The pact

Vic’s POV
Concentrate Vic. You can do it. Just read the words. It’s no rocket science, you’re just dumb. Okay well, I can take a break from my homework for ten minutes. It might help me concentrate me better. Besides, I won’t fail that big test tomorrow if I practice playing my guitar for a few minutes, right?
But I’ve only been studying for fifteen minutes and I already had a ten minute break…
I froze with my chemistry book in my hand, thinking about my options. My concentration lately had been all over place. It was probably because I had way more exciting things happening in my life now.
Like the fact that I was in a band. A real band and I was the lead singer.
I had friends now, real friends with whom I had social interactions. Yes, that was exciting for me.
And, I had a girlfriend. A beautiful, sexy and sweet girlfriend.
When I wasn’t busy with one of those things, I tried to focus on studying so I would pass junior year. But to be honest, I was distracted by everything. The posters on my wall, my cell phone, my hair, people walking by on the street, the little cracks in the paint on my wall, a lot of random thoughts and mostly, the guitar standing in the corner of my room, practically begging me to use it.
At first, practicing hadn’t been so much fun, but as soon as I started to be good at it, it became sort of addictive. Making music is so much better than listening to it. Although listening was also really fucking great.
I looked from my chemistry book to my acoustic guitar and back. I bit my lip. It was either passing chemistry or having fun.
Ah, what the hell! Me and Luna would try to find a way to cheat on that test anyway. I stood up from my plastic, black desk chair and it squeaked as I did, like always. I grabbed my guitar and sat down on my bed.
My thoughts wondered to what song I wanted to play. Then I remembered that Tony was trying to teach me Metallica’s ‘nothing else matters’. It was incredibly hard, because the song practically is one big guitar solo. But it was fun to learn, because it was such an incredible song.
I started to strum the strings and to say it sounded bad was an understatement. But after a few minutes, it sort of sounded like ‘nothing else matters’… If you would put your fingers in your ears…and play with a really low volume.
It didn’t matter if I couldn’t do this anyway. I was the rhythm guitarist, which basically meant that I provided the chords. I was the chord guy. But I just liked doing this little projects for fun.
After a few minutes I had been so lost in thought, that I didn’t hear someone come into my room. I jumped a little when I suddenly saw someone standing next to my bed.
I looked up and saw that it was Mike. “That sounded horrible.” He said and he grinned from ear to ear.
I ignored his comment and covered my hear with my hand. “Jesus Mike, you scared the fuck out of me.”
He chuckled. “yeah, I noticed. Can I sit down?” he mentioned to the place on the bed next to me.
“Yeah of course.” I said. I was a bit surprised he was in my room suddenly. Of course, we were friends again, but I hadn’t been alone with him yet. We were always with the rest of our friend group. We still had a hard time talking to each other again, I guess. Not because we were still mad at each other, but because we hadn’t talked to each other for three years.
He walked over to the space next to me and sat down at the bed. He didn’t look comfortable at all.
“So, why are you here?” I said, trying to make it sound not insulting.
He moved his hand to his neck and nervously scratched it. “It’s actually pretty embarrassing…”
I chuckled. “Mike, I’m your brother. I’ve seen you grow up. Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ve seen more embarrassing things from you.”
He grinned and let down his arm. “Yeah, that’s actually why I came to you. And also because you always used to give good advice.”
What? My eyes widened. “You came here for advice?” I said. Mike wasn’t the kind of person to ask for help. When he was younger, the only person he used to come to for advice, was me.
“Yeah…” He said and got a little red. “Isn’t that what I used to do, before…You know what happened?”
I stared at him for a while, not knowing what to think or say. I was happy he trusted me again, but I didn’t know what to think about the fact that he looked up to me again. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing anymore.
