Flames in Our Veins

John made it back home just in time. He saw his mom's white BMW pull into the driveway as soon as he reached the front door. Walking away from the front door, towards his mom, he greeted her with a lazy smile and squinted eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. Jenny, his mother, greeted John with a big smile once she saw him walk down towards her, and that same big smile remained on her face as she got out of the car, pulling her handbag over her shoulder. John held open the driver's door and slammed it shut once his mom was out. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her forehead because she came up just underneath his chin.

"Hey, mom," he said casually.

"How are you, sweetheart?" She asked with a grin as her heels clicking against the pavement as she led the way towards the front door, locking her car behind the two of them. "I assume you read the note I left you on your side table? I also hope you took those painkillers? And I hope you actually cleaned your room-"

"Mom," John said with a slight chuckle. The two had just entered the foyer and the tall guy followed in suit as his mom made her way to the kitchen. "I cleaned and I took the pills." Jenny turned and narrowed her eyes towards her son, proudly. "Of course I read your note, mom," he finished with a satisfied smirk.

"Trying to make it up for dropping out of college? Well you have a long way to go, my son." Jenny laughed and walked over to John's dad, pecking him gently on the cheek as he pulled a dish from the oven. "But I wouldn't mind if you clean up the kitchen after dinner tonight?"

John's eyes widened just before he shook his head. "There's a party tonight."

"You're not going until you clean the kitchen-"

"I'm 21, mom." He retorted.

Jenny placed a hand on her hip firmly. "Yes, but you still, technically, live under this roof. And as long as you are living under this roof, you have responsibilities that need to be taken care of." She watched her son let out a sigh of disbelief. "I'm not stopping you from going to the party, John. All you have to do is clean up after dinner. Maybe you can get Ashley to help you-"

His eyebrow raised when his mom mentioned Ashley's name. "Ash? The Clarke's are coming?"

"Of course. I mean, they're practically family. I thought Ashley would have told you?"

He shook his head. "I haven't talked to her at all today."

Jenny shrugged her shoulders before walking over towards the kitchen island to check the food. "Well they're coming and they should be here soon. Go get ready, John Cornelius. And tell your brothers to get ready as well. I'll let Ashley go on up if they arrive soon."

With a nod, he walked upstairs to take a shower. And God, was a shower necessary. Even though he had washed up earlier in the day, he realized how great it felt to have water splash all over your body. After having gone through the whole Warped Tour experience and not having the ability to take showers often, he really wanted to soak it all in before the next hot tour. Once he was done washing up, he wrapped a towel around his waist and casually made it from the bathroom to his bedroom in two long strides. He opened his door and, to his surprise, saw Ashley sitting at the foot of his bed.

"Ash," John said in a hushed tone as he shut the door behind him.

The brunette rose to her feet and bit down on her bottom lip. "Sorry. Do you want me to wait outside while you get dressed?"

"It's not like you've never seen me naked," he replied with a smirk.

By then, she had taken a seat back on his bed and watched the tall man walk over to his closet where he pulled out a boxers, a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt. A typical outfit for John.

"When we were like 6." Ashley laughed and turned around so that her back faced John. She hung her head down and played around with the bracelets on her wrist while she waited for her friend to get dressed. She heard him slip on his jeans and then groan as he pulled his shirt over his head. "Why do you always sound like you're having sex every time you put on your clothes?

John grinned and ran his hands through his wet hair. "They're just sounds, Ash." He eyed her as he made his way towards his bed, taking a seat next to her. "Speaking of sounds... how fucking loud was that party last night? I swear, I'm surprised we weren't busted for a noise complaint."

"Yeah, well we were partying in the middle of the desert."

"True," he nodded and playfully nudged his side against hers. "It was a fun party though, right?"

The brunette looked up at John and smiled. "It was. Out of curiosity, do you remember anything that happened last night?"

He watched her purse her lips and remembering what the guys had told him earlier, he assumed she remembered, clear as day, what had gone down last night between the two of them. The thing was, the guys weren't exactly specific with the details. All they informed him was that he was caught grinding against Ashley. But was there more to that, he wondered.

John cleared his throat and averted his eyes from her. He toyed his fingers around as he focused on the Bon Jovi poster that hung on his closet door. "Uh..." he said at first. Crinkling his brows together, he let out a deep sigh and looked back at Ashley. "To be fucking honest, Ash... I don't remember a damn thing. But the guys told me something happened between you and me. We were just dancing right? Grinding to some Beyonce I'm assuming?"

The brunette looked like she was about to laugh, but she managed to hold it in. "Exactly..." she replied with a small smile. "We just danced. It may have been a little dirty, but we we're drunk. What the hell. It was fun." Leaning into John, she felt his arms close in around her. "I'm just glad you're still in one piece."

"Garrett is the best designated driver," John said with a chuckle. "Speaking of DD's, he's going to be it again for Reagan's party. You going?"

Ashley sat back up and rolled her eyes. "She's my best friend. Of course, I'm going to be there."

"I thought I was your best friend," John said with a pout.

She pouted back and leaned forward, her hands going up to lightly pinch his cheeks. "You are, John Oh. You are my best friend, and I love you."

