Song: The Maine, Taxi because their new album is GREAT

we were only two punch drunk souls all tangled in the wind
and in the backseat
when you asked me "is the sadness everlasting?"
I pulled you closer, looked at you and said "love, I think it is"

CHAPTER TEN

"Valerie, wake the fuck up."

Valerie rubbed her eyes and groaned. Jack leaned over her bed looking way too excited for – Valerie turned to look at her alarm clock – eight a.m.

"Why what's happening? A fire? Did someone die?"

Jack shook his head. "Eli called me. The Detroit Vandals are going on a U.S. wide tour."

Valerie sat up at that. "Are you kidding? That's amazing!"

"We're opening up for another local band from the D but still it's so much more exposure," Jack smirked. "I'm going to have so many fans."

By fans Valerie knew Jack meant groupies. Also known as: girls who will have sex with him just because he's in a band and has a hot raspy voice. A Jack Mercer heaven.

"When are you guys leaving?" Valerie said.

"Next week."

"I'm so proud of you guys," she said. "But you're still paying your rent while you're gone or I'm going to have to replace you."

"That's all you have to say? You're such a bitch." Jack was laughing as he said that and it seemed contagious because she joined in.

"Just let me sleeeep." She drawled out, tugging the covers over her head.

"Fine. But we're going out to celebrate tonight. You can bring your boy-toy if you want."

They ended up going to ElectriK. Cole reluctantly came along with her. He felt uneasy about meeting all her friends at once. The rest of their crew was just the Detroit Vandals and Gina. Valerie almost didn't want to see Stef or Gina since they last time she saw them they had gotten engaged and Stef had forgotten her birthday.

Austin splurged on a bottle of champagne and popped it open, letting it spray all over them. Everyone was radiating with excitement except for Gina. She hung back from the action and just sat there silently. It was unusual, even Valerie, who always tried not to hang around Gina as much as possible, knew that Gina was constantly the life of the party.

Valerie cursed herself for caring.

"You alright, Gina?"

Words flowed from Gina's mouth like a waterfall. "It's just I know what Stef was like before me and he's gonna be gone so long and we just got engaged. Now we have to put off the wedding and you don't think he'd screw around on me do you?"

"Slow down, girl," Valerie said, almost flustered. "You don't gotta worry about Stef. He's never been serious about a girl, he's never said I love you until you. You got nothing to worry about."

"Thanks, Valerie," Gina said. "I know you don't like me so that was really sweet of you –"

Valerie cut her off before she could get anymore sappy and make Valerie regret being nice in the first place. "Go have fun, Gina."

Jack stood behind Valerie when she turned around. His brows raised at her. "That was very mature. Is Bratty Vally growing up?"

Bratty Vally is what Stef and Jack used to call her when they were ten. She liked to snitch and blackmail back then. If they didn't let her join in to whatever they were doing or didn't let her get her way, she'd go rat on them to Evelyn. She hadn't heard that nickname in ages, occasionally Stef would use it to irritate her. Apparently, Stef and Jack have very similar ideas.

"Screw off, Jack."

He raised his arms. "Fine, I know when I'm not wanted."

Valerie found her way back to Cole who looked as miserable as Gina had.

"Hey," she smiled at him.

He gave her a nod. "You and Jack seem close."

He pointed across the room at where Jack was standing and where she had been standing a moment ago. Jack's head was thrown back in laughter at what someone had said and some girl was starting to approach him. Girls really followed him around. Despite his punk exterior, Jack was an approachable guy. He always made people feel welcome by including them in a joke or making sure they weren't left out of the loop. It was something special about him.

Valerie looked back at Cole. "I've known Jack since I was eight, we were babies then. He's my roommate. We're, I'd say, civil at best but after all that time you kinda gotta be."

"You're right. Makes sense."

She felt bad for brushing off his concerns when maybe there was something to them but she had to repress that even from her own mind.

"Look, I'm gonna go because I have an early rise in the morning." Cole said. "But have a good night."

He leaned down to brush his lips against hers.

"Goodnight, Cole."

Valerie joined the group again. They were in the midst of discussing what their first stop was. It was New York. She felt a bit of envy towards the boys at that. She wanted to go to New York so bad. They were going to be gone for Christmas. Valerie didn't know what she was going to do all on her own for the holidays. She spent every single one in her life alongside Stef. Stef was even going to miss his 20th birthday.

"You can spend Christmas with Ma," Jack offered half-seriously, half-jokingly. "She's gonna miss my pretty face. Someone needs to keep her company."

