Without Warning

Once John arrived at home. He stomped into his house, tossing his bag immediately to the ground and slamming the door behind him. He was beyond mad at the moment. The short drive from Kennedy's wasn't long enough to cool him off from his fight with Everly.

"Well don't be too happy to be home." He heard and looked over to see his mom eyeing him suspiciously from the couch. A sigh left his lips and he ran his fingers through his hair. To make things worse, he regretfully still lived with his family which meant being left alone was impossible.

"Sorry, just not a good day..." He grumbled, trying not to take it out on his mother. She didn't deserve it especially since he had been away for weeks.

"How could it possibly be bad already?" She asked with a chuckle as she got up to embrace the boy.

"Just has been..."

"Dude, are you dating Kennedy's sister now?" Shane, his younger brother asked as he stomped down the stairs.

"Well hey to you too." John mumbled as his mom moved away from him.

"Are you? I always thought she was a cute girl!" His mom stated with a wide smile.

"No, I'm not mom." He finally got out as he shot a look at Shane.

"Are you lying? Because me and Ross saw a picture of you two kissing." Shane stated with a smug look and John tugged at his hair, "What? Where?"

"Online."

John groaned, "Great."

"John, I hope you aren't messing around with that girl. She's really sweet and Kennedy won't be happy."

John scoffed, "Mom, with all do respect just stay out of it, and just know I'm not worried about any of that happening because she already broke my heart." He grumbled, grabbing up his bag and brushing past the two.

John made it safely to his room and he let out a sigh once the door was securely shut.

He just wanted to be alone. Was that asking too much?

He fell face first onto his bed, trying to put himself to sleep simply because it was better than having to deal with the thoughts he had while awake.

He was half asleep when his bedroom door opened and the loudness of a familiar voice filled his room. A groan hit his lips and he covered his head with his pillow.

"Is it necessary to see you every day of my fucking life?" He grumbled as he peaked out from under his pillow to see Kennedy glaring at him.

"When you fuck with my sister, yes, yes it is."

"I didn't fuck with your sister." He mumbled not bothering to move as Kennedy fell into a chair not far from his bed.

"You made her cry."

"I did not." He said seriously, now more awake than he thought.

"Yes, you did."

"When?"

"UH, like 30 minutes ago."

John sat up, rubbing his neck as he tried to think of what to say.

"Why?" He questioned and Kennedy shrugged. John sighed and pushed back his dirty hair.

"I shouldn't care..." He growled and Kennedy shrugged once more, "But you do..."

"I honestly can't believe that everyone is on her side! I mean, how come no one can see where I am coming from?! She fucked me over! Not the other way around and yet I am suppose to forgive her when we know damn well if this was the other way around that wouldn't ever be considered!"

Kennedy stared at the frustrated boy and John angrily tried to kick off his boots.

"You're right, you are absolutely right. It isn't fair, but the thing is, you love her and she loves you. Why do you want to throw that away so easily?"

John shrugged falling back onto his back and Kennedy continued, "You're scared."

"Scared?"

"Yeah, you are scared because you love her."

"Maybe I am, but she just proved that no matter how much you love someone they still can hurt you more than you are aware of and I don't want to go through that."

"Why do you have to think so negative about everything?"

"Not negative, Kennedy. Logical."

"Well what happened if you gave her another chance and then it was just like you imagined?"

"Impossible."

"John, let me tell you something, if it isn't worth fighting for, it isn't worth having. You fought for this music ordeal and look at it now. Love is the same way. Everly is the same way."

The room grew quiet as John took to heart his words.

"Why are you even telling me this? You don't even want us together."

"Yeah, I didn't because I thought she was headed in the same direction she was with Joel."

"Which was what direction? She never told me about them."

"Just not something I want her to go through again. He treated her badly and at first I thought you were going to do the same thing..."

John turned his head enough to look at the boy before speaking, "Glad you think so highly of me."

"Oh come on John, look at your record with girls, it isn't the best so forgive me for thinking my sister wasn't going to be any different."

"But she is. She is nothing like those other girls." John stated seriously.

"You're right. She isn't and you don't treat her like you treated those other girls."

"I don't." He replied, defending himself as if he had to.

"Right, so why wouldn't you fight for her?"

"Because I'm hurt, Kennedy. I'm hurt. She hurt me." John said harshly as he sat up again. He hated admitting that to him, but it was the only way.

"Well talk to her about it. No yelling, or fighting, just talk it out with her."

"She yells to you know? She isn't any better."

"And I'll talk to her about it."

"Good luck with that." John stifled a laugh and Kennedy rolled his eyes.

"Just don't be an asshole, yeah?"

"I"m never an asshole."

"yeah, you are. you know exactly what to say to get her going."

John didn't respond and Kennedy pushed himself up from his seat.

"Look, if you don't, you need to swallow your pride and be civil to her because she isn't going away and you know very well you will be forced to be around her, but how about showering and getting some sleep? I'll see you tomorrow at Eric's."

"At Eric's?"

"Yeah, he's throwing a party for us since we are home."

"Oh right, yeah..."

Kennedy rolled his eyes, "Shower, bed. In that order. You look like shit."

"Whatever, bye." John grumbled and once the boy was gone he did just what he was told.

Of course Kennedy was right about everything. The next night John sat lounged on Eric's couch, cradling a beer in hand as he tried not to look at Everly who was standing a few feet away with Garrett and Eric laughing about who knows what.

