The Way Your Heart Sounds

Lauren spent time with the guys the next day, and was sure that they noticed something was up with her. As much as she trusted them, she didn’t want to tell them about her father. They’d probably think she was losing her mind without Jimmy here.

“Yo, Earth to Lauren!” Matt’s voice called out. Lauren snapped out of her thoughts and turned to see all the guys looking at her with curious faces.

“We’ve been calling your name and you didn’t answer, you okay?” Brian asked. She nodded.

“I’m fine. Just daydreaming,” she gave her most sincere smile and the guys seemed to have bought it, except for Zacky. He looked at her with one eyebrow raised, and she knew he could see right through her.

“You wanna play truth or dare with us? We’re bored,” Johnny whined.

“I guess so, as long as you take it easy on me,” Lauren chuckled.

“Let’s do this, everyone get into a circle,” Matt announced. The group obeyed, and all sat around each other in a circle. Lauren had Zacky to her right and Brian to her left.

“I’m first!” Johnny raised his hand excitedly. “Matt, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“I want you to eat dry spaghetti,” Johnny smirked. Matt’s entire face scrunched up, and he mumbled a ‘what the fuck’ before Johnny told him he wasn’t allowed to complain. Matt grumbled but stood up and walked into the kitchen. He returned with a box of spaghetti, and opened it with a disgusted look on his face. Everyone looked at him with anticipatory smiles as his teeth chomped down on the first bite. There was a large crack, and broken pieces of spaghetti all over the floor.

Johnny was in tears, rolling around like a monkey while Matt took large bites of the dry pasta. After a few bites, he spit the disgusting pile of food next to Johnny, and licked his hand to clean his tongue.

“Okay, Lauren,” he said once he cleaned himself up. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” there was no way she was doing anything like Matt just did.

“If Jimmy told you that you could invite any one of us to join you guys in bed, who would it be?”

Lauren snorted and looked at each of the guys. She thought of them like brothers at this point, so it was weird to imagine any of them in that way.

“Well, definitely not Johnny. Since Matt and Brian are married, I gotta go with Zacky,” she shrugged.

“Why definitely not me?! I’m attractive!” Johnny pouted.

“Lauren is taller than you!” Matt roared in laughter.

“Short is sexy,” Johnny wiggled his eyebrows.

“Zacky, truth or dare?” Lauren asked, completely ignoring Johnny.

“Dare.”

“I dare you to go outside completely naked. You have to walk to the mailbox and back.”

“Well,” Zacky stood up and dropped his pants, then pulled his shirt over his head so he was just standing there in red boxers. “The neighbors have seen my bare ass before.”

Everyone laughed as Zacky trotted his way to the door dramatically, and let his boxers fall to his ankles. Lauren was laughing too hard to see, but she did see his buttcheeks before he made it out the door. The group watched as he took large steps towards the mailbox. When he started to turn around, Brian covered Lauren’s eyes with his hands.

“Have to protect the innocent female eyes,” he laughed.

“Brian, I see more dicks at work than a prostitute does.”

“Fair enough.”

Zacky made his way into the house and slipped back into his boxers. He also put his Metallica shirt back on, but didn’t seem interested in putting the jeans back on as he simply returned to the circle.

"Now that that's over, Brian, you know the deal," Zacky chuckled.

"Dare!" Brian smiled deviously. She could tell that they felt like being little dare devils this evening, which didn't surprise her. If anyone lived on the edge, it was these guys.

"I dare you to eat soap," Zacky snickered.

"Like chew on it or lick it?" Brian asked as he stood up. Zacky told him to bite it, and Brian took off to the bathroom. He returned a few moments later with a bar of soap in his hands. Lauren found it difficult to watch as he chomped on the bar, his face contorted into a permanent frown. He even swallowed some of it, which wasn't part of the original dare.

"I'm mighty impressed with you, Gates," Zacky said. Brian shot him two middle fingers, and asked Johnny if he preferred truth or dare.

"Truth," Johnny said, deciding to play it on the safe side.

"Have you ever paid for sex?" Brian questioned.

"Yep, more than once," Johnny spoke so casually that Lauren was taken off guard. It wasn't until the guys started hysterically laughing that she realized what Johnny had actually said.

A little while later, Matt had to tell everyone that he couldn’t have sex without socks on, Lauren had to call the local pizza joint and place an order for 400 meatball pizzas, and Zacky told the group that he would bang Lady Gaga if given the opportunity.

Lauren smiled as she said goodbye to the guys and went home for the night. This was exactly what she needed to take her mind off things. However, all the good feelings she had quickly disappeared once she got home and was alone for the rest of the night.

As she walked into the bedroom, she grabbed some clothes and a towel so she could take a nice warm shower before bed. A half hour later, she was all clean, dressed, and combing her hair in the mirror. After a few passes of the comb, she got a whiff of Jimmy’s cologne from his shirt that she was wearing.

Before she realized it, the tears were streaming down her face, and they wouldn’t stop. The spicy yet sweet scent used to be one of her favorites, but now, all it did was remind her of how alone she felt without him. She didn’t know how much longer she could manage.

Notes

This chapter is a bit short, so I figured I would go ahead and post even though I just updated yesterday. Hope you guys enjoyed, only a few chapters left to go.