Chapter 10: Reckless Abandon

Spencer's POV

"Yeah, he sent her some texts. I didn't want to read them, but her phone kept going off and I couldn't get back to sleep."

Pause.

"That's what I was thinking. But I just wanted to tell you."

Pause.

"I don't know how to do that. I'm not that smart."

"Pause.

"Yeah, okay. I will. Bye."

I rolled over and got off the couch in Jack's house. He was in his room, but I could still hear the phone conversation. I then remembered I had left my phone in his room last night.

Wiping my eyes, but wincing as I remembered they were black, I walked back to Jack's room, where I found him sitting on his bed. "Hey, who was on the phone?"

Jack looked up at me and smirked. "Alex." He tossed my phone to me, which I caught. "We're getting you a new number today."

"Why? What happened?"

"Check your messages." He gets up and walks over to his closet.

I look down at my phone, scrolling through my messages to find three that I didn't want.

Drew: Where the hell are you? I need you...

Drew: When I find you, so help me God, I'll...

Drew: I hope you're having fun. You'll be ba...

I laid down on Jack's bed on my back. "Fuck him."

Jack half smiles and lays down next to me, wrapping his arms around my middle. "I'm so sorry."

I shake my head, wrapping my arms around him and cuddling into him.

XXXX

"Spennnceeeerrr."

I looked up at Alex with an eyebrow raised, fighting a laugh. He was pouting at me. "Yes?"

"I want you to come here," he whines and holds open his arms.

"Alex, I'm not even a foot away from you." I said, which was probably true. We were sitting on his couch, watching TV.

"Yeah, and that's too far." I laughed and scooted closer to him so he could put his arms around me. He kisses me. "No," he said when I pulled back, kissing me again.

"Alex," I laughed.

"I'm not done yet." He was smiling, but kissed me again.

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Yes." He kisses me longer, deeper this time. "Okay. Now I'm done."

I giggled and laid my head on his shoulder. "You're so weird."

"I'm not weird, I just love you," he says and lays his head on top of mine.

"I love you, too."

"Don't ever leave me again." I feel his arms tighten a little, almost protectively.

"I won't. I'm not that much of an idiot."

"You're not an idiot at all." Alex kisses my forehead. "You're allowed to fuck up, Spencer." He shifts a little and brings his legs up on the couch, crossing them. "I know I did," he mumbled.

"How did you fuck up?" I asked, looking up at him, slightly.

"If I wouldn't have cheated on you, you wouldn't have had to go through an abusive relationship and wouldn't be covered in bruises right now. We wouldn't have broken up, I wouldn't feel like I still miss you, and I wouldn't want you to hate me. I wouldn't have dated Ashley and put up with her shit for six months, you wouldn't have gotten in that car accident, you wouldn't have moved to New York, and neither of our hearts would've been broken."

I lifted my head and looked in his eyes for a good five minutes before saying something. "Alex, I'll never hate you. No one can change what happened with Drew, or what happened with Ashley. And I still feel like I miss you, too. That car accident probably would've happened with or without you. Stop beating yourself up about the past." I took his face in my hands. "I love you more than anything. I always will." I pressed my lips to his, kissing him passionately.

We parted and Alex pulled me to his chest and nuzzled his nose in my neck. I wrap my arms around his neck to hug him back and all Alex replied, whispering, was, "I love you, too." But that was all I needed to hear.

Alex kept his arms around me, but pulled back to meet my eyes. I kept my arms around his neck. "Do you want your rings and necklace back?"

I'm taken aback. "You still have them?"

He gets up and runs down the hallway, going into his room. Two minutes later, he was running back down the hallway. Alex jumps over the back of the couch and holds the three pieces of jewelry in his palm. "Yeah, I still have them."

"And still wear the one that matches mine?" I asked, taking his hand by his wrist. Alex nods as I let go of his hand. "Shit," I said, really surprised. "I can't believe you kept them."

"I promised myself I wouldn't give up until you did. I thought you had, so I put them in the back of my closet." He shrugged. "Then, you came back and I knew you hadn't given up on me yet when you kissed me." He pauses and crosses his legs. "Want them back?"

I smiled and nodded. Alex smiles wide and grabs my hand, putting the rings on my finger, but I take the necklace and facen it on my neck myself. "Hey, the bruises on your neck are almost gone." He starts tracing the faint bruises lightly.

I nod. "My stomach looks better, too." I start to pull up my shirt, but Alex covers his eyes with his hand.

"No warning? That's cool," he says.

"It's not like you haven't seen my stomach before." I pulled his hand from his face by his wrist. He smirks and gets a look in his eyes, but I ignore it. I pulled my shirt up a little and said, "See? They're not purple anymore."

"Yeah, they're a...gross yellow," he says with a chuckle.

I looked down, crinkled my nose, and said, "True story," before pulling my shirt back down and looking back up at him. "But the only thing that really hurts now are my eyes."

