Unveiling J.A.C.I.E. (All Time Low Fanfiction | Jack Barakat)

Chapter 2

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." a group of people started singing as they entered the dressing room I was sitting in alone.

I looked up and saw Alex come in first, a couple of crew members following him, and Jack entering in next while holding a cake with candles on it. But I didn't really care about all those people and the delicious looking cake with brightly coloured icing on it. No, I was most excited about the person at the end of the congregation.

It was one of the people I had been missing the most on the tour despite only being on the road for just over a week. Hazel. My bestest friend and roommate had decided to surprise me by coming out for the day.

It was all Jack's idea. He was the one that organised it all as a surprise. Was it supposed to have been a secret? Yes. Did I already know she was coming? Most definitely. Were Hazel and I capable of keeping things like that from each other? Absolutely not.

Still, I was extremely excited to see her. So, I got up from where I was sitting, ran past everybody else whilst screaming with glee, and threw my arms around her.

"Happy birthday, Jacie!" She laughed as the rest of the group sang the last note of the song.

"What an amazing surprise!" I over-exaggerated, my eyes glancing in Jack's direction.

Jack sighed a little. "You knew, didn't you?"

"A little," I giggled, planting a big kiss on Hazel's cheek.

"Goddammit," he grumbled with a laugh, still holding out the cake with the candles burning. "Now blow out your candles and make a wish before they melt all over the cake."

I didn't need to be told twice. I let go of Hazel and sauntered up towards the cake. On it were twenty-two candles, placed around haphazardly, barely missing the words 'Happy birthday' written in the middle with poorly done handwriting and cheap icing. My guess was that Alex must have braved it and attempted to write it.

I blew out all the candles, smiling as I did so. The fact that these people went out of their ways to celebrate with me made me feel so special. My wish was to continue being this happy and for things to only change for the better.

We moved the cake to the table in the room and cut a piece for everybody, making sure to have leftovers for anybody else that happened to drop by. After all, others were busy preparing for the show that night.

Hazel and I practically sat on top of each other to make enough space on the couches and chairs while we all socialised and enjoyed our cake. With her almost entirely on my lap, and me sitting against Jack, there was enough space to fit five people on one couch instead of three.

"Thank you for reuniting me with the love of my life," I thanked Jack after Hazel and I were asked some questions about how we knew each other.

"My soulmate," Hazel agreed, kissing the top of my head and wrapping her arms around my shoulder.

"Watch out, Jack," Jeff, the trusty tour manager and my former boss, whistled jokingly, "you're going to lose your girl."

Everybody chuckled, including Jack, who knew all about how close Hazel and I were. We were like the female counterparts of him and the other All Time Low guys. There was nothing we didn't know about each other.

"Happy anniversary, Jack," I laughed.

Was it our anniversary? Jack and I decided it was. Technically it was the day we first hooked up. But, to be fair, we started hanging out soon after that. And, yes, it took us a while and a month apart to truly know what we wanted. But, still, it all started on my birthday. If I hadn't turned twenty-one a year earlier, I wouldn't have been at that club, and Jack and I would have never been anything more than strangers who once met at a water cooler.

We didn't really get to properly celebrate our anniversary on my actual birthday. After all, it was a show day and Hazel was visiting. But, we would be in Vegas just three days later, and we decided that we'd have a little fun on our day off instead. It would be worth the wait.

There was something different when Jack and I played our song together on stage during my set that night. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It felt different in a good way, though. Like there was more love than other nights. Like our connection ran even deeper and the crowd didn't even matter anymore.

That evening, after I had gotten off stage, Jack had an important question for me. We were alone in a corner while Hazel played some game with the others, throwing things at each other. Jack was on his phone while I was putting my hair in a braid to keep it out of the way when I took a shower later.

"Hey, Jace?" he started, looking up from his phone.

I hummed in response as I used my teeth to help me stretch out my hair tie to finish off the braid.

"I was thinking..." he continued, his eyes flickering back down at his phone.

"Yes..." I urged him to continue as I finished wrapping the hair tie around the end of my hair.

"We've been together for a year now... why don't we make it social media official?"

My eyes shot up at him, wondering if I heard him correctly. "What brought this on?"

"Well, I was just about to post a picture for your birthday," he shrugged and showed me the picture we had taken earlier today. He had his arm around me as we both bit into a piece of cake. With no context, we could have just been close friends celebrating, "and I kinda want to add that it's our anniversary as well."

I looked back at him and into his eyes. It seemed like he really did want to do this. There was not a single malicious spark behind those eyes. In a flash, I had to think about it. Was I ready for it? Could I handle the backlash? But also, it would be nice to no longer care and have to be careful. We'd finally be able to act how we wanted up on that stage every night.

"On one condition," I finally replied. "I post about our anniversary first."

Not even minutes later, I had a cute photo of us up on my Instagram page, wishing Jack a happy first anniversary. It wasn't the first photo I had with him up there. There were many where we were either with friends or just the two of us. But this was the first one where we were obviously a thing. It was a picture of us, embracing each other before the first show of the tour.

After his show, Jack also finally posted his photo, combining both the birthday wishes and anniversary celebration in the same caption. It didn't take long until the reactions started rolling in.