Surprise! It's Jack!

Jack sighed as his lanky body sunk deep into the cushions upon the leather couch, his bare arms sticking uncomfortably from the sweat he was drenched in. The sun was high in the sky and normally he would find himself at the pool with his friends, but instead found himself seated uncomfortably in the Mare household babysitting.
It wasn’t unusual for the twenty year old boy to babysit on his vacations from touring for the Mare family, nor was it unusual to find him dying of heat exhaustion whenever inside their house. Stephan, the family’s big man happened to enjoy the heat and relished in turning up the thermostat on his heater whenever possible. Jack didn’t say much about it, though he had been caught trying to stuff ice cubes down his pants to stay cool.
But even so, there he sat staring at the television screen as repeats of cartoons played across in numerous colours and flashes. Sitting at his feet was the two youngest Mare children, twins with curly brown hair that compacted into an afro like style.
Their names were Arnold and Jake, two seemingly harmless individuals with a passion for television. In fact, Jack had unfortunately learned the hard way during his teen years not to touch the remote once the twins parked themselves in front of the screen.

“Guys, go outside and play in the freaking sprinklers! You don’t need to be in the house all day!” The voice of Emily Mare shouted from the living room doorway.
Jack glanced at the sixteen year old curiously as the twins waved her off without so much as an eye twitch.
“Yah guys, how about we get out of this heat?” Jack suggested.
“No” Was their eerie reply.
“At least blink” Jack huffed, sinking back into the couch while Emily took the spot next to him. “So how’s life going Ems?”

Emily shrugged beside the black haired boy, staring off into the distance with foggy eyes. Jack returned the shrug easily, knowing very well the girl wouldn’t talk unless she was ready to.
Growing up Jack had always known the Mare family and their billions of kids, it seemed that Mrs Mare refused to stop popping them out and in total had up to eight with another on the way. Emily had been number six, the eldest in the house as everyone else had grown up and moved out.
Emily often complained to him in the privacy of his room (which she snuck into almost every night) about how she hated being left behind with the twins while her brothers and sisters went out gallivanting into the night. She wanted something to keep her attention, keep her on her toes yet she could not find that at home.
Jack sympathised with the girl greatly, promising to take her on tour with him as soon as she was old enough, which was two long years away unless her parents reluctantly changed their opinions on the subject.

“Come on, nothing interesting at all?” He prodded, literally poking her side when she wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Nope” she popped the P.
Gloomily nodding Jack stared back at the cartoons that held little interest for him, his whole body dying to get out of the heat and into something cool. “Yo guys, how about we go see Alex and Rian, huh?”
Emily chuckled a little beside him. “You just want to go ‘cause you know they’ve got a pool” she teased.
“Yeah,” Jack nodded like it was obvious, which it was, “And these two need to stop watching so much TV. Your parents are going to kill me if they keep reciting comic book lines every time I’m done watching them”
“And it would be such a shame if they stopped letting you babysit” She teased once more, getting up to her feet so she could pick up a struggling Arnold.
He flailed in her arms, kicking and screaming to be put down as she hiked him up like a toddler to her waist. Arnold was definitely not a happy five year old.
“I’m watching here!” Jake commanded, trying to hush his brother.
“Come on” Jack laughed, picking up the last addition and following after Emily as she led the way outside into the unwavering heat.

The two boys squealed unhappily as they were buckled into the family van, still kicking at their sister as she tried to latch their seatbelts in place. Jack swirled the keys around his finger waiting until she was finished, before he started up the engine and drove out of the cement drive way.
Emily was rather silent sitting in the passenger seat beside him, letting her brothers kick the back of her chair in a continuous effort to return to their TV.
When Jack finally stopped the car he had to practically pull superman moves to catch the five year old terrors as they whooshed open the van doors and sped towards the street. They were definitely a handful and Jack regretted numerously refusing to ever accept money from the Mare’s.
Emily shut the van door loudly, leaving him to manage her struggling brothers as she walked up to the familiar house of his friends and band mates.

