The Throw-Aways

“Jack!” I screeched. Our chairs squeaked and complained as we all scooted back and rushed towards our friend. A steady trickle of red liquid dripped past his eyebrow.

“Help.” He muttered weakly and fell to the floor, eyes rolling to the back of his head. Arestino moved some chairs out of the way of a long table and Austin and Tino helped pick him up and set him down on it.

“Jack, what happened?” I asked worriedly. Even though he had been a jerk, clueless, and an idiot for the past few weeks, I still cared about his well-being.

“J-Jay…”He mumbled. I sighed and bit my lip, trying to hold back tears. How could Jay do this to Jack? A boiling point of rage came up to me. Doing everything in my willpower that was allowed, I held back my anger.

“Take it easy there, son.” Arestino said calmly. He was always calling everyone ‘son’.

Two minutes later, we had cleaned up Jack’s face and had bandaged it back together. It wasn’t a bad wound and isn’t deep. All it was a one inch scratch, but since it was on the forehead, it bled profusely.

“Jack, what happened?” I quietly asked him, touching his arm. Jack moved himself to sit in a chair. He was shivering from the blizzard outside and crying from whatever had caused him pain.

“Jay, y-you were r-right all along. S-she did this.” He sniffled. Dante handed him a tissue box and the guitarist sent him a grateful look.

“Jack, I think you owe us an explanation.” Austin told him firmly. Jack nodded to the older man. Everyone pulled up chairs and sat around the table.

“We were on the bus. Jay was with us because she wanted to see her home again. Well, we stopped and parked just outside of here. Jay, Rian, and I stayed behind on the bus. Alex and Zach went off to the library to get better signal from their phones to make a few calls.” We all listened to the story as the wind howled outside. It seemed to scream the pain we were all feeling.

“After Alex and Zack left, Rian and I had a beer. Well, Jay wanted one and I said yes. I didn’t care so much that she didn’t get drunk. Well, an hour later, I had stopped after two but wasn’t paying attention to Jay. The entire time, we had been watching an old movie or something. Well, I went up to go to the back lounge and see if I could get any more reception from my laptop. When I came back, she was all over Rian’s lap, trying to make out with him!” Jack trembled harder, his eyes glowing red from the tears.

“Jay’s not even of age!” Skars shrieked in dismay. Jack simply bobbed his head with his arms limp on the table.

“Rian tried shoving her off, but she kept trying to get on him. I finally yanked Jay off and Rian just looked at me in disgust, telling me to control my girlfriend. You see, Rian had been trying to tell me that maybe you guys weren’t all wrong. He was trying to warn me that Jay wasn’t all that perfect and I hadn’t listened to him.” He trembled. Alan patted his shoulder and Jack squeezed his eyes closed.

“Rian took his coat, walked off the bus in search of Alex. It was lightly snowing outside so it’s not too bad yet. As soon as Rian left, she started yelling at me. She was screaming at me, wondering why I stopped her. I asked if she still loved me, of course she told me no. She said that I was a fool to think she ever loved me. Jay said she just wanted to find a way to get to Raven. Jay did open the door, she did let Jake out. She said she hurt you, R. I’m so sorry.” Tears trickled out of his eyes. I held onto his arm, leaning against his shoulder.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” I soothed him. Austin looked at me with worry in his eyes.

“No, it’s not okay. I’m really sorry that I didn’t believe you guys. I should’ve known that Jay would’ve let Jake out. If it wasn’t for me, you would’ve still had Jake.” Jake sniffled. I shook my head, but it still hit me like a ton of bricks.

Thing was, it’s pretty hard NOT to forgive Jack Barakat.

“Well, we can’t bring him back now. We just have to keep moving on. It’s Christmas Eve, why don’t we forget about that?” I softly spoke to him. He nodded and looked to me.

“Oh yeah, it’s Christmas Eve!” He gasped in astonishment. A few people quietly chuckled.

“I’ll get us all hot chocolate. Can you call the boys?” Arestino asked. Jack nodded and reached for his phone.

“Wait, I left it in the bus.” He grumbled. I rolled my eyes, but cracked a smile. Jack was always forgetting his phone somewhere.

“Here, I have Alex’s number. He’ll be with the other three. Is Jay still in the bus?” I asked him. Jack shook his head no and I let out a little sigh of relief.

“She went home. Good riddance.” He growled.

As I stepped away from the table, I flicked the touch screen and went to my contacts.

Calling: Alex Gaskarth…..Calling: Alex Gaskarth…..

“Hey, what’s up?” His voice asked me. It was slightly muffled by static of the blizzard.

“Yo, it’s Raven. Hey, wanna come over for hot chocolate at The Three Meatballs?” I asked him. Three voices piped up in the background.

