his head. “I’m not falling in love.”

Alex raised an eyebrow at Gabe, thinking he was falling back into his old behavior, refusing to fall in love or develop heavy feelings so early in a relationship.

Gabe grinned. “I’m way past the falling part; I’m in love with Nicole.”

Alex’s eyebrows raised slightly in surprise and he couldn’t help but smile at Gabe. “Seriously bro?”

Gabe nodded his head. “Seriously.”

You Put The Sun To Shame

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 07:44:08 GMT

Title: You Put The Sun To Shame
About: Forever The Sickest Kids/ All Time Low
Progress: In Progress

Chapters 1-2
Chapters 3-5
Chapter 6

Chapter Seven

Kyle placed his hands in his pockets as he followed his group into Denny’s, not paying attention to what Kevin was saying to him. Kevin noticed that Kyle wasn’t paying attention to a word he was saying, only nodding his head, and shook his head before turning to talk to Kent.

Kyle sighed as he looked ahead and saw Nicole with Alex at the front of the group. He wanted to try to talk to her again, but he wanted to do it when Alex wasn’t around; he didn’t know what Nicole might have told Alex about what had happened, so he wasn’t sure that Alex would even let him talk to her.

Kyle was broken from his thoughts when Courtney turned back to talk to him.

“Why didn’t you ride over here with the rest of us, Kyle?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I had some stuff on my mind that I had to straighten out. I figured if drove over by myself I could take some time to think and get things figured out.”

Courtney raised an eyebrow. “You had stuff on your mind? Like what?”

Kyle shook his head. “Nothing, just… a few different things. Don’t worry about it, ok?”

“Well maybe I could help or something,” Courtney replied. “It’s not good to keep things bottled up, Kyle.”

“It’s nothing, ok Court? Don’t worry about it,” Kyle sighed.

Caleb, who had been standing next to Courtney, holding onto her hand as he talked to Jonathan, overheard the conversation. He turned away from Jonathan to look at Courtney and Kyle.

“But it obviously isn’t nothing,” Courtney persisted. “You’re obviously upset over something. You’re never this quiet; you’re always so happy and cheery.”

Kyle sighed again. He knew she meant well, but he wished Courtney would just drop the subject. “Court, seriously. Don’t worry about it; it’s nothing you can do anything about.”

Courtney sighed as well. “But Kyle-”

Caleb could tell that Kyle didn’t want to discuss the subject further and decided he should stop his girlfriend before she pushed too far.

“Baby,” Caleb interrupted Courtney, squeezing her hand. “Kyle’s got it, ok?”

“But Caleb,” Courtney sighed, turning to look at him. “I’m just trying to help him.”

“I know,” Caleb replied, nodding his head, “but if he needs our help, he’ll ask us.”

Courtney sighed, nodding her head. “Fine.”

Caleb smiled at her, kissing her cheek.

“Don’t worry about him so much yet. If he says he's fine, he's fine,” he whispered in her ear.

She sighed with another nod.

Kyle looked at Caleb with a grateful smile, mouthing “thank you” to him.

Caleb nodded, smiling at Kyle with a shrug that said it was no problem.

They stood in silence for a few more seconds before Caleb tugged on Courtney’s hand, pulling her forward. The hostess had returned and their group was starting to make their way to a large table.

Once they were all seated, their waitress arrived to take their drink orders. Once drink orders were filled everyone opened their menus to decide what they were going to order for breakfast.

As they looked over their menus a quiet murmur settled over the group, most only talking to those next to them to see what they were going to order. They only voice that could be distinctly heard over the rest was Jonathan’s.

Kyle looked up from his menu and looked down the table a few people, curious why Jonathan was being so loud. He saw that Jonathan was sitting across from Nicole, talking loudly to her to draw her attention away from her menu.

As Kyle watched the exchange between Jonathan and Nicole, he noticed that Jonathan was still giving her his flirty smile. He was surprised to see that Jonathan was still flirting with her after Jack had told them she was taken. What surprised Kyle more by the fact that Jonathan was flirting with her even though she was sitting next to Alex.

Kyle glanced over to Alex, to see how he was reacting to Jonathan’s flirtations with his girlfriend. To Kyle’s surprise, Alex didn’t seem phased by how Jonathan was flirting with Nicole. Did that mean, perhaps, that they weren’t as serious as Kyle had thought? Or maybe Alex didn’t really care about Nicole as his girlfriend much as he put on. Kyle couldn’t see how Alex could not be the least bit bothered by one of his friends flirting so openly with his girlfriend.

Shaking his head to himself, Kyle returned to his attention to his menu. He knew that trying to analyze Alex and Nicole’s relationship was just going to result in some sort of problem. It would probably either give him false hope, or leave him bummed out again like he had been the night before.

Kyle was broken from his thoughts when their waitress returned with their drinks. Once everyone had their drinks, she asked if everyone was ready to order. It was decided that everyone was ready, so she went around the table to take everyone’s food orders. Once she had everyone’s food orders she left to go put their orders in, leaving the group to chat.

A light murmur settled over the group as everyone started chatting amongst themselves. Kyle sat quietly in his spot between Kevin and Caleb. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Nicole, but she didn’t seem to notice. As a matter of fact, Kyle noticed she seemed to be avoiding looking at him all together. He sighed slightly to himself, thinking she must still be mad at him; he must have messed up royally.

Kyle turned to his right when Kevin elbowed him, raising an eyebrow at his best friend. “Yes?”

“Why are you staring at Nicole?” Kevin asked him, raising an eyebrow back at him.

“What? I’m doing no such thing,” Kyle replied defensively.

“You're joking, right?” Kevin replied. “You seriously think I couldn’t tell how you were staring at her? You haven’t taken your eyes off of her since you ordered your food.”

“How would you possibly know that?” Kyle asked. “Have you been staring at me?”

“Well I’ve been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes,” Kevin replied.

“Oh,” Kyle replied, sounding surprised. “What did you need?”

“Well I was going to ask you what’s going on with you today, you’ve been acting really weird,” Kevin replied. “But now I want to know why you keep staring at Nicole.”

Kyle sighed. “I wasn’t staring, I was just…”

“Gazing intently non-stop?” Kevin offered.

“That’s the same thing as staring,” Kyle replied.

“Exactly,” Kevin grinned.

Kyle shook his head. “I was just… looking. It’s not like I was being a creeper or anything.”

“Uh, but you kind of were,” Kevin replied, nodding his head.

Kyle sighed. “It’s not like she even noticed; she’s been avoiding me all day.”

“What do you mean she’s been avoiding you?” Kevin asked. He picked up on the sad tone of Kyle’s voice. “Why are you so down?”

Kyle didn’t hear him because he had already turned back to watching Nicole. She had turned away from her conversation with Jonathan and was now leaning close to Alex, whispering something to him. Kyle sighed, as Alex whispered something back, causing her to giggle.

Kevin noticed that Kyle was watching Nicole again and elbowed him to get his attention back, realizing what was going on.

“Wait a minute, you like her, don’t you?” he asked.

Kyle sighed again, nodding his head.

“Then why do you seem so sad? You should be excited, or happy at least,” Kevin replied.

“Why?” Kyle asked, looking at Kevin as if he were crazy. He thought it was obvious why he seemed so sad.

“Because there’s a cute new girl you like, and she’s going to be around for the whole tour, so that will give you a chance to spend a lot of time with her. You two can get to know each other and who knows, maybe you’ll win her heart by the end of the tour,” Kevin replied, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows at Kyle.

“I doubt it,” Kyle sighed, shaking his head. “That’s highly unlikely.”

“Why?” Kevin replied.

“Because she has a boyfriend,” Kyle replied. “I can’t exactly win her heart if its already taken by someone else.”

“How do you know she has a boyfriend?” Kevin asked.

“Just look at her and Alex,” Kyle replied, nodding his head in their direction.

Kevin shrugged. “They’re really good friends, so what?”

“They act a lot closer than just a guy and a girl who are friends,” Kyle replied stubbornly.

“That’s because they’re not just friends, they’re best friends,” Kevin replied.

Kyle shook his head. “Besides that, yesterday Jonathan was telling Jack and I that he thought he was starting to like Nicole and Jack pretty much told him to back off because Nicole is taken already.”

“Oh,” Kevin replied softly. “Is that why you’re so bummed?”

Kyle didn’t answer for a few seconds, but then nodded. “I guess that’s a big part of it, yeah.”

“What’s the other part then?” Kevin asked.

“She’s mad at me, so she’s been avoiding me today,” Kyle replied, sighing again.

“You just met her yesterday, what could you possibly have done to make her mad at you already?” Kevin replied. “Or is she just moody? Because if she’s that moody then maybe you’re just better off without her anyways.”

Kyle shook his head. “No, she’s not moody. I messed up last night and acted like kind of a jerk at Jonathan’s.”

“What did you do?” Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow at Kyle.

“I guess I was just kind of bummed out about her and Alex,” Kyle replied with a sigh. “So I was just trying to avoid her so I wouldn’t have to see them together. But then we ran into each other when she was coming out of the kitchen and I was going into it, and I don’t know what happened but she just looked so good last night and I was looking into her eyes and I don’t know, I just started getting lost in her eyes-”

“But that doesn’t sound so bad. I don’t get how you messed up,” Kevin interrupted.

“I haven’t gotten to that part yet Kev,” Kyle replied exasperatedly.

“Oh, my bad,” Kevin replied. “Please, continue with your story.”

Kyle shook his head before continuing. “Well, I had already decided that I wasn’t going to interfere with Nicole and Alex’s relationship, and that I wasn’t going to do anything to let on that I like her and end up messing up her relationship because I don’t want to stab one of my friends in the back. So when I ran into her, she had her hair falling into her eyes and I was so tempted to just brush it out of her face, and I was totally getting lost in her eyes, and I could just feel myself losing control. So I figured I had to get away from her before I did something to get myself in trouble. So I made up an excuse that I needed a drink and just rushed away, but when I think about it, I guess it seemed like I was blowing her off.”

“Well, you do have to admit that was kind of silly,” Kevin replied.

“I know,” Kyle replied. “I was just scared that I was going to lose control and end up doing something to mess up things between her and Alex. I mean, Alex is my friend, I don’t want to be the reason he ends up getting hurt. But I know it was silly, I spent all this morning thinking about it and I realize how dumb I was.”

“Is that why you drove over by yourself?” Kevin asked. He had found it odd that Kyle had just decided to come to the show on his own.

Kyle nodded. “I wanted some time to myself to think things over. I realized that I was kind of a jerk with her yesterday and that I needed to make things right. Even if I cant date her, I want to at least be friends with her.”

Kevin nodded. “That’s a good decision. Has she said she’s mad at you or anything?”

Kyle shook his head. “Not directly, no. But I ran into her this morning before you guys got here, and I could tell she was mad. She kind of snapped at me when I tried to talk to her and apologize, and she blew me off like I did last night, saying that Alex was looking for her.”

“What did she say when you saw her this morning?” Kevin asked.

“Something along the lines of ‘oh, so now you're not too busy for me?’ which I know I deserved,” Kyle replied. “I just wish that she would let me apologize.”

Kevin frowned, patting Kyle on the shoulder. “What are you going to do, then?”

Kyle shrugged. “Try to talk to her again and apologize, but I want to talk to her alone, when she’s not with Alex.”

Kevin nodded in understanding. “That would probably be best.”

“I just hope she’ll actually let me apologize this time,” Kyle sighed.

Kevin smiled, patting Kyle on the shoulder. “Just keep trying until she does.”

“I’m going to try to talk to her today if I can get her alone,” Kyle replied, nodding. “Look, do me a favor and don’t tell anyone, ok?” he turned to look briefly to his right, making sure Caleb was still engrossed in his conversation with Alex before continuing. “Especially Caleb. It seems like Courtney and Nicole are becoming close friends really quickly and I know if Caleb hears about me liking Nicole, he’ll tell Courtney, and she’ll probably end up telling Nicole. I really don’t want this to get back to her, I don’t want things to turn awkward between us if I can somehow revive a friendship with her.”

“Of course,” Kevin nodded. “Your secret is safe with me.”

Kyle smiled slightly. “Thanks. I can just see things getting a lot worse if she were to find out, especially if she were to tell Alex. I cant see him being too happy about me liking his girlfriend.”

Kevin nodded again, returning the smile.

Kyle turned his attention away from Kevin to look at Nicole again.  She was having a conversation with Courtney, who was sitting between Jonathan and Caleb, both girls leaning slightly over the table so that not too many other people would hear what they were talking about.

Nicole said something softly to Courtney, just briefly glancing in Kyle’s direction.  Just as quickly as she had looked at him, she dropped her gaze before continuing with what she was saying to Courtney.  Courtney looked excited at whatever Nicole had said, and said something about a double date to her.  Kyle sighed to himself, figuring that they were talking about their boyfriends.

Kyle turned away from the girls, pulling his phone out of his pocket and busying himself with it.  It showed that he had a new text message.  He went to his text messages and saw that he had a message from Jack.  He opened it up and read it over, quickly.

“We need to talk. ASAP.”

Kyle furrowed his eyebrows together, wondering what he and Jack could possibly need to talk about that was so important.

“K. About what?” was the quick reply he sent before setting his phone back down.

Across the table, Jack jumped slightly in his seat when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Nicole turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and Nicole laughed, shaking her head slightly.

A minute later, Kyle’s phone started vibrating across the table. He quickly picked it up, to read Jack’s reply.

“I’ll tell u when we talk. Just hang back when everyone leaves after breakfast.”

Kyle looked down the table at Jack, nodding his head. Jack nodded his head as well before turning to say something to Nicole.

Kyle sat quietly, contemplating what Jack could want to talk to him about. He was only broken from his thoughts when their food came.

The group quieted down once they all had their food. A quiet murmur once again settled over the group as everyone concentrated on their food, mainly only talking to those sitting next to them.

The only interruption to the murmur came about fifteen minutes after their food arrived. Kyle looked down the table as Nicole yelled at Jack and Alex, telling them to stop stealing her French toast. Both boy grinned innocently at her, causing her to pout back at them. Alex grinned again, kissing her cheek and offering her some of his pancakes. Kyle quickly reverted his eyes back to his own food.

The rest of breakfast passed without much incident. After nearly another hour of chatting, everyone decided it was time to leave. They all placed money on the table to cover their parts of the bill before starting to make their way out of the restaurant.

As everyone started to leave, Kyle told Kevin he would catch up with him later before hanging back to wait for Jack. He saw Jack tell Nicole and Alex to go on without him, he’d meet them back at the bus, before making his way over to Kyle.

“What’s up?” Kyle asked him.

Jack shook his head. “Not much, I just have to talk to you about something.”

Kyle nodded his head, curious as to what Jack need to discuss with him. “What is it?”

Jack was quiet for a few seconds, trying to think of how to word what he wanted to say. Kyle watched him with raised eyebrows.

“Look, it’s just, Nicole means a lot to all of us,” Jack began.

Kyle sighed. He should have known that whatever Jack wanted to talk about had to do with Nicole.

Jack picked up on Kyle’s sigh and raised his eyebrow. “What? Why are you sighing?”

Kyle shook his head. “Nothing. Go on.”

Jack looked at Kyle disbelievingly for a few seconds before nodding and continuing. “I just, I don’t like seeing her sad and bummed out. And last night she was. Because of you.” Kyle opened his mouth to reply but Jack shook his head, holding up a hand to silence him. “Wait, you don’t have to argue. I’m not saying you did it on purpose, I’m just saying you did it.”

“I wasn’t going to argue, I realize I’m the one who upset her last night,” Kyle replied. “I didn’t mean to, I just… I had a lot on my mind last night.”

“I know, I get that,” Jack replied. “We all noticed that you weren’t acting like yourself yesterday and that it seemed like you had a lot on your mind.”

Kyle nodded. “I did. She just caught me at a bad time. I wasn’t trying to blow her off or anything, even though she probably thought I was.”

Jack nodded his head. “She did. She thought maybe she had done something to you to make you not like her.”

Kyle frowned. That hadn’t been his intention; no wonder Nicole had seemed so upset with him this morning. He shook his head. “No, that’s definitely not it. I tried to talk to her again today, but she was too mad at me. She wouldn’t let me apologize.”

“Yeah, I heard,” Jack replied, nodding.

“You did?” Kyle asked, his eyebrows raising in surprise. He didn’t think anyone would have heard about the instance between him and Nicole except for Kevin; he hadn’t told anyone else and he was sure that since she seemed so upset with him she wouldn’t be discussing him with anyone, unless it was to tell them how much of an ass she thought he was.

Jack nodded. “Nicole told me this morning; we had a little chat earlier before breakfast.”

Kyle felt his mood brighten ever so slightly. She was talking to Jack about him; that meant that she was at least still thinking about him. If she was willing to admit to Jack that Kyle had tried to apologize but she wouldn’t listen, rather than denying that Kyle had tried, maybe that meant she was willing to acknowledge that Kyle was trying. Maybe that meant she would eventually talk to him again.

“She told you I tried to apologize to her?” Kyle asked to make sure.

Jack nodded again. “Yeah. She said she didn’t really let you because she thought you were making up excuses by saying you had a lot on your mind, but I told her it seemed like you really did have a lot on your mind yesterday.”

“I did,” Kyle replied. “I wish she would have let me apologize. I really want to make things right.”

“She can be stubborn sometimes,” Jack replied. “Especially when she feels she’s been wronged. Nicole’s one of those girls that shouldn’t be messed with.”

Kyle sighed at that. Nicole obviously thought she had been wronged by Kyle; maybe he wasn’t going to be able to make things right after all.

Jack picked up on Kyle’s sigh and figured what was running through his mind. “Look, it seems like she’s started to believe that you just had a lot on your mind yesterday and you weren’t just trying to blow her off. She might be stubborn, but she also knows when to back down and hear people out.”

“You mean she might actually let me apologize if I try again?” Kyle asked sounding hopeful.

Jack nodded. “I think so. If not, just keep on trying. If you're persistent, it will eventually override her stubbornness.”

Kyle nodded. “That’s what I was thinking of doing; just apologizing until she finally heard me and got that I was sorry.”

“Good,” Jack replied. He nodded his head toward the door of the restaurant, indicating for Kyle to follow him outside. “So you’re going to talk to her then?”

Kyle nodded his head, pushing his hands back into his pockets as he walked next to Jack. “I just wanted to talk to her alone, you know? I figured it would be better to talk to her one-on-one, instead of when she’s with a bunch of people.” In his mind Kyle mentally added “Especially Alex.”

Jack nodded in understanding. “She might be more willing to hear you out.”

Kyle nodded. “I just don’t know when. It seems like she’s always with someone; if she’s not with a group, she’s with Alex. I mean, she was alone this morning, but that didn’t work so well.”

“Try later on today. She’s doing merch for us tonight because Delicious doesn’t get in until tomorrow,” Jack replied. “She’ll be alone setting up while we do sound check and probably during our set. You could stop by and offer to help her set up, or talk to her while we’re doing our set.”

Kyle nodded his head, trying his best not to smile too broadly out of excitement.

He had two possible opportunities to talk to Nicole when he knew she would for sure be away from Alex. Both opportunities would give Kyle an extended amount of time to talk to her, rather than the few minutes he was sure he would get if he tried to get he alone at another part of the day. Maybe once he apologized he could show her that he wasn’t such a bad guy.

“Thanks for the advice,” he said, smiling at Jack.

“No problem,” Jack replied, nodding his head. “So you are going to talk to her today, right?”

“Yes,” Kyle replied, nodding his head. He turned to look at Jack with a raised eyebrow. “Wait, why are you being so persistent?”

Kyle couldn’t figure out why Jack was so set on getting Kyle to talk to his best friend’s girlfriend. It seemed odd to him; it was almost like Jack was trying to push them together.

Jack hesitated in answering. He didn’t know what to tell Kyle without revealing to him the Nicole liked him. He had to choose his reply carefully because he knew if he accidentally let that little piece of information slip, Nicole would be super mad at him. He had a feeling Nicole might not be too happy with him if she found out about the intentions behind his conversation with Kyle. He was starting to think that maybe he had been too persistent.

“Oh, well. Let’s just say I know Nicole, and I know what type of people she likes to be around and be friends with,” Jack replied carefully. “I know that you’re one of those people; I think you guys could get along really well and be really good friends if you could get over what happened yesterday."

Jack nodded slightly to himself, congratulating himself on a job well done. He felt satisfied that he had done a good job of convincing Kyle that he there was still a chance for him to make things right with Nicole without revealing to him that it was because she liked him. At least Nicole couldn’t get upset with him for that.

Kyle nodded his head with a smile. “That would be cool.”

If he there was no chance that he could date Nicole, Kyle liked the idea of at least being her friend. He wanted her in his life one way or another.

The boys continued on their way in silence. It only took them a couple more minutes to reach the venue again. Once they were outside the All Time Low bus, they split up. Jack headed onto his bus while Kyle went to find his Kevin. Before he closed the door to the bus Jack reminded Kyle of when would be a good time to talk to Nicole. Kyle nodded his head before going on his way.

Chapter Eight

Kyle stood off to the side of the area where all the merch tables were, waiting for a chance to catch Nicole alone. Currently, Jack and Alex were at the merch table with Nicole; she had gotten them to help her unload all the merch from the trailer so she could start setting up.

Kyle waited a few minutes before he started to become anxious. Kyle looked down at his iPhone for the time, All Time Low were due to start soundcheck in a couple minutes, so he assumed it wouldn’t be long until the guys left Nicole alone at the merch table.

Kyle assumed right, because about a minute later both Jack and Alex hopped off the merch table which they had been sitting on. He could hear Alex calling back to Nicole that he would see her after soundcheck as he and Jack made their way away from the table.

As they were walking away, Jack spotted Kyle. He grinned at Kyle, giving him a thumbs up. Kyle nodded back at him before Jack turned back to his conversation with Alex.

Once they were out of sight, Kyle took a deep breath before walking over to All Time Low’s merch table.

Nicole had her back to him as she attempted to hang up a shirt, struggling to get it high enough. She didn’t notice Kyle so he cleared his throat before speaking up.

“Do you want some help with that?” he asked.

Nicole turned at the sound of his voice, trying to see who was talking to her. When she noticed that it was Kyle, she looked like she was contemplating whether to answer him or ignore him.

Kyle smiled at her, hoping she would realize that he had good intentions. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she rejected his help.

After a few minutes of studying Kyle, she nodded her head. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

Kyle nodded with another smile, quickly walking around the merch table. He took the shirt from Nicole, hanging it up for her where she had originally been trying to put it.

They were silent for a couple minutes as they sifted through the merch bins and hung up the display. After a few minutes of the awkward silence, Kyle cleared his throat, turning to look at Nicole.

“Look, about last night,” Kyle began.

Nicole tried to hide an inward sigh at the mention of last night, but Kyle caught it. Nicole turned to look at Kyle, putting the shirt she had in her hands down on the table to show he had her attention.

“I want to apologize again,” Kyle went on, thinking it best not to acknowledge her sigh. “I didn’t mean to come off like I was blowing you off or anything. I know it sounds like I’m just making up an excuse, but I really did just have a lot on my mind last night. I promise I would never blow you off."

Nicole was silent for a few seconds before nodding her head. "It's ok. I was kind of bitchy this morning when you tried to talk to me, so I'm sorry about that."

Kyle smiled, shaking his head. "No, its ok. I kind of deserved it anyways. And I know I deserve to have you mad at me, but I'm really hoping you won't be and give me a second chance.”

Nicole nodded her head again. "I'm not mad... anymore. I mean, I was clearly mad this morning, but its ok. Jack said I should give you a second chance because you really are a good guy, and I agree with him."

"You think I'm a good guy?" Kyle replied, smiling.

She nodded. "Yeah. You made an effort to apologize to me even after I pretty much blew you off this morning. Besides, the guys said that I'd did seem like you had a lot on your mind and you weren't acting like yourself last night, so I figure I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

Kyle's smile broadened. "Well, thank you. So we're ok then?"

"Yes," Nicole replied, laughing slightly at how many times she had to confirm it for Kyle. "We're ok Kyle."

Kyle smiled. "Good. Can I have a hug then?"

Nicole nodded taking a step towards Kyle and wrapping her arms around his waist. Kyle smiled brightly, wrapping his arms around her.

As he held her to him, he realized that he had never experienced anything that felt more right to him. The way she felt in his arms, the way their bodies fit perfectly together. Kyle knew it was crazy because they had just met the day before, but he was starting to feel like he belonged with her.

Nicole sighed slightly to herself as she leaned her head against Kyle’s chest, but for the first time since last night, it was a good kind of sigh. She felt at home in Kyle’s arms, like it was where she belonged.

Their hug lasted longer than a normal hug would, but neither were about to complain. Kyle could feel his heart beat quickening slightly as he breathed in her scent. She smelt like vanilla and caramel, a combination that Kyle found both comforting and intoxicating. He could feel his head starting to spin with all his thoughts.

Kyle wrapped his arms around Nicole just a little more tightly. He didn’t want to let go of her, but he knew he’d have to; eventually Alex would be back and Kyle assumed that he wouldn’t appreciate finding another guy holding his girlfriend.

Kyle sighed to himself before reluctantly pulling away. Neither commented on how long the hug had lasted, neither seemed to have noticed.

“I’m glad you’re not mad at me,” Kyle said to Nicole. “I really want us to be friends.”

Nicole smiled up at him, nodding her head. “So do I.”

Kyle grinned at her and they both got back to work setting up the merch. They chatted as they worked, joking and laughing like they had been friends forever. Kyle wasn’t able to stop smiling the whole time; he loved just being around Nicole.

After about forty minutes, Alex returned the merch table, this time with Zack. Kyle couldn’t help but feel his mood darken a little bit at the return of Alex.

“I’m baaack!” Alex sang as he walked over to Nicole. He hugged Nicole before noticing that Kyle was with her. “Oh hey Kyle, what are you doing over here?”

“Just giving Nicole a hand,” Kyle replied, trying his best not to eye Nicole and Alex for too long.

“Kyle came over and offered to help me,” Nicole added, turning to look at Alex. “Since you guys made me do merch for you and then left me to set up all by myself.”

“Pft, I had soundcheck, woman,” Alex replied, lightly shoving Nicole aside. “It’s not like I was like ‘ok here’s the merch, have fun setting up while I go relax.’”

She laughed, pushing him back. “Don’t push me, you butthead. You’re mean, Alexander Gaskarth.”

“Aw, you know I love you,” Alex grinned, hugging her.

Kyle felt his heart drop slightly. Nicole and Alex must have been closer than he had hoped if Alex was telling her that he loved her; it didn’t look like Kyle would have a chance after all. He quickly averted his eyes, dropping his gaze to his shoes.

Kyle couldn’t understand how she could be dating someone else when he so strongly felt like they were supposed to be together. He knew it was probably silly, because there was so much he didn’t know about her, but the idea of being with her just felt right to him.

Kyle took his phone out of his pocket, checking the time; he still had over an hour until his soundcheck. He cleared his throat before looking up, deciding it was time for him to leave.

“I should… um… go find my band, it’s almost time for soundcheck. I’ll see you guys later,” he lied, quickly waving to Nicole, Zack, and Alex before rushing away from the table.

Zack and Alex watched him with raised eyebrows, nodding when Nicole told them she would be right back.

“Hey Kyle!” she called, quickly following after him.

He paused when he heard her calling him, surprised to see her following after him. He was already about ten feet away from the merch table when she caught up to him.

“What’s up?” he asked, looking at her questioningly.

“I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out with me during All Time Low’s set? The guys play last tonight, and I could use some company at the merch booth,” Nicole replied, smiling at him. “I mean, unless you have to do something with the band or already have plans to do something else.”

Kyle looked at her for a couple of seconds, slightly surprised at her invitation to hang out. When he came to his sense, he had to try his hardest not to grin. “Oh, no, I don’t.”

“Oh,” Nicole replied softly.

Kyle saw her expression fall slightly and realized that she had misunderstood his reply, so he rushed to clarify. “I mean, no I don’t have any plans. Yeah, I’d like to hang out during All Time Low’s set.”

Her expression instantly brightened and she smiled again. “Oh ok, good. Why don’t you meet me here at the merch table whenever you want?”

“I’ll stop by later on during the show. Does that sound ok?” Kyle replied.

Nicole nodded. “That sounds good.”

Kyle nodded as well, smiling. “Good.”

Nicole returned and they both stood for a few seconds, just smiling at each other. Kyle could feel himself getting lost in her eyes again, just like he had last night. He could feel himself wanting to wrap his arms around her, and had to fight the urge to make some kind of contact with her again.

Nicole, on the other hand, was fighting the same urges. She could feel herself getting lost in Kyle’s blue eyes as she looked up at him. She realized she was staring at him, and decided it best to speak up before she freaked him out.

“Um, I should probably let you go get ready for soundcheck,” Nicole said softly.

"Oh, yeah, soundcheck," Kyle replied, shaking his head slightly as he broke from his trance.

"I'll see you later?" Nicole asked.

Kyle nodded his head with a grin. "You'll definitely see me later."

Nicole smiled, nodding again, before turning and walking back to the merch table.

Kyle stood rooted in his spot, watching as she walked away. He was only broken from his thoughts when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out, seeing that he had a text message from Kevin asking where he was. Instead of texting him back, Kyle decided to just go find him.

Kyle found him outside, unloading boxes of merch from the trailer.

"Where have you been?" Kevin asked as soon as he spotted him. He handed a box of merch to Kyle, not bothering to ask for help or wait for an answer to his question.

"Sure Kev, I'll help you set up," Kyle replied, laughing slightly and shaking his head. "Don't ask or anything."

"Of course not, that's how I roll," Kevin grinned picking up a merch bin and nodding for Kyle to follow him inside. "You didn't answer my question, by the way."

"I was hanging out with Nicole," Kyle grinned.

"You two made up?" Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kyle nodded, still grinning.

They reached their merch table, which was across from the All Time Low table and Kyle noticed that Nicole and Alex had left the merch table; Zack and Rian were the only ones there.

"So what happened to get Nicole to talk to you?" Kevin asked. “I thought just a few hours ago you were moping about how she was ignoring you?”

"Well I just decided to talk to her again," Kyle replied. "Jack had told me she was doing merch for them tonight and she'd be setting up during their soundcheck, so I decided to talk to her then so I could get her alone. I just offered to help her set up and we talked."

"Oh, so you'll offer to help set up merch for another band, but you complain about helping your best friend set up for your band?" Kevin replied, laughing.

“Pft, you like spending time with me Kyle, don’t front,” Kevin replied.

“Pft,” Kyle replied, trying his best not to laugh.

“You know you dooo,” Kevin replied. “Why else would you always sit next to me in the van, hmm?”

“Or maybe you always just sit next to me,” Kyle countered.

“Pft Kyle, I’m your best friend and you know it,” Kevin replied, handing Kyle another bin of merch. “You’d be bored if you had to sit next to anyone else in the van. You know you like having me as a roommate.”

Kyle laughed slightly, following Kevin into the venue again. “Fine, I suppose you’re right.”

Kevin grinned at Kyle as they both set their merch bins down. “Sooo, what else happened with Nicole?”

Kyle shrugged. “We talked, we made up, we hugged and decided that we both want to be friends.”

“Ooo a hug?” Kevin asked, wiggling his eyebrows at Kyle.

Kyle pushed Kevin again. “Don’t look at me like that. It was just a hug between friends; you know to show that we're ok now.”

“Suure,” Kevin replied. “I’m sure you wanted it to mean something more.

“Shut up,” Kyle repeated, giving Kevin another push. “She has a boyfriend.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t mean that you don’t like her.”

Kyle shrugged. “But it does mean that nothing could happen with us.”

“Whatever, maybe they’re not even that close and won’t be dating by the end of the tour,” Kevin replied.

“But they are close. I heard Alex tell her he loves her today,” Kyle argued.

“Oh,” Kevin replied slowly, unsure what exactly to say to Kyle.

Kyle sighed slightly. He was happy that he and Nicole were going to be friends, but it still saddened him to know that he couldn’t date her.

Kevin frowned slightly at the sad expression that was slowly spreading across Kyle’s face. “Hey now, don’t be getting emo on me.”

“I know it’s stupid,” Kyle sighed. “I don’t even know her all that well, and I just met her so she’s clearly known Alex longer, but I can’t help it. I really like her, and it bums me out that she’s taken.”

Kevin nodded, placing a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “I know, but at least you get to be friends with her. Something is better than nothing, right?”

Kyle sighed again. “I guess you’re right. I am glad that we can at least be friends.”

“See? No need to get emo,” Kevin replied, nodding his head.

Kyle nodded again. “I suppose not.”

The boys got to work setting up the merch display. They were nearly done when Kyle noticed Nicole return to her merch table. It was only a matter of seconds before Jonathan appeared at the All Time Low merch table. Kyle watched as they talked.

Jonathan either hadn’t realized that Nicole was dating Alex -which seemed crazy to Kyle- or he didn’t care, because Jonathan seemed to still be flirting with her. Kyle furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he watched them, wondering what Jonathan was thinking.

Kyle shook his head to himself, but Kevin caught it.

“What are you shaking your head at?” Kevin asked him.

“Nothing,” Kyle replied.

Kevin raised an eyebrow at him disbelievingly and Kyle sighed. “Well it’s just, Jonathan flirts with Nicole a lot. I find it kind of weird since she’s dating one of our friends.”

Kevin shrugged. “You know how he is. Jonathan’s… friendly.”

“Yeah, but usually he makes sure the girl is single first,” Kyle replied. “Especially that she’s not already with one of his friends.”

“Maybe he just doesn’t realize she’s dating Alex or something,” Kevin suggested.

“But I realized within the first couple of minutes of seeing them together,” Kyle replied. “And even if he didn’t, you would think that Alex would have told him something by now.”

Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know dude. Maybe you need to just push it out of your mind. Let Alex worry about it; it’s his problem.”

“I know, it’s just…” Kyle sighed, trailing off and shaking his head.

“It’s just what?” Kevin asked.

Kyle shook his head. “Nothing, never mind.”

Kevin stared at Kyle, knowing it wasn’t nothing. He watched him, eyebrows furrowed as he studied him for a few seconds before his eyebrows raised in realization.

“Wait, it’s not that she has a boyfriend, is it? It’s that you’re scared if she and Alex break up before the tour ends, Jonathan will move in on her before you can, isn’t it?” he asked.

Kyle sighed. “I know it’s terrible of me to think that way, but I knew her first. I liked her before Jonathan did, even if it was just by a couple of hours.”

Kevin frowned slightly, unsure of what to say to Kyle; he thought Kyle was being silly, but he didn’t want to tell his best friend that.

When Kevin didn't respond right away, Kyle shook his head and turned back to finishing the merch set up, watching Jonathan and Nicole out of the corner of his eye.

Jonathan only got to talk to Nicole for a few more minutes before Caleb and Courtney came looking for the guys to let them know it was time for soundcheck.

Courtney stayed behind at the All Time Low merch table to talk to Nicole while Caleb pulled Jonathan away to their own to get Kyle. Once they had Kyle, the three headed to soundcheck.

You Put The Sun To Shame

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 07:49:40 GMT

Title: You Put The Sun To Shame
About: Forever The Sickest Kids/ All Time Low
Progress: In Progress

Chapters 1-2
Chapters 3-5

Chapter Six

When Nicole returned to the All Time Low bus, Alex was waiting for her in the front lounge. He had been in the process of typing out another text to see what was taking her so long to get back to the bus when he heard the door open and looked up from his Blackberry.

“You’re already dressed, and even already went to Starbucks? What time did you get up?” he asked her, raising an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged. “I don’t know, a little before the sun came up. I sat outside to watch the sunrise.”

“You still do that?” Alex asked, smiling slightly.

“Sometimes,” Nicole replied, nodding.

Alex nodded. He remembered how since they were young Nicole had liked to wake up early in the morning from time-to-time and watch the sunrise, but it seemed as they had gotten older she had done it less and less. He had figured she had stopped doing that by now.

“So where were you sitting that it took you so long to get here?” Alex asked.

“I was just sitting at that picnic table outside the venue,” Nicole replied, walking into the bunk hall.

Alex followed after her, nearly running into her as she paused at her bunk to stick her iPod in her purse, before continuing into the back lounge.

“What took you so long then?” he asked again.

Jack was sitting in the back lounge and looked up when he heard them.

“Ooo Starbucks,” he said, grabbing onto Nicole’s hand and pulling her down onto the couch next to him. He grabbed for her drink and when she held it away from him he pouted at her. “Shaaare.”

Nicole laughed slightly, handing her drink over to him. “Fiiiine.”

Jack grinned, kissing her cheek before taking a drink of her Java Chip Frappacino.

Alex stood in front of the two on the couch and stomped his foot slightly to get their attention.

Nicole looked up at Alex with a raised eyebrow. “Is someone throwing a tantrum?”

Jack laughed, almost choking on Nicole’s frappacino as he took another drink. Nicole’s eyes widened slightly as she patted Jack’s back.

“Whoa now Jack, no choking,” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t inhale my frappacino.”

Jack grinned slightly. “It’s not my fault, you two made me laugh while I was taking a drink.”

Alex stomped his foot again, causing Nicole to turn her attention back to him.

“Whaaat?” Nicole asked exasperatedly.

“Seriously, what with the foot stomping tantrum, dude?” Jack asked, raising

“Don’t ignore my questionnn,” Alex whined, completely ignoring Jack. “What took you so long to get hereee?”

Nicole sighed. “I ran into Kyle ok?”

“You ran into Kyle? Like literally, again?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“No, not literally,” Nicole replied, taking her drink away from Jack. She took a drink, looking at the two boys, hoping they would pick up on the fact that she wanted them to drop the subject.

Unfortunately the look did no good with either boy. Jack didn't notice the look she was giving them and shrugged before giving her a slight push sideways.

"Well excuuse me," he replied. "It's not like you haven't done it before."

Alex knew his best friend inside and out, so, unlike Jack, of course he was able to pick up on the hint behind her look. He ignored the look she was giving him, however.

"You saw Kyle again?" Alex asked her. "And he talked to you this time, right? That's why it took you a while to get here? Because you two were talking."

"Not exactly," Nicole replied with a shrug, moving to get up from her spot on the couch.

She turned back to Jack and tried to take her drink back from him again but he shook his head, grabbing back onto her hand and pulling her back down onto the couch next to him.

"No no, no escaping," Jack said to her.

Nicole sighed at Jack, trying to snatch her drink away from him. He held it away from her, grinning as she let out a frustrated sigh.

"What do you mean 'not exactly'?" Alex asked her.

Nicole shrugged, standing up again. "I mean, not exactly."

She tried once again to take her drink back from Jack so she could get away from the boys but he held it out of her reach again, shaking his head.

"Jaaack," she whined. "I want my drink."

"Will you stay?" Jack replied.

Nicole sighed and sat back down next to Jack. "Fine."

Jack grinned, handing her drink over. He saw the sneaky look in her eyes and knew she intended to get away since she had her drink now.

Seeing that she was about to get up to make her escape again, Jack grabbed onto her and pulled her onto his lap. He wrapped his arms securely around her and grinned when she turned to look at him questioningly.

"So you won't try to run away again," he explained, causing Nicole to shake her head.

"I wasn't going to," Nicole pouted.

"That's a lie but I'll overlook it," Jack replied with a laugh.

Nicole pouted again and Jack grinned. He took another drink from her frappacino before Alex cleared his throat to get her attention back.

Nicole turned to look at Alex with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"

"We don't need to discuss this," Nicole replied. "Hence why I want you to drop it."

Alex shook his head. "We do. This is distressing you, so we need to talk about this and figure it out."

Nicole looked to Jack for support and he shrugged slightly. "Alex has a point, Nicole. This won't stop bothering you until we get it figured out, and we can't get this figured out unless we talk about it."

Nicole sighed, snatching her drink away from Jack. "Fine Jack Barakat, if you don't side with me then no frappacino for you."

Jack pouted. "But I am on your side."

"You are not, you sided with Alex," Nicole replied.

"But we're both on your side because we want what's best for you," Jack replied. "We want you to not be distressed over this Kyle situation."

Nicole sighed again, realizing she couldn't really argue with the boys when they had her best interest in mind.

"See? You see our point now," Alex replied.

Nicole didn't say anything, only glared slightly at Alex, who grinned in reply.

"Anyways," Alex said after a few seconds of silence. "Back to the matter at hand."

Alex took a seat on the couch next to Jack and Nicole and Nicole sighed at him.

"No vague answers this time, I want to know what happened with Kyle this morning," Alex said once he was seated.

Nicole sighed exasperatedly once again to show how much she disliked the subject. She shrugged at Alex.

"None of that," Alex replied, shaking his head as he leaned forward, giving her a shoulder a push.

He pushed her harder than he had intended and her eyes widened as she almost tumbled off of Jack's lap.

Jack's eyes widened as well and he quickly wrapped his arms back around her waist to catch her. "Hey now Alex, don't abuse her."

"Yeah Alexander Gaskarth, don't abuse me," Nicole replied, furrowing her eyebrows at Alex again.

Alex grinned innocently, patting Nicole on the head. "I love youuu."

"Pft, whatever," Nicole replied, shaking her head.

"It was your fault anyways, don't pft me," Alex replied.

"What? How was it my fault? It's not like I pushed myself off of Jack's lap," Nicole replied, sounding shocked.

"I only pushed you because you shrugged at my question, even though I told you not to be vague," Alex replied.

"Shrugging isn't a vague answer," Nicole replied.

"Shrugging isn't even an answer," Alex replied.

"So technically, it can't be a vague answer then," Nicole replied, smirking at Alex.

"Ugh, you're being so difficult," Alex replied.

He looked to Jack for help and Jack shook his head. "No, don't bring me into this. I'm not taking sides on this one."

"Which practically means that Jack's taking my side but doesn't want to tell you," Nicole replied.

"What? It does not," Alex replied. "It means he's not taking sides because he agrees with me, but since you're sitting on his lap he doesn't want to anger you."

"Lies, lies," Nicole replied.

"No, no lies," Alex replied.

She smirked again, knowing she had distracted Alex away from the subject of what had happened between her and Kyle.

Alex caught her smirk and quickly realized what it was about.

"I know what you're doing," he said, shaking his head. "You're arguing with me to distract me and get me off subject."

"What?" Nicole asked innocently. "I wouldn't do that."

"You would," Alex replied. "You have before."

"Pft, no," Nicole replied, shaking her head stubbornly.

"Yes you have," Alex replied. "I bet even Jack will agree."

Nicole turned to look at Jack with a raised eyebrow and he shrugged. "Alex does have a point."

"Stop siding with Alex," Nicole replied with a pout.

"I'm not," Jack replied, returning the pout. "I'm siding with the truth?"

"Which also happens to be my side," Alex replied. "Because I speak the truth"

"Pft Alex, you do not," Nicole replied, shaking her head.

"But I do, I do," Alex replied before realizing that he had gotten distracted again. "Now quit distracting me."

Nicole opened her mouth to argue that she wasn't distracting him but Jack quickly placed a hand over her mouth.

"Let's not start that up again," he said, shaking his head.

Nicole pulled his hand away and pouted.

"Nooo, don't pout at me," Jack replied, shaking his head at her. "You know I feel really bad when you pout at me."

He pouted at her and Nicole sighed.

"Well don't pout at meee," she replied.

"You two keep getting off subject," Alex sighed. "I think I need to seperate you two."

"Nooo," Jack replied, tightening his grip on Nicole.

"You're going to squish me Jack," Nicole replied, her eyes widening slightly at Jack's tight grip on her. She wiggled around a little bit to try to get him to loosen his grip on her.

"I'm nottt," Jack replied. "I'm just making sure Alex doesn't seperate us."

"Yeah, by squishing me," Nicole replied, turning to look at him and shaking her head.

"My bad," Jack replied, pouting at her. "I wasn't trying to squish you. I just didn't want Alex to yank you away."

"Aw, it's ok Jackie," Nicole replied, patting his head.

Jack grinned at her and Alex shook his head, standing up. He stood in front of them and placed his hands on his hips.

"Again with the distractions," he sighed. "I'm going to have to seperate you two."

Alex grabbed onto Nicole's arm and started to pull her up, but Jack grabbed back onto her and swatted Alex's hand away.

"Oh stop that. It was you're fault we got off track this time," Jack said, shaking his head at Alex.

"What? Pft Jack," Alex replied crossing his arms in front of his chest as he sat back down.

Nicole laughed slightly, leaning forward and patting Alex's head. "Don't get pouty Alexander."

"You're distressing me though," Alex replied exasperatedly.

"What? How?" Nicole replied.

"You're distressing me with how you keep avoiding talking about this morning," Alex replied.

"Fine," Nicole sighed. "You want to talk about this morning? Let's talk about this morning."

"Really?" Alex asked, his attitude perking up.

"If it will make you stop pouting," Nicole replied, nodding her head.

"Finallyyy," Alex replied.

Nicole sighed, shaking her head at Alex.

Jack laughed slightly, shaking his head at Alex as well.

"No no, none of that," Alex replied. "Discussion time."

"Fine. What do you want to know?" Nicole replied.

"Well, first of all I want to know what you meant when you said 'not exactly' when I asked about you talking to Kyle," Alex replied.

He saw Nicole open her mouth to reply and quickly added. "And don't say that you meant not exactly."

Nicole nodded. "Fine. Fair enough."

She paused for a few seconds to think of how to word her answer and Jack cleared his throat.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well what I meant was that it wasn't like we had a conversation," Nicole replied. "But it's not like he didn't say a word to me."

"So what did he say then?" Alex asked.

"He wasn't mean to you or anything, was he?" Jack asked.

Nicole shook her head. "No. He just tried to talk to me and I didn't want to talk to him."

"What? Why?" Alex asked sounding shocked.

"He didn't want to talk to me yesterday, why should I talk to him today?" Nicole replied.

Alex slapped a hand to his forehead, shaking his head and sighing exasperatedly.

"Why are you sighing and shaking your head at me, Alexander?" Nicole replied. "You're the one who wanted to discuss this."

"Because you're so difficult and silly," Alex replied.

"What? I am not," Nicole replied.

"You are. You're very difficult and silly," Alex replied, looking to Jack to back him up.

Jack held his hands up, shaking his head. "No no, don't bring me into this either."

Alex sighed. "You can't be so choosey about what you're involved in and what you're not."

"Yes I can. If I'm the one who's getting involved and whose getting to get in trouble so said involvement, then I can choose," Jack replied.

“No because then when you’re so choosey, when you do get involved it doesn’t count as much,” Alex replied.

"I want to know how I'm so silly," Nicole interrupted before Jack could argue.

Alex stuck his tongue out at Jack, and Jack moved to smack him.

Jack!” Nicole replied stopping him, her eyes widening slightly.

“Whaaat?” Jack asked, innocently grinning at Nicole.

“Don’t start getting violent,” Nicole replied.

“It’s not like I was about to start punching the hell out of him,” Jack replied with a sigh. “I was just going to smack him on the head. You do it all the time.”

Nicole shook her head at him. “You were practically lunging at him.”

“Nooo, that’s silly. I couldn’t do that; you're sitting on my lap,” Jack replied. “If I were lunging at him, I would have dropped you. I didn’t drop you so clearly I wasn’t lunging.”

Nicole shook her head at Jack again and he grinned.

“Anyways,” Nicole replied, turning her attention back to Alex. “I want to know how I’m silly.”

“You’re silly because first last night you were upset that Kyle wouldn’t talk to you, and now today he tried to talk to you and you blew him off,” Alex replied.

“He blew me off last night,” Nicole argued.

“Yeah, and you were super bummed,” Alex replied. “So you should have been happy about him wanting to talk to you today.”

“Why should I have let him off so easy?” Nicole argued.

“Because you like him?” Jack offered.

Nicole sighed, shaking her head.

Alex sighed as well. “Did he at least say anything about last night? Like what was going on with him?”

“Yeah, did he at least apologize?” Jack added.

Nicole shrugged. “He tried to say some tomfoolery about how he had a lot of stuff on his mind last night. But whatever, I’m sure that was just some ridiculous excuse.”

“What? How do you know?” Alex asked. “We told you he seemed preoccupied yesterday. Jack even said it seemed like there was a lot on his mind.”

"I did tell you it seemed like he had a lot on his mind last night," Jack nodded.

"What happened to you not getting involved?" Nicole replied.