He hated how she could act like everything was fine. Like it wasn't messing with her that he was so close by because in reality he couldn't think of anything else. He breathed in, gulping down the remaining of his alcohol and before he could even consider getting up Jared fell down beside him. John gave him a look and Jared held out a beer for the boy.

"Thanks." John grumbled and Jared gave him a nod before looking over at Everly.

"Talked to her?"

"Nope."

"Are you going to?"

"Nope. She looks rather comfortable flirting with Eric, so why should I interrupt?"

"She's not flirting with Eric." Jared responded with a laugh.

John shrugged and Jared continued, "I swear you enjoy finding stuff to fight with her about."

John rolled his eyes before forcing himself up from the couch.

"I'm going to smoke." He grumbled out before leaving Jared alone and heading to the back door.

He breathed in the night air as he leaned against the railing. He really didn't want to stay here, but he felt that if he left, she would assume it was because of her and he didn't want her to get the satisfaction of thinking that.

He tried to debate with himself on what he needed to do as he smoked. As he lit a second cigarette the back door opened and Everly stepped out causing him to groan in defeat.

"Oh, didn't know you were out here..." She mumbled not sure if she should turn back around and go back in or not.

"And why are you in fact out here?" He asked before blowing smoke from his mouth. She crossed her arms as she slowly stepped a little closer to him.

"Some creepy guy who came with Austin was trying to hit on me."

"Blonde guy?"

She nodded and John flicked his cigarette into the yard.

"Yeah, weird guy. I don't know his name but he has been at our parties before."

She nodded and his eyes landed on her, "If he messes with you again just let me know." He replied softly and all she could manage to do was nod as he made his way back inside. She really didn't expect that outcome. Then again, she never knew what to expect from John.

She forced herself back inside, her eyes immediately finding John who was back in the spot he had claimed earlier. She really didn't feel like partying anymore. As she stood there she wasn't surprised by the unknown guy that came with Austin, finding his way to her.

"You know, I don't even think I introduced myself, I'm Paul." He stated with a grin and she nodded, "Great."

"And you are..."

"Everly." She stated, as uninterested as she could.

"Ohhh Everly, John's girlfriend right?" He questioned and before she could speak John's voice filled her ears.

"Yep." John spoke smoothly, sliding his arm around her waist which caused nerves to fill her whole body. It had been so long since she had contact with him that she couldn't even think straight at the moment.

The guy seemed to get the message though, then again, whether John was as skinny as she was or not, for some reason people were intimidated by him which she really didn't understand, but at the moment she appreciated it.

"Ah I see, well you two have a good time." Paul stated with a grin before walking off. Once he was chatting away with someone else, John looked down at the girl he still had wrapped in his arms.

"Thank you." She whispered and he brought his hand to her cheek, "No problem."

For some reason she couldn't tear her eyes away from his. His thumb rubbed her cheek and all she could think about was how his lips felt against hers. He ran his thumb over her lips and she tried not to shiver from the feeling.

"I'm still very mad at you." He whispered and she forced herself to speak, "I know..."

He gently pressed his lips to her jaw, kissing over her cheek until he reached the corner of her mouth. He knew he was stupid. He knew this was not going to make things better but he missed her and once he had wrapped her in his arms he couldn't get away from her.

"I need to go." He whispered, dropping his hand from her face and she immediately grasped onto his shirt.

"John...don't go."

"I just can't do this right now, Evie. I'm still mad at you and on top of that I can't help but hurt your feelings when you are around because of that and I really don't want to do that to you right now."

She nodded and let go of his shirt. She wasn't going to argue with him again, and maybe the alcohol she had taken in was already taking effect and she just didn't have it in her to do so.

"I'm sorry." He whispered and she shook her head no, "No, don't be. I just need to stop coming to things like this since I know you are here." She mumbled, stepping back from him as she ran her hand through her hair.

"What? Why?" He asked, his eyes now filled with confusion.

She shook her head ignoring his words as she walked away from him. He watched her intently as she walked further into the living room, grabbing up her jacket and bag.

"Everly." He called after her as he quickly followed her out the front door.

"Just go home John." She replied as she tried to put her jacket on while still walking.

"Where are you going?"

"Home." She mumbled, making her way down the driveway.

"Walking?"

She nodded and he groaned as he sprinted after her, "Let me take you home."

"It's only 3 streets over."

"So? It's cold. Please get in my truck."

"John, weren't you leaving? Go."

"I'm not leaving without you so either you get in the truck or I'll follow you home anyways." He said seriously as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

She sighed spinning around to glare at him. She knew he would so she really had no choice.

"Fine." She grumbled, walking to his truck and climbing in not bothering to wait on him.

"You know, you could at least be nice to me." He spoke once in the truck.

"I would have been nice if you would have just let me be."

"Well we both know we have a hard time doing that now don't we?" He said calmly, as he began driving. She didn't bother to respond, just crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the window. She just wanted away from him at the moment.

"This is what I don't get, John. I don't get how you don't want to be with me and yet you can't stop doing crap like this." She finally said, breaking the silence between them.

"I never said that."

She rolled her eyes although he couldn't see and a sigh left his lips.

"Evie, you know I love you. Don't act like me doing this is that bizarre."

"Well one day you are yelling at me, the next you are being civil so excuse me for being confused."

John's grasped on the steering wheel tightened and lucky for Everly they were pulling into her driveway. She immediately hopped out slamming the door behind her and John groaned letting his head hit the seat.

No matter what he said or did it always seemed to be turned around on him. At this point he didn't know what to say or do to make it all better. Then again, he wasn't sure if he wanted to.