We Stitch These Wounds

Miranda's POV

They were all staring at me with pity written all over their faces. I put the beer up to my lips tilted my head back and started chugging. I really didn't like talking about my past but it was that just the past there was no rewriting my life. There was nothing I could do to change it. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger ... right. I've been faced with many difficulties in my life and managed to get through them with my head held high. I wouldn't let this get me down now. "So what are you doing today?" I asked eyes on my feet avoiding every ones glances.

"Well we've got an interview in about an hour. We should probably get going." CC said looking around at the guys.

They all stood up and headed for the door. "Are you coming?" Jake asked looking back at me confused as to why I was still sitting on the couch.

I shook my head no. "I'm gonna stay here. I'd rather not have people ask who I am and why I'm hanging out with you ... still not use to being in the public eye all that much. I'm going to cook something for dinner or lunch what ever meal of the day this is. What time do you think you'll be back?"

"It shouldn't take any longer then two hours it's just a radio interview and we're going to play a couple of songs. Are you sure you don't want to come with I kind of feel bad that you're just going to be sitting around the house." Jake said giving me a sympathetic smile.

"I'll be fine I've grown use to being alone. I'll have food ready by the time you get back and I'll make enough for everybody." I said getting off the couch and smiling at the guys. "Now go I don't want you to be late."

"Go ahead and go to the car guys I'll be there in a second." Jake said never taking his eyes off me. A few seconds later the door shut and Jake walked over to me grabbing my face in his hands. "Are you okay?" He asked trying to read my facial features. "You didn't have to tell them anything you know."

"I'm fine..." I sighed looking down at my feet and then back up to his eyes. "I'm tired of lying about my life the past 5 years have been one lie after another and I don't want to continue on in that pattern. I'm changing my name back I'm tired of being called Miranda. I'm not hiding anymore I'm going back to Payton Jade." I said with a pathetic smile on my face.

"Aww my little Jade is back!" Jake said mocking me. "Well I'll be back in an hour or so and I expect food!" He said pointing at me with a glare but it didn't last long before hr broke out laughing.

I smiled and shook my head at his retardedness. I was beyond happy to have Jake back even if it was just for a few weeks. Jake reminded me that not everything about my past was horrible nightmare, and it was a nice feeling.

I ran back to my room grabbed my ipod and attached it to the stereo in the living room and started blasting my favorite play list. I skipped my way back to the kitchen and started taking out the food that I would need to make my moms famous chicken or at least that's what Jake called it. I was in the middle of making the sauce for it and singing along to rebel yell at the top of my lungs when I felt my pants vibrating causing me to scream bloody murder. I have a very ticklish ass, something I'm hoping Jake doesn't remember. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and looked at the text.

We should be back sooner then we thought ... it's only like a 20 minute interview and then we're playing one song ... did i make you scream I noticed you phone in the back pocket of your shorts. -Jake-

I HATE YOU! I did in fact scream you douche bag ... I hope you choke on your spit while your laughing which I know you are. -Payton-

You know you don't hate me I'm your Stinky Pitts & you're my PJ's :) -Jake-

Please refrain from calling me PJ's and I hope you have better hygiene then you did when we were kids ... please tell me you own deodorant and use it on a daily basis. I refuse to cook for someone who smells like onions! -Payton-

Don't hate you know you love it :) -Jake-

I let out a little chuckle and continued to cook the food. I was in the middle of wrapping bacon around the chicken breast when I heard the door bang against the wall and shortly there after was being chased by Jake. All the guys were laughing as he had me cornered in the dinning room. "Do they smell like onions to you?" He asked as he pulled me into a headlock.

"I swear to God Jake if you don't let me go ...." I began but stopped when Jake actually let go of me.

"But they don't smell like onions." He said as he sniffed his own armpit making a slight face at the smell.

"You're nasty!" I said as I walked by him and slapped him across the face with the raw piece of bacon I had in my hand.

"What the hell woman?! I'm going to get you for that." He yelled with a slight laugh at the end. I jumped upon hearing him yelling. He sounded so much like my father when he said that. I stood frozen in my spot eyes wide with fear. Jake's own eyes grew wide in shock at seeing the fear etched into my features. He took a step towards me and I flinched away. "Payton sweetie I was just kidding." He said as he took another step towards me. By now the other four members of the band had left the room leaving us alone. I closed my eyes and shook my head trying to erase the images of my father from my head. When I opened my eyes again Jake was standing there arms open and waiting for me. I ran the short distance between us and threw myself in his arms. "I'm sorry sweetie I didn't mean to scare you."