"See? When you're so choosey with what to get involved in, you're opinion doesn't get taken as seriously and isn't as valuable," Alex replied.

"Pft, my opinion should have more valuable because it's rarer and doesn't get offered all the time," Jack scoffed. "Unlike you, the opinion whore who gives them out for free to anyone who can hear."

Nicole giggled at Jack’s word choice and Alex pouted at her.

“Don’t giggle at him, I’m not an opinion whore,” he pouted.

“Oh come on Alex, it was clever,” Nicole replied, leaning forward and patting his head.

“Yeah Alex, it was clever,” Jack grinned. “I’m cleverrr.”

Alex sighed, shaking his head. Jack grinned at him again.

“Why do we keep getting distracted today?” he asked.

“You and Jack are very a.d.d. today,” Nicole replied.

“It’s not just us,” Jack laughed.

“Anyways, getting back on track,” Alex replied. “What were we even saying?”

“How I had said it seemed like there was something on Kyle’s mind yesterday,” Jack replied.

“Oh yeeaah,” Alex replied, nodding his head as his eyebrows raised slightly in remembrance.

Nicole and Jack laughed slightly at him, shaking their heads.

“Anyways,” Alex sighed. “Back to what I was saying. You don’t know that Kyle was just making up excuses when he said he had a lot on his mind last night.”

Nicole sighed. “And what makes you so sure he wasn’t?”

Alex shrugged. “Even if he was making up an excuse, he cared enough to make one up. That has to count for something.”

“You mean he cared enough to lie?” Nicole replied.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying,” Alex replied, shaking his head.

“I think what Alex means is that Kyle cared enough to make sure that you didn’t think he was just blowing you off. He said he had a lot on his mind, even if he didn’t, so you wouldn’t be upset.”

“Exactly,” Alex replied. “He was trying to fix things.”

Nicole sighed and shrugged.

“What else did you guys talk about?” Alex asked, trying to change the subject a bit.

“Nothing,” Nicole replied, shaking her head. “That’s when I left.”

“You seriously just blew him off?” Alex asked.

“Well I told him you were looking for me, which wasn’t a lie, and then I just left,” Nicole replied with a shrug.

Alex sighed. “So you really did do to him exactly what he did to you.”

Nicole shrugged. “I told you. Now he knows how it feels.”

“So now that you got even with him, are you going to give him a second chance?” Alex asked.

Nicole shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You should give him a second chance,” Alex replied.

“I agree with Alex,” Jack added, nodding his head.

“Why?” Nicole asked, turning her attention back to him.

“Because you liked him so much yesterday,” Jack replied. “So he had one screw up, it’s not that big of deal. I mean yeah, he hurt your feelings but he’s a guy, we’re all allowed a few mistakes.”

Alex nodded his head in agreement. “If you just gave up on everyone who messed up, you probably wouldn’t be friends with any of us.”

“This very true,” Jack agreed. “You should be used to guys messing up, since Alex is your best friend.”

“I’m going to overlook the fact that you totally just insulted me, Jack Barakat,” Alex replied. “But only for the sake of our argument.”

Jack grinned and Alex shook his head.

“If I wanted a guy who screws up, I would have kept all of my past boyfriends,” Nicole replied, shaking her head.

Jack cleared his throat and Nicole turned to look at him.

“You don’t count, you know that,” Nicole replied. “Two dates didn’t make you my boyfriend, Zack made sure of that.”

“I suppose this is true,” Jack replied, nodding his head before mumbling. “Stupid Zack.”

Nicole laughed and patted Jack’s head. “I agree; Zack can be dumb sometimes.”

“But just because Kyle messed up once doesn’t mean he’s going to end up to be like the other guys you’ve dated,” Alex said, trying to get their conversation back on subject.

“But seriously, he messed up and hurt my feelings on the first day I met him,” Nicole replied.

“But I can tell you right now that Kyle is different than any guy you’ve ever dated,” Alex replied.

“Look, just give him a second chance,” Jack tried to reason. “You don’t have to decide right now that you want to date him. Just talk to him and, if anything, at least you guys could be friends.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Alex agreed, nodding his head. “At least think about it.”

“I suppose I could,” Nicole replied with a shrug. After a few seconds she smiled. “He is really cute.”

“Now there you go, that sounds like the Nicole we know and love,” Alex laughed.

“Yeah, waaay better than the mopey Nicole we’ve had to put up with,” Jack agreed, grinning at Nicole.

“Shut up,” Nicole laughed, lightly swatting Jack’s shoulder.

“But seriously, it’s good to see you happy again,” Jack replied.

“Yeah, we only want to see you happy,” Alex nodded in agreement. “And it’s good to hear that you’re at least going to think about giving Kyle a second chance and talking to him again.”

“Yes, well, we’ll see what happens,” Nicole replied. “But thanks guys for looking out for me guys. I can always count on my top two boys.”

Alex and Jack just grinned at Nicole.

You Put The Sun To Shame

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:52:43 GMT

Title: You Put The Sun To Shame
About: Forever The Sickest Kids/ All Time Low
Progress: In Progress

Chapters 1-2

Chapter Three

Kyle stood at the edge of the room, standing in the archway in the wall that separated the living room from the dining room. He sighed as he looked across the room, watching as Caleb, Courtney, Nicole and Alex all talked and joked on the couch.

“Of course,” he thought to himself, “the two couples teamed up together.”

It was as if they had already formed their own little club, a ‘couples only’ club. A club that he, definitely had no place in, so he was keeping his distance.

He watched as they huddled together, the girls sitting between the boys, doing most of the talking. Talking about love, first dates, when they realized Caleb and Alex were “the ones”- because he had already jumped to assuming that with the way Nicole and Alex had been so inseparable all night, they must think they were soul mates- all sorts of couple-like topics.

They were probably plotting out all sorts of double dates that they could go on over the course of tour. Late night dinners, post-show club outings, long days off spent hanging out; all of that sounded double date appropriate to Kyle for the couples.

He was surprised that they hadn’t gotten Bryce and Tara, the only other couple on the tour, to join their club yet. Maybe then they could get a look at what married life was like, since that’s what was most likely in the future for both couples.

When Alex draped an arm around Nicole’s shoulders, Kyle decided he didn’t want to watch them anymore. Sighing, he pushed himself away from the wall, deciding to go to the kitchen for a drink.

Kyle didn't understand what was happening to him. He had never gotten this worked up over anything. He never sweated people, especially girls, he had always just been one to go with the flow. Yet, here he was, so worked up over the fact that this girl he had just met was dating one of his friends.

He walked into the kitchen and over to the counter where there was a stack of empty red, plastic cups. He grabbed the top one of the stack before surveying his beverage selections.

Jonathan had stocked up on soda, various one litre bottles were scattered around the counter. The boys of All Time Low had shown up with various bottles of alcoholic drinks and The Matches had arrived with a keg. Seeing as how he didn't drink soda, Kyle figured that left him one choice.

"Alcohol it is, then," he muttered to himself as he walked over to where Jack, Rian, and Shawn were gathered around the keg.

"Where have you been all evening?" Jack asked Kyle, grinning when he realized he had joined their group. "I haven't seen you at all since we got here."

Kyle shrugged as he poured himself a drink.

Jack was going to ask Kyle if he had seen Nicole yet, curious how Alex's plan to try and set something up between them was working, but Jonathan walked into the kitchen, noticing Kyle and walking over to them.

"There you are," he said brightly to Kyle. "We've all been wondering where you were, it seemed like you disappeared."

Kyle shrugged again, taking a drink from his glass. "I've been around, I guess."

"Around where? All of us were hanging out for a while and every said that they hadn't seen you all evening," Jonathan replied.

Kyle shrugged again. "I don't know, just around."

He neglected to tell Jonathan that he had seen them all grouped together in the living room. He had seen them countless times, as a matter of fact but since Nicole and Alex had been with them, he had decided to keep his distance.

Jonathan nodded his head slowly, noticing how out of character Kyle was acting. "You ok?"

"What? Yeah, why?" Kyle asked, broken from his thoughts.

Jonathan shrugged. "I don't know, you just don't seem like yourself. You've seemed kind of down or something since this afternoon."

Kyle shrugged again. "Nothing, I guess maybe I'm just tired or something."

Jonathan nodded slowly as he looked at Kyle almost disbelievingly. "Oh hey, Alex was looking for you earlier."

Kyle raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

Jonathan shrugged, shaking his head. "He didn't say, but he asked me if I knew where you were a few times, so I assumed he was looking for you."

Kyle furrowed his eyebrows slightly, wondering what Alex could possibly want. Maybe he had seen Kyle watching him and Nicole and wanted to tell him to back off. But if that were the case, would he have even had to ask Jonathan where he was?

He realized Jonathan was looking at him expectantly, so he cleared his throat and replied. "I'll try and find him later."

It was another lie; Kyle knew he had no intentions of finding Alex tonight.

Jonthan nodded, satisfied. He walked over to his refrigerator to get a bottle of water, before walking back over to Kyle and Jack; Rian and Shawn had left the kitchen in the time that Jonathan had been questioning Kyle.

"Have you even left the keg at all tonight, Jack?" Jonathan asked with a laugh as Jack refilled his drink; everytime Jonathan had seen him, Jack had been standing in the kitchen by the keg.

Jack grinned at him, shrugging slightly. "Yeah you know, like once or twice. I thought I should go mingle."

Jonathan laughed, shaking his head at Jack. "You're crazy."

Jack grinned at Jonathan in response again, causing Jonathan to laugh once again.

"So, Zack's sister is pretty cool," he commented to both Kyle and Jack.

Jack nodded his head. "Of course she is. Would we have lame friends? No."

Jonathan laughed before looking at Kyle for his opinion.

Kyle, however, had an eyebrow raised, looking confused. "Zack has a sister?"

Jonathan nodded. "She said she met you already?" When Kyle still looked confused Jonathan added, "Nicole?"

"Yeah, you know, the girl who trampled you this afternoon," Jack added with a slight laugh, grinning.

Kyle's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Nicole is Zack's sister?"

Jack and Jonathan both nodded.

"Is that how she knows Alex?" Kyle asked Jack.

Jack shook his head. "No, Alex knows Zack because of her."

Kyle listened only halfway as Jonathan started talking about Nicole. It seemed to Kyle that Jonathan kind of liked her; he wondered if Jonathan realized she was dating Alex. He had to know, he had just spent well over an hour with them, and Kyle had picked up on the fact that they were dating after only spending about ten minutes with them.

“Hey now, Jonathan, with the way you’re talking it sounds like you like Nicole,” Jack replied, pulling Kyle from his thoughts.

“Of course I do, she’s cool,” Jonathan replied with a shrug. “I don’t have a reason to dislike her.”

“No, you know what I mean,” Jack replied, shaking his head.

Jonathan shrugged. “Well she is cute, and I don’t know, I just spent an hour or whatever talking to her, so I guess I kind of started to get to know her. So I guess you could say that what I know, I like.”

Jonathan’s reply made Kyle feel a little less crazy, because that’s how he was feeling too. He had spent a little over half an hour talking to Nicole, and while he was sure that Jonathan had probably asked her way more questions to get to know her than he had, Kyle had witnessed her personality as she joked with him, Jack, and Alex.

Kyle started paying attention again as Jonathan asked, “She’s pretty awesome, isn’t she?”

Jack nodded. “She is, that’s why we’ve been friends for years.”

Kyle realized that Jonathan was looking at him expectantly, so he nodded his head.

“She seems amazing,” Kyle mumbled to himself.

Jack was the only one to hear Kyle. He smiled knowingly, but decided not to point out what Kyle had just said, figuring he had said it so quietly for a reason. Instead he made a mental note of what Kyle had just said so that he could tell Nicole later.

Instead, Jack gave Jonathan a slight push sideways. “Well hey now, try not to get too many ideas about Nicole.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow, pouting slightly. “Why not?”

“Let’s just say… her heart is already accounted for,” Jack replied, shooting a quick glance at Kyle that he didn’t notice. “For now, at least.”

Kyle looked over at Jonathan, studying his reaction. It looked, to him, like Jonathan hadn’t picked up on the fact that Nicole and Alex were dating, as crazy as that seemed to Kyle.

Kyle was thinking that if he had needed anymore confirmation that Nicole and Alex were dating, then what Jack had said had been it, when the ending of Jack’s statement ran through his head.

“For now,” he muttered to himself before turning to Jack. “What do you mean, for now?”

Jack shrugged, thinking he should probably try to keep his answer as vague as possible; he had probably already said too much, and if he said much more Nicole might get mad at him. "You never know what happens, it's a long tour."

Kyle stared at Jack for a few moments, eyebrows furrowed as he contemplated Jack's answer. Did that mean Alex and Nicole weren't as close as he thought? Maybe they had just started dating and Jack thought the tour was going to be a hard test on their relationship? Or maybe their relationship was already on the rocks?

Kyle had no intentions of taking advantage of any weak spot in Nicole and Alex’s relationship; he wasn’t going to steal his friend’s girlfriend away from him, that wasn’t like Kyle. While he had no intentions of coming between Nicole and Alex, he couldn’t lie and say he’d be disappointed if they broke up.

Jack was clearing his throat, looking at Kyle expectantly again. Kyle shook his head to clear his mind before looking at Jack and Jonathan.

“What?” Kyle replied.

“Seriously, what’s wrong with you today? You’ve been spacing out all afternoon,” Jonathan asked him, raising his eyebrow.

Kyle shook his head. “Nothing, I told you, I’m just kind of tired. I guess I’ve just got some stuff on my mind. It’s no big deal.”

Jonathan nodded, turning away from Jack and Kyle when someone else called his name. A new group of people were waving him over to them, and he nodded, walking away from Jack and Kyle.

“So what exactly has been on your mind today?” Jack asked him, hoping he could get Kyle to admit he had been thinking about Nicole so he would have something else to report back to her.

Kyle shrugged, taking a drink from his glass. He wasn’t about to admit to Alex’s best friend that he had been thinking about his girlfriend all afternoon since he met her. “Nothing important, just stuff.”

“Just stuff? I don’t think ‘just stuff’ would have you so preoccupied so much,” Jack replied.

Kyle shrugged again. “It’s really nothing important.”

Jack raised his eyebrow again. He knew that there had to be more to it if Kyle was acting so strangely. “You’re sure?”

Kyle nodded. He knew Jack wasn’t going to give up until he got Kyle to crack and tell him what was on his mind, so he decided it best to make his exit. “Hey I have to go, uh… find Marc. I’ll see you around Jack.”

Kyle quickly refilled his drink and turned away from Jack before he could get any more questions or comments on Kyle’s mood in. He quickly made his way out of the kitchen.

“Don’t forget that Alex is looking for youuu!” Jack called after him, seeing a last chance to help Alex out with his mission.

Kyle waved a hand dismissively as he walked away. He had no intention of finding Alex, so he figured if he didn’t answer he could at least avoid one lie this evening.

He cut through the living room, noticing that Caleb, Courtney, and Alex were still sitting on the couch, but Nicole was gone. Shrugging it off, he quickly changed paths, heading for the hallway before Alex could spot him and call him over.

Kyle was making his way down the hall when he noticed Nicole. She was heading down the hall in his direction, making her way back from the bathroom. She was looking down at her Sidekick, her fingers moving quickly over the keyboard as she texted someone.

He was sure she hadn’t seen him yet, so he quickly changed directions, heading back in the direction of the dining room. He couldn’t really tell himself why, but he felt it was best if they didn’t run into each other; he was avoiding her.

Nicole looked up from her Sidekick just in time to notice Kyle turning away, quickly spotting and recognizing his bleach blonde hair. She watched as he weaved through the other people gathered in the hallway, having no problem following his movements with her eyes since he towered over everyone else and his blonde hair stood out so well. She frowned to herself, wondering if he had seen her.

Kyle quickly weaved through the hall and walked through the dining room, making his way to the sliding glass doors that led out to the patio and back yard. He went outside, surprised but relieved to see that there was hardly anyone else back there.

Kyle walked over to an edge of the swimming pool where no one else was by. He kicked his flipflops off and sat down on the concrete around the pool. He kicked his legs over the edge of the pool, letting his feet dangle in the water.

He absent mindedly stared down at his feet, moving them slowly around in the water to make ripple patterns. He watched the ripples as he slowly drank the rest of the beer in his glass. He remained outside for half an hour until he finished his drink, frowning slightly as he looked at the empty glass.

He suddenly realized that it was starting to get chilly outside; the temperature had dropped along with the sun. He shivered slightly, rubbing his arms, deciding that his t-shirt would not suffice. He pulled his feet out of the pool, standing back up and slipping his shoes back on.

He walked back into the house, making his way back through the hall. He headed in the direction of Jonathan’s bedroom, remembering that he had left a hoodie in there at a previous party. He reached Jonathan’s room and knocked to make sure the room was unoccupied. When he didn’t get a response, he opened the door and walked inside.

He looked around the room, shaking his head slightly at the mess. Clothes littered the floor and the bed, some spilling out of the dresser drawers. Jonathan had his suitcase sitting open in a corner of the room, still not fully packed.

Kyle started digging through the piles of clothes on the floor, finally finding his blue American Apparel hoodie. He pulled the hoodie on and shook his head at the mess one last time before turning and walking back out of the room.

Kyle made his way back into the living room to see if he could find any of his friends. The group on the couch had broken up. Now Caleb and Courtney were talking with members of The Rocket Summer and Alex was standing in a corner of the room talking with Zack, Jonathan, and Shawn; Nicole was no where around that Kyle could see.

He contemplated going over to talk to Caleb and Courtney, but he didn’t want to risk Alex or Jonathan seeing him and calling him over to them; he didn’t know why but he didn’t want to hear whatever Alex might have to tell him. Shaking his head to himself, Kyle pulled his iPhone from his back pocket before turning to walk out of the living room.

He wasn’t watching where he was going and barely made it a few steps forward before he felt himself collide with someone. He quickly started to apologize to whoever he had collided with as he finished reading the text message he had received.

“Sorry about that, I wasn’t watching where I was-”

Kyle froze mid-sentence once he looked up from his phone and realized who he had collided with.

Nicole smiled, not seeming to mind the fact that he hadn’t finished his sentence.

“You know, we should probably stop meeting like this,” she said with a laugh. “Although, I do remember you telling me to feel free to run into you whenever I wanted.”

Kyle remained silent as he looked her over. If he thought earlier in the afternoon that she was cute, tonight had him thinking she was gorgeous. The first thing that Kyle noticed was her eyes. She didn't have her sunglasses on like she had when he first met her, so now he could clearly see that she had big, dark brown eyes that sparkled; they really did reflect her smile just like he had thought they would. The way a few strands of her curly hair fell messily into her eyes reminded Kyle of the way his own hair looked earlier when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror in Jonathan’s room. From her hair his eyes moved down, taking in her outfit. Her skirt and tanktop were a nice change from her jeans and Boys Like Girls t-shirt from earlier, yet Kyle got the impression that she hadn’t had to try to hard to look good. He gulped slightly as his eyes followed down her skirt to her legs before quickly traveling back up to look into hers.

As Kyle looked down at her, he could feel himself getting lost in her eyes. What was happening to him? Since when did anyone ever have this affect on him? His eyes drifted briefly back to the curls hanging over her eye and he felt the urge to reach out and brush it away. He lifted his hand slightly before he suddenly realized what was happening.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Kyle realized he needed to get away from her before he did something to get himself in trouble.

“I uh, I have to go,” he said quickly. “I need a drink.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything he quickly brushed past her.

As he was walking away, he could hear Jonathan calling out Nicole’s name. He looked over his shoulder to see Jonathan walking over to Nicole. She frowned as she looked back at Kyle before allowing Jonathan to pull her over to his group. Kyle couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty as he saw Nicole’s frown.

He walked into the kitchen and over to the refrigerator in search of a water bottle. He moved a few things around and finally found an unopened water bottle, so he grabbed it out before leaving the kitchen again.

He went back outside, returning to his spot at the corner of the pool. The backyard had cleared out even more since he had left. He was one of only a few people still in the back yard; the only other remaining people were a couple who were making out in the hot tub. He shook his head as he took a seat, glad that from his spot his back was to the couple and he was hidden in the shadows so no one would bother him.

As he sat by the pool, once again watching as his moving legs created ripples in the water, his thoughts started to drift off. Kyle realized that he was probably being ridiculous with the way he was acting, but for some reason, he couldn’t talk himself out of it.

He realized he had no right to be so upset over Nicole and Alex. She had known Alex since even before she was aware that Kyle had existed, it wasn’t like Kyle had some certain claim to her just because he liked her. He had just met her today, after all; they didn’t even really know each other. Still, there was something about Nicole that, even though he didn’t know her, told Kyle he was supposed to be with her, and it killed him to know that his chances had been shot before he even met her.

Chapter Four

Kyle remained outside, thinking to himself for almost another hour longer. He was only broken from his thoughts when he felt water falling on his head. He looked up from the pool to see that it had started to rain. He pulled his hood up over his head as he looked around, realizing he was now alone in the back yard.

He lingered for a couple more minutes before he pulled his feet back out of the pool and stood up. He slipped his shoes back on and picked up his empty water bottle before walking back into Jonathan’s house.

When Kyle walked into the house, he found that it was for the most part, empty. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time and realized how long he had been sitting outside. The only remaining people were the rest of his band mates and the members of All Time Low, all of whom were helping to clean up the house. Kyle joined in the cleaning effort and half an hour later the house was as close to its original state as everyone figured it would get.

Kyle walked into the living room from the kitchen and spotted Nicole standing with Alex on the other side of the room while they waited for Jack, who was looking around for his hoodie. He couldn’t help but notice that her smile seemed to have dulled since he had last seen her. She looked sad as she nodded at whatever Alex was whispering to her. Kyle watched as Alex frowned, wrapping his arms around Nicole’s shoulders and kissing her forehead. Kyle felt his heart drop.

“I found it!” Jack shouted, pushing Austin off the couch because he was sitting on his hoodie. Jack grabbed his hoodie off the couch where Austin had previously been sitting and held it up triumphantly.

“Ow, dude!” Austin shouted as he looked up at Jack, obviously torn between scowling and laughing. “Was that really necessary? Couldn’t you have just said ‘Can you get up real quick Austin? You’re sitting on my hoodie’?”

“It was more fun this way?” Jack offered as he looked down at Austin innocently.

Austin laughed, shaking his head. “Help me up dude.”

Jack grinned, offering his hand out to Austin and pulling him up onto his feet.

“Come on Jack, let’s go,” Alex called over to Jack; Rian and Zack had already gone back to bus a little while earlier.

“Okieee!” Jack grinned, stumbling over to Nicole and Alex, clearly having had too much to drink.

Alex caught Jack as he stumbled into them. He helped him steady himself, laughing slightly. “You ok to walk on your own, buddy?”

“Of courseee,” Jack replied, grinning at Nicole and Alex.

“Oookaaay,” Alex replied, nodding his head as he looked at Jack, not fully believing him.

“I’m fiiine,” Jack slurred, waving his hand dismissively. “Superrrr as a matter of fact.”

“Alex,” Nicole sighed, “I’m tired, let’s go now that Jack’s found his hoodie.”

Alex nodded before announcing to everyone that they were leaving. Everyone said goodbye to the three and Jonathan walked over to them with a smile, hugging Nicole tightly and telling her he’d see her tomorrow, his flirtatious smile still on his face. Kyle wondered how Jonathan could still openly flirt with her with Alex so close, even after Jack had told him she was taken.

Nicole smiled back at Jonathan, nodding her head. She looked around the room and Kyle noticed that her smile faded when they locked eyes. She quickly turned away, back to Alex, and Kyle realized how sad he had made her earlier when he rushed off away from her; it was his fault she hadn’t been smiling the whole time the group had been cleaning up. He wondered if she had seemed so sad the whole night, since their little run-in had happened. He started to feel guilty again.

“You ready?” Alex asked her, lightly tugging on her hand.

Nicole nodded again. "Yeah, let's go."

They followed Jonathan to his front door. Kyle followed slightly, still keeping a slight distance, debating whether or not he should say anything to her.

When they opened the door, Nicole frowned at the sight of the rain outside. It was raining a lot harder than it had been when Kyle had come back inside.

"Darn, I knew I should have brought a hoodie with me," she said.

"You didn't bring a jacket with you?" Jonathan asked her.

She shook her head. "It was really warm and sunny when we got here, I didn't expect it to downpour."

"You should always expect rain in Dallas," Jonathan replied with a slight laugh.

Nicole frowned again with a sigh. "Well excuuuse me. I don't live in Dallas."

Kyle stepped forward, ready to offer her his hoodie. His car was parked in the driveway, he had a much shorter walk in the rain than she did to the bus. He thought that maybe this was his chance to make up for how sad he had made her earlier.

He was already unzipping his hoodie, ready to tell her she could wear it but didn't have a chance because Alex beat him to it.

Alex took his hoodie off and handed it to Nicole. "Here, wear this."

Nicole shook her head, trying to hand it back. "What about you?"

Alex shook his head. "It's not that long of a walk to the bus; I'll be fine. Besides, you're wearing less than I am."

Nicole nodded her head with a smile, thanking Alex.

Kyle couldn't help but frown as he watched them. He had a feeling that Alex was going to be getting in the way quite a bit for him for the rest of the tour.

Nicole put Alex's hoodie on and zipped it up, puling the hood over her head. The three said goodbye one last time before heading out the door. Kyle frowned again as he watched Nicole grab onto Alex's hand as they ran for their bus.

Once Nicole, Alex, and Jack were gone, Kyle decided he no longer wanted to stick around either. He announced he was leaving and that he would see everyone bright and early at the venue tomorrow; everyone had decided to meet at the venue in the morning and then go to breakfast.

Kyle made his way out to his car and he could see Alex pulling Nicole onto the All Time Low bus at the end of the cul-de-sac. Sighing to himself, he got in his car and started on his drive home.

As soon as they were on the bus, Alex pulled Nicole to the back lounge, Jack following after them; Rian and Zack had already gone to bed. He made her sit on the couch next to him before speaking.

"Ok so now that we're out of there, I want you to tell me why you seem so sad," Alex instructed.

"Yes, I would like to know as well," Jack agreed; the walk in the rain had clearly helped to sober him up some.

Nicole shrugged her shoulders, standing back up.

Alex shook his head, standing up as well. "Don't try and tell us there's nothing bothering you. We know there is."

"Yeah Nicole give us some credit," Jack agreed, nodding his head. "We've all been friends for too long for us not to know."

"Especially me," Alex replied. "You and I have been friends practically our whole lives; I know you inside and out. Don't try to lie to me, Nicole Ann."

Nicole still didn't reply, instead she shook her head as she walked out of the back lounge.

“Wait, wait, where are you going?” Alex asked, following her into the bunk hall.

She paused at her bunk and crouched down slightly as she looked for something, before standing up straight and looking at Alex.

“My clothes are soaked, I’m going to change,” she replied, holding up her pajamas.

She walked away from Alex and into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth. When she emerged again, Alex and Jack were both standing outside the bathroom door, waiting for her. She noticed they had changed as well, both were now wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a dry t-shirt.

Jack grabbed onto her arm and started pulling her back to the back lounge as Alex followed to make sure she wouldn’t try to get away from them. When they were back in the back lounge, both boys took a seat on the couch and pulled her down between them.

“Ok we’ve all changed, so talk,” Alex instructed.

“Yeah, we want to hear about your night,” Jack agreed, nodding his head.

“I was with you almost the entire night,” Nicole said, looking at Alex. “I don’t need to tell you about it.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t, so tell me about it,” Jack replied, tugging on her hand so she would look at him.

Nicole sighed slightly, wishing Jack would go back to silly, drunk Jack so he wouldn’t be so coherent and press the subject so much.

Alex studied Nicole, shaking his head. “No, we got separated a couple times for a little bit, and something happened during one of those times. I noticed you suddenly seemed bummed out one of the times that I found you again.”

Nicole frowned slightly as she remembered the two times she had gotten separated from Alex and the slight run-ins with Kyle that had taken place.

Jack frowned at her expression. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. “What happened tonight? Something made you sad.”

Nicole sighed at the way Jack was looking at her; she couldn’t ignore them when he was pouting at her like that, and he knew it.

Nicole finally shrugged. “I guess tonight just wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.”

Alex frowned as he looked at Nicole. “But you seemed like you were having so much fun. You were getting along really well with the guys, and you and Courtney seemed to become friends really quickly. You and Jonathan were even kind of flirting with each other.”

“You were flirting with Jonathan?” Jack asked, eyebrow raised. “But I thought you liked Kyle?”

When Nicole shrugged, Alex raised an eyebrow at her as well. “Wait a minute, does your mood have something to do with Kyle and how you didn’t really get to talk to him?”

“You didn’t get to talk to Kyle?” Jack asked, sounding surprised. He was sure Kyle would have found her at some point in the night.

“We couldn’t find him,” Alex answered for her. “I don’t think I really saw him more than twice the whole night, and that was very briefly.”

“I found him,” Nicole replied. “I found him, and I got snubbed by him.”

“What?” Alex replied. “What happened?”

"I ran into Kyle and he blew me off," Nicole replied simply.

"What do you mean he blew you off?" Jack asked. "Tell us what happened."

Nicole sighed. "It was one of the last times that I went to the kitchen to get a drink. I was walking to the living room and he was leaving it and we, like, literally ran into each other."

Jack couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at this. "Again?"

"This time was his fault, he was looking at his phone instead of watching where he was going," Nicole replied, looking at Jack.

He nodded, apologizing for the interruption and telling her to continue.

"So anyways," Nicole continued. "He walked into me and started to apologize until he realized it was me and then he just stopped talking to me-"

"But that doesn't necessarily mean something bad," Alex interrupted. "He could have just been surprised that you were the one he ran into."

Nicole shook her head. "No, because he would have actually talked to me once he got over the surprised, because I was actually making an effort to try and talk to him."

Alex frowned slightly, eyebrow furrowed. "So what did he do then?"

"It was like when he realized it was me he had to get away from me right away. He just pushed past me and said he needed a drink," she replied.

"He pushed you?" Jack asked, sounding shocked.

"Well it's not like he shoved me out of his way, but he definitely brushed past me in a 'I don't want to be around you so I have to get away as soon as possible' way," Nicole replied.

Jack still had his eyebrow raised in confusion so Nicole continued to explain.

"Like, you know how when you're all of a sudden stuck with someone you don't want to be around and you just have to get away from them, so you just rush past them not caring if you end up knocking them over or not?" she tried.

"He knocked you down?" Jack asked with shock again.

Nicole laughed slightly. "No Jack, don't be so literal."

Jack smiled over the fact that she at least wasn't frowning. "My bad, my bad. You know how I roll; you're the one who was talking about knocking people over."

Nicole laughed slightly again, shaking her head. "Well he didn't knock me over. He did bump into me when he rushed off, though."

Jack noticed that the frown returned slightly when she went back to thinking about what had happened with Kyle.

"Maybe he was just caught off-guard," Alex suggested, speaking up for the first time in a while. Nicole and Jack turned their attention to Alex and noticed he had a very thoughtful look on his face. "Maybe he was already on his way for a drink and he was caught off-guard when he realized it was you and that's why he rushed off."

Nicole sighed. “I don’t know, Alex.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Alex asked.

“I mean exactly that: I don’t know,” Nicole replied. “I mean, yeah sure it would be nice to go ahead and say that Kyle didn’t really mean to just blow me off, but I just don’t know. It doesn’t really seem likely.”

“I think you’re just bummed out that you didn’t get to really talk to Kyle tonight like we had planned, and you’re letting that mess with your mind,” Alex suggested.

“You think I’m being paranoid?” Nicole asked, sounding surprised. “I’m not being paranoid Alexander.”

“I didn’t say you were being paranoid, I just think you’re jumping to conclusions,” Alex replied.

"Or maybe, for some reason, Kyle just already decided he doesn't like me and doesn't want to have anything to do with me," Nicole countered. "Maybe he's mad about how I ran into him earlier."

Alex sighed and Nicole turned her attention to Jack, poking him. "And if so, it's your fault I made a bad first impression, Jack Barakat."

"Noo, he's not upset about that," Jack replied, shaking his head. "He laughed it off; he even told you to feel free to do it whenever you wanted, remember? If he was mad, he wouldn't have told you that."

"See? You're being silly." Alex replied. "Kyle wouldn't just jump to the conclusion that he doesn't like you without knowing you, that's not how Kyle is."

Nicole sighed, thinking that she kept hearing from the boys how Kyle was and wasn't, yet Kyle seemed to be showing her the opposite.

"It's weird that that was the only time you saw Kyle," Jack commented after a couple minutes of thinking. "I mean, Kyle is always at the center of a party, right in the middle of everything, and you were hanging out there with everyone, you should have at least seen him a few more time through out the night."

"I did," Nicole replied. "But that was the only time I came close enough to talk to him, he was pretty much running away the whole night."

Alex looked confused. “But we didn't see him tonight. No one even knew where he was tonight.”

“He was avoiding me all night, that’s where he was,” Nicole replied.

"You're being silly again," Alex replied, shaking his head.

"You think I'm being silly but I saw him lurking around the living room all night and then quickly disappearing. There's no way he didn't see that huge group of us in the living room," Nicole replied.

"Maybe you just think you saw him," Alex replied, even though he knew that he had been pretty sure he had seen Kyle lurking around the edges of the living room a few times himself.

Nicole sighed because she knew she had seen him, but Alex was making her feel like she was crazy. "I know what I saw Alex, I'm not crazy."

"I'm not saying you are," Alex replied, frowning. "I'm just saying, maybe you saw someone who looked kind of like him and you got it mixed up."

Even Alex knew that was unlikely. Kyle generally stood out in a crowd because of his height and the color of his hair; there hadn't been anyone else at the party who looked like Kyle.

Jack gave Alex a look that said, "Really? That was the best you could come up with?"

Alex frowned at shrugged subtly.

"Maybe he was looking for you and when he saw you were busy he decided to wait until you weren't with so many people, but every time he checked you were," Jack suggested, thinking back to his conversation with Kyle and Jonathan in the kitchen. "He told me he was going to find you."

"What? When?" Nicole asked Jack, turning her attention back to him. "Why would he even tell you that?"

Jack shrugged. "Sometime when we were both in the kitchen. He, Jonathan, and I were talking about you."

Nicole raised an eyebrow at Jack. "Jack Barakat, what did you go say? Did you bring me up?"

"What? Nooo," Jack replied, holding his hands up in defense. "I swear I didn't; I know I'd probably get in trouble if I gave away the fact that you think he's cute so early on."

"Then why were you guys discussing me?" Nicole asked, eyeing Jack suspiciously.

"Well the three of us were talking and then Jonathan brought you up," Jack explained. "I had nothing to do with it."

"Jonathan brought her up?" Alex asked, raising his eyebrow. "Why did Jonathan bring her up?"

"Well from what I gathered, he likes Nicole," Jack replied. "I mean, he pretty much said he did."

Alex sighed, shaking his head slightly at Nicole. "See? This is what happens when you flirt with guys? They fall to your charms and start to like you."

Nicole pouted slightly at Alex. "I couldn't help it. I mean, did you hear him talk? His voice, oh my god, and he's really cute."

Alex laughed slightly. "Well still, you can't date Jonathan anyways."

Nicole pouted again. "Psh Alex Gaskarth, you can't tell me who to date."

"I'm not trying to boss you around or anything," Alex replied. "But seriously, there's a couple reasons why you can't. First of all, you like Kyle, none of this Jonathan getting in the way stuff. Second of all, Jonathan is 24, that's five years older than you. Zack would raise hell if you even mentioned being interested in Jonathan. Hell, if he hears Jonathan likes you he'll still probably go off on one of his 'protective big brother' rants and tell Jonathan to back off or something"

"It's ok, I already told Jonathan that he had to back off," Jack replied. "Zack won't even have to know that Jonathan likes her."

Alex nodded his head in response. "Good, no drama then."

"What? So you've turned into Zack now?" Nicole asked with another pout.

"Nooo, it's just that when Jonathan kept going on and on about you, it seemed like Kyle was stressing over it. This was before I knew that you might possibly like Jonathan and I didn't want him to get in the way, so I just told him to back off because you're heart was already accounted for, for now," Jack replied. "Anyways, like Alex said, Zack would flip out over Jonathan's age anyways."

"My heart is already accounted for? That makes it sound like I have a boyfriend or something," Nicole replied.

"Well would you have preferred for me to go 'yo Jonathan, slow your roll, she already likes Kyle' when Kyle was standing right there?" Jack replied, laughing slightly.

Nicole sighed. "I don't even know if I really like him. Maybe it would have been good to keep my options open."

"What? Since when?" Alex asked. "You liked him earlier today."

"I liked the Kyle I met earlier, and the Kyle I keep hearing about from everyone," Nicole replied. "The Kyle I experienced tonight? Not so much."

"You just caught him on a bad night," Alex replied with a frown.

"Yeah Nicole, you don't need Jonathan as an option," Jack added.

Nicole shrugged. "I don't know, ok? I just don't know."

"But what's not to know?" Alex replied softly, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I don't know if it's really even worth it," Nicole replied, shrugging.

"You don't know if what's worth it?" Jack asked, brushing a few loose strands of hair out of Nicole's face.

"I don't know if he's worth it," Nicole replied.

"Worth what?" Jack asked.

"Look, tonight when Kyle brushed me off, it hurt. I know its silly and it shouldn't have because we don't even really know each other, but it did. It made me sad," Nicole explained softly. "Sure, Kyle is cute and all, but I don't need a guy who's going to make me and just brush me aside like I'm nothing."

Both boys frowned, neither knowing what to say. They both wanted to assure her that Kyle wasn't like that, but they already had countless times tonight, and they had to admit that Kyle's behavior hadn't helped to prove the case.

Alex frowned as he watched Nicole; she seemed so sad, he was starting to realize how much Kyle had hurt her feelings.

He had never seen her get so worked up over a guy, especially one she just met. He could feel himself getting angry at Kyle for mistreating her like he had.

"Why don't you just try and at least push it out of your mind for now?" he suggested with a smile, trying to brighten her mood.

"Whatever," Nicole sighed, leaning her head against Jack's chest. "I didn't come on the AP Tour looking for a boyfriend anyways."

Jack and Alex both frowned again when they saw the frown on Nicole's face as she closed her eyes, cuddling closer against Jack.

"Yeah but-" Jack began, but stopped when Alex shook his head, silently telling Jack it was best not to keep quiet. Alex practically knew Nicole inside and out, so he knew that at a moment like this, it was best to not say anything to her so she could clear her mind.

Jack nodded to Alex and wrapped his arms around Nicole, holding her close to him. He kissed her forehead and rested his head on top of hers, holding her protectively.

Chapter Five

It was about 8:30 a.m. when Kyle parked his car a couple of blocks away from the venue and started his walk over. He had opted to drive over on his own rather than wait for the rest of the guys and drive over as a band like had been the original plan; he figured the couple hour drive alone would give him some time to think.

Kyle had spent the majority of the night after leaving Jonathan's house caught up in his thoughts. His thoughts were consumed with Nicole; he couldn't seem to get her out of his mind no matter how hard he tried.

He realized he had been silly in the way he had acted the night before. He still felt guilty with the way he had obviously hurt Nicole's feelings, but he didn't know what to do.

He really did like her; he could tell there was something different about her. Just the way she acted, like the way she had laughed off running into him and knocking him over when they met, she had acted like it was no big deal; any other girl would have probably gotten worked up and embarrassed over it but she didn't seem to. She was cute, and he liked her personality; everything that he had heard about her he liked.

All of that, however, still didn't change the fact that she was taken and Kyle couldn't have her, which was the real problem. If she was single, Kyle wouldn't have left her side the night before. But she wasn't single, which was what was making things so hard on Kyle's end.

He knew was going to have to see her for the next three months, and he was going to have to see her being happy with Alex. He could either go on for the next three months, continuing to act silly and avoid her like he had the previous night- but in all honesty, that wasn't going to help anyone, even Kyle had been miserable the night before- or he could suck it up.

Kyle reached the venue to find that it was very quiet. The buses were parked outside but no one was around outside. There was still an hour until everyone was going to meet up and head over to breakfast so Kyle figured everyone must have still been asleep.

Kyle had found it hard to sleep last night with his thoughts clouding his mind; he kept tossing and turning all night, and waking up periodically. Finally at 5:30, after about three and a half hours of broken sleep he had decided to give up on trying to sleep any longer. It only taken him half an hour to shower and get ready, and then he had left his house as soon as he was ready instead of waiting until 7:30 to meet up with his bandmates.

He wasn't sure why he had left his house so early; it was even too early for any of the die-hard fans to be lined up outside yet. He supposed he figured he could use the extra hour to walk around and think about what he would do.

Kyle spotted the familiar green Starbucks sign down the street and decided to get something to drink. He walked the block or so to the Starbucks and ordered a caramel frappacino. Once he had his drink, he made his way back to the venue.

Kyle looked down at his phone to check the time. Only 20 minutes has passed since he had left his car; he still had 40 minutes left to himself to think.
He remembered that there was a picnic table on the side of the venue so he deicded to sit for a while until his bandmates arrived.

Kyle rounded the corner to the side of the venue and paused when he noticed the person already at the table.

Nicole was sitting on top of the table, legs crossed underneath her, a frappacino of her own sitting next to her on the table. She was looking down at her phone, her curly hair falling over her face, but Kyle could still tell that she was smiling slightly.

"Looks like I'm going to have to decide sooner than expected," Kyle thought to himself, finally deciding that he would try to talk to her.

He cleared his throat as he approached, trying to get her attention. When she heard him she looked up, and Kyle noticed her smile quickly disappear once she realized it was him.

"Hey," he said, smiling slightly, hoping to change her mood.

"Oh, so now you're not too busy to talk to me?" she asked, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head.

Kyle frowned slightly. This was a completely different expression than he had seen on her yet. She had seemed so happy for the majority of the day yesterday, and even after their run-in, she had seemed sad but he still saw her smile and laugh from time to time.

Now she just seemed mad. Her eyes no longer held her smile, instead now they were piercing into him, and her eyebrows were furrowed as she glared at him.

Kyle cleared his throat again. "Yeah, about that. I'm really sorry about last night, I had a lot on my mind."

It was the truth, he did have a lot on his mind last night; he had just neglected to mention that it had been her that was on his mind. Her, and the way her relationship with Alex killed him.

She stared at him for a few seconds and Kyle thought she might be measuring his sincerity. He smiled again, hoping that would help show her that his apology was sincere.

Whatever she was looking for, apparently she didn't find it, because she shook her head.

"Whatever," Nicole mumbled before hopping off of the table. She grabbed her stuff and pulled her sunglasses back down over her eyes. "I have to go, Alex is looking for me."

With that she brushed past him, much like the way he had done to her the night before.

Kyle sighed, frowning slightly as he watched her walk away. He knew he had deserved it, but it still hurt. He realized how she must have felt the night before.

When Nicole had disappeared around the corner of the building, Kyle walked the rest of the way over to the picnic table and took a seat.

He pulled out his phone to check the time and noticed he had a new text message. It was from Marc, informing him that they would be at the venue in about fifteen minutes.

He wrote a quick reply that said he was already there and where he would be waiting for them, before putting his phone on vibrate and setting it aside.

As he sat at the table finishing his drink, he decided to use the next fifteen minutes to think; there were a ton of things going through his mind and he needed to get things figured out.

Nicole blowing him off had finally caused him to realize how ridiculous he had been the night before and how badly he had messed up. It had also made him realize how he had hurt her, which was never one of his intentions.

He needed to stop being so silly. If he really did like Nicole, he should be happy enough just to have her in his life, even if she was dating Alex. It wasn’t like he had any sort of claim on her. He had only known her for a day; Alex had obviously known her for much longer.

Kyle thought a little bit more. He really did want Nicole in his life, even if he could only be her friend. He needed to find a way to make what happened the previous night up to her.

He was going to try to talk to her again. This time he would apologize again and make a more sincere effort to make things right. He would keep trying and trying to make things right and work his way into her life; he intended to be persistent until they were friends.

He just hoped he hadn't already ruined things beyond repair.

You Put The Sun To Shame

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:24:59 GMT

Title: You Put The Sun To Shame
About: Forever The Sickest Kids/ All Time Low
Progress: In Progress

Chapter One

“Get away from me with that, Jack Barakat!” was all Kyle heard before he felt something collide with him, the sudden force knocking him over.

Whatever, or as he realized was actually a whoever, had knocked him over was sitting next to him on the ground. She was laughing as she looked over at him.

“Oh my god, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” she explained, still laughing slightly. “Totally didn’t see you there, sorry about knocking you over.”

Kyle was about to reply and tell her it was alright, that there was no harm done, but he was cut off by a second, new voice.

“Way to go Nicole,” the new voice said, as a tall figure stood in front of them.

Kyle looked up, shielding his eyes against the sun so he could see the shadowed figure better. It was Jack and he was standing over them with a super soaker in hand.

“Hush,” the girl, Nicole Kyle figured, replied. "It's totally your fault, anyways. I was trying to run away from you since you were chasing me with that stupid super soaker, that's why I wasn't watching where I was going."

Jack grinned as he held his hands out to her, pulling her to her feet when she placed her hands in his. She shook her head at Jack as she brushed the dirt off her jeans before turning back to Kyle. She smiled as she offered out a hand to him.

"Sorry again about that," she apologized again as she helped him to his feet. "It really was Jack's fault."

Kyle laughed, brushing the dirt off of his shorts. "It's fine, really, and I don't doubt it was Jack's fault; I know how ridiculous he can be."

Nicole laughed, giving Jack a slight shove to the side. "See? Everyone realizes how ridiculous you can be."

Jack pouted. "Don't encourage Nicole to abuse me and lay blame on me, Kyle."

Kyle laughed. "Sorry Jack, my bad." He turned to the girl. "So I take it your name is Nicole?"

She nodded. "I take it yours is Kyle?"

Now that they were standing upright in front of each other, Kyle looked her over, really taking in her appearance for the first time.

Her skin was tan, her brown hair curly with blond highlights. She looked to be about 5'8, judging by the way her height compared to his. She was smiling brightly, a lipring adorning the left side of her smile. There was something about her smile that Kyle felt could melt anyone's heart. She was wearing sunglasses, so he couldn't see her eyes but he imagined that they probably sparkled and reflected her smile. There was something oddly familiar about her features, but he thought she was cute.

Kyle nodded in response to her question, extending his hand to her. "It's nice to meet you Nicole."

Her smile brightened as she placed her hand in his, and Kyle could feel his skin tingling from the contact. "It's nice to meet you too, Kyle."

Kyle's smile brightened as well.

It was the day before the AP Tour 2008 was supposed to start and all the bands had already arrived to Houston in preparation of the first show. Kyle figured that since Nicole was already there and she obviously knew Jack, that meant she was there hanging out on tour as a friend of All Time Low.

He hoped that meant she would either be hanging around for all of the AP Tour or that she at least lived in Texas and would be hanging out the next few days for all the Texas shows. Either way, that would give him a chance to get to know her, he hoped.

Kyle was about to ask her how long she was going to be around the tour. While he hoped that she would be around for the whole tour because that would give him a longer time to get to know her and possibly, if things worked out the way he was wanting already, give her more time to spend with her, he was also thinking that if she said she was only visiting for the Texas shows because she lived in Texas, he could at least bring up the fact that they were both from Texas. He was seeing a possible opportunity to point out something that they had in common; it was a win/win situation in Kyle’s head.

Before Kyle could say anything, though, he was cut off by Alex yelling to them from across.

“Nicoooole!” Alex was calling as he ran over to them.

Her eyes widened slightly as Alex reached them and ran at her, practically tackle-hugging her down to the ground.

“Holy crap!” she squealed, clinging to Alex so she wouldn’t fall over.

Alex grinned as he set her back upright. “There you are; I’ve been looking all over for youuu.”

"I've been trying to get away from Jack because he was chasing me with that," Nicole replied laughing slightly as she pointed to the super soaker in Jack's hand. "But then I accidentally ran into Kyle when I was running away from Jack, and so we've been discussing Jack's ridiculousness."

Alex laughed, shaking his head at Jack. "Way to go Jack. Way to be ridiculous."

"See Jack? Even Alex agrees with me," Nicole added with a laugh.

