Don't Turn Around

"Come on in" Jack said to me, stepping out of the way so I could walk into the familiar house.

I walked in and slipped off my converse, spinning around again to face Jack. I could hear Weezer playing out of the sound system in the living room and I started to get excited, trying to push Ian out of my head.

"You look great" Jack said, looking down at his feet, "do you want a beer?"

"Oh no I brought some Jack Daniels actually" I said, pulling the bottle out of the brown paper bag it came in.

"A girl who likes her Jack, damn. Come on I'll get you a glass then" he said, grabbing my hand and walking me to the kitchen.

He pulled out a small clear glass, and walked over to the freezer to fill it with ice. After handing it to me, he grabbed a beer for himself out of the fridge and twisted the cap off, taking a sip.

"I parked my car in your driveway, I hope you don't mind" I said, pouring a genourous splash of whiskey into my glass.

"Not at all. Alex's is within walking distance of here so we won't have to cab or anything. So you had a rough day then?" he asked, taking another swig of beer.

"Wasn't the best, lets hope tonights better" I said, raising my glass.

We moved into the living room, and started talking about everything, tv shows, music, our friends and half an hour flew by. I forgot how easily conversation flowed between us, it was refreshing beause socializing wasn't always my strong suit. It was almost ten but Jack reassured me that there wasn't any rush, the guys partied late. I lifted my hand to brush a piece of hair out of my face when Jack's eyes locked onto my wrist. He shot me a puzzled look and reached over to grab my arm.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Your arm is bruised Sutton, what happened?" he asked, taking a closer look.

He matched his finger marks to the ones that were beginning to bruise on my arm. Dammnit Ian.

I pulled my arm away, and looked down at my hands.

"Who did that to you?" he insisted.

All I could do was look into his eyes, I was at a loss for words. It was obvious someone had used a lot of force to leave a bruise like that. I should have noticed it and worn a long sleeve instead, I was so stupid.

"Was it that asshole boss of yours?" he pressed.

"No!" I responded, "I'm fine don't worry about it, please"

"No seriously Sutton that's not okay, who did it to you?"

I swallowed hard, "Ian" I said, not looking up to see the reaction on his face, "he was waiting for me when I finished work."

I was expecting him to say something but I was suprised when he was silent. I looked up to see that his face had fallen, he looked so upset.

"I'm fine, seriously" I replied.

"Why is he breaking the restraining order?" he asked after a minute.

"I don't know" I answered truthfully.

"Why do you have a restraining order out against him?"

"He has a bad temper" I responded.

"Did he hit you?"

My silence answered his question, and he got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. I stood up and followed him, trying to keep my balance; the alcohol was already going to right to my head.

"You don't deserve to be treated like that." he said when he heard me enter the kitchen behind him.

"Thats why I'm not with him anymore" I said, my voice beginning to quiver, I really didn't feel like re-living all of this right now.

"Don't cry" Jack said, walking over and taking my hands in his, "I'm sorry this isn't the right time to get into this. But if he ever shows up again call me, please. I just don't want him to ever lay a finger on you again."

I nodded my head and smiled through my watering eyes, "Okay."

"Alright forget about this for now, lets have another drink" he replied.

I tried my best to push Ian out of my head, and if I was being honest it wasn't too hard with Jack around, he was a good distraction. We had a few more drinks, and I was definitely feeling it. My head was buzzing and excitement and anticipation flowed through my veins for the night ahead.

Jack and I set out into the night on our way to Alex's house.

"Alex's house parties are always good, we'll have fun tonight" Jack promised as we tried not to stumble down the street in our laughter. We were having a great time laughing and carrying on when we finally got to the house Jack said belonged to Alex. As we apporached the house the sound of voices and music became louder, and Jack guided me inside the house after opening the front door.

"Heyyyy!" I heard Alex call, he spotted us from across the room and walked over.

"Hey Alex!" I said smiling, welcoming the hug that he gave me.

He then went over and jumped into Jack's arms, "You're here!"

Jack laughed and stumbled around trying to carry Alex around and I scanned the house. It had an open concept, it was nice and big. There were people everywhere talking, joking, hanging out. I spotted Rian across the room and decided to go over and say hi.

As I approached I noticed he was talking to a pretty girl with reddish hair and freckles across her nose. I was about to turn around so as not to bother them when Rian spotted me and called out.

"Sutton you made it!"

I turned around and approached the two with a sweet smile,

"I did!"

"Did you manage to get that Lebanese princess over here as well?" he joked, and I nodded in response.

"Hey this is my girlfriend Cassadee" Rian said, motioning toward her.

I stuck out my hand to shake hers, "Its nice to meet you, I'm Sutton" I said, and she smiled in return.

"Finally I get to meet the girl Jack's been talking about non-stop" Cassadee said shooting Rian a wink, "So you live here in Baltimore?"