“Okay...so what’s it about?” I asked, still a bit taken back.
I looked down at his hands again and blushed a bit. “It’s about a girl…”
“You come to ask me about girls?” I asked. This kept getting weirder and weirder. “Of course, You’re two years younger, but you’re definitely more experienced than me.”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s true. But I actually never had a serious relationship. It was always more a fun thing…and you have quite a serious relationship now…so yeah.”
“You want a serious relationship with someone?” I asked. I never saw Mike as the type of guy for a serious relationship. He was always the one who made out with a girl and never called them again afterwards. Or he dated them for a few weeks and dumped them after that.
He let out a breath and looked up to the ceiling. “She’s just different, Vic.” He said. “She actually likes the things I like. And she doesn’t just throw herself at me. And she is stunning, not just hot, she’s beautiful. She’s also hot though, she’s both.” He said the last words a bit too fast, like he was embarrassed to say it.
I noticed that he was glowing when he was talking about her. He was in love. I didn’t say that to him though. “So what’s the problem then? Go for it!” I said, trying to keep myself from grinning.
He looked down again and got more red. “I don’t know how. How do you tell a girl that she means more to you then other girls do? How did you tell Luna?”
“I sang her a song.” I answered, thinking back to Luna’s birthday almost three weeks ago.
Mike sighed. “You see? You are good at these kind of things! I’m not.” He let his head hang a little.
This conversation reminded me a little of the conversations we used to have as kids. Even though the topic was a little bit more grown up, he still kind of looked like the kid he used to be. A kid who didn’t know what to do, so he went to his big brother for advice. I never understood why he looked up to me, but I liked helping him.
“Mike, it’s not about being good at it. You just have to find a way to tell her how you feel, a way that fits you. If she doesn’t like the way you do it, then she’s not your type of girl.” I said. “But try to treat this one with respect, though.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m fifteen now, Vic. I think I know how to treat a girl with respect.”
I shot him a glare. “You kissed a girl while you were in a relationship with another. Three times.”
“How do you know that?” He said, looking both angry and annoyed.
“Luna.” I just said and a grin grew on his face. “Of course she did.” He said.
He seemed to drift of in thought for a while. “there’s another problem, though.” He said eventually. “She lives in England, and I haven’t spoken to her since January second.”
Casey. I had heard from Luna that they had a little fling going on, but I didn’t know he was so serious about it. For the first time, I feared for my brother to get his heart broken instead of him breaking one. I didn’t think Casey was as serious about this as he was…I wasn’t sure about it though. I couldn’t look inside her head…or heart.
“Yeah, that is difficult.” I said. Mike looked at me like he was expecting me to say more. In all honesty, I didn’t know how to fix this one for him. Long distance relationships were difficult, but they were impossible for him. He was fifteen years old, he had barely enough money to afford going to the cinema, let along for a plane ticket. And I haven’t even mentioned the fact that skype didn’t exist yet.
Eventually I sighed. “Mike, you really need to think about it if you want a long distance relationship. You will only see her a few times a year and the rest of the year you can only call or write her. And you have to stay faithful to her, even when she’s far away.”
Mike stared of in the distance. Slowly a smile grew on his lips. “I think I can do that.”
My eyes widened. I wasn’t expecting him to give this answer. He must’ve been in love, otherwise he wouldn’t have done this. For some reason it made me feel proud that he wanted to try it.
I chuckled and shook my head. Mike turned his head towards me. “What?”
“Just proud and happy for you, I guess.” I said and I patted him on the shoulder.
He flushed red. “Thanks Vic. I needed this.” He said and he lightly punched my arm.