Kyle felt a pang of jealousy as he watched the interaction between Alex and Nicole. Alex made her laugh so effortlessly; Kyle wanted that to be him. He couldn’t believe that he didn't even really know this girl and she was already having such an effect on him. Wasn't it crazy to be so attracted to someone and like them so much already within just minutes of meeting?

Kyle was shaken from his thoughts by Alex's laughter.

"Of course I agree with with you," Alex said to Nicole.

He grinned again and wrapped his arms around Nicole's shoulders from behind, kissing her cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder. "Oh hey Kyle, what's up?"

Kyle felt his heart drop as he watched; only nodding in response to Alex. It was such a boyfriend-like gesture, and as he watched Nicole and Alex, it was obvious to him that Nicole's relationship with Alex was so much different from her relationship with Jack. She and Alex seemed so much closer, so much more... couple-like.

He started silently scolding himself for getting ahead of himself when it came to Nicole. He had just met her and he had already been making plans for later on during the tour; for how well they would hit it off, and how, if she wasn't coming on tour he would still see her when he got home because surely she was from Texas if she was there and not for the whole tour.

He had probably jumped to too many conclusions. Even if she wasn’t on the tour, she could just be visiting for the day; there was no guarantee that she was there for all the Texas shows. And even if she was there for the Texas shows, that didn’t even mean for sure that she lived in Texas after all. And then there was the fact that he had just gone ahead and assumed that she was going to want to spend time with him.

But his biggest mistake had been to assume she was single. Of course a girl as cute as she was, who obviously liked to laugh, and who, from what he could tell, had an amazing personality, wouldn’t be single; guys would jump at the chance to be with her. He should have known better than to assume that she wouldn't have a boyfriend.

Kyle was broken from his thoughts by Jack poking him in his side. “Helloooo? Earth to Kyyyylllle?”

Kyle shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts away before looking at Nicole, Alex, and Jack who were all watching him expectantly. “Hmm? What was that?”

“You ok?” Alex asked him; Kyle noticed he still had his arms wrapped around Nicole and she was now leaning back against him. “You were kind of zoning out there.”

“What? Oh yeah, I’m fine,” Kyle replied, nodding his head and forcing a smile. “I was just thinking about... something.”

Jack was still watching him with a raised eyebrow; Alex nodded slowly as he eyed Kyle before turning his attention to Nicole.

“Come with me, I want to introduce you to some people so you can have more friends on the tour,” he said to her, unwrapping his arms from around her and grabbing her hand instead.

Kyle perked up slightly; so she would be around for the whole tour then. His spirits quickly fell again though, when he realized that still didn’t change the fact that she had a boyfriend.

Nicole nodded her head at Alex, before turning to Jack and Kyle. “It was nice… running into you Kyle,” she said with a slight laugh.

Kyle smiled, nodding his head. “Feel free to run into me anytime.”

She grinned, before turning to Jack and telling him she’d see him later.

“Pre-tour celebration tonight still, right?” Alex asked Kyle.

Kyle nodded his head. “Yeah at Jonathan’s.”

“Sweet, we’ll see you there, then,” Alex replied before leading Nicole on their way.

“See you guys later! Stay out of trouble Jack!” she called back to them one last time before allowing Alex to pull her away.

"Never!" Jack yelled back to her with a grin.

“So, she’s going to be around for the whole tour?” Kyle asked Jack to make sure.

Jack nodded. “Yeah, I guess you could say Alex was the one to really invite her, but we all wanted her to come along.”

“They’re really close then?” Kyle asked, trying to gauge how serious the relationship was.

Of course he had no intention of conspiring to turn one of his friends’ girlfriends against him and stealing her away from him, but if for some reason they weren’t too close maybe there was still a chance for Kyle. Maybe their relationship was still new and coming on tour together would make them realize that they weren't as right for each other as they thought, and when she realized this, Kyle could be there for her.

But his hope was crushed as Jack nodded his head. "Super close. They've been best friends for forever; I don't think I've ever really seen two other people who are closer."

"And there I go, learning my lesson for jumping to conclusions again," Kyle thought to himself.

He frowned; so they had one of those relationships. The not-only-are-we-dating-but-we're-also-best-friends-and-complete-each-other kind of relationships. That meant they already had the basis for a strong a relationship; Kyle didn't really have a hope.

"You ok?" Jack asked, eyebrow raised as he looked at Kyle. "What are you frowning about?"

"What? Oh, nothing," Kyle replied, shaking his head.

Jack opened his mouth to respond, but Matt came jogging over.

"There you are," he said to Jack. "I heard you were creating trouble."

Jack smiled innocently, trying to hide the super soaker in his hand behind his back. "What? Me causing trouble? Neverr."

"Yeah, don't try and act innocent. I see that super soaker you're trying to hide," Matt replied, shaking his head at Jack.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about," Jack replied, still feigning innocence.

Kyle couldn't help but laugh slightly as he watched the exchange between Matt and Jack, pushing his thoughts about Nicole to the back of his head for now.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Matt replied with a laugh. "The super soaker you're trying to hide behind your back."

"Oh this?" Jack replied, pulling the super soaker out from behind his back and holding it up. "Oh I wasn't trying to hide it. It’s not even filled up."

"Suuure it's not," Matt replied sarcastically. "Sonny and his band already told me you ran onto their bus and attacked them."

"Whaat? I didn't attack them, I just... wet them a little," Jack replied. "They're a bunch of babies."

"Hey you were chasing Nicole around, did you try to attack her too?" Kyle asked with a laugh.

"Pft I don't attack, Kyle, you make me sound malicious," Jack replied.

"Then why is your nickname Jack Attack, hmm?" Kyle asked.

"You know what Kyle? You're not helping," Jack replied, shaking his head. "Besides, Nicole deserved it."

"Nicole didn't do anything to you; she's not a vicious girl," Matt replied with a laugh, shaking his head. "Anyways, you're needed for an interview. Now."

Knowing that Jack would get distracted or find a way to procrastinate if left on his own, Matt grabbed Jack's arm, pulling him in the direction of All Time Low's bus. They both looked over their shoulders, yelling goodbye to Kyle. He waved in reply.

He watched Matt drag Jack away, and as he looked across the street he spotted Alex and Nicole again. Their hands were still clasped as Alex pulled her in the direction of The Rocket Summer's bus, to introduce her to the boys and Tara.

He sighed before turning around and heading off in search of his band mates. Dwelling on something he couldn't have wasn't going to get him anywhere.

Two

"So Kyle is who exactly?" Nicole asked as Alex pulled her back to the All Time Low bus.

He had spent the last couple of hours leading Nicole around the parking lot of the venue to the buses of each of the bands on the tour to introduce Nicole. The only band she hadn’t gotten to meet was Forever The Sickest Kids because they had left rehearsal earlier than everyone else, deciding to head to their own homes to prepare for the party while the other bands finished up.

"The drummer of Forever The Sickest Kids; you'll meet the rest of them at the party tonight, it's at their lead singer's house," Alex replied before turning to look at her. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason, I just wondered," Nicole replied, trying her best to conceal the smile that was tugging at her lips as she pictured Kyle in her head.

Alex caught on to the smile she tried to hide and smirked slightly. "You like him."

Nicole couldn’t hide her smile.

Alex grinned as he opened the door to bus and held it open so she could walk in first. “Oh my god, you do!”

She shrugged, making her way up the bus steps. “I don’t really know him. But he’s really cute, like gorgeous, and he seems really nice.”

Alex smiled as they both took a seat on the couch in the front lounge. “You two would be so cute together. His personality matches yours so well.”

“Oh really?” Nicole asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He grinned, nodding his head. “Yes, really. I think you’ll find that when you get to know him, you two will have a lot in common, and you’ll like him a lot.”

Nicole laughed slightly. “How can you be so sure?”

“I know you; I know your type,” Alex replied with a shrug.

“I didn’t realize I had a type,” Nicole replied.

Alex sighed. “You're being difficult now. I’m just saying, I know the type of person that you usually get along with, and Kyle fits that. I mean, he’s like me, only… not me?”

Nicole laughed. “What? What does that even mean, Alex Gaskarth?”

Alex laughed as well. “You know how everyone always says that we should date because we work really well together? Like, how they say we seem like a couple? But we always say no because we’re too good of friends, and that’s just how we act with each other? Well people say that Kyle is a lot like me, but he’s not your best friend, so dating him wouldn’t be so weird.”

Nicole laughed. "You're awfully enthusiastic about this."

Alex shrugged. "I just want you to be happy, and I mean, look at how you haven't been able to stop smiling while you think about Kyle. That makes me think that Kyle could make you really happy."

Nicole smiled as she leaned over to Alex, wrapping her arms around him in a hug and kissing his cheek. "You're a good best friend Alex."

He grinned. "Hey, how about tonight at the party, I introduce you to Kyle?"

Nicole laughed. "I already met him, remember?"

"No, I mean, like, reintroduce you guys. Maybe start up a conversation between you two, get the ball rolling," Alex explained.

"You mean, why don't I let you play matchmaker for us tonight," Nicole corrected with a laugh.

"Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe," Alex replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's all the same."

Nicole laughed and shook her head. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"Feel about what?" Alex asked.

"My best guy friend trying to play cupid for me," she replied. "It seems like guys don't normally do that?"

"Psh, I don't see how it differs from if I were a girl," Alex replied. "You're just being difficult again."

Nicole laughed. "No I'm not, I'm just sayin."

Alex laughed, shaking his head. "Don't fight this, I'm hooking you up with Kyle by the end of tour; I don't care what you say or what it takes."

"Don't force it though," Nicole replied. "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen."

"It's not like I was intending to sit you two down together and be like 'DATE. NOW.' or something," Alex replied shaking his head. "I'm just saying, I'm determined to help this along."

"I know, but I also know how you get when you're determined to make something happen," Nicole replied. "If Kyle's going to like me, I want him to like me because he wants to or whatever, not because my best friend kept pushing it on him."

Alex was going to reply but Nicole cut him off. "Anyways, I don't even really know him. What if I get to know him and he turns out to be a jerk or something and I don't like him? Then if you're pushing for something, that would suck."

"But that won't happen. I know Kyle, he's not a jerk. You're going to like him," Alex argued.

"How old is Kyle anyways?" Nicole asked Alex. "I mean, he seemed around your age but I just want to make sure he's not one of those guys who's close to 30 and just seems younger, like Gabe Saporta or something. Not saying I would mind dating Gabe Saporta but still, he seems a little old for me."

Alex laughed. "He's 22. I think Zack would kill me if I tried to set his sister up with some guy who's 10 years older than her."

"Speaking of Zack, let's not tell him about this yet, ok? You know how he gets all weird when he finds out I'm interested in a guy," Nicole replied.

Alex nodded. "Well maybe since this is one of our friends he'll be better about it?"

"Even still, let's not risk him getting all worked over nothing until I get know Kyle better," Nicole replied.

Alex nodded again. "I suppose this is true."

They heard the bus door open and Alex made out Zack's hair as he climbed up the steps.

"Speaking of your over-protective older brother," Alex muttered to Nicole before Zack came into view of them.

"There you are," Zack said with a smile when he spotted Nicole. "Where have you been?"

"Alex has been dragging me around the past couple of hours, introducing me to people," Nicole replied.

"So I heard," Zack replied.

"If you heard, why did you ask where she was?" Alex asked with a laugh.

"Shut up," Zack laughed, throwing the cap from his water bottle at Alex. "What I meant was that I was talking to Shawn from The Matches and I was like 'oh hey I have my sister on tour with me, let me go get her so you can meet her' because I know how much Nicole likes them, but he said that he had already met her because Alex brought her by their bus a little earlier."

Alex grinned. "You were slacking, so as her best friend I saw it as my duty to introduce her to everyone."

Zack laughed, shaking his head. "Stealin my job as the older brother, Alex."

Alex shrugged. "You snooze, you lose my friend."

Nicole laughed, shaking her head at the two boys. "You both are ridiculous."

Zack laughed as he sat at the table that was across from the couch where Nicole and Alex were sitting at.

"So you got to meet everyone then?" he asked Nicole.

She shook her head.

"Everyone except Forever The Sickest Kids," Alex answered for her.

"But I did meet Kyle," Nicole replied. "Thanks to Jack."

"Jack introduced you guys?" Zack asked.

Nicole shook her head. "No, not really. He was chasing me around trying to soak me with his water gun and I ended up kind of trampling on Kyle when I was running away from him."

Zack shook his head. "So Jack is already causing trouble?"

"Of course," Nicole replied with a laugh. "I honestly don't know why you sound so surprised."

"I really don't know why either," Zack laughed.

"That's like being surprised if Alex was causing trouble," Nicole replied, laughing at the shocked face Alex made at her.

"Hey now, abuse of Alex is not necessary," Alex replied.

Nicole laughed, patting his head. "You know I kid."

"Anyways, so I told Nicole she could meet the rest of Forever The Sickest Kids at the party at Jonathan's tonight," Alex replied, still glaring slightly at Nicole.

She grinned at Alex.

"Oh that's right, I had even forgotten about the party," Zack replied. "When are we leaving?"

"Soon I think," Alex replied. "We're just waiting for the others to return."

"Didn't Caleb bring Courtney on tour with him?" Zack asked Alex.

"Most likely, he always does. I didn't see her at rehearsal today, but they don't live too far away so she might have stayed at home for the day," Alex replied with a shrug.

"If he did, then that means at least you'll have another girl to hang out with," Zack said turning to Nicole.

"Who is she?" Nicole asked.

"Caleb Turman's girlfriend," Zack replied. "She's your age."

"And Caleb Turman is..." Nicole replied, sounding lost.

"One of the guitarists for Forever The Sickest Kids," Alex explained.

"Oh that's right, you didn't meet Caleb yet," Zack replied.

"Seriously Zack? We just finished discussing how I didn't meet them yet," Nicole replied with a laugh.

”Shut up,” Zack replied, leaning forward and pushing her shoulder.

“Don’t push me Zachary Steven,” Nicole replied, pushing him back. “Don’t make me call our parents and tell them that you’re abusing me.”

“You just pushed me,” Zack replied. “So I would tell them that you’re abusing me, too.”

“Um, no. It was self defense,” Nicole replied, shaking her head. “So you’re still the one doing the abusing.”

“Wah wah wah I’m Nicole and I’m a cry baby,” Zack mocked.

“Neh neh neh I’m Zack and I’m a sibling abuser,” Nicole mocked back.

Alex laughed, shaking his head at the two.

“Yeah, and I’m one of the ridiculous ones,” he muttered under his breath.

The three stayed in the front lounge for about fifteen more minutes until the others joined them on the bus. Once everyone was on the bus, they all started to get ready for the party while their bus driver drove them to Burleson.

”You should make yourself pretty tonight,” Alex suggested. “You know, since Kyle will be there.”

“Excuse me Alex Gaskarth? I should make myself pretty? What are you trying to say?” she replied with a raised eyebrow, sounding insulted.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Alex replied. “I just meant you should get kind of dressed up. You know, make a good first impression on Kyle.”

Nicole laughed. “I already met him, remember? I mean, I trampled the boy and knocked him over, I think first impressions have been made by now.”

“Fine, make a good second impression then,” Alex replied.

“I don’t know, I mean, shouldn’t he like me for me? As I am? Not some fancied up version of me,” Nicole replied.

“I’m not saying to go all Paris Hilton on us, like seriously, please don’t. I just mean you brought some skirts and dresses with you, maybe wear one of those; catch Kyle’s eye further,” Alex replied.

“Further?” Nicole asked, eyebrow raised.

“Yes further, I saw how he was looking at you this afternoon,” Alex replied, nodding his head. “There was definitely something there, in the way he was looking at you. He already likes you.”

“How do you know this?” Nicole asked, trying not to smile at the possibility.

“I’m a guy Nicole,” Alex replied with a laugh. “Therefore I know how guys act when they’re interested in a girl.”

Nicole nodded as she started digging through her suitcase for something to wear. Maybe Alex was right, it wouldn’t hurt to dress up a little, they were going to a party after all.

She pulled out a denim skirt and a black tank top with some sequence and beading along the straps and the top from her suitcase. She figured she could look a little nicer than casual, without looking like she was trying too hard.

She walked into the bathroom with her clothes in hand and emerged a couple minutes later, changed. She put the jeans and t-shirt she had been wearing earlier back in her suitcase before getting her make up bag and some things to fix her hair before walking back into the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later Nicole was completely ready. She put all her stuff back in her suitcase and grabbed out a pair of black flip-flops. She tossed her shoes down onto the ground and stepped into them before walking into the back lounge to find Alex.

When she walked into the back lounge, Alex was sitting in there with Jack; the others had relocated either to their bunks to lie down until they got to Jonathan’s or to the front lounge to watch TV.

She cleared her throat when she was standing in front of Alex and both boys looked up from their phones.

Jack whistled at her, wiggling his eyebrows with a grin. She laughed, shaking her head before turning to Alex.

"What do you think?" Nicole asked Alex. "Does this work?"

Alex looked over her appearance, nodding in approval. Aside from what she was wearing, she had redone her makeup, adding a charcoal grey eyeshadow that had a metalic shimmer and eyeliner, both of which gave her eyes a smokey, mysterious appearance. She had recurled her bangs and srunched up her curly hair in a way that gave it a bit of a messy look without making it appear overly untamed.

He grinned, grabbing her hand and pulling her down so she was sitting next to him on the couch. "Kyle isn't going to be able to stay away from you, and what's better is that you don't look like you're trying too hard."

"Ooo someone likes Kyle?" Jack asked, wiggling his eyebrows at Nicole again.

"Maybe..." Nicole replied with a grin.

"You know, he was asking about you today," Jack replied with a grin of his own.

"He was?" Nicole asked trying not to sound too happy, but failing for the most part. "What did he say?"

Jack shrugged. "Just if you were here on tour with us, and if you were going to be around for the whole tour. He didn't get to say or ask much because that's when Matt showed up and started scolding me and said I had to go do an interview."

"Oh," Nicole replied, somewhat disappointed that Jack couldn't provide more information.

"He sounded pretty happy when I told him you'd be around for the whole tour though," Jack offered. "He didn't really say all that much else, he was acting kind of strange today."

"Yeah I noticed that too, he was kind of quiet, and he seemed kind of preoccupied," Alex replied.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, he kept spacing out like he was thinking about something."

Nicole smiled over the fact that Kyle had seemed happy that she would be around for the whole tour. Maybe he was wanting to spend some time with her and get to know her?

"Maaaybe he was thinking about youuu," Alex suggested, poking Nicole.

Nicole laughed. "Stop theorizing Alex."

Alex pouted. "I'm not. What I'm thinking seems logical."

Nicole laughed. "And how so?"

"In all the time we've known Kyle he's never really been all that quiet and spacey like he was today, and after he met you, he seemed caught up in his thoughts," Alex explained. "It makes sense."

Jack nodded. "It would kind of make sense. "

Nicole smiled and shrugged as she thought about what the boys had said. "Perhaps."

The three stayed in the back lunge for the rest of ride, talking and joking. Twenty minutes later Rian came into the back lounge to let them know they had arrived.

"Hey guys, we're at Jonathan's," he said before walking back to the front.

Jack and Alex both stood up and Alex pulled Nicole to her feet.

"You ready?" he asked her with a grin.

She nodded her head as Zack walked into the back lounge.

"Come on," he said, grabbing onto Nicole's arm. "I'll introduce you to the guys."

"Um, no, I'm introducing her to everyone," Alex replied, grabbing onto her other hand. "Let me finish the job I started Zachary."

"She's my sister; I should get to do it," Zack replied, furrowing his eyebrows.

"So? I'm the one who actually asked her to come on tour with us, so I win. Ha!" Alex replied, starting to pull Nicole to the front of the bus.

Zack sighed, glaring at Alex as he continued to hold onto Nicole's arm, pulling her back toward him.

Nicole's eyes widened slightly as she pulled in two different directions. "Ok ok, no need to pull me apart. You both can introduce me."

Both boys stopped pulling on her and looked at each other before nodding. They made their way out to the bunk hall and Nicole stopped at her bunk to grab out her her Sidekick 3 and her sunglasses. She put her phone in back pocket and her sunglasses on before turning to the boys.

"Ready?" she asked them.

They both nodded and Alex held an arm out to her. She linked arms with Alex as they made their way out of the bus, Zack following close behind.

When they were all out of the bus Zack stood next to Alex and Nicole, draping an arm around Nicole's shoulders. Jonathan's house was located at the end of a cul-de-sac and they were parked a few houses down. Together, the three started walking to the few yards to the right house.

Once they reached the house they spotted a tall, red haired boy walking around the front of the house. When he spotted the three he smiled brightly, waving as he called them over. “Hey guys!”

“Come on,” Alex said to Nicole, starting to pull her over to the red head.

The boy exchanged greetings with Alex and Zack before Zack wandered off when he spotted Shawn Harris. Nicole laughed softly to herself, shaking her head as she watched Zack walk off.

“He made a big fuss about being the one to introduce me, and then he just leaves,” she said softly, shaking her head.

The red head heard her and changed his attention from Alex to Nicole.

“Ooo a new comer,” he commented. “My girlfriend Courtney will be excited to see that there’s another girl for her to hang out with.”

“Caleb Turman?” she asked with a laugh, remembering the conversation between Alex, Zack, and herself on the bus.

“Yeah, how did you know?” he asked, laughing as well. “And also who are you?”

“I guess I’m doing my own introductions,” she said to Alex. He was about to speak but she shook her head before turning back to Caleb.

“I’m Nicole,” she replied with a grin. “The boys were talking about you and your girlfriend earlier, that’s how I guessed your name.”

“Ooo, I’m being talked about? I feel famous,” Caleb grinned. He held his hand out to Nicole. “It’s nice to meet you Nicole.”

She smiled as she shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you too, Caleb.”

“Speaking of Courtney,” Alex said, finally speaking up, “where is she? I haven’t seen you with her all day, and you two are usually attached at the hip.”

“I don’t know,” Caleb replied with a pout. “I lost her.”

“You lost your girlfriend?” Nicole asked.

Caleb nodded with another pout. “She was with me, but then she wandered off to help Jonathan with something, and now I don’t know where she went. I was just looking for her right now.”

Alex laughed. “Way to go Caleb.”

“Well it’s not like I really lost her,” Caleb replied. “She wandered off, so really it’s her fault.”

“It’s your girlfriend’s fault that you lost her?” Nicole asked with a laugh.

“I didn’t lose her,” Caleb replied exasperatedly. “She wandered.”

Alex laughed. “We could help you find her?”

Caleb nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a plan. She’s got to be around her somewhere.”

He led them to the front door of the house and they followed him inside. As he led them inside, he turned back to look at them.

“So Nicole, how do you know the guys of All Time Low?” he asked her.

“Zack is my brother,” she replied.

Alex elbowed her, clearing his throat.

“And Alex and I have been best friends for years,” Nicole added with a laugh.

“I’ve been friends with Nicole even longer than I have Zack,” Alex added. “I met him through her.”

Nicole nodded her head to confirm what Alex was saying.

“Cool,” Caleb replied, looking at the way Alex had his arm draped around Nicole’s shoulders. “You know, I would have assumed you two were dating or something.”

Alex and Nicole both shook their heads.

“People say that to us a lot,” Alex replied. “But we’re not; we’re just really close friends.”

“Yeah, I think it would be weird if the two of us were to date. I know too many things about Alex that I would never want to know if he was my boyfriend,” Nicole replied, laughing again.

Caleb nodded his head in response. They entered the living room and looked around in search of Caleb’s girlfriend.

Nicole had no clue who she was looking for but as they had followed Caleb into the living room Nicole hadn’t seen any other girls around, so she figured it wouldn’t be too hard to figure out which girl they were looking for.

Nicole spotted a girl she had never met, who looked around her age, standing at the far side of the room talking with Bryce Avary. She nudged Alex and when he looked at her, she nodded in the direction of the girl. He nodded his head.

“Yo, Caleb,” Alex said, reaching forward and lightly hitting Caleb’s shoulder to get his attention.

Caleb turned to look at Alex questioningly, his eyebrow raised. “What?”

Alex nodded in the direction of the girl that Nicole had pointed out to him before replying. “We found Courtney. She’s over there with Bryce.”

Caleb turned to look in the direction Alex had indicated and smiled brightly when he spotted his girlfriend. “Sweet! Wait right here and I’ll go get her and introduce you to her, Nicole.”

Nicole nodded her head and Caleb excitedly hurried off to get his girlfriend. He ran up behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, nearly knocking her over. She turned her head to the side and smiled brightly when saw that it was Caleb before he kissed her cheek.

Nicole smiled as she watched, thinking that they were a cute couple. She was pulled from her thoughts when Zack appeared at her side again.

“Come on,” he said, grabbing her arm again. “Jonathan’s around here somewhere looking for the rest of his band, I’ll introduce you to them.”

“Dude, you were going to help me introduce her to everyone else and you disappeared, you can’t just pop back up and steal her away when you fancy,” Alex replied, shaking his head at Zack.

"I honestly don't see what you two are fussing about, I'm the one who had to introduce myself to Caleb anyways," Nicole interjected.

"I was going to do it," Alex pouted. "You just got impaitient."

Nicole laughed. "He asked me who I was. Was I supposed to be like 'oh, wait till Alex is ready to introduce us and then you can find out my name'?"

"I blame Zack, in all honesty," Alex replied. "He distracted me when he scampered off."

"Pft Alex, I don't scamper," Zack replied.

"You both are pretty ridiculous, you know that?" Nicole asked with a laugh, shaking her head at the two boys.

Alex was about to reply but a new boy was calling out to them as he walked into the living room.

This one was also tall, but he looked like he would be a little shorter than Caleb. He had dark brown hair that was sticking out from under his Dallas Stars hat. He wore a pair of black rimmed glasses over his brown eyes and he had a warm smile.

There was another boy with him. This one just slightly shorter, with wild curly brown hair that was lighter than the first's. Both boys were cute, and Nicole had a feeling that if all these boys were in Forever The Sickest Kids, she might find herself in trouble with how cute all of them were.

The two boys stood in front of Alex, Nicole and Zack, both smiling brightly.

"Well I found Marc; everyone else is lost," the taller of the two said to Zack before turning to Nicole, his smile brightening as he extended his hand to her. "You must be Zack's sister, I'm Jonathan."

Nicole tried to hide her grin as he spoke. Unlike Kyle and Caleb, Jonathan had an accent that clearly indicated he was from Texas. She was thinking that his voice was one of the best things she'd ever heard.

She nodded her head, smiling brightly as she placed her hand in his. "I'm Nicole, it's nice to meet you Jonathan."

He grinned. "It's nice to meet you too, Nicole."

"I like your accent," Nicole commented. "It's cute."

Jonathan's grin broadened as he looked at her. "Yours isn't too bad either."

She laughed, shaking her head. "I don't have an accent."

"Yeah, well, your voice is still cute," Jonathan replied, causing Nicole to grin.

Alex raised an eyebrow at the obvious flirting taking place between the two, wondering why Nicole was flirting with Jonathan when she had already expressed that she liked Kyle.

Zack and Marc both cleared their throats, causing Nicole and Jonathan to finally look away from each other.

Nicole looked at Zack with a raised eyebrow. He was frowning slightly and shaking his head, not approving of the flirting going on between Nicole and Jonathan; he thought that Jonathan was too old for her. Nicole sighed, she had forgotten that Zack was standing next to her.

Marc elbowed Jonathan, queitly telling him to stop hogging Nicole's attention so he could be introduced.

"Oh," Jonathan replied, as if he had forgotten that Marc was even there. "Nicole, this is my bandmate Marc."

Nicole and Marc shook hands.

"It's nice to meet you," Marc smiled.

"It's nice to meet you too," she replied.

Caleb returned, pulling his girlfriend and another shorter boy with him. Nicole was introduced to his girlfriend, Courtney, and the boy, Kent, who she found out was another member of Forever The Sickest Kids.

"It will be nice to have another girl around," Courtney said to Nicole. "Usually when I come on tour with Caleb I'm the only girl, or if other bands have girlfriends with them I'm usually a lot younger."

Nicole smiled and nodded her head. "I've been on tour with the guys a few times when I was on breaks from school and it was usually the same."

"It didn't really matter though, she would always just make me hang out with her anyways," Alex replied with a laugh, draping an arm around her shoulders.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head and pushing Alex away. "I did no such thing, you silly boy."

Everyone laughed as Alex playfully pouted at Nicole.

She shook her head, turning back to Courtney. "I can't believe you're sticking it out for nearly three months with so many boys in a van. I went on tour with the boys for a couple weeks once when they were still in the van and I thought I wasgoing to go crazy or kill one of them. Too many stinky boys in such a confined space. Thank God we have a bus now."

Courtney laughed. "I might. I've never been on tour for this long with them at one time before, so we'll see how it goes. At least now I finally have a girl around to talk to."

Nicole nodded. "Feel free to escape to our bus whenever you need."

Courtney laughed. "Oh, I'm sure I'll be taking you up on that offer."

Both Caleb and Jonathan pouted at her.

"Baby, don't abandon meee," Caleb whined, sticking his face as close in front of hers as he could to make sure she saw his pout.

She laughed, placing her hands on his face and pushing him away from her slightly. "Don't pout at me baby."

Caleb sighed as Jonathan turned to Nicole. "We're really not that bad. You should come hang out with us one day in the van and see for yourself; we're fun to travel with."

He grinned, trying to convince her.

"We are," Marc agreed.

"Well all of us except for Jonathan," Kent added with a laugh.

"Whaat?" Jonathan asked, sounding shocked.

Kent laughed. "He's always like 'Trust me, I know where I'm going ok? I don't need a map alright? I totally know where I'm going' even though he totally doesn't."

"What? That's so a lie," Jonathan replied. "I'm totally fun to travel with, you would love it."

"Would I? How do you know?" Nicole asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jonathan nodded. "You would, trust me I just know."

"Oh I see," Nicole replied. "Maybe I'll have to take you up on that offer sometime then."

"Ooo are we having a band huddle?" a new voice asked as another boy joined their circle, wiggling his way in between Jonathan and Marc.

"Oh hey, Nicole this is Austin, he's in our band too," Jonathan introduced. He turned to look at Austin. "This is Nicole, she's Zack's sister."

Austin smiled brightly as he extended his hand to her. "Sweet, someone new to add to the on-tour party."

This new boy, Nicole thought, had an extremely cute smile and really nice eyes.

"They must just make boys cuter here in Texas," she thought to herself as she placed her hand in Austin's. She smiled as she shook Austin’s hand.

“Another member of Forever The Sickest Kids?” she asked with a laugh. “Goodness, how many of you are there?”

“Just one more,” Jonathan replied with a laugh. “We’re just missing our drummer Kyle. You can meet him later.”

Alex noticed that the mention of Kyle’s name brought a slight smile to Nicole’s face.

“Nicole met Kyle earlier, actually,” Zack replied.

“Oh yeah?” Caleb asked with a knowing smile.

Kyle had mentioned to Caleb earlier how he had met a really cute girl earlier in the afternoon, saying that she had accidentally ran into him. He hadn’t gone into too many other details, but Caleb could just tell that Kyle seemed to like her. He figured Nicole must have been that girl.

She nodded her head. “Kyle and I… ran into each other earlier this afternoon.”

Caleb nodded his head, his thoughts confirmed; deciding for now not to mention it to anyone else.

“Speaking of Kyle, where is he?” Alex asked, thinking that the sooner he could get Kyle and Nicole talking, the better because that meant the sooner he could get things to happen for them.

“I don’t know,” Jonathan replied, shaking his head. “Probably drifting around here somewhere. I haven’t seen him since right after he got here; he was acting kind of strange.”

Jonathan shrugged, not really giving it much more thought.

Nicole looked around the room, hoping that she might catch a glimpse of him somewhere, but she didn’t see the tall, blonde-haired boy anywhere. Somewhat disappointed, she turned back to the group when she heard Jonathan saying her name.

”What was that?” she asked, and he repeated his question.

The group remained together, talking for another half hour.

Every so often Nicole would direct her attention away the group to look around the room, hoping to spot Kyle somewhere, but she never did. A couple of times she thought had caught a glimpse of the bleach blonde hair that belonged to Kyle, but whenever she looked back at the spot he was no where around.

“Don’t worry,” Alex whispered to her softly, noticing the frown that was starting to return to her face and easily figuring out the reason for it. He looked around the room quickly, but didn't see Kyle anywhere either. “We’ll find him; it’s not like he’s hiding somewhere or anything.”

She sighed. "I don't know; it's weird how his whole band is here and he's not, isn't it?"

Alex shrugged. "He probably doesn't realize. I'm sure he's around here somewhere, we'll go look for him in a bit."

Nicole nodded her head as she looked around the living room one more time, giving up when she didn’t see Kyle yet again. She couldn't help but frown slightly. Here she was, surrounded by a group of cute boys, yet she couldn't help but think that the one she wanted to talk to most was no where to be found.

Bleeding Love

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:45:00 GMT

Title: Bleeding Love
About: Cobra Starship/ The Academy Is.../ Warped Tour
Progress: In Progress

Chapter One

The alarm clock started going off, echoing through the master bedroom of apartment number 504. Nicole groaned, reaching behind her, blindly trying to shut it off. She felt around on the bedside table for the alarm clock, missing it the first couple of tries. She finally made contact with the alarm clock and turned it off, not even bothering to check what time it was.

She sighed, opening her eyes. She smiled slightly as her eyes fell on her boyfriend, still sleeping peacefully at her side.

“Gabe,” she said, shaking him slightly. “Gabe, wake up.”

He groaned, shaking his head as he wrapped his arms tightly around her.

“Nooo,” he replied, burying his face against her shoulder.

Nicole laughed, running her fingers through his hair. “Yes. Time to get up.”

“No, not yet,” Gabe replied, lifting his head so he was looking her in the eyes and pouting at her.

“Don’t pout at me,” she replied, watching him lay his head back down on his own pillow. “The alarm clock already went off, that means its time to get up.”

“The alarm clock lies,” Gabe replied softly, closing his eyes to go back to sleep.

“It does not,” she replied with another laugh. When he didn’t respond, she lightly shook him. “Hey mister, no falling back asleep.”

When Gabe still didn’t respond or stir, Nicole figured he had fallen back asleep. She leaned forward, brushing her lips against his. She felt Gabe’s lips curl into a smile as he wrapped his arms a little more tightly around her, pulling her closer to him and kissing her back.

When they pulled apart, he opened his eyes and smiled at her. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Nicole replied, returning the smile. “That was rather easy, were you faking Gabriel Saporta?"

Gabe grinned. "Faking? I don't know what you mean."

"Pft I think you do," Nicole replied.

Gabe laughed. "Ok so maybe I was pretending to be asleep because I knew that was the way you'd resort to waking me up if you thought you couldn't shake me awake."

"You faker," Nicole laughed slightly, gently pushing him away from her.

"I only did it because I looove youuu," Gabe replied with a grin, pulling her close to him again.

“I love you too,” Nicole replied with a laugh. “But we have to get up now.”

“Whyy?” Gabe whined. “I don’t want to get up yet, I love just lying here in bed with you.”

“Because you still need to finish getting your stuff together,” Nicole replied. “You leave today.”

“I know,” Gabe replied with a pout. “Don’t remind me that I have to leave you today.”

It was May 1 st , which meant that Gabe had to fly out to New Jersey to play the Bamboozle Festival. Since their good friends in The Academy Is… and Gym Class Heroes would be playing Bamboozle as well, Cobra Starship had decided to leave for New Jersey a few days early so that all three bands could meet up and have extra time to hang out. After Bamboozle, Cobra Starship had just a few days before they had to leave over-seas to play the Give It A Name festival and do a short UK tour with All Time Low for a couple of weeks

“I really wish you could come with me,” Gabe added with another pout.

Although Nicole was usually able to go with Gabe wherever he went because she was self-employed, her job as an event planner still created conflicts with his schedule from time to time, and this was one of those times. A local band she knew had asked for her help in organizing a benefit concert that they were putting on for a local charity, and the concert was the same day as Bamboozle. She had to stay behind to put together the final details and make sure everything ran smoothly the day of the show.

“So do I,” Nicole replied, pouting back at him. “But I have to work.”

“I know,” Gabe replied with a sigh. “I just wish you didn’t. I’m going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you too,” Nicole replied, laying her head on Gabe’s chest with a sigh.

Gabe kissed her forehead. “Why don’t you come to the UK with me then?”

“I still don’t know if I have to work over those two weeks yet,” Nicole replied. “I got a call from another band the other day that want me to help them plan a big CD release party, but they hadn’t decided on the date yet. I have a meeting with them in a couple of days to see what they want to do, so I wont find out until then if I have anything to do while you’re gone. By then you’ll probably already be ready to leave for the UK.”

Gabe pouted. “Why do they need a CD release party? We didn’t have a party when we put out our record; just tell them they don’t need one and you won’t have to work. I can just come get you before we go to the UK.”

Nicole laughed. “They’re having one because they want one. Anyways, I already told them yes, so I can’t just turn around and tell them no they can’t have one. They don’t need approval to have one.”

Gabe shrugged. “Sure you can. Tell them you changed your mind, and that you have to go on tour with your boyfriend now instead. They’re in a band, they get the whole touring thing.”

Nicole laughed again. “I can’t just be like ‘oh no, sorry just kidding.’ That’s not how it works, baby.”

Gabe pouted. “Why not?”

“Because this is my job, and if I just start dropping jobs after I already said I’ll do them, no one’s going to want to hire me,” Nicole explained. “It’s like if you were to start booking tours and then all of a sudden be like ‘oh no, just kidding we decided we don’t want to do the tour anymore so we’re canceling’ even though kids already bought the tickets. Pretty soon no one would want to buy tickets to Cobra Starship tours because they’d say you guys just always cancel them anyways.”

“At least then I wouldn’t ever have to leave you behind at home anymore,” Gabe replied with a shrug.

“You would hate that and you know it,” Nicole replied with a smile. “You love going on tour.”

“Not when you can’t come,” Gabe replied, shaking his head.

Nicole smiled, leaning up and kissing Gabe lightly. “At least it doesn’t happen often.”

Gabe grinned. “And when it does happen, I usually get a really good send off, and a really amazing welcome home. I suppose that’s a plus.”

He wiggled his eyebrows at her with another grin before rolling over so his body was hovering on top of hers.

Nicole raised an eyebrow at Gabe as he continued to grin at her before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers.

“Gabe,” she giggled as he kissed her jaw, his hands starting to roam to the hem of her shirt. “We don’t have time for this. You still have to finish packing; you’re going to end up getting to the airport late.”

“Nooo, we have time,” Gabe replied, still kissing a trail along her jaw line to her neck as he slowly started to inch her tank top up her stomach.

She laughed, swatting his hands away. “No, I really don’t think we do.”

“Baby, did you even bother to look at the time when you turned off the alarm clock?” Gabe asked with a slight laugh. He had moved from kissing her neck to kissing her collarbone, and didn’t even bother to look up as he asked the question.

“No,” Nicole replied, turning her head slightly to look at the clock on the bedside table, realizing it was actually much earlier than she had thought. “What the hell? How is it so early?”

“Last night I set our alarm two hours earlier than we needed to get up,” Gabe replied, lifting his head slightly to grin at her.

“Why did you do that?” Nicole asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

Gabe shrugged with a grin before going back to kissing her collarbone. “I thought you might want to give me one of those really good send offs, so I allotted us some extra time.”

“But two hours?” Nicole asked with a slight laugh.

“Like I said, a really good send off,” Gabe replied, and Nicole could feel his lips curl into a grin against her skin as he started kissing the crook of her neck, causing her to squirm slightly.

Nicole bit her lip slightly, arching her back as Gabe broke away from kissing her neck long to pull her shirt off. She looked up at him, grabbing onto the hem of his t-shirt and tugging it up some.

“Why are you even wearing a shirt?” Nicole mumbled as she struggled to pull it off of him because of her position underneath Gabe. “You pretty much never sleep in shirts when we’re at home. It’s just in the way.”

Gabe laughed as he pulled her up into more of a sitting position, making it easier for Nicole to tug his shirt off over his head. She threw his shirt over to the side of their bed before placing a hand behind his neck and pulling his lips to hers.

You'll Always Be My Thunder

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:45:16 GMT

Title: You'll Always Be My Thunder
About: Boys Like Girls
Progress: In Progress

Chapters 1-3
Chapters 4-7
Chapters 8-10

Chapter Eleven

I woke up the next morning with Nicole still wrapped up in my arms. I woke up before her and decided not to wake her up because she looked too peaceful. I opted instead, to watch her sleep for a little bit. I smiled as I watched her sleep, noting the content smile on her face.

She looked so peaceful and innocent as she slept snuggled against my shoulder; she reminded me of an angel. My angel.

As I watched her sleep, I started to think about the night before. I couldn’t even begin to describe how happy I was feeling. Knowing that she loved me as much as I loved her was one of the most amazing feelings in the world. I had been so worried that I was going to tell her my feelings and scare her away, so the fact that the opposite had happened had me feeling so relieved and like I was on top of the world.

I was broken from my thoughts as I felt Nicole start to move in my arms as she started to wake up. She stretched slightly before opening her eyes and smiling as her eyes landed on me.

“Good morning beautiful,” I said with a smile before leaning forward and pressing my lips to hers briefly.

Nicole smiled at me. “Morning. How did you sleep last night?”

“Really well,” I replied with a smile. “How did you sleep?”

“Good,” she replied with a nod. “Really good. I love cuddling with you.”

I grinned before pressing my lips to hers again. “I’m glad.”

We laid in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before I spoke up again.

“You know,” I said as I wrapped my arms a little more tightly around her waist, pulling her closer. “I really loved waking up next to you.”

She smiled, pressing her lips to mine as she cuddled closer to me. “I love you Paul.”

“I love you too,” I whispered in her ear before kissing her temple.

She leaned her head against my shoulder again and I smiled as I looked down at her. It was then that I realized that I wanted to wake up next to her for the rest of my life.

“Will you stay over again tonight?” she asked me. “My parents won’t be back home until Monday afternoon.”

“Of course,” I replied. “I’ll even spend tomorrow night if you want me to, too.”

She nodded her head, smiling up at me. “I do.”

We decided to get up out of bed fifteen minutes later. Nicole pulled me down to the kitchen so we could find something to eat for breakfast.

“What do you feel like eating?” she asked me.

“I don’t know,” I replied, wrapping my arms around her waist from behind.

“We could make waffles?” Nicole suggested, turning slightly to look at me.

I nodded my head. “That sounds good.”

Nicole smiled. “Good. This should be fun.”

I unwrapped my arms from around Nicole’s waist and we got to work making breakfast. We ate and chatted happily before cleaning up. We were almost done washing dishes when Martin barged through the front door, pulling Courtney behind him.

“Hellooooo?” Martin asked as he pulled Courtney towards the kitchen. “Nicoooole?”

“What Martin?” Nicole asked, turning from the cupboard where she was putting some dishes away.

“We’re coming to steal you away so we can go get Paul and go do something,” he replied, pulling Courtney into the kitchen. When he saw me, he stopped and raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing here Poolie?”

“Washing dishes at the moment,” I replied with a shrug.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head.

“Isn’t that the shirt you were wearing yesterday? And are those my sweatpants?” Martin asked, looking over my appearance. “And obviously I meant what are you doing here already.”

I shrugged as I handed Nicole the last dish to put away. “I spent the night last night. Your girlfriend left these sweatpants here so Nicole let me wear them.”

Martin smirked at me, wiggling his eyebrows. “You spent the night, eh?”

“That’s not why,” I replied shaking my head at Martin. “Nicole’s parents are out of town and I didn’t want her to have to stay here alone where something could happen to her.”

“Her parents are out of town, eh?” Martin replied with another smirk, wiggling his eyebrows again.

“Dude, shut up,” I replied, giving Martin a shove.

“Yeah Martin, stop being so perverted. Paul was just being a concerned boyfriend when he offered to spend the night,” Nicole replied, wrapping her arms around my waist and smiling up at me. “It was cute.”

I grinned down at her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. “I love you baby,” I said softly before leaning down to kiss her.

She smiled. “I love you too.”

“Aww, you two are already to the ‘I love you’s?” Courtney asked looking at us.

Nicole nodded her head.

“Aww, you two are so precious,” Courtney cooed.

Nicole and I grinned at Courtney.

“So what are you two doing barging into my house so early in the morning?” Nicole asked them.

“Psh we didn’t barge,” Martin scoffed.

“You didn’t knock,” I replied. “Therefore you barged.”

“Hush Poolie,” Martin replied.

“Anyways, Martin insisted that we come over right now to steal you away. We were going to go get Poolie next so we could all go do something, but apparently you two saved us an extra trip,” Courtney explained.

“That was my intention. I’m always thinking of your convenience,” I replied with a grin.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head. “Going out and doing something today sounds like fun. I have to take a shower and get ready first though.”

“I should probably go get some clothes from home and take a shower too,” I agreed, nodding my head.

“You could go do that while Nicole gets ready,” Courtney suggested.

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I guess I could.”

I grabbed Nicole’s hand and pulled her back upstairs to her room so I could get my keys and the rest of my clothes.

“I’ll see you in a little bit,” I said, smiling before I kissed her.

She nodded her head before kissing me one more time.

I grabbed my stuff before heading back downstairs so Nicole could take a shower. When I got downstairs, Courtney and Martin were in the living room watching tv. Well, rather, they were in the living room with the tv on, but were too busy making out to pay attention to what was on the tv.

I shook my head, laughing to myself as I walked out the door and made my way out to my car.

When I got home I took a shower and changed before getting my duffle bag and filling it with some clothes and whatever else I might need for the next couple of days while I was staying at Nicole’s. Once I had everything, I got my car keys and grabbed my backpack for school on Monday before making my way out of my bedroom.

“Mom! I’m staying at Nicole’s this weekend! I’ll see you Monday!” I called out as I quickly headed to the door.

“Wait a minute, Paul Charles DiGiovanni,” she said, stepping out of the kitchen before I could get out the door.

I sighed, stopping and turning to face her. “What’s up mom?”

“Don’t ‘what’s up mom’ me. First you don’t come home last night, and now you're staying at your girlfriend’s house all weekend?” she asked me, clearly not too pleased at the thought.

“Her parents are out of town this weekend, and it worries me to have her staying all alone at her house while they’re gone; I don’t want anything to happen to her,” I replied.

She sighed. “Paul, I don’t know-”

“I thought you liked Nicole,” I said, cutting my mom off.

“I do like Nicole,” she replied. “I just don’t know how comfortable I feel about you spending the weekend at your girlfriend’s house, alone.”

I sighed, shaking my head as I realized what my mom was hinting at. “Mom, we’re not having sex, if that’s what you’re implying.”

She seemed caught off guard by my bluntness because she was silent for a few seconds. “Paul, I just worry. You’re still young, and you and Nicole haven’t been dating for very long; I don’t want to see you two rushing into things that you’re not ready for.”

“We’re not rushing into things,” I replied. “Just because I’m staying at her house for the weekend doesn’t mean anything is going to happen. I just don’t want her to be alone so that I can make sure nothing happens to her. Besides mom, I’m 18; I can decide what I am and am not ready for, so can Nicole.”

I realized how awkward of a conversation this was to be having with my mom, but I needed her to realize that I wasn’t a little kid anymore and that I could handle staying the weekend at my girlfriend’s house if I wanted to; I didn’t want to have to be sneaking out behind her back.

She looked at me for a few seconds before slowly nodding her head. “Fine Paul, you’re right, you’re old enough to make your own decisions. I just want you two to make sure you don’t do anything you end up regretting”

“I know mom, don’t worry,” I replied, giving her a hug. “I’ll be back home Monday some time after school.”

She nodded and I turned back to the door, heading out to my car. I tossed my stuff in the back seat before driving back to Nicole’s house.

When I got there, Martin and Courtney were still where I had left them, so I made my way upstairs to Nicole’s room. She was already ready and was sitting on her bed, flipping through a magazine when I found her.

She looked up when she heard me enter and smiled as I walked over to her bed. “Hey, you’re back.”

I smiled as I took a seat on her bed in front of her, facing her. “Yeah, sorry it took a while; my mom caught me while I was leaving and wanted to have a talk.”

“Was she upset that you didn’t go home last night?” she asked. “I forgot to suggest to you to call her last night and tell her.”