"Yeah I do, I go to school here actually" I replied.

"That awesome, what are you going fo--" she tried to get out but was interrupted when Jack came running over to squeeze her and Rian in an embrace.

"Jack you drunk clown" Rian laughed, trying to steady all three of them from the impact Jack had created.

I laughed to myself and watched as Rian ruffled Jack's dark hair. They started carrying on and Cassadee and I moved our conversation off to the side.

"Sorry, I was going to ask what you're going to school for" Cassadee laughed, eyeing the two boys who had been joined by Alex and were rough housing in the corner.

"Neuroscience" I replied, reminding myself that I had been seriously neglecting my studies this weekend.

"Wow, that sounds cool! Do you like it?"

"Well yeah" I replied a bit un-enthused.

"You don't sound so sure" she replied.

"Its just stressful I guess" I said laughing it off.

"Come on then, lets make a drink and forget about stress" she smiled at me.

"Sounds excellent" I replied, and we walked into Alex's kitchen on the hunt for some glasses to mix some drinks. Jack brought a backpack with some of his beers in it and my bottle of Jack Daniels. I offered Cassadee some whiskey, and we mixed some tall drinks.

After laughing and talking for a little while, we thought it would be funny to hijack the sound system and play some funny music. I pulled my ipod out of my pocket and searched through my song list and found some old school Britney Spears. Quickly switching out whoever's ipod was plugged in with mine, the house was soon filled with the words to "Oops I did it Again".

The people noticed what we had done and started laughing, and Cassadee and I started belting out the words to the song.

Surprisingly we harmonized pretty well, her voice was beautiful. We even threw in some hand actions and had people in shock at our out of nowhere performance. I was surprised at myself actually, I was known for being more of a wallflower. Even when I'd had alcohol to drink Ian was pretty good at keeping me timid in the corner, telling me that I'd make a fool out of myself if I talked to anyone else.

Why was I having such a hard time with this now? Of all times? I was supposed to be moving on but recently he'd been showing up everywhere. I guess getting out of jail permits him easier access to me, and my thoughts. Some other people started to join in on the karaoke and I decided to grab some air in the back yard and collect myself.

I half stumbled through the kitchen, steadying myself on the counter and slipping out the back door. Thankfully no one was outside, and I let out a sigh and sat down on the wooden steps. I rested my head on one of the wooden pillars beside me, realizing how drunk I'd become. I wasn't short, but I was a pretty small person so alcohol tended to creep up on me faster than I usually expected.

Like anyone would expect, I wasn't on my own for long before I heard someone slide the back door open. I turned my head and looked up to see Alex making his way outside, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey" he said in a cool tone, "Whatcha doin' out here?"

"Just needed to clear my head I guess" I responded.

"I know the feeling, alcohol makes you think more than you want to sometimes" he replied.

"Got that right. I have to say though, you throw a good party Gaskarth" I said nudging his arm.

"Why thank you" He said, fake bowing from where he was sitting next to me, "Are you having a good time?"

I nodded my head and gave him a sheepish smile, feeling the buzz from the alcohol give me a sudden urge of happiness.

"I like hanging out with you guys, I feel free" I respond, closing my eyes and feeling the cool breeze on my face.

"Free?" he asked sounding slightly confused.

Realizing how strange that sounded I just laughed a little hoping he would drop it. The truth was I did feel free though, free to talk to whoever I wanted, act silly, be myself. Ian was good and keeping me tucked away and it was nice feeling like I didn't have to stand in his shadow anymore.

"Well you best be hanging out with us more often" he said, a crooked smile hinting at his lips. "Come on, lets get another drink" he said, offering me a hand and led me back into the house. I followed him into the kitchen where Jack was standing talking to a tall blond girl who was leaned up against the fridge.

Jack turned to see who had entered the kitchen, a surprised look on his face.

"I thought you'd left!" Jack said teasingly.

"Just went to get some air" I replied with a smile.

I snatched my bottle of Jack Daniels off of the counter and found my old drink glass where I had left it before I went outside. Pouring in a good splash, I brought the drink to my lips barely feeling the burn. That was always a tell tale sign that I was en route to drunk-ville, when I couldn't taste what I was drinking anymore.

"Sutton, this is Holly" Jack said, introducing me to the platinum blond standing in front of me.

Immediately I felt extremely inadequate, but I none the less reached out my hand to shake hers.

"Nice to meet you" I said, giving her a sweet smile.

She looked me over once before smiling half heartedly back, "nice to meet you too" she responded.

Ouch.

Who was this girl anyway? Not that it was any of my business, I mean it wasn't even like I knew Jack that well. I felt a wave of warmth rush over me, undoubtedly from the huge gulp of whiskey I had taken but perhaps a bit of jealousy too.

