Original Love

Jack's POV:

Knocking on the door, Jack rocked back on his heels, trying to be patient as he waited for the person he had been dying to see for months now to open the door. He could hear footsteps and movement from the other side and moments later the lock twisted and the door swung open to reveal the smiling face of the woman he so desperately wanted to call his. When their eyes met, they just stood there for a moment looking at each other before Jack couldn't take it any longer and stepped forward to pull her in for a long hug. She giggled slightly as she also wrapped her arms around him and then gave a sigh of content before letting go and giving him a cheeky smile.

"Someone missed me,"

Jack blushed and looked away, "are you going to let me in or are we just going to stand in your doorway all day?"

"Shut up," she muttered as she blushed at the teasing but stepped aside to let him in anyway. He stepped inside and kicked his shoes off as Erica took a seat on her old couch against the wall opposite the tv. Smiling slightly at her messy hair and sweatpants and hoodie, which Jack had a feeling was actually his, that she was wearing. Taking the seat next to her, she snuggled into his side and smiled up to him. "So how was tour?"

He pulled her closer and shrugged slightly and began to tell her about a few things that happened while he was away. But then somehow he ended up telling her about the stories of some of their drunken adventures that they had had while they had been in England. Then after that Erica mentioned that she had never been out of the country and Jack explained to her what it was like and all his favorite places and things that she should see if she ever went over there. He truly did love to travel, doing what he loved and being with his best friends. But it was really hard to be away from your loved ones for so long. They had been back a day and Jack had first stopped at his place to rest and unpack but the first person he had seen besides the guys he had been gone with was Erica. He knew he needed to go see his mom and dad but the first person he had wanted to see when he got back was her. But he knew that he would need to go see his mom and siblings soon before he got bitched at for not coming as soon as he got home.

"Sounds so much fun! I'd love to travel and see all the stuff you mentioned!"

Jack blushed as he voiced the first thought that came into his head, "well maybe you could come with sometime. But what happened while I was gone? Do you have those photos of that shoot you were telling me all about? I want to see them!"

She nodded excitedly and mentioned she would be right back and jumped up off the couch and rushed to her room to grab her computer. It was so cute whenever she talked about her work, she got a huge smile on her face and half of the things she said Jack had no clue what it meant, since it was all technical terms and things about cameras and different programs and things that photographers used, but he didn't care. She was adorable and he knew that doing this made her happy and that's all that mattered.

Erica came back into the room moments later with camera and laptop in hand. Jack moved over so that she could sit back down and instantly cuddled back into his side as she turned her laptop on and typed her password in and waited for the main screen to show up. He watched in amusement as she pressed a few buttons to search for the files she was looking for, tongue sticking out at the corner of her mouth as she concentrated. Finally with a excited 'aha' she opened the file and clicked on the first picture at the top to make it bigger and turned to Jack with a huge smile.

As soon as the photo was up, she began explaining her experience and the idea for the picture and all the comments and things the band did to annoy her when she tried to get them to all sit still. Her stories were quite funny as she continued to click through them and had a huge smile and laughed whenever a certain memory came up and instantly began to tell him why she laughed. Erica was an awesome photographer, and he wasn't biased in saying that either even Marky had said how great she was. She knew exactly what angle to shoot at and how much light it needed, and the perfect pose to get the people she was photographing at. He should mention to Matt the next time the band needed photos done that they should go to her.

After she had finished showing him everything she had been working on since he had been gone, and he embarrassing her by complimenting her on her work, they found themselves in the kitchen cooking lunch together. Besides being a great photographer and artist, Jack found early on that she was also an amazing cook to top it all off. They had tried cooking together the first time he had been over to her place, but after forgetting to put the lid on the blender before he used it and not focusing on the beef he had been browing, he was banned from cooking there ever again. So when it was said that 'they' were cooking. It really meant Erica was cooking while Jack kept her company a safe distance away from the food and stove.

It was so easy to fall back into an easy routine after only being back for such a short amount of time. They had only known each other for a few months at the most but it felt like they had really known each other since forever. It was kind of funny that this was happening again, Alex being the only other one he had felt like this. Sure he was really close to Ri and Zack and the rest of the guys, but something happened when he and Alex had first met. And even though he felt comfortable talking to Erica about anything, he still found himself getting nervous about the idea that had been bouncing around in his head for the last few weeks that he had been gone.

Once they were finished eating, they were back in Erica's main room. Jack was sitting on the couch with his feet up and Erica sitting between his legs and back resting against his chest. His arms were wrapped around her stomach and there was a movie playing on tv but he honestly wasn't really paying attention. He knew that it was now or never and if he didn't just do it, Alex would kick his ass the next time he saw the other boy when he found out he didn't do it.