“Hey Jack, can you hurry up?” Emily called, sparing him a brief look before entering the still house.
Jack struggled slowly, eyeing the house as it grew closer and closer until he was finally swallowed up in the doorway.
Dropping the kids to the floor he watched as they ran to possess the flat screen in the living room, ripping the remote right out of a lounging Alex’s hand without compassion.
“Hey! Twerps!” Alex cried, reaching out to grab the remote back.
“Ours!” They eerily screamed in synch, eyeing Alex with bug eyes that sent him huffing back into the couch.
“Fucking kids” he growled, “Jack stop bringing them over!”
Emily laughed beside him, curled into the arm of the couch like she had back at her own home, “Geese Alex, I know you hate kids and all but watch the tongue”
Alex grinned cheekily over at her, something Jack never liked witnessing, “Hey, I like kids. I just don’t like your brothers”
“Fair enough”
“No greeting?” Jack teased finally to his best friend, sending him a pleading look that resembled a kicked dog.
Alex laughed at his friend, holding his arms out but refusing to get up from his comfortable position. Jack stampeded forward until he had collapsed on top of his friend, rubbing his face against his neck as laughter filled the room. When he was finally pushed away and sprawled on the floor the young man looked back to the twins.

“Weird” They uttered once more.
“You’re calling us weird?” Alex gaped in horror, “Who’s the freaky horror show twins here?”
“You” They replied.
“Guys, just shut up and watch your TV” Emily groaned, looking down at Jack with some weird pleading expression that meant ‘I need to talk to you alone’.

Jack leaped to his feet quickly, telling Alex to watch the kids for a second as he pulled Emily up from the couch and towards the kitchen. Emily moaned quietly about the heat when her feet hit the laminated flooring.

“What’s wrong Ems? You’re not normally this grouchy” He accused quickly.
“Grouchy? I’m not being grouchy” She stumbled, sitting herself up onto the counter top.
“Okay then,” Jack decided on another approach, “What’s going on in life, now that we’re alone?” At this his eyebrows wiggled suggestively.
Emily laughed at him and his antics before finding the words to answer him with. Sucking her bottom lip into her mouth to muffle her reply, “Just want to be free, do things my way”
“Two years” Jack reminded her sullenly.
“Two years feels too long” She countered, “Why can’t I just go now Jack!?”
“Cause then your parents would file kidnapping” He chuckled at his own joke.
Emily brushed her thin brown hair back away from her face, her oval head tilting up to the ceiling in thought. “You’ve never even asked them if I could go with you”
“I have” Jack reminded her, “Two weeks ago. They slammed the fridge door, told me I was a good boy and told you to stop putting thoughts in my head. Remember?”
Emily scowled at the remembrance, “You didn’t push it!”
“What was I supposed to do Emily? Yell at them for keeping their own daughter home instead of sending her on a tour to live on a bus with a bunch of sweaty guys that have no real morals”
“You’ve got morals”
“Of course I do, but Alex doesn’t” Jack laughed once more, his joined by Emily’s quickly after. “Emily I’m trying, but there’s only so much I can do right now”
“What if I got kicked out?” Emily suddenly turned serious, once more avoiding his eyes.
Jack practically fell over at her suggestion, balancing himself by grabbing the counters on either side of him. “Whoa. Why would you get kicked out?”

Nervously adjusting herself on the countertop Emily looked up innocently at him, batting her thin eyelashes.
It stayed silent between the two for the next four minutes until the presence of the brunette Alex Gaskarth entered the kitchen, reaching the fridge for a drink. As his hand retracted a beer bottle appeared, top quickly disposed of as Alex sipped leisurely at the contents.

“This early, Alex, really?” Emily cleared her throat, watching him flash her a smile.
“It’s never too early when dealing with psycho twins”
“They’re not that bad” Jack offered until the twins began screaming from the living room.
“Sure they’re not” Alex smirked as Jack decided it was time to quickly head home.
“Dammit, didn’t even get to swim” He sighed, moving sluggishly into the living room to pick up a thrashing Jake.

