Mutiny Below

Jayce

John was worried about me. I could see it with every look and gesture he gave me. It was like he was expecting me to simultaneously combust at any moment. He’d let my denial of crying last night slip past, but I knew it was eating at him. John wore his concern mostly in his eyes, but I could hear it in his voice too.

“Babe, it’s time to get up.” He nudged my side and I frowned. The last thing I wanted was to wake up and face the world.

I decided to turn over and curl into his chest instead. “I don’t want to.” I mumbled and wrapped my arms around his waist.

He chuckled. “But it’s already ten and I’m sure the guys are looking for us.” He rubbed my back gently and I frowned deeper. I didn’t want to think about the guys. I didn’t want to leave our bedroom until that fancy fake ginger left for good.

“Let them look.” I was determined to be defiant.

“Are you really that tired?” He asked curiously, the underlying concern bubbling up for just a moment.

I pulled back enough to connect my blue eyes with his mossy green ones and batted my eyelashes a few times. “Can we just stay in bed all day?” I avoided his question by asking my own.

He looked at me for a moment, pushing a strand of hair out of my face. Then a small smile slowly crept on his lips. “I’ll turn off my phone if you turn yours off.”

I smirked. “Deal.” I turned over and grabbed my cell from my nightstand, quickly shutting it off and tossing it to the floor carelessly. When I turned back to John, he still had his phone in his hand and I groaned. “I thought you were turning it off.”

He laughed. “Calm down, I’m just replying to Halvo real fast and then I’ll turn it off.” I rolled my eyes and snuggled up to him anyway. After a few minutes, he chuckled again as his phone clicked close and his arms wrapped around me. “So, back to sleep?”

“That’s phase one.” I smiled and closed my eyes.

“How many phases are there?”

“We’ll wing it after five.”

“Five?”

“Shut up, O’Callaghan.”

John chuckled. “I love you too, Nolan.”

We slept for a few more hours after that. His growling stomach woke us both up however, and I couldn't help but giggle. We went to the kitchen and I started to make pancakes. John kept his arms around me the entire time, which made it difficult but that much more enjoyable. He leaned his chin on my shoulder as we both watched the pancakes rise on my griddle and then he kissed me after I made him a plate.

I threw the dirty dishes in the sink, not bothering to even rinse them as I joined him on the kitchen floor to eat our pancakes. We talked, mostly about the upcoming tour and how excited he was about going, and every now and then he’d lean over and just kiss me. Every time he did though, I remembered Nick’s lips and his soft, slow kiss. It drove me crazy.

After pancakes we went back to the bedroom and ended up watching some comedy series on the TV. Course, all of the commercials led to playful kissing, which led toamazing sex. We both took another short nap afterward and when we woke up this time, I dragged our asses out to the living room to watch a movie.

John made it half way through The Grimm Brothers before he started to kiss my neck. Kissing turned into sucking, which turned into nibbling, which turned into him biting at ear, which, of course, led to the two of us having sex again on the living room floor.

I pulled my pajamas back on for the second time that morning when his hands tightly gripped my hips. He spun me around to face him and leaned down to give me a full-on, hard kiss. The kind that makes your head dizzy when you pull away.

His forehead rested against mine. “I love you, Jayce Lynn.” My stomach flipped as I tried to steady my breathing.

I lifted my eyes from his lips to those god-awful amazing eyes. “I love you too John.” I spoke honestly, because I did love John.

What I felt for Nick was just a small little crush. An infatuation, if you will. Nothing more, but I loved John. He was my everything.

John gave me one of those irresistible kisses again and then pulled away completely from me. “You should probably go shower, babe.” I arched my eyebrows as he plopped down on the couch.

“Why?” I put my hands on my hips.

“It’s Wednesday night.” He smiled and I groaned as I fell down on the couch beside him.

“I don’t want to go.” I whined and he chuckled as he threw an arm around my shoulders.

“Come on, Jayce. It’s tradition. We always go to the parking lot before you leave.” He squeezed me and I frowned.

“Can’t we skip out, just this once?”

John shrugged. “You know everybody always shows up just to say goodbye to you.”

I glared at him. He was just trying to guilt me into going now. “Everyone shows up as an excuse to drink and retell old memories.” I argued and he shrugged again.

