Girls, Breaking Hearts

“So now that you guys are okay, can we start making jokes?” Eric asked excitedly as he sported his usual, goofy grin. “Because I have a lot of good ones under my sleeve.”

John rolled his eyes, flipping his friend off as he picked out a stick of cigarette from his pack and lit it, cupping the flame in his other hand. “Just don’t say them in front of her, I don’t want you upsetting her,” he said.

“Of course!” Eric exclaimed, pretending to be shocked. “I wouldn’t want to offend Brooke; that could send me to jail,” he said, making a few of their friends snicker. “Or worse, she could tell her mommy and her daddy’s gonna beat me up.”

John flipped him off once more, but didn’t bother saying anything. He knew his friends wouldn’t want to stop until they’d gotten it out of their systems.

“Good one,” Peter complimented, giving Eric a fist bump as he chuckled. “Okay, hear me out: hey John, isn’t it going to be weird?”

“What’s going to be weird?” he bit.

Peter shrugged, situating himself across John. “You know, when you knock her up and you teach your children how to tie their shoes, and you’re gonna be like, ‘You know what, I taught your mother how to tie her shoes as well.’- that’s gotta be weird, right?”

Eric and Kennedy burst out laughing, clutching on to their stomachs as if it was that funny, but John simply lifted his middle finger up, cursing at his friends. “That’s really dumb,” he yelled out. “I didn’t teach her how to tie her shoes! I’m not her parent!”

“Oh my gosh hear me out,” Kennedy gushed, a proud smile on his face as he prepared to deliver his joke. “When you help her out on her Math multiplication homeworks, do you make her answer in pen or does she still use pencil?”

Eric and Peter actually giggled, slapping Kennedy’s back approvingly as they drunkenly mumbled compliments to one another. “Wait, I have one more!” Eric, exclaimed, staggering towards John but he simply flipped Eric off as he stood from where he was sitting.

“No no this one’s good,” Eric insisted, standing beside John and holding on to his shoulder. “Dude, when she was learning how to pee, you were already in high school.”

John rolled his eyes at the exaggeration, but before he could retort, Peter and Kennedy were already laughing so loudly, as if it was the funniest thing they had ever heard.

“And when you were writing college applications, her parents hadn’t even met!” Peter exclaimed, and the three continued to laugh over their jokes as John scoffed.

“You’re fucking morons,” he snapped, but took the countless blows nevertheless. He accepted them, rather than have Brooke suffer through his friends’ lame and drunken jokes.

The guys babbled on, while he just flipped them off each. After a while, he received a text from Brooke, telling him she was ready. It had been a week since their huge fight and things between them were back to normal; only now, he’d already been introduced to her girl friends, which prompted him to make a suggestion about how she should hang out with his friends as well.

“Fuck off,” John snapped. “I’m picking my girlfriend up- and there better be none of that when we get here!”

They laughed, throwing a few more jokes but he didn’t care. He walked to his car, overly excited to pick up his girlfriend. He and the guys were due to leave in four days, for a short tour in the UK before finally having a long break in time for the holidays. His thoughts flew to her birthday, and he wondered what he could do to make it special. She was turning 18, and their first anniversary was coming up, which was a big deal for both of them. After labelling it a relationship, they’d decided to count the months from the time John stayed over, drunk, and told her he wanted to be with her.

He could still remember that morning vividly, as if it had taken place yesterday. She was just stirring awake whereas he’d been up for at least forty minutes, thinking over and over again amidst his hangover whether it would be right or wrong to pursue her, but then holding her in his arms like that, the answer was obvious.

“Hey,” he said softly, running his hand up and down her arm as she turned to face him, an uncertain smile on her face. She watched his expression, which was full of wary- then he smiled and moved to rest his face on her neck. “My head kills.”

She chuckled, bringing her hand to his hair and twirling her fingers around it. “That’s what you get for drinking too much,” she scolded, her voice soft and still laced with drowsiness. “So...”

He let out a deep breath, planting a kiss on her shoulder before looking up at her. He kept his eyes directly on hers, conveying the sincerity and honesty of his feelings. “I want to be with you,” he murmured, pausing so he could give her lips a soft kiss. He didn’t give her much time to respond, simply pulling away and smiling before opening his mouth to say something more. “We can- we can, take it slow, if you want- I just- can we see where this goes?”