Luna’s POV
“I feel like I can fly!” I said as I spread my arms wide. The warm wind attacked them, making it feel like I was being hugged by the air. The last rays of sunshine of that day fell on my face.
I always thought the sun was the most beautiful when it set. Not only did the sky look like it was painted in pastel colours, it was also the only time of the day my pale skin could bear the sunlight. The light was soft, but warm.
I opened my eyes to see that the whole city lighted up in a soft red colour. There was no spot of blue left on the horizon. There were only shades of orange, purple, red and pink visible.
I stepped closer to the edge of the roof until I stood with my toes against it, in the corner of the roof. The familiar grey, gravel surface crisped underneath my feet as I did so.
Eventually I felt two arms wrap around my waist from behind. “Slow down, birdie.” Vic grinned into my ear and shivers went through my spine.
“I’m serious, Vic.” I whispered. “The wind, the sunset, the view. It makes me want to fly away.”
He tightened his grip around me a little and placed a small kiss on my cheek. “That sounds amazing.” He whispered against my cheek, his soft lips brushing against my skin.
I giggled. “but?” I asked and I lightly shook my head.
He chuckled. “But you can’t fly and I don’t want you to try and fall.” He said pulling me back from the edge. I turned around to face him and put my arms around his neck. “Then I guess it gets time for you to become a super hero.”
He laughed confused. “what? why?”
I shook my head with a disappointed look on my face. “Don’t you remember? You told me after junior prom that you would fly around the world with me if you had superpowers.”
Realisation slowly hit him and he nodded smiling. “So, you’re going to find me a radioactive spider or werewolf to bite me?” he said and he placed his hand on my back, pulling me in a little.
“No silly.” I said, waving away his comment with my hand. “Spiderman and werewolves don’t fly.”
“That would be kind of awesome, though. Can you imagine a werewolf flying?” He said and I laughed while I tried to imagine a half man, half wolf creature fly over houses.
“Maybe it’s worth a try to look for a werewolf for you.” I said smiling and I leaned in to kiss him. He answered the kiss and I tightened my grip on his neck. Our lips moved in sync as the reddish, orange rays of sunshine hit he sides of our faces.
As we pulled back he said. “I would get really hairy, though. If I’d be a werewolf.”
I chuckled. “Only if your heartbeat speeds up.” I said resting my forehead against his.
“Then I would be really hairy around you all the time.”
I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand and shook my head.
“Do you get it? Because my heartbeat gets faster whenever I see you.” He said, smirking.
“Yeah, I get it, Vic.” I said as I slowly removed my hand from my face. “You’re so corny sometimes.”
He shrugged. “I thought it was kind of cute.”
I smiled and panted a quick kiss on his lips. “It was.”
We let go of each other and Vic sat down on the floor of the roof, his legs crossed. I sat down on his lap, my back resting against his chest. He gladly put his arms around me and lightly kissed me on my cheek.
We sat there for a few moments in silence, just watching the colours in the sky getting darker. It was moments like this in which I was happy that I had moved to America. Despite all of the bad things that had happened, it was worth it at moments like this. Besides, England didn’t had sunsets like this.
After what seemed like hours Vic spoke up. “I want to stop cutting. At least, I want to try.”
I was surprised at his sudden statement. I turned my head so I was facing him and he looked at me with a sad smile. “Really?”
He nodded “Yeah, I was thinking about what Casey said about having a reason to stop and I think I found it.” He said.
I looked at him without saying something, giving him space to form the words in his head. He took a deep breath. “Yesterday, Mike came to my room. He asked me for advice, about a girl. He said that I was way better at those things and genuinely seemed like he cared about what I thought. I think he still looks up at me somehow.”
I nodded slowly. “Of course he does. You’re his big brother.”
Vic shook his head. “I really didn’t know that. I mean he is a lot older now and a lot has happened between us.”
“I did know. I mean, he doesn’t look up to you like he used to as a little kid, but he surely still does.” I said. Mike wasn’t that hard to figure out.
“That’s why I want to stop. Instead of walking away from him this time, I want to turn myself into someone who is worth looking up to. I want do what the name of my band says and cut right to the problem.” He said, painfully calm, like always.
