Movie night wasn’t a great idea, but it was the only thing I could think of to do on Halloween. I never got any trick-or-treaters and I didn’t have any parties to go to, so there wasn’t anything to do. Movie night was the only thing I could think of. When I asked Jack, he said he’d be delighted to spend Halloween with me, since he had already done his fair share of partying.

I was nervous to do this because I didn’t want to fall asleep, or do one of my symptoms, so I tried to get a good night's rest, and I tried not to do anything strenuous. It was only a matter of time before the doorbell rang. When it did I nearly jumped.

I went to let Jack in and when I opened the door I was overwhelmed by the smell of his cologne. Just the smell I liked. I gave him a shy smile and let him in. “So what movie are we going to watch?” he asked me, taking off his jacket and laying it on my couch.

“I hadn’t decided yet, what do you want to watch?”

“Y/N, you know the answer to that question. If you let me choose, you’re not going to like it. So you have to.”

“Fine. We’ll look at Netflix in a bit, let me just finish getting ready.”

“Getting ready for what?”

“Getting ready, Jack. Getting myself prepared.”

“Oh right.”

“Just sit down, I’ll be in in a bit.”

He sat down and waited for me. I had to calm myself down because the intensity of the situation was getting to be too much for me. Chronic fatigue syndrome is different with each person, and my problem was if I don’t get enough sleep it could be disastrous and I’d start to get migraines. Exercise was also a problem, if I did too much, that would also result in headaches. Exercise could mean as little as getting up too suddenly, or as much as going for a run. I didn’t know when it’d come on, but I could usually control it.

I calmed myself down and went to meet him in the living room, and even though he’d never been here before, he had already started up the system. “How’d you do that?” I asked him, walking into the room.

“It’s the same thing as it is at my place,” he called over his shoulder.

“Interesting.” I sat down and got comfortable near him. He moved his arm so it was around me, using his other hand to look through the movies Netflix had to offer.

“So what do you want to watch, a scary movie? A comedy? A romance? Ooh, if it’s a romance, can it be Tom Cruise? He’s dreamy.”

I laughed and hit him, but not too hard. “No, you nerd. It’s Halloween, we’re watching a scary movie.”

“That’s cliche,” he scoffed.

“Cliche or not, we’re doing it.”

“FIne.” I got comfortable next to him, nuzzling into the nook of his arm, until we finally agreed on a movie. “You know what sounds really good right now?” Jack asked me, while the movie started and was all quiet so I couldn’t hear anything.

I sighed. “What?”

“Popcorn.”

“For god’s sake Jack, make your own goddamn popcorn.”

“But I’m comfy! Besides, if I get up, you’ll have to reposition yourself and it’ll be cold and you won’t be able to get comfy again for the whole night! Also I don’t know where anything is. You don’t want me yelling at you from across the room for five straight minutes do you?”

“Goddammit, fine, you whiney baby. I’ll go make us popcorn.” I got up quickly to go and make the popcorn so I could just enjoy this night with him, but my body had other ideas. I got up too suddenly, and the dizziness that happens before my migraines started to hit. I went to grab the bowl for the popcorn, but a surge of pain pulsed through my head and I dropped the bowl, causing it to fall, and Jack to jump up and run to me.

“Y/N? What’s wrong, what happened?”

“Nothing,” I told him, clutching my head. “It’s fine.”

“Is your head okay? What happened?”

“Nothing, I’m okay.”

“Go sit down, I’ll make the popcorn. How long do I put it on for?”

“Two and a half minutes. Thanks, Jack.” I went back to the movie, and we hadn’t even been paying attention. It was still going on. He hadn’t paused it when he jumped up. I went to pause it for him, but he told me to keep it going.

He brought back the popcorn, and my head was still hurting, though not as badly as before. He sat down, allowing me to lay down on his lap. I rested my head, and grabbed the popcorn, taking small handfuls because I knew if I wouldn’t pay attention to what I was doing I’d start stuffing it in my mouth and I’d have to explain why I have no impulse control when it comes to popcorn.

I had lost concentration of what was happening, and asked Jack about the plot. He explained everything to me clearly and I nodded, but everything he was saying was getting lost in translation. While he was speaking, the burning pain through my head distracted me, and then I started thinking about him, and how pretty he was and how lucky I was to have him. I realized he stopped speaking after my thoughts stopped clouding my ears.

“Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t remember a word of what you just said.”

He groaned, and turned off the movie. “Y/N, what’s up?”

“What do you mean what’s up?”

“I mean why are you acting like this? What is this all about? You’ve been acting weird since the popcorn incident, and I want to know what’s wrong. There’s something you’re not telling me.”

I sighed. I guess I really had to tell him. I started to lift myself up, but did it slowly, because I didn’t want another migraine to come on. “I have chronic fatigue syndrome.”

He cocked his head to the side in question. “What’s that?”