“Not really, she was just worried,” I explained. “She wanted to make sure that we’re not rushing into things that we’re not ready for.”

Nicole nodded her head in understanding. “And she’s ok with you staying here the next couple of nights?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I got her to see that I’m 18 and can think for myself, so she’s fine with it.”

“Good, I don’t want your mom upset with us. I like her,” Nicole replied.

I smiled at her as I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers quickly.

“What was that for?” she asked, a slight smile tugging at her lips.

I shrugged. “Because I love you.”

She smiled brightly at me. “I love you too Paul.”

“So what were you doing up here alone?” I asked. “Martin and Courtney are still downstairs.”

“Yeah, I went downstairs to wait for you with them, but they were a little… busy,” she replied with a laugh.

I laughed too, shaking my head. “They were going at it when I left and when I got back, so I guess they haven’t taken a break at all.”

Nicole giggled slightly, shaking her head. “So anyways, I thought it might be a little awkward to hang out with them downstairs while they were busy making out, so I decided to come up here and wait for you to come back.”

“Well I’m sorry I kept you waiting alone for so long,” I replied.

She smiled. “It’s ok, you’re worth the wait.”

I grinned crawling up her bed the rest of the way to where she was sitting against her headboard. I wedged my body between her legs as I hovered over her. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow and I just simply smiled at her before leaning down at pressing my lips to hers.

“I love you,” I muttered against her lips.

I could feel her lips curl into a smile against mine before she muttered back. “I love you too.”

I grinned against her lips as I slowly lowered my body onto hers, wrapping an arm around her waist and placing my other hand behind her head as I pulled her body closer to mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck, running her fingers through my hair as I deepened the kiss.

We heard a throat clear and parted, turning to see Martin and Courtney standing at the door to Nicole’s room. Martin was smirking at us.

“Ooo what are you two up to?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at us.

“Stop looking at us like a little pervert,” I replied, picking up a pillow from Nicole’s bed and throwing it at him.

Martin ducked the pillow and pouted at me. “Hey now Poolie, that wasn’t very nice.”

“We didn’t bother you when you two were busy making out on the couch downstairs,” I replied. “So it wasn’t nice for you to bother us when we were having a moment.”

“That was more than a moment,” Martin countered, causing Courtney to hush him.

“What are you two doing lurking in my bedroom door anyways?” Nicole asked as I took a seat on her bed next to her.

“Well we realized it had been a while since Paul left and you went to take a shower, and you two still hadn’t appeared yet. Then Martin saw that Paul’s car was outside, so we decided to come find you two and see why you were hiding,” Courtney replied.

“But obviously you were hiding because you were… busy,” Martin replied with a smirk.

“You two were busy, that’s why I was waiting up here,” Nicole replied. “Paul just got here a little while ago and found me up here.”

“Yeah, we weren’t busy the way you two were,” I replied, shaking my head at Martin.

Martin opened his mouth to reply but Courtney stopped him by squeezing his hand. “Are you two ready to go?”

Nicole and I both nodded.

“Where are we going?” Nicole asked Courtney as she stood up from her bed, tossing her magazine onto her desk.

“Maybe it’s a surprise,” Martin replied.

Nicole raised an eyebrow. “I’d rather it not be, because that means you’re driving, and I’m pretty sure I don’t feel like dying in the car today.”

Martin pouted. “Hey, I’m not that bad of a driver.”

“You hit a car in a parking lot the other day,” Nicole replied. “And it was parked.”

I tried to stifle my laugh as I got up from Nicole’s bed, walking over to her and wrapping my arms around her waist from behind. I kissed her cheek before resting my chin on her shoulder. She turned her head slightly to smile at me.

“My girlfriend has a point,” I said to Martin with a shrug as I looked at him.

Martin turned to Courtney, pouting at her.

Courtney laughed slightly as she looked up at him. When he continued to pout, she got on her toes to kiss his cheek. “It’s ok baby, I’m a bad driver too so that just means we’re made for each other.”

Martin grinned at her. “Well, I suppose that makes it better.”

Nicole smiled at them. “Well now look who the cute couple is.”

“Still us,” I replied before kissing her cheek again.

She laughed slightly. “Yeah, well they come in a close second then.”

“Psh Paul, you can’t vote yourself cutest couple,” Martin replied.

“Oh, but I just did,” I replied, grinning at Martin.

“Anyways,” Nicole laughed, cutting in when she saw that Martin was about to argue. “For real where are we going?”

Martin shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You're the one who came here wanting to do something today, pick something,” I replied.

“Let’s go bowling,” Courtney suggested. “Then we can see what we feel like doing afterwards.”

“That sounds like fun,” Nicole replied, nodding her head, before she turned to look at me. “What do you think baby?”

I nodded as well. “That sounds good to me.”

“Good, bowling it is then,” Courtney replied.

“What about me? Don’t I get a vote?” Martin asked.

“I voted for both of us,” Courtney replied, slipping her hand into Martin’s. “So, technically you did get a vote, it was just the same as mine.”

Martin sighed and Courtney grinned up at him before pulling him out of Nicole’s room.

I laughed, shaking my head slightly after them.

Nicole turned in my arms so she was facing me and loosely wrapped her arms around my neck. She smiled up at me as I grabbed her hips, pulling her body closer against mine.

“I’m excited that I get to spend the entire weekend with you,” she said. “I’m glad you’re staying with me.”

I grinned at her before leaning down and pressing my lips to hers. I was about to deepen the kiss when I suddenly felt Nicole being yanked out of my arms. I looked to see Courtney pulling her away.

“You two are cute, you know I adore you, but it’s time to go,” Courtney said. “No time for your cuteness right now.”

I reached for Nicole’s hand and pouted when Courtney pulled her out of my reach.

“Is it necessary to pull my away from my boyfriend though?” Nicole asked.

“Yes, because I know if I pull you downstairs, Poolie will follow,” Courtney replied before pulling Nicole to the stairs.

Nicole pouted back at me, waving for me to follow after them.

I looked around Nicole’s room quickly and my eyes landed on her purse which she hadn’t had a chance to grab before Courtney pulled her out of the room. I grabbed her purse before turning off the light, heading out of the room, and making my way downstairs.

“Nice purse Poolie,” Martin commented with a smirk once I reached the bottom of the stairs.

I rolled my eyes. “This is Nicole’s. You’re girlfriend dragged her out of the room before she could get it.”

“Aw, thank you baby, you’re so thoughtful,” Nicole said with a smile as she took her purse from me and kissed my cheek.

I grinned and she slid her hand into mine, resting her head against my arm.

“Are we ready to leave now?” Martin asked impatiently.

“Why are you in such a hurry? It’s not like it’s late or anything,” Nicole asked him.

“There’s a party tonight and I want to go, so I don’t want to spend the whole day waiting around for Paul to be ready to go,” Martin replied.

“Well thanks for squeezing us in to your busy party schedule Martin,” I replied sarcastically.

“He’s just being silly, don’t mind him,” Courtney replied, shaking her head.

“You’ve been rushing us too,” Nicole replied. “You yanked me away from Paul and dragged me down here.”

“That’s because I knew you two would start being all cutesy with each other, and Paul would distract you, and then we would never leave,” Courtney replied, waving her hand dismissively.

“Whatever, it’s still rushing,” Nicole replied with a laugh. “That makes you just as bad as your boyfriend.”

“So we’re both bad drivers, and we both rush people,” Martin replied. “I guess that just means we work well together.”

“Wouldn’t it mean that if you were opposites, though?” I asked. “Cause then you would balance each other out?”

Martin pouted. “Are you trying to say we don’t work well together, Poolie?”

“What? No! No! That’s not what I’m saying,” I quickly replied, my eyes widening slightly as I realized what I had implied. “I was just asking.”

“Pft Poolie,” Courtney replied, a slight air of indignance in her voice.

Nicole squeezed my hand slightly. “Hush Poolie, I think they work together just fine.”

“I know they do,” I replied with a slight whine, pouting at Nicole. “I wasn’t trying to imply that they don’t; I was just asking.”

“Oh Paul,” Nicole replied, shaking her head as she looked up at me.

I pouted at her again and she smiled slightly. “You’re such a silly boy.”

I smiled and kissed her cheek before turning to Courtney and Martin. “I’m sorry guys, I really do think you make a good couple.”

I smiled innocently at them and Courtney shook her head.

“You’re just like Martin,” she replied as she started walking to the door. “A total butthead. No wonder you’re best friends.”

“Hey now,” I replied. “One mistake doesn’t make me a butthead of Martin proportions; it should take more than that.”

Martin’s eyes widened slightly at our comments as he followed after Courtney, his jaw dropped. “Hey, I’m not a butthead.”

Nicole laughed as she and I followed Martin out the front door, closing it behind us. Courtney was standing on the front porch waiting for us.

“I suppose you have a point Paul, it takes a lot to be the same level of butthead as Martin,” Courtney replied with a laugh.

“Baby,” he whined, pouting at her again.

“Oh Martin, you know it’s true. I tell it to you all the time,” she replied, wrapping her arms around his waist.

He pouted yet again at her. “That doesn’t make it true, that just means you're a butthead for abusing me like that.”

Courtney laughed again. “I don’t abuse you. You know I love you.”

She grinned up at him and he sighed, shaking his head.

“Well, I guess since you’re both buttheads, that adds another example of why you work well?” I offered.

“I think that’s an example of the fact that I’m in an abusive relationship, actually,” Martin replied. “An abusive relationship where I’m the abusee.”

“Oh Martin, hush,” Courtney replied with a slight laugh, lightly hitting his stomach.

“See? See? Abuse,” Martin replied exasperatedly, looking at Nicole and me.

“Stop acting like a victim, Martin, you’re just as much -if not more- of a butthead to her as she is to you,” Nicole replied with a laugh.

“What, so everyone thinks I’m a butthead?” Martin replied with a pout.

“No, everyone knows you're a butthead,” I replied.

“But we all love you for it?” Nicole offered. “Well for the most part anyways. We’ve all embraced it as part of the Martin Johnson finesse.”

“Yeah, it’s like your niche. Like, I’m the cute one, and you're the buttheaded one,” I replied with a grin.

Martin sighed. “Let’s just go now, before you people abuse me more.”

He turned and walked away from us, walking over to his car, which was parked across the street.

“Baby, don’t leave me,” Courtney called after him as she followed him, laughing slightly.

Nicole and I laughed, shaking our heads before slowly following after Courtney and Martin.

“I suppose it would be wise to refrain from making comments about Martin’s driving for now,” I suggested as we approached the car.

“Yes, I suppose,” Nicole replied with a laugh. “Martin might get grumpy or accuse us of abusing him again.”

I opened the back seat door on the driver’s side and held it open as Nicole got into the car. I climbed in after her and closed the door before wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close.

She turned to look at me and smiled. I grinned before pressing my lips to hers briefly. When we pulled away, I smiled at her.

“I love you,” I whispered softly into her ear; I just couldn’t seem to tell her enough times.

She smiled again. “I love you too Paul.”

I smiled and she leaned her head on my shoulder. I kissed her forehead, sighing contently before leaning my head on hers. I looked up and noticed Courtney watching us through the rearview mirror, a smile on her face.

“Are you two done being all lovey dovey? Can we leave now?” Martin asked, looking back at us through the rearview mirror as well.

Courtney grabbed a copy of the latest issue of AP Magazine off the floor of the car by her feet, rolled it up, and smacked martin on the arm with it.

“So we’re still abusing Martin?” he replied, pouting at her.

“Well, you say that I do, so I figured I wouldn’t make you a liar,” Courtney replied. “Besides you need to stop being such a butthead.”

Martin sighed with another pout at Courtney.

“We’ll never be done being lovey dovey; we love each other,” Nicole replied, looking up at me with a smile before turning forward to look at Martin through the rearview mirror. “But we can leave anyways.”

Nicole and I grinned at Martin and he sighed, shaking his head before putting the car in drive.

Everything's Magic

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:23:09 GMT

Title: Everything's Magic
About: Cobra Starship
Status: In Progress

Chapter 1-4
Chapter 5-7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9-10
Chapter 11

Twelve

After the show Gabe stopped by the dressing room to change his shirt and pull on his hoodie before slowly making his way up front to the merch table. He stopped briefly on the way to sign some autographs and take a few pictures, feeling guilty that he couldn’t be his usual cheery self.

He quickly excused himself from the fans that had gathered around him, walking behind the table and over to Nicole. He groaned as he wrapped his arms around Nicole.

“What’s wrong baby?” Nicole asked with a frown, wrapping her arms around him.

“I’m so tired,” he replied with a sigh. “I don’t feel good.”

Nicole sighed with another frown. She led him over to the chair he had been sitting in while the girls and Alex set up the table and pushed him down into it. “Sit here until I finish ok? Then we’ll head to the bus. It looks like the crowds should be dying down soon.”

Gabe nodded before Nicole turned to get a hoodie for a fan. A slight pout took over his face as he sat there, waiting for Nicole to be done.

“What’s wrong with Gabe?” a fan asked Nicole as she handed over a shirt the girl had asked for.

“He’s sick,” Nicole replied. “He hasn’t been feeling well all day, but he didn’t want to cancel the show.”

“Poor Gabe,” the girl replied with a slight pout as she looked at him. She handed Nicole the money for her shirt. “Tell him I hope he feels better.”

Nicole smiled with a nod. “Ok, I will.”

Nicole noticed that Gabe’s cough was coming back so she turned to him, handing him her bottle of water. “Drink this for now; I’ll make you some more tea when we get back to the bus.”

He nodded, taking the water bottle from her. He grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head against her stomach as he pouted with a sigh. “I don’t feel good baby.”

“I know,” Nicole replied with a sigh, patting his head. “There’s only a few fans left, let me finish up here and then I’ll take you back to the bus.”

Gabe nodded, reluctantly letting go of Nicole. The last few fans were helped and once they had cleared away from the merch table, the girls quickly packed everything up. While the girls were packing, Gabe took a seat on a bar stool, signing some autographs and taking pictures with the remaining fans, trying his best to pretend that he wasn’t feeling as bad as he was.

Once the trailer was packed, Nicole walked back into the venue and over to where Gabe was sitting, trying to make it through a conversation with the last small group of fans, his voice clearly giving out as he answered the questions they asked him.

He spotted her standing at the edge of the group that was circling him, and reached around them, grabbing onto her hand and pulling her closer. The girls all watched with interest as Gabe pulled Nicole to him, figuring out who she was because he had been talking about her a few minutes earlier.

“Hey baby,” he said with a slight smile, wrapping an arm around her waist as he held her to his side. “Is everything all packed?”

Nicole nodded her head wrapping her arm around him as well. “How are you feeling?”

He shrugged slightly. “The same I guess.”

“Gabe was just telling us about how you’ve been taking care of him since he’s sick,” one of the girls in the group informed Nicole.

“He has?” Nicole asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Gabe.

He grinned tiredly, slightly nodding his head.

The girls are responded in with positive replies so Nicole turned to look at him. “Did he also tell you about how he’s been really silly, refusing to wear a jacket lately? So I have to make him wear one like a little kid.”

The girls all laughed.

“Gabe doesn’t listen?” another asked.

Nicole shook her head. “No, not really. He’s very stubborn.”

They laughed again and Gabe pouted at Nicole. The girls asked Nicole a few more questions, wanting to hear from Gabe’s girlfriend what he was really like. They laughed as Nicole shared a couple of stories of some of Gabe’s antics so far on the tour.

He laughed along for a while before starting to cough again and Nicole took that as her cue to take him back to the bus.

“I’m sorry to cut your girls’ time with Gabe short, but I think it’s time for him to go lay down. He needs to rest up so he can get better,” Nicole apologized to the girls.

The girls all nodded their agreement as Gabe slid off of his stool.

“We hope you feel better Gabe,” one girl said to him as he wrapped his arm around Nicole’s shoulders.

“Thanks,” Gabe replied. “I’m sure as long as Nicole keeps taking care of me, I will.”

“It was nice meeting you,” another girl said to Nicole.

Nicole smiled as they said goodbye to the girls before heading on their way to the door.

“Listen to your girlfriend, Gabe!” another girl called after them.

“See? Did you hear that?” Nicole asked, lightly poking Gabe in the side. “Listen to me.”

“I do… eventually,” he replied, pouting. “Don’t poke me when I’m sick baby, that’s not nice.”

Nicole laughed slightly. “It was just a light little poke.”

“Still, I’m weak, I can’t handle pokes,” he replied dramatically, leaning his body against hers as they walked to the bus.

Nicole laughed again, shaking her head. “You’re lucky you’re cute and my boyfriend, so therefore I care about you when you're sick and baby you, otherwise I’d be pointing out how much of a drama king you are right now.”

Gabe pouted again and sighed dramatically as Nicole pulled the bus door open. They climbed onto the bus and Nicole led Gabe through the front lounge to the bunk aisle.

“Why don’t you take a quick shower to help you relax?” she suggested once they were standing in front of their bunks.

Gabe nodded his head. “That sounds good. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

He grabbed out his pajama pants and a clean t-shirt before walking into the bathroom. Nicole went to the front lounge and took a seat on the couch while she waited for Gabe; the others were still outside talking to fans.

Nate was the first to return to the bus. He spotted Nicole sitting alone on the couch and smiled to himself, walking over and taking a seat next to her. Nicole looked up from her phone when she felt someone sit next to her and smiled when she realized it was Nate.

“Hey,” she said brightly. “How was the show?”

“It was good,” Nate replied with a shrug. “What are you doing over here alone? Where’s Gabe?”

“Taking a shower,” Nicole replied. “I think he’s feeling worse than he was before the show, so I told him to take a shower to help him relax.”

Nate nodded his head. “So are you two just going to stay in tonight then?”

Nicole nodded her head. “I’m definitely not going to let Gabe go out and party tonight, that’s for sure. He probably shouldn’t go out at all period, but I’m hungry because I haven’t really eaten all day, so I’ll probably go find something to eat.”

“Do you want to go grab some dinner with me? I’m pretty hungry, too,” Nate replied, seeing an opportunity to finally get to spend some time alone with Nicole, away from Gabe, and deciding to seize it.

Nicole nodded her head. “Yeah, that would be good. Let’s just wait for Gabe to get out of the shower so I can let him know that I’m leaving and see if he wants anything.”

Nate nodded and the two only had to wait a couple more minutes for Gabe. He emerged from the shower a few minutes and walked into the front lounge to find Nicole after tossing his clothes from the show into his bunk.

“Hey,” he said softly, nudging Nicole’s leg with his foot as he stood in front of her and Nate.

Nicole looked up at him and smiled. “Hey. Feel any better?”

He shrugged. “I guess a little, the shower helped me relax.”

Nicole got up from her seat. “Good, do you want me to make you some tea?”

Gabe nodded his head. “Yes please.”

She nodded and Gabe took a seat on the couch next to Nate where she had previously been sitting. She made him his tea and handed it to him, and he pulled her onto his lap.

“I’m going to go get something to eat with Nate, but I think you should probably stay here since you just took a shower and it’s getting so cold outside,” Nicole told him, turning to look at him. “I don’t want you getting worse.”

Gabe pouted slightly at her, but nodded.

“Are you hungry? Do you want me bring you back anything?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I’m not hungry; I don’t really feel like eating anything. But go have fun baby.”

Nicole nodded, getting up from her spot on Gabe’s lap and turning to Nate, who had been watching her and Gabe silently. “Ready to go?”

Nate nodded, standing from his spot on the couch. “Yeah, ready when you are.”

Nicole nodded at Nate before turning to Gabe with a smile. “Are you sure you don’t want me to bring you back something just in case?”

Gabe shook his head. “Just you, so we can cuddle.”

“I’ll be back in a little bit,” Nicole smiled, ruffling his hair. “You look tired baby, if you’re feeling tired go lay down and try to get some sleep.”

“But I wanted to cuddle with you and watch another movie or something,” Gabe replied.

“But if you’re tired, don’t fight it. You’re sick, the only way you're going to get better is if you rest,” Nicole replied. “At least just go lay down in the bunk.”

Gabe nodded. “Ok, but I really am going to try to stay awake until you get back.”

“Ok, I’ll see you in a little bit,” she replied with a nod; she leant forward and kissed his forehead before following Nate off the bus.

“What do you feel like eating?” Nate asked her once they were off the bus.

Nicole shrugged. “I don’t really care. I’m so hungry that I’m not really going to be picky at this point.”

Nate laughed slightly and nodded his head. He looked down the sidewalk both ways to see what was around the venue. He spotted a Subway a little ways down the street.

“How about Subway?” he asked Nicole, turning back to look at her.

She shrugged with a nod. “Sure, that sounds fine.”

Nate smiled, slinging an arm around her shoulders as he led her to Subway.

Once they had their food, they sat across from each other at a booth. They were silent for the first few minutes until Nate spoke up, wanting to break the silence.

“So, uh, what have you been up to lately?” Nate asked.

Nicole shrugged. “Not much. You know, just staying busy with merch, and hanging out with Gabe.”

“Yeah, you two seem to be really close,” Nate replied, trying his best not to sound bitter.

“Well, we are dating, so I assume that’s only natural?” Nicole replied, slightly confused by Nate’s comment.

“Yeah of course,” Nate replied. “I just meant that you two are already so close; you two practically seem inseparable."

Nicole looked at Nate for a few seconds and realized what he was hinting at.

“I know, I’m sorry. I know you’re the one that I originally came on tour with, but now it’s like we never spend time together. I’m sorry, it’s just, Gabe and I are just getting used to our relationship and, like you said, we’re really close. I haven’t intentionally been spending all my time with Gabe and no time with you,” Nicole replied, smiling at Nate apologetically. She reached across the table and grabbed his hand, giving it a slight squeeze. “I promise that we’ll start spending more time together, ok? I miss hanging out with you.”

Nate smiled, briefly looking down at their hands. The sight of her hand in his made his smile grow; he had missed the feeling of holding her hand, something that he had frequently done before Gabe came into the picture. “Really?”

Nicole nodded. “Of course; you’re my best friend. No matter how close Gabe and I get, you’ll always be my best friend.”

Nate nodded with a smile. “That works for me.”

Nicole smiled as well. They finished their dinner and decided to head back to the bus; both were tired, and Nicole wanted to check on Gabe and make sure he was ok. The bus was silent when they got back.

“I wonder where everyone is?” Nate wondered out loud.

“Probably out still, I think there’s still a while until bus call,” Nicole replied with a shrug. “I wonder if Gabe fell asleep after all?”

She walked to the bunk aisle and found Gabe lying in his bunk, eyes closed. She grabbed her pajamas out of her bunk and walked into the bathroom to change. When she walked back out, Nate had changed out of his jeans and into his pajama pants, and looked like he was ready to get into bed.

Since Gabe was asleep, Nicole decided to clear out her own bunk and sleep in there, not wanting to wake him up by climbing into his bunk.

“Not sleeping with Gabe tonight?” Nate asked her, his eyebrow raised as he watched her pull their bags out of her bunk.

“He’s asleep, I don’t want to wake him up by climbing in,” Nicole replied.

“Yes, wake him up,” Gabe muttered, his eyes still close as he reached out, trying to grab onto something.

When he couldn’t seem to feel out what he was searching for, he opened his eyes slightly. He looked at Nicole before grabbing onto her hand, giving her arm a slight tug. “Sleep with me. Remember, that’s why we put all our stuff in your bunk? So that from now you always sleep in mine? Besides, I need you to take care of me.”

Nicole smiled and nodded her head. “Hang on, let me put the bags back in my bunk.”

Gabe nodded sleepily, letting go of her hand so she could put everything back in her bunk.

Nate handed her the last bag, which was set down right next to where he was standing. She thanked him before hugging him and telling him goodnight. Nate smiled brightly as she quickly kissed his cheek before climbing into Gabe’s bunk. When Nicole closed the curtain to Gabe’s bunk, Nate turned and climbed into his own.

Gabe’s eyes were already closed again when Nicole climbed into his bunk. He felt her lay down next to him, however, and a smile spread across his face. He opened his eyes slightly, wrapping his arms around Nicole and pulling her closer to his body. Nicole smiled to herself as she cuddled up with Gabe, kissing his cheek.

“Thank you for taking care of me today,” Gabe whispered softly, his eyes closing again. “You’re too good to me. You’re amazing. I don’t know what I did to find you…”

Nicole smiled, pressing a finger to his lips to stop his sleepy ramble. “Get some rest. Hopefully you’ll feel better in the morning.”

He nodded his head sleepily, pulling her closer to his body as he finally gave into the sleep that was clouding his mind.

Thirteen

Gabe didn’t feel better the next day; in fact, he felt worse. His cough had gotten worse and he had almost completely lost his voice. As soon as they got to Boise, Nicole insisted that he go to see a doctor and after some protesting, Gabe reluctantly agreed.

Nicole went with Gabe to the doctor and sat next to him on the examination table while they waited for the doctor he was going to see. Gabe sighed miserably, leaning his head on her shoulder as she wrapped an arm around him and kissed the top of his head.

“What’s taking so long?” Gabe complained, his voice barely audible; they had already been waiting for half an hour.

“They’re busy with all the other silly boys who refuse to wear jackets when they’re playing outside in the snow,” Nicole replied.

Gabe pouted up at her in response, Nicole had told him once again to try and avoid talking if he could.

Nicole smiled, kissing his forehead. “I’m sure the doctor will be here soon.”

He nodded with another sigh.

The doctor finally came in to see Gabe. After asking Gabe a few questions about what was wrong and how he was feeling, it was determined that Gabe wouldn’t be able to sing in the show that night without doing some permanent damage to his voice. Gabe was ordered to take at least a day off and rest up in order to get better.

“What about tomorrow? Will I be able to play the show tomorrow night?” Gabe asked.

“See how you feel in the morning, but make sure not too push it too hard. If you’re feeling like this again, I wouldn’t risk it, but if you’re feeling better I think you can gauge for yourself,” he replied.

Gabe nodded his head. He was told to drink lots of fluids and given a list of possible medications that could help him feel better, and Nicole was instructed to make sure to make sure he followed the doctor’s orders before they were dismissed.

“Make sure he behaves,” the doctor told Nicole as she and Gabe made their way out the door of the examination room. “I can’t tell that he’s going to be a difficult patient, but try to keep him in line.”

Nicole laughed slightly as Gabe pouted. “He probably will be, but I’ll keep him in line.”

Gabe sighed again with another slight pout at Nicole’s words. He thanked the doctor one last time before they made their way outside to where a cab was already waiting to take them back to the bus.

When they got back to the bus, which was already parked outside the venue, it was decided that since they would be canceling the show, the Cobras would just spend the night in a hotel in Boise to give everyone a day off. They figured that Gabe would rest up better in a real bed in a hotel room than he would in his bunk or anywhere else on the bus.

They found a hotel by the venue and checked in. Nicole took Gabe up to their room, insisting that he stay in bed for the rest of the day and rest. They were settling into their room when there was a knock at their door. Nicole walked over and answered it, scolding Gabe when he attempted to get up out of bed to answer, and found Nate on the other side.

“Hey,” he said smiling when he saw Nicole.

“Hey, come on in,” Nicole replied, stepping aside so Nate could enter the room.

Nate stepped into the room and Nicole closed the door behind him. He followed her into the room, saying hi to Gabe.

“Hey Gabe, how are you feeling?” he asked him.

Gabe shrugged slightly. “About the same. Nicole’s ordered me to stay in bed all day though, so I guess I’ll be feeling better by the end of the day.”

“Well that’s good,” Nate replied. “The feeling-better-by-the-end-of-the-day part, I mean; not so much the Nicole-bossing-you-around part.”

Gabe laughed. “Yeah well, it comes with the territory of her being my girlfriend, so I’m willing to take it.”

Nicole grinned as she took a seat next to Gabe on their bed, kissing his cheek. “As cute as you are, I do remember you being told to rest your voice.”

“But Nate asked me a question,” Gabe asked replied. “I can’t just ignore himmm.”

Nicole smiled, patting his head. “Yeah, but you’re going to lose your voice. If you want to be able to play in the next show, you can’t lose your voice.”

Gabe sighed, pouting at Nicole. “I don’t like not being able to talk. I can’t just not talk. I don’t know how to not talk. It’s-”

Nicole cut Gabe off by placing a hand over his mouth, laughing slightly. “There you go, this is how you don’t talk.”

Gabe pouted at Nicole again and she grinned before turning her attention to Nate. “So Nate, what brings you by?”

"Oh, well I was going to go grab some lunch at the Panera that's down the street, and so I decided to see if you wanted to come along since I know how much you like it there," Nate replied. "But I forgot that Gabe probably shouldn't go out and you're probably busy taking care of him."

Nate tried his best to hide the fact that he was lying. He had actually had no intention of inviting Gabe along on the lunch outing; he had figured that Gabe would probably be asleep, so he would be able to go out alone with Nicole.

"You should go, baby," Gabe said, turning to look at Nicole. "I'm probably just going to take a nap right now anyways; I'm feeling tired."

"Are you sure?" Nicole asked him.

He nodded his head, yawning slightly. "See? Tired. I'll still be here when you get back."

Nicole laughed. "You better be. If I find out you leave while I'm gone, you're going to be in trouble, mister. No cuddles for you."

"Again with threatening to take away my cuddles," Gabe replied, pouting at her. "You're always threatening to take cuddles away."

"Because it's effective," Nicole replied, patting his leg. "Just behave and you won't have to worry."

"I am going to behave," Gabe replied, pouting again. "I'm just going to take a nap."

"Good," Nicole replied. "And that also means no talking while I'm gone, either."

"If you're gone, who am I going to talk to?" Gabe replied. "I'm not crazy enough that I need to talk to myself."

"I know how you are. You'll call someone or something just so you can talk," Nicole replied.

"What? That’s silly,” Gabe replied, shaking his head.

“Oh yeah? So you’re saying if I were to take your phone with me, it wouldn’t bother you?” she replied.

Gabe looked slightly horrified at the thought of having his phone taken away.

“Why would you take my phone? What if I was going to text somebody or something?” Gabe replied.

“I thought you were going to take a nap? What do you need your phone for if you're going to nap?” Nate replied, laughing slightly.

“Shhh,” Gabe hushed Nate. “You’re not helping, Nate.”

Nicole laughed. “Its not like Nate said something I wasn’t already thinking. I was about to say the same thing.”

Gabe pouted. “I am going to nap. But you never know, I might need it, or what if I all of a sudden can’t sleep and get bored because you're not here? At least I could text or IM someone.”

“You have your laptop with you, you can IM people from your laptop if for some reason you can’t sleep and really get thatbored,” Nicole replied.

Gabe pouted again. “Baby, be nice to me. I’m sick.”

“That’s why I’m trying to take care of you,” she replied, kissing his cheek and patting his leg again. “You need to rest and not talk so much, even the doctor said so.”

Gabe pouted at her again and Nicole shook her head.

“Gabe’s really pouty when he’s sick,” Nate laughed.

“Tell me about it,” Nicole replied, laughing slightly. She looked at Gabe and sighed, pushing him away from her. “Stop pouting at me, Gabriel.”

Gabe sighed and shook his head, still pouting and this time sticking his face in front of hers to make sure she saw that he was pouting.

Nicole laughed again, placing her hands on his face and pushing it away from hers. “Gabe, stop it.”

Gabe laughed slightly, grinning at her, causing Nicole to shake her head.

“You’re so silly sometimes,” Nicole replied.

Gabe grinned again before leaning over and kissing her temple. “Yet, you're still crazy about me anyways.”

Nicole giggled as Gabe kissed her cheek a couple more times.

Nate quickly dropped his eyes, looking at his shoes; he still didn’t want to have to watch Nicole and Gabe acting so affectionate with each other. He cleared his throat slightly and Nicole and Gabe both looked up at him.

“Well if you’re done being silly, I’m going to go get lunch with Nate now,” Nicole said, wiggling out of Gabe’s grip and standing up next to their bed.

Gabe nodded his head, pouting slightly.

“Why are you pouting? You're the one who said for me to go,” Nicole replied, raising her eyebrow at him.

“I know,” Gabe replied. “Have fun baby.”

“You’re so silly,” Nicole repeated, shaking her head at him. “Do you want me to bring you back some soup or something?”

Gabe shrugged. “Sure, if they have anything vegetarian that you think I’d like. I am starting to feel a little hungry.”

Nicole nodded her head, leaning forward and kissing Gabe’s forehead. “Get some rest while I’m gone, ok? And behave.”

“Of course I’ll behave,” Gabe nodded. “I always behave.”

“I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just lie to me at the end there,” Nicole replied, laughing slightly. “I’m going to not allow that to waiver my faith in you behaving.”

“Pft baby, just go,” Gabe replied, gently pushing her away from the bed and trying not to smile.

Nicole laughed and kissed his cheek one more time, causing Gabe to smile. She ruffled his hair before turning and linking arms with Nate.

“Shall we?” she asked him.

Nate smiled, nodding his head. “We shall.”

Nicole and Nate made their way to the door. She grabbed her purse and hoodie off of the chair next to the bed as they passed. She called goodbye to Gabe one last time and told him to rest before closing the door behind them.

Fourteen

They only had to walk a couple of blocks from the hotel to Panera. When they got there, they spotted Courtney and Alex, holding hands, in line a couple of people ahead of them. Courtney was looking around and spotted them as they walked in the door, waving them over.

“What are you two doing here together?” Alex asked Nate and Nicole once they were standing next to them in line.

“You make it sound like we don’t even know each other,” Nate replied. “We are best friends, you know? I was the one who invited Nicole on tour in the first place.”

“I know, I know,” Alex replied. “I only meant that Nicole and Gabe are practically inseparable nowadays; it’s odd to see one of them without the other.”

“Oh,” Nate mumbled, looking down at his shoes again. “Yeah, well…”

He was starting to see how much he had been replaced by Gabe when it came to Nicole. When the tour had started, everyone had known that if you needed Nate or Nicole all you had to do was find one and the other would probably be close around. But now, even his friends found it odd to see Nicole with Nate and not with Gabe. Gabe had taken his place.

“As if I would have let Gabe come out to get lunch when he’s supposed to be resting,” Nicole replied. “Besides, I haven’t spent much time with Nate lately. I’ve missed hanging out with my best friend.”

Nicole linked arms with Nate and he looked back up at her, smiling.

“I thought Gabe was your best friend?” Alex replied. “Isn’t that the way your relationship works? Gabe calls you his best friend.”

Nicole sighed at Alex, wondering he kept bringing Gabe into the conversation, and why he would correct her about Gabe being her best friend when Nate was standing right next to her. “Nate has been my best friend for years. He’s like, the best friend who knows me inside and out-”

Courtney snorted, remembering when Nicole had told she, Victoria, and Gabe about her and Nate’s history together.

Nicole’s eyes widened slightly, knowing what Courtney was thinking. “I didn’t mean it like that Court, my god.”

“Well, you never know,” Courtney replied, grinning at Nicole.

Both boys raised an eyebrow at the girls, unsure of what they were talking about. Alex hadn’t heard about all the history that Nicole and Nate shared, and Nate didn’t know that Nicole had told anyone.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, what are you two talking about?” Nate asked, looking at Nicole skeptically as he caught on to what might be going on. He raised an eyebrow at her, wondering if she had told Courtney about what had happened between them.

Nicole shook her head. “Nothing, Courtney is just being silly.”

Nate looked her questioningly, but she shook her head at him.

“Anyways, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” Nicole went on, staring pointedly at Courtney, who grinned in response. “Gabe is a different kind of best friend. He’s like, my best friend by default because I’m dating him, and he knows me on a different level than Nate does. It’s like, if Nate were to die or something, Gabe would become my best friend.”

Nate’s jaw dropped. “What? You’re killing me off now?”

“I said if,” Nicole replied, sighing. “You guys are so difficult. Look what you started, Suarez.”

Alex held his hands up in defense, shaking his head and laughing slightly. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Hey now, wait a minute. Now that I think of it, I thought I had become your best friend?” Courtney asked suddenly.

Nicole sighed again. “My girl best friend, total difference. Nate can’t be my girl best friend, obviously.”

Alex laughed. “Obviously.”

“I suppose that works,” Courtney replied, nodding her head.

“Speaking of Gabe, how is he doing?” Alex asked.

“Ok, his voice is still hoarse, so I’m trying to get him to not talk, but you saw how well that went yesterday,” she replied. “He said he was tired so I told him to take a nap while I was gone and I would take him back some soup. He was feeling a little bit better than when he was this morning when he woke up.”

“Well that’s good that he’s feeling a little better,” Alex replied.

Nicole nodded. “If only I could get him to rest his voice. I was tempted to take his phone away when I left, but he promised he wouldn’t call anyone.”

“He’s so stubborn,” Courtney replied, shaking her head.

“I know,” Nicole replied, with a sigh. “But, as he likes to point out, I can’t really get too mad at him for it because I’m the same way. It’s one of the way that we’re made for each other.”

Courtney smiled at that. “That’s cute. You guys already think you were made for each other.”

Nicole smiled and nodded. “Yeah, well that’s one of the reasons we decided to become serious; we could feel that things were different between us because it feels like we were made for each other.”

“Aw,” Courtney cooed. “You guys are cute.”

Nicole grinned at her. “We try.”

Nate sighed slightly to himself, turning away from the conversation and pretending to look at the menu hanging behind the register. He didn’t need to hear about how Nicole thought she and Gabe were made for each other.

Finally it was their turn to order. Alex and Courtney stepped up to one register and Nate pulled Nicole to the other, telling her that he would pay for her lunch. The four ordered and got their drinks before finding a table to sit together.

The boys’ names were called and they got up to get their orders, returning a minute later with the food and handing the girls their lunches. As they all chatted and ate, Nate thought that this was the way things should be. He should be the one who got to spend so much time with Nicole, and go out on outings with Courtney and Alex, the way he knew Gabe had with her.

Once they were all done eating, Alex wrapped his arm around Courtney’s shoulder pulling her chair closer to his. He leaned over, kissing her temple, smiling as she leaned her head against him.

Nicole smiled at them. “You two are such a cute couple.”

Alex grinned at her and Courtney smiled, thanking her.

“See, I think we were made for each other,” Alex said to Courtney, grinning at her before kissing her lightly.

Courtney beamed. “Aw, I think so too, baby.”

Nicole smiled again as she watched them. She loved the way that Courtney and Alex acted with each other. She had never seen two people who seemed to love each other more. They were always so affectionate with each other, but they still knew how to joke around and tease each other, and even though they had been dating for over a year, it seemed like Alex couldn’t get enough of Courtney. He seemed to find any excuse to hold her or wrap his arms around her.

For all that she and Gabe teased them, she thought they were adorable; they seemed perfect for each other. She hoped that her and Gabe’s relationship could turn into what Courtney and Alex had.

“You two are perfect for each other,” Nicole told them.

Nate looked over at Nicole and could tell by the way she was smiling at Courtney and Alex what she was thinking. He knew that she was hoping that her and Gabe’s relationship would turn out as perfectly as Alex and Courtney’s appeared to, and it made him sigh; he thought she was investing too much into their relationship too soon.

They stuck around the restaurant for another half hour before they decided it was time to leave; they had already been sitting there for two hours and there was a shortage of tables. Nicole stopped to get some soup for Gabe before they left and they all made their way outside.

They split up once they were outside. Alex and Courtney decided to walk around the city for a while and Nicole and Nate decided to head back to the hotel. They said goodbye to each other before Courtney and Alex walked off in one direction, hand-in-hand and Nate and Nicole headed in the other direction.

They were half way back to the hotel when Nicole spotted a Walgreens and decided she should stop and find some medicine for Gabe to take.

“I’m going to stop at Walgreens and see if I find something for Gabe to take. The doctor gave us a list of things he could take to make him feel better,” she told Nate. “You want to go with me?”

“Sure,” he replied and then in his head added, “As if I would actually say no to spending time with you.”

Nicole smiled, grabbing onto Nate’s arm and pulling him across the street.

They were about to walk into Walgreens when Nicole’s phone started to go off, playing the ringtone for a text message. She pulled it from her purse to see she had a new text from Gabe.

“When are you coming back? I miss you L”

Nicole laughed slightly as she read it, shaking her head slightly.

“Who was it?” Nate asked, raising an eyebrow.

“A text from Gabe,” Nicole replied, showing Nate the text message.

Nate sighed as he read it, but it went ignored by Nicole because she was busy texting a reply to Gabe that she would be back soon.

It only took about a minute for Nicole to get a reply from Gabe. She smiled as she read it.

“Good, I’m getting lonely. I think it should be cuddle time when you get back.”

She typed another quick reply, telling him to rest some more and that she’d be back at the hotel in a little bit.

“So… Gabe is rather attached to you, huh?” Nate asked, watching Nicole put her phone back in her purse.

Nicole shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, you know, we’re close and we’ve been spending a lot of time together lately so I guess he’s gotten used to that. And he’s been clingier now that he’s sick.”

Nate nodded. “Weird.”

“Well, I mean it’s not like I mind or anything,” Nicole replied.

“No, yeah I get that. I just meant it’s weird because usually when Gabe’s sick he doesn’t want anyone around him or anyone fussing over him. Whenever he gets sick on tour he usually locks himself in the back lounge and asks everyone to leave him alone,” Nate replied.

Nicole nodded. “That’s what Alex said yesterday when the four of us were setting up merch.”

“Gabe was with you?” Nate asked.

Nicole nodded her head.

“What did he have to say about that?” Nate asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nicole shrugged. “That I make him feel better, so he doesn’t find it annoying to have me around when he’s sick like he does with everyone else.”

“Oh,” Nate replied simply, his eyebrows furrowing slightly in thought.

Gabe was getting a lot more attached to Nicole than Nate would have thought he would so soon. Nate wasn’t sure if he should be worried about Nicole or not. He didn’t want to see her get hurt, and he was unsure if Gabe’s sudden attachment to Nicole was a way that Gabe was going to play Nicole. Nate didn’t know why, but he found that he didn’t trust Gabe when it came to his relationship with Nicole.

Nate was broken from his thoughts when Nicole spoke up.

“Do you need anything from here?” she asked.

Nate was surprised to see that she already had a few different medicines and a magazine in her hands; he hadn’t realized that he had zoned out. He shook his head. “No, I’m good.”

Nicole raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you ok?”

Nate nodded. “I’m fine. Are you ready to go?”

She nodded and they made their way to the registers in the front. Nicole paid and they started on their way back to the hotel.

It only took them ten minutes to get to the hotel. When they got to the third floor they split up because their rooms were on opposite ends of the hall.

Nicole walked into her room to find it quiet. She smiled when she realized Gabe had fallen asleep again. She set her stuff down on the desk in the room before quietly walking over to the bed. She kicked her shoes off before climbing into bed next to Gabe. She kissed Gabe’s cheek before cuddling up to his side.

Gabe started to stir slightly, slowly opening his eyes. He smiled brightly when he saw Nicole.

“You’re back,” he said happily.

Nicole nodded, smiling up at him. “I am.”

“Finally,” Gabe replied, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer. “I missed you.”

Nicole smiled. “I was only gone for a couple of hours. Didn’t you take a nap?”

Gabe nodded. “But you weren’t here to cuddle with, and when I woke up you weren’t here so I missed you.”

“Aw baby,” Nicole replied, smiling and kissing his cheek.

Gabe grinned again. “Did you have fun while you were out with Nate?”

Nicole nodded. "We ran into Alex and Courtney at Panera so the four of us had lunch together and talked for a couple of hours."

"That's good," Gabe replied. "So that's why you were gone for so long then?"

Nicole nodded. "We lost track of time. Oh, I got you some soup, by the way. And then Nate and I stopped at Walgreens on our way back and I picked you up some medicine."

Gabe smiled. "Thank you baby; you take such good care of me."

Nicole smiled, cuddling a little closer to Gabe and wrapping her arms a little more tightly around him. "Of course, you're my Gabanti."

Gabe grinned and felt his heartbeat quicken as he looked down at her; she made him feel things he had never felt before. He knew that that should probably scare him so soon, but oddly enough, he was strangely at peace with his feelings for her. Things with them just felt right.

He kissed her forehead, smiling brightly.

"You're amazing," he whispered, pressing his lips to her temple.

Nicole smiled as she looked up at him, taking one of his hands and lacing their fingers together. As she looked in his eyes and felt her own heart beat speeding up, she realized how hard she was falling for him already.

"I forgot to ask, how are you feeling?" she asked softly.

"Ok," he replied. "Even better now that you're here."

Nicole smiled, kissing his cheek again. "You're so cute, Gabriel."

Gabe grinned. "I do try."

She laughed slightly before wiggling out of Gabe's arms. He pouted, trying to grab back onto her but she was already out of his grasp.

"Babyy," he whined. "Where are going?"

"To make some tea, don't worry I'll just be right over here," she replied.

He nodded, sitting up. He grabbed the remote for the tv off of the bedside table and turned it on while he waited for Nicole to return.

A couple minutes later Nicole called over to him.

“Do you want your soup, baby?” she asked, stepping back into Gabe’s line of vision.

He nodded his head. “Yes please, baby.”

Nicole nodded, grabbing it off the desk so she could heat it up for him. She returned a couple minutes later with two cups of tea and Gabe’s soup. She handed Gabe his stuff before crawling back onto the bed next to him.

“Thank you baby,” he smiled, kissing her forehead.

She nodded, settling into her spot next to Gabe.

It only took Gabe about ten minutes to finish his soup and tea. He set his stuff on the bedside table before turning to Nicole. He took her cup from her and set it next to his before grinning at her.

“What’s that grin for?” Nicole asked, her eyebrow raised.

He laid down and tugged her down with him, wrapping his arms around her. “Cuddle time now.”

Nicole laughed slightly, resting her head on his chest. “Oh, ok baby.”

She looked up at him and Gabe grinned at her again. “I like cuddling.”

“I can tell,” she giggled.

They laid in silence for a few minutes, watching tv, until Gabe spoke up again.

“This is new and nice,” he said softly, taking one of Nicole’s hands and lacing his fingers with hers.

“What is?” Nicole replied, looking up at him.

“Cuddling in a real bed,” Gabe replied. “This is the first time we’ve gotten to cuddle in a real bed instead of on a couch or in a bunk.”

“That’s true, isn’t it?” Nicole replied, smiling at him. “This is nice.”

Gabe nodded his head, wrapping his arms a little more tightly around her. “I think we should just do this all day.”

Nicole yawned slightly, nodding her head. “I agree. I’m kind of tired; I could so go for a nap right now.”

Gabe smiled and kissed her forehead. “Take a nap baby, we’ll just stay in and cuddle all day.”

Nicole smiled up at him and nodded her head, yawning again. “I probably will, you make a nice pillow.”

Gabe laughed slightly, kissing her forehead again. “Well I’m glad I could serve a good purpose for you.”

“Shhh,” Nicole replied, pressing a finger to Gabe’s lips. “You’re not supposed to be talking so much, remember?”

Gabe smiled, pulling her hand away. He kissed her hand before lacing their fingers together. Her voice was soft and fading out as she spoke; it was apparent that she was falling asleep quickly.

Gabe looked down at her and his smile broadened slightly as he watched her eyes drift closed. He could feel the pace of his heart beat quickening and his heart swelling slightly. He didn’t know what exactly she was doing to him, but she was changing him. She was changing him, he felt, in a good way. He loved the way she made him feel, and for the first time, he wasn’t scared of his feelings.

Sighing happily to himself, Gabe kissed her forehead one more time before wrapping his arms more tightly around her and closing his eyes with a smile on his face.

Everything's Magic

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:38:00 GMT

Title: Everything's Magic
About: Cobra Starship
Status: In Progress

Chapter 1-4
Chapter 5-7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9-10

Eleven

Just about two hours after he and Nicole had fallen asleep watching their movie, Gabe woke up suddenly feeling sick. It had started with a cough and had progressively gotten worse, leaving Gabe restless for the rest of the night, and eventually waking up Nicole.

“Gabe?” she asked groggily. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Gabe groaned, rolling onto his back. “I don’t feel good.”

Gabe sighed to himself, expecting to hear an “I told you so” from his girlfriend, but it never came. Instead, Nicole propped her head up on her hand and looked down at Gabe with a concerned look.

“Why? What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Everything,” he groaned hoarsely before he started coughing again.

Nicole frowned and decided to take him to the back lounge so his coughing wouldn’t wake the others up or so he didn’t end up falling out of his bunk because of his tossing and turning.