She couldn’t feel the smile growing on her lips as she nodded, snuggling closer to him. “Yeah,” she answered, gnawing on her lower lip and looking up at him a bit coyly. “Let’s- let’s do that.”

“You sure?” he asked jokingly, moving his hand up her back and fiddling with the strap of her top. “I can be a handful- I’m hard to deal with, and- God, stop doing that.” He chuckled, moving to kiss her forehead.

“What am I doing?” she asked, puzzled.

“Well, see, when you bite your lip like that-” He gestured his head to her lip, the smile invading his whole face. “-it makes me want to kiss you.”

She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks as she tangled their feet together under the mattress. She felt as though she was on cloud nine, having him there hold her tight and say such things. “Well see,” she mocked his tone, “I have no problem with that.”

Of course, John worried about how Brooke would feel hanging with his friends, so he’d warned them beforehand to behave and not make her feel out of place. He trusted them to welcome her, but he still worried and hoped she would be comfortable around his friends.

He picked up Brooke a block from the Sheltons’, as usual. He wouldn’t have minded picking her up from the house, but her mother was home and his car was recognizable. So he waited, seated on his car, thinking of all the songs he had written for her that remained untitled and cramped in his little black notebook- there were many of them, but he was wary of whether they were good enough to put into the next album. For sure, it was going to stir a lot of critic, and hunches over his blossoming lovelife, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted it questioned now. He wanted to show them to Jared for a second opinion but he wasn’t sure himself if he’d actually want to put the songs out or just give them to her as a gift.

Brooke tapped on the passenger’s seat window, making him break out of his thoughts. He looked over at her, a smile on his lips as he opened the door. She got in, greeting him with a quick kiss on the lips which made him smile wider. Simple things like that made him giddy, as girly as it sounded.

“You excited to meet the guys?” he asked, pulling out of the block and driving over to Tim’s. He reached over the console to take her hand, and she grinned as he laced their fingers together. He didn’t always do that, and that’s what made her love the act more. She noticed that he only held her hand in drives when he was in the best mood, or in that sweet phase. It was a simple gesture, but it always made her heart skip a few beats.

“A bit.” She shrugged nonchalantly but the smile on her face betrayed her. “Well I’m nervous too, so...”

“Don’t be,” he assured. “I know they’re a bunch of idiots but I made them promise to behave.”

Brooke was never one to seek for approval. In fact, she never had to think about it. It was practically imperative for people to like her, she was one of those girls who you just couldn’t hate. She was nice, but not the overly nice that brought alarm or suspicion. At parties, she took it upon herself to help her drunken friends, even going out of her way to tie a friend’s hair as the same vomited the night away. It was just the way she was. She helped when she could, she had a good heart, and so she was naturally likeable. She hadn’t thought of it that way until Amber pointed out a few months into knowing her.

Now, she held that knowledge in her head, but with doubt. She sincerely hoped it was the case, because as of the moment she was crippling at the thought of John’s friends not liking her. She didn’t know if she could handle whatever criticism they showed or said, they were John’s best friends, they’d known him longer, of course they wanted the best for him. She only hoped she could suffice.

She was excited though. It felt as if they were taking a big step, as if they were meant to have that fight for this to happen. Hoping for the best, she pushed the doubts onto the back of her mind, at the same time John started talking about his friends. She listened to him talk, nodding as he advised her to, of course, ‘just be herself’.

It wasn’t until they got to Tim’s that her calm bravado faded, and she completely stiffened in her chair. John opened the side of her door, but she remained seated, strapped up and looking straight ahead.

“Come on.” He laughed, leaning over so he could unlatch her seatbelt. “It’s going to be okay-”

She shook her head, swatting at his hands as she felt her chest tighten, her heart working its way up to her throat. When he met her friends, John had been completely calm, showing very little distress unlike how she was acting now.

“Brooke,” He smiled, leaning down beside her and cupping his hands over hers. “It’s impossible for them not to like you. In fact it’s even more likely that all of them will fall in-love with you and this is going to be one of those Hunger Games thing, you know, we’ll end up rummaging for scabbards to fight over you.”

