To Die is To Awake (8)
Title: To Die is to Awake
Author: music_addict14
Rating: pg-13
Pairing: Zack Merrick/Jack Barakat (past: rian/ zack)
POV: Zack
Summary: Zack needed to live his life. Jack was going to help.
Disclaimer: I do not own the guys! I really hope this never ever happens. Title cred: Million Dollar Houses (The Painter) -pierce the veil
Author Notes: all time low
I opened the front door and hurried inside, out of the cold. I had tried to make the journey as fast as possible because I had realized I was on the walk of shame. The one where said party- goer has the same clothes on that they did last night and their hair is a mess. And the neighbors look out their windows and know that the person outside probably got really fucked up the night before. Even though I didn’t drink at all and no sex was involved I probably looked pretty shitty from sleeping on a bathroom floor.
I went up the stairs as quietly as I could. Attempting as best I could to avoid the creaky steps. I barely made it into my room before I was flopping onto my bed, too tired to change, and settling into the comfy mattress. It was so much better than that bathroom rug. I quickly fell asleep and forgot about everything for a little while.
“Zack, wake the fuck up!”
“Good morning to you too.”
“Actually it’s almost four o’clock you lazy fuck.” Alex’s pleasant word choice was very welcoming to wake up to. I didn’t even know why he was in my house. “Why are you here?” He looked at me with mock hurt. “What your friend can’t come and make sure you’re ok? No, actually we have to go find Jack. No one has seen him since he went looking for you last night.” Instantly I got a little panicked. What if Caleb had him somewhere. I jumped out of bed and had every intention of running down the stairs and out the door but Alex got in the way. “Hold on there beautiful, you have to go get your parents to let you leave. They’re pretty pissed. Also, maybe a shower is in order.” I blushed and then went to pure horror as I remembered how mad my parents probably were. I opted for a shower first so I could think of something to say.
When I walked out of the bathroom and back to my room I spotted Alex laid out on my bed laughing at some show I had never heard of. He looked up and smiled. “Much better, I can actually breathe around you now.” He smirked and I just shook my head. He turned off the TV and followed me down the stairs to the kitchen. Both of my parents were situated at the table and I could really see how mad they were. I sat down and Alex sat next to me. I felt better with him there because maybe my parents wouldn’t yell if a guest was in the house. “Look I know you’re mad and I’ll explain later and take any punishment you want to give me, but now I need you to let me go find Jack.” My parents looked at each other as if silently discussing what to do. My leg shook under the table as I got more impatient. “What happened to Caleb?” A pang of anger and fear ran through my veins as my mother spoke again. “I’ll explain later if you just let me go now.”
“What if we are really mad and don’t want to let you go?”
“I’m just going to sneak out if you keep me here.” My mom looked shocked at how blunt I was but there was no time to waste talking about it. “Fine let him go, we’ll deal with it later.” My dad spoke as if I wasn’t in the room but I took it as an invitation to leave. I stoop up and went to get my shoes before any more words could be said. And before I knew it I was outside again, with the same clothes on from last night, on the search for a boy who left me alone in a strange bathroom.
We had checked every place Alex thought Jack would go. He was no where and no one had seen him. The boy had seemingly disappeared. “Wait, I know where he is!” Alex looked as though a light bulb went on in his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t think if it before.” As we climbed back into Alex’s car, for about the twentieth time today, I was pretty confused. We had looked in every logical spot.
We drove out to the middle of no where. There weren’t any houses and in turn no people. “Where are we going? Why would Jack be out here?”
“We’re going to a road.” He was so nonchalant about it. Like everyone went to… a road? “Why the fuck are we going to a road?!” I was getting frustrated because this had to be a joke. “We came across it about a year ago when we had to get away. No one ever goes on it so it was the perfect spot. We went there a lot when we couldn’t handle the world.” I had never heard Alex talk like that. I couldn’t even wrap my mind around either boys having such a hard time. “I stopped going there. It hurt too much to remember…”
“Remember what?” I was curious now. “Jack and I had a thing last year. It didn’t work out.”
“Wait Jack is gay?”
“Yeah, but he won’t say it out loud. That’s why it didn’t work. He was too scared…”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be. I’m alright. I like him better as a best friend anyway… but he does like you Zack.” I sunk back into my seat a little. All of a sudden my mind had to sift through all new information. But I couldn’t. “Ok we’re on the road. I’m gonna drive slow because Jack is probably in the middle of it.” As we crawled along the road I spotted him. He was laid across the yellow lines and he was just staring up at the quickly darkening sky. Alex stopped and got out of the car. We made our way over to Jack and stood above him. “Hey buddy, what ya doing?” Alex’s calm voice made everything slow down and it seemed like time had stopped.