Once Gabe was sitting on the couch in the back lounge, Nicole returned to the front of the bus to make him some chamomile tea to soothe his throat and help him fall back to sleep. She sighed, thinking that she should have been more forceful about getting Gabe to wear a jacket out in the snow.

“Here, drink this baby,” she said, handing him the tea once she was in the back lounge. “It’ll help your throat.”

Gabe nodded and took the tea from her as she sat down next to him. He drank it quickly before leaning his head on her shoulder. Nicole laid down on the couch, pulling Gabe back with her. He laid down on top of her, resting his head on her stomach as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Does your throat feel better?” Nicole asked him.

“A little,” Gabe mumbled with a slight shrug.

“Try and get some sleep; hopefully you’ll feel better after you wake up,” Nicole suggested as she ran her fingers gently through his hair, trying to coax him to sleep.

Gabe nodded slightly, closing his eyes as he concentrated on the feel of Nicole’s fingers gently massaging his head, trying his best to fall asleep.

The rest of the morning was restless on the most part for both of them. Gabe was still having problems sleeping soundly for more than an hour at a time, and his cough came back after a couple of hours. His coughing and restless kept Nicole up, and she ended up getting even less sleep than he did.

At 10:00 Nicole decided to try and sneak out of the back lounge. Gabe had finally fallen into a more peaceful sleep and had been sleeping for a couple of hours. His grip on her had loosened so she carefully slid out from under him, leaving a pillow under his head before leaving the back lounge.

She made her way to the bunks, deciding to lay down for a couple hours in peace; everyone else was still asleep. She looked down at her bunk, sighing when she realized how much stuff was in it; Gabe had put both of their bags in her bunk the day before to assure that Nicole would start sleeping in his bunk with him for good. She grabbed her bunk out of her bunk before climbing into Gabe’s bunk to get a couple more hours of sleep.

It was a little after 12:30 when Nicole woke up again. She climbed out of Gabe’s bunk and briefly looked into the back lounge to check on Gabe; he was still asleep so she made her way to the kitchen area to get some coffee. Nate and Victoria were already awake and sitting in the front lounge watching tv.

“You look tired,” Nate commented when Nicole walked out of the bunk hall.

“I am tired,” Nicole replied with a sigh as she hopped up onto the counter, sitting next to the coffee maker while her coffee brewed.

Nate raised an eyebrow at Nicole. “Why are you so tired?”

“Gabe was sick last night so he kept tossing and turning and coughing. I took him to the back lounge so he wouldn’t wake up everyone else with his cough, but he still kept tossing and turning so I didn’t get very much sleep last night,” Nicole explained.

“Wasn’t he fine yesterday?” Victoria asked. “Since when is Gabe sick?”

“We went ice skating last and then we played in the snow for a while. I think he must have already been catching whatever’s been going around and being out in the cold for so long just made it worse because he was refusing to wear his jacket,” Nicole replied.

Victoria shook her head. “He’s so stubborn.”

“I know,” Nicole replied with a laugh.

The coffee maker started to beep, indicating that Nicole’s coffee was ready. She poured herself a cup while she continued to talk with Nate and Victoria.

Forty-five minutes later, Nicole was on her third cup of coffee when Gabe stumbled out of the back lounge. He groaned as he walked into the front lounge in search of Nicole.

“Feeling better baby?” Nicole asked Gabe as he walked up to where she was sitting on the counter.

He shook his head, pouting slightly as he wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his head against her.

“Not really,” he mumbled hoarsely, as he clung to her.

Nicole frowned slightly as she ran her fingers through his hair before kissing his forehead; she could feel that he had a slight fever.

“What’s bothering you?” she asked him.

“Everything,” he sighed. “My head hurts, my throat hurts, my body aches. I feel like crap.”

“Are you going to be able to play tonight, Gabe?” Victoria asked him. “Are you sure you can make it through the show?”

Gabe shrugged. “I have to; I don’t want to cancel the show tonight.”

“Are you sure?” Nate asked, eyebrow raised.

Gabe nodded. “I’ll pull it off.”

“Why don’t you go lay down again?” Nicole suggested. “Get plenty of rest before your show. Maybe that will make you feel better.”

“Will you come lay down with me again?” Gabe asked.

“Sure, if you want me to,” Nicole replied, smiling at Gabe as she nodded her head.

“Ok then,” he replied with a slight smile.

Nate watched them carefully. It surprised him how much Nicole was fussing over Gabe. it surprised him even further how much Gabe was letting her. In the past, when Gabe had gotten sick he usually shut himself off in the back lounge, not wanting to be around anyone. He had always hated when someone else tried to take care of him, but here he was, pouting and clinging to Nicole.

“Would you like me to make you some more tea?” Nicole asked Gabe as she hopped down off the counter.

He nodded his head slightly. “Yes please.”

Nicole nodded. “Go lay down again and I’ll be in there when your tea is ready.”

Gabe nodded again before turning and heading back to the back lounge.

“It’s cute how you’re taking care of Gabe,” Victoria commented with a smile.

“Well he is my boyfriend,” Nicole replied.

Victoria laughed. “I know, but it’s still cute. You two are cute.”

Nicole grinned in response.

Nicole made Gabe a cup of tea before returning to the back lounge. When Gabe heard her enter he sat up on the couch so she could sit next to him and she handed him the cup of tea.

“Will you be ok if I take a really quick shower first?” she asked him.

Gabe pouted slightly but nodded.

Nicole smiled, leaning forward and kissing his forehead. “Drink your tea; I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Nicole took a quick shower and changed into a new pair of jeans and a long sleeved, hooded To Write Love On Her Arms shirt. She blow dried her hair, did her make up, and grabbed her hair straightener out of her bunk before returning to the kitchen again. She made another cup of tea for Gabe, figuring he would have already finished the last one, and a cup of hot chocolate for herself before returning to the back lounge.

Gabe had gone back to lying down, but sat up when he noticed Nicole’s presence. She handed him the new cup of tea before plugging her hair straightener in next to the couch and setting it on the floor. She took a seat next to Gabe and rested his head on her shoulder with a sigh.

“Being sick sucks,” he whined.

“My poor Gabanti,” Nicole replied, patting his head.

Gabe was surprised with how Nicole was taking care of him. He knew it was probably his fault that he was feeling so sick and he had expected Nicole to point that out, yet she hadn’t.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” Gabe asked.

Nicole nodded her head. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll start one.”

She got up from the couch and walked over to the shelf full of DVD’s. “What do you feel like watching?”

Gabe shrugged. “I don’t care, you pick.”

She nodded and picked out a DVD and put it in the DVD player. She started the movie and Gabe smiled slightly when he realized she had chosen Happy Feet.

“Happy Feet huh?” he asked her as she took her seat next to him again.

“I love this movie,” Nicole replied with a smile. “It’s cute.”

“You’re cute,” Gabe replied with a slight smile.

“Oh you think so?” Nicole replied.

“Yes,” Gabe nodded. “Didn’t we go over this yesterday when we were looking at the ducks?”

Nicole laughed slightly. “Perhaps.”

Gabe laughed slightly as well, shaking his head. He sighed as he looked at her and pouted slightly.

“What’s wrong? Why are you pouting?” Nicole asked him.

“Because I want to kiss you, but I don’t want to get you sick, and obviously what I have is most likely contagious because I got it from everyone else,” he replied with another sigh.

Nicole smiled at Gabe, leaning over and kissing his cheek. “You’re probably only contagious for a couple days.”

“That’s too many days of not being able to kiss you,” Gabe replied with another pout.

Nicole pouted back at him, causing Gabe to pout further. Nicole laughed slightly. “Stop pouting at me baby.”

“But it’s so looong,” Gabe whined.

“Only a few days,” Nicole replied before kissing his cheek. “We can settle for cheek and forehead kisses until then.”

Gabe sighed. “I suppose, and we can still cuddle, yes?”

“As long as you don’t start hacking up a lung on me, sure,” Nicole replied, nodding.

Gabe pouted at her again.

“I’m kidding,” Nicole replied with a laugh. “Of course we still can.”

Gabe smiled a satisfied smile and nodded his head. “Good.”

They turned back to their movie and Gabe laid down again, his head resting on Nicole’s lap as she started to straighten her hair.

When Nicole finished straightening her hair, the movie was over. She gathered her stuff and their empty glasses before getting up from her spot. She put her stuff back in her bunk and threw their used plastic glasses away. She returned to the back lounge and started another movie before lying down on the couch and cuddling up with Gabe.

“Hey baby?” Gabe said as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Hmm?” Nicole replied, glancing up at him.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” he said softly.

“Of course,” Nicole smiled, kissing his cheek before laying her head on his chest.

They both turned back to the movie and watched it in silence for a little bit before Gabe started to yawn.

“Feeling tired?” Nicole asked, tilting her head to look up at him.

He nodded his head as he yawned again. “A little bit.”

“Try and get some more sleep, ok? We still have a couple of hours until we get to the venue, and you need to rest up for the show tonight,” she suggested.

Gabe nodded his head, his eyes already starting to drift closed. “I guess that might help,” he muttered softly.

Fifteen minutes later, Courtney walked into the back lounge to find Nicole asleep as well. She smiled at the sight of the two cuddled up together on the couch before turning off the TV. She grabbed a spare blanket off the other couch and placed it over Nicole and Gabe before walking out of the back lounge, closing the door behind her.

It was a couple hours later when Nicole woke up. They were already at their destination and Gabe was still asleep. She slowly got up, being careful not to wake Gabe. She placed the blanket back on Gabe, covering him back up, before leaving the back lounge.

She made her way through the bunk hall and stopped at her bunk to grab her phone. She noticed that the bus appeared to be empty and she looked out the window to see that they were already parked outside the venue. She could see Ryland talking to a few kids in line just outside the doors, and Dan already pushing some stuff from the trailer into the venue.

Nicole made her way off the bus, deciding it was time to start setting up the merch. She walked to the trailer to find that Courtney had already started unloading boxes, so she grabbed the last couple remaining boxes before making her way inside the venue.

Courtney was already at the merch table, boxes all around. Instead of setting up, however, she was being distracted by Alex. Courtney giggled slightly as Alex wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up of the ground, setting her so she sitting on the table. He grinned as he stood in front of her, pressing his lips to hers. Nicole cleared her throat as she set down the boxes in her hands, causing Alex and Courtney to pull apart and look at her.

“Getting raunchy in public now, I see,” Nicole commented.

“Picking up Gabe’s vocabulary now, I see,” Alex countered.

“Pft Suarez,” Nicole replied, waving her hand dismissively. “Don’t try and divert attention away from the fact that you and Courtney were starting to get hot and heavy in public.”

They both grinned innocently at her.

“Us? In public? We would never,” Courtney replied.

“Seriously,” Alex agreed, nodding his head.

Nicole shook her head. “Don’t act innocent.”

“We’re not acting,” Courtney replied indignantly. “Honestly, you make it sound like that’s all we do.”

“Maybe that’s because you guys make it seem like it pretty much is,” a new, hoarse voice said behind them.

The three turned to see Gabe walking up behind them, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

“Hey baby,” Nicole said with a smile, walking over to him wrapping her arms around his waist. “How are you feeling?”

Gabe shrugged as he wrapped his arms around Nicole’s shoulders. “I don’t know, still pretty crappy, but I guess a little better than I was this morning.”

Nicole noticed that his voice was hoarse, as if he were about to lose it. Alex picked up on this as well.

“Are you losing your voice?” Alex asked him.

Gabe shrugged. “I don’t know; I feel like I might be.”

“Are you sure you’re ok to play tonight?” Alex asked.

Gabe nodded. “I’m not canceling the show; you guys have all played while you’re sick. I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, but we haven’t had to sing lead vocals while losing our voices; it’s completely different,” Alex replied.

Gabe shook his head stubbornly. “It’s fine, I’ll be fine. The fans are already here, we can’t just be like ‘oh sorry, we changed our minds’ and send them home.”

Alex sighed, knowing that with as stubborn as Gabe was, he would never change his mind about playing the show and arguing was pointless. “Fine, whatever you say Gabe. Your voice, your call.”

Gabe nodded his head. “Yeah, and I call we go on with the show.”

Nicole sighed as she looked up at Gabe. “Why must you be so stubborn?”

“For the same reason that you’re mischievous,” Gabe replied. “So we can be made for each other.”

“Whatever,” Nicole replied, giving him a slight shove away from her as she shook her head at him. “Anyways, if you’re going to sing tonight, you need to save your voice or you're never going to make it through the whole show.”

Gabe opened his mouth to argue but Nicole held up her hand to silence him, shaking her head. “Don’t argue with me Gabriel, that means as little to no talking for the rest of the night, until you play, as possible.”

Gabe sighed and nodded his head. “Fine, I’ll try not to talk too much for the rest of the night.”

Nicole nodded her head, satisfied. “Good boy.”

She pulled him over to the merch table, telling him to sit in one of the chairs that was behind it while she helped Courtney set up. Gabe sat down and pull Nicole down onto his lap, leaning his head on her shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“No, its not time for me to sit now, I have to help Courtney,” Nicole said, attempting to get up.

“Nooo, sit with me,” Gabe replied with a pout, his grip on her waist tightening.

“I can’t right now,” Nicole replied with a slight laugh. “It’s time for me to do my job.”

“Yeah Gabanti, she has work to do,” Courtney said, nodding her head.

Gabe pouted again as he looked from Courtney and Alex to Nicole.

“What’s with you being so clingy with Nicole? You’ve always hated having people around when you’re sick, you always lock yourself up in the back lounge and tell everyone to leave you alone,” Alex asked.

“That was before I had a girlfriend who I actually wanted around,” Gabe replied. “Nicole makes me feel better; she doesn’t annoy me when I’m sick like everyone else.”

“Ouch, that hurts a little,” Alex replied with a slight laugh, clutching his chest.

“Shut up, don’t pick on me when I’m sick,” Gabe replied, pouting again.

“Hey mister, you’re not supposed to be talking right now, remember?” Nicole said, finally wiggling out of Gabe’s grasp and getting up off his lap.

“Suarez is the one who keeps talking to me and asking me questions, it would be rude not to respond,” Gabe replied, looking at Nicole innocently.

She laughed. “Stop making Gabe talk, Suarez.”

Alex laughed as well. “My bad.”

“My poor boo, he’s always getting in trouble for something ridiculous,” Courtney said, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Oh he’s fine,” Nicole replied with a laugh. “Anyways, I’m sure you’ll find some way to make it up to him later.”

Both caught on to what she was hinting at and grinned at her.

“I have no clue what you're talking about,” Courtney replied, trying to act innocent, but her grin gave her away.

“Yeah, sure,” Nicole replied, shaking her head as she started to set up the display.

Courtney pulled out of Alex’s arms so she could help Nicole. The girls got to work setting up the display and organizing the boxes of merch. Alex helped, hanging all the high stuff that the girls couldn’t reach. Gabe started to get up to help as well but Nicole caught him and pushed him back down into his seat, telling him to stay seated because he needed to rest up for the show.

“Don’t baby him, Nicole,” Courtney said, shaking her head.

“He’s my boyfriend and he’s sick, I’m allowed to baby him,” Nicole replied.

“Yeah I heard how you two were playing in the snow after we got back from ice skating and he refused to wear his jacket,” Courtney replied. “I’d say its his fault that he’s sick, so he doesn’t deserve to be babied.”

Gabe was pouting and Nicole noticed that he looked like he was about to argue with Courtney, so she cut him off before he could say anything.

“No, don’t you say anything,” she said, pointing a finger at him. “You’re not allowed to talk right now.”

Gabe closed his mouth, pouting at Nicole.

“I like this whole ‘Gabe not being able to talk’ thing,” Courtney said with a laugh. “We should ban him from talking more often.”

Nicole could see from the look on Gabe’s face that he was dying to argue with Courtney. She shook her head, looking at Courtney. “Don’t try to provoke him Courtney. Don’t make me ban you from talking too.”

“Pft you can’t ban me from talking,” Courtney replied, waving a hand dismissively. “I’m not Gabe, you can’t just tell me not to talk and expect me to be quiet. You can’t make me stop talking.”

“Oh yes I can,” Nicole replied.

Courtney raised an eyebrow as she studied Nicole. “How?”

“I know Lipski has a roll of duct tape, don’t think I won’t put it to use if provoked properly,” Nicole replied.

“You wouldn’t duct tape my mouth shut,” Courtney replied, shaking her head.

“Try me,” Nicole dared her, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Courtney studied her for a few more seconds before her eyes widened slightly, realizing that Nicole was serious. “Whaat? Girl don’t be duct taping my mouth shut. That’s not very friend-like.”

“Neither is provoking your friend’s boyfriend into an argument,” Nicole replied with a slight laugh, shaking her head. “Or arguing with your friend about whether or not she can ban you from talking.”

“Pft,” Courtney replied, throwing the shirt she had in her hand at Nicole.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head as she pulled the shirt off of head. She threw it back at Courtney. “Hey now, what’s with the abuse?”

Courtney grinned innocently. “I’m showing affection?”

Nicole laughed again. “I’m not Gabe, don’t be abusing me to show affection for me. That’s not how I roll.”

“Whatever, since you two are dating now and apparently practically the same person, I think it works if you guys get the same affection at least once in a while,” Courtney replied with a laugh.

“You’re dating him so that means you get to take the abuse too,” Alex added, laughing. “It comes with the territory.”

“Whatever,” Nicole replied as she put the last box of merch in its place. “I’m leaving so I don’t have to take this abuse anymore.”

She grabbed Gabe’s hand and pulled him up from his chair. “Come on Gabe, let’s get away from these abusive people.”

Gabe nodded his head in agreement, lacing their fingers together.

“Aw, you know we love youuu,” Courtney replied, grinning.

“Pft, I know you abuse me,” Nicole replied before starting to pull Gabe away from the merch table.

“You know you love us!” Alex called after them.

“Whateverrr!” Nicole called back, not turning to look back at them as she and Gabe walked out of the venue.

When they walked outside, Nicole and Gabe noticed a Starbucks down the street and decided to go get something to drink. Gabe started to pull Nicole in the direction of the Starbucks, past the bus but Nicole stopped walking, tugging back on his hand slightly. Gabe stopped as well, looking back questioningly at her.

“Oh no, I gave into you this morning when we were playing in the snow, but you're not going to argue with me this time,” she said, shaking her head. “You can’t just be walking around in a long sleeved shirt when you’re sick; you’re going to wear a jacket or at least a hoodie before you get worse.”

Gabe sighed but nodded his head, allowing Nicole to lead him onto the bus. Nicole put on her all over print Boys Like Girls hoodie and Gabe put on his Stay Gold hoodie before they both made their way off the bus again. Gabe took Nicole’s hand in his again and laced their fingers together as they started to walk down the street to Starbucks.

They each got a hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll before heading back to the venue so that Gabe could do a quick sound check. The band played a couple of songs for sound check so Gabe could save his voice for the show, before dispersing until show time.

Gabe hopped off stage, leading Nicole back to the bus so they could finish what they had gotten at Starbucks.

“Come hang out on the bus with me?” he asked her.

She nodded. “Of course. Do you just want to relax in there until it’s time for your set?

He nodded. “Is that ok? Or did you want to watch anyone tonight?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s fine; you need to get all the rest you can for your set since you're sick, and you still need to save your voice.”

He nodded his head, pretending to zip his lips.

Nicole smiled and kissed his cheek. “Good boy.”

Gabe grinned at her as he held the bus door open for her. He led her to the back lounge where they remained cuddled up on the couch for the next couple of hours until Dan came looking for them, letting them know it was time for Gabe to get ready for the show.

Gabe changed into one of the t-shirts he usually played in and a purple hoodie before taking Nicole’s hand again. They walked off the bus hand-in-hand and when they walked inside the door to the venue, Nicole realize she hadn’t been to the merch table since they set up.

“I just realized I ditched Courtney and the merch table all night,” Nicole said, turning her head to look at Gabe.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Just tell her it’s simple payback for abusing you earlier.”

Nicole laughed. “I suppose this is true. Besides, I had other priorities today; I need to take care of you.”

“Exactly,” Gabe replied with a nod.

“I also had to make sure you didn’t talk, but obviously I’ve failed at that,” she replied with a laugh.

Gabe grinned. “I like to talk, what can I say?”

“Self control, you need to learn to practice self control,” Nicole replied with another slight laugh.

He pouted. “But if I can’t kiss you, I should at least be able to talk to you.”

“Yeah, but since you're stubborn and insist on singing tonight, even though you’re clearly losing your voice, we have to do something to try and make it last through the whole show so you don’t do damage to your voice,” Nicole replied.

Gabe pouted again with a sigh.

“We can talk after the show, if you still have a voice,” Nicole offered, squeezing his hand slightly. “Let’s stop by the merch table real quick so I can check on Courtney.”

He nodded, kissing her cheek. “I’m sure she’s been fine, Suarez probably helped her; they’re pretty much inseparable.”

“They’re cute though.” Nicole replied. “They make a really good, cute couple.”

Gabe nodded his head. “You know who else makes a really good, cute couple?”

“Who?” Nicole asked, trying not to smile because she already knew the answer.

“Us,” Gabe replied before giving Nicole a slight shove. “Pft you should have known that.”

Nicole laughed, shoving him back. “I knew; I just wanted to hear you say it.”

They reached the merch table and sure enough, Alex was with Courtney. He was standing behind her, arms wrapped around her waist and his chin resting on her shoulder; Nicole smiled at the sight.

“See? I told you Suarez would be here,” Gabe said to Nicole.

“Sheesh, when you said you were going to get away from us, I didn’t think you meant for the whole night, I thought you just meant until doors,” Courtney commented.

Nicole laughed. “I didn’t mean for the whole night, I just forgot to come back.”

“You forgot?” Alex asked with a laugh. “How could you just forget?”

“She was preoccupied with more important things,” Gabe replied.

“Like what?” Courtney asked, eyeing them suspiciously.

“Don’t look at me like that, we’re not you and Alex,” Nicole replied with a laugh. “Especially not while Gabe is sick.”

“Again with the implications that that’s all we do?” Courtney replied exasperatedly.

Nicole laughed. “Well come on, what else do you and Alex do when you sneak off?”

“When you two disappeared yesterday before sound check and then came back with crazy sex hair, for example,” Gabe added.

Alex laughed and Courtney sighed. “Ok, point taken.”

Nicole laughed.

“Well then, what were you so preoccupied with?” Courtney asked.

“She was just busy taking care of me,” Gabe added.

“Yes, I have to keep an eye on this boy, otherwise he’d probably be walking around outside in a tshirt,” Nicole replied.

Gabe pouted slightly at the comment, but didn’t say anything; mostly because he knew she was probably right.

“Speaking of taking care of Gabe,” Courtney said before turning to look at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be banned from talking?”

Gabe shrugged. “Probably.”

“He’s stubborn,” Nicole replied with a sigh as she looked up at him.

“That and he just doesn’t know how to shut up,” Courtney replied.

Gabe pouted. “I think you should at least be nice to me when I’m sick.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Courtney replied, shaking her head.

Gabe sighed with another pout as Ryland walked over to the four, letting them know that there were five minutes until Gabe and Alex had to be on stage.

The area around the merch table was devoid of fans since everyone had already returned to the crowd to watch Cobra Starship play. Nicole asked Travis, who was currently at We The Kings’ merch table if he would keep an eye on the Cobra’s merch table for a few minutes while the girls walked with their boyfriends backstage. He agreed so they followed the boys back to the dressing room where everyone else was waiting.

“Feeling better Gabe?” Victoria asked when they walked in.

He shrugged before shaking his head. “Not really, no.”

“Aw is sick wittle Gabe gwumpy?” Ryland asked, pinching Gabe’s cheek.

Gabe swatted his hand away. “I’m not grumpy; I was just answering her question.”

Gabe pouted at Nicole and she smiled up at him, wrapping her arms around his waist from the side. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

Dan walked into the dressing room, letting everyone know it was show time. Everyone made their way back stage, forming a quick huddle. They put their hands in the middle, cheering “1, 2, 3 COBRAS!” before splitting up again to grab their instruments.

Alex strapped on his bass before wrapping his arms around Courtney tightly. He leaned down to kiss her as she wished him luck with the show. Nicole smiled as she watched them before turning to Gabe.

She wrapped her arms around him in a hug, getting on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Good luck tonight, try not to strain your voice too much, ok?”

Gabe nodded his head, kissing her forehead. “I’ll try. Meet you at the merch table after the show?”

She nodded her head with a smile. “I’ll be waiting.”

Gabe grinned and kissed her cheek before running out on stage.

Courtney was waiting a few feet away for Nicole. Nicole walked over to her and they started making their way to the merch table.

“I hope playing tonight isn’t too much for Gabe; I don’t want him to feel worse,” Nicole sighed.
Courtney smiled. “He’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

No One Can Touch Us

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:19:42 GMT

Title: No One Can Touch U
About: All Time Low
Progress: In Progress

Prologue- Chapter 1
Chapter 2- Chapter 3
Chapter 4- Chapter 5
Chapter 6- Chapter 7

Eight

“Are you ready?” Jack asked Courtney as he walked out of their bathroom, showered and ready.

She was sitting on one of the beds in their room, already ready, waiting for him. She nodded her head as she stood up.

“You look great,” Jack said with a smile, offering his arm to her.

She looked down at the simple tank top, skinny jeans, and flats she was wearing before smiling at Jack, linking her arm with his. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure where we were going, so I didn’t know if I had to get dressed up or not; I thought this might work as in between.”

Jack smiled. “You look perfect. Honestly, I don’t even know where we’re going; I don’t really know what’s around here so I figured we could walk around and see what we find. Does that sound ok with you?”

Courtney nodded her head as she looked up at him. “That sounds perfect.”

Jack grinned before leading her over to the door. They walked out of their room and to the elevator, arms linked. They dropped their arms when they got into the elevator because there were already people inside, not leaving enough room for them to stand side-by-side. Instead, Jack pulled her in front of him, wrapping his arms around her waist as they rode the elevator down. Courtney smiled to herself as she leaned back against Jack, feeling comfortable and at home in his arms.

When the elevator reached the bottom floor they got out along with everyone else and Jack gently grabbed onto Courtney’s hand, smiling down at her as they made their way through the lobby to the door.

They wandered through the streets, looking for a restaurant that caught their interest and was still open. They found a Panera Bread and decided to eat there. They sat in a cozy little booth, chatting happily while they ate, getting to know each other more.

“I saw a coffee shop down the street,” Jack said once they were done eating, “do you want to go get something to drink and talk some more?”

Courtney nodded her head with a smile. “Yeah, I would like that.”

Jack smiled before standing up and offering her his hand again. They made their way down the street hand-in-hand, smiling brightly.

Alex and Nicole had finished dinner and were walking to the beach. When they reached the sand, Nicole slipped her flip flops off, picking them up and carrying them in her hand. Alex did the same thing, following Nicole out onto the sand.

They walked along the shore in a comfortable silence for a little bit, side-by-side. Alex looked sideways at Nicole, smiling to himself at how she looked in the moonlight. He reached over, taking her hand in his and lacing their fingers together. Nicole looked over at him and smiled; it was the first time out of all the times he had held her hand while they were walking, that he had laced their fingers together.

Alex stopped walking, causing Nicole to stop as well and turn to look at him. He smiled at her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to him.

“I’m so glad you’re here with me,” he said softly as he looked into her eyes.

He didn’t know what was happening to him, but he was overwhelmed with feelings. Maybe it was the way the light from the stars reflected in her eyes and made them sparkle like diamonds, maybe it was an effect of the ocean breeze, but he could feel himself falling more and more for her.

Nicole smiled up at him, nodding her head before replying just as softly. “So am I.”

His smile broadened before he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. His arms wrapped a little more tightly around her and he pulled her closer to him, as he deepened the kiss for the first time. Nicole wrapped her arms around Alex’s neck, and he smiled to himself as he felt his heartbeat quicken from the energy that he felt behind their kiss.

They parted after a little while and smiled at each other again.

“That was amazing,” he muttered softly; he had never had a kiss like that.

Nicole smiled, taking Alex’s hand and pulling him towards the water without saying a word. When they reached the water she dropped his hand and bent down to roll up her jeans slightly. Alex followed suit before following Nicole out into the water. He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him as they looked out into the reflection of the stars on the water.

"I love the beach at night," Nicole said softly as she leaned back against him and rested her hands on top of his. "I love how the stars and the moon look reflected in the water. It's so peaceful at night."

Alex smiled as he wrapped his arms a little more tightly around her and kissed her temple before whispering softly in her ear. “I love being here with you.”

Nicole turned around in Alex’s arms to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she smiled up at him. “So do I; I’m glad you chose to come here.”

He smiled down at her, and anyone passing by would never have been able to guess that they weren’t a couple; they looked so in love and like they belonged together. He leaned down, kissing her deeply again.

He felt so different with her than he had ever felt before. She made him feel amazing, like the void he had been feeling had been filled. He felt like she was just what he needed, and it amazed him how he had stumbled upon what he needed when he wasn’t even looking.

He felt like he never wanted to be without her; he wanted to be her boyfriend and be able to introduce her to people as his girlfriend. As badly was he wanted that, he felt that it might be two soon to ask her to be his girlfriend. They had only known each other for a day, after all, and even though he knew they pretty much acted like a couple already, he didn’t want to scare her off or make her feel like he was rushing into things.

They finally pulled apart from the kiss and Alex smiled at her again, leaning his forehead against hers. He kissed her lightly a few times, causing her to smile.
They remained at the beach for another hour before they decided to head back to the hotel. When they got back to their room, Alex pulled Nicole over to the bed that didn’t have their bags on it and pulled her down onto it with him.

“Share a bed with me tonight so we can cuddle,” he said, pouting slightly to win her over.

Nicole smiled and nodded her head. “Let me just change first.”

Alex nodded, unwrapping his arms from around her so she could get up. “I’ll change too.”

Nicole got up from the bed, grabbing her bag and walking into the bathroom so she could change. She walked back out a couple minutes later wearing a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top, her curly hair up in a ponytail.

Alex had changed out of his jeans into a pair of basketball shorts and was plugging his Blackberry into the charger. He turned when he heard Nicole place her bag on the spare bed and smiled when he saw her.

“You even look amazingly cute in PJs,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, kissing her lightly.

She giggled slightly as he set her back down on the ground.

“You want to watch a movie?” he asked her.

She nodded her head. “Yeah, I might fall asleep before it’s over though.”

Alex looked at the clock on the bed stand table, realizing it was already three in the morning. He hadn’t realized it was so late; he seemed to lose all sense of time when he was with Nicole.

“I might too, but it’s ok, that’s what we did last night,” Alex replied.

Nicole nodded with a slight laugh. “That’s very true.”

Alex turned off the lights in their room, leaving only the lamp on the bedside table on so they could find their way around. He grabbed the remote to the television before they both climbed into bed.

Alex wrapped an arm around Nicole and she cuddled up to his side, resting her head on his chest. Alex smiled to himself as he flipped through the guide channel looking for a movie they could watch.

“We should watch ‘Garden State’, that’s one of my favorite movies,” Nicole said as he passed it on the guide.

“That sounds good to me,” Alex replied as he nodded his head, turning to the channel that “Garden State” was playing on.

They watched the beginning of the movie in a comfortable silence. As Nicole snuggled closer to him, his thoughts started to drift to her. He realized that his situation was a lot like the one in the movie. He was falling in love with a girl that he had met by chance and had only known for a short period of time, despite the fact that he knew he had to leave soon.

He sighed heavily as he realized that tomorrow was his last Florida show.

“What’s wrong?” Nicole asked him, tilting her head up slightly so she could look at him.

“I don’t want to leave,” he replied softly with another sigh.

Nicole frowned slightly, understanding what he was saying.

“I don’t want you to leave either,” she replied, her grip on him tightening slightly.

Alex looked down at her, frowning at the thought of having to part from her so soon. His expression quickly brightened as an idea struck him. “Then come with me.”

“What?” she asked sounding surprised, her eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, come with me for the rest of the tour,” he explained excitedly. “You were telling me today when we went to dinner how much fun you had today. It will be like today, except for the next two weeks.”

“Alex-” she began but he cut her off.

“Oh my god, do you know how much I would love to have you come with us?” Alex added, hoping that if he stressed how much he wanted her to come along, he would win her over.

“Alex-” she tried again, but he was still rambling on.

“We could have so much fun if you were to come on tour with us,” Alex went on. “And you could hang out with Kyle more.”

Nicole silenced him by leaning over and pressing her lips to his briefly.

“That sounds like so much fun, and so amazing, Alex,” she said once she pulled away. “But I can’t.”

Alex’s expression instantly fell. “Why not? You don’t want to?”

“I do,” Nicole replied, “but I can’t.”

“But why not?” Alex asked, pouting at her.

“I still have almost another month until I get out of school for summer break,” Nicole replied. “I’m not done with classes.”

“There’s only a couple weeks left of tour, can’t you miss your classes until we come back like you're doing on Monday?” Alex asked.

“I can’t miss so many days of class so close to finals,” Nicole replied with a slight smile. “I’m sorry.”

Alex pouted again and nodded his head in understanding. He knew she had classes, and not to mention her job at the campus radio station that she couldn't just ditch for two weeks out of the blue.

Nicole softly touched his cheek, smiling at him. “At least we still have all day tomorrow-err today, and you have the day off tomorrow right? We can spend time together then too until it’s time for you to leave.”

Alex nodded his head with a slight smile, glad that he still had at least a little bit of time left to spend with her. He leaned over her and kissed her lightly.

“I’m going to miss you when I leave,” he said softly when he pulled away, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

“Let’s not think about that right now,” she replied just as softly, running her fingers through his hair.

Alex lifted his head to look at her and nodded, pushing the thought of having to leave her behind in Florida to the back of his mind for now.

He kissed her again, a little more deeply this time than last, before settling back down next to her and wrapping his arms around her again, pulling her to him. She rested her head back down on his chest and he kissed the top of her head as they settled back into their original position.

Alex gently ran his fingers through her hair as they turned back to their movie. Nicole smiled to herself at how affectionate he was suddenly being with her. She was so torn by her conflicting thoughts on what was happening between them, and she could slightly feel her heart breaking over the fact that he would be leaving so soon.

Sighing to herself, she decided to take her own advice and push those thoughts to the back of her mind until it came time for Alex to actually leave. She rested her hand on his chest next to her head and Alex gently grabbed it, lacing their fingers together as he looked down at her briefly and they smiled at each other.

Fifteen minutes later Alex looked at Nicole to find that she had fallen asleep in his arms already. He smiled to himself as he watched her sleep for a few minutes. She looked so peaceful, curled up to his side.

He turned back to the TV and the movie had ended so he turned it off, placing the remote on the bedside table and turning off the lamp as well. He turned back to Nicole, wrapping his arms back around her and settling into bed.

He kissed her forehead before closing his eyes and falling asleep with a content smile on his face.

Nine

When Alex woke up the next morning, Nicole was still asleep. He smiled when his eyes landed on her, noticing the smile on her face. She was still snuggled against Alex, sleeping peacefully in his arms.

Alex enjoyed the peacefulness of the moment for a few more minutes before gently shaking Nicole awake. She groaned slightly, burying her face in his chest.

He laughed softly. “Wakey wakey sleepy head.”

Nicole sighed as she reluctantly opened her eyes, lifting her head slightly to pout at him.

Alex smiled at her, leaning forward to kiss her head. “Good morning cutie.”

Nicole smiled back at him as she rested her head back down on his chest and looked up at him. “Good morning. How did you sleep?”

“Amazingly,” Alex replied with a smile. “How about you?”

Nicole nodded her head. “Really well.”

Alex grinned before lightly pressing his lips to hers for a few seconds.

“Where’s your show tonight at?” Nicole asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

“St. Petersburg,” Alex replied. “That’s only a couple hours away, right?”

Nicole nodded her head.

“Good, that means we won’t have to leave until later this afternoon, so we can go do something today,” Alex replied, pulling her a little closer to him.

“What did you want to do today?” Nicole asked him.

Alex shrugged. “I thought maybe we could go back to the beach for a little bit, unless you didn’t want to.”

“No that sounds good, we can go back to the beach for a bit,” Nicole replied.

Alex turned slightly to look over his shoulder at the clock. He checked the time before turning back to Nicole.

“It’s about 10:30, do you want to go get something to eat?” he asked her.

She nodded, sitting up. “Yeah, I’m hungry. Let me take a quick shower first.”

Alex nodded his head, sitting up as well. “Ok, I’ll get dressed and see if anyone else wants to go to the beach with us while you take a shower.”

Nicole nodded and got out of bed, grabbing her bag before making her way to the bathroom.

Alex got out of bed once she closed the door to the bathroom, walking over to the spare bed. He grabbed a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans out of his bag, quickly changing. He looked in the mirror at his hair, deciding he didn’t want to bother with it. Instead, he pulled on his usual grey beanie.

Once he was dressed he pulled his laptop out of his bag, settling down onto the bed while he waited for Nicole.

Nicole walked out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later, dressed in a pair of jeans and a black tank top, and Alex could see that she was wearing her swimsuit underneath.

“What are you up to?” Nicole asked him as she slid her feet into her flip flops.

“Oh, you know, just looking around the internet,” he replied. “Planning something.”

Nicole raised an eyebrow at him. “And just what are you planning?”

He closed his laptop before standing up and walking over to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and grinned. “Well, tonight I’m taking you out. Remember how I talked you into bringing your dress just in case?”

Nicole nodded her head, resting her hands on his arms.

“Well I’m taking you out somewhere that’s slightly fancy so you can wear it,” he explained. “Since it’s my last night here in Florida, I thought it would nice to go out and do something special.”

Nicole smiled, loosely draping her arms around his neck. “That’s so sweet Alex.”

He grinned at her before pressing his lips to hers. “You ready to go eat?”

Nicole nodded her head again, dropping her arms from around his neck. Alex smiled, unwrapping his arms from around her and offering her his hand. She placed her hand in his and he laced their fingers together. She grabbed her purse as Alex pulled her to the door.

When they got out into the hall, Jack and Courtney were walking out of their room as well, arms linked.

“Where are you two off to?” Jack shouted down the hall at them.

“We’re going to go get some breakfast,” Alex explained.

“Well what a coincidence, so are weee,” Jack replied, smiling brightly.

“Well someone’s in a good mood today,” Alex replied with a laugh as Jack and Courtney caught up to him and Nicole.

“Yeah, well,” Jack replied with a grin as he wrapped an arm around Courtney, pulling her close.

“What’s that grin mean Jack?” Nicole asked, her eyebrows raised.

Courtney laughed. “Not what you’re thinking.”

“Well you never know, seeing as how Jack is grinning and all,” Nicole replied with a laugh.

Courtney’s jaw dropped in fake shock. “I think I’m insulted that you would assume such a thing,” she replied, trying not to laugh.

“Oh please, I’m sure you find it hard to resist Jack,” Nicole replied.

“Oh hush you,” Courtney laughed, giving Nicole a slight shove.

“Anyways, it means,” Jack cut in with a slight laugh, “that I had an amazing date last night and then I got to come back to the hotel and cuddle with an amazing girl.”

“Aw Jack, that’s cute,” Nicole cooed as she looked at Courtney and Jack with a smile.

Courtney had looked up at Jack, a smile spreading across her face as he grinned down at her before kissing her cheek.

“Cuddling is always good,” Alex replied, grinning at Nicole.

“Yes, it is,” Jack agreed, still smiling at Courtney.

“Well look at you, being Mr. Affectionate,” Alex said with a smile to Jack. “I must say, Courtney, you seem to be having a very positive influence on Jack here.”

“Look who’s talking Mr. I-can’t-go-anywhere-without-my-hand-attached-to-Nicole’s,” Jack replied with a laugh, nodding his head at Nicole and Alex’s clasped hands.

Alex grinned at Jack with a shrug as he pulled Nicole into the elevator. “What can I say? I like holding Nicole’s hand.”

“Well oo la la,” Jack grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at Alex as he and Courtney joined them in the elevator.

As the four rode the elevator to the lobby, Alex looked over to Jack, locking eyes with him, silently communicating something with him. The girls caught the looks the boys were exchanging, wondering what they had just silently said to each other with their eyes.

They reached the lobby and Alex led Nicole out of the elevator, Jack and Courtney following close behind.

“Where were you two going to go to breakfast?” Alex asked Jack and Courtney as the four crossed through the lobby.

“There’s a Denny’s down the street,” Jack replied.

“Denny’s sounds good, you want to eat there babe?” Alex asked Nicole.

“That sounds good to me,” Nicole replied smiling up at Alex. She turned to Courtney and Jack. “Mind if we join you?”

“Of course not,” Courtney replied as Jack started to lead the way to Denny’s.

They sat at a booth, Jack and Courtney on one side, Alex and Nicole on the other. They were silent as they looked over their menus.

Alex noticed Nicole had her menu raised in front of her as she looked at it. He grinned to himself, raising his as well so that Jack and Courtney couldn’t see them, before turning to her.

“Hey,” he said softly to get her attention.

“Hmm?” she replied, turning to look at him.

He grinned before leaning over and pressing his lips to hers. He could feel her smile against his lips as she kissed him back.

“Trying to be sneaky over there, are we?” Jack asked, hitting the back of Alex’s menu.

Alex pulled away from Nicole, smiling at her before lowering his menu and turning to grin innocently at Jack. “What do you mean?”

“Pft don’t act innocent,” Jack replied, laughing and shaking his head. “We know you were trying to be all sneaky and kiss behind your menus.”

“If we were behind our menus, how would you know?” Alex countered.

“Just because you put your menus up doesn’t mean you're invisible,” Jack replied.

Courtney nodded her head, laughing slightly. “We could see you leaning towards Nicole over the top of your menus, so we figured out what you two were doing. But it’s ok, it’s kind of cute Alex.”

Alex grinned in response.

Their waitress returned with their drinks and to take their orders. Once they had all ordered and handed over their menus, Alex grabbed Nicole’s hand under the table, lacing their fingers together. She turned to look at him briefly, smiling.

“Are we all still going to the beach today?” Jack asked Alex.

Alex nodded his head. He had text messaged everyone while Nicole was taking a shower to see if anyone wanted to join them at the beach a little later in the day.

They talked for a few more minutes while they waited for their food, chatting about various subjects.

“Now, since we’re eating in a group again, are you going to be able to behave yourself?” Nicole asked Alex when their food was brought out.

“I always behave,” Alex replied innocently. “You make it sound like I don’t know how to act at a restaurant.”

“Don’t act all innocent Alexander, you were throwing fries at me yesterday when we all went to lunch,” Nicole replied, laughing and shaking her head. “That’s not what I would consider behaving.”

“It was one fry, and you threw one back at me, dipped in ketchup,” he defended.

“You started it,” Nicole replied. “I just want to make sure I’m not going to have pieces of your pancakes flying at me today.”

Alex grinned, kissing her cheek. “I wouldn’t throw pancakes at you; that would be too messy.”

Courtney and Jack were listening to Nicole and Alex, laughing slightly with amused looks on their faces.

"Sounds like I missed an interesting lunch yesterday,” Courtney said.

Nicole laughed and nodded. “Alex claims that I was ignoring him yesterday, so he decided to throw a fry at me to get my attention.”

“But really she was just talking to me,” Jack explained.

Alex shook his head at Jack. “So then she decided to dip a fry in ketchup and threw it at my face.”

Courtney laughed, shaking her head, pointing at Nicole and Alex. “You two are terrible.”

“It wasn’t just us,” Nicole replied. “After we had decided to call a truce and put an end the food throwing, Jack decided to throw some pickles at Rian.”

“Children, I’m surrounded by over grown children,” Courtney mumbled, shaking her head.

The three grinned at her in response, causing her to laugh.

They were mostly silent for the rest of the time that they were eating, speaking only when they boys tried to steal something off of the girls’ plates.

After breakfast, they walked back to the hotel so that they could change and gather everyone to go to the beach. When they reached the third floor they split up, Nicole and Alex going into their room and Courtney and Jack going into theirs, agreeing to meet up again in about ten minutes.

Once they were in the room, Nicole and Alex decided to change for the beach. Alex pulled a pair of swim trunks out of his bag and walked into the bathroom to change. Since Nicole already had her bathing suit on under her clothes, she decided to just change from her jeans into a pair of board shorts.

Alex walked out of the bathroom within a minute, his jeans in his hands. He tossed them on top of his bag before tackling Nicole down onto the bed they had slept in.

Nicole giggled. “Why is it that whenever I’m standing next to a bed, you feel the need to tackle me down onto it Mr. Gaskarth?”

He grinned. “Well Miss Madrid, I can’t help it, I can’t turn off these ninja skills. I’m just demonstrating them for you.”

“Oh, ok,” Nicole replied, laughing and shaking her head at him.

Alex grinned again. “Besides, like I said yesterday, this position makes it much easier for me to do this.”

He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. Nicole smiled against his lips, pulling him down closer to her.

“Well that’s a much better reason,” Nicole replied once they parted.

Alex smiled. “I thought you might think so.”

Nicole laughed. “You know me so well already.”

Alex grinned before kissing her again, a little more deeply.

They were interrupted after a couple of minutes by a banging at the door.

“Beach time nooow!” Jack yelled through the door.

Alex sighed and pouted, pulling away from the kiss and resting his forehead in the crook of her neck. “Why does Jack keep interrupting our kisses?”

Nicole laughed lightly, patting his head.

“Hey you two! Stop trying to be all kissy and come out here already!” Jack called again.

“We’ll be right out!” Nicole called back.

“Hurryyy,” Jack whined.

Nicole laughed, tapping Alex lightly. “We should probably get going for Jack’s sake.”

Alex nodded his head, getting up off of Nicole, and then offering his hand out to Nicole. She grabbed his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

Alex grabbed his sunglasses and their room key off the bedside table before turning to Nicole. “Ready?”

“Just one more thing,” Nicole replied before taking Alex’s beanie off his head.

Alex raised an eyebrow at her.

“You don’t need a beanie at the beach,” she explained with a grin.

“But my hair is all messy,” he pouted.

“I think you look cute when your hair is messy,” Nicole replied with a smile, ruffling his hair.

He grinned before taking her hand and leading her out of their room.

“It’s about time,” Jack said exasperatedly once Nicole and Alex stepped out of their room.

Alex laughed, shaking his head as he started leading the way to the elevator. “You guys could have left without us; we could have met you there.”

“Or you two could have stopped making out when I knocked and gotten out here quicker,” Jack countered.

Nicole laughed. “We weren’t making out Jack. We were just lying around in our room and lost track of time.”

“Pft it took you a couple of minutes to get out here once I informed you it was time to leave,” Jack replied.

Rian laughed, shaking his head as they all stepped onto the elevator. “Leave them alone Jack. It was like, two minutes that we were waiting.”

“That’s two more minutes we could have had at the beach,” Jack replied.

“Wait, who was the one who originally wanted to go to the beach? Whose idea was this originally?” Alex replied. “Oh that’s right, it was mine.”

Jack pouted and Courtney laughed, slipping her hand into Jack’s as she shook her head.

They reached the lobby and crossed through to the door. Alex laced his fingers with Nicole’s as they led the way to the beach. She smiled up at him before turning back to her conversation with Matt.

Ten

The beach was surprisingly fairly empty when they got there. They found an empty area, away from everyone else who was at the beach, and put their stuff down together. They all started stripping down to their bathing suits, the boys pulling their shirts off and kicking off their shoes while the girls pulled their tank tops off and Courtney took off her capri pants.

Nicole nudged Courtney as Zack pulled his tank top off and the girls both watched him before turning and grinning at each other.

“Oh. My. God,” Courtney muttered to Nicole. “He looks even better without his shirt on in the sunlight than he did on stage.”

Nicole giggled, hushing Courtney so Zack wouldn’t hear them.

“And just what are you two whispering and giggling about?” Jack asked, sticking his head between the two girls’.

They both grinned innocently at him, shaking their heads.

“Nothing,” Nicole replied.

Jack looked at the girls skeptically, not believing them.

Courtney nodded her head in agreement, biting her lip and trying her best not to look at Zack, knowing that if she did she would surely giggle and give herself away.

Jack stared at her for a few more seconds before shaking his head and pulling Courtney to the water.

Nicole laughed to herself, shaking her head as she watched Jack pull Courtney away. She folded her tank top before sticking it in her bag.