I wiped the tears that were threatening to spill from my eyes and pulled away from his embrace. "You didn't scare me it was just a memory from the past. Now go in the living room with the guys and hang out all I've got to do is finish wrapping the chicken in bacon and put it in the oven."

"You know it's alright to cry everybody does it." Jake said giving me a sad smile.

"He doesn't deserve my tears! I spent 5 years hiding from him the last thing he deserves are my tears whether it be from sadness or fright. He's rotting in hell now, he can't hurt me anymore so there are no reason for tears. It's just a sign of weakness." I said to Jake trying to convince myself more then anyone else.

Jake sighed and scratched the back of his neck unsure of what to say but fallowing me back to the kitchen. I laughed at the sight in front of me Andy was carefully wrapping each chicken breast with multiple pieces of bacon. He had his eye brows furrowed in concentration and his tongue was poking out of the corner of his mouth. "What are you doing?" I asked as I walked up beside him.

He smiled sheepishly. "They looked cold so I wrapped them in bacon blankets. I mean who wouldn't love a bacon blanket." He tried to reason with me.

I couldn't help it I began laughing uncontrollably. "You were concentrating really hard man. You looked so cute ... like a little kid."

"Oh my God! I know what you're making!" Jake yelled realization finally dawning on him. "This is Momma Maddox's Famous Chicken!" He shouted jumping up and down. "Oh my GOD Jade I love you!" He yelled as he ran over and kissed me on the cheek.

"Jade? I thought your name was Miranda." Andy asked kind of confused.

"It is ... or was ... well I guess it still is right now. I'm not making any sense am I?" I asked laughing. Andy shook his head no, but had a entertained smirk on his face. "We'll my name was originally Payton Jade, but I changed it to Miranda when we moved. I think I'm going to change it back now I never really felt like a Miranda and I hated that it was so close to Amanda." I said with a slight laugh.

"Why did you choose Miranda then?" Jake asked following Andy's motions and leaning against the counter with their head in their hands watching my every move.

I laughed at the two of them but answered Jake's question. "Miranda means strange and wonderful and I believe the definition fits me quiet well, but I've never gotten use to the name. I unintentionally ignore people sometimes because they are calling me Miranda and not Payton and I think they are talking to someone else. Plus I don't have anyone to hide from anymore." I said with a huge smile as I popped the chicken into the oven. "Why the hell did you put so much bacon on the chicken?" I asked Andy as I walked to the fridge and grabbed out three beers. Handing one to Jake and Andy and keeping the last one for myself.

"Y'all were talking and I figured I would help. I was tired of listening Ashley talking about how much he would ..." He trailed off. "Plus who doesn't like bacon?!" He said smiling.

"What is Ashley talking about?" I asked looking at both of the guys. Jake and Andy exchanged knowing glances but didn't say anything. "Jake I swear to God I will throw the food in the trash if you don't tell me." I threatened walking back to the oven.

"DON'T!" Jake yelled jumping in front of the oven and knocking me out of the way. Sending me to the ground and with a loud thud my head connected with the door of the refrigerator.

"I'm going to fucking kill you!" I growled pushing myself off the ground and chasing Jake throughout his house. Jake was running circles around his couches ducking and diving behind CC, Ashley, and Jinxx. Me having the short fuse I have got tired of it jumped on the back of the couch, and in one swift motion launched myself across the room and onto Jake successfully knocking in to the floor. "My head is fucking killing me you bastard! I wouldn't let you get away with that as a kid and I'm surely not going to let you do it now. I just cooked you your favorite food you asshole." I whined as I clutched Jake's shirt shaking him a little bit.

"Umm sweetie your head is bleeding." Jinxx said stepping towards me and touching the side of my forehead causing me to wince from pain. "See blood." He said showing me his fingers coated in blood.

I glared at Jake and he swallowed hard. "Come one and lets get you cleaned up." Ashley said trying to pull me off of Jake.

"Don't fucking touch me ..." I shouted the minute I felt Ashley's grip on my arm and shrugged him off of me. "I'm fine it's just a little blood facial and head injuries always bleed worse then anything else. I've been through worse." I said climbing off of Jake and glaring at him. "I will get you back. I bet you haven't had you're ass kicked in a while." I said smiling as I walked to the restroom to check out my head.