Sensing the slight awkwardness, Alex raised his glass and toasted to the nights that we don't remember, and I took another gulp, desperate to erase these weird emotions that had temporarily washed over me.

Jack's POV

Man this night had taken a turn for the weird. Not only had I caught those bruises on Sutton's arm earlier, but she was acting a little funny too. I was goofing off with the guys when she disappeared and my attention was stolen by Holly, ex-girlfriend Holly. Who invited her anyway?

She was definitely drunk and trying to get into some sort of deep, weird conversation with me when Sutton reappeared, trailing behind Alex. I mean I wasn't so concerned about that, I knew Alex wouldn't go after Sutton. I'd clearly shown interest and he wouldn't do that to me, would he?

I don't know, the alcohol was starting to make my head fuzzy.

I introduced Holly to Sutton, and it was obvious it didn't go over well. Holly gave her a once over and I could see Sutton shrink slightly from her gaze. Don't get me wrong, Holly was a beautiful woman. Platinum hair, great boobs, killer tan, a brown eyed bombshell, but there was something artificial about her, she wasn't exactly all real. She was sweet but she was feisty.

Sutton was the exact opposite. Not in the beauty department, she was gorgeous all right, but in general they were polar opposites. Sutton was smaller in stature, ivory skin, wavy brown hair, icy blue eyes that could cut you in half. She was soft spoken, gentle, and didn't need excessive amounts of makeup to make you want to throw her up against a wall. Conversation with her was never forced, she never made you feel inadequate or stupid, she was warm, welcoming and so happy all the time.

Seeing them both together in the same room made me glad that all me and Holly had was a short relationship. Here she was in a tight black dress that would drive most guys up the wall and I'd rather spend time with Sutton.

Who by the looks of it wasn't going easy on the alcohol tonight. She took two huge gulps of straight whiskey, her cheeks flushed a light pink that made her all the more beautiful.

I liked that she wasn't a sloppy drunk, I'd known far too many girls who had made me want to rip my hair out the moment alcohol touched their lips. Complaining, whining and making a mess of more than just the living room was what I was used to. Sutton on the other hand seemed to be keeping herself together quite well.

"Yo Holly have you seen the new bathroom yet?" Alex asked, steering Holly toward the living room and shooting me a sneaky wink on the way out.

I sighed with relief as they exited the kitchen, leaving me alone with Sutton for a bit.

"I don't think she liked me much" Sutton said softly, a hint of sadness touching her eyes and letting out a tiny hiccup.

"Don't take it personally" I laughed, taking another swig of my beer.

"Hey do you want some whiskey?" she asked me cutely, reaching for the bottle across the counter and brushing my arm slightly.

The touch of her skin on mine sent feelings of electricity running through my body, and I resisted the urge to kiss her right then and there. I'd been wanting to since the first time I kissed her but something inside me made me fearful I wasn't good enough for her.

It made me so angry that a guy that could bruise her arm or hit her would ever get the chance to be with her, it was a privilege and he deserved a reality check clearly.

"I wouldn't mind a glass" I said, grabbing one out of Alex's cupboard.

I was far from being wasted but I could tell Sutton was on the way, so I decided to take it easy. She had to get home safe somehow, she had no idea where she was.

She smiled up at me and poured some into my glass, clinking it afterward with hers.

The rest of the night went well. Breaking my orginal plan a little bit, I got a little more drunk than I had intended but when I noticed Sutton looking sleepy I decided to take her home.

I knew she'd had a good night, she hugged Cassadee, Alex, Zack and Rian goodbye and slipped her converse on and followed me out the door.

"Will you piggy-back me?" she giggled, biting one of her fingernails.

She was definitely drunk as a skunk but it was cute, one of the cutest drunks I'd seen, maybe I was biased and a little drunk myself.

I crouched down and she jumped onto my back, wrapping her arms around my neck and nestling her head in there too. I laughed to myself, but I couldn't be anymore content with this moment.

"You give me hope Jack Barakat" she said, letting out a yawn after finishing her sentence.

"Hope?" I prodded, curious about what she meant.

"Mhmm, that not all guys are bad" she replied sleepily.

"I'll never hurt you" I responded, my stomach suddenly filled with butterflies.

"I know" she said, and I could tell she was about to fall asleep, right here on my back.

We got into my house and I set her down in the front hall. She kicked off her shoes and rubbed her eyes tiredly, looking up at my face.

"You should crash" I said, trying not to seem to overeager.

She just nodded her head and I scooped her up in my arms, carrying her effortlessly up the stairs to my room. I tossed her a pair of boxer shorts and a white v-neck to change into, turning around and changing into my own set of pajamas.

It seemed natural to both climb into my huge comfy bed. I didn't have any intentions of trying anything but it was a nice feeling to just have her close. I turned off the light, and she snuggled into my side, both of us falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.