“Can I put my stuff in your bag?” Alex asked Nicole, walking back over to her; he had left her briefly to ask Matt what time they had to leave for the next show.

She nodded her head. “Sure.”

Alex smiled before sticking his shirt, phone, and their room key in her bag. He tossed his shoes down on the sand next to hers and was about to offer his hand to her but was stopped when Rian called out to him.

“Alex! Come here real quick!” Rian yelled.

Alex turned and nodded at him quickly before turning back to Nicole. “I’ll be right back.”

Nicole nodded before he ran off to where Rian was. She zipped her bag closed before jogging over to where Zack and Matt were throwing a football around. She ran in front of Zack, intercepting Matt’s pass to him before he could catch it. She grinned at him, causing him to shake his head and run after her.

Nicole ran to where Courtney was standing at the edge of the water with Jack.

“Court! Catch!” she yelled before tossing the football to Courtney.

Courtney looked up just in time to catch the ball. “What are we playing?”

“Keep away from Zack!” Nicole replied with a laugh.

Courtney’s eyes widened slightly as she squealed when she realized Zack was running for her. She took off running in the direction Nicole had, throwing the ball back to her. The girls spent the next five minutes playing keep away alone with Zack, allowing him to get close to them when they had the ball, only to quickly toss it to the other when he was about to get it.

“Looks like Zack is luring our girls away from us,” Jack said to Alex with a slight pout as they watched the three play.

Zack had almost gotten the ball from Courtney, he had been able to grab onto one of her arms and was pulling her to him because she had been distracted by laughing at him. To distract Zack and allow Courtney to get away, Nicole had jumped on his back when he wasn’t paying attention. Jack and Alex both pouted slightly at how the way the two girls were teasing Zack and playing with him was almost flirtatious.

Alex shook his head slightly, running over to Nicole, Courtney, Zack to join their game.

“Hey! I’m playing!” he shouted as he jogged over to them.

“Fine. Keep away from the boys then!” Nicole yelled as both boys ran for her before quickly throwing the ball over Zack’s head back to Courtney.

Zack quickly changed the direction he had been running, running back to Courtney. Her eyes widened at how quickly he had appeared in front of her. She quickly took off running away from him, towards Nicole. She threw the ball to her before Zack could grab her.

Alex had stood back by Nicole. As soon as she got the football, he ran up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to him. She squealed as she tried to wiggle out of his grip but he held her tightly to him.

She giggled as he kissed her neck lightly before grabbing the ball out of her hands. He tossed the ball to Zack with one hand, keeping an arm wrapped around Nicole’s waist so she couldn’t get away, before kissing her neck again.

“Come play in the water with me,” he said, starting to pull her towards the water.

She turned slightly to look at him and nodded her head. “Hang on, I just want to take my shorts off before we go in the water.”

Alex smiled at how quickly he had been able to get her to forget about flirting and playing with Zack. He nodded, unwrapping his arms from around her. He grabbed her hand, leading her back to where they had left their stuff.

“Aww, don’t steal Nicole away from our game!” Zack called after them.

“Sorry, but she’s mine!” Alex called back to Zack with a grin. “Get Jack to play with you.”

Nicole let go of Alex’s hand when they reached her bag. She slipped off her shorts, folding them up and putting them in the bag with the rest of her and Alex’s things. Once she had her bag re-zipped she turned back to Alex.

“Ok, let’s go,” she said.

He smiled, offering out his hand. She placed her hand in his and led her to the water where Rian and Matt were playing around. They joined the two boys, splashing around in the water; Jack had gone to try to steal Courtney back from Zack.

Alex had turned briefly to watch Courtney, Jack, and Zack. Zack had the ball now and Courtney ran at him, tackling him down to the ground. She sat on his stomach, laughing at him as she tried to grab the ball from him, but he kept trying to pull it out of her reach. He held it over his head, causing her to lean over him. As Courtney reached for the ball, they locked eyes. Zack smiled flirtatiously at her, enjoying the attention he had been receiving from both girls, but stopped when he noticed the look Jack was giving him, fearing that he may be crossing the line.

Jack cleared his throat, causing them both to break from the stare. Courtney grabbed the ball out of Zack’s hand, getting up off of him and holding it up victoriously.

“I win!” she announced grinning down at Zack.

Zack laughed as he sat up, holding his hands up in defeat. "Yeah, I give up."

Courtney hopped and skipped around where Jack was standing, dancing victoriously. Both boys laughed and she grinned at them.

"Are you done playing keep away?" Jack asked Courtney.

She nodded her head. "Yeah that kind of tired me out, that's enough keep away for me for now."

Zack nodded in agreement. "You two girls wore me out."

Nicole smirked when she realized Alex had turned his back to her, Rian, and Matt. She decided to take advantage of the fact that he wasn’t paying attention and jumped onto his back, tackling him down.

He turned his head back slightly to see who was on him, and when he realized it was Nicole, he rolled over so that he was lying on his back underneath her. She grinned at him as she sat on his stomach.

“What was that for?” he asked her, his eyebrows raised.

She shrugged. “I can’t turn these ninja skills off Alex; you should know how that goes. I was demonstrating them for you.”

“I think you’re mocking me,” Alex replied with a slight pout as he looked up at her.

She smiled, shaking her head. “I’m not. I really just wanted to see if you were right about it being easier to do this from up here.”

Nicole leaned down, pressing her lips to his. Alex smiled against her lips; it was still one of the first times they had kissed that she had initiated. When Nicole pulled away, Alex couldn’t stop smiling.

“So what did you think? Did I lie?” he asked her softly.

“I’m not quite sure,” Nicole replied, looking at him thoughtfully.

“Well maybe you should try it again to help you decide,” Alex suggested.

“Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” Nicole replied before leaning down and kissing him again.

Alex’s hands went to rest on Nicole’s hips as he held her to him. He could hear the guys whistling, obviously having spotted them kissing in the sand. He flipped them off as he kissed Nicole for a few more seconds before she pulled away again.

“Now what do you think?” Alex asked softly.

Nicole smiled. “I think you were right.”

Alex grinned. “If this is what happens when you tackle me, feel free to tackle me whenever you want.”

Nicole laughed, getting to her feet and offering her hand to Alex to help him up. He placed his hand in hers, allowing her to pull him to his feet.

“Let’s go for a little walk to get away from the others,” he suggested as he laced their fingers together.

Nicole nodded. “Ok, that sounds good.”

They started to walk away from the others when Jack spotted them. “Where are you two off to?"

“We’re going for a walk, we’ll be back in a little bit,” Alex called back.

“Oo la la,” Courtney called after them.

Nicole turned in time to see Courtney wiggling her eyebrows at them. Nicole laughed, shaking her head as her and Alex walked away.

They walked for a few minutes until they were out of eyesight of the others. When Alex was sure they could be alone, he stopped walking causing her to stop as well. He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him.

Nicole smiled as she was reminded of their trip to the beach the night before. Alex had been so affectionate with her since then. She knew that it was going to be that much harder to keep from missing him now then she had originally thought.

“I love coming to the beach with you,” Alex said to her, breaking her from her thoughts.

Nicole’s smile broadened as Alex leaned down and kissed her deeply. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he pulled her body as close to his as possible.

Their kiss lasted for a several minutes until they both pulled apart. Alex kissed her lightly a couple more times before smiling again.

“Maybe we should head back to the others before Jack and Courtney start to get suspicious,” Nicole suggested.

Alex laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The two made their way back to where all their friends were still playing around in the water. Courtney had brought out her camera and was taking pictures of them all as they laughed and played.

Alex and Nicole took a seat in the sand right in front of the water. Alex pulled Nicole so she was sitting in front of him, between his legs, and she rested her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms loosely around her and she smiled.

They caught Courtney’s eye and she smiled at the sight of them. She walked over to them, her camera in hand.

“Hey guys, smile,” she said as she stood in front of them, ready to take their picture.

They both looked up at her, smiling brightly as she took their picture. She took another as Alex kissed Nicole’s cheek, causing her to giggle. Courtney smiled at how genuinely happy they both looked just to be around each other.

Jack tackled Rian into the water and they both started wrestling. Courtney ran off to take some more pictures as the boys pushed each other around in the water.

Nicole turned her head slightly to look back at Alex. “Do you want to head back to the hotel with me? I want to take a quick shower to rinse the salt water out of my hair so I don’t have to take a shower tonight after the show.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, I should probably take a shower too.”

He stood up and pulled Nicole to her feet. They let the others know that they were heading back to the hotel, and would meet them in a little while when it was time to check out and head to the next venue, before walking to where they had all left their stuff in a pile.

Nicole found her bag and pulled out her shorts. She put her board shorts back on before handing Alex his shoes. They both slipped into their flip-flops and Alex offered her his hand again. She smiled, slipping her hand into his and the two started their walk back to the hotel.

No One Can Touch Us

Sun, 18 May 2008 08:45:50 GMT

Title: No One Can Touch Us
About: All Time Low
Progress: In Progress

Prologue- Chapter 1
Chapter 2- Chapter 3
Chapter 4- Chapter 5

Six

Alex hopped off stage as soon All Time Low was done with sound check.

“Where are you hurrying off to?” Rian asked, noticing how eager Alex seemed to be to about getting done with sound check.

Alex turned to look back at the stage where Rian was standing by his drums still. He shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head. “Nowhere.”

“He’s going to go off and search for Nicole and steal her back from Kyle,” Jack cooed as he set guitar down and hopped off stage to stand next to Courtney.

Alex laughed, shaking his head. “Shut up Jack.”

Alex made his way back to the merch tables. When he reached the Forever The Sickest Kids merch table, he noticed that Nicole was missing. He looked around but she was nowhere in sight.

“Where’s Nicole at?” he asked Kyle once he was at the table.

“We forgot a couple of boxes of merch in the van so she went with Jonathan to get them. They should be back in a couple of minutes,” Kyle replied, turning from the display he was setting up to answer.

“Oh,” Alex replied, nodding his head. He stood by the table to wait for Nicole to return.

“She’s a cool girl. I like hanging out with her,” Kyle went on. “It would be cool if she could hang out for the rest of the tour.”

Alex nodded his head. “Yeah, she’s…amazing,” he replied softly.

Kyle’s open admittance to liking Nicole troubled Alex. He was starting to get more and more worried about how Kyle was feeling towards Nicole. It had been a while since Alex had found a girl that he really liked, and he wasn’t ok with losing this one to Kyle.

Kyle turned from the shirt he was hanging up and smiled at Alex. “You know, that girl really likes you.”

Alex raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kyle. “How do you know?”

“She couldn’t stop talking about you while you were doing sound check; I could just tell by the way she was talking about you that she likes you,” Kyle replied. “You’re a lucky guy to have found her Alex; you should hang on to that one.”

Alex smiled as he thought over what Kyle had just told him. “Yeah, I plan to.”

It made Alex feel ten times better to know that Kyle was aware of the fact that Alex liked Nicole and intended on keeping her in his grasp for as long as possible. At least now he felt that Kyle wouldn’t try and steal her away.

Nicole and Jonathan walked back in, each carrying a box of shirts and laughing. When they reached the table, Nicole smiled when she spotted Alex.

“Hey,” she said happily to Alex as she set the box in her hands down. “You’re done with sound check already?”

Alex nodded his head. “I see the guys put you to work.”

“Hey now, she offered to help us,” Jonathan defended.

Nicole laughed. “Yeah, I offered to help. I was just going to keep Kyle company, but I was watching them set up and they seemed a little helpless and flustered today. I figured they could use some assistance.”

“We were flustered about being in the presence of a pretty girl,” Austin replied with a grin, wiggling his eyebrows at Nicole.

She laughed again, shaking her head. “Yes, I’m sure that’s it. It’s not like you guys get rushed by a ton of girls every night.”

“Yeah, but they’re never this pretty,” Kyle replied, also grinning at Nicole.

“You boys are such charmers,” Nicole replied as shook her head and laughed lightly to herself.

“That’s how we roll, babe,” Kyle replied, still grinning. “We can’t help that we’re a charming band.”

“And, you know, maybe we were a little flustered because we misplaced K Dirty so he isn’t around to set up for us,” Jonathan added.

“Dude, don’t tell her that; that just kills the charm,” Kyle replied, giving Jonathan a slight push.

“I said a little flustered because of K Dirty missing; I didn’t say it had nothing to do with her,” Jonathan replied, pushing Kyle back.

Alex had been watching the entire conversation, laughing and shaking his head at the boys’ antics. Seeing that Kyle and Jonathan were distracted with pushing and throwing shirts at each other he seized the opportunity to steal Nicole back.

“Well if you guys are done charming Nicole, I’m going to steal her back from you,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close.

She smiled at Alex, wrapping her arm around his waist.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Nicole said to the boys before Alex started to pull her away from the merch table.

“Hey, we’re still hanging out during All Time Low’s set, right?” Kyle called after her.

She turned back to look at Kyle and nodded her head. “Yeah, I’ll see you then.”

Alex led Nicole back outside to the front of the venue.

“There’s a Jamba Juice down the street, do you want to go get a smoothie?” he asked her.

She nodded her head. “Sure that sounds good.”

They walked to Jamba Juice and got their smoothies before deciding to walk back to the bus to hang out before the show. Alex led Nicole to the back lounge of the bus, where they took a seat on the couch, talking and laughing.

Meanwhile, Courtney and Jack had decided to retreat to All Time Low’s dressing room to get away from the craziness that was being created by the others while The Rocket Summer did their sound check. They were seated on the couch, talking, and asking each other random questions so they could continue to get to know each other.

There was a lull in their conversation and Jack smiled over at Courtney pulling her onto his lap.

“You know, I’m really glad you could come,” he said as he smiled at her. “I missed you today at lunch.”

Courtney smiled at Jack. “I’m glad I could come too. I like spending time with you, Jack.”

Jack smiled at Courtney as he looked into her eyes before slowly leaning forward and pressing his lips to Courtney’s, kissing her for the first time. Courtney smiled against his lips, kissing Jack back. They pulled apart after about ten seconds and Jack smiled at Courtney again.

“I’ve been wanting to do that since we met last night,” Jack confessed before leaning forward and kissing her again.

Courtney smiled. She couldn’t believe how happy just being around Jack made her; she had never felt anything like it with any other boy before. She was starting to see how it was that Nicole could fall so easily for Alex so quickly, because she was starting to fall for Jack.

“Hey, tonight after the show do you want to go get dinner, just you and me?” Jack asked hopefully. “Like a date?”

He was somewhat scared that he might be asking her on a date too soon, but he hoped the fact that she had already let him kiss her was a sign that she would say yes. He was relieved when Courtney smiled, nodding her head.

“I’d love to Jack,” she replied before leaning forward and kissing him again.

Seven

The girls were watching All Time Low play their set from the side of the stage. Currently Nicole was dancing around with Kyle. Courtney was a few feet away, talking happily with Jonathan and laughing at something he had said.

Kyle had stopped dancing and was now looking at Nicole, watching the way she smiled as she watched Alex out on stage. It was so clear to him how much she liked Alex, and it made him a little sad. He knew that had he met her first, or had Alex not liked her so much, that she would have been the type of girl that he would go for; he would be trying his best to win her over and have her in his life.

He sighed slightly to himself as he turned back to watching All Time Low finish their set. He felt Nicole bump him with her hip and he turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

She grinned and continued to bump him with her hip. He laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he began to sway from side to side with her. Nicole giggled as they went back to dancing around, making fools out of themselves as Courtney and Jonathan laughed at them.

All Time Low finished their set and thanked the crowd before running off stage. Alex grinned at Nicole as he ran to her, engulfing her in a hug before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. Nicole’s eyes widened as she felt herself being lifted off the ground.

“Alex Gaskarth!” she yelled. “Put me down!”

“No!” Alex replied, laughing as he started to carry her away from Kyle.

Kyle laughed slightly as he watched them.

Nicole kept insisting that Alex put her down, and when he didn’t she decided to take matters into her own hands. She reached down and grabbed his sides, tickling him. Alex was unable to wiggle out of her grasp and still hold onto her while keeping his balance, so he was forced to set her back down on her feet.

She grinned and stuck her tongue out at him once he set her down. He laughed, shaking his head as he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her to him before pressing his lips briefly to hers.

Their relationship amazed Kyle. They had only known each other for a day and they already acted like boyfriend and girlfriend. There was a playfulness between them, and they acted like they had know each other for years.

Kyle watched as Nicole pulled out of Alex's arms, shaking her head as she moved so she was just out of his grasp.

"Eww, you're all sweaty, don't kiss me, you’re going to get me sweaty," she replied, making a face at Alex.

"I am not; don't 'ew' me," Alex replied as he shook his head, trying to get his sweat on her, causing her to squeal.

He grinned and tried to grab onto her, but she shook her head, taking a step back away from him. She giggled when he pouted at her.

"Come hereee," he whined, reaching for her hand, pouting again when she pulled it out of his grasp.

It was clear that she was driving Alex crazy with the way she kept moving just out of his reach when he tried to hold her, and for some reason it was making Alex like her even more. She was turning out to be everything he wanted; she could make him laugh and smile, while driving him crazy all at the same time.

Nicole was still shaking her head as Alex pouted at her, giggling slightly at his frustration. Alex took a few quick steps closer to Nicole and she took off running back to where Kyle was still standing and watching them. She ran behind Kyle as Alex chased after her. As Alex caught up to her, she moved so that Kyle was standing between them.

Alex pouted at her again.

"Please come with me," he asked, offering her his hand.

She shook her head. "No, you're just going to shake your sweat on me."

"I won't, I promise," Alex replied, pouting as he shook his head. "I just want to hold your hand."

She smiled at him and nodded, holding her hand out to him as she stepped out from behind Kyle. Alex smiled, quickly grabbing onto her hand in case she decided to change her mind and pull her hand away from him.

They smiled at each other as they clasped hands, and Kyle found it amazing how quickly they had changed moods and how easily Alex had won her over. If he hadn’t known any better he would have thought that they had been dating and in love for a long time.

“Come with me, I want to change shirts before we go outside,” Alex said, nodding his head in the direction of the dressing room.

Nicole nodded before turning to Kyle. “I’ll see you later Kyle.”

“See you tomorrow?” Kyle asked.

She nodded her head, quickly hugging him before allowing Alex to lead her back to the dressing room.

Courtney and Jack were already back in the dressing room, cuddled up together on the couch, talking softly, when Nicole and Alex walked in. Nicole smiled at the sight of them huddled close, neither noticing that Nicole and Alex had entered the dressing room, too wrapped up with each other to notice anyone else.

Alex dropped Nicole’s hand so he could pull his shirt off, walking over to the couch that was across from the one Courtney and Jack were sitting on, where he had thrown Nicole’s Cobra Starship shirt that he had been wearing before the show.

“I’m just going to put your Cobra Starship shirt back on for now; I’ll change for our date when we get to the hotel,” Alex explained as he pulled the shirt back on before spraying some Axe on before grabbing onto Nicole’s hand again.

He started to lead her out of the dressing room, pausing as they passed Courtney and Jack to lightly kick Jack’s leg. Jack looked past Courtney at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Time to go meet fans and get to our hotel,” Alex explained with a grin before pulling Nicole out the door.

He held her hand as they approached the back door of the venue, deciding that they would walk to the front of the venue from outside to avoid the crowds at the merch tables.

When they started to round the street corner to the front of the venue, Nicole slowed down. Alex stopped walking and turned to look at her questioningly.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

“I think I should just hang back while you talk to the fans,” Nicole replied, looking over to the group of fans who had already grouped around Rian and Zack.

“Why?” Alex asked.

“Because, they’re here to spend time with you, not me and you, I see the way some of the girls were looking at me while we were walking around before the show; they hate me for walking around holding your hand and butting in on their time with you,” Nicole explained. “They’re going to get the wrong idea, and then tomorrow there’s going to be rumors about you circulating around the internet.”

Alex smiled at her, dropping her hand and wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. “Don’t let it bother you; it doesn’t matter because you’re the one I want to spend time with. I just want to say a quick hey and thank the kids for coming out, and then we’ll go check into the hotel. Let them think what they want to think; what’s the worst they can write about? ‘Alex Gaskarth was pulling his girlfriend around at the Florida shows’ or ‘OMG did you see Alex and the girl he was with? She must be his girlfriend’? I honestly wouldn’t mind if they wrote something like that.”

He leaned forward, kissing her, well aware of the fact that some of the girls were staring at them; he didn’t care. He didn’t care if tomorrow he stumbled across pictures of himself with Nicole on the internet, labeling them as boyfriend and girlfriend. With the way his feelings were so rapidly growing for her, he was thinking that he might eventually make those rumors true anyway.

“How can you not mind if people are writing untrue things about you?” Nicole asked.

It wasn’t that the thought of being considered Alex’s girlfriend really bothered her. It was that, despite all of Alex’s reassurance, Nicole still had doubts about what would happen when Alex left. She figured that once he was gone and things were done, it would be best to try to forget him and what was happening between them. She didn’t need so many reminders that she could just stumble upon of her time as Alex’s girl of the week.

“I don’t mind because it’s you,” Alex replied with a smile. “If it was another girl I would probably mind, but because it’s you I don’t.”

She smiled at his words. He had her so torn. Part of her wanted to believe that whatever was going on with them was going to be over when he left, but then he would say things to make her think otherwise. She didn’t know what to believe.

He could tell that she was thinking about something important, but he had no clue what. He smiled at her, unwrapping his arms from around her and grabbed her hand.

“Come on,” he said, nodding his head towards the group of fans. “Let’s go say hey so we can get out of here.”

She nodded her head, allowing Alex to pull her in the direction of the group. She could feel a few girls staring at her; she noticed a couple whispering as Alex pulled her along, smiling, seemingly unaware.

Alex held onto her hand, not wanting her to get away, as he signed some posters and CD’s for fans. A few fans gave Nicole friendly smiles, one had asked Alex who she was.

“This is my favorite girl in whole world,” he had replied simply, kissing Nicole’s cheek.

A few of the girls smiled at Alex’s affection towards Nicole; all assuming she was his girlfriend. A few others rolled their eyes jealously.

Courtney and Jack finally walked out of the venue. Jack was quickly surrounded by a group of fans, and when Courtney spotted Nicole with Alex she dropped Jack’s hand, informing him she was going to talk to Nicole. He nodded his head before she ran over to Nicole, grabbing onto her free arm.

“Hey you, I have to talk to youuu,” she said, starting to pull Nicole away.

Alex, realizing Courtney was trying to steal Nicole away from him, tightened his grip on her hand, pulling her back to him. Courtney noticed this and sighed.

“Alex, you can let go of my best friend’s hand for ten minutes. It won’t kill you,” Courtney whined. “I want to talk to her; you’ve been hogging her all day.”

Alex pouted and Nicole smiled at him. “I’ll be waiting right over there with Courtney for you when you’re done.”

He nodded, letting go of her hand, allowing Courtney to pull her away.

Courtney pulled Nicole so that they were standing against the outside wall of the venue, away from the groups that had gathered around the boys. Nicole had noticed that Courtney had been smiling brightly for the majority of the night, but she hadn’t had a chance to ask her about it while All Time Low were playing their set because Kyle had stolen Nicole away.

“What has you so happy tonight?” Nicole asked her. “You’ve been smiling like that pretty much all night.”

“Jack asked me out on a date,” Courtney replied, turning to Nicole with a grin. “And he kissed me before the show.”

Nicole raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Courtney nodded happily and Nicole smiled. “Well now look who’s getting ‘awfully close.’”

“Yeah, well,” Courtney replied with a shrug, still smiling.

“I’m happy for you,” Nicole replied, giving Courtney a hug. “Jack is a good guy, I can tell he likes you a lot. Alex said he’s never seen him like this with any other girl.”

Courtney smiled to herself. “I like him a lot. I know I was warning you about how you were getting too close to Alex too soon, but now I can see where you're coming from; it’s so easy with Jack.”

Nicole nodded her head, looking out at Jack and Alex, who were now standing next to each other, posing for some pictures. A couple of girls were talking to Alex, obviously flirting with him. He just laughed, not really paying attention to them, as he looked up and over to Nicole; their eyes met and Alex smiled brightly at her before turning to the next set of posters that were being thrust at him.

“Speaking of you and Alex,” Courtney went on. “I see you two are getting even closer. It’s cute.”

Nicole smiled slightly at Courtney, nodding her head. “It’s easy with him; we’re a lot alike.”

Alex finished signing the last poster, thanking all the girls around him for coming to the show before walking over to Nicole and Courtney, grabbing onto Nicole’s hand again.

“Come on, I’m done, let’s go wait on the bus,” he said, nodding his head towards the bus.

Jack walked over to them, grabbing onto Courtney’s hand as they followed Nicole and Alex to the bus. They passed by the two girls who had been flirting with Alex just a few minutes earlier and they were whispering loudly as Nicole and Alex passed by.

“Who do you think she is?” the first asked bitterly.

“I don’t know, probably Alex’s girl of the night,” the other replied.

“What a skank,” the first replied.

Alex heard them, and judging by the way he felt Nicole’s grip on his hand loosen, so had she. He understood now why she was so hesitant with him, and why she was holding back; it was because of his reputation. All of Alex’s joking had been taken too seriously and over exaggerated, and he had been marked as a manwhore, despite the fact that when he joked around at shows and during interviews he was obviously not being serious. Rumors had been spread about him online, and just like there were so many people pretending to be him online, there were a bunch of girls who claimed they had slept with him after shows. He figured Nicole must have been scared that that was what she was to him; some random hook up to get him through his time in Florida. She must have been scared that he was going to use her and then toss her aside.

He wanted to turn around and tell the girls off for implying such a thing about Nicole, but was saved the trouble by Courtney, who had over heard as well.

“You two need to shut the fuck up,” Courtney said, deliberately pointing at the two girls. She looked at their appearance, scrunching her nose up at the too-short skirts and low-cut tank tops they were wearing, thinking of what nerve they had to be calling her best friend a skank. "You little sluts have no fucking clue what the hell you're talking about, just because you would be the type to have a one night stand with a boy just because he’s in a band; you're just jealous."

Jack’s eyes widened slightly at Courtney’s outburst. He hadn’t heard her even raise her voice since they had met, but he figured she had been properly provoked. He smirked somewhat amused at how she had told off the two girls and the shocked looks on their faces; for some reason, it made him like her even more.

“She’s right,” Alex replied as he turned back to look at them, nodding his head in Courtney’s direction, feeling that Courtney had already said everything that he would have wanted to say.

The girls’ eyes widened as they looked at Alex. He shook his head before turning back around and pulling Nicole onto the bus.

As soon as they were on the bus, Nicole pulled her hand from his, heading in the direction of the back lounge. Alex was about to follow after her to apologize over what the girls outside had said, but Courtney grabbed onto his arm.

“Wait Alex, I need to talk to you,” she said.

Alex nodded his head and Courtney turned to Jack. "I need to talk to Alex alone real quick. Just give me a few minutes, ok?"

Jack nodded his head. "Yeah, I'll go hang out with Nicole."

Jack turned and made his way back to the back lounge and Courtney turned back to Alex.

“Look Alex,” she began, “I know you’re a good guy and you like Nicole. From what I’ve seen you treat her well, you make her smile and being around you makes her happy, but she’s my best friend, and after what happened outside, I feel the need to make sure she doesn’t get hurt again because I’ve seen her get hurt before.”

“I know what happened out there was a mess, and I know what people say about me, but they’re all rumors,” Alex replied. “I’m not going to hurt her, I care about her.”

Courtney nodded. “I get that, but I just need to make sure. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I don’t want you to prove me wrong by using my best friend and tossing her aside. She never gets this close to a guy so soon, she’s usually very guarded with guys because of her past experiences, but she’s opening up with you for some reason. I don’t want to see anyone taking advantage of that.”

“I understand,” Alex replied, smiling at Courtney. “I promise you, I have no intention of using her and tossing her aside. It might sound crazy after how long we’ve known each other, but she already means a lot to me, and it means a lot to hear that she’s opening up to me more than she normally does because that means she feels something. I’m not going to leave Florida in a couple of days and forget about her or brush her aside; she’s not just some girl that I’m trying to add to a list of conquests, despite what those girls outside made it sound like.”

Courtney sighed. “I’m trusting you Alex, and so is she. Just know that if you ever do hurt her, I’ll hurt you.”

Alex nodded. “If I do do something to screw this up, whatever it is, and hurt her, I want you hurt me.”

Courtney stared at Alex, studying him for a few seconds, trying to figure out if he meant what he said or if he was just saying it to get Courtney off his back. When she heard the door to the bus open and the others entering, she nodded her head and Alex smiled at her again before turning to go to the back lounge.

Alex felt the need to apologize to Nicole for what had happened outside, but he realized that since Courtney and Jack would be with them in the back lounge, and the others were sitting in the front lounge, there was nowhere sensible that he could take her where they could talk alone; he would have to wait until they got to the hotel for them to be able to have a private conversation.

He took a seat next to Nicole on the couch; she was having a conversation with Jack who was sitting on the couch opposite of her. Alex grabbed Nicole’s hand, holding it in his, smiling when she turned to look at him.

He looked over at Jack real quick; he had been distracted by Courtney who had taken a seat next to him, the two quickly diving into a conversation. Once he was sure they weren’t paying attention to him and Nicole and wouldn’t over hear them, he leaned over to kiss Nicole’s cheek before whispering in her ear.

“I’m so sorry about what happened outside,” he said softly so only she would hear.

Nicole shook her head. “It’s fine; you had no control over it.”

Alex frowned slightly. He knew it wasn’t fine, he could see in Nicole’s eyes that it had upset her, but he knew he shouldn’t press the subject until they could talk privately so he just nodded his head.

“I’m excited for our date tonight,” he said with a smile, trying to take her mind off of the occurrence outside the bus.

She smiled and nodded her head. “Me too.”

The mention of their date brought Nicole’s attention back to Courtney and Jack, who were huddled close, smiling as they talked quietly amongst themselves. Nicole smiled at the sight.

“When are you two going on your date?” Nicole asked them, drawing their attention to her and Alex, away from each other.

“We’re going out to dinner tonight, after we check in to the hotel and stuff,” Jack replied.

“Ooo a date?” Alex replied, clearly mocking Jack from earlier.

Jack laughed. “Shut up Alex.”

“Now you know how I felt earlier today,” Alex replied with a laugh.

Jack waved his hand dismissively at Alex, shaking his head. “Whatever.”

Courtney smiled, patting Jack’s knee. “Are you guys still going on another date tonight?”

Alex nodded his head. “Yeah, I just want to shower when we get to our hotel first, and then we’re going to go to dinner and take a walk on the beach.”

“Wow Nicole, you’ve gotten Alex to take a shower twice in one day, I’m impressed; Alex hardly ever showers on tour,” Jack replied with a laugh. “He must really like you.”

Alex shook his head, picking up a pillow that was next to him and throwing it at Jack. “Shut up dude.”

They talked for a few more minutes before the bus came to a stop. Zack came into the back lounge to inform them that they were at the hotel and the four followed him into the bunk hall.

Alex and Nicole stopped at his bunk and grabbed out their bags. Alex took Nicole’s hand with his free hand and led her off the bus. Rian and Matt were already waiting in the lobby, so Nicole and Alex joined them, waiting for the others. Zack was right behind Nicole and Alex, and Courtney and Jack joined them a couple minutes later.

Matt and Rian had already checked everyone in, so all that needed to be done was figure out who was staying in what room.

“Do you girls want your own room?” Matt asked Nicole and Courtney. “Everyone has their own room tonight, but I’ll make Jack and Alex share a room so you two can have one.”

“No,” Alex answered quickly before either girl could. “Nicole’s gonna stay with me and Courtney can stay with Jack.”

Matt nodded his head, handing out the room keys to each of the boys. Alex stuck their key in his hoodie pocket before taking Nicole’s hand again, leading her to the elevator.

They were the first ones to get their key, so they rode up the elevator alone. They reached the third floor and Alex led Nicole to their room, number 309. He let go of her hand briefly to pull the key out and open the door to the room. He grabbed onto her hand again before pulling her inside.

Alex kicked the door closed behind them as they made their way inside. They set their bags on one of the beds and Alex grabbed onto Nicole’s free hand so that he was holding both of her hands.

“I need to talk to you about something,” he said as he pulled her in the direction of the empty bed. He took a seat, pulling her down next to him.

“About?” she asked, turning slightly to look at him.

“About what happened when we were walking to the bus,” Alex replied.

Nicole shook her head. “Alex, I told you, it’s fine. It’s not like you had any control over it.”

Alex knew that it wasn’t fine; he could tell that she was still upset. Nicole had hardly said anything directly to him since they had all gotten on the bus. He frowned at her and shook his head.

“No, it’s not. I see that it bothered you and, I mean, it should; it bothered me too,” Alex began.

Alex could tell that she was going to reply but her cut her off before she could by shaking his head and holding up his hand.

“Look, I’ve noticed that you’ve been holding back with me some, and I know you said you didn’t want to get attached to me because I’m leaving soon. I know you’ve heard the rumors about me, about all the supposed one night stands on tour, but it’s not like that, especially not with us,” Alex explained. He brushed a few loose curls out of her face before continuing. “I care about you. It might sound crazy since we’ve only known each other for about a day, but I really do. I want you to trust me, ok?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just…” Nicole sighed, trailing off.

“It’s just what?” Alex asked.

“I don’t want to be the girl that you just come back to whenever your tours happen to roll through Florida and that doesn’t exist for the rest of the year,” Nicole replied.

“You’re not going to be. I told you already, just because I leave Florida to finish the tour doesn’t mean I forget you,” Alex replied. “If that were the case, I wouldn’t be putting any effort into this; I wouldn’t be wanting to spend so much time with you or even go out on any dates with you. I wouldn’t have brought you along with me so that I could spend more time with you, I would have just left you in Orlando.”

Nicole contemplated what he was saying and realized he had a point. He wouldn’t have invited her along for the rest of the Florida dates because that would have complicated things and created the risk of either of them getting attached. At the same time, she couldn’t still help but worry and think of his reputation. She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but she didn’t want to make herself too vulnerable or put herself up for a let down.

“What’s happening between us is different, I promise you,” Alex added, looking her straight in the eyes, when she didn’t answer; he wanted to make sure that she knew he wanted things to be different between them. “I’m not going to use you and then push you aside, I promise.”

Nicole studied Alex for a couple of seconds. She wanted to believe him more than anything. She decided to push all her worries aside, she had two more days left with Alex and she wanted to make the best of them. She’d deal with what was going to happen when he left once he was gone.

She nodded her head before answering softly. “I believe you.”

“Good,” Alex replied. He smiled, leaning forward and kissing her forehead before standing up from the bed. “I’m going to take a shower really quick, ok? Then we can go get dinner.”

Nicole nodded her head, smiling up at him as he turned to walk to the bathroom attached to their room. Once Alex was in the bathroom, she got up to change shirts and redo her make up.

Alex was showered ten minutes later and walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He grinned at Nicole as she raised an eyebrow at him.

“I forgot my bag,” he explained before grabbing his bag off the bed and walking back into the bathroom.

He returned, dressed in jeans and a black Glamour Kills shirt.

“You ready?” he asked her as he tossed his flip flops down onto the floor, slipping his feet into them.

She put the finishing touches on her eyeliner before turning to him and nodding her head with a smile. “Yup.”

Alex smiled as he took in her appearance. She had changed out of the t-shirt she had been wearing during the day and was now wearing the tank top he had picked out for her. She had redone her make up, as well as changed out of her Nikes and into a pair of flip flops.

“You look nice,” Alex said, offering his hand to her. “I was right about that shirt.”

She smiled again, laughing lightly as she placed her hand his outstretched hand. “Why thank you; good job picking my shirt.”

Alex grinned as she turned and grabbed her purse off the bed before allowing him to lead her out the door.

No One Can Touch Us

Wed, 07 May 2008 05:52:28 GMT

Title: No One Can Touch Us
About: All Time Low
Progress: In Progress

Prologue- Chapter 1
Chapter 2- Chapter 3

Four

“Where are we going?” Nicole asked Alex as they got into her car.

“The guys said to meet them at Red Robins, they said it was close to our hotel, so whichever Red Robins is closest to the hotel,” Alex explained.

Nicole nodded her head, knowing exactly where to go. When they got to the restaurant, Alex grabbed onto her hand again as they walked in. The guys had already arrived and had been seated, so the hostess showed Alex and Nicole to where they were sitting.

“Where’s Courtney?” Jack asked, noticing her absence right away. “Isn’t she coming?”

Nicole shook her head as she slid into the round booth next to him before Alex. “She had to take some pictures for one of her classes this afternoon instead.”

Jack pouted. “She’s still coming to the show tonight though, right?”

Nicole nodded her head. “She said she would.”

Jack nodded, still pouting slightly as he looked at his menu.

Nicole smiled slightly, finding it cute how disappointed Jack seemed over Courtney’s absence.

Their waitress appeared to take Nicole and Alex’s drink orders and bring the group a couple of baskets of fries while they looked over their menus. When she returned with their drinks, everyone was ready to order. After she had taken their orders, everyone sat around talking while they waited for their food.

Alex picked up a fry, throwing it at Nicole, was in the middle of a conversation with Jack, trying to get her to change her attention back to him.

Nicole snapped her attention back to Alex when she felt the french fry hit her on the side of her face. She picked the fry up off the table, playfully glaring at Alex.

“Alexander William Gaskarth,” she said, trying to sound stern and not laugh.

He grinned innocently at her as she shook her head at him.

Nicole dipped the french fry in ketchup before throwing it at Alex’s face, hitting him on the cheek.

Alex’s jaw dropped as he wiped at his cheek, trying to get the ketchup off his face.

Nicole looked at him innocently, mocking his previous grin.

“That was not nice,” Alex said with a pout.

“You started it,” Nicole laughed, shaking her head.

“I didn’t dip it in ketchup before throwing it at you,” Alex replied.

Jack was watching them, shaking his head as he laughed at them.

“Well you still threw a fry at me,” Nicole replied.

"I was just trying to get your attention because you were ignoring me," Alex pouted.

Nicole shook her head. “I wasn’t ignoring you, I was talking to Jack.”

“Yeah Alex, she was talking to me; we were having a conversation,” Jack added.

Nicole laughed as she looked at Alex. “I swear, you are like a little child.”

Alex grinned at her. “Yeah, but you like me anyways because I’m so good looking.”

Nicole laughed again. “Oh, is that why?”

Alex nodded, still grinning at Nicole.

She laughed, shaking her head as their waitress returned with their food. Once everyone had their food, she left to fetch drink refills, leaving everyone to start eating.

“You,” Nicole said, pointing to Alex, “behave and stop throwing your food around or else I’m going to move and go sit next to Zack.”

Alex pouted, looking at Zack’s spot across the booth from him. He grabbed onto Nicole’s hand under the table, shaking his head. “Noo, stay with me.”

Nicole looked down at their hands, trying not to smile as she looked back up at Alex. “Are you going to behave?”

Alex nodded his head.

“Fine, but if you start throwing pieces of your burger at me, you’re going to be in trouble Alex Gaskarth,” Nicole replied.

Alex smiled, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

The rest of the meal passed without any more food throwing, except for when Jack decided to throw a pickle at Rian. Nicole had eyed Alex to see if he was going to join in, but he just grinned at her squeezing her hand.

After everyone had finished eating, the boys were all lingering around, chatting. Alex was growing impatient to spend the day alone with Nicole, so he slid out of the booth, pulling her with him. He let go of her hand so he could grab his wallet out of his back pocket. He threw some money down on the table to pay for his and Nicole’s food before grabbing Nicole’s hand again.

“Well it’s been fun guys, but Nicole and I have a date we have to get to, so we’ll see you later,” Alex said, turn to the guys at the table.

“Ooo, a date huh?” Jack replied, wiggling his eyebrows at Alex.

Alex rolled his eyes, shaking his head. He turned and started to pull Nicole away, choosing to ignore Jack.

“Hey, are you guys riding with us to the show, are you going by yourselves?” Matt called after them.

Alex turned and shrugged. “We’ll see how we’re feeling and I’ll call you guys and let you know.”

Nicole waved to the boys before Alex started pulling her away again.

“So, we’re going on a date huh?” Nicole asked Alex once he had pulled her outside.

“Yeah, well, I mean, if that’s ok with you that we consider this a date,” Alex replied. “I guess I should have made myself clearer earlier when I asked if you wanted to hang out. I meant it more as a date.”

Nicole smiled and nodded her head. “Our first date. Where are we going?”

“I don’t know, I thought maybe we could go for a walk on the beach or something,” Alex replied.

“Well, we could have, but there’s no beach around here,” Nicole replied. “We wouldn’t have time to drive to the beach and get back in time to make it to your show.”

Alex pouted. “Darn, I suck at this. I’m sorry.”

Nicole shook her head, smiling. “No it’s ok. We could go walk around Old Town? And then we could go to the beach tonight after your show, Fort Lauderdale is by the beach.”

Alex perked up at the thought. “Ok, we could go to dinner after the show and then take a walk on the beach; we could turn it into a second date.”

Nicole smiled as they got into her car and she drove them to Old Town. When they got there and had parked, Alex excitedly got out of the car as he looked around. He rushed over to Nicole’s side of the car, pulling her out and grabbing onto her hand.

“Come on, let’s check this place out; it looks cool!” he said excitedly as he pulled her away from the car.

Nicole laughed slightly, allowing Alex to pull her around.

He finally slowed down and stopped pulling her, allowing her to walk next to him. They decided to get on a few rides first. After spending some time on the rides, Alex pulled Nicole over to the ice cream shop to get some ice cream.

Once they had their ice cream, they took a seat on a bench for a while.

Nicole looked over at Alex, smiling once she saw the smile on his face. She knew she was starting to like him a lot, and she felt like she might be getting too attached to him already. She didn’t know what was going on between them, but she was worried that she might be letting things progress too far between them for both of their own good.

Alex caught her watching him and smiled. “I’m glad you agreed to come out with me. I really like you, and I love spending time with you,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her.

Nicole turned her face again before he could press his lips to hers and he pouted; that was the second time she had done that to him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Why all of a sudden won’t you let me kiss you?”

Nicole sighed. “Alex, what are we doing?”

“What do you mean? We’re here on our first date,” Alex replied.

Nicole shook her head. “What’s going on with us?”

“We’re spending time together, getting to know each other,” Alex replied.

“Don’t you think things are happening too fast?” she asked.

Alex shook his head. “I don’t think so. I like you, I like you a lot. I’m ok with how things are progressing for us.”

Nicole hesitated in answering. She wanted to tell him that she liked him too, but she thought that that would be making herself too vulnerable.

Alex noticed her hesitance and he frowned slightly. “What’s wrong? You don’t like me?”

Nicole shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I do like you, more than I probably should this soon.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Alex asked, grabbing onto her hand.

“You’re going to be leaving soon,” she replied. “In a few days you’ll be gone and it will be like I never existed. I don’t think I should get myself too attached to you.”

Alex looked at her like she was crazy. “What makes you think that that’s going to happen?”

Nicole shrugged. “Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because it won’t,” Alex replied.

Nicole opened her mouth to respond but Alex shook his head, pressing a finger to her lips.

“No, it’s not going to happen. Nicole, I really like you. I know we just met, but I already really like you. I love spending time with you, and I already told you I want to spend all of my time with you. Whatever’s happening between us, it’s not going to end just because I leave to finish touring. I like you too much to just forget about you and pretend you never existed,” he told her.

Nicole smiled slightly. “Really?”

Alex nodded his head. “Really.”

Nicole smiled at Alex and he returned the smile, leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers. He smiled when Nicole finally let him kiss her. He didn’t know what was happening to him, but this girl was changing something. When he kissed her, he felt like he had finally found what he had been looking for.

He could already tell that Nicole was different; she wasn’t like most girls he would tend to come across while he was on tour. What was better was that she wasn’t the typical girl that a band guy would find while on tour because she hadn’t sought him out, they had just simply stumbled across each other like it was meant to happen.

They pulled apart and Alex smiled, standing and offering his hand to Nicole. He pulled her to her feet, pulling her in the direction of the trash can. They threw the trash from their ice cream before Alex spoke up again. “Come on, let’s walk around for a little bit more before we have to go back to your apartment.”

They walked around for another half hour before they decided that it was time to return to the apartment. Courtney was already home, watching tv in the living room when they arrived. She looked up when she heard them walk in.

“How was lunch?” she asked.

“Good,” Nicole replied as she and Alex took a seat on the couch. “Jack missed you though.”

“He did?” Courtney asked, her expression instantly brightening at the mention of Jack missing her.

Nicole nodded. “He got really pouty when he found out you weren’t going to lunch with us. And then he kept asking to make sure you were going tonight.”

“Aw,” Courtney replied, a smile spreading across her face.

Nicole smiled as she watched Courtney, who was obviously lost in her thoughts about Jack.

Alex reached over, grabbing Nicole’s left hand with his left hand. She turned her attention back to him, her eyebrow slightly raised.

“I like holding your hand,” he offered softly as an unnecessary explanation.

Nicole smiled slightly, kissing his cheek.

Courtney had returned her attention back to Alex and Nicole and was watching them intently.

“What’s with the rings?” Courtney asked, noticing the matching mood rings that Nicole and Alex were wearing on the ring fingers of their right hands.

“We bought them for each other today on our date,” Alex replied smiling brightly.

“Ooo you had a date?” Courtney replied, looking at Nicole with a raised eyebrow.

Alex laughed. “You sound just like Jack.”

Courtney laughed. “How so?”

“That’s pretty much exactly how Jack replied when Alex announced that we were going on a date today,” Nicole explained.

Courtney grinned. “What did you guys do on your date?”

“We went to Old Town,” Nicole replied.

“Yeah we got on some rides and then got some ice cream and walked around. That’s when we found these rings and decided to buy them for each other to remember our first date,” Alex explained.

“Ooo first date? So that means there’s going to be more?” Courtney replied.

“It sounds like you and Jack were made for each other or something,” Alex laughed. “But, yes, we have plans to go on our second date tonight.”

“It’s kind of more like our first date, part two,” Nicole explained.

Alex shook his head. “I like calling it our second date better. Two dates are better than one.”

Nicole smiled at Alex. “Ok then, I was just kidding. It’s our second date.”

Alex grinned, kissing her cheek.

“Anyways, we should probably get ready so we can go meet the boys, it’s almost time to leave for the show,” Nicole said, taking her hand out of Alex’s and standing.

“I’ll help you get your stuff together. We won’t be back until Monday, so you guys will need to pack clothes for a couple of days,” Alex said, standing up and grabbing on to Nicole’s hand again.

“You can miss your classes on Monday, right?” Nicole asked Courtney.

She nodded her head. “To hang out on the AP Tour, duh I can.”

Nicole laughed nodding her head at Courtney before she turned to Alex. “Let’s go pack my stuff.”

Alex nodded his head, allowing Nicole to lead him back to her bedroom.

When they walked into her room, Alex tackled Nicole down onto her bed, grinning down at her. She giggled as he hovered over her.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He shrugged his shoulders slightly, smiling innocently at her. “Oh, you know, nothing.”

Alex leaned down, pressing his lips to hers. He kissed her lightly a couple of times before pulling away from her and grinning.

“Alex,” she giggled as he pressed his lips to hers again, “I have to pack, we need to get going.”

“We have time,” Alex muttered against her lips.

“But I don’t think we do,” Nicole replied.

Alex pulled away from Nicole and pouted. “But we do. Don’t you like kissing me?”

Nicole smiled up at Alex, running her fingers through his hair. “Of course I do, I just don’t want us to be late and the others to leave us behind.”

“Good, because I like kissing you too,” Alex replied with a grin before kissing her quickly. “I’ve never kissed a girl with a lipring before. I like it.”

“Oh, so you only like kissing me because of my lipring?” Nicole asked, her eyebrow raised.

“Nooo,” Alex replied shaking his head. “I like kissing you because it’s you.”

Nicole smiled. “Good, because we might have had problems if you had said yes.”

Alex grinned at her. “Well, you should have known better than to expect me to say yes.”

Nicole laughed. “My bad.” She noticed that Alex’s phone was about to fall out of his front pocket so she grabbed it, checking the time.

“Whooa, someone’s hands are getting a little low,” Alex laughed, looking at Nicole with a grin.

“Oh shut up,” Nicole replied, trying to push Alex off of her. “Your phone was falling out of your pocket.”

