She's Glitter and Gold

After I shower and get dressed I pack everything up and drag my suitcase back out of the hotel room. I'd called my mom earlier, and she was overjoyed that she was going to see me. I'm almost positive she's currently thanking God for my failed relationship.
I check out and get back into my car. I drive the familiar streets, feeling nostalgic when I pass my elementary school. Finally I get to the house that my mom's lived in for my entire life. It looks exactly the same except for the three unfamiliar cars in the driveway. I walk across the lawn and up the front step. I hesitate, not knowing if I should knock or not. Before I can decide, the door flies open, revealing my mom.
"Oh, Rianna!" she cries out as she pulls me into a suffocating hug. "You're really here," she says as she pulls away a little to look me up and down. "God, you're so skinny! Haven't you been eating?"
I roll my eyes and step past her into the house that smells like coffee and homemade bread. "Nice to see you too, mom," I giggle. I stop when I see three people around my age standing in the small living room. "Well, if it isn't the biggest whore on the east coast," I say with a grin as I pull my little sister into a big hug.
She laughs and punches my arm as she pulls away. "Nice to see you too, bitch."
I smirk and look over at the other two people, two guys I don't recognize. "And you two are...?" I ask as I take in their appearances. They're both tall and skinny, the one more so than the other, and they have similar messy hair, except the skinnier's is black with a blond strip, and the other's just plain brown.
"Ri, this is Alex," Bonnie says as she motions to the brown-haired guy. "He's my uh, boyfriend."
My eyebrows shoot up as I look away from the guy to her. She gives me a threatening look, so instead of teasing her, I look back to him and stretch out my hand. "Nice to meet you," I say politely as I shake his hand.
He smiles widely, revealing two admittedly adorable dimples. "Nice to meet you too."
"And this," my sister says, nodding towards the skinnier guy. "is Jack, Alex's best friend."
I smile and we shake hands. "Nice to meet you," I say for the second time.
He gives me a half smile. "Nice to meet you too," he repeats his best friend.
I drop my hand back to my side and look back at my mom and sister. "So you don't mind if I stay here for a while?" I ask a little nervously. Mom and I hadn't been on the best of terms when I'd moved out. "It'll only be until I find my own place."
My mom's eyes widen. "You can stay as long as you want! I already have your old room set up. You can repaint if you want an-"
"Mom," I interrupt her babbling. "I love you, but this is only temporary." I laugh, and she frowns a little.
"You're not planning on moving back to Philadelphia, are you?" she asks worriedly.
I shrug my shoulders. "Nah, probably not." Unless Jim changes his mind . I look around the room a little, taking in the new decorations that were hardly different from the ones five years before. "I'm thinking maybe New York or Jersey."
I catch the guy, Jack's, gaze locked on me, and I feel a little uncomfortable, but he quickly looks down at his phone, so I brush it off. "Boys, why don't you go bring in her luggage and I'll throw together a batch of cookies," my mom says, before hurrying out of the living room without waiting for a response.
The guys start walking outside and I follow after them. "I don't really need your help," I say honestly as I unlock the trunk and pull a suitcase out.
Alex immediately grabs it from me. "Oh well, we're helping you."
I start to speak, but Jack interrupts me. "So does hotness like, run in your family or something?"
I laugh at the straightforwardness of the compliment, and grab one of the other suitcases, but Jack grabs that one and the remaining one. "Nah, living with me for fifteen years just rubbed off on Bon."
They both laugh and we all walk back into the house and up the stairs. A wave of nostalgia hits me as soon as I walk into my old bedroom. Mom hadn't changed a thing. The walls were still painted an ugly green color, mostly covered up with posters of bands I hadn't listened to in years. We all set the suitcases down and Alex disappears when Bonnie calls for him, but Jack stays, studying my walls.
A small smile curves his lips when his eyes land on a Backstreet Boys poster.
"I don't know why she's kept all this shit," I mutter, more to myself than to him as I unzip the first suitcase and start transferring its contents to the dresser.
"When did you move out?" he asks as he walks over and starts helping me unpack.
"After senior year." I try to force away the blush that hits my cheeks when he uncovers a couple pieces of lingerie. I quickly snatch them up and shove them into the back of a drawer. Wouldn't be needing those for a long time.
He smirks a little, and I think I imagine his dark eyes looking me up and down. "Why'd you move back?"
I fold a t-shirt, ignoring the fact that it smells like Jim, and put it in the drawer. "My boyfriend kicked me out," I say with a shrug of my shoulders.
His eyes widen. "God, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked-"
I shrug again, not so sure why he was apologizing. "It's fine."
We stay silent as we empty the suitcases, and then he's the first one to speak. "Why'd you look so surprised that your sister's dating Alex? I mean, I know he's ugly, but..."
I laugh and shrug again. "I don't know, he's not her... type exactly." I take a seat on the edge of my bed.
He grins and his thick eyebrows raise slightly. "Skinny band members who spend forty-five minutes doing their hair aren't her thing, huh?"
I raise both eyebrows. "He's in a band?" Damn, Bonnie sure knew how to pick the losers. Maybe he was her type after all.
He laughs a little, obviously catching the disgust in my voice. "Yeah. Ever hear of All Time Low?"
I frown a little. I had. "Um, I think. Stripper song, right?" I ask, as I start to vaguely remember the catchy song.
He laughs again and rolls his eyes. "That would be us."
My eyebrows shoot up again. Us? "You're in the band?" Well, he sure had the hair for it.
"I play guitar," he says with a sort of arrogant smirk.
I nod a little, unimpressed. "Your mom must be super proud," I say, my sarcasm fighting its way through my polite 'I-just-met-you-so-I'll-be-nice-to-you' voice.
His thick eyebrows turn into a frown, and he crosses his surprisingly muscular arms. "Are you making fun of me?"
I grin, glad that he's not one of those annoying people who don't catch sarcasm. "Now why on earth would I make fun of a guy who was momentarily semi-famous for a song about a stripper?"
He rolls his eyes and sits cross legged on the bed next to me. "I'll have you know, our new album is number six on the billboard charts in the US, and nine in the UK," he says defensively.
Okay, that's a little impressive, but I don't let him know that. "Really? Because I haven't heard of you since I was like, eighteen."
He frowns again. "That's just because your music taste sucks."
That's when things got personal. I cross my arms across my chest and clench my jaw. "I happen to have pretty freaking amazing music taste."
He looks amused, and glances back at the Backstreet Boys poster. "Right, sorry. Boy bands. Totally 'freaking amazing.'"
I roll my eyes and uncross my arms. "You forget, this was the bedroom of a seventeen year old."
He chuckles and pushes some of his hair out of his face. "You should check our music out again though," he says. "It's not all about strippers."
"Yeah," a different voice pipes in, and we both look up to see Alex in the doorway. "We even have a song about beer."
"That sounds more like something I would like," I joke as I stand up and start stacking the now-empty suitcases next to the small, twin sized bed.
"Well, Jack and I gotta go," Alex says as he pulls the guitar player off of the bed by his hair. "Bonnie said something about you guys having a chick flick marathon while you cry your eyes out and gorge yourselves on ice cream."
I wrinkle my nose at the thought. "You're more than welcome to take her with you or put me out of my misery."
They both snicker a little evilly. "Have fun," Jack says with a wink.
"Nice meeting you again," Alex adds as they start leaving the room.
"SEARCH UP OUR MUSIC," Jack yells after they disappear.
"I'll think about it," I call back, before collapsing on my bed.
Not even two minutes later Bonnie skips in, 500 Days of Summer, rocky road and tissues in hand. I groan and follow her to the living room.