I sighed as I wiped the blood off of my head. The cut was covered by my hair so I couldn't really do anything to it besides wipe it off. "Do you need any help?" Ashley asked as he stood at the door. "I didn't mean to scare you or piss you off earlier I was just trying to save our lead guitarist."

I slightly laughed. "Yea I could use a little help and I wouldn't kill him just hurt him a little ... maybe break one of his fingers if he really pissed me off. Like ran over my dog pissed me off. Plus I've known him since I was born if I haven't killed him yet I'm probably not going to do it now." I said as I handed him a bottle of alcohol and some cotton balls.

"alcohol? You know this is gonna burn like a bitch right." Ashley said looking at me like I was crazy.

"Maybe I like pain." I retorted giving him a wink.

"Well in that case get on your knees." He replied with a smirk.

"I'll let that slid this time, but if you ever tell me to get on my knees again I swear your balls will be hanging from my rear view mirror." I said as I did in fact drop to my knees. Ashley stood in front of me and began to dab alcohol onto the cut. I closed my eyes and bit my lip as a slight whimper left my mouth.

"Hey Payton ... Dude what the hell?! Seriously?! In my bathroom with the fucking door open?!" Jake demanded to know.

"I think your sister is a freak!" Ashley replied with a laugh holding up the bottle of alcohol in his hands that had previously been unseen.

"Ignore him he's cleaning my cut Jakey-poo!" I said turning my head to give him a huge cheesy smile. "Plus he's not my type don't really like self proclaimed whores or cocky rock stars, but the other three guys in your band don't seem so bad." I said with a wink. "Jinxx is willing to touch my bleeding head, Andy would probably be willing to make me a blanket out of bacon if I was cold, and I don't know about CC he's being uncharacteristically quite from what I've seen in interviews and heard from you."

"Aw you watch our interviews?" Jack said in a lovey dovey voice.

I rolled my eyes before replying. "Please don't flatter yourself Jake I do it to be nosy not because I miss you."

"You know I forgot how much of a bitch you are. That hurt right here." He said pouting and pointing to the right side of his chest.

"Dude don't try to pull that on me I'm the one who came up with that." I said laughing.

"Alright all done patched up and as beautiful as ever." Ashley said pulling me up to my feet.

"Please don't call me beautiful it just makes me want to punch you even more." I said walking out of the room to check on the food.

"Dude what the hell?" I heard Ashley ask.

Jake laughed before responding. "She doesn't do well with complements. She's a bitch but she's got her reasons a lot more then she told you guys so just drop it. That's my Payton Jade and I love her that way so get use to it."

"Oh my God you're alive!" CC yelled jumping off the couch and running into the kitchen. "I'm starving when is it going to be ready?!" He asked jumping up and down in front of me. "How is your head?" He asked before I could respond to the first question. He grabbed my head in his hands and started to examine every inch of it. "I think you'll live."

I swatted his hand away from my head and pushed him out of my way so I could get to the oven. "I'm fine slightly sore and what the fuck happened to you did you do like an eight ball of coke or something you were zombie like a few minutes ago." I said as I pulled the chicken out of the oven and set the pan on the counter.

"I had a hangover and it's gone and I've had two 5 hour energies." CC replied as he began drumming on the counter.

"Food is ready!" I yelled. I began laughing uncontrollably when Ashley, Jinxx, Andy, and Jake came running into the room. They apparently were racing and Jake was fighting dirty. He pushed Jinxx into Ashley sending them both crashing to the ground. I stood out of the way and let the boys get their food first.

"Oh my God what is this it has like two inches of bacon on it!?" Jinxx asked laughing.

"Andy decided he was going to help and went a little overboard with the bacon." I said laughing.

"Hey ... hey the chicken was cold and I was just making sure it was warm and don't complain I know you love bacon!" Andy said pointing his fork at Jinxx.

"Hey now I wasn't complaining I was just curious. Bacon is the shit!" Jinxx replied smiling.

"Oh my GOD! This is AMAZING!" Jake moaned/screamed as he took his first bite.

I laughed and shook my head. "I know it like Jesus jizzed in your mouth isn't it."

"Oh God Jade way to ruin the moment." He replied as he pushed my shoulder. "I wouldn't know I don't let random guys named Jesus cum in my mouth fuck I don't let anyone cum in my mouth." He said before shoving another bite in his mouth.