“Wait, you’re in town!?” Zack’s voice called back over the speaker. I laughed a little.

“Yeah! We didn’t know you were in town either! Look, Jack’s at the restaurant, so do you want to be warm or not?” I asked him.

“Warm! Please!” Rian piped up. It was like all tension had disappeared over the thought of not being cold. We exchanged goodbyes and I shut off the phone. Sneaking back into the circle of people, I took my spot. A kettle of boiling water was screaming in the background.

Two minutes later, three very bedraggled and worn men stomped through the door. Their shoes tracked in snow, but I didn’t care. Vern and Briggs wagged their tails and glanced up at the new visitors.

“Hey guys!” Alex cheered. A little bit of frost laced his hair. I smiled as the boy went and sat down by his best friend. Jack kindly brushed the snow out of Alex’s hair. Almost everything seemed back to normal.

For the next ten minutes, Jack recounted what had happened with Jay to Alex, Rian, and Zack. The rest of our band plus my four other best friends chattered quietly about the blizzard. It was growing by the minute.

“Have you heard the news? Five feet by ten in the morning tomorrow!” Alex exclaimed while jumping into our conversation. Arestino came out with multiple mugs of hot chocolate. We gratefully thanked him for the treat and sipped the warm drinks.

“Geez, that’s a lot for one night-even for Colorado!” I chuckled. Jack would’ve loved the snow. He used to go out, jump into the drifts, sneeze, and then repeat the cycle.

“So where did you guys park your bus?” Phil asked the All Time Low boys. They blushed and looked to the west.

“Well, it’s at the edge of town, behind the bar.” Zack shook his head. In this weather, it would be impossible to even walk ten feet!

“Well, we’re just out in the back. You guys can stay with us.” Mark added. Arestino pulled a chair up next to our manager.

“Thanks a bunch. I think we would freeze before we could even make it to the bar!” Alex chuckled. They could all sleep on the couches and such. This time, I turned towards my friends.

Oh no, they couldn’t make it home! Their cars wouldn’t start in this weather, and they would certainly not be able to walk up to three miles home! I think Dante lived the furthest out, at the far outskirts of the housing area.

“Hey, do you think we could let Dante, Nico, Skars, and Kylar stay on the bus as well? They live a few miles out of town…” I trailed off, trying to beg to Austin that they needed a place for the night.

“Of course!” Alan leapt in before Austin could even blink. I think he was just looking for an excuse to be with Kylar more.

“Well, yes!” Austin rolled his eyes and smirked. I hugged him before helping Arestino clean up. Everyone pushed in their chairs and filed in a fourteen person line to the back of the building. I led the way, putting my hand on the icy cold metal handle.

“Okay, get ready.” I said while feeling a burst of cold through the thick door. The others nodded and threw their hoods up.

“One, two, three!” I opened the door and we made a mad dash to the bus. I yanked on the handle, but it was frozen over and shut. I yanked and yanked, but nothing happened.

“Here!” Austin’s numb lips formed the faint words and he clicked the unlock button again. I heard the iced over door start to break from the cold’s hold. Austin grabbed onto my shoulders and everyone joined in. It was like a giant conga line to break the door open. After a few good heaves, all fourteen of us, plus Mark, threw the door open and scrambled inside. As soon as we entered the giant vehicle, our shoes were thrown off and blankets grabbed.

Mark leapt to the front and blast heat from every open vent. It took a few minutes to warm up the air, but when it did, everyone took turns standing around vents and getting their face blasted with warm jets. The outside thermometer read negative twenty on the dash.

Everyone threw their shoes in a corner in one giant pile. I ran to the cabinets and grabbed all the blankets. Jack and Alex shared, Rian and Zack took one, Nico, Skars, and Dante all managed to fit beneath a large afghan. I threw my black ampersand to Austin and Everyone else rushed to their bunks to snag their sheets. Alan was already curled up with Kylar, both of them lying down on a couch.

“Come on, Raven.” Austin murmured. His large hand took my robotic one and pulled me onto a free couch. Everyone had crashed wherever they could find. Austin threw the ampersand blanket over me as I curled into his chest. We were both tucked neatly into a corner of the couch. On the floor, Jack and Alex were cozied up, side by side. I would’ve bet ten bucks that they were holding hands under there. It would’ve been a score for Jalex shippers everywhere.

“Comfortable?” Austin asked me. I nodded and yawned. His arm curled around my waist and held me tighter.

“Merry Christmas, Austin.” I murmured. He quickly kissed my forehead as I started to fall asleep. Feeling had finally returned to my feet.

“Merry Christmas, R.”

Notes