Her face broke into a smile, finally, but John could still see the worry in her eyes. He moved to give her a kiss, and his lips lingered over hers for a second before he pulled away and eased her out of the car. As if by magic, Brooke suddenly felt comforted, and she light-headedly followed John as he meandered into the house.

The couple silently made their way into the backyard, and as if on cue, everyone’s heads shot up upon their arrival. The smirk that had been playing all night at Eric’s lips only grew as he flickered his gaze to where Brooklyn Shelton stood, seemingly trying to hide herself behind John’s.

John shot his best friend a warning look, but the pale boy ignored it as he marched over to them and draped his arm over Brooke’s shoulder. “Brooklyn Shelton!” he exclaimed, tilting his head and examining her features. She was beautiful, though in total contrast to how her sister looked. Both were attractive, however everything about Bailey screamed trouble and well, everything about Brooke spelled a calm sea. “I gotta say, John snagged himself a pretty one. Now let’s see how your liver works.”

Once again, John gave Eric a dagger-like stare, refusing to release Brooke’s hand and letting his best friend steal her away. Despite Eric’s efforts to pull her away from him, he couldn’t- John’s grip was tight, and it didn’t help his case that Brooke was unwilling to move. He scoffed, pouting at John as he tugged on Brooke once more.

“I’ll play nice!” he assured. “Come on, I wanna bond with the girl who’s so eloquently won my best friend’s heart!”

John rolled his eyes, and he heard Tim’s laughter from behind him. Tim threw an arm around him and gestured over to Eric. “Let him,” he said, adding in a lower voice, “Don’t worry, she’s going to be okay.”

John assessed the situation, looking over at Eric who was so eagerly giving him a stupid puppy dog look, reminding him of Ruby where Eric probably got that from, and then he moved his gaze to his girlfriend, who was now sporting a small smile on her face. She gave John a reassuring look, and he breathed deeply, catching the hint. “Okay,” he finally said, his grip on her loosening. He understood that his friends needed to like her on their own terms, and for that to happen they needed to bond with her without John constantly hovering over her. He worried, but even he was aware that it would be overbearing if he didn’t let her out of his sight for a few hours. Brooke knew it just as much. His friends needed to see her through their own eyes, who she was, and not just who she was around John. She didn’t need him babysitting her through the night (pun definitely intended), and she figured it wouldn’t be so bad- maybe his friends had the decency to not grill her condescendingly, and maybe, this night would serve as a gateway to winning his friends over.

“’Kay we’re gonna play a little beer pong alright?” Eric asked, his words already slurring a little but he seemed to be alright nonetheless. “You and me up against Max and Rex, but here’s the catch.”

His grin widened, making her catch her breath. Her previous positive thoughts went away, and she now realized she was still going to get the third degree, just in a different way. She raised her eyebrows at him, giving him a questioning glance which she hoped wasn’t laced with fluster.

“Every time you miss, one of us gets to ask a question.”

~

It wasn’t truth or dare at all, but rather truth and drink. They started with the basic questions, like if she’d had a crush on John since, how did she feel about him, and then Eric just had to ask what her intentions were. After a few more questions, she noticed that they weren’t asking anymore based on whether she scored or not, they simply threw the questions and she answered them honestly. Some were legitimate, others completely ridiculous but she realized she didn’t mind at all. Soon, the one-sided questions turned into conversations, and now they were huddled closely together, swapping stories about John.

The topic of the conversation soon caught on to what was happening, but not until Kennedy and Peter joined the original group. Now, they were all sitting by the pool, John by his girlfriend’s side as she listened to his friends discuss their favourite drunken John moments.

Not a single word about her age was brought up. In fact, the group seemed to have forgotten about it as the night progressed. She was treated as an equal, and John was happy for that.

A few more hours passed and the boys decided swimming would be a great idea. The girls passed up, Ashley suggesting for them just to play Cards Against Humanity in the living room. Brooke graciously agreed, the possibility of them quizzing her harder than the boys did earlier not crossing her mind.

“She’s a nice girl, you know,” Kennedy commented, and of course everyone could tell who he was pertaining to. Most nodded, except John, who seemed to mull it over, and Eric, who snorted.

