Our Perfect Disease

Halen felt the warmth of the sun shine down on her face, waking her up out of her deep slumber. She rolled over to be met with another body, her eyes shot open in alarm. Once her gaze focused, she let out a breath of relief. She was wedged between Kennedy and Roth, outside on the grass.

She noticed almost everyone was still asleep, she checked her phone for the time. Almost nine o’clock, quite late for her but then early for the guys, her eyes wandered across the bodies to see if she could see Axl. She got up, let out a big yawn and stretched. John’s hoodie definitely kept her warm all night, the smell of him also lingers on it, that was a nice comfort too, the mix of smoky musky scent he has. It sends an army of butterflies off in her stomach.

Halen followed the smell of cooked sausages inside, hoping to find someone. She walked into the kitchen and saw John crouched down feeding Axl sausages. Halen had a small smile upon her face as she leaned against the doorframe watching them both.

“You are going to fatten him up too much, if you keep on treating him.” Halen spoke slowly.

John jumped with fright, his eyes met hers. Halen let out a laugh, walking further into the kitchen.

“He is a growing boy.” John grunted with a yawn, standing upright.

“Fair point. If you keep treating him, he is going to like you more than me.” Halen accused, with a teasing smile.

John rolled his eyes playfully. “You’re just jealous.” He grinned mischievously.

Halen bit her lip about to fire back a retort but Roth’s voice interrupted them.

“C’mon we are going to go now to pack up and stuff.” Roth announced, before walking out of the room.

Halen drove with John and Axl in the car. This time listening to the radio, the cheesy pop songs filled the car. Halen shamefully singing along, with John sending her pointed looks of mock disappointment.

They pulled up outside the house. “Oh no,” Were the first words to escape out of Halen’s mouth, she couldn’t speak any other words, her mouth was agape.

Halen’s eyes landed on her twin, her simply gorgeous, typical Cali girl twin. Halen gulped loudly, she was certainly not expecting this. She didn’t know whether to flip into pure outrage or run out of the car and hug her twin. She could see Roth getting out of his car, the look of shock on his face too. She decided to join him, ignoring John’s questions.

Jagger was leaning against her silver Mercedes. She was wearing a beautiful intricate white sundress with a light blue lacy flower pattern covering it, paired with her gladiator sandals. Halen felt extremely under dressed and hideous compared to her. Jagger has dyed her hair a deep honey red blonde. Her identical blue eyes sparkled with happiness. Jagger flew into Halen’s arms, enveloping each other into a hug.

“Jagger! What the actual fuck are you doing here?” Roth questioned, his facial expression was quite alarmed. He looked panicked as if their father was around too.

“I came on my own,” Jagger rolled her eyes, pulling away from Halen, “nice to see you too bro.” She said dripping with sarcasm.

Halen stood there confused, utterly confused.

“You drove here? Who are you and what have you done with Jagger?” Roth exclaimed in disbelief.

“Fuck off RoRo, you are not funny.” Jagger huffed, her bitch pout set in place.

“What’s going on?” John asked, concern etched on his face. He stood beside Halen, not close but close enough for her to feel the comfort of his presence.

“John. I’d like you to meet my twin, Jagger.” Halen said with a big false smile.

John raised his eyebrow at Halen with a covert smirk upon his lips. Halen shot him a glare in return. Jagger sent a flirty smile to John, Halen felt a flare of jealousy tug at her. She tried to ignore it as well as she could.

“Nice to meet you Jagger, are you going to join us on our trip to the Lake?” John asked, blindly ignoring Halen and Roth’s inaudible protests.

“Sure! That’s fantastic.” Jagger grinned flirtatiously, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

***

Halen placed her duffel bag into the back of John’s car then placed Axl’s main necessities there too. She was in a sour mood. The moment of happiness that Jagger was here has passed. Now she was just filled with unwanted jealousy. She didn’t like the way her sister looked at John or the way John welcomed her flirtatious comments with open arms, luckily Roth made Jagger carpool with him and Kennedy, leaving Halen with John and Axl.

She sat in the passenger’s seat, waiting for John to join her. She just wanted to scream out in frustration but she kept her emotions in check. But couldn’t help but take her anger out on her phone with typing a furious ‘what the fuck’ reply message to Roth.

“What has your phone done to you?” John asked, his eyes widening slightly.

Halen let out a grumble, turning off her phone, chucking it into her bag. She watched John slide into the driver’s seat, fiddle with the radio then placing a blank CD in.

“Cheer up. If you are going to be hormonal on this trip I am kicking you out of this car.” John said very seriously.

Halen stuck her tongue out at him. “Shut up, you wouldn’t dare.”

John winked at her with a smirk. “Don’t dare me babe.”

Halen rolled her eyes playfully, allowing a small smile on her face. She checked that Axl was fine in the back seat, which he was already taking a nap. She faced the front, she recognised the song on she glanced at John with a smile.

“Did not take you to be a Van Halen fan.” Halen grinned, singing along to the song softly.

John gave her a grin in return as he drove. “Yeah, I made a mix CD of random songs, and I thought why not.”

Halen let out a laugh. “Funny, this song is the song I was conceived to.” Halen admitted bashfully. Dreams, Van Halen is her favourite song, for that small reason and many others too.

“Seriously? That’s cool. So I guess that’s why you’re called Halen?” John said, a small interested smile working onto his face.

Halen nodded her head, drumming her fingers to the familiar beat of the song. “Yes, then Loving Cup by Rolling Stones was on when Jagger was conceived, hence why she is called Jagger.” She let out a wry smile.

“That is a cool idea, whoa. Your parents must be cool I guess.” John chuckled, giving Halen a side glance.

Halen bit her lip, wondering whether to answer it. Her parents, always a touchy subject but there was hope lingering in the back of her mind that if she confessed her secrets that he will too.

“No, not really, my mother left when I was four then my father is pretty much self absorbed and the biggest dickhead around.” Halen said lightly, keeping her eyes on her lap, fiddling with her frayed denim shorts.

John stared at Halen thoughtfully, slightly speechless. Roth never spoke about his family, always a disclosed subject. He didn’t know he had a sister, never the less two sisters. His parents were never mentioned, always treated that subject like taboo. But John didn’t mind, he had those sensitive secrets, everyone did.

“Right, I guess it’s pretty shitty.” John said, attempting to lighten the mood.

Halen sent him a timid smile. “Big shitty with sprinkled shit on top to be clearer.”

“Nah, you forgot the side order of shit fries.” John chuckled, with a smile.

“Don’t forget the shit flavoured soda.” Halen laughed, rolling her eyes playfully.

John shot Halen a big grin, she returned a cheesy grin too. It was that small moment then, that maybe she realised that she liked him more and more and whether that was a good thing, she will soon find out.