“It’s basically how it sounds. It’s different for everyone that has it. For some people it’s aching in joints when they stand somewhere for too long, and they get tired very easily. For some it causes depression and they sleep either too much or not at all. For me it’s migraines. They’re usually brought upon exercise. If I stand up too suddenly or push myself too hard in workout, I’ll get dizzy, and then I’ll start to get a terrible pain in my head. Which is what happened in the kitchen with the popcorn. The symptoms that go along with the headaches is loss of concentration. It’s a problem I’ve had for a while.”

“Baby,” Jack’s soothing voice came over my ears. My eyes started to well up with tears. “Hey, don’t cry. Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“You’re going to leave me, aren’t you? That’s what’s happened before.”

“Why would I leave you? This is basically like saying you won’t be with someone because they have narcolepsy or turrets or something. It’s beyond your control.”

“I don’t know, I just didn’t want to tell you. I was scared.”

“Hey,” he wiped his thumb under my eye, causing me to look up at him. “I’m not going anywhere, okay? We don’t have to watch a movie, we can just lay in bed and talk about everything and nothing all day, okay? You don’t have to do anything you can’t do.”

“I can watch the movie, I just lost track of what was going on, I can still do it.”

“Well if you don’t want to, you don’t have to, okay? Don’t feel pressured or anything.”

“Okay,” I breathed a sigh, and wrapped my arms around Jack to pull him close. I didn’t want to let go, so I held on tighter.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. It’s nothing to worry about.”

I pulled away from him, and looked him in the eyes, now sitting on his lap, facing him. “Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked.

“Isn’t that what boyfriends do?”

I stared at him for a bit, a small left over tear streamed down my cheek, and my mouth was slightly agape. “Boyfriend?”

He suddenly got all worried and averted his gaze from mine. “I mean, uh, I guess. If that’s what you want.”

I was also really good friends with Zack Merrick, All Time Low’s bassist and backup singer. Zack and I were a lot alike in some ways, and every so often we worked out together. It was what little time we could spend doing what we wanted before playing such big venues and shows. We both got up early and would go on little runs once in a while to blow off some steam or to lift weights together. It was mostly to keep me level-headed.

Though I was the drummer of the band, I still was considered an interesting member, which isn’t very common most of the time. Not unless you sang. I was the most active on social media, replying to tweets, making hashtags, the other guys weren’t really into it. We had another girl in the band, she played bass, her name was Marissa, and I told her almost everything about my life. The other two were guys and they were in a relationship with each other, and they were out about it. A real ship come to life. Keith and Max. Our fans called them Kax. It was cute.

I felt bad for not telling them about Jack and I, but if I was supposed to keep it a secret, I guess I had to. We were about to go on, we were always the first to go since we were the least known, and it’s nerve wrecking. A bunch of people in the world gather around one location to see Blink-182, and the first thing they hear is your band. You were the deciding factor, and that scared the living shit out of me. Especially since I was the drummer, the drummer always went first.

“Nervous?” Jack asked me as we heard the crowd chattering.

“Yeah,” I sighed, looking down at my drum sticks.

“You’ll do fine, you’ve already done so well already.”

“Jack, they’re going to hate us.”

“You say that before every show.”

“And every show it’s true.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. Now walk out there and show them what you got.” He shoved me out, and I was the first musician these people would hear tonight. If that wasn’t enough to send me hurling into a toilet, I don’t know what was. I looked back at him and he gave me a thumbs up. I took a deep breath and waved to them. A few people clapped, but I didn’t get much attention. I was just the opener.

I sat down in my set, and started a beat. I lost myself as I do in every show and forgot about the thousands of people who weren’t there to see me. Instead I immersed myself into the rhythm. I didn’t even think about them until after our set, and my face was wet with sweat.

We all jogged off, super pumped after a set well done, and I breathed out a sigh of my anxiety. “You guys fucking killed it!” Jack came to me with a hug to appreciate a job well done and I hugged him back even though I was sweaty as fuck.

“Thanks,” I breathed. Keith and Max shared high fives with the rest of the people who came to greet us and I smiled at them. Then walked up Blink-182, and I shrunk. I had been admiring Travis’s drumming ever since I could remember, and seeing him in front of me made me want to hide behind Jack.

Mark walked up to Keith, our lead singer. “Great songs, man,” he told him, and I think he almost shit himself I giggled a little bit, and Jack turned around to face me.

“You know, you should try talking to Travis. He’s not as scary as you think.”

“No way!” I shook my head feverishly. “I am not talking to him, he has his own shit to worry about.

Jack started laughing and I turned away, biting my lip. “Alex was the exact same way when we met Green Day.”

“You met Green Day?” My jaw fell open from the surprise.

“Haven’t you seen the pictures of us with them?” I shook my head no. He laughed again. “Well we did, and don’t tell anyone, but I’m sure Alex screamed when he saw Billie Joe.”