Instead of allowing Nicole to push him off of her, he laid down on top of her, wrapping his arms around her waist tightly. He buried his face in the crook of her neck. “I was just joking, don’t try and push me off.”

“You were being pervy,” Nicole replied.

“No, I’m not pervy. I don’t have a single ounce of perviness in me,” Alex replied, his voice slightly muffled by Nicole’s neck.

Nicole giggled slightly at the feel of Alex’s breath against her neck. “Don’t lie to me Alex Gaskarth. I heard you talking on stage last night.”

“Nooo, that was Jack. I’m very innocent,” Alex replied.

Nicole laughed slightly. “You are not innocent, don’t pretend.”

“I’m innocent in this sense,” Alex countered.

“Ok, if you say so,” Nicole replied.

Alex kissed her neck lightly and Nicole giggled again, running her fingers through his hair. They were silent for a little while, Nicole still gently running her fingers through Alex’s hair. She felt his breathing shallow and his grip on her waist loosen some, so she figured he had fallen asleep.

She lightly shook him, trying to wake him up. “Alex, Alex wake up.”

“Hmm?” Alex asked, lifting his head from the crook of her neck to look at her.

Nicole smiled at the sleepy look in his eyes. “You fell asleep on top of me. I have to get up and pack my stuff.”

Alex shook his head, his grip on Nicole tightening again. “Let’s take a nap.”

“We can’t,” Nicole replied. “You told the guys we would meet them at 3:00 at the bus.”

Alex pouted at Nicole.

She smiled. “We can take a nap on the way to Fort Lauderdale? It will take a couple of hours to get there.”

Alex nodded his head, smiling. “Ok, that sounds good.”

Alex got up off of Nicole, pulling her to her feet as well. “I’ll help you pack.”

“Are we really going to pack now?” she asked.

He nodded his head. “We’ll save cuddling for until we’re on the bus.”

Nicole nodded. She went to her closet, Alex following. She grabbed out an over-night bag, sticking a pair of jeans in it. She looked through her shirts to find something to take with her.

Alex pulled out a black tank top with a guitar on it, handing it to Nicole. “Take this one, it’s cute.”

Nicole nodded, putting the tank top in her bag.

Alex found her sleeveless All Time Low hoodie and grinned. “Take this with you.”

Nicole looked at what Alex was holding and shook her head. “You're such a dork.”

Alex didn’t respond, he was already riffling through the other things she had in her closet.

“I think you should take this with you,” Alex said.

Nicole turned to see him holding up her black and pink polka dot dress.

“What would I need a dress for?” Nicole asked. “I’m going for two shows.”

“Because, maybe I had plans to take you on a fancier kind of date,” Alex replied. He pouted at her. “Take it with you, pleeease.”

Nicole sighed. “It’s not going to fit in my bag.”

“Then take this instead,” Alex replied, pulling her Clandestine Industries duffle bag off of one the shelves.

Nicole sighed, taking the bag from Alex. “It seems unnecessarily large for just two days.”

Alex shook his head. “It’s fine.”

Nicole transferred her stuff into her duffle bag before grabbing another tank top and putting it in the bag as well. She added her purple American Apparel hoodie before walking back into her room. She grabbed some clean under clothes and socks and added them to her bag before getting a pair of Nike dunks.

“Take your swim suit too since we’re going to the beach,” Alex said, walking into Nicole’s room from the closet.

She nodded, getting out a bathing suit and a pair of board shorts and placing them in her bag too. She grabbed a few things she needed for her hair and to shower before closing up her bag.

“I feel like I’m taking too much stuff with me,” Nicole said, pouting slightly at Alex.

He laughed, shaking his head at Nicole. “It’s fine.”

Alex took Nicole’s bag from her despite her insisting she could carry it and grabbed onto her hand with his free hand. “You ready to go?”

Nicole grabbed her purse off her bed before nodding her head. “Let’s go.”

Courtney was already waiting for them in the living room when they walked out of Nicole’s room.

“Well you two took a while to pack,” Courtney commented, raising an eyebrow at them. “What took you so long.”

“Alex was being lazy and trying to take a nap,” Nicole replied. “It took me a while to get him to get up.”

Courtney raised her eyebrow at them again. “I’m so sure that’s all.”

“Hey now Courtney Jean, what are you implying with that?” Nicole replied.

“Oh, nothing,” Courtney replied innocently.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head. “Are you ready to go?”

“I’ve been ready for a while,” Courtney replied. “I’ve been sitting here waiting for you two.”

“Oh hush you,” Nicole replied. “Don’t harass us Courtney Jean.”

“Me? Harass you? I would never,” Courtney replied, standing from the couch and looking at Nicole in fake shock.

Nicole shook her head at Courtney, pulling Alex to the door.

“I see you already have Alex carrying your stuff for you,” Courtney commented, smirking at Nicole when she looked back at her.

“I see you’re still harassing me,” Nicole replied.

“Touché,” Courtney replied as they reached Nicole’s car.

Alex laughed at the girls as he put Nicole’s bag in the back of the car and then took Courtney’s bag from her, putting it with Nicole’s bag.

Courtney got into the back seat of the Escape, smiling at Alex when he looked at her questioningly. “You can sit up front with Nicole.”

“Are you sure?” Alex asked her.

She nodded her head and Alex smiled, closing Courtney’s door before getting into the passenger seat. Courtney smiled to herself as she watched Alex reach over and take Nicole's hand in his, smiling as he laced their fingers together.

Five

Nicole drove them to the hotel All Time Low had stayed at the night before. The guys were already waiting on the bus, so Nicole parked her car in the parking lot of the hotel by the bus, and they unloaded their bags before getting onto the bus.

Alex held Nicole’s hand as he led the way onto the bus. The front lounge was empty so Alex turned to Nicole. “Everyone must be in the back, so let me go make sure everyone is decent and no one’s running around naked before I take you back.”

Courtney laughed and Nicole raised an eyebrow.

“Does that happen often?” Nicole asked, sounding amused.

“No, but you know, we never know with Jack,” Alex replied, shaking his head and laughing. “I don’t want to scar you for life within your first five minutes on the bus.”

Nicole laughed, nodding her head as Alex let go of her hand to check the back lounge.

The boys looked up when they heard the door to the back lounge open.

“It’s about time you show up,” Rian commented. “I thought you were bringing Nicole with you?”

“I did,” Alex replied with a nod. “I just wanted to make sure it was safe before I brought her back. I don’t want you guys scaring this girl away.”

Zack raised an eyebrow. “You really like her, huh?”

Alex nodded with a smile before turning away from them. “I’m going to go get her.”

Alex walked back into the front lounge, grabbing Nicole’s hand. “Ok, it’s safe for you two to come back.”

The girls nodded, leaving their bags at the front of the bus before Alex led them through the bus to the back lounge.

They said hi to everyone, noticing that someone was missing.

“Where’s Jack?” Courtney asked.

“Lagging behind as usual,” Matt replied. “He realized he forgot something in his hotel room and left to go get it right before you guys got here. He’s probably trying to convince the people at the front desk to let him in.”

“Typical Jack,” Alex replied with a slight laugh.

They could hear Jack walking onto the bus, talking loudly with their bus driver.

“Jack is back!” Jack yelled as he took a seat in the front lounge.

Nicole grinned at Courtney grabbing onto her wrist. “Let’s go make Jack’s day by showing him that you're here.”

Courtney grinned slightly, nodding her head as Nicole pulled her to the front of the bus.

“Jaaaack,” Nicole called as they made their way to the front of the bus.

“Nicoooole,” he called back. “You're here finally?”

“Yup,” Nicole replied, looking around the edge of the bunks at Jack, “And I brought someone with me.”

Nicole pulled Courtney out from behind her so that Jack could see her. “You remember my friend Courtney, right?”

Jack smiled brightly as he looked up at Courtney, nodding his head. He stood from his seat, smiling down at Courtney.

“Hey,” he said softly, not taking his eyes off of Courtney.

“Hey,” Courtney replied, smiling slightly shyly back at Jack.

Nicole smiled slightly as she watched Courtney and Jack. She found it cute how they acted with each other.

Alex walked up behind her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Whatcha doin?”

She turned her head slightly to the side to look at Alex. “Nothing,” she replied softly. “Jack and Courtney are cute.”

Alex turned his attention to Courtney and Jack who had taken a seat a little further down, closer to the door. They were talking softly to each other, both oblivious to anyone else around them.

“I’ve never seen him like this with a girl. It’s kind of amazing the effect she has on him; he’s actually calm and … normal around her,” Alex replied.

Nicole smiled. “It’s cute. I mean, look at them, it’s like no one else exists except them.”

Alex smiled, nodding his head.

Nicole turned to face Alex. “Let’s go, I feel kind of like a couple of creepers just standing here watching our best friends, even if they don’t notice us.”

Alex nodded, taking Nicole’s hand again. He reached behind her and grabbed her bag with his free hand before nodding his head to the bunk hall. “Come on, let’s go put this in my bunk; we have a hotel again tonight so it’s not like I need it.”

After putting Nicole’s bag in his bunk, Alex led Nicole back to the back lounge. Matt was walking out of the back lounge when he spotted Nicole and Alex walking back.

“Feed your fish, Alex,” he instructed. “You ignored them all last night and all day today.”

“That’s right! My fish!” Alex replied, suddenly remembering his fish.

Matt shook his head as Alex started pulling Nicole back to the front of the bus.

“Come see my fish,” Alex said, grinning back at Nicole.

Nicole smiled, thinking that Alex was like a little kid. She found his childish-ness cute. He pulled her over to the front table where his fish tank was located.

“I have a Nemo- looking fish,” Alex said, pointing to a particular fish. “I thought the other fish were going to eat him, so I rescued him from the tank at Wal-Mart.”

“That’s so cute and sweet,” Nicole replied, smiling at Alex and leaning over to kiss his cheek.

Alex grinned at her. “Now see? Isn’t that something that is way more innocent than pervy?”

Nicole laughed, shaking her head.

“Anyways, his name is Gepetto, and he tends to swim upside down because of his little deformed fin,” Alex replied.

“Aw, poor little guy,” Nicole replied. She leaned in closer to look at the tank, pointing to Gepetto. “He’s cute, he really does remind me of Nemo, and that’s one of my favorite movies ever.”

“Well, we could go lay down in the back and watch it. I have the DVD in my bunk,” Alex replied.

“Really?” Nicole asked, sounding excited.

Alex smiled, nodding his head. He “introduced” Nicole to his other fish and his snail before shaking some food into the fish tank. Once he had fed his fish he led Nicole to the back lounge, stopping at his bunk to retrieve the movie.

The back lounge had emptied, everyone had either moved to the front of the bus with Courtney and Jack, or to their bunks to nap for a couple hours while they drove to Fort Lauderdale.

Alex put the DVD into the DVD player before sitting down on the couch, pulling Nicole down next him.

“Should we see if the others want to watch the movie with us?” Nicole asked.

Alex shook his head. “Nah, I want it to be just us. The others will just bother us.”

Nicole laughed. “They’ll bother us?”

Alex nodded. “They’ll be loud and bothersome, and interrupt the cuteness of Nemo.”

“Oh, well we definitely don’t want that,” Nicole replied.

“Nope, not at all,” Alex replied with a smile.

He laid down on the couch and pulled Nicole down with him. He rolled over so that he was laying on top of Nicole and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her neck lightly before laying his head against her shoulder.

“Why do you always lay on top of me?” Nicole asked, laughing slightly.

“Because this way it assures that you won’t be able to get up and leave me,” Alex replied.

“Who says I’m going to get up and leave you?” Nicole replied. “Besides, ‘Finding Nemo’ is my favorite movie; I’m not going to bail out on Nemo.”

“While that may be so, I don’t want to take any chances,” Alex replied, lifting his head from her shoulder to look her in the eyes. “Plus, it makes it easier for me to do this.” Alex grinned before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers for a few seconds.

“Well then, I guess I like that reason,” Nicole replied, smiling at Alex.

He grinned. “I thought you would.”

He laid his head back down on her shoulder and smiled to himself. He was already starting to fall for her, he knew he was, and he was falling hard. He hadn’t even known her for a full 24 hours yet, but it already felt like he had known her for years. He felt like he wanted to spend all of his time with her; he couldn’t imagine what it was going to be like when he had to leave Florida.

Alex was no longer paying attention to the movie, his focus on Nicole instead. He found it cute how well she knew the lines to the movie. She would occasionally giggle or laugh at the movie, causing Alex to smile.

He turned his head slightly so he could whisper in her ear. “I love your laugh.”

He lifted his head so he was looking her in the eyes again and she was smiling at him. His smile broadened as he leaned closer to her, his lips hovering just centimeters above hers.

“I love your smile too,” he added before leaning in the rest of the way and kissing her.

Nicole smiled against Alex’s lips. They pulled apart after a few seconds and Alex kissed Nicole lightly a few more times before settling back down.

Nicole ran her fingers through Alex’s hair, smiling to herself. “You’re so cute Alex.”

“Well so are you, so I guess that means we work well,” Alex replied, unwrapping one of his arms from around her and reaching down to hold one of her hands in his.

They were silent for the next few minutes, both eventually falling asleep. Jack and Courtney found them about an hour later when they reached the venue, both smiling as they watched Nicole and Alex sleep cuddled up together.

Jack smirked mischievously as he snuck up next to the couch where they were sleeping.

“What are you thinking Jack Barakat?” Courtney asked, catching the look in his eyes.

“Oh nothing, I’m just going to wake them up,” Jack replied innocently.

Courtney saw that Jack was ready to jump on top of Alex and Nicole and her eyes widened slightly as she jumped in front of him, holding him back.

“No no no Jack, I know what you’re thinking and you can’t wake them up like that,” Courtney said, shaking her head.

Jack pouted. “How come? I was just going to jump on Alex.”

“You can’t just jump on Alex because he’s laying on top of Nicole, you’ll squish her; you might break her,” Courtney explain.

“Damn,” Jack replied, pouting again.

Courtney laughed, shaking her head.

“Well, we have to wake them up. We’re here and it’s almost time for sound check,” Jack replied.

“Fine, I’ll wake them up,” Courtney replied.

She shook Nicole’s shoulder, trying to wake her up. Nicole opened an eye to look at who was shaking her.

“Hmm?” Nicole asked upon realizing Courtney had woken her up.

“You guys need to get up. We’re already to the venue and it’s almost time for Alex to be at sound check,” Courtney replied.

Their conversation had woken Alex up, but instead of opening his eyes, he just clung tighter to Nicole.

Courtney raised an eyebrow when she noticed Alex’s grip on Nicole tighten.

“I’ll get him up, don’t worry. We’ll meet you guys in side,” Nicole told Courtney and Jack.

They nodded in reply before walking out of the back lounge.

“Alex,” Nicole laughed, shaking him slightly. “We have to get up now.”

“Nooo,” he replied shaking his head and clinging tighter to Nicole.

“Aleeex,” she whined. “You squeezing me too hard. You’re going to squeeze all the air out of meee.”

“Oh, my bad,” Alex replied, loosening his grip on Nicole. He lifted his head from Nicole’s shoulder and pouted at her. “But I don’t want to get up. I’m comfortable laying on you.”

Nicole laughed. “You have to. It’s almost time for sound check.”

Alex continued to pout at her.

“The sooner you get up and get sound check over with, the sooner you guys can get the show over with and then we can go to the beach for our date,” Nicole offered.

Alex smiled, sitting up on the edge of the couch and pulling Nicole up with him. “Now, that sounds good.”

Alex stood up, holding his hand out to Nicole. She placed her hand in his and he pulled her up from the couch.

“Come on,” he said, nodding his head towards the door to the back lounge. “Let’s go get sound check over with so we can get closer to our date.”

Nicole smiled as Alex led her out of the back lounge and to the door of the bus. He held her hand, pulling her close to his side as they walked past the line of kids waiting to get in to the door of the venue.

They were almost to the door when a group of girls stopped them, asking Alex for autographs. He happily agreed to give them some autographs, so Nicole let go of his hand to allow him to sign their stuff.

The girls eyed her as Alex signed the things they held out for him, exchanging looks with each other obviously wondering who she was and why she had been holding hands with Alex.

After Alex had finished signing everything for the girls and had taken a picture with them, he thanked the girls before grabbing onto Nicole’s hand again and began to lead her the rest of the way to the venue, the girls whispering as they watched them walk away.

They passed by the merch tables on their way to the stage. Forever The Sickest Kids were setting up their merch table and Kyle looked up, spotting Nicole and Alex passing by. He set down the box of shirts he had been carrying before following after them.

“Nicole!” he called.

Alex and Nicole stopped walking and turned to see who was calling her. She smiled when she saw Kyle heading in their direction.

Alex could feel a slight pang of jealousy as Kyle wrapped his arms around Nicole in a hug, lifting her off her feet. She laughed, patting his back as he swung her around a couple of times.

“What are you doing here?” Kyle asked.

“Alex invited me to come hang out for the rest of your guys’ Florida shows,” Nicole explained.

“So you’re going to be around for the next couple of days then?” Kyle asked.

Nicole nodded her head in reply and Alex could see the smile spreading across Kyle’s face. Alex worried that Kyle was seeing the next couple of days as a way to win Nicole over; he wasn’t ok with losing whatever he had with her to one of his friends.

Alex checked the time on his cell phone and cleared his throat, cutting into Nicole and Kyle’s conversation. “Sound check is in a couple of minutes, we should get to the stage; I still need to get my guitar.”

Alex started to pull Nicole away but Kyle grabbed onto her other hand to stop them.

“You can go ahead and do sound check; I can occupy Nicole for a while,” Kyle said to Alex.

“Oh,” Alex replied. “Well, um, it’s up to Nicole.”

Nicole looked at Kyle and then Alex and shrugged. “I guess I can hang out with Kyle for a little bit while you’re doing sound check.”

Alex nodded his head. “Ok, well, I’m going to go do sound check then.”

Alex leaned over and kissed Nicole’s cheek, giving Kyle a slight glare that neither he nor Nicole seemed to notice.

Nicole smiled at Alex. “Come find me when you’re done with sound check, k?”

Alex nodded again as Kyle wrapped an arm around Nicole’s shoulders, starting to pull her back in the direction of his merch table, grinning. Nicole smiled and waved at Alex as Kyle pulled her away.

Alex couldn’t help but pout slightly as he watched Kyle and Nicole walk away together, talking and laughing animatedly. He sighed to himself before turning and heading to sound check.

No One Can Touch Us

Fri, 02 May 2008 05:20:21 GMT

Title: No One Can Touch Us
About: All Time Low
Progress: In Progress

Prologue- Chapter 1

Two

“Dude, I saw the cutest girl in the crowd tonight,” Jack said to Alex as they walked backstage after their set.

“Oh yeah?” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow at Jack.

Jack nodded with a grin. “She was in the front, kind of in between you and me. Actually, she was with your love interest from earlier today.”

Jack wiggled his eyebrows at Alex, causing him to sigh.

“Again with that?” Alex asked, sounding annoyed.

“Dude, don’t take that tone with me,” Jack replied with a laugh. “You’re the one who was so enthralled with her today when you ran into her. You would have stood there staring at her all night if I hadn’t pulled you away.”

Alex tried not to smile as he thought about it. She was cute, he couldn’t pretend like he didn’t think so. He had seen her during the show when he was onstage; smiling with her friend as she sang along with the words to his songs.

Jack picked up on Alex’s changed expression and grinned, elbowing Alex and wiggling his eyebrows at him.

“Don’t start with me Jack Barakat,” Alex replied, shaking his head.

Jack pouted. “Don’t boss me around Alexander Gaskarth.”

“Anyways, I don’t know why you’re giving me crap about finding a girl cute, if the first thing you said to me when we got off stage was about seeing the cutest girl ever in the crowd,” Alex replied.

“I didn’t stand there staring at her like a creeper or some love struck kid the whole time,” Jack replied with a laugh.

Alex laughed, shaking his head, knowing he wouldn’t win with Jack. “I’m gonna go chill out front for a little bit. I’ll catch you later.”

“Ooo, are you going to go find your girl?” Jack called after him.

Alex shook his head, laughing slightly, not even bothering to turn and look at Jack.

He had to admit to himself that he wouldn’t mind running into the girl again, although he hoped that this time he wouldn’t literally be running into her. He didn’t think she would appreciate him trampling her twice in one day; if he was looking to make a good impression on her, knocking her down was not the way to go.

He stopped at the merch table to check on how things were going and got stopped by a few fans to sign autographs and take pictures. After about fifteen minutes he decided to get something to drink and made his way over to the bar.

He was the only person standing at the bar when he noticed someone else walk over a little ways down to his right. She casually flipped her curly hair over her shoulder so he could see the side of her face and he instantly recognized the sparkle in her eyes and her lipring. It was the girl from earlier.

She got on her tiptoes and leaned over the bar so that the bartender could hear her. She asked him for a water and waited patiently for him to retrieve it.

He smiled to himself, deciding to go over to her and talk to her. He slowly made his way down the bar over to her without her noticing.

“Funny running into you again,” he said once he reached her side.

She turned to see who was speaking to her, looking slightly surprised when she realized it was him. She smiled slightly at him. “Well, I have to say, I prefer this kind of running in a lot better. It’s a little less dangerous for me.”

Alex blushed slightly. “Yeah, sorry again about that. I wasn’t watching where I was going; I didn’t mean to trample on you.”

Nicole laughed. “It’s fine really, I’m just giving you a hard time.”

The bartender handed her bottle of water to her and told her it would be four dollars. She reached into her pocket to pull out some money, but Alex quickly threw a five dollar bill on the bar, smiling at her. “Here, I’ll get it.”

“That’s ok, I can get it,” she replied, pulling out some money.

Alex shook his head. “No it’s fine. It’s the least I can do to make up for trampling you earlier.”

“Wow, you sure know the way to impress girls,” she replied with a laugh as she put her money back in her pocket. “Thanks though.”

Alex laughed. “No problem. I’m Alex by the way.”

“I know,” she replied with a smile. “I’m a little familiar with All Time Low.”

“I saw you in the crowd during our set. With the way you were singing along, I’d say you're more than a little familiar with All Time Low,” Alex replied with a laugh. “I’d say you’re a big fan, probably really fond of the amazingly attractive lead singer.”

She laughed. “Well you sure are modest, aren’t you?”

Alex grinned. They stood in silence for a couple of seconds before Alex realized he still didn’t know her name. “So Jack pulled me away outside before I got to ask you for your name, and I think it’s only fair that I know your name since you know mine.”

“Well, since we have to be fair,” she replied, “my name is Nicole.”

He smiled, extending his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Nicole.”

She returned his smile, placing her hand in his. “It’s nice to meet you too, Alex.”

He allowed her hand to linger in his longer than he normally would. He looked down at their clasped hands and smiled at the way they fit together before slowly allowing her hand to slip out of his.

“So I see you have X’s,” he commented. “How old are you?”

“Nineteen,” she replied.

He smiled again. “Cool. We’re pretty much the same age; I just turned twenty a few months ago.”

She smiled again.

They continued to talk. It was a little while later when Alex realized The Rocket Summer’s set was already almost over; he and Nicole had been talking for nearly half an hour.

Nicole had gone to get a drink since The Rocket Summer had just gone on stage and she realized that she had left Courtney alone for the whole set. She leaned over to Alex so he would be able to hear her. “I left my friend alone so I could come get a drink. I should probably go find her.”

Alex frowned slightly, not wanting to part from her yet; he still wanted to spend more time with her. He suddenly had an idea.

“Why don’t I go with you to find her? I was going to see if you wanted to hang out after the show anyways,” Alex suggested. “We could go get your friend and bring her along.”

Nicole looked like she was contemplating his offer. “Are you sure you want to put up with going through the crowd?”

“If it means I get to hang out with you for longer,” he replied with a smile. “I can just put my hood up, it’s no big deal.”

She smiled at him and nodded her head. “Ok, let’s go find her.”

Alex grinned, pulling his hood up and grabbing onto her hand. Nicole looked down at their clasped hands and smiled as Alex started pulling her away from the bar.

“You guys were kind of in between center stage and the left side, right?” he asked, turning back to look at her.

She nodded her head and he continued to pull her towards the crowd. Once they reached the edge of the crowd he stopped pulling her behind him and allowed her to stand next to him. “Do you see your friend anywhere?”

Nicole scanned the crowd in area where she had previously been standing trying to spot Courtney. She spotted her and tugged on Alex’s hand. “She’s over there, in the yellow hoodie.”

Alex looked in the direction she was pointing and nodded, pulling her into the crowd. He pulled her in Courtney’s direction, still holding her hand so they wouldn’t get separated.

He noticed a few fans nudging their friends and pointing in his and Nicole’s direction, recognizing him despite his hood. They leaned in close, whispering to each other about who the girl with him might be. He ignored them, and continued to pull Nicole along.

When they reached Courtney, Nicole tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to see who was tapping her.

“It’s about time you came back,” Courtney said to Nicole. “They’re already playing the encore; you’ve been gone for the whole set. I was starting to think you’d gone and beat up some teenies and gotten yourself kicked out.”

Nicole laughed, shaking her head. “That’s what you would do, not me.”

Alex laughed slightly and Courtney turned to look at him, noticing for the first time that Nicole wasn't alone like she had been when she left to get a drink. She studied the new comers face for a couple of seconds before her eyes widened slightly as she realized who he was.

Courtney turned to Nicole, speaking calmly. "Nicole, why are you holding hands with Alex Gaskarth?"

"He didn't want to get separated in the crowd while we were looking for you," Nicole replied simply, as if it wasn’t an abnormal thing for Alex to be in the crowd with her.

Courtney raised an eyebrow at them, obviously wondering why Alex was in the crowd with Nicole to begin with. “Yes, because obviously you’re super good friends with Alex and he always wanders through the crowd with you.”

Alex laughed. “I saw her at the bar and I recognized her from earlier, so we got to talking and I invited her to hang out after the show. We came to look for you.”

Courtney nodded her head in understanding, still taking everything in.

“Do you want to stay till they finish their last song, and then we can go backstage and find the guys?” Alex asked Nicole, referring to The Rocket Summer.

She nodded her head. “That sounds good.”

Alex smiled, letting go of her hand, instead wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her in front of him. Nicole looked back at him with a smile, which Alex returned, before they both turned back to the stage to watch the end of the show.

Courtney was watching them discretely out of the corner of her eye; she found it interesting how Nicole and Alex were already acting so close after knowing each other for a half hour at most. While she found their behavior cute, she wasn’t sure if she should be happy for her best friend, or concerned that she would get hurt.

The Rocket Summer finished their last song to cheers and screams from the crowd, thanking them before going offstage.

Alex unwrapped his arm from around Nicole's waist and grabbed onto her hand again.

"Come on, let's go find the guys," he said before starting to pull Nicole out of the crowd.

Nicole grabbed onto Courtney's wrist, pulling her behind them so that the three wouldn't get separated.

Alex pulled the girls backstage, towards All Time Low’s dressing room. When they reached the door, Alex stopped pulling the girls, but didn’t let go of Nicole’s hand; she didn’t seem to notice so he didn’t feel the need to drop her hand.

It was then that Nicole realized she hadn’t actually introduced Courtney and Alex. “Oh, so Alex, this is my best friend Courtney. Court, this is Alex obviously.”

“Obviously,” Courtney replied with a laugh.

Alex laughed at Courtney’s response, extending his free hand to her. “Well it’s nice to meet you Courtney.”

“You too Alex,” she replied, shaking his hand.

Once they were done with their introductions, Alex opened the door to the dressing room and started pulling Nicole inside. Courtney followed closely behind and grabbed onto Nicole’s arm.

“Well look who finally showed up,” Rian announced as the three walked in.

Jack turned to look in their direction and he grinned when he noticed who Alex was holding hands with. “And he brought his love interest with him!”

Nicole turned to look at Alex with a raised eyebrow. Alex glared at Jack before shaking his head and turning to Nicole.

“Don’t pay attention to him,” Alex sighed. “Jack doesn’t make sense when he speaks. He likes to make stuff up.”

Nicole laughed. “Oh I see.”

Jack started walking over to them but stopped momentarily when he saw Courtney step out from behind Nicole and Alex, recognizing her as the girl he had spotted in the crowd earlier.

Jack smiled to himself before walking the rest of the way over to the three. When he reached them he smirked at Alex. “I see you tracked her down.”

Nicole turned to look at Alex. “Alex Gaskarth, were you lurking me out?”

“Nooo,” Alex replied, shaking his head. “I told you Jack makes stuff up.”

“He’s lying,” Jack replied. “He thought you were cute since he trampled you outside; he got all upset with me for pulling him away to sound check. I’m sure after our set he went and searched around until he found you.”

“Not true Jack,” Alex replied. “I went to the bar and then Nicole came up to get a bottle of water and I recognized her.” Alex turned to look at Nicole. “Hey, maybe you lurked me out.”

Nicole laughed. “Yes Alex, that was definitely it.”

Alex grinned. “I knew it.”

Nicole laughed shaking her head at Alex.

“So I take it your name is Nicole,” Jack commented, looking at Nicole.

“Oh yeah!” Alex replied, realizing he hadn’t done any introductions. “Jack this is Nicole and her friend Courtney. Girls, this dork is Jack.”

Both girls laughed as Jack glared at Alex’s introduction.

He shook Nicole’s hand quickly before turning to Courtney. He extended his hand to her and she placed her hand in his.

“It’s nice to meet you Courtney,” he said softly. “I saw you standing in the crowd during the show.”

She smiled shyly at him. “It’s nice to meet you too, Jack.”

They continued to stand there in silence, Courtney’s hand in Jack’s, staring into each other’s eyes with smiles.

Nicole smiled at them, nudging Alex and nodding her head at Courtney and Jack.

Alex looked at them and raised his eyebrow. He had never seen anyone have a quieting affect on Jack before; Jack seemed entranced by Courtney, it was kind of cute. As cute as Alex found it, he was reminded of Jack making fun of him earlier for acting in a similar way towards Nicole.

He cleared his throat, breaking Jack from his trance. When Jack turned to look at Alex, Alex was looking at Jack with a smirk.

“You know, Courtney, Jack wanted to lurk you out after our set,” Alex said, still smirking. “He came off stage saying how he had seen the cutest girl ever in the crowd, and it was you because he said she was with Nicole. I’m surprised he didn’t lurk you out as soon as we got off stage.”

Jack turned and glared at Alex, shaking his head as if to say he couldn’t believe Alex had just told Courtney that.

Alex shrugged his shoulders with a grin before pulling Nicole away from them so he could introduce her to the rest of his friends. He pulled Nicole around the room, introducing her to Zack, Rian, and Matt.

Jack soon did the same with Courtney and once both girls had met everyone, everyone sat around, deciding what to do with the rest of night.

“I’m hungry,” Courtney sighed.

“Me too,” Nicole agreed, nodding her head.

“We could go find somewhere to eat?” Alex suggested, turning to look at Nicole, who was sitting at his side.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Jack replied with a nod from his spot next to Courtney on the couch. “What should we do afterwards?”

“We could go hang out at mine and Courtney’s apartment or something?” Nicole suggested. “You guys could invite the other bands to come along.”

Everyone agreed on going to find dinner before going over to the girls’ apartment for a mini-party with the other bands.

After a few more minutes of everyone talking, the boys decided that it was time to head outside so they could meet any remaining fans who might still be waiting for them outside.

Alex held his hand out to Nicole, pulling her up from her spot on the oversized chair they had been sharing. He held onto her hand as they led the way out of the dressing room.

Zack nudged Rian, nodding his head in their direction. Rian raised his eyebrow as he watched them and then turned to look at Zack. They had both noticed how Alex didn’t let go of her hand while they were in the dressing room except for when they all took a seat, and even then he had pulled her into the same chair he was sitting in and wrapped an arm around her.

When they got outside, there was still a small group of fans waiting for them. The fans instantly flocked to the boys, asking for autographs and pictures.

Nicole pulled her hand out of Alex’s and he turned to look at her questioningly; it was the first time all night that she had pulled her hand away from him.

“Go talk to your fans,” she said with a smile, nodding towards the group of girls who had surrounded Jack, Zack, and Rian.

“You can come too,” Alex said going to grab her hand again.

“It’s ok, I’ll wait over here with Courtney,” Nicole replied.

Alex nodded his head before making his way over to the group.

Matt walked over to wait with Courtney and Nicole and on his way over to the girls, he noticed another pair of girls whispering and looking in their direction.

“Did you see that girl over there? She was holding hands with Alex when they walked out,” the first girl asked her friend.

The second girl nodded. “I saw her in the crowd during the show, and after All Time Low played Alex was standing with her and holding her hand then too.”

“I wonder if that’s his girlfriend,” the first one replied.

The second girl pouted. “Ugh, I hope not.”

Matt shook his head, rolling his eyes as he walked past them.

He stood with Courtney and Nicole as they waited for the guys to finish with the fans, noticing that Alex kept shoot glances and smiles at Nicole. He wondered what Alex was doing with this girl. He had noticed that for the majority of the tour Alex had done his best not to get involved in any way with any of the girls he met on tour, and he knew that Alex always hesitated when it came to getting himself girlfriends; yet, here he was, shooting glances at her and walking around holding her hand after only knowing her for a couple hours at most.

Courtney had picked up on the glances and smiles between Nicole and Alex too. She was about to comment on how Nicole and Alex had become so close so quickly, but before she could Alex came skipping over to them, grabbing back onto Nicole’s hand.

“Food time now,” he said, pulling her away.

Jack walked over to Courtney, offering his arm to her. She linked her arm through his, instantly forgetting about her thoughts on Nicole and Alex as she and Jack followed after them.

“You guys drove here, right?” Alex asked Nicole as he pulled her in the direction of the All Time Low bus.

She nodded her head. “Yeah, why?”

“Do you want to take your car and then the others can follow us in the bus?” he asked.

She nodded her head. “That’s fine.”

Alex and Nicole were the first to reach the bus and waited outside for the others so they could all decide where they were going to go eat. The group gathered outside the bus and finally decided on stopping at the nearby IHOP since that would be one of the few restaurants open at that time of night.

Alex started pulling Nicole away from the bus in the direction that Nicole had told him her car was parked in.

“Where are you guys going?” Rian asked them.

“We’re going to take Nicole’s car and we’ll meet you guys there,” Alex replied.

“Ooo! I want to come along!” Jack exclaimed, grabbing onto Courtney’s hand and pulling her after Alex and Nicole.

“Well we don’t want you to come along,” Alex replied, looking at Jack.

Jack stopped pulling Courtney along and pouted. “Why not?”

Nicole laughed slightly. “Aw Jack, you can come along. Don’t listen to Alex; it’s my car anyways.”

“Woo!” Jack cheered. He stuck his tongue out at Alex. “Neener neener Alex, neener neener.”

Alex rolled his eyes and both girls laughed at the boys, shaking their heads as they started leading the way to the car again.

They all met at a near by IHOP and were seated at a large, round booth in a corner. They ordered and then sat around talking, the boys trying to get to know their new friends better.

Nicole was seated in between Alex and Zack, carrying on a conversation with Zack. Alex couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous as she laughed at a joke that Zack made. He didn’t know what was going on with him, but after only knowing Nicole a short couple of hours he could tell that something within him was changing because of her.

Rian caught the glare that Alex was subconsciously giving Zack and elbowed him.

Alex turned to Rian with a questioning look. “Yes?”

“Why are you glaring at Zack?” Rian asked.

“I’m not,” Alex replied, raising his eyebrow at Rian in confusion.

“You were,” Rian replied.

“I was?” Alex replied, sounding surprise. He hadn’t been aware that he was glaring at Zack.

Rian nodded his head slowly, looking at Alex with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah. What’s going on?”

Alex shook his head. “Nothing.”

Rian sensed that there was something more, but decided not to press it because their food had arrived.

They all chatted while they ate. Alex found himself wanting to reach over and grab Nicole’s hand or wrap his arm around her or rest his hand on her leg, anything to touch her. It had been almost an hour since he had last held her hand and his skin was itching from the absence of contact with her. Still, he knew it would be weird to grab onto her hand while they were eating, and he didn’t know how she would interpret it if he rested his hand on her leg or wrapped an arm around her at such a random time.

Instead, he reached over her, pretending that he was going to take a strawberry off of her pancakes. She grabbed onto his hand to stop him like he hoped she would, and he smiled to himself.

“Hey now Alex Gaskarth, stay away from my pancakes,” she said as she held onto his hand, trying to keep him away from her plate.

He faked a pout at her. “But I want a strawberry.”

“Well too bad, you should have asked for strawberries on your pancakes, instead of being lame and getting your pancakes plain,” she replied.

He pouted at her again. “You called me lame.”

She laughed slightly. “Aw, I meant that you’re lame in a cute way?”

He continued to pout at her, pretending to still be hurt at what she had called him.

Nicole smiled slightly at him, leaning over and kissing his cheek lightly.

Alex couldn’t help but grin at her.

Courtney had seen the whole little exchange between Alex and Nicole from her seat at the end of the booth next to Jack. She could tell that something was happening between the two, but she couldn’t put her finger on what. She had never seen her best friend warm up to any guy so quickly.

They all finished eating and paid before leaving the restaurant. They gathered in the parking lot to go over the plans for the rest of the evening. Jack called Kyle to invite him and the boys from Forever The Sickest Kids to the girls’ apartment for a mini party while Zack called Shawn and the guys from The Matches. Once the others were informed and given directions to Nicole and Courtney’s apartment, the group decided to split up.

Alex had talked Nicole into stopping by the store to get some drinks on their way home. Since Nicole would be making a detour, Courtney and Jack would be joining the group on the bus to make sure they found their way to the apartment.

When they got to the store, Alex grabbed onto Nicole’s hand, happy to be able to have the contact with her again. He pulled her inside and they got a cart before making their way over to the drinks.

Alex loaded the cart with cases of beer and various bottles before leading Nicole over to the check out. He bought the drinks with his fake ID before they made their way out to the car and loaded it with their purchases.

When they got to Nicole and Courtney’s apartment, Alex called the guys to come down and help them carry everything inside. Rian, Zack, and Jack happily carried all the drinks inside, leaving Alex free to grab onto Nicole’s hand again. He happily grabbed her hand as they made their way up to Nicole’s apartment.

When they got upstairs they found that Forever The Sickest Kids had already arrived. Alex pulled Nicole around the living room, introducing her to the guys in the band. He was happy to notice how easily it seemed that she got along with all of them, but he couldn’t help to notice the extra attention she seemed to get from Kyle. It troubled him even more to notice how much she seemed to appreciate Kyle’s attention.

Noticing that Kyle was starting to flirt with Nicole as the three of them stood around and talked, Alex grabbed back onto Nicole’s hand and pulled her away from him towards the kitchen, saying that he wanted to get a drink.

He grabbed two drinks and handed one to Nicole before grabbing onto her hand again.

“You haven’t given me a tour of your apartment yet,” he said to her with a grin.

She raised an eyebrow. “What’s with that grin? What are you thinking Alex Gaskarth?”

“Nothing,” he replied innocently, shaking his head. “You just make me smile.”

She smiled in return as she looked into his eyes and they stood in silence for a few seconds, staring into each other’s eyes.

Alex smiled as he leaned in towards her, their faces slowly growing closer. He paused when they were just inches apart, allowing her to pull away from him if she wanted. When he was certain that she wasn’t going to pull away, he leaned in the rest of the way and pressed his lips to hers.

The kiss was brief, just a few seconds long, but both could feel the energy behind it. When they parted they both smiled.

“I’ve wanted to do that all night,” Alex said quietly.

Nicole smiled again. “I’m glad you did.”

“Me too,” Alex replied.

“Do you still want a tour of the apartment?” Nicole asked.

Alex nodded his head. “Yeah, that would be cool.”

She smiled before leading him out of the kitchen. “Well you already saw the living room and the kitchen, so I guess we’ll go to the hallway.”

Jack noticed Nicole pulling Alex towards the hallway and he grinned before calling out to them. “Ooo, where are you two sneaking off to?”

Alex turned to look at Jack. “Nicole’s going to show me around.”

Jack wiggled his eyebrows at him and Alex shook his head.

Nicole showed Alex through the hall, pointing out Courtney’s room before opening the door to her bedroom.

“And this is my room,” she said as she pulled him inside.

“Very nice,” he replied, looking around.

He noticed the band posters on her wall, most were bands he liked. She even had an All Time Low poster up that briefly caught his eye before he continued to look around. He noticed a guitar leaning against a corner and he turned to her.

“Do you play guitar?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I’m learning.”

He nodded. “Maybe I can teach you then.”

She smiled. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

He smiled as he continued to look around. He walked over to her bed, taking a seat. “I like your room.”

Nicole laughed slightly as she sat next to him. “Thanks, I like my room too.”

Alex laughed, turning to look at her. He smiled, leaning forward and pressing his lips lightly to hers.

“You know, it’s weird, I’ve only known you a few hours, but I feel like I want to spend all my time with you,” he said softly once they pulled apart. “I like you a lot.”

She smiled slightly, thinking of how to answer. She liked Alex, he made her laugh and he made her feel comfortable with him, but she couldn’t help but feel like she should be holding back with him. Soon he would be leaving Florida and she would probably never hear from him again. She didn’t want to allow herself to get too attached to him, because she didn’t want to give him the opportunity to hurt her like she had been many times before.

She noticed Alex was looking at her expectantly, so she thought it best to answer. She forced her previous thoughts to the back of her mind, deciding to just have fun with Alex; he’d be gone in a few days and she probably wouldn’t see him again.

“I like spending time with you,” she said softly.

Alex smiled, nodding his head. “So do I.”

He kissed her once more before she stood up, holding her hand out to him.

“Come on, we should get back out there before Jack starts making assumptions about what we’re doing,” she said.

Alex laughed lightly and nodded his head, grabbing onto her hand as he stood up. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

She smiled and led him out of her room.

When they got back out to the living room, they found that The Matches had arrived. Alex introduced Nicole to the guys before leading her into the kitchen to grab a couple more drinks. Once they had their drinks, Alex led her back into the living room and pulled her down next to him on the couch, wrapping his arm loosely around her.

Kyle spotted Nicole and Alex sitting on the couch and walked over, taking a seat next to Nicole and starting up a conversation with her. Alex sighed slightly as he watched Nicole and Kyle talk animatedly; he didn’t know why but it bothered him how easily Kyle made Nicole laugh. Shawn plopped down onto the couch next to Alex, distracting him away from Nicole and Kyle as he asked him about Nicole.

Shawn got up to get another drink after about ten minutes. Alex’s gaze fell across the room and he smiled as he spotted Jack sharing a chair with Courtney, both laughing and smiling brightly. He turned to Nicole, lightly nudging her, nodding his head across the room. She broke her attention from Kyle and followed Alex’s gaze, smiling as she spotted Jack and Courtney.

“They’re getting along well,” Alex commented.

Nicole smiled and nodded. “It’s cute.”

Alex nodded his head in agreement.

“I’m going to go get another drink, would you like another as well?” he asked Nicole, standing from his spot.

She nodded her head. “Yes please.”

Alex nodded before making his way to the kitchen to grab another set of drinks. When he returned to Nicole he found that Kyle had left.

“Where did Kyle go?” Alex asked Nicole as he sat back down, handing her drink to her.

“Shawn came by and pulled him away,” Nicole replied before thanking him.

Alex noticed Shawn talking to Kyle across the room, and Shawn winked at Alex when their gazes met; Shawn had picked up on how Kyle’s flirting with Nicole was bumming Alex out and had decided to intervene. Alex grinned thankfully back at him.

It was starting to get noisy in the living room, especially with Jack talking and laughing loudly, so Alex leaned over to speak into Nicole’s ear. “We’ve been surrounded by noise all night; let’s go somewhere quieter so we can talk in peace.”

She nodded her head. “We can go talk in my room if you want.”

Alex nodded, standing and pulling Nicole to her feet. He looked around to make sure no one was watching them so they wouldn’t get the wrong idea, and then pulled Nicole to her room.

Once they were in Nicole’s room, they closed the door behind them and took a seat on the edge of Nicole’s bed.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Nicole asked Alex, turning to face him.

Alex shrugged. “I don’t know; nothing in particular. I just wanted to spend some alone time with you, away from big crowds of people. Just you and me.”

She smiled; it amazed her that he already had that affect on her. Alex could feel her looking in his eyes, trying to read him. She didn’t understand why Alex was putting so much effort in knowing her if he would just be leaving soon. She didn’t know what he was wanting from her.

Alex could feel the questions in her eyes and he smiled at her. “I just want to spend time with you.”

She nodded her head, her mind put partly at ease.

“We could watch a movie in here?” she suggested.

Alex nodded his head. “That sounds like a good idea.”

They both took a look at the DVD’s that Nicole had in her room, settling on “How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days.” Nicole put the DVD in the DVD player and grabbed the remotes, settling down on her bed next to Alex.

“So I have another show tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale, will you hang out with me during the day and go to the show with me?” Alex asked Nicole.

Nicole nodded her head. “That sounds like fun.”

Alex grinned. “Good, because I still have a few more days left in Florida, and I want to spend all of them with you.”

Nicole smiled as she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I think that might be possible.”

Alex grinned again, leaning forward to kiss her quickly before leaning back on her bed and pulling Nicole with him.

Nicole cuddled up to his side as they both settled in to watch their movie in silence.

They had been watching the movie quietly cuddled up for about half an hour when Alex spoke up again.

“Hey Nicole?” he asked.

“Hmm?” she replied, her attention still on the movie.

“If I was going to run into anyone today, I’m glad it was you,” Alex said softly, smiling down at her.

Nicole looked up at him and smiled. She didn’t know what was happening between them, but she was pretty sure she liked it. She was going to hate when it was all over in a few days. She cuddled up closer to Alex, deciding to just focus on what was happening now.

Three

Courtney woke up the next morning and decided to check on Nicole. She and Alex had disappeared at some point during the middle of the party and she hadn’t seen her for the rest of the night. She figured they had gone out somewhere and that Nicole had come back after everyone had left and Courtney had gone to bed.

She walked into Nicole’s room to check and see if she was there and paused when she opened the door, a smile slowly spreading across her face.

Nicole and Alex were cuddled up, asleep on Nicole’s bed, peaceful smiles on both of their faces. Nicole’s television was on, and it appeared that they had fallen asleep watching a movie.

Courtney quietly backed out of the room, closing the door softly behind her so as not to wake Alex and Nicole. She made her way to the kitchen, deciding to find something to eat for breakfast.

Nicole woke up a few minutes later to a muffled beeping sounding and a vibration coming from under her. She opened her eyes, realizing that Alex was next to her with his arms draped loosely around her. The night before came flooding back to her and she remembered watching a movie with Alex. When she noticed that her television was still on, she figured they both must have fallen asleep before it was over.

She reached under her to see what had wakened her and pulled out his Blackberry. She tossed it aside and slowly slid out from under his arms, trying her best not to wake him. She quietly made her way out of her room and to the kitchen.

She found Courtney sitting at the kitchen counter eating a waffle. When Courtney heard her walking into the kitchen, she looked up from her breakfast, grinning at Nicole.

“What are you grinning at?” Nicole asked, raising an eyebrow at Courtney.

“Oh, nothing,” Courtney replied. “Did you have a good night?”

Nicole nodded and shrugged. “Yeah, it was fun hanging out with all the guys.”

“You didn’t hang out with all the guys, you were stuck to Alex all night,” Courtney replied with a laugh.

“Oh hush, like you’re one to speak, you were with Jack pretty much all night,” Nicole replied, shaking her head.

“Pft, we didn’t disappear in the middle of the night,” Courtney replied waving her hand dismissively.

“We didn’t disappear, we just wanted to be somewhere quite because we had been surrounded by noise all night,” Nicole replied.

“What did you guys do?” Courtney asked.

Nicole shrugged. “We just went to my room and watched a movie and talked a little bit.”

“And then fell asleep all cuddled up together.” Courtney replied with a knowing grin.

Nicole raised an eyebrow at Courtney. “How do you know that?”

Courtney shrugged. “I went into your room to check on you this morning since you disappeared last night and I saw you two. You guys looked pretty cute.”

Nicole had to try really had not to smile. She shrugged. “We fell asleep watching the movie.”

“You two have gotten really close really quickly,” Courtney observed.

“So have you and Jack,” Nicole countered, feeling like Courtney was hinting at something.