“I heard someone invited The Summer Set this week. You know that means drama for Kennedy and Gemma.” I swallowed hard. He didn’t know the half of the drama that was going to cause.

“Who was the idiot that did that?”

“Pat.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course it was Pat. He’s oblivious to everything around him.”

“Ooo, I’m telling,” he smirked and tapped my nose with his pointer finger.

“I still don’t want to go.”

He frowned and then sighed. “Okay, if you really don’t feel like going, we can stay here.” His sad, puppy eyes were enough to make me eat my words.

“No, you’re right.” I inhaled deeply as I stood up. “I’ll go shower.” I trudged off and into the bathroom.

My head was constantly trying to tell me how much of an idiot plan this was while my heart thudded irregularly at the chance of seeing Nick again. My mind told me to avoid and ignore him, while my heart begged me to kiss him again.

The two fought the entire time I was in the bathroom, and the entire time I got dressed. I didn’t bother with makeup or my hair. I was too emotionally drained to worry about it. When I stepped into the living room, John gave me a quick kiss before taking his turn in the shower.

I curled up on the couch and clutched a pillow to my stomach. I couldn’t help the sick feeling, just like I couldn’t help the crying last night. It was overpowering.

I thought about telling John how sick I felt. It was a sure way of getting out of 8123. He wouldn’t force me to go if he knew how ill I was. But then, I couldn’t hold him back. The boys looked forward to hanging out in the parking lot every week. Why, I would never know.

And then there was Gemma. She would need my support. I had to be strong for her and for John. I could ignore Nick just for the night. I would just stick to John’s side. Keep my mouth strictly closed. I could make it.

My stomach churned uneasily. I could hopefully make it.

“Jayce?” I lifted my head and attempted a smile. I extended my arms and he fell into them with a lazy smile. “Staying here’s not such a bad idea.” He mumbled and then kissed my collar bone.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, no you don’t.” I poked his sides and listened as he laughed. “It won’t be a party without John Oh.”

“Alright.” He took my hands in his so I had to stop poking him. Then he leaned up and pressed a firm kiss to my lips. “Let’s go.” He stood up and pulled me with him.

I stayed quiet as we went down to the car. John glanced at me every now and then, raising his eyebrows in concern. I just smiled and shook my head in return, giving his hand a squeeze before turning my attention out the window again.

We showed up late, but no one really noticed. The alcohol was already circulating around along with the guitars. Brian was singing at the moment while John Gomez played. Gemma was sitting on Kennedy’s lap, as usual, and I noticed Stephen was on the other side of the group, talking and laughing with Jared.

I sighed and put my arm around John’s waist, making it known that I didn’t want to leave his side. He kissed my temple and threw an arm around my neck as he led us toward the table full of food and drinks.

He was in the process of making us both drinks when Nick approached.

“Hey John.” Nick made me more nervous than I was before. I swallowed hard as I watched the small nod exchange between him and my boyfriend. “Mind if I steal Jayce for just a moment?”

John looked to me. I wanted to shake my head. I wanted to scream and run away, but I couldn’t. That would require explaining. Instead, I had to keep my face blank as I stared back at John, silently begging him to say no.

“Sure, man.” John shrugged and I almost groaned.

“Sweet, it’ll be just a minute.” Nick grinned and took a hold of my elbow. He pulled me away from the table and away from everyone else. He stopped when we were about ten feet away from the group.

Dread filled my veins. This was what I was trying so hard to avoid. I didn’t want to talk to Nick. I wasn’t sure I could keep my secrets behind my lips. The nausea started to brew in my stomach again.

“Listen, Jayce,” he started and I froze. I couldn’t do this.

“No,” came out louder than I’d expected, but that was okay. I needed to make this as stern as I could.

“No what?” He scrunched his eyebrows together and put his hands in his pockets.

“I don’t want to hear anything. I don’t want to talk about what happened. In fact, we’re going to pretend it didn’t happen. And that we never slept together. It all just doesn’t exist. I’m John’s girlfriend and you’re Eric’s band mate. That’s it.”

He stared at me for a moment, with that same look as before, like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. I know I wasn’t exactly like everybody else, but there was no reason for him to look at me like that. He wasn’t supposed to look at me like that, and I sure as hell wasn’t supposed to want him to look at me like that.

“Jayce,” he started again but I shook my head, pressing my lips together firmly. He sighed and his shoulders slumped forward.

