Destined to Explode

“Do your fans know we’re cousins?” I ask Jack as I watch him tweet the picture of us decked in our GK gear, Jack also wearing his Home Alone sweater before we start out film marathon, apparently giving an alibi to why he isn‘t tweeting constantly, “Cos otherwise that looks pretty sketchy.”

Jack laughs from where he’s leant against the wall, padded by pillows, my head leaning heavily against his shoulder, and I punch him in the arm when his chuckling makes his collar bone dig into my head, “If they don’t then we’re both gonna spammed to death with questions about us dating.”

“Oh, great, just what I need, my work twitter to be bombarded with All Time Low fans hating on me.”

“I’ll sort them out when we stop this movie marathon.” He grins, using the remote to hit play on Home Alone screen, “Now shut up, Kevin matters more to me.”

----

“Jack this is ridiculous.” I shake my head as I scroll through all the new @replies on my Twitter, the majority being along the lines of ‘Jack’s mine, back off’, with others who some how know my relation to Jack trying to correct them, and in the midst is Marky with the simple ‘haha’, which I can’t help but laugh at.

Jack’s snorting and smirking behind me, eyes scanning the laptop screen as mine do, “Just reply to a few of them, won’t hurt. I’ll correct them all in my usual sarcastic way.”

“You did this in the first place.” I whine as I read a few congratulations messages, “Jack, seriously, do it soon, people think we’re fucking or something.”

I watch him type into his phone and watch my screen for the little (1) to appear on the tab, thankful when I see the words of my cousin, ‘That’s my cousin you perverts! I’m actually dating your Mom ;)’.

“I can’t wait till they see you selling merch on tour.” Jack is hysterical again, “They’re gonna think the same thing all over again, especially cos you’re the merch bitch.”

“Jack, quit it. Most of them will have heard about the collab by then, so don’t try to make me paranoid, and it’s easier to correct one person at a time, never mind a few thousand who probably don’t even follow me.”

My phone rings from the bed, and Jack being Jack dives for it, answering it without even looking, “Buddy the elf, what’s your favourite colour?”

I roll my eyes as I wander over, holding my hand out for the cell, raising my eyebrows in warning as he continues chattering into the phone, animatedly telling the story of the Twitter mishap to the poor victim on the other end.

“Jack Bassam, I swear if you don’t give me that phone-.”

“Calm your tits, it’s only Alex, he likes me.” Jack grins, “Oh fuck off, Lex. Here.”

He shoves the phone into my hand as he pouts, arms crossing over his chest as he mocks being hurt, “You tell my cousin you didn’t like him, huh?”

Alex laughs down the phone, “I actually said I liked you more, but ya’ know. I rang, to um, apologise for yesterday? ”

“Lex, listen, it’s just a bit touchy. I don’t want it brought up all the time and I know you’re gonna say something like, ‘not talking about it isn’t healthy’, but for now, let me deal with it by acting like it didn’t happen, yeah? You don‘t understand how much I appreciate you and everyone else caring, but I just want to forget and get on with my life without it looming over my head. You don‘t need to be sorry.”

Jack’s arm wrapping around my shoulders from behind and I laugh quietly when he starts rocking us side to side, “Doesn’t mean I’m any less sorry for how I left yesterday. Do you think Jack would protest a lot if I came over for a few hours?”

I look over my shoulder at Jack, knowing he can hear and he answers for me, “Jack doesn’t care as long as Jack isn’t forced to watch you two make out and Jack can watch Home Alone 2.”

Alex laughs, “I’ll be over in 10.”

----

“Just how many people thought you were fucking Jack then?” Alex mumbles when were all lazing about, Jack effectively dribbling on my calves as he sleeps, seeing as he’d laid his head there in protest when I’d chosen to cuddle with Alex for a little while.

“I don’t even want to try and count. I’ve never had so many replies at one time, even when I was giving GK shit away.”

“Shits gonna hit the fan when they find out about us then, huh?”

I frown, even though he can’t see me. He sounds so casual about the statement of there even being an ‘us’. Since the night we’d kissed in Jack’s back yard (oh, how high school of us), we’d not brought it up in any way, and neither of us had initiated anything else, unless you count the fleeting kiss Alex had left me with when he’d taken the cocoa back into the lounge the same night.

“I, um, didn’t realise there was an us?” I daren’t look up at him, or move at all as he stays silent, shifting a little to try and reach my gaze.

“Poppy, don’t go all fucking quiet on me now. Let’s just discuss what we both just said, OK? I clearly think there’s something going on here, and you don’t, that needs rectifying before I do something that could be classed as rape or something.”

I can’t but snort as I turn to face him, trying not to move my legs so Jack stays in his slumber, “It’s not that I didn’t think anything was going on, and I mean, what happened the other night was definitely something, and I know it’s not like you to be how you are-. Fucking hell, this sounds so teenage angst that I wanna puke.” I sigh, running a hand through my knotted hair, as I try to re-group my thoughts again, into something that a you wouldn’t hear a thirteen year old say, “Basically, you’re Alex. You were my first everything. There’s always going to be something there for me. ”