On Your Side

"I feel like this is all we do together." John stated and she laughed, "What? Eat and stay at your house?"

"Yeah!"

Jenna grinned, "Well who's fault is that?"

"I'm not sure yet."

Jenna chuckled, "Well it's not mine."

"Who said?"

"I rarely make the decisions here, O'Callaghan."

"Oh, you may not be making the decisions, but you are running the show."

"What does that even mean?!"

"Exactly what I said, love." He smirked, pulling her off the couch.

"This whole you pretending to be wiser than you really are is starting to annoy me..."

John glared her and she tried not to laugh as she pulled him up the stairs.

"And what is that suppose to mean?!" He asked and she spun around to face him.

"Exactly what I said...love."

"Mhm...well..." He stated before launching at the girl and she screamed in laughter as he dropped her on the bed, tickling her until she couldn't breathe anymore.

"Mock me some more. Go on." He said with a smile as he tickled her sides.

"John!" She giggled, grabbing at his hands and he chuckled as he allowed her to pull them from her body.

"Was that necessary?!" She breathed and he nodded with a grin.

"You..." She started to say only to be cut off by his mouth finding hers.

"I what?" He mumbled against her lips and she didn't respond as he kissed her once more.

"You have got to stop kissing me." She breathed, her fingers tangling in his hair at the nape of his neck.

"I don't want to and I don't think you want me to either." He stated, still supplying gentle kisses to her lips. The kissing would have continued if it wasn't for John's phone ringing in his pocket.

He groaned, "Worst timing ever. Wanna bet on who it is?"

Jenna giggled, "Well, I'll say Garrett."

"Alright, I'll go wth Pat."

"You're on."

He chuckled as he sat up on his knees, digging into his pocket for his phone.

"Fuck..."

Jenna laughed, "I'm right!"

John smiled as he brought the phone to his ear, "Well hello, Gar, to whom do I owe this call to?"

"Are you with my sister?" Garrett's voice hit his ear and he looked down at the girl.

"Yep."

"Why?"

"I don't fucking know, Garrett. Is this how every conversation beween us is going to go?" He asked, brushing strands of Jenna's hair behind her ear.

"Apparently so since you are with her 24/7 now."

"Whatever, why did you call?" He asked, pressing his lips to Jenna's forehead. He knew he shouldn't enjoy this whole 'being in love' thing like he was, but he couldn't help it. He had tried to fight it off for so long that now it was overwhelming.

"To see if you wanted to come out with us, and I would have asked Jenna but since she is with you I'll leave that to you."

"Alright, I'll ask. Usual spot?"

"Yep."

"Ok. Bye."

John hung up and Jenna stared up at him, "Well?"

"He wanted to know if we wanted to go out with everyone. Do you?"

"Sure, about time you take me out of this house." She joked and John cut his eyes at her causing her to laugh.

"You aren't suppose to laugh at my serious face."

"Well it's not very intimidating."

"To some it is..."

"Well, not to me."

"And why is that?" He asked with a grin, cupping her face gently.

"I don't know, it just isn't!"

He chuckled, kissing her quickly before helping her off the bed.

"Mannnn this means I've got to put shoes back on." She whined, walking over to her flats she had thrown on the floor of the living room earlier.

"I mean, you can go barefooted if you want. I just don't want to hear you complain when you catch some sort of disease..." He teased as he tied up the laces of his boots.

"Oh shut up." She mumbled sliding the flats on and he smiled as he stood from the couch.

"Still have that fake I.d Pat got you?"

Jenna laughed, "Of course."

"Good. Ready my dear?"

"Yep."

John ushered her out, locking the door behind him before heading to the car. John knew it was stupid, but he couldn't help but feel nervous. He really didn't know how he should act around her in public or what she wanted and it made his thoughts even worse.

Once they parked and begun the short walk to the familiar bar, he knew he just had to ask. Otherwise, his night would be ruined.

"Hey, Jen..." He stated, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the door before she could step foot inside.

Her eyes met his and he sighed, immediately dropping her hand.

