Don't Turn Around

"Isn't Home Alone a Christmas movie?" I asked laughing slightly.

I was so surprised that Jack had wanted me to hang out so badly that he would call into work on my behalf. I was a complete stranger who spent the night in his house! Thinking about the night before, I remembered feeling weird about the other guy who wanted my attention, but there was something different about Jack, I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Its one of my favourites!" Jack responded, pulling me from my thoughts.

Just then Alex stumbled into the kitchen , his hand tangled in his messy hair.

"Water... need water" he said, b-lining for the fridge and pulling out a pitcher of water, pouring himself a tall glass and chugging almost the entire thing.

Jack and I looked at him and laughed, we all must have looked like such messes.

"Morning Sutton, you're looking beautiful this morning" Alex said nodding in my direction. I felt bad but I let out a laugh in response, there was no way I looked good in any way shape or form.

"Alex doesn't lie" Jack added in, and Alex just shook is head, grinning.

"Come on Jack aren't you going to make us some breakfast?" Alex asked playfully.

"The only thing I have here is Pop-Tarts, if we want some good hangover food we're going to have to venture out into the real world." Jack responded.

"Yeah alright then, I'll text Rian and Zack and see if they're down" Alex said, walking out of the kitchen.

"Jack I can't go out in this" I said, looking down at how short my dress was.

"We can stop by your place on the way there if you want?"

I nodded with a smile.

"Okay I'm going to go change and then we'll go!" He exclaimed, running out of the kitchen and bounding up the stairs.

I poured myself another glass of water and sipped at it, walking into the living room to see what Alex was doing. I found him slumped over on the couch playing with his phone. When I walked in he raised an eyebrow and smiled at me.

"Hey" I said, joining him on the couch.

"So where are you from anyway?" he asked.

"Connecticut. But I moved here for school, I'm probably here for good now though" I responded.

"How come?"

"I have foster parents back there I can visit but they aren't obligated to take care of me anymore because I'm not younger than 18. And I like it here anyway." I responded with a smile.

I hated when people felt bad for me for not having parents. It sucked a lot but people's pity was worse than anything.

"You don't have parents?" Alex asked, surprised.

"Alex! That's so rude" Jack said walking back into the room in a fresh set of clothes. He smelled good.

"Its fine!" I laughed, "but no, I got bounced around a lot when I was a kid. I had the same foster parents from when I was 15 until I moved out though. They're nice enough but they had a lot of foster children so I figured I'd take myself off their hands." I replied, shrugging.

"Do you have any siblings?" Jack asked me.

I shook my head, "Nope. Well not that I know of. I don't even know who my parents are."

"That's crazy shit, sorry about that Sutton" Alex said.

"Don't be sorry" I said, giving them both a reassuring smile, "Anyway how about that food though, I'm so hungry."

They both nodded in response and we headed out the door.

"Rian and Zack said they'd meet us at the Papermoon Diner in like 20 minutes" Alex chimed in.

"Its on 29th Street right?" Jack asked, unlocking his car for all of us to get in.

"Yup!" Alex responded.

I climbed into the back seat, and laughed at how messy it was. There was sheet music and fast food papers littering the back. I pushed them out of the way and did up my seat belt.

"You'll have to direct me to your humble abode" Jack said, starting the car.

"Oh right!" I said, and the proceeded to direct him to my place, which surprisingly wasn't too far from his.

After about a 5 minute drive we pulled up and Jack parked the car.

"You live here?" he asked, surprised.

"No I live in the basement apartment of this house. I'll be quick" I said, hopping out of the car and skipping down the side of the house to my entrance.

I opened the door and went into my room, trying quickly to find something to wear. I settled on a pair of leggings, a plain white v-neck and a flannel plaid shirt for over top. I brushed my teeth really quick, threw my hair up in a bun and wiped the makeup from under my eyes that had fallen from last night.

I ran back out to the car in record time, hopping back into the back seat and we were off again. I'd been to this diner before, it was a classic in Baltimore. It was a vibrantly decorated diner that had so much food, it was awesome.

As we pulled up, the guys who I assumed were Rian and Zack met us in the parking lot. I climbed out of the car along with Jack and Alex.

"Where did you guys disappear to last night?" Alex asked as we approached the other two.

"We were wiped to be honest. You guys have a good night?" the one with the shorter hair asked, looking over the top of his sunglasses with a raised eyebrow at me.

"This is our new friend Sutton" Jack said, pulling me into his side for a squeeze.

"Hey!" I said with a wave, "It's very nice to meet you."

"I'm Rian and this is Zack" Rian said pointing to the other band member.

"Let's go get us some food then!" Zack cheered and we followed him inside.

Jacks hand lingered on my back as we ushered into the diner and I couldn't help but smile, it felt so nice being in his presence. We all went in and sat down around one of the round tables and started looking at the menus.

"So you live in Baltimore then?" Zack asked me from across the table.

I looked up from my menu, realizing that he was speaking to me.