"Hey sucking dick isn't as bad as you imagine it's actually quiet fun. I feel sorry for your girlfriends if you never let them cum in your mouth you are a horrible boyfriend." I said shaking my head.

"I think I love this girl!" CC said laughing at my last comment.

"Yeah anyone who talks about sucking the big man's dick is okay in my book." Ashley said nodding his head in agreement.

"Nice try Purdy but I'm still not sleeping with you." I said before taking a bite.

"You will eventually cave." He said with a wink causing me to scoff in reply.

"I think you made this better then Mom." Jake managed to get out through a mouthful of food.

"And I think Mom would have killed you if she would have seen you do that." I replied sticking out my tongue.

"God you act like brother and sister." CC said laughing at the two of us.

"Hey he's 4 years older then me he should be more mature then I am." I said trying to defend myself.

"That doesn't mean shit girls are supposed to mature faster." Jake replied sticking out his tongue.

"So wait you and Andy are the same age?"Jinxx asked raising his eyebrows.

"I was born first therefore I'm better you should just go ahead and kick him out of his own band and have me be the singer." I said with a smirk on my face.

"Wowowo where is the logic in that and how do you know you're older?" Andy asked his face contorted in confusion.

"January 26, 1990 I am exactly 11 months older then you I know this because I'm stalking you and I put drugs in your food too." I said with a slight smile on my face and nodding my head up and down.

Andy just smiled even wider and shook his head slightly laughing. "And your logic in this?"

"Well I really have no logic behind this, but lets see if I can convince you anyways. I'm older, I have boobies which jiggle when I bounce, I was in hiding for the past 5 years and I believe I should get to be the center of attention for a little while, I could cook for y'all every night, I can scream like a mother fucker, and 11 is a lucky number that's why you make a wish at 11:11." I replied matter of factly.

"Dude you had me at boobies and jiggle." Ashley said with a smile.

"Ooohhh even better idea I'll be new singer and you can replace this fool." I said pointing to Ashley. "I would say I'd replace CC but one you've already had a female drummer and 2 I think he's my new crack buddy." I said giving CC a cheesy smile.

"So you're in town for some photography sessions?" Jinxx asked trying to make conversation.

"Uhh yeah which reminds me I need to go to meet with some dude tomorrow about a photo shoot. I usually take photo's at concerts and such but occasionally I do photo shoots. I've never gone on tour with a band as like their personal photographer I just pop up at shows I wanna go to and take some pictures. I worked with Free Press for a while but it's mostly solo jobs."

"Have you ever taken any pictures of us?" Andy asked swallowing the last bite off his plate.

"Dude I think I would have known if she took any pictures of us." Jake replied rolling his eyes. I ducked my head as I walked around and grabbed all the empty plates off the coffee table. "Wait you have taken pictures of us?" Jake asked his eyes growing wide.

I walked over to the sink and placed the dishes in and added some warm water on top if them. Then I quietly walked over to my room and returned with my laptop. I sat next to Jake and tried to give him my best innocent look. "I've always been you biggest fan Jake why wouldn't I go to any of your shows? I knew you weren't going to call my father and ratt out my where abouts but I was still very paranoid. I went to just about every show you had near me." I said with a smile on my face as I opened up a BVB file and handed him the computer to look at, all the guys crowding around.

"How did you get this picture?" CC asked pointing to a photo that was obviously taken from a very high location.

I laughed to myself. "I uhh ... I climbed up the scaffolding I was about thirty or forty feet in the air."

"You're the girl with purple hair that was at warped?!" Ashley screeched.

"Uhh yea I did have purple hair then."

"I told you I've seen her before! I never forget a hott girl!" Ashley said with a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Dude I swear to GOD call me hott or beautiful again and I will kick your ass!" CC, Jinxx, and Andy turned and looked at me like I was crazy.

"I thought all girls loved to be complemented." CC said confused.

"I'm not like most girls." I replied rolling my eyes. "Actually I hate most girls." I said nodding my head for effect. "I don't take or like compliments all that well especially if I don't know you all that much, I hate being called dear, and I hate pretty much anything pink, I don't like people who think they are a bad ass or player, I hate clubs, and being around a lot of people. That is just a short list of things I don't like."

"Don't worry she'll come out of her shell soon." Jake said laughing as he patted my head