Alex frowns, cups my jaw in his hand, and kisses under both of my eyes. "I don't want you to feel pain anymore."

I move his hand from my face and kiss his cheek. "I'm okay. Really."

"That doesn't mean I don't feel bad because you're in pain."

"But it doesn't hurt that much anymore."

Alex pouts and lays down, holding his arms open. I lay down next to him with him laying behind me. "God, I missed you." He picks up a few strands of my hair. "I missed your strawberry scented hair," he plays with the sleeve of my t-shirt, "your love for New Found Glory," I smirk and turn around in his arms, where he smiles at me, "your green eyes that turn blue when your sad," he kisses me, "and that."

I smiled and wrapped my arms around him, laying my head against his chest. He buries his head in my hair and I feel him smile against my neck.

"Hey, little ones," I heard Jack say, but neither of us made no move to get up. Jack laid down on the couch and wrapped his arms around me. But since he was laying on the edge, he fell off, taking me with him.

"Damn it, Jack." I looked down at him because I landed on top of him.

"Hey," he said with a grin. I rolled my eyes and climbed off of him, grabbing his hand and pulling him up with me. "Sorry."

I looked back at Alex, who was laughing quietly. "Are you okay?" he asked through laughter.

"Yeah," Jack and I answered together, causing us to share looks and chuckle together.

"Spencer?" I raised an eyebrow at Alex. "I wasn't done. Come here." He held open his arms.

"No. I wanna hug Jack." I wrapped my arms around Jack, who sticks his tongue out at Alex and wraps his around me.

"What? No." Alex sits up and tries to pull my arms away from Jack and Jack's arms away from me. "That's not cool."

I shrug, but unwrap myself from Jack and sit next to Alex, who puts his arms back around me. He lays his head on my shoulder. "Yup."

"'Yup' what?" I asked with a laugh.

"Shhh... Don't ruin the moment," Alex whispered. Jack scoffs, but sits next to Alex.

I shake my head, but chuckle, and start tickling him. He flinches and lets go, then pouts at me. "That's mean." Instead of replying to him, I put my arms around him and rest my head on his shoulder. "Oh, okay. That's not mean." He puts his arms around me.

"Hey, can I have the remote?" Jack asked.

"No," I said and grabbed the remote from the arm of the couch.

"What? That's not fair. You're not even watching it."

"How do you know?"

"You're too distracted by Alex."

"Am I a distraction?" Alex looked down at me.

"Sometimes," I answered, honestly.

"See?" Jack reached around Alex and took the remote from my hand. "Didn't I give you that shirt back in, like, tenth grade?"

I look down at my New Found Glory shirt, then up at Jack. "Yeah, I think it was your's, but I stole it."

"You still wear it?"

"Clearly," I laughed, then looked back down. "It's so faded." I started picking at the design a little.

"Hey, I have a question."

I looked up at Alex. "Yeah?"

"Didn't you say you had bruises on your back and legs?"

"Just one on my leg and yeah, there's some on my back." I furrowed my eyebrows together. "Why?"

"Are they going away?"

I thought a second. "You know, I honestly haven't looked at them. They don't hurt anymore." I reached down to pull my pant leg up to see if the bruise was gone, but it was only turning the same gross yellow my stomach is. I fix my pant leg and look back at Alex. "Probably."

"Mkay," he mumbles as I lay my head on his shoulder again.

XXXX

"No, Jack. I wanna stay the night."

"Fine. Then, I'm staying, too."

"That's cool," Alex said, laying down on the couch so his head was in my lap.

I glanced behind me at the kitchen where Jack, Rian, and Zack were, but something caught my eye, so I kept my gaze on the kitchen. "Alex..." I said, slowly, slightly terrified for what might happen to the three guys in the kitchen eating Alex's Milanos.

He looks up at me. "Yeah?"

"Spencer," Rian said, sternly.

"Spence, what's up?" Alex asked.

"They're-"

"Spencer," Jack said.

"What?" Alex sits up and looks into the kitchen, then scowls.

"They are Chips Ahoy. I swear," Rian said.

Zack holds his hands up in defense and walks over to the couch, sitting on the other side of Alex. "I had nothing to do with this."

"Rian. Jack." Alex slowly stands up.

"They are chocolate chip cookies!" Jack defended.

Alex jumps over the back of the couch and runs into the kitchen. He chases Jack all the way into Rian's room, Jack squealing the whole time. Rian, Zack, and I were laughing the whole time. Alex walks back a few minutes later, without Jack, and snatches the package of Milanos from Rian.

He punches him in the arm and says, "Don't touch my Milanos." Rian holds his hands up in surrender as Alex puts the cookies back in cabinet, not before eating one first.

Jack peeks around the corner of Rian's room and starts tip-toeing back into the kitchen. Being the klutz he is, he trips over his own foot and yells, "Ow!" loudly.

