Something's Gotta Give - Original Verison

Jade's Point of View

“You’re finally home!” Jack exclaimed happily as he hugged me at the airport a few days later. “It’s been like forever!”

“I was only gone for a week, Jack,” I laughed as I hugged him back. “You’re gone for longer than that all the time.”

“Yeah, but that’s different,” he replied as he let me go. “So tell me all about it.”

I filled Jack in on everything I’d done in New York the last week with Michael as we walked to grab my suitcase and then head outside. I told him about finally finishing my book, though I left out my little emotional revelation about Alex. I decided to save my most exciting news for dinner at our mom’s house, then I could just fill Jack and Mom in on everything at once. Plus, Jack would probably cause a scene at the airport once I told him, and that would be a truly terrible place for an outburst.

“So when can I read the book?” Jack asked while we drove over to Mom’s from the airport. I hadn’t seen Mom much since I moved out, but we did talk on the phone fairly often and got along better than we did when I was younger.

“When we go home, if you want,” I told him. “Michael’s still doing all the editing and there are some things I’ll probably have to change a little and reword, but he’s otherwise super excited about it, and so am I. I’m really proud of this one.”

“Do you think you’ll get asked to write another?” Jack went on, almost turning into oncoming traffic. Goddamnit, this was exactly why no one let Jack drive.

“Let’s just get this one out and then I’ll think about it,” I said. “I kind of have some ideas whirling around in my head though, so maybe I’ll actually start writing sooner this time.”

Jack changed subjects then and continued to chatter endlessly about all the things he’d done since I’d been gone, which honestly didn’t include anything interesting but again raised questions about his ability to function like an adult on his own. (The only thing worth mentioning was Jack’s mission to eat five orders of chicken fries on his own while watching Caddyshack in his underwear.)

Once we got to Mom’s house, he continued to dominate the conversation throughout dinner, which was starting to get annoying since no one had any idea what he was talking about. Finally Jack had to take a breath and stuff his face, so Mom took that opportunity to ask about the news I’d been dying to share.

“So what happened in New York that you wanted to tell us about?” she asked.

“Oh my God, I totally forgot!” Jack exclaimed, his mouth half full. “I feel like such an asshole.”

“It’s okay.” I shrugged. “It’s not really that big of a deal. Except, ya know, Lines is getting turned into a movie.”

Jack choked on his food and Mom started slapping his back while he coughed. “Are you fucking serious right now?”

“Jack, language!” Mom scolded.

“Mom, you’ve let me say ‘horse cocks’ at Friendly’s, I don’t think ‘fuck’ is that bad,” Jack defended himself.

“Guys!” I clapped my hands, trying to get their attention. “Can we focus here?”

“Yes, sorry sweetie,” Mom apologized and smiled. “That’s wonderful news! When did you find out?”

“I had a meeting with my agent a few days ago,” I explained. “I’d been dodging her calls for a while…”

“Typical,” Jack fake-coughed into his napkin.

I bounced a roll off of his head. “Anyway, she said that there was an up and coming indie producer who really loved the book and wanted to buy the film rights. I looked into him, some dude named Elijah Mitchell, and I watched one of his movies. And honestly he’s the only person I could see doing justice to the story. So I signed over the rights. Once we get a director attached, we can start auditioning people. I was asked to write the screenplay so I said I’d do it under the condition that I could be there and have a say in the casting process. If I can get the screenplay done in a month, we can probably start doing the casting a month or so after that, so I’ll have to leave again.”

“That’s so exciting!” Mom gushed. “I’m so happy for you, Jade.”

“And I’m so Goddamn proud,” Jack smiled as he stole some food from my plate. “That’s so awesome.”

We talked a little more about the book-to-movie deal over dinner and after dessert, Jack and I headed home. I headed upstairs to unpack and came back downstairs to grab my car keys.

“Where are you going?” Jack asked.

“Just going out for a little while,” I told him.

“Oh.” He frowned. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“Later, okay?” I’d almost forgotten about the sadness in his voice when I’d called him after I’d found the pictures of Michael’s wife. “I’m sorry, I just have something I have to do. I’ll be back in a bit.” He’d be fine for a little while longer, but I needed to try to talk to Alex and Skye.

I made good time driving to Alex and Skye’s house. I wasn’t sure if they were home since I hadn’t called or texted, but I kind of wanted the element of surprise on my side. They couldn’t turn me away as easily if I was standing on their doorstep.

I rang the doorbell and waited for a few moments before the door pulled open.

“Auntie Jade!” Elizabeth cheered, throwing her arms around my legs. I hadn’t even known she was back from Kellin’s parents’ house.

“Hey!” I greeted, trying to match her same enthusiasm. “I’m so glad to see you! Did you have fun?”

She nodded. “Uh-huh! I got lots of candy!”

“That’s what grandparents are for, right?” I laughed. “Are you supposed to be answering the door?”

“No…” she trailed off and laughed.

“Maybe don’t do that anymore,” I told her, trying not to laugh. “Can I come in? I need to talk to Mommy and Uncle Alex.”

“Okay!” she agreed easily, grabbing my hand and dragging me inside. “Mommy, it’s Aunt Jade!”