Courtney smiled as she thought about Jack. “Jack is a nice guy, I like him.”

“Exactly. Alex is a nice guy too, I like him,” Nicole replied.

“Yeah, but it’s not the same,” Courtney replied, her facial expression changing from a smile to serious.

“How is it possibly not the same?” Nicole replied.

“Because I’m not getting super attached super soon. Yeah, Jack and I were hanging out all night, but we weren’t being super close like you and Alex. The whole night you two were holding hands after knowing each other for half an hour at most. Jack and I didn’t do that; I didn’t kiss Jack,” Courtney replied.

“How do you know that I kissed Alex?” Nicole replied, trying not to sound surprised; she didn’t think anyone had seen them.

“I saw you two when I came into the kitchen to get a drink,” Courtney explained. “It was cute, but don’t you think you’re getting too close to him too soon? I mean, you haven’t even known him 24 hours.”

“I’m aware of how long I have, or have not, known Alex,” Nicole replied. “It was just an innocent kiss; it’s not like I planned it when I met Alex.”

“I know,” Courtney replied. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I know,” Nicole replied. “I know not to get attached to Alex; I know he’s leaving in a few days and I probably won’t see him anymore. I’m just getting to know him, you know, spending some time with him.”

Courtney nodded her head, deciding to drop it. She knew Nicole could take care of herself. “So you really like Alex, huh?”

Nicole nodded her head. “He’s funny, and he makes me smile. I just feel so comfortable around him, like I’ve known him for forever. It’s so weird, because I’ve never started to like a boy so quickly, and I know I probably shouldn’t like him so much, but I can’t help myself.”

“Well you don’t know that you won’t get to see him anymore after he leaves to finish the tour. I’m sure you two will talk still; I can tell he likes you too,” Courtney replied.

Nicole shrugged. “I don’t know. Remember the other day when we were looking at his myspace and we read the blog about how he doesn’t believe in relationships on the road?”

“Maybe this time is different,” Courtney replied. “Jack said last night that he had never seen Alex act with another girl the way he was acting with you. And the fact that he wants to hang out with you and get to know you probably says something too.”

“Maybe,” Nicole replied. “He asked me to hang out today.”

“See?” Courtney replied with a smile.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head. “I’m going to go check on Alex and take a shower.”

She made her way back to her room. Alex was still asleep in the same position as she had left him. She decided to take a shower before waking him up, so she rifled through her closet for something to wear before heading out into the hall to bathroom to shower.

She quickly showered, dressed, did her makeup and hair before heading back to her room. She was surprised to find that Alex was still asleep. She sat down next to him on the bed before gently shaking him awake.

Alex opened his eyes, a smile spreading across his face when he saw her.

"Hey," he said brightly.

"Morning sleepy head," she replied with a smile.

Alex sat up, taking a look around at his surroundings. "I guess we fell asleep watching the movie last night."

Nicole nodded her head. "Yeah it would appear so."

“Not that I’m complaining,” Alex said with a grin. “I slept really well with you; we make good cuddle buddies.”

Nicole laughed. “You were asleep, how do you know?”

“I wasn’t asleep the whole time we were cuddling, we cuddled while we were watching the movie too. Besides, I just know,” Alex replied.

Nicole laughed again. “Is that so?”

Alex nodded. “It is. I’ll even show you.”

Alex leaned back onto Nicole’s bed, pulling Nicole down with him. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him. “See? We make good cuddle buddies; we fit together well.”

Nicole smiled at him. “I see your point.”

Alex grinned again. “What time did you get up?”

“About 45 minutes ago. I guess your phone fell out of your pocket while we were asleep and it ended up under me. So I woke up when it started to go off earlier,” she replied. “Which reminds me that your phone went off this morning if you want to check it.”

She turned to her bedside table where she had put his Blackberry, grabbing his phone and handing it to him.

He checked his phone to see that he had a few missed calls and text messages from Jack. He checked his voicemail to find that the guys were looking for him.

Nicole got up, wiggling out his arms as he called Jack. Alex pouted after her, but she whispered that she would be in the kitchen. He sat up and nodded in response before she left the room.

Nicole was pouring herself a glass of orange juice and talking to Courtney when Alex walked into the kitchen. He walked over to her, leaning against the counter next to her.

“The guys all want to go to lunch together today, do you want to go? I told them that we were hanging out so if you want to just go off on our own, then that’s fine,” Alex said.

“No, its fine. We can go to lunch with everyone and then go do something before we have to leave for your show,” Nicole replied with a shrug. “Where’s your show at?”

“Good. The guys wanted to meet in about an hour or so,” Alex replied. “We can go do something after lunch, and then we have to drive to Fort Lauderdale, but I told the guys that we would meet them there.”

Nicole smiled and nodded.

“Are you coming to lunch with us Courtney?” he asked, turning to look at her.

She shook her head. “I can’t; I have to go take some pictures for one of my classes.”

“You’re coming to the show though, right?” Nicole asked.

Courtney nodded. “Yeah, I told Jack yesterday I would.”

“Good,” Nicole replied. “I don’t want to have to drive home from Fort Lauderdale by myself.”

“You don’t have to drive home at all tonight,” Alex replied, grabbing onto Nicole’s hips and pulling her to him. “I want you to stay with me tonight and go with me to our show tomorrow.”

“Again?” Nicole replied, raising an eyebrow at him.

He nodded his head. “I told you, I want to spend every day that I’m here in Florida with you.”

Nicole smiled. “I suppose I could stay then, but only if Courtney does too.”

“Of course Courtney can, I’m sure Jack would be bummed if she didn’t,” Alex replied.

They both turned to look at Courtney and she shrugged looking at Nicole. “That’s fine with me, as long as you want to.”

Alex turned to look at Nicole, pouting and batting his eyes at her.

She laughed slightly. “Don’t pout at me; I already said I would go.”

Alex grinned, kissing her cheek. “Good.”

Courtney cleared her throat, standing from her seat. “Well, I’m going to go finish getting ready so I can get going.”

Nicole and Alex both nodded as she left the kitchen.

"I'm excited to spend the whole day with you," Alex said as he turned back to look at Nicole.

Nicole smiled, nodding her head. "Do you have to go back to the bus to get ready before we meet the guys for lunch?"

Alex shook his head. "Can I just use your shower instead?"

Nicole nodded her head, leading Alex back to her room.

Alex quickly showered and changed into a Cobra Starship shirt that Nicole leant him. After changing, he walked back into to Nicole’s room to find Nicole standing with her back to him in front of her bed.

Alex smirked to himself as he quietly walked over to Nicole before tackling her down onto her bed. She let out a squeal as they both landed on her bed.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m a ninja, I was just showing you my skills,” he replied with a grin.

“No,” Nicole replied, shaking her head. “You just creeped up on me, that makes you a creeper.”

Alex pouted down at her and she giggled.

“You also smell like a girl,” she added.

“Psh, I smell like you because I used your body wash,” Alex replied.

Nicole laughed. “And I’m a girl, so therefore you smell like a girl.”

Alex laughed, shaking his head at her. He leaned down to press his lips to hers, but she moved her face to the side so that he only kissed her cheek.

Alex pouted, ready to ask her why she had done that, but before he could she muttered out an excuse.

“Alex, we should probably get going to meet the guys,” she said.

He nodded, getting off of her and offering his hand to pull her to her feet. She searched her room for her purse and car keys, gathering her things.

“Are you ready?” she asked Alex once she had her stuff.

He nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

He grabbed onto her hand, pulling her out of her room and out of the apartment.

No One Can Touch Us

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:21:55 GMT

Title: No One Can Touch Us
About: All Time Low
Progress: In Progress

Prologue

“Thank you Atlanta! Good night!” Alex called out to the crowd as All Time Low finished up their last song of the night.

“Come say hi to us outside!” Jack added before the band made their way off the stage, signaling the end of another show on The AP Tour.

The four boys made their way to their dressing room, all high fiving, congratulating each other on another good show. Jack ran over to Alex, jumping on his back, tacking him to the ground.

“Dude!” Alex yelled as he looked up at Jack sitting on his back.

Jack grinned down at him before climbing off of Alex and getting to his feet. Alex laughed, shaking his head at Jack as he got back to his feet without any help from Jack.

“Are you ready to party?” Jack asked Alex as the two made their way out to the front of the theatre to sign autographs for fans outside.

“Am I ever not?” Alex replied.

Jack laughed. “I suppose not.”

Alex grinned as they walked outside and were rushed by a group of fans, all asking for autographs or to take pictures with them. The boys remained outside for nearly an hour until all the fans had left.

They headed over to the buses to meet up with the other bands and see where party of the night was at. Once all of the night’s partiers had been gathered, the group made their way to a house a few blocks away where they had been informed there was a party going on at.

Everyone split up once they got to the party, going their own ways in search of either alcohol or some girls.

Alex stood back and watched as his friends were all approached by various girls who recognized them from their bands. Zack and Jack were surrounded by a group of five girls who had been at the show and had recognized them; Shawn from The Matches had a girl on his arm that Alex had never seen before, and she was pulling him all around to show off to her friends.

Alex himself had already had offers from a few girls, some wanting to dance with him, some going as far as to offer to take him upstairs. Every time he politely declined their offers; he already knew how it all worked and he was growing tired of it.

He shook his head to himself as he watched his friends. Every night it was the same routine for band boys; a new city, a new girl. It wasn’t that his friends were using the girls, it was just that the next day, they wouldn’t exist to them; they would have already moved on. Alex understood how hard it was to keep a relationship when you were in a band and on tour, he had had many of his relationships crumble because they couldn’t withstand the troubles of his schedule, but he still couldn’t help but to think how empty their lifestyles had become. He had sat down at his computer only a couple weeks prior to write a blog on his Myspace about how empty he found it all.

While there was the chance that the next day his friends would remember the girls they had met the night before, he knew nothing was likely to come of it. Those girls would always just be there when the band rolled back through town; with maybe a spot on the guest list for a show with the chance of a hook up or hang out afterwards. They might be expecting more, but they would be sorely mistaken.

Alex was tired of the girls who always tried to hang around on tour; they were usually only after him and his friend because of the fact that they were in a band. Some were the slutty groupies who were just looking to hook up so they could say they slept with a guy in a band, others were the clingy type who were looking to be able say they were dating their favorite member of their favorite band. Either way, it was always a disaster, and he wanted something else. He wanted someone who would understand where he was coming from, and wasn’t after him because of the path he had chosen for himself.

“Crazy, huh?” Rian asked Alex, noticing that he was watching their friends.

Alex jumped slightly, startled by Rian’s sudden appearance. He nodded as he took a drink from the red, plastic cup in his hand.

“So what are you doing here all alone? Why aren’t you getting in on the girl action tonight?” Rian asked.

Alex shrugged. “I don’t know, I haven’t really been feeling it lately.”

Rian nodded his head in understanding.

Alex looked over at Rian. He admired his ability to keep a steady relationship even with their crazy schedule. Rian and his girlfriend had been together for over two years, and it amazed Alex how easy they both made it seem. Sure, you could tell it was hard on Rian to be away from his girlfriend, but you could tell that he wouldn’t have it any other way; he loved her.

Alex sighed and pulled out his cell phone to check the time. It was barely 12:15 am, much earlier than he ever decided to call it a night, but he just wasn’t in the mood to put up with this party any longer.

He cleared his throat before turning to Rian. “I’m kind of beat, I think I’m going to call it a night.”

Rian looked at Alex with a raised eyebrow. “Already? It’s still kind of early.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah. Tell the others for me?”

Rian nodded his head. “Yeah, sure.”

Alex smiled at him as he threw his glass away. He pushed through the large groups of people as he made his way to the door. Before he reached the door he ran into Jack sitting with a group of girls on the couch.

“Where are you going?” Jack asked him when he spotted him.

“Back to the bus; I’m calling it a night,” Alex replied, pausing to look at Jack.

“Lame!” Jack replied. “The party’s just getting started.”

Alex laughed slightly. “I’m tired. Have fun Jack.”

“Oh, I will!” Jack replied with a grin, wiggling his eyebrows at Alex.

Alex laughed again, shaking his head, as he turned to leave. He knew Jack had no intentions of hooking up with any of the girls he was sitting with; Jack wasn’t some kind of big player, but he always found himself surrounded by a group of girls. Girls found it hard to resist his charm; they always liked how he could make them laugh.

He made his way out the door and back outside into the cool night. As he walked back to the bus, his mind started to wander.

He was obviously not happy with how certain things were going. He was happy with his band, he was for the most part happy with his life, but he was lonely. He was bored with the company he always found on tour, but he was unsure of what exactly he wanted.

He didn’t feel the need to go out and find himself a girlfriend; he didn’t need a relationship. What he wanted was something… different; but he wasn’t going to go out looking for anything while he was out on tour.

Alex finally reached the bus. He made his way onto the bus and stopped at the front table to plug his phone into his charger before making his way through the hall to his bunk. He kicked off his shoes and pulled off his hoodie before climbing into his bunk.

With a sigh he laid his head on his pillow. Tomorrow was another day of the same old, same old.

One

“I’m starting to hate MTV,” Courtney grumbled as she looked around at some of the kids in line to get into the show. “This place is crawling with annoying little teenies.”

Nicole sighed. “I know, since when are any of these bands this popular? I miss them being small.”

The AP Tour had reached its Lake Buena Vista, Florida date, and the two girls were standing outside of the House of Blues towards the front of the line, waiting to get in.

“It’s ridiculous,” Courtney went on. “I doubt that a lot of these kids really know the music. Most of them are probably just here because MTV told them that they should like All Time Low.”

“That’s why MTV is evil,” Nicole replied with a laugh.

Courtney looked in disgust as a group of girls behind them went on and on about how hot they found various members of the different bands. “They’re like little clones of Hayley Williams, but in annoying little kid form, going on and about ‘OMG HE’S SO HOT.’ I want to beat them.”

Nicole laughed. “I don’t know if we can continue to come to these kind of shows; you turn violent.”

“You know you want to beat them too,” Courtney replied.

“I have self control, thank you very much. You, however, I worry about,” Nicole replied.

“Psh,” Courtney replied.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head at Courtney.

“I feel so old when I come to shows now,” Nicole said with a sigh as she looked around. “Some of these kids look like they’re twelve; it’s rather annoying.”

“Hence why I want to beat them,” Courtney replied.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head again.

“Hey, are you ready for sound check?” Jack asked Alex, appearing in the back lounge.

Alex looked up from the magazine he had been flipping through. “Is it already time?”

Jack nodded. “Matt says sound check is in five minutes.”

Alex sighed with a shrug. “Yeah, I guess I’m ready.”

He tossed the magazine aside before getting up from his spot on the couch and following Jack to the front of the bus.

They stepped out onto the sidewalk outside of the bus and crossed the street to get across to the venue. As they approached, a few girls in line spotted them, calling out their names. Alex and Jack waved, ready to continue on their way, but the girls ran over to them, shrieking loudly.

Alex’s eyes widened slightly as the girls surrounded them, jumping up and down, asking for pictures and shoving things at them to sign. They finished up with the girls, telling them that they had to get to sound check, before continuing on their way.

Alex and Jack were almost to the door when Alex heard someone in the line call out his name. He turned to wave at whoever had called his name, still walking and not watching where he was going. He accidentally walked into someone, almost tripping on her and taking her down with him.

He turned and quickly caught the girl before she fell over, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“Oh my god; I’m sooo sorry,” he said, looking at her. His eyes locked on hers and he froze. There was something about her that caught his eye and made his breath catch in his throat as he looked her over. Her curly hair had fallen into her eyes, but he could still see the sparkle of her dark brown eyes shining through he curly locks. “I’m uh…”

He didn’t know what to say. His mind was jumbled; it was almost like he was intoxicated by her. He took in a deep breath, breathing in her scent. She smelt good, like vanilla. He cleared his throat, clearing his thoughts. “Sorry about that, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

She smiled, shaking her head. “It’s fine; don’t worry about it. I’m just used to getting trampled inside concerts, not waiting in line.”

He smiled as she laughed, relieved that she didn’t appear angry. He realized he still had his arms wrapped around her and slowly dropped them. He extended his hand to introduce himself. “So I’m-”

“Alex! Time for sound check, dude!” Jack said, butting into the conversation and grabbing Alex’s arm, starting to pull him inside.

Alex’s eyes widened as Jack dragged him along. He looked back at the girl, waving to her. “Sorry again!”

She nodded her head with a smile.

Jack turned to smirk at Alex once they were inside. “Well that was interesting. Way to go bro.”

“Shut up,” Alex laughed, shaking his head.

“I’m serious, way to almost kill a cute girl,” Jack commented.

Alex sighed. “Yeah, she was pretty cute, huh?”

Jack nodded as the two made their way over to the stage.

Alex gave Jack a slight shove. “Well way to totally interrupt my moment with the cute girl then dude.”

Jack laughed, smiling innocently at Alex. “Whaaat? We were late for sound check.”

Alex shook his head. “Whatever. Since when do you care about being on time for soundcheck?”

Jack looked at him, pretending to be shocked and insulted. “Alexander William Gaskarth, I am insulted. I always care about being on time to sound check. Honestly, I don’t know what you’re trying to imply.”

Alex shook his head again, grabbing his guitar and strapping it on.

“It’s about time you two decided to show up for sound check,” Zack said from his spot on the corner of the stage.

“Alex was busy trampling cute girls,” Jack said with a laugh as he grabbed his guitar off the stand. “I had to pull him away to sound check.”

“Trampling cute girls, eh?” Zack asked with a raised eyebrow. “What’s that all about?”

Alex shook his head. “It was nothing; I just accidentally ran into someone.”

“And then he stood there with his arms wrapped around her, staring at her and stammering his words,” Jack replied with a laugh.

“Ooo la la,” Zack replied with a laugh.

Alex shook his head. “Can we just get started with sound check already?”

“Well excuse us, Mr. I-was-late-to-soundcheck- because-I-was-busy-flirting-it-up-outside,” Jack replied.

Zack laughed and Alex glared at them, causing them to laugh harder.

The boys finally calmed down and Rian joined them for sound check; Alex breathed a sigh of relief, happy to get away from his friends’ taunting.

“Well that was interesting,” Courtney said, raising an eyebrow at Nicole once Jack had pulled Alex inside.

Nicole laughed. “Yeah, I almost got killed by Alex Gaskarth at the All Time Low concert.”

Courtney laughed. “At least now you have a story from tonight.”

“Oh you mean, besides the one where I have to go bail you out of jail for killing some teenies?” Nicole replied.

“Oh shut up,” Courtney laughed.

Nicole was about to reply, but was interrupted by two girls running up to them. Neither looked older than thirteen, and both were dressed like your typical scene girl. Nicole could see Courtney scrunching up her nose in disgust out of the corner of her eye and had to stifle a laugh.

“Aren’t you the girl that Alex from All Time Low ran into?” the first one asked in an annoyingly high pitched voice.

“Um, yeah, why?” Nicole replied, raising her eyebrow at the girl.

“Oh my god, you are soooo lucky,” the second girl replied, in an even more annoying voice.

“Yeah, because obviously every girl loves to get trampled on outside of concerts,” Nicole replied sarcastically.

“Yeah, but you got to touch him,” the first girl replied with a squeal.

Courtney snorted. “You’re kidding, right?”

The girls were interrupted from replying because the doors were finally opening. Nicole and Courtney turned away from them so they were now facing forward in line and looked at each other, rolling their eyes.

“I hate teenies,” Courtney muttered to Nicole as she handed her ticket over.

Nicole laughed as security handed her back half of her ticket before she held her hands out so they could draw X’s on her hands.

Nicole waited right inside the door for Courtney to finish with security. Courtney walked over to her and linked arms with her and the girls made their way inside, finding a spot off in the front by the stage, partly between the middle and the left side.

Courtney looked around. “All I have to say is, if any of these stupid teenies come near me and start pushing me to try and get in front me, I will kill them.”

Nicole laughed. “Again with the violence Pookie?”

“Oh please, you were thinking the same thing,” Courtney replied.

Nicole just laughed, shaking her head.

Everything's Magic

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 08:06:52 GMT

Title: Everything's Magic
About: Cobra Starship
Status: In Progress

Chapter 1-4
Chapter 5-7
Chapter 8

Nine

Nate was standing side stage, watching We The Kings play. As the band finished their last song for the night, he decided to walk around for a while. He stopped by merch table to talk to Nicole for a while, but when he got to it she wasn’t there. Instead, he just found Alex and Courtney.

“Shouldn’t Nicole be up here with you?” he asked Courtney.

Courtney shrugged. “She and Gabe set up by themselves so we let them go off by themselves while we cover the table until you guys need to play.”

“Oh,” Nate replied simply before turning and heading to the Cobra’s dressing room.

Nate walked into the seemingly empty dressing room and frowned as his eyes landed on Nicole and Gabe, still cuddled up on the couch together, asleep. He turned to leave the dressing room again, still not wanting to face them together.

As he was about to close the dressing room door when Dan spotted him and jogged over.

“Hey Nate, have you seen Gabe?” he asked.

“He’s in the dressing room taking a nap with Nicole,” Nate replied.

Dan smirked mischievously before squeezing past Nate into the dressing room.

Dan spotted Nicole and Gabe peacefully sleeping on the couch and his smirk grew. He ran over to the couch, jumping on top of Nicole and Gabe.

“Guuuyyys!” he yelled. “Time to waaake uuuup!”

Nicole and Gabe groaned as he bounced on them a couple more times before taking a seat on the edge of the couch next to them.

Gabe opened his eyes to see what had disturbed his sleep. When they landed on Dan he glared.

“Lipski, what the hell bro?” he asked.

Dan grinned at him. He noticed that Nicole wasn’t opening her eyes so he started poking her.

“Baby,” Nicole groaned, “make him go awaaay.”

“Gladly,” Gabe replied before kicking Dan off the couch with his foot.

“Hey!” Dan yelled as he landed on the floor in front of the couch.

Gabe grinned at him and Nicole looked down at him, sticking her tongue out at him.

“Don’t mess with me when I’m napping, Lipski,” she said with a laugh as he pouted up at them.

“Pft, it was time for you guys to get up anyways,” Dan replied, standing up off the floor and brushing the dirt off his jeans.

“Is it time for the Cobras to play already?” Nicole asked.

“Not yet, but Metro Station are about half way done with their set, so Gabe should probably get up,” he replied.

Nicole sighed, wiggling out of Gabe’s arms and sitting up.

Gabe pouted at her. “I still want to cuddle.”

“We can cuddle later, it’s time to get up now,” she replied.

He sighed, sitting up as well and pulling Nicole onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.

Nicole turned her head to smile at him over her shoulder and he kissed her lightly.

“Well aren’t you two cute,” Dan said with a laugh as he watched them.

“Dude, don’t you have something to do? Like, tour managing or something?” Gabe asked.

Dan pouted. “Don’t try and get rid of me Gabriel. Maybe I want to cuddle with you guys too.” He got up from his spot on the couch, instead taking a seat on top of Nicole.

“Dude,” Gabe laughed pushing him off of them and back onto the couch, “get off of us.”

Dan glared at Gabe. “Pft Gabe, you’re such a butthead. Nicole didn’t mind; I didn’t hear her complaining. She wanted to cuddle with me.”

Gabe laughed again, shaking his head. “No she didn’t, she’s just too nice to tell you.”

Dan pouted.

Nicole laughed, pouting along with him and patting his head. “Poor Dan. Don’t worry Lipski, I would have cuddled with you.”

Dan grinned victoriously at Gabe. “See Gabe? I told you.”

Gabe shook his head. “She’s just saying that to shut you up.”

“Be nice Gabanti, or else you won’t get cuddles,” Nicole scolded, turning to look at him.

“Oh snap,” Dan said, laughing at Gabe.

He pouted at her. “You’re always threatening to take cuddles away.”

“That’s because you don’t behave,” Nicole replied. “Behave and we won’t have this problem.”

Gabe sighed dramatically, leaning his forehead against her shoulder.

Nicole smiled, kissing the top of his head.

He lifted his head from her shoulder and grinned at her before leaning forward and kissing her.

Nate was watching them intently from his spot at the table in the corner of the room. He sighed as he saw the smile on Nicole’s face as she and Gabe locked eyes. Gabe leaned his forehead against Nicole’s as the two whispered softly to each other, both smiling broadly. Nate had never seen her so happy in a relationship, especially not so soon.

Nate was so caught off guard to see Nicole putting so much trust in Gabe so soon. She always had her guard up whenever she got into a new relationship, but when he looked at how she was acting around Gabe, it seemed that she actually had her guard down and was investing a lot of her heart into her new relationship; it seemed like Gabe was somehow managing to already break down her walls in such a short amount of time.

Nate couldn’t help but feel that this openness and unguardedness was a big mistake on Nicole’s part; he couldn’t help but to have a pessimistic outlook on Nicole’s relationship. He felt Nicole was rushing into things with Gabe; she had only known him a few short weeks, an amount of time that Nate felt was too short for her to really know the real Gabe.

Nate had known Gabe for quite some time and had seen Gabe go through countless relationships. He felt like Gabe went through girlfriends quicker than he went through hoodies (which was saying something because Gabe was always finding a new hoodie); he didn’t want to see Nicole end up as the next ex-girlfriend and he didn’t want to see this relationship end up as the new reason for Nicole to withdraw from relationships and trusting guys.

He didn’t know why, but it pained him to see Nicole so happy with Gabe. It wasn’t just the fact that he was worried about her, but he could also feel a pang of jealousy ring through his heart when he looked at them together.

He was torn from his thoughts as the remaining members of the band started making their way into the dressing room.

Alex skipped into the room, pulling Courtney behind them. They spotted Nicole and Gabe and walked over to their couch. Alex took a seat next to Nicole and Gabe and pulled Courtney down onto his lap.

“What are you guys doing in here?” Gabe asked.

“Pft Gabriel, this isn’t just your dressing room, we can be in here too,” Courtney replied.

Nicole could tell that Gabe was about to retaliate so she cut him off before he could start an argument between him and Courtney.

“I think what Gabe means is, shouldn’t you be at the merch table?” she asked Courtney.

“Eh, it’s covered,” she replied, waving a hand dismissively.

“Oh really?” Gabe asked.

“Yeah, really Gabe,” Courtney replied rolling her eyes.

Nicole raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“I talked Chris V into covering our table,” Courtney replied.

“Shouldn’t he, oh I don’t know, be covering his own merch table?” Gabe asked.

“Metro Station’s already done with their set so Mason and Trace were out there; they’ve got it covered,” Courtney replied. “Stop questioning me, Gabriel.”

“Don’t boss me, Courtney Jean,” Gabe replied.

“Bite me Gabriel Eduardo,” Courtney replied.

Nicole turned to look at Gabe and he bit his tongue, not wanting to risk getting his cuddles taken away.

Upon noticing this, Courtney smirked. “Looks like you already have him trained Nicole, good job.”

Gabe glared.

Nicole laughed. “Don’t provoke him Court.”

“See? She always starts it,” Gabe whined.

“And you always finish it, which is just as bad baby,” Nicole replied, turning to look at him.

Courtney stuck her tongue out at Gabe and he sighed with a pout.

“Courtney,” Nicole said, now turning to look at her, “I totally saw that out of the corner of my eye. You’re just as bad as Gabe.”

“Stop trying to get me in trouble,” Gabe pouted.

“Stop being such a baby,” Courtney laughed.

Gabe sighed, resting his head against Nicole’s shoulder. “I’m not even listening to you anymore.”

Nicole smiled, patting his head.

Dan returned with Ryland and Victoria and informed the others that it was show time. Gabe sighed as Nicole pulled out of his arms and got up off his lap. He got to his feet and grabbed onto Nicole’s hand as they followed the others to the backstage area.

Gabe pouted at Nicole as he looked down at her.

She laughed. “Don’t pout at me, we’ll hang out after your set,” she said, knowing exactly what was on his mind and why he was pouting. “Good luck tonight.” She got on her toes and kissed his cheek.

He smiled and nodded his head. “Ok, fine.” He leaned down, pressing his lips to hers. “I’ll see you after the show.”

She smiled and nodded her head. The others had already been on stage for nearly a minute and she noticed Dan was eyeing them from the edge of the stage, looking on the verge of being ready to kill Gabe over the fact that he wasn’t on stage yet. “You better get on stage before Lipski freaks out.”

He turned to look at Dan briefly and turned back to her with a grin. He leaned down to kiss her one last time before running out on stage.

Nicole turned to find Courtney waiting for her.

“Well, that was a cute little display,” Courtney said, linking arms with Nicole as they made their way back to the table merch table.

After the show, Gabe jogged back stage to change his shirt before making his way out front to the merch table to find Nicole. She was busy selling merch to a large group of fans so he stood off to the side, signing autographs and taking pictures until the crowd around the merch table died down a bit.

Once the swarm of fans had finally lessened, Gabe walked over to the merch table, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek.

“Hey,” she said with a bright smile, happy to see him. “Did you have a good show?”

He smiled. “Yeah, but I missed you.”

Courtney overheard him. “You were away from her an hour at most.”

“So?” Gabe asked, turning to look at Courtney as Nicole pulled out of his arms to get a hoodie for a fan. “That doesn’t mean I didn’t miss being with Nicole while I was on stage. I like having her at my side.”

“Aww, that’s cute Gabriel,” Courtney cooed, pinching his cheek.

He laughed, swatting her hand away. “Shut up Courtney Jean, don’t mock me.”

Nicole laughed at the two. “Can’t you two ever just get along?”

“This is mine and Gabe’s way of showing affection for each other,” Courtney replied with a laugh.

Gabe nodded in agreement, grinning at her.

“Well, I hope that’s not how you show affection for all girls,” Nicole replied, wrapping her arms around his waist and looking up at him. “I don’t think I can handle that much abuse.”

“No way.” Gabe shook his head, smiling at her. “Anyways, it wouldn’t matter anyways because you’re special, baby.”

He kissed her cheek again which caused her to smile up at him. “Aw, thank you baby.”

All of the fans were already gone from the venue so the girls started to pack up the merch with Gabe’s help. Once they had packed everything back into the trailer, Gabe grabbed onto Nicole’s hand, pulling her towards the bus.

“Come to the bus with me, I want to take a shower before we go ice skating,” he said.

“You guys are going ice skating?” Courtney asked with a raised eyebrow. “Right now?”

Nicole nodded. “We were going to see if you guys wanted to come along. Gabe wants to go ice skating.”

“Gabe wants to go ice skating?” Courtney asked disbelievingly, eyeing Gabe.

“Why do you sound so surprised?” Gabe asked with a pout.

“I don’t think I can picture you ice skating,” Courtney replied with a laugh.

“Psh,” Gabe replied. “It sounds like a coupley thing to do, so I want to go ice skating with my girlfriend.”

“Aww, you’ve turned cute since you started dating Nicole, Gabe,” Courtney cooed, pinching his cheek again.

Gabe swatted her hand away. “Psh Courtney, I’ve always been cute. Don’t try to pretend like you haven’t noticed.”

Nicole laughed, shaking her head at Courtney and Gabe. “So do you and Alex want to come with us?”

“Sure, it sounds fun,” Courtney replied. “Let me go tell Alex; he’ll probably want to change first.”

Nicole nodded. “No rush, Gabe still has to go take a shower, so you guys have some time.”

Gabe nodded, starting to pull Nicole toward the bus again.

“Ooo, a shower eh?” Courtney replied, wiggling her eyes at the couple.

“No,” Nicole replied with a laugh, picking up on what Courtney was implying. “Gabe is going to take a shower. Alone. I’m just going to change probably.”

“Well, I never know with Gabe,” Courtney replied with a laugh.

“Psh, we weren’t the ones getting raunchy in the dressing room before sound check,” Gabe called back to Courtney before finally pulling Nicole away.

Courtney laughed, shaking her head before making her way over to where Alex was talking with a group of fans.

Ten

After his shower, Gabe walked out of the bathroom to find Nicole sitting in the back lounge waiting for him.

“Is that my hoodie?” Gabe asked, noticing the purple hoodie she had changed into.

She nodded her head. “Is it ok if I wear it?”

“Yeah of course, you don’t have to ask. I was just wondering,” he replied, nodding his head.

“Good,” she replied with a smile. “I like it; it’s comfy, and it smells good because it smells like you.”

Gabe smiled as he took a seat on the couch and pulled her onto his lap. “It looks cute on you baby, purple is a good color on you.”

She smiled, kissing his cheek. “Why thank you baby.”

Gabe smiled back at her. “You know what?”

“Hmm?” Nicole replied.

“I really love your smile,” Gabe replied, brushing a few loose curls out of her face and tucking them behind her ear.

Her smile broadened as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his briefly. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have found Gabe; she had never met a guy who made her feel so good about herself or so happy.

She leaned forward to kiss him once more before leaning her head against him. Gabe smiled to himself, kissing her forehead.

They remained like that in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, Nicole with her head resting in the crook of Gabe’s neck and Gabe running his fingers gently through her hair.

“I’m hungry,” Nicole sighed, breaking the silence. “We should go get dinner before ice skating.”

“I agree, I’m hungry too,” Gabe replied nodding his head. “But at this rate, we’re never going to get to go ice skating. Where are Courtney and Suarez?”

“They were outside last I checked. Alex was talking to some fans who were still standing outside while they waited for you to finish taking a shower,” Nicole replied.

“I’ve been out of the shower for, like, fifteen minutes,” Gabe whined. “Why haven’t they come in yet?”

Nicole laughed. “They probably didn’t realize that you’re out of the shower. I’ll text Courtney and let her know.”

Nicole pulled out her Sidekick and sent a text message to Courtney. A minute later they could hear her and Alex walking onto the bus.

“We’re back here guys!” Nicole called out to them.

Courtney walked into the back lounge and took a seat on the couch next to Nicole and Gabe.

“Where’s Alex?” Gabe asked her.

“He wanted to take a quick shower before we go anywhere,” Courtney replied.

Gabe pouted. “He’s holding us up. If I don’t get to go ice skating because of him, I’m going to beat him.”

“Oh hush Gabanti,” Courtney replied, shaking her head at Gabe.

Nicole smiled at him, patting his knee and kissing his cheek.

Courtney eyed Nicole. “Are you wearing Gabe’s hoodie?”

Nicole nodded her head with a shrug. “Yeah, why?”

“Ew, he just sweated all over it. He was, like, soaking after the Cobras’ set,” Courtney replied, making a face at Nicole.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head. “No, Gabe has two of these. This one was shoved into the corner of his bunk, this isn’t the one he got all sweaty and gross in during his set.”

Gabe pouted. “Thanks for calling me gross baby.”

Nicole laughed, kissing his cheek. “You know what I mean.”

Gabe sighed dramatically, causing both of the girls to laugh at him.

Five minutes later Alex emerged from the bathroom showered and ready to go.

“Well it’s about time,” Gabe said as he and Nicole stood up.

“Oh, shut up bro. We would have come in earlier if you would have told us you were out of the shower,” Alex replied, rolling his eyes.

Nicole grabbed onto Gabe’s hand, tugging him towards the front of the bus. “Come on guys, I’m starving. Let’s go eat first.”

The four made their way out the door. They wandered down the streets of downtown Denver for a few minutes before the came across a pizza parlor and decided to eat there. After dinner, they asked for directions to an ice skating rink and made their way a few blocks over to the ice skating rink which was, much to Gabe’s delight, still open.

When the four reached the front entrance to the skating rink they found that it was about to close, but Gabe offered to pay the owner to stay open later. After a couple minutes of persuasion the owner of the skating rink agreed to stay open an extra hour so the four friends could skate.

“Have you ever ice skated before?” Gabe asked Nicole as they laced up their ice skates.

“Only a couple of times, but it’s been forever so I doubt I even know what I’m doing anymore,” Nicole replied with a laugh.

Gabe smiled. “That’s fine. It hasn’t been too long since I last skated so I can help you. It’ll be more romantic that way.”

Nicole laughed. “Oh will it now?”

Gabe nodded his head. “Yes, it will.”

Gabe leaned over and kissed Nicole’s cheek before getting to his feet. He held his hands out to Nicole, pulling her to her feet as well before they made their way onto the ice, where Alex was already pulling Courtney around.

As soon as they stepped out onto the ice Nicole could feel her feet slipping out from under her. Her eyes widened as she grabbed onto Gabe.

“Holy shit baby, I don’t know why I let you talk me into this,” she said, clinging to him.

Gabe laughed as he grabbed onto her. “Relax baby, I got you.”

Gabe skated in front of her and grabbed onto her hands so he could pull her around. He guided her around the rink a few times until she had gotten back into the swing of skating. Once Gabe felt that Nicole had gotten the hang of it, he moved so he was at her side and laced their fingers together.

They had been at the skating rink for nearly 45 minutes when it started snowing, the snow lightly falling on the outdoor rink. Gabe stopped skating and pulled Nicole off to the side of the rink, backing her up so her back was against the wall around the rink and he was in front of her.

“Are you having fun?” Gabe asked her, brushing a few snowflakes off her cheek.

She nodded her head, smiling up at him. “I’m glad you thought of this.”

He grinned. “Well, I’m glad you agreed to come.”

“Well you were right, this is pretty coupley and romantic,” she replied. “And the snow adds to it.”

Gabe smiled, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her body closer to his before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers. For all that he had tried to fight his feelings and denied wanting a serious relationship before, he was glad she had broken down his walls; he couldn’t imagine himself any happier than he was at that moment, and he couldn’t imagine any girl he’d rather be sharing those feelings with. He knew, right then, that he was already falling in love with her.

When they parted, Nicole smiled up at him. “You are one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me.”

Gabe’s smile widened as he leaned down to press his lips to hers again. He was about to tell her that he felt the same, but was cut off by a scream behind them. Nicole and Gabe both turned in the direction it had come from to see what was happening.

Courtney, who had been clinging to Alex the whole entire time they had been skating, had lost her balance when Alex let go of her briefly and started falling as her feet slipped out from underneath her. She quickly grabbed onto Alex’s arm to break her fall and catch herself, but instead caught him off guard and pulled him down onto the ice with her. They both landed on the ice with a thud, Courtney groaning as Alex rolled over on top of her.

“Are you ok baby?” Alex asked, trying his hardest not to laugh but failing.

“Why didn’t you stop me from falling?” Courtney asked, ignoring Alex’s question.

“Because I was kind of busy being pulled down by you,” Alex replied laughing.

Courtney pouted at Alex.

“Aw, I’m sorry baby; I just wasn’t expecting you to fall. You caught me off guard,” Alex replied, pouting at Courtney in return.

Courtney was still pouting so Alex leaned in close to her, his face close to hers as he pouted. “I love youuu.”

Courtney couldn’t help but giggle and smile as Alex leaned his face so close to hers that their noses were touching. “I suppose I forgive you.”

Alex grinned, pressing his lips to hers.

“Hey now! No getting raunchy on the ice!” Gabe called over to them.

Nicole laughed, shaking her head at Gabe as she pulled away from him and skated over to Courtney and Alex. “Are you guys ok?”

Courtney nodded her head as Alex stood up and pulled her to her feet, wrapping his arms tightly around her so that she wouldn’t fall again. “I could have broken though, since this boy failed to catch me.”

Alex pouted again. “I said I was sorryyyy.”

Courtney smiled up at him, leaning up slightly to kiss him. “And I forgave you because I love youuu.”

Alex grinned, kissing her again.

Nicole smiled as she watched them. “You guys are cute.”

Gabe skated over, wrapping his arms around Nicole from behind and kissing her cheek.

Courtney was watching them now, smiling. “So are you and Gabe.”

“And we haven’t even been dating as long as you and Suarez, look at how quickly we nailed that whole ‘super cute couple’ thing,” Gabe replied with a grin.

Courtney shook her head. “Why can’t you ever just take a compliment without ruining the moment?”

Gabe pouted slightly.

Nicole looked down at Gabe’s watch, noticing that it had almost been an hour that they had been skating. She grabbed onto Gabe’s hand, trying to pull him towards the edge of the ice. “Come on, let’s go take our skates off; it’s already almost been an hour.”

He nodded, following her back over to the bench where their shoes were. Courtney and Alex followed after them and the four changed out of their skates and into their shoes. They returned their skates and thanked the owner for staying open later for them before starting their walk back to the bus.

Nicole slipped her hand into Gabe’s and he smiled down at her, lacing their fingers together and leaning down to kiss her lightly. She smiled, leaning her head against his arm as they followed Alex and Courtney to the bus.

It was starting to snow a little harder, so once they reached the bus Alex and Courtney rushed inside to get warm. Nicole was about to follow them but Gabe held her back.

“Let’s hang out outside for a little bit and play in the snow,” he said, pouting slightly at her to win her over. “Bus call isn’t for about another hour.”

“If we’re going to stay out here, I need a jacket and gloves; this hoodie isn’t going to cut it,” she replied. “You should come get your jacket too, your hoodie is already starting to get wet.”

Gabe shook his head. “Nah I don’t want a jacket, my hoodie will be fine.”

Nicole sighed. “Gabe, you’re going to get sick. You know something has been going around the bus, and getting soaked in the snow when it’s like five degrees out isn’t going to help you keep from catching it.”

Gabe wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her. “Don’t worry baby, I’m a big boy, I won’t get sick. Go get your jacket so we can build a snowman or something.”

Nicole sighed, shaking her head at Gabe’s stubbornness before turning to get her jacket from the bus. She couldn’t be annoyed with Gabe because she knew that stubbornness was just another thing that she and Gabe had in common.

She returned outside a few minutes later wearing her jacket, hat, and a pair of gloves. Gabe was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk waiting for her, looking down at his shoes, oblivious to the fact that Nicole had stepped off the bus. She smiled mischievously to herself; if Gabe was going to be stubborn and not dress for the weather then she would at least have some fun with him. She picked up a two handfuls of snow, sneaking up behind Gabe and dumping it on his head.

Gabe jumped up shaking the snow off his head and trying to get the snow that had fallen inside his hoodie out. He turned to look at Nicole who was grinning innocently at him.

“That was cold baby. Some of it went in my hoodie,” he whined.

“Now see, if you were wearing a jacket, that wouldn’t have happened; your jacket would have protected you,” Nicole replied.

“That wasn’t very nice baby,” he said with a pout.

“Aw, I’m sorry baby,” she replied, wrapping her arms around him and pouting up at him. “Do you forgive me?”

Gabe looked at her thoughtfully for a few seconds before replying. “I suppose I could if you help me build a snowman.”

Nicole nodded. “Are we just building a snowman here in front of the venue?”

Gabe nodded. “We’ll leave a bit of Cobra flare behind.”

Nicole giggled at Gabe before helping him with his snowman. She was in the middle of rolling the middle ball for the snowman’s body when she felt a snowball hit her in the head. She looked up and Gabe was grinning at her.

“Gabriel Eduardo Saporta,” Nicole scolded.

“Hey, at least you're wearing a jacket and I didn’t dump it on you,” Gabe replied innocently.

“Yeah, but that hurt my head. You threw it really hard at me baby,” Nicole replied, pouting at him and holding the side of her head.

Gabe’s eyes widened slightly. “Aw, I’m so sorry baby. I didn’t mean to throw it at you so hard; I was trying to be gentle.”

He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her head where he had hit her with the snowball. Nicole smirked, pushing Gabe back into a pile of snow. His jaw dropped as he looked up at her grinning down at him. Before she could move out his reach he grabbed her hand, pulling her down next to him and rolling on top of her. He sat kneeled over her, grabbing her arms and pinning them above her head.

“You are a mischievous little trouble maker,” he laughed as he looked down at her.

“I learned it from my boyfriend,” she replied with a giggle.

Gabe laughed, shaking his head before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers for a few seconds before speaking. “You’re lucky that you’re cute and I can’t resist you; I actually kind of like your mischievous side.”

Nicole smiled. “It’s because you know you're the same way so that’s just another example of how we’re made for each other.”

Gabe smiled, nodding before kissing her lightly again. “I suppose that this is very true.”

He stood up and pulled Nicole to her feet. They finished building their snowman and stood back to admire their work.

“I’d say he’s pretty sassy looking,” Nicole said with a nod. “I think the chain was a good touch.”

Gabe nodded his head as he looked at the snowman. He had found a broken, fake gold chain in front of the venue that seemed to have been left by a fan and put it on the snowman as a necklace.

“Let’s make some snow angels,” Gabe suggested.

Nicole shook her head. “You’re already soaked. It’s time to go inside before you get sick.”

Gabe pouted at her. “But baby, that’s no fun.”

“I don’t want you to get sick Gabe,” Nicole replied, pulling him onto the bus. “It’s only because I care.”

Gabe sighed. “I suppose I can’t be upset about that.”

“Now, you need to get out of this hoodie and go change,” Nicole said, unzipping Gabe’s soaked hoodie.

Gabe grinned at her and she laughed, shaking her head. “Don’t give me that grin Gabriel. I’m just unzipping your hoodie because I know you’ll start stalling.”

Gabe laughed and nodded, shrugging out of his hoodie as he walked to his bunk. He grabbed his pajama pants and a dry t-shirt out of his bunk before walking to the bathroom to change. When he walked out of the bathroom Nicole had already changed into her pajamas and was sitting in the back lounge watching television.

“Is everyone else already in bed?” he asked, taking a seat next to Nicole and pulling her onto his lap.

“Courtney and Alex are. I think we’re still waiting for Nate, Ryland, and Victoria; they went out partying with We The Kings after the show,” Nicole replied, leaning against Gabe.

He smiled, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead.

Nicole yawned and Gabe looked down at her. “Tired baby?”

“Yeah, kind of. It’s been kind of an eventful day, even if we did take a nap before your show,” Nicole replied, nodding her head.

“Let’s go cuddle in my bunk and watch a movie,” Gabe suggested with a smile.

Nicole nodded, turning off the tv and getting up off of Gabe’s lap. She held her hand out to him, pulling him up from the couch and leading the way back out to the bunk hall.

Gabe held back the curtain to his bunk, allowing Nicole to climb in first before climbing in next to her. He started a movie on the little tv in his bunk before wrapping his arms around Nicole and pulling her to him. She laid her head on his chest as they watched the movie in a peaceful silence.

During the middle of the movie, Gabe looked down at Nicole, placing a finger under her chin, making her look up at him. He smiled before leaning his head down to kiss her. Their kiss continued to slowly deepen as Gabe wrapped his arms around Nicole, pulling her body as close to his as possible. He rolled over so he was laying on top her slightly, his hand dropping down to her hip.

“Gabe,” she muttered, pulling away from him slightly.

“Hmm?” Gabe replied, pressing his lips to hers again.

“Gabe,” she said again, a little more strongly.

Gabe pulled away to look at her, surprised at her tone, knowing already that something was wrong. “What’s wrong baby?”

“We need to slow down a little bit,” she replied. She saw the confused look on his face so she continued. “I mean, we’ve only been a couple for a day. I’m not sure that we’re ready for that yet.”

Gabe realized what she was saying and shook his head. “That’s not where I was going. Trust me, I want to take things slow and wait until you're ready. I promise you I’m not going to push you into anything, ok? You’re too special to me for that.”

Nicole smiled slightly at his reply, but then dropped her gaze away from his eyes sheepishly. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to imply that you were being pushy with me. It’s just that with all the other guys that I’ve dated, when things start to get a little heavy like that, that’s usually where they’re headed. Most guys seem to expect that.”

“You don’t need to apologize baby,” Gabe replied with a smile, lifting her chin so she was looking him in the eye. “Things with us are going to be different, ok? I don’t want this to be like any other relationship that we’ve ever been in before. I’m not going to be like the other guys you’ve dated; I know they’ve hurt you and I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want you to ever feel pressured into anything by me, ok? I guess I just got a little carried away right now, I’m sorry.”

Nicole smiled at him, kissing him lightly. “It’s ok Gabe. I know things are different with us, I can feel it; I wouldn’t have taken a chance on you otherwise.”

Gabe smiled, kissing her lightly. Hearing her say that she could feel that things were different with them made him feel unbelievably happy.

“I promise you, I won’t make you regret taking that chance,” he replied softly.

He laid back down next to Nicole and wrapped his arm around her waist, kissing her temple. Nicole cuddled up to his side, laying her head on his chest and resting her hand next to her head. He grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together, smiling to himself as he watched her eyes start to drift shut.

“Good night,” she muttered softly.

He kissed her forehead before whispering softly. “Goodnight baby.”