A smile spread across my face. I was hoping for this for so long. I never wanted to push him, but every time I saw a fresh cut on his wrist it broke my heart. I wanted him to be happy more than anything. I knew this was going to be hard for him, but he needed to do that and whether it was for himself or for someone else, I was happy he finally found the courage to at least try.
Without warning I threw my arms around his neck in a hug, which wasn’t comfortable because my whole body was span around. So I stood half up, my arms still around his neck and sat down at his lap facing him, my legs at both sides of his body. I laid down my head on his shoulder and I felt his arms around me, stroking my hair.
“You have no idea how happy that makes me.” I said softly with my chin on his shoulder.
I felt him breath steadily as my head moved up and down.
He stayed silent and we sat like that for a while. That was the best thing about Vic, I wasn’t forced to talk every second of the day, we were totally comfortable with sitting in silence for a while.
“I need you, Luna.” He eventually whispered very soft. I almost couldn’t hear it. “I can’t do it without you.”
My heart filled with both sadness and happiness. Vic wasn’t a person to ask for help. He was mostly a person that tried to handle his own business. I didn’t know if I was different for him than other people, or if this was a more difficult problem for him to handle than others, but it got me conflicted that he said this to me. I was happy he asked me for help and I would gladly help him, but the fact that he did scared me. It meant that he thought it would get incredibly hard.
I dug my nose in the space between his shoulder and his neck. “I’ll be here. Always.”
He let go of me and he had to look up a bit to level with my eyes, because I was still sitting on his lap. He leaned in and kissed me. I answered it. The kiss was soft and sweet, like it was full of gratefulness.
We pulled back and suddenly I had an idea. “Maybe I have an idea that will help you stop.” I said and I took his arms with each of my hands. I moved them towards me, turned them around so his palms were facing up and rolled his sleeves up. He didn’t resist at all. He trusted me.
“What’s it?” He said, there was a certain tone in his voice I couldn’t quite make out. It kind of sounded like he wasn’t sure about all of this. I didn’t blame him, though. I knew how hard it had been and still was for Casey. I knew how hard it already was for me, although I had only did it once.
“Maybe you can write songs whenever you feel like cutting. That would solve two problems at once.” I said and I started tracing the cuts on his wrists. The cuts that showed how he felt under the layer he showed to the outside world. The cuts that I wanted to fade into scars. Scars that proved that he was a fighter.
Vic looked down at my fingers tracing the lines on his arms. Eventually a slight smile grew on his face. “That’s sounds like a good idea. It would help dealing with my thoughts and emotions.”
I also smiled. “Yeah and maybe, when you guys get famous, people who go through the same will listen to those songs and relate to them. Maybe it will help them.”
I saw Vic’s eyes lightening up. “I hope that will happen. I want to help people.”
I grinned. “I know you do.” I let my fingers trace to the edge between his wrists and the palms of his hands, tracing over them and eventually intertwining my fingers with his.
“I’m so happy I’ve met you.” Vic suddenly said and I looked up at him. Our eyes locked and he smiled, looking at my surprised face. “I’m serious.” He said. “Since you’ve been here everything has gotten better.”
A wave of happiness rushed over me and washed away the fear of earlier. I needed to hear that from someone. It made me feel like I was appreciated in this world.
“I’m happy I’ve met you too.” I whispered back shooting him a soft smile.
And we sat like this for hours after that. We watched the sky turn from a dark red, to lilac, to deep purple and eventually to a dark blue, filled with thousands of little light balls. I hadn’t just forgotten what time it was, I had forgotten it existed. It felt like there was only that moment and nothing more. No past. No future. Just perfect present.

Notes

heyyy guys,

So I noticed that the chapters are slowly getting worse and worse of this story. So I spent very long making this one perfect. So if you read this, congrats you've survived the last few kinda bad chapters. This one is actually decent I promise! and the ones after that will be too! Drama is on its way too! >:) Luna's and Vic's life has been steady and good for too long.

Okay guys. This night I dreamed that Pierce the Veil was performing at my school. I stood front row and I waved at Vic and he literally looked at me and ignored me XD When I woke up I was like. 'Really Victuuurr? Whyy??'

xxxxx

Nicky