Alex turns around and runs after Jack, who squeals and runs back into Rian's room. Alex shuts the door and tries to keep it closed, but Jack's banging on the door and Rian shouts, "Dude, he's gonna break all the shit in my room!"

Alex sighs and stops to consider this, but opens the door. I can tell Alex was glaring and I heard Jack squeal one more time, then Alex start laughing as he walks into the living room. "I scared the shit out of him." He sits next to me.

Zack and me finally stopped laughing, so I said, "We can tell."

"No. He's cowering in the corner of Rian's room."

That only made Zack and I burst out laughing again. After a minute, I was still giggling, but got up and walked back to Rian's room. Sure enough, Jack was sitting in the far right corner of Rian's room, his legs pulled to his chest and his arms around them.

"Jack?" He looked up at me and I was trying not to laugh. "Alex is a jerk. Come on," I said as I walked over to him, finishing when I held my hands out to help him up.

Jack took my hands without a word and I pulled him up. I kissed his cheek, making him smile a little, but he pulls me into a hug. "I thought he was going to kill me!"

I laughed and stepped back, taking his hand. "Come on...!" I whined.

"Where are we going...!" he smiles, but whines back.

"Back to the living room," I said and dropped his hand, walking back into the living room. I sit on the couch next to Alex and Jack sits on the other side of Zack.

"You'll protect me, right?" he asked Zack.

Zack chuckled, but said, "You got yourself into this mess. I didn't eat the Milanos."

I look at Alex. "Can I have some Milanos?"

"Yes, Spencer. Yes, you can."

"Ha!" I stick my tongue out at Jack before jumping over the back of the couch and going into the kitchen. "I'm special."

XXXX

At about ten the next morning, I was woken up by someone jumping on the bed and Blink-182 blaring, as well as someone belting out the chorus.

"ON AND ON," jump, "RECKLESS ABANDON," jump, "SOMETHING'S WRONG," jump, "THIS IS GONNA SHOCK THEM," jump, "NOTHING TO," jump, "HOLD ON TO," jump, "WE'LL USE THIS SONG," jump, "TO LEAD YOU ON," jump, "AND BREAK THE TRUTH," jump, "WITH MORE BAD NEWS," jump, "WE LEFT A SCAR," landed on the bed next to me, "SIZE EXTRA LARGE!"

"Fuck you, Jack. Fuck you."

"Spencer, Alex, come on! You need to wake up!" Jack whined. I then felt the covers rip off of me.

"I am up," Alex mumbled.

"I'm not," I said, rolling over on my back.

"Spence! Wake up!" Jack yelled. I flinched when he sat on me, a leg on either side of my hips.

"Get off me," I said, squinting my eyes that were still closed.

"Get off my girlfriend!" Alex yelled. "Move!" I opened my eyes just as Alex pushed Jack onto the floor, making me burst out laughing, and Alex climbed on top of me the same way Jack was. He smiles wide. "Hi."

"Um...hello?" I said, still giggling s little, as 'Man Overboard' starts playing throughout the house.

"You're such a douche bag," Jack said, standing up.

"I love you, Jack," Alex said as I tried to get out from underneath him. "No." He had one hand holding me down by my shoulder, but was still looking at Jack.

"I love you, too, Alex," Jack says before sticking his cheek out. Alex chuckles and kisses Jack's cheek. "Okay! I'll be back if you're not up in few minutes." He skips (literally) out of the room, fist in the air, and shuts the door, suppressing the music a little.

Alex looks down at me. "So...why won't you let me up?" I asked as he put his other hand on my other shoulder.

"Because," is all he says, leaning down to kiss me. Our lips moved together, slowly and softly, for a few minutes and my arms wrapped around his neck. "Mmhmm, that's all," he says when he pulls back.

I giggled and pulled my arms away. "Let me up."

"No. Maybe I'm not done."

"You just said you were, and I have to pee."

"You're gonna ruin girls for me, you know that?"

"That's okay. You have Jack." He laughs and I move out from underneath him. As I walk to the bathroom across the hall, 'Carousel' starts playing.

Upon walking out of the bathroom, I see Rian made pancakes. "Pancakes!" Alex says from the hallway behind me and runs into the kitchen, almost slipping because of his socks.

I chuckled and followed after him asking, "What is this? Blink-182 day?"

"Don't complain about Blink, Spence," Rian says, handing me a plate.

"Thanks and I wasn't."

"Yeah, they're back," Zack says.

"What!" I had not known this. "I don't believe you." I sat on a bar stool next to him.

"Yeah. Blink-182 is back," Jack says.

"Jeez, it's been, like, six years."

Alex threw in, "I think maybe longer. Not sure, though. All I know is we got to tour with them and that's enough for me."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you toured with Blink-182?" I asked.

"Yup," Alex, Jack, Rian, and Zack all answered together.

"Fuck, the shit I missed." I crossed my arms and leaned back in the chair.

"We haven't toured with New Found Glory, though," Rian said.

"You better not have," I murmured, making them all laugh.