“Ha! Nice? That’s the best you could come up with?” he huffed. “I read somewhere that ‘nice’ is an insult or something.”

Kennedy rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to smack Eric’s head since he was nestling a bottle of beer in his hands. “No, I meant like a nice girl,” he corrected. “Like, the type that doesn’t rebel, clearly doesn’t have daddy issues, and isn’t doing this whole thing with John just to spite her parents or whatever. It’s not some weird payback thing; she’s sincere.”

Now it was John’s turn to roll his eyes, displeased with his friend’s drunken ramblings. “Of course she’s sincere,” he practically snapped. “She wouldn’t have stayed with me for almost a year if she wasn’t—”

Kennedy put his hand up, and much to John’s confusion, started laughing. “Chill man,” he sputtered through his unstoppable laughter. “I just, God- what I meant was- you know, she’s young and all.” He shrugged, his cheeky grin not faltering. “So initially I thought, well, maybe she’s just this lost girl who hates her life or something, but then tonight- man- that girl loves you.”

John’s features softened upon hearing the last part. He tried to keep a steady face, but he unconsciously started smiling and it wasn’t long before his friends started splashing water at him.

“Fucking O’Callaghan,” Max teased, “that was so gay!”

Now John laughed, moving towards Max, puckering his lips and threatening to give his friend a sloppy one. Max continued splashing water on him, the others soon helping him and pulling John deeper into the water.

Brooke followed Ashley, Melissa, Adelaide, and Kacie into the house, unconsciously stopping her stride the moment she heard John laugh. She looked back at him, taking in his ecstatic face as he fooled around with the rest of the guys. She couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t a reaction she had noticed, from the stopping and the smiling, they were all involuntary. John’s laugh was simply infectious, and did mad things to her insides.

When she realized she was standing there stupidly smiling to herself, she blushed and almost ran to the living room, where the girls were situated. She noticed Ashley observing her, and she immediately tried to duck her face from the former’s gaze.

“You love him,” Ashley pointed out in a matter-of-fact voice, causing Brooke’s head to shot up in surprise. Ashley’s brows were furrowed together like she had just discovered something important. “No, you love him- like really love him,” she continued, the other girls not quite understanding what her point was- even Brooke. They all stared back at her, not knowing what to say. “On my 17th birthday, Tim did this whole elaborate surprise for me, and it kind of, I don’t know- sparked something in me I guess. Then the months flew by and I knew I was feeling something strong but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, until this girl-” She gestured to Melissa, “-told me that I was in-love with him. And I knew then, that I was.” She paused, tilting her head to her side as if deciding whether or not to continue, but after a few seconds, she did. “I didn’t say anything, though, until a few more months and we were on this adventurous date, and he stared at me for a while, smiling the whole time and then said ‘I love you too’- like that, like fucking that, I love you too, and I asked him how he knew, and he said I was giving him the same look he was sure he was giving me.”

Brooke saw the smile on her lips, indicating she was still fond of the memory. She knew that Ashley and Tim had been together for almost seven or eight years, and she found herself wondering if she and John could last that long, if their feelings would remain as strong as the aforementioned couple who were clearly still smitten with each other. It was basically impossible for her not to love him, she knew that. And somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew that John felt the same for her.

“It’s the same look you’re giving him,” Ashley finished, leaving Brooke speechless. She couldn’t say anything, and she sure as hell didn’t have any plans of denying it. Visibly blushing, she averted her gaze and started fingering the hem of her shirt. She didn’t know she was that obvious but she couldn’t help herself. And the good thing was, she really didn’t have to; he was hers.

“Look at that.” Adelaide laughed, breaking the poignant silence. “John found one who’s willing to stick around.”

She broke into a smile, accepting the cards. If everyone could see she was heels over head for John, well she was fine with that. She had no reason to counter it or even fight it, because it was true, and honestly she liked it. She liked the fact that she felt that way towards him and his friends could see it.

Casting Ashley a shy smile, she took a seat next to Kacie on the couch as Melissa laid out the cards. Ashley caught her glance, giving her a huge, sincere smile that settled the churning on her insides. It was a smile that told her she was officially approved. And there it was, the feeling of contentment, or relief, completely washing over her as she continued to bond with his friends, who were seemingly now hers as well.