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

Chapter Thirty Four

"Sssh, it's going to be fine. Calm down, please." Jack cooed, rocking me back and forward slowly. I shook my head for about the tenth time in a minute. I had messed up everything, as usual. I rubbed my sore, puffy, red eyes with the back of my hand as Jack's finger traced the outline of a circle on my bare knee. I quickly looked around Jack and I but nothing had changed. People drifted past but didn't stop. Alex had left to call someone, leaving Jack and I alone. The heat blazed down on us, making me feel slightly dizzy. I groaned again and buried my face in Jacks chest again. 

"Hey, it's gonna be okay! Alex's calling someone about it. You should sleep while we play and-" I interrupted him. He shushed me and continued to speak, "Once you're okay, we can go watch some bands play, sound good?" 

"But I want to watch you guys play." I muttered sadly, playing with the hem of my shirt. 

"Trust me, by the end of the summer you won't want to hear us again ever." Jack laughed, brushing himself off as he stood up. 

He reached down to pick me up off the tarmaced ground. We walked the short trip back to the bus, hand in hand. Eventually, our large, black tour bus came into view. We took one quick glance at each other before we sped off, racing toward the bus. I slammed into it, about a second before Jack. 

"I let you win." Jack laughed, his arm propped against the side of the bus.

"Of course you did." 

"Now go sleep! I'll come get you when we're done." He announced, opening the door for me to step though. I climbed in and kissed Jack before his phone started to beep. He ignored it but I pulled away, and wished him good luck, kissing his cheek.

The bus was completely empty and extremely quiet now that I was the only one on it. I quickly searched the fridge for something to eat but only bottles of beer stood on the shelf. I scowled at Zacks chicken which was on display by the sink. I found a box of Cookie Crisp in the cupboard and walked to my bunk, not even bothering with a bowl. The box was already half empty due to Jack. I rolled my eyes, kicked off my shoes and slid into our shared bunk, still dressed. I saw Jacks laptop sitting at the end of the bed and I opened it to be greeted with a background of Alex, Jack and I. It was blurry and we had our eyes closed but Jack loved it. I smiled, feeling better and opened up the Internet. Somehow it worked and I saw Jack had left his Twitter logged in. 

Dragging the cursor to Interactions, I clicked it. It felt weird seeing that many mentions. As I scrolled further down the page I laughed. Hustlers had a weird sense of humour, no wonder the band loved them. Dragging the page up I saw he had more than two hundred interactions. I hated the little blue light under the Connect page annoyed me so I clicked it again. The tweets were worded differently but they all contained the same link. I bit the inside of my cheek and waited for the new tab to load. The Pupfresh homepage appeared before me. 

The first article grabbed my attention. Large, bold text sat above a picture taken by a camera phone. I quickly zoomed in on the picture to see a picture of a pregnant Claire and I walking around L.A. My palms began to sweat as I zoomed out the page and read the title of the article. 

"Alex Gaskarth, singer of All Time Low to be a father?" 

My mouth dropped as I opened the full article. After a quick scan through the article, I reached the end. The notes on the Tumblr post were rapidly rising, people occasionally adding a text relating to the subject. With shaking hands, I scrolled up to read the article. 

"It has been recently announced that Alex Gaskarth is expecting a child! An unnamed source has sent us this information. The pregnant girl in this picture with Holly Walker, the girlfriend of guitarist Jack Barakat , has been seen with the Baltimore, Maryland band on numerous occasions. Sources have revealed that her name is Claire and she is due next month. We hope Alex is ready for late nights and early mornings! For more information click here."

I felt cold despite the soaring summer temperatures. I grabbed a pillow from the end of the bed and pressed it to my chest as I exited out of the link. Jack's Twitter was still logged in, his mentions growing as each minute passed.

Out of curiosity I decided to read a few of his mentions. The majority of them were complaining about how they were not informed, some sending hate while a few sent congratulations and good wishes. 

It was all my fault. Claire wouldn't want to even talk to me even more. I shut the laptop down and put my head in my hands, with shame. I needed to call someone but I didn't have a phone. I slid under the covers of the bunk, lifting them up to my chin. Sleep didn't come easy when my brain reminded me of the numerous mistakes I had already made in the short time I had known Jack. I needed to sleep but my brain was flooding with bad thoughts. I groaned and rolled out of the bed, strolled down the corridor and reached the kitchen. I flung open all the cupboards until I found what I needed. Kneeling up on the counter, I found the box of sleeping tablets I kept. I flipped open the box and popped out three pills. I swallowed them, taking a chug of water. I took another one subconsciously and drowsily walked back to my bunk, hoping the disappointment would fade away as sleep greeted me in a warm embrace.