Alex waved them to the door before vanishing, not waiting to see if they got safely into the van or not. This time the twins didn’t put up too much of a fight and upon arriving back to the Mare family home, they were greeted by the smiling and very pregnant wife.
“Watch it be twins” Emily joked as she saw her mother waddle forward to envelope the twins in a hug.
“Thank you for taking care of them Jack” She smiled politely, ushering her daughter towards the house with her younger brothers.
“It’s no problem”

She bobbed her head in acknowledgment before disappearing into her house behind her children. Jack waited a few minutes before taking the quickly jog home, having left the van keys with their owner.
He climbed the stairs to his bedroom that still resided inside his parent’s home, though he had an apartment across town that he rarely used. His bedroom door was let ajar, alerting him to the fact his mother had once again snuck in to clean up his messes.
Jack wasn’t that bad when it came to cleaning, but he did prefer the slacker side of life.
Spending the rest of his day in his room Jack slept and spent hours playing his guitar until nightfall hit and his mother was calling him for dinner.
He practically inhaled the food, making casual conversation before taking the stairs back to his room, two at a time. Jack always had an affinity to lounge around after a hard day’s work, and dealing with little Arnold and Jake was definitely a hard day’s work.
A soft tap upon his window brought his attention back up from the sleep haze he had wound down to, curling up with his blankets that wrapped expertly around his ankles and sent him to the ground in a wrestling match once he stood up to check the noise.
Battling quickly and fiercely Jack made quick work of the blanket, dashing to the window to scoot it up and allow his night intruder entrance. Emily tumbled in quickly, shutting the window behind her.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Emily rushed, bursting into tears as soon as she was able to.
“Whoa,” Jack held his hands up, hoping the action would calm her down. “Emily, why are you crying?”
Rubbing furiously at her eyes, Emily began pacing holes into his floor.
“You asked me what I would get kicked out over”
“Yea?” Curiosity grabbed hold.
“But you promise you won’t get mad?”
Grabbing hold of her shoulders, Jack steadied the girl into silence. Whatever was bothering her was starting to get his nerves jumping, urging him to do something stupid.
“I’m pregnant” She spat out, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth.

Staying silent Jack let the information sink in before uneasy laughter burst out, his mind quickly yelling “Abort! Abort!” as his feet stayed frozen. Emily still waited nervously for him to stop laughing, staring heatedly at the floor.
“Good joke!” Jack playfully swatted her shoulder. “That’s something May would try to pull”
The young girl shook her hair out, still chewing fiercely at her bottom lip.
Jack continued to laugh until his throat closed up and his brain started unnecessarily calling him ‘jackass’. Running a hand through his hair, Jack began wishing Rian were here instead of him. He was at least smoother with these problems. Hell, even Zack would find something to say instead of this awkward silence.
Maybe not Alex, but anybody else!

“You’re really... I mean, you’re not joking, you’re actually... really?”
Emily nodded and for once seemed to become her actual age, innocently grounding herself as she realised the repercussions quickly. “Jack... you’ll... take care of me, right?”
Take care of her? Jack bit at his lip, mimicking her previous actions, “Whose is it?”
Emily sunk onto his bed, looking up at his tall frame with glistening eyes. “I don’t know” She admitted truthfully.
Jack fell beside her, holding his palms flat against his knees. There wasn’t much to say to the sobbing girl, nothing he could come up with.
He wanted to call her stupid, foolish, but he knew, knew that anything he had to say would make him hypocritical. And so he kept quiet, letting the silence kill all comfort between the two.
Finally after clearing his throat Jack forced a few words out, “Have you told your parents?”
“They’ll kick me out Jack”
Bobbing his head quietly Jack knew what she was saying was true, that the Mare parents would surely throw a fit the minute the news reached their ears.
“You’ve got to tell them...” He trailed off, hoping he wouldn’t have to talk around his dry tongue anymore.
“I know... Jack, you’ll take care of me right?”

Jack scrubbed his face roughly as he thought his answer out. He had always taken care of the Mare kids, especially Emily. But how could he take care of a pregnant sixteen year old?
He could hardly take care of himself on good days; he wasn’t responsible enough to even keep a fish alive!

“What about your siblings?” He whispered, hoping she wouldn’t catch onto his hesitation.
Unfortunately Emily had, her tears bubbling over. “Jack, you’re the only one who’ll help me. Please”
Leaning over Jack bumped shoulder with the young girl, “Little Ems, you know I’ll always be here to help you. Now climb into bed and sleep, tomorrow we’ll go harass Alex with your brothers”
Wiping away her tears Emily nodded quietly, climbing into the blankets that had been thrown to the floor. “Promise you won’t leave, Jack?”
“I’m not leaving Ems” Jack promised, crawling beside her. “But I want the name of the jackass so I can kill him”
Emily giggled into the pillow, “That’s my Jack”