"Uh, yeah. I'm at the University of Baltimore actually" I said.

"Oh cool, and you came to the show last night?"

"Yeah it was a lot of fun, my friend Leah dragged me with her, but it worked out in the end. You guys were great" I replied smiling.

"We're used to playing in arenas with a much younger audience" Rian laughed, "Its nice when its 21+"

"Yeah Jack was saying that last night" I replied shooting Jack a smile.

"Hey they have breakfast burritos here!" Jack grinned, and the guys bantered on for a while. It was nice spending some time with some super energetic people for once, the most company I'd had in the last week was my textbook.

After getting the black coffee that I had ordered I looked up to see that Rachel and another person being seated table across from us. Normally I wouldn't have cared but she worked at Starbucks with me and she knew that I was supposed to be working this afternoon. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair trying to cover my face inconspicuously.

"Whats wrong?" Jack asked turning to me.

"That girl in front of us" I whispered, "Works at me with Starbucks. She works tonight too and if she see's me I'm toast because I called in."

At this point all of the guys were laughing about my unfortunate situation and I laughed a little bit too. I really needed the job though, if I lost it I don't know what I'd do. It just felt so easy to forget about everything that was actually important when I was hanging out with them.

"Pull your hair out of that bun" Jack instructed.

I looked at him puzzled, but did what he said. He took off his hat and pulled in onto my head so it was almost covering my eyes. I looked up at him from under the rim of the beanie and he laughed at me.

"What? I don't look good?" I asked, happy that I'd hopefully be unrecognizable with this thing on my head.

"No it looks way better on you" he laughed.

I grinned, and we continued on with our breakfast. I ordered french toast and it was so good, but I got full so fast that Jack ended up eating what I didn't get to. Rian and Zack left when everyone finished up, and Alex asked Jack to drive him home too.

After dropping Alex off, I climbed out of the back seat and hopped into the front so Jack wouldn't feel like a chauffeur.

"You called me in sick to work today so you're responsible for entertaining me" I grinned looking in Jacks direction and pulling my knee up to rest my chin on.

"You got it!" he responded, driving off once again, "I'm glad you didn't ask me to take you home too" he grinned right back at me.

Just then my phone started to ring and my embarrassing ring tone filled the car. It was the Harry Potter tune from the beginning of the movies and Jack muffled his laughter. I fake punched him in the arm before answering my phone, it was Leah.

"Hey Leah"

"Sutton! Where are you did you get home okay last night? What the hell happened I think I blacked out, how did I get home?

"Calm down I'm fine! I'm with Jack right now, you left because you started to feel sick, I think you must have gotten a cab or something"

"Oh, wow my mind is so fuzzy. Did you spend the night with him? Sutton! That's my girl! Fill me in!"

"I have to go Leah, I'll call you later" I said, blushing a little. I wasn't sure why, nothing happened between Jack and I but I could't help it.

"Love you!" she replied before hanging up.

"Harry Potter ring tone eh?" Jack said, still chuckling.

"Hey! Harry Potter is awesome!"

"No you're right, I actually love Harry Potter. We should have a marathon this afternoon!" he suggested.

"Could we actually?!" I squealed, turning to face him.

He nodded and grinned in response and his warm brown eyes made my heart flutter. He was getting cuter by the minute I swear.

We drove back to Jack's house again, talking and laughing about a bunch of things.

"Tell me about your family" I prodded, curious.

I was always interested in asking about people's families just to see what they were like. I mean it sucks that I never had one, but I couldn't miss people that I didn't know. I liked hearing the most about my friend's moms. It would have been nice to have a real mom tell me that I looked beautiful on the day of my graduation or how to put makeup on. I tried not to think about that end of things though.

Jack told me all about his parents, his siblings and a bunch of his funny childhood memories. Unfortunately I didn't have many cool memories to contribute to the conversation but I loved to listen. We ended up back at his house, lounging in the living room on the couches.

"So how about we start that Harry Potter marathon then" Jack said.

I assumed he was nervous about the way I responded to his last story about how his parents always told him he could do whatever he wanted when he grew up. I couldn't help it, but my face fell hearing it. I knew that I was living up to my academic potential, but if I was being honest I wasn't doing what really made me happy. I never had parents to tell me to chase my dreams, I was doing what I could to support myself because there was no body else to fall back on. I tried shaking the thought off, it was stupid, of course I was doing what I was supposed to do, neuroscience was a promising field and there would always be work for me.

I nodded and smiled in response and Jack got up to pull the DVD from the shelf and stick it in the DVD player. Coming over and plopping down beside me, this time much closer, we watched as the movie begun.

Laughing and carrying on, I was enjoying spending this carefree time with someone who wasn't always focused on schoolwork like many of the friends I had acquired at University.

When the closing credits started to roll, I realized that Jack somehow managed to get his arm around me and I was leaning closely into his side.

"Hey Jack?" I said, turning to face him.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you fo--" I started, but before I could continue he leaned in and softly pressed his lips into mine and I swear I could feel the electricity.