“Did not ya fuckin’ dingus,” Alex told him, walking by and whacking him on the head.

“Did too. Screamed like a little girl.” Jack and Alex continued bickering and I was staring off into space, thinking about what exactly I’d say to Tre Cool if I ever met him. He was another one of my many influences. I shook my head from the thought. Like I would ever meet Tre.

“Hey Y/N,” Zack greeted, coming up next to me. A Day To Remember was playing right now, and All Time Low was just waiting to go on. Why Blink was here too, I didn’t know.I didn’t even know why we were all backstage. We should’ve been in our dressing rooms, like Brian always yells at us to, but they like watching the crowd, and so did I, so here we were.

“Hey Zack,” I smiled back. Zack was always so friendly and genuine. I was glad I could have someone like him to talk to and be friends with. My friend Marissa was arguing along Alex and Jack. She may be my best friend, but her personality was a lot more like Jack’s while mine was like Zack’s. She had a major thing for Alex, even though he was married. She respected that, but couldn’t help her heart. “It’s forbidden love,” she’d tell me every time she’d bring it up. I just told her it was one-sided and she should forget him but she’d shake her head muttering something about me not understanding.

“We still on tomorrow for an early jog?”

“Course! You finally gonna show me your killer handstand, or am I going to have to turn you upside down myself?”

He laughed, looking down at his feet, then back up at me. “If you’re lucky,” I smiled again. He turned around to walk away, and I sighed in content. He wasn’t one for talking much, but his voice sure was sweet.

“Y/N,” Jack’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. He stared at me with discontent.

“What?” I snapped, defensively.

“What were you talking about with Zack?”

“We were just agreeing on our run we’re taking tomorrow.”

“Why are you always with him?”

“Excuse me?”

“We have limited time together, yet you spend so much time of it with him. Why?”

“Because we’re friends? What’s this about, Jack?” He looked down, avoiding my gaze. I sighed, crossing my eyes. “Oh my god,” I dropped my arms. “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

He snapped his head up to me, his eyes wide in surprise. “What? No-”

“You are, aren’t you. That would explain a lot. Why are you jealous of Zack of all people?”

“You’re on in five,” Brian interrupted our talk but Jack waved him off, his eyes still wide like a puppy.

“Why wouldn’t I be jealous of him?” he scoffed, brushing it off. “He’s perfect. He’s got the body, he’s got the looks. Hell, you guys are even alike.”

“Jack, I’m with you. Even if that’s true, it doesn’t matter. I’m yours, and you know I’d be with you if I could. You’re just never awake before two in the afternoon, and I wake up early. I need something to do while you’re still sleeping.”

“But does it have to be with him?”

I laughed, lightly pushing his shoulder. “Yes.”

“Fuck,” he swore.

“Jack!” Alex called. “We’re on.”

“Goddammit. Look, I’m sorry for being jealous of him, I just get insecure, you know, it’s just-”

“Jack!”

“Jesus christ, Alex, would you put your ovaries on hold for one fucking second!” He turned back to me. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t. I’m here. I’m with you.”

Jack smiled and leaned down to kiss me, before Alex stode on my grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him on stage. “For fuck’s sake Jack, get your ass on stage.” He threw him on and I saw Jack sheepishly wave to the crowd, face still red from our kiss.

They started their set and I watched as Jack shredded it on his guitar. Then right after Backseat Serenade, Jack ran off stage, towards me. “Come with me, Y/N.”

“What? Jack, no-”

“Come with me.” He didn’t give me much choice as he dragged me out on stage with millions of screaming fans. People may have come here for Blink, but All Time Low was the next popular. They at least had some who knew who they were.

“Do you guys know the band Scarlet Hands?” Very few people clapped. Some screamed. I blushed and waved to them. “This is their drummer, her name is Y/N.” Again a few people shouted. I couldn’t tell what they were saying.

“Jack, what the fuck are you-” Alex started to say into the microphone.

“Shut up, Alex.” Alex shut up, and raised his caterpillar eyebrows. “She’s a very talented drummer who’s opening for all of us and she’s also-” he stopped his sentence, and I could tell that look in his eye that he was up to something. Oh holy fucking shit, kill me now. His lips found mine, and he kissed me, in front of the entire stadium. The guys on the camera zoomed in on it. People from the lawn could see it. Fucking kill me. “My girlfriend.” He finished, smiling and grinning and looking out onto the crowd.

I was lucky All Time Low fans were on the most part accepting. They all cheered for our relationship, and Jack turned to me, a big goofy smile taking up half his face. “Okay,” he said, still speaking in the microphone. “You can go, I’m all good here.”

I awkwardly walked off stage and the crowd was going wild. I waited for the band to finish their set from the place I started off at. The only difference, Travis Barker was next to me. “That’s some boyfriend you have,” he told me.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“You play drums?” I nodded again. “Killer.”