Mutiny Below

Jayce

I pushed my mouth to the side as I watched John put his clothes into the duffel bag. My ribs were still setting and my ankle still hurt like a bitch to walk on, but my appearance was demanded at home anyway for the usual family day. John had determined that I was still not capable of going anywhere on my own and now he was planning on joining me at my parents.

I was worried, to say the least. “Who’s going to look over the apartment?” I pouted and watched as John glanced at me with a slight smirk.

“Nick’s got a key to the place and I’m pretty sure he’s still going to be staying here.” My stomach turned as he walked toward me and leaned down to gently kiss my lips. “Calm down. Nothing is going to go wrong. Your mom is practically in love with me now.”

I rolled my eyes and put my hands up as a sign that I wanted off the bed. He chuckled and walked to the other side of the bed before carefully lifting me. “She’s more moody than usual so I wouldn’t be surprised if we both end up kicked out before the night is over.” I huffed as I got steadied on my feet and then batted my blue eyes at him.

“Do you ever stop panicking?” John smirked wider and ran his hands through my hair to smooth it down.

“No.”

He laughed and kissed my forehead. “I’m going to put the bags in the car. I’ll be back.”

I stood there for a moment before I heard the front door open and close. I sighed with a little bit of relief with the emptiness of the apartment. It seemed the only time I could breathe easy was when I was by myself. Or with Nick. My heart dropped again.

I bit my bottom lip as I shuffled my feet slowly to the window. I glanced out, but of course this was the window that showed the back yard. I leaned my head against the window and sighed again. I wanted so badly to just give up and tell John the truth.

The front door opened again and I quickly recovered, pasting a wide smile on my face as I turned toward the door.

“Jayce-y Lacey!” I snorted at Gemma’s yell.

“In here, Gem!”

She appeared in the doorway only seconds later. Her eyes were wider than usual and her smirk was giving away that she had a secret. “Guess what I just saw!” I couldn’t but giggle as she hopped onto the bed.

“Do I really have to guess?” I arched an eyebrow as she rolled over on her back and started playing on her phone.

“I suppose not. You just have to look at this!” She exclaimed and then extended her phone toward me. I reached for it and recognized the two people in the picture immediately. It was Eric and Natalia. I recognized their surroundings enough to know they were lying on his bed. He was grinning like a fool and she was giggling. It looked like the picture had been taken with his laptop, probably on the night where we’d all stayed over at Eric’s apartment. “Aren’t they fucking precious?”

I slowly handed her the phone back. “Where did you get that picture, Gem?”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s on his Facebook. He posted it last night and made it his profile picture for about two minutes before deleting it off completely. My guess, she doesn’t want to go public yet for fear of big brother freaking out. What do you think?”

“I think we shouldn’t be speculating about what’s going on between them. You know how much you hated it when the guys picked on you and Kennedy for those few months?”

“But everyone was right! I was crazy for him and he was for me.”

“I’m not so sure they’re crazy about each other, Gems. They just met and Natalia seems,” distracted with my own drama. I stopped dead short of finishing that sentence.

“Natalia’s in love with him! Haven’t you noticed the way she glues to his side? I mean she’s even more glued to him than she is to Nick! There is something going on. Fer sure.”

I shook my head and the front door opened again. This time I could hear the male voices that I was suspecting were John and Kennedy. “Well, I guess the only way we’ll be able to find out ‘fer sure’ is to wait until one of them does make it official.”

“Psht, have I ever been the patient kind?” Gemma winked as she got up off the bed just as John and Kennedy walked into the room. Kennedy’s mouth opened to say something put Gemma gave him a glare before it even came out. “Don’t say a word, Trotter.”

He walked over and put his arms around her waist. “Never even dreamed of it, Gems.” He kissed her cheek and chuckled. John stayed in the doorway and I felt the awkwardness settle.

“Are you hungry, babe?” John cleared the air easily and I attempted a small smile.

“A little.” I shrugged and then glanced at Gemma and Kennedy.

“Well, let’s get something to eat then, because I am starving.” Gemma sighed dramatically and then started to pull Kennedy toward the door frame and past John. “I say we eat somewhere other than Chipotle, please! My stomach is about to kill me if I have one more meal there.”

John smiled at me and rolled his eyes. He held his hand out and nodded his head toward where they’d gone. I smiled back and gave him my hand as we slowly followed Gemma and Kennedy.

Once we got down to the cars, I found that it wasn’t just the four of us going to lunch. Natalia and Eric were already in the back seat of Kennedy’s car, laughing, and Nick was leaning against it with a smoke in his hand.

“It’s about fucking time you got down here.” Nick glanced back at the car and then heavenward.

“Oh shut up, Santino. Some of us are actually enjoying the adorableness of the new couple.” Gemma winked at me and then Nick really made a face.

“They’re not a couple.” He grumbled and threw his cigarette at the ground before he stomped on it.

“Keep telling yourself that, sweetie, and you’ll be a liar in no time.” Gemma clicked her tongue before opening the back door to the car. Natalia and Eric immediately froze. “Scoot over, Halvo! There’s five fat asses that have to fit back here.”

“Calm down, Gemma. I’m going.” Eric stuck his tongue out at her and then scooted over so he was practically sitting on Natalia’s lap. Gemma sat on Kennedy’s lap and, after helping me into the passenger seat, John sat on the very end. Nick looked at the arrangement with raised eyebrows.

“I think I’m just going to take Halvo’s car and meet you guy’s there.” He pointed behind him, toward the direction Eric’s apartment was in, while Kennedy climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Just get your ass in here, Santino! I’m fucking starving and we’ve got to go. You can lay across all of us if you have to.” Gemma screamed out my rolled down window with a little bit of difficulty.