That's probably what she was going to end up doing. Though, Evelyn would most likely be going to Jeremiah's.

She had been so excited for her brother and Jack that she forgot a tour meant that they would actually be leaving. Now she knew why Gina had been so down.

"We get a break for Thanksgiving, though," Jack said, smiling. She could see how happy he was about this opportunity. It was practically radiating off him. "So don't miss me too much."

She scoffed. "As if."

"What happened to that guy you're seeing?" Stef asked her, pushing between her and Jack, and throwing an arm over her shoulder. "He didn't even meet me. You know he's gotta get my approval but he ran off without it."

Valerie held back a grin. "He doesn't need nothing from you."

"Damn right he don't. You tell him he has to meet me next time."

"I'll be sure to tell him."

She wasn't going to.

Stuffing a drunk Jack into the car was hard. Pulling a drunk Jack up a flight of stairs and into their apartment was harder. Valerie was just happy he wasn't complete dead weight, he was still trying to move along with her.

"I think Jack drank too much Jack." Jack groaned as he threw himself on his bed. He didn't even change or get under the covers, he couldn't, he was out the second his head hit the pillow.

Valerie sighed and pulled a blanket out of his closet to throw over him.

"I think Jack drank too much of everything." Valerie said quietly, backing out of Jack's room.

XXX

Valerie stood in the archway of Jack's room watching him pack his things into a dufflebag. Or rather, shove things messily into his bag.

"I can't believe you guys leave in three days," she said to him. "What am I supposed to do here by myself?"

Jack zipped up the dufflebag, one of many, and turn to her. He flashed her a grin and wiped away the stray hairs that had fallen into his face with the back of his hand.

"No idea," he said, shrugging. "Probably bore yourself to death with that lame boyfriend of yours."

Valerie folded her arms. "He's not lame. He's nice, Jack."

"So you keep saying," Jack stopped as if he was pondering a thought. "In fact, that's the only thing you say about him. He's nice. He's boring. Face it."

Valerie kept her mouth shut.

"You know I'm right," he laughed. "You just won't admit it."

She glared at Jack. "He's a gentlemen. You'd know nothing about that."

Jack looked more offended than he should have. If Valerie hadn't heard the words leave her lips, she would have thought Jack had just been handed the worst insult of his life.

"I know plenty about being a gentlemen, alright?" He said pointing to himself. "Evelyn Mercer is my mom, in case you forgot. I just save it for people who deserve it."

"And I don't?"

He smirked. "No, definitely not."

"You're a dick." Valerie chuckled.

He shrugged at her again. "Don't dish shit out if you can't take it."

Valerie rolled her eyes and stepped out of his room. She could hear the footsteps behind her, meaning he was following.

"Maybe I'll rent out your room." She said when she reached the kitchen. "I don't like living alone."

"You better suck it up because I don't want anybody touching my shit."

Valerie laughed. She imagined renting it out to one of his few groupies and call it 'The Jack Mercer Experience'. She would be bound to make a lot of cash from an idea like that.

She grabbed a cereal bowl from the cupboard and poured some Frosted Flakes and milk into it.

"What are you doing?" Jack scrunched up his face, staring at her bowl. "It's supper."

"Oh," she said dramatically. "I'm just getting used to what it's gonna be like when you're gone. I don't cook. I might starve while you're away for so long."

Jack just shook his head. "Now, I just feel bad. You're helpless without me."

She didn't miss his smug smile. "I can make cereal and a mean ham and cheese plus McDonald's is always just around the corner."

"Disgusting."

Her brother leaving was bad enough - they hadn't been separated for more than a couple days before this. But Jack leaving as well was going to make Valerie feel extremely alone. Even though he annoyed the shit out of her and always had a random array of girls in and out of the apartment, he was company. Now everyday she would have to come home to an empty apartment. She had t lied when she told him she hated being alone - she did. Not to forget how everyday she would be worried what trouble Stef would get into with Jack.

"You okay?" Jack gave her a concerned glance.

"Yeah," she forced a smile. "I just haven't been left without Stef before or without a roommate. I don't know, it makes me feel crazy to be alone. It's stupid."

One time Stef went away for the weekend in high school and Valerie thought she might have a heart attack she was hyperventilating so bad. She just had this overwhelming unnecessary fear that whenever somebody went away, they might not come back. Ever since she could remember she had been like it.

"Nah, I get it, I kinda used to be the same when I was being shoved from foster home to foster home," Jack told her. "Look, I'll call you and I'll get Stef to call you every day. You'll be so annoyed you won't have time to be crazy."