"I just, maybe this is stupid. I mean, I know we aren't together and I just don't know, I mean, I don't know how I should act with you, around other people." He finally got out, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Would you act differently?" She questioned and he shrugged, "I don't know Jen! I mean, I'm not one for p.d.a of any sort but I don't want you to freak out if I touched your hand or something. I just, I'm trying to find the line here..."

"Well, just remember Garrett's here so there's your line."

"And if he wasn't?" He boldly asked and she shrugged, "John you can act however you want. I wouldn't freak out. Now come on." She replied, grabbing up his hand and pulling him inside.

It didn't take Jenna long to find the loud group of friends sitting at a table near the back.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to join us!" Austin said moving from his seat to embrace John. Jenna chuckled as they hugged it out and she slid into a seat beside Pat who gave her a smile.

"Well hello Patrick."

"Well hello Jenna, it's been a while. John's been hogging you and you've forgotten all about me."

Jenna chuckled, "I could never forget about you."

"So, Jenna, single now?" Austin asked, resuming his seat which was across from hers.

Garrett scoffed, "Hardly."

"More like a love triangle." Jared added in.

"Like maybe a lifetime movie, minus a psychotic killer." Kennedy chimed in and Jenna rolled her eyes.

"I dunno man, usually it's one of the three, my money is on Eric." Jared responded, clearly forgetting why this conversation began.

"Definitely." Kennedy agreed with a nod.

Austin stared at them with a raised eyebrow and Kennedy added, "Long story, dude."

"Not your story to tell on top of that." John grumbled, accepting the drink Pat had gotten for him. Now he remembered why he didn't come around with her.

"Just trying to figure out what's going on! I mean, we have to schedule times to hang out in order for you and Eric not to be in the same place! It's exhausting and without facts I don't know who's side I'm suppose to be on!" Austin stated throwing his hands up and Jenna bit her lip trying not to let the uncomfortable situation get to her.

"Why do you have to be on someone's side? We're all friends, I'm not going to be mad if we are in the same place. I do not have any negative feelings for him." John managed to say more calm then he thought possible.

"Yeah, but I don't think we can say the same for him..." Garrett mumbled and Austin sighed, "See! So what? You stole Jenna, now neither of you are friends?"

"I did not steal her. In fact, I'm not keeping her here. We aren't together despite what all of you think. Any more questions? Because I'm now getting pissed off. What goes on between her and I is not anyones business but ours." John declared, anger now in his eyes along with his voice.

Jenna placed her hand on his arm and he downed the rest of his whiskey.

"Was I invited just to get interrogated? If so, I'll just head back home. Have any of you thought maybe that's why I haven't been around not because of Jenna?"

Kennedy sighed as the table grew quiet, "No you weren't, John. But this also puts a lot of shit on us. Between you and Eric and Jenna it's stressful for us as well."

"And I fucking get that. I do and do you not think I feel bad? because trust me, I do. I truly am sorry. I hate drama of any sort, but for once in my fucking life I'm not doing anything wrong! It truly isn't me. How Eric handles this is not my problem."

Jenna cleared her throat, now feeling awkward and deciding to clear John's name of this mess.

"It isn't Eric or John's fault, it's mine. All of you know that and I'm sorry all of you have been dragged into it and I'm sorry that Eric is having to go through this because despite what anyone thinks, I love him. I do. And knowing that he's not happy hurts me, but being with him when I'm unsure would be even worse."

John stared at his empty glass, sliding it back and forth on the
table for a distraction because her words weren't exactly what he wanted to hear.

"So if you want to be mad at anyone it should be me." She added and Pat immediately spoke, "We aren't mad at you Jen."

She gave him a weak grin and Kennedy chimed in which made her tense. His honesty would mean the most and they all knew it.

"No, we aren't mad. We love you, you know? Yeah, it sucks that this is going on between friends, but John's right, it isn't any of our business, we just want everyone to be happy because like I said, we care about you all."

She nodded and she could feel Garrett's eyes on her from his seat and she didn't dare return the look.

"I need another drink." John grumbled, pushing back his seat before heading to the bar. Jenna sighed watching as she moved her straw around her cup. This apparently was never going to get better...