He squeezed her slightly and pressed a kiss to her head, "hey, I've got a question."

As soon as she heard him say that, she reached over and turned down the volume on the tv and then turned slightly in his arms to face him. "Hmm?"

Jack took a deep breath, suddenly ten times more nervous than he had been when he had been just thinking about it. Was it even smart to do this right now? Was it too soon? Or should he just take a risk and actually do something his heart has been telling him to do for a while now? But what if he didn't get the answer he wanted? What if he just made a fool of himself?

"Jack, baby? What's wrong?" Erica asked as she cupped his cheek with his hand. "Jacko? What' going on in that cute little head of yours?"

He blushed, "sorry, I was just thinking."

"Are you ok? You're acting strange, well- stranger than usual."

Cracking a small smile at that he pulled her closer and pressed another kiss to her head. "No I'm perfectly fine, I've just had this question on my mind for a little while now and I'm a little nervous about it."

"Well what is it? I'm sure you have nothing to worried about, unless it's something illegal, then that's a no." She replied. "Unless you have a fool proof plan of not getting caught, then I might consider it."

"You're silly," he laughed. "But no, it's nothing illegal I swear. I save all that stuff for when Alex is around. I don't want to risk giving you a record even though I know your mug shot would be beautiful."

She blushed and rolled her eyes at him, "Enough stalling, just tell me."

"Ok, so don't feel like you have to say yes or anything, I just know that I like you a lot and I really missed you while I was gone. And while I was, I was thinking a lot and was wondering if you would maybe like to go out with me?"

They sat there looking at each other for a few moments before she looked away and bit her lip. "Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?"

"Not right away if you're not ready for that, I'm willing to wait as long as it takes to move along that far. But for now maybe just going on dates and moving our friendship status up a little bit more."

All sorts of doubts began to fill his mind as Erica just sat there silently. He could see that she was thinking by the familiar look she gave as she worried her lip between her teeth. He instantly began to prepare himself for when she said no and told him to leave. That she would push him out the door and tell him never to come near her again. But then she was looking up at him again with a cute blush on her face as she slowly nodded her head and his breath caught in his throat.

"Yes. I'd love to be your girlfriend."

"Seriously?" He asked as she nodded again. "We don't have to go that far yet if you don't want. Like I said we can just go out on a few dates first before anything else. I don't want to rush you."

She laughed at his rushed response making him look away embarrassed. "Hey," she said, cupping his cheek and bringing his face to look up at her once again. "Why are you so worried about this?"

"I just want to do this right, I want to go out with you, to date you, but I don't want to rush you and then screw up and then lose you as a girlfriend and as a best friend."

She smiled, "then lets make sure to do this right the first time. So what do you say? Will you be my boyfriend?"

"I asked you first," he pouted.

"Yes and the problem in that is I'm not a guy, so technically I asked you first. But you asked me to be your girlfriend first."

Jack rolled his eyes with a grin as he squeezed her slightly. "Ok miss smarty pants, whatever. You asked me first. But, I am still waiting for a answer to my question."

"Yes," she replied without hesitation. "I will be your girlfriend, so now it's your turn to answer mine."

"Of course I will,"

There was a huge grin on both of their faces and Jack caught the look of hesitation on Erica's face and he instantly knew what she wanted to do. And so instead of watching her with her internal struggle, he leaned down and pressed his lips gently to hers. She instantly responded, kissing him back and smiling against his lips.

When their first kiss ended, they both sat there looking at each other, lips still close but not touching. But Jack knew that now that he had the real deal he was addicted to her lips and leaned in to kiss her again. Though he wasn't getting any protest from her as once again she responded to the kiss, tilting her head to the side to deepen it and he pressed just a little harder against her. But that time, instead of ending the perfect kiss at their own accord, the doorbell rang making them pull apart after a few more seconds.

Jack saw the dazed look on his girlfriends face and laughed lightly as he pressed his lips once more against hers in a quick kiss before standing just as the doorbell rang once more. He grumbled under his breath about horrible timing as he headed toward the door and reached for the knob and pulled it open. When he saw the person on the other side, he stood there staring for a few moments wondering who the hell the guy was standing there with a pissed off expression at his girlfriends door was. The guy didn't look any more happy to see him as he was and they stood there scowling at each other for a few moments before Jack heard someone gasp behind him. He turned to see Erica standing behind him with a look as if she saw a ghost.

"T-Tony!?"