Nick made a face before opening Natalia’s door and squeezing in so that he was sitting on Eric and leaning over on Gemma. I was laughing before Kennedy had even been able to reverse out of the parking space.

“This … is fuck … ing … ridic … ulous!” I gasped in between giggles. Most of everyone in the back was laughing as well. I wanted to turn and take a picture with my phone, but my the ache in my middle made it practically impossible to turn around that much.

“Hurry the hell up, Kenny! I think Nick’s crushing my hip.” Eric groaned as he tried to maneuver around a little. Kennedy snickered and glanced at me. I cracked up again after that.

By the time we finally made it to the diner, my ribs were aching and there were tears streaming down my cheeks. Everyone piled out of the back and then they started laughing as well. Nick opened my door and extended his hands toward me with a kind smile. My heart sped up a little as I returned the smile and gave him my hands.

He pulled me out of the car just as John came over. Nick handed me over to John with a nod before he joined the group heading into the restaurant. I put my arm around John’s middle as his went around my shoulders and we followed everyone in.

The waitresses put two tables together for us, which was nice. It was way easier to sit in a chair then try to slide into a booth at this point with my injuries. I was sitting in between John and Eric with Gemma across from me, Natalia across from Eric, Kennedy across from John, and Nick on John’s other side.

“I can’t believe we only have four weeks before we go back on tour.” Kennedy started the conversation that made everyone sit up straight. The boys were all excited, but it was evident that the Gemma, Natalia, and I were not as excited. Gemma quickly elbowed Kennedy in his side, hard. “Come on babe, it’s not like you aren’t coming with us.” Kennedy chuckled while he rubbed his hurt side.

“Yeah, as your merch bitch. Oh, how fun that’s going to be.” She rolled her eyes. “Jayce won’t even be there anymore to keep me company. I’ll just be stuck with smelly gross boys.”

All eyes turned toward me and widened. “You’re not going anymore?” Eric broke the shock first. “When the hell did this happen?”

“Well idiot, I’d say it was about the time she got in the car accident, remember?” Gemma gave him the ‘duh’ face and he waved her off.

“Seriously, you’re not coming at all?” Eric slightly pouted.

I bit my bottom lip and leaned into John as he put his arm around me. “I’m, um, not sure how things are going to work out yet.” I shrugged and kept my eyes on the table.

“This is fucking lame. Natalia isn’t coming. Jayce isn’t coming. What happened to the perfect summer?” Eric threw his hands up and then clunked his head down on the table. Everyone kind of chuckled at him.

“Stop being so dramatic.” John rolled his eyes and kind of smirked.

“Seriously.” Eric lifted his head and looked over at John, his brown eyes wide. “You’re girlfriend’s not coming on tour. Do you know how annoying you are when she’s not around?”

“Better yet, do you know how irritable Gemma gets when Jayce isn’t around?” Kennedy muttered and made a face.

“Really?” Gemma raised her eyebrows and Kennedy quickly smiled at her.

“I love you, Gems.”

“That’s what I thought.” Gemma smirked and then focused on her menu. “Now can we put aside the tour talk while everyone decides what they want to eat? I am fucking hungry.”

“Tour will be interesting.” Nick muttered as he picked up his menu as well.

Of course, the tour talk picked back up after the waitress took our orders. The boys conversated about their favorite venues and some of the places they wanted to revisit. I stayed mostly quiet as did Natalia, except when we were talked to. Gemma mostly ate.

We all rode back to the apartments together. Gemma and Kennedy went over to Eric’s with him, Natalia, and Nick after they said goodbye. Then it was time for John and I to head to Phoenix. I was still highly nervous about having John at my parents house. John and my family, other than Adam, hadn’t actually been in the same room but on three occasions.

The first time I brought John home was five months into our relationship. He thought I was being ridiculous when I told him how crazy my family was. The second time, I had to drag his ass to see them at my parents thirty-second anniversary party. He had tried his best to impress them again, but my parents still tore him apart. The third time being, of course, when I was in the hospital.

I was a nervous wreck the whole ride and John could tell. He didn’t say anything about it, or about my folks. He just sang along with the radio, lowly, and squeezed my hand from time to time. Once we finally made it, my nerves calmed some.

John helped me out of the car and then to the back door. Andrea was sitting in the kitchen listening to her iPod. Her whole face lit up when we came in though and she took her ear phones out immediately. After hugging and greeting both of us, she called for my mom.

My mom entered the kitchen with tears already in her eyes. She kissed me on both my cheeks and then kissed John’s cheek before she hugged him. I was frozen in shock at the sight. My mother had never welcomed anyone that warmly. Not even my father.

“Oh, I’m so glad you two are here. Adam is running late. He’s got an essay he’s working on and he’s refusing to come out of his apartment until it’s finished. He’ll probably get here just in time for dinner though. Let’s get you out here on the couch where you’re comfortable Jayce. John, would you mind?” My mother gestured to me and John grinned widely.

“Course not, Mrs. Nolan.” He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled my arm around his neck so that he was supporting most of my weight.

“Thank you, dear. Your father is also going to be a little late, Jayce. He’s so worried about you, but he got caught up in something at work I suppose.” She called over her shoulder as she led the way to the front room.

I gave Andrea a look and she returned it with a worried expression of her own and shrugged. Apparently we were all still clueless as to what was happening between our parents.

“How’s dad handling the other news?” I blurted before I could even censor my mouth.

My mother glances back and I thought I heard her sigh. “He’s working through it as well.” She muttered as we finally made it to the front room and the comfy couches. John sat beside me, his arm around my neck while I rested my head on his shoulder. “Why don’t you pick a movie, Andrea, and then we can all watch it together?”

This was beyond Twilight Zone weird.