Valerie was surprised at the response. She never expected him to care that much about her feelings or even share something personal with her. It made her feel warm.

"Let's go do something fun." He changed the subject.

Valerie raised a brow. "Joe's?"

Jack nodded. "Joe's."

Joe's had become their thing and Valerie liked having some sort of tradition going with a friend. She had never been that close to anybody, she had friends but no best friends. She always got suffocated if she let people in for long periods of time and then ultimately became closed off and shut them out. With Jack it was easy to let her guard down, maybe because she had known him so long.

Joe's blasted all the Top 40 hits Jack hated and Valerie secretly (or not so) loved. She wondered why he always came to this place when it bothered him so much what they played.

He hustled pool with a few random men he had chosen as his victims. Valerie had pulled over a stool to watch him in action and sipped on a sangria through a straw. Valerie had no idea how he was that good - she absolutely sucked. But Jack was in his element with a pool stick in his hand, leaning over the table. He had an amazing poker face, too. Except when he flashed her a smug smirk every time he won because they both knew his little secret.

Jack beat the two middle-aged men he had coerced into his trap and scored fifty bucks. Not a whole lot but a good amount.

"Beginners luck, I guess." Jack told the two men as he shoved dollar bills into his jeans. He sent a smirk her way just as she predicted he would and Valerie laughed quietly to herself. Beginners luck her ass.

The two men grunted and groaned, pissed about being down a few dollars but left without starting anything.

"You're terrible." She said, taking a sip of her drink to stop her lips from curling.

"I can't help I have a lot of beginners luck," he shrugged, amused. "They don't have to play."

"You tell them that you pretty much suck at pool and they wanna play because they think they're gonna scam some young kid out of his money. That's not honest."

Jack didn't seem to care. "They wanna scam some young kid out of their money! Now tell me who's the bad guy here?"

Valerie narrowed her eyes at him. "Touché."

She never thought about that side of it.

"Maybe I should try to teach you again," Jack said, dragging another stool over to hers. "Then you can keep my legacy going while I'm gone."

"You're too good," she shook her head. "I can't even hit a ball half the time."

He chuckled. "I wish I could say that wasn't true but you're really shit at pool."

"You know what's weird," Valerie mused. "We've hung out our whole lives but we've never been friends until maybe now."

Jack nodded. "I wasn't allowed to be your friend. Not after I told Stef how hot you were," he stopped to let out a small laugh. "Plus Stef was a jealous bastard and hated the idea we'd like each other more than him. But now with Gina on his mind I don't think he gives a shit about us, hey?"

Valerie rolled her eyes. "I wish you were wrong. I used to see him multiple times a day and now I'm lucky if I see him once a week when he needs a ride."

"Same, what a bastard."

"Oh well," Valerie brushed it off. "You'll have him all to yourself on the road."

Jack paused for a moment and frowned. "You wanna know something?"

"What?"

"Gina's trying to scheme her way onto the tour bus."

Valerie laughed, she wouldn't put it past the girl. Gina was attached to Stef like an extra limb and she had been so upset at the going away party; she hoped Stef didn't give in. He was going to be married soon and then Gina would probably pop out a few kids and the band - and the boys - would be forgotten. He needed this last thing for himself.

"You guys are not gonna let her are you?"

"No, but she's on us all the time about it," Jack said, obviously frustrated with the situation. "I think Stef's gonna break down soon and ask us if we mind. He's whipped."

Valerie couldn't help but find the situation hilarious. She knew about Jack's disdain for his best friends girlfriend - she kicked him out of his and Stef's own apartment for starters - and Eli and Austin weren't her biggest fans either since she always messed with the band. Austin especially. If Gina joined them on their U.S. wide tour Valerie could vividly picture their uncomfortable and irritated faces.

"Austin must be pissed."

"He is, fucking furious," Jack nodded. "But Stef always lets her get her damn way so we'll see what happens."

Valerie eyed Jack with a smirk. "Is that a sore spot for you, Jack? Are you jealous?"

He grunted. "No. It's just bullshit."

"You're jealous," her mouth curled. "Somebody misses his best friend."

"Man, of course I do," he said defensively. "He was like my fourth brother."

"Does that make my your honorary sister?"

Jack met her eye and his face pinched up. "Hell no."

Valerie put a hand to her heart, pretending to be offended. "Why not?"

"Because," they locked gazes. "It wouldn't be right to have the hots for my sister."