Skye came walking out of the kitchen, looking frustrated. “Elizabeth, you know you’re not supposed to answer the door.”

“But it’s Auntie Jade!” Elizabeth protested.

Skye sighed. “Don’t do that anymore, okay? Go ahead and color for a little while.” She turned her attention to me now. “We can go talk in the kitchen.”

I nodded and followed her, sitting down opposite her at the table. “Is this a bad time?”

Skye shook her head. “She’s just been a fuss-butt all day. Things are weird right now.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “For that, and a lot of other things. I know I was in the wrong with Alex, and when you confronted me about it, I was still pissed and I took it out on you. So I’m sorry for that. It wasn’t right.”

“I understand,” Skye nodded. “But no, it wasn’t right. And you have no idea how hurt Alex still is about everything. He’s the one you should be talking to.”

“I get it,” I told her. “I’m talking to him next, I just wanted to make sure that you and I were okay first.”

“We’ve been through a lot together. I know we were both pissed, but it would be stupid to throw away our whole friendship over this.” That was certainly true – Skye and I had been through a lot together, and had always been there for each other. It didn’t matter what it was, whether it was me and Alex breaking up and getting back together (only to break up and repeat the cycle a million times), or Skye’s sister Hayley dying, or her pregnancy, or her drinking problem, or my breakup with Jay – we were there through everything.

“I agree,” I said. “Thank you.”

“I’ll officially consider us square again once you talk to my brother though,” she added.

“Fair enough.” I nodded. “Is he in his room?”

“Always,” Skye replied with an eye roll.

“I’ll go talk to him.” I frowned. This was the conversation I’d been dreading the most. I headed to his room and knocked on the door. He didn’t respond, so I knocked again. “Alex, it’s me, Jade.”

Again, he didn’t say anything.

I sighed. “You said we could talk when I came back.” More silence. I crossed my arms. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I said ‘I guess’ we could talk,” he finally responded.

I took this as an okay to enter his room. I shut the door behind me. “At last, he speaks.”

Now he sighed, running a hand through his hair. It looked like he hadn’t washed it in a few days. “What do you want, Jade? To yell at me some more? Slap me again? It seems like you said everything you needed to say the other night.”

I sat down next to him on his bed, and I could feel him shift away from me. “No. I wanted to apologize. I know I can’t take it back, but I completely crossed the line. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

“What the fuck did you hit me for?” Alex finally responded after a few moments of awkwardness.

“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I know I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t even know why I did. I was just so mad and I didn’t even know what I was doing until it happened. I know that’s no excuse, but I’d do just about anything to take it back. I hate that I hurt you, but I was just so hurt that I didn’t even think about it. I can’t apologize enough.”

“I understand you were mad,” Alex started, “but I don’t get exactly why you were so pissed at me. I know I should have told you, and I was going to, I just needed to figure out how to tell you and when.”

“I deserved to know,” I said. “It would have hurt a lot less coming from you. But I was totally caught off guard, and it was embarrassing. Especially because it’d been going on for months before any of us found out.”

“That long, huh?” Alex scoffed. “I guess we should have known.”

“I guess,” I nodded. “It still isn’t an excuse though. I’m sorry.”

“I know,” Alex said. “I’m sorry, too. I should have told you. I just didn’t want to hurt you. I guess I ended up doing just that. I couldn’t take it if I did that to you again.”

“I understand if you need more time, but I’m willing to forget the whole thing,” I told him. “I’d like to just wipe the slate clean on my end.”

“I’d be willing to do the same,” he agreed and put an arm around me. “Just don’t go around hitting people anymore, okay? That’s my job now.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, pulling away a little.

“Oh, Skye didn’t tell you that I got arrested?” he said casually.

“Alexander William Gaskarth, what the fuck?!” I yelled. “When did this happen?”

“When you were in New York,” he explained. “I was at a bar and I saw Jay. He was talking shit about you. So I shoved him and he shoved me back, and we got in a fistfight. We both got dragged out and arrested. Isabel came and got him right away, but Skye was pretty close behind.”

For the first time since I’d entered his room, I studied him. He had a healing black eye, starting to turn yellow and purple, and his knuckles were scratched.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt so bad,” Alex said. He smirked to himself. “Jay, on the other hand…that’s a different story.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said quietly, feeling guilty.

“Yes, I did,” Alex insisted. “Look, even though we were fighting and I was still pissed, he was being an asshole. I listened for a little while but then he called you a sincerely not nice word and I lost it.”

“What’d he say?” I asked.

“Starts with a C, rhymes with runt,” Alex clarified.

I nodded slowly, my stomach twisting in anger. “Gotcha. By all means, punch him in the face as many times as you want.” I bumped my shoulder against him. “Hey, we should do a little get together tomorrow night at my place.”

“Yeah, sure,” Alex agreed. “Just you, me, Skye, and Jack, or should we invite the rest of the guys too?”

“It’s up to you, I don’t care,” I answered. “One condition though.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Take a fucking shower. Christ, man, you reek.”

He laughed. “I think I can manage.”

“Good,” I laughed and got up. “See you tomorrow night.”

I said goodbye to him, Skye, and Elizabeth, feeling much lighter than I had in over a week. I smiled to myself as I drove away. The family was back together.