The tall man leaned down and brushed Ashley's hair from her face to tuck behind her ear. His lips pulled into a smile and he exhaled quietly. "Love you too, Ash."



"Dinner was amazing, Jenny. I bet my mom is going to be asking for that main course recipe later."

John and Ashley were in the kitchen while the adults were out on the backyard patio and John's brothers, including Ashley's, were upstairs playing X-BOX. When the brunette saw Jenny walk into the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine from the rack, she couldn't help but chat about dinner. It was sort of a tradition for the O'Callaghans to host fancy dinner parties, and every week they invited over a new family from the neighborhood. It had been months since Ashley and her family had come to dinner, but perhaps the Clarke's had come during the early summer when John was away. Tonight's dinner went well, as always. John's parents always cooked the food to perfection; the families that joined them would always ask who catered. So as the dirty dishes got a blast of water all over them, he turned to glance at his mom and Ashley in conversation.

"She already did, but I was smart this time because I already wrote it down on a note card for her," his mom replied with a laugh before walking back towards the French doors. Ashley shook in her head in amazement and made her way over towards the sink to help John.

"Let me guess, you weren't allowed to go to the party unless you cleaned everything up?" The brunette crossed her arms against her chest and looked up at him with a smirk.

John shot Ashley a look before handing her a wet plate. "Only the dishes... and you have to help me."

"Damn it, are you serious?"

He shot her another look. "If you're nothing gets done, you're staying here with me."

Ashley shrugged her shoulders as she dried the plate off. "I wouldn't mind it actually. I'm not in a party mood. Especially after eating all of that food."

John grinned and turned to watch the brunette place the clean and dry plate in the cupboard. Leaning down, he kissed the top of her head and said, "I promised myself I wouldn't let myself get too carried away tonight. Do you think you can help me?"

She looked up at him with a smile and took the next couple of wet plates from him. She pressed her lips together and nodded. "That's what best friends do, right? I don't want you going too crazy on us all. You might embarrass yourself."

"Hey! I am a cool guy 100% of the time. I don't embarrass myself," he replied with a laugh, followed by a little splash towards Ashley's direction. When she felt the water hit her, she turned towards John and narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm so going to kick your ass later."

"Do it, baby." John smirked.

By the time the dishes were all clean, dry, and put away nicely, it was nearly 10. John dried his hands off before pulling his phone from his pocket to read the many unread texts from the guys, including one from the hostess herself, Reagan. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Ashley was on the phone with a guy she was sort of seeing from ASU. John hadn't met the guy, but from what he heard from Ash, he seemed like an OK person, but it wasn't official until he actually met him. He needed to know what kind of guy his best friend was seeing.

Reagan
Can't wait to see you. Come find me when you get here.

John smirked down at his phone as he texted back.

Send to Reagan
I'll be there soon, darlin'. ;)

Once the message was sent, he tugged down on the hem of his shirt to make sure there were no stains and then he straightened his jeans before running his hands through his hair. Running his tongue over his lips, he was beginning to think of what could possibly go down for the night. Anything could happen. It was going to be a big party; There had to be at least 100 people invited. It was going to be insane, and John was stoked. So as he turned around to ask Ashley if she was ready, he was taken aback by the tears in her eyes instead of a more cheerful expression.

"Ash? Hey, you alright?" He asked her quietly.

The brunette slipped her phone into her back pocket and wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand. "That was Ryan... He said he didn't want to see me anymore," she finally said. John placed his hands on her shoulders and hung his head down, his eyes remained fixated on her tear stained cheeks. When the two were younger, John was always very protective over Ashley. He watched and made sure she got on the swings safely; he also made sure she got through the obstacle course without getting a scratch, and he even scared away the kids that hogged the water fountain. The two were always a pair, and everyone knew how greatly John cared about Ashley. He looked out for her, even when she didn't even want it. Because that's what best friends do, right?

"That guy sounded like a fucking douche, Ashley. You don't deserve guys like that, you hear me? You deserve someone way better than that asshole. Hey, if you want, I can definitely kick his ass. I've been working out if you couldn't tell..."

He heard her laugh, and truthfully, he thought her laugh was the most beautiful thing in the world.

"Do you still want to go the Rae's?" He asked her as he pulled her in for a hug.

Ashley nodded and wrapped her arms around his torso and he felt her heart beating rapidly against him. John let out a sigh and tightened his hold. "I'm not going to leave your side tonight, okay? I'm yours for the night, Ash. I promise you."

He felt the brunette drop her hands from his body and he gazed down at her, Ashley's own brown eyes meeting his. "Don't be silly."

"I'm serious, Ash," he said as he began tugging on her hand, making their way towards the front door. "I'm serious because you're my best friend, and we've been best friends since we were 6." The two were now walking down the pathway towards John's car. He looked at her again. "You're always there for me, and I'm always there for you because that's what we fucking do. We've been there for each other since the start, you know?" Once they got into the car, they buckled their seat belts and Ashley watched as John started the car. As they sat there for a while, they looked at each other and smiled softly. "I'm going to kick his fucking ass because I love you."

When John backed out of the driveway, he heard the faintest sound come out of Ashley's mouth as he watched her look out the window.

"I love you too, John."