Damned If I Do Ya [An All Time Low Fanfic]

Chapter Ten

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Holly! Happy birthday to you!” the large crowd sang in unison. Jack and Zack were in the middle of the crowd holding a home-made lopsided chocolate cake.  I blew out the 18 candles, in two goes, and the whole crowd cheered. I’m pretty sure they didn’t even know who I was. I recognized a few familiar faces in the music industry.
Inside I was fangirling at being in the presence of so many famous people.
“You asshole!” I said slapping Jacks arm. “I told you I don’t celebrate my birthday!”
“Which makes it the perfect excuse to have a party!” he smiled. “I’m sorry about the cake by the way.  It was really bad, so we melted a shit ton of chocolate.”
I looked over Jacks shoulder and shouted thanks for Zack. He smiled and went back to talking to Kim.
“Dance?” he asked and dragged me into the living room. The living room was cleaner that the previous night and their equipment had been pushed over to the walls. The coffee table was now being used as a makeshift bar and bottles of beer lined the floor underneath it.
You Me At Six started to play next and everyone started to dance wildly. Everyone sang along in Josh’s Surrey accent. “Too far, save it for the bedroom!” screamed Jack, and he danced crazily. He looked like Neo, dodging bullets in the Matrix, to be honest. I laughed and jumped around with Jack. I looked around trying to find people I knew. Kim was still talking to Zack and she was drinking out a red cup. I hope she didn’t drink too much. She was a puker. I saw someone who looked very like Patrick Stump. It was probably him. Alex told me earlier that they were writing a song together.
I should tell him I loved Soul Punk. No I shouldn’t that would be weird. I looked to see where Claire was. Ew I didn’t need to see that couple in the corner. Two men with heavily tattooed arms were doing shots and staggering around. A man was sitting on an amp and a girl sat on his lap. Wait that was Alex and Claire. They had just met 5 minutes ago and they were already kissing. Ew. I looked away and tried to find Ciara.

Jack was still dancing madly and he had grabbed my hands and made me dance with him. He had already had a few drinks before I arrived and was a bit tipsy. As I searched for Ciara, my eyes met with someones else. I knew those eyes. They quickly moved and I stopped dancing to look around for them again. It couldn’t be true. Jack realized that I had stopped dancing and had grabbed my arms and shook me. I walked away from him and squeezed my way through the crowd. I heard people whisper about me as I pushed past them.
“Did you see her dancing with Jack?” “But I heard she was with Alex?” “Who is Alex mauling this time?” Somebody had turned the music up louder, vibrating my bones. I could hear Jack calling after me but I started to run. Where was he? I was in the hallway now. I turned and walked to the kitchen. Nobody was down this corridor but one person stood in the kitchen, getting another beer from the fridge. It was. He looked at me and I suddenly realised who he was.

“Holly, there you are!” said Jack from behind me. He must have realised I was shaking and looked at me. “Earth to Holly?” he echoed waving a hand in my face.
I slapped it away as the man talked, “Hey Jack. Hi Holly.”
Jack turned around, “Good to see you Matt! Didn’t think you would come dude!”
“How could I miss a Barakat party?” asked Matt, smiling.
“True that! Oh hey, did you talk to Vinny about the new shirts? Oh by the way, this is Holly.” Jack said.
“We’ve met.” Matt said bluntly. Matt had changed alot. He had started to wear his hair differently and had completely changed his dress sense. He still had the same piercing, which Juliet had not been impressed with. He had strangely grown taller and was nearly the same size as Jack now. Jack looked from me to Matt, puzzled. I felt tears in my eyes and my throat closed up. I turned and ran out of the room and up the stairs. I felt dizzy and it smelt badly of beer and puke up here. I had only been upstairs once and I didn’t know which room was Jacks. I opened the first door on the right and regretted it immediately. This was obviously Alex’s room. I shuddered and put my hand over my eyes. I did not want to see one of my best friends like that. I slammed the door shut and picked another room at random. This was Jacks room. The bed wasn’t made and clothes were strewn on the floor. His guitar sat in the corner. A piece of paper on the bed had the recipe for the cake he had baked me. I felt guilty. I hadn’t gotten the time to have a slice. I sank down beside the bed and put my face in my hands.

“How was school Walker?”
“Same shit people giving me shit.”
“You have to stand up for yourself. If you don’t, I will.”
“I try! Matt I try to but, I’m not badass like you!”
“Bitches love badasses.”
“Another bruise Matt? Seriously?”
“Fuck off Holly.”

“You do realize the bed is a lot comfier right?” asked Jack, flopping down onto his bed on his stomach. It looked a lot nicer than the floor. He faced the large window from his bed which overlooked the garden. I wondered did they ever use it? I climbed up onto the bed and lied down beside Jack.
“Why are you crying?” he asked. I hadn’t realised I was crying. I covered my face with my hands but Jack pulled them away. “Is it because of Matt? Look, I don’t know the dude. He our new guitar tech. How do you know him?” Jack asked turning over.
I had to tell him. “I-I. I used to live with Matt Turner. He was my Foster Carers son.”
“Wait? You’re fostered?” he asked.
“Not anymore.”
“But why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know, I just couldn’t. Not yet.”
The door suddenly banged open and Alex paraded in. He was half dressed and had gone into Jacks drawers. “Sup Holly? Gotta be safe, you know?” he added. His speech was slurred. He was drunk and was waving a wrapper in front of my face. He walked out of the room. “Hey Claire! I got one!” he shouted as he closed the door. I turned towards Jack but he had fallen asleep. His mouth hung open and his hair had fallen in front of his face.  I sighed. I wiped my damp face with the edge of my sleeve and fell asleep beside him.