I took his silence as the opportunity to turn away. I didn’t see John at first, so I escaped to the second best thing. I scrambled over to Gemma and Kennedy before Nick could call for me again.

“Jayce!” Gemma squealed and jumped up from Kennedy’s lap. “Oh my god! Where have you been all day? I was starting to think you and Johnny Oh got murdered in your apartment. No one’s heard from you since last night.”

“Yeah,” I blushed and dropped my gaze to the ground. “We were having a little alone time.”

“Ew!” Both Kennedy and Gemma exclaimed as they drew back from me. I laughed at their grossed out expressions and stuck my tongue out.

“That is on a need-to-know basis and we did not need to know.”

“Well, your girlfriend asked.”

“Well, your boyfriend’s a dork.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“He’s making a dork of himself right now.” Kennedy gestured to behind me and I turned around, slightly curious. John was on Eric’s back, grabbing at something in Eric’s hands. It was an entertaining sight. John was much taller and lankier than Eric. His hands almost reached Eric’s. “Oh, I bet that’s the picture of him and Nat.” Kennedy laughed.

“What picture?”

“Halvo fell asleep on Nat and she fell asleep on John. Pat took a picture and Halvo put it on his fridge.”

“Hmm,” I nodded and stared at my boyfriend. He was laughing, as was everyone else around him, but his cheeks were flushed. He finally managed to snatch the picture and then he put it in his back pocket as he quickly ran from Eric.

I laughed as he came and sat on my lap, making it impossible for Eric to get the picture back. It did not, however, stop him from whining about it.

“Come on! That’s the only picture I have of Nat!” He complained like a small child and everyone laughed.

“Here, we’ll take another one.” Garrett yelled as he produced the boy’s old Polaroid camera from nowhere.

“Natalia!” Eric whined as he extended his arms toward her. Her cheeks turned pink as she shook her head. “Nat!” He pouted and it was only seconds later that she stumbled into his arms.

Eric wrapped his arms around her tightly as their cheeks pressed together and they both gave big, cheesy grins. It was cute. Quite a few people cooed as Garrett took the picture. Then Eric insisted on another, in which he abruptly kissed Natalia’s cheek. She smacked him in the chest for that one, but Garrett had caught it on film nonetheless.

I leaned my head on John’s back and closed my eyes as conversation stalled. As strange as it was, I was still tired. I wasn’t looking forward to spending a day with my family. I really wasn’t looking forward to leaving John.

That was when I felt it. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, trying to find where it was coming from. Then my eyes landed on Nick.

He was sitting a few chairs over, facing John and I, but his eyes were focused on me. He wasn’t just staring though. Staring I could have dealt with. I could have ignored it.

Nick was glaring at me. His lips were in a grim, thin line and his eyes were fiercely sending me daggers. He looked like he wanted to strangle me. He continued to glower while I frowned at him, unable to break the eye contact I’d established first.

The more he stared, the more unsettled my stomach became. I could feel the vomit rising in my throat as my blue orbs stayed linked with his hazel ones. We were back to square one, where Nick hated my guts and I choked on guilt. Shit.

I pushed John up from my lap hurriedly as I made a dash for the side of the parking lot. My hands gripped the bar as I leaned over and spilled my stomach contents out. I felt awful. Warm hands pulled my hair back and smaller hands gently rubbed my back. I groaned as I rested my head on the cold bars.

“Jayce? Are you alright now?” Gemma asked worriedly on my left.

“I’m gonna go pull the car around.” John spoke sullenly on my right.

“We got her, man.” Kennedy’s voice came from behind me as his hands replaced John’s.

“Jayce?” Gemma repeated with more concern and I groaned again.

“I’m okay.”

Kennedy snorted. “That was a lot of stomach acid that came up from someone who’s okay.” There was a sound of a slap. “Ow!”

“Are you sure you’re alright, doll? You look awfully sick.”

I raised my head and wiped at my mouth. Kennedy let go of my hair, but Gemma kept her hands on my back. “Yeah, I’m—I’m fine.” Kennedy squeezed my arm.

“Anything we can get you?”

I shook my head and mumbled a “no”.

Nothing could help me now. I had potentially ruined my relationship with the man I loved and I had fallen for one of his closest friends. No, there was nothing that could make this better.
It was already ruined.