Something's Gotta Give - Original Verison

Jade's Point of View

Rian and Zack split from the group after breakfast, which left Alex, Elizabeth, and I to wait at their place for Jack and Skye to come back.

“I wonder what’s taking so long,” I commented as Alex and I sat next to each other on the couch while Handy Manny played on the TV. I hated the stupid show, but it kept Elizabeth happy even though she wasn’t actually paying very much attention to it – it was more of a background noise for her while she colored at her little table.

“Who knows?” Alex shrugged. “Skye’s been acting kind of weird since I’ve been home.”

“She’s just going through a lot, I’m sure,” I told him. “Things haven’t been so great between her and Kellin lately. I don’t really know what’s up.” I had a vague idea as Skye told me almost everything as far as I knew, but I didn’t want to divulge everything to Alex, especially with his own recent heartbreak. It seemed like there was enough of it to go around.

Alex started to say something, but then Elizabeth suddenly stopped coloring, turned her table over, and sat on the legs of it to face the TV. Alex made a surprised face and I started to laugh, picking up her picture and coloring supplies.

“This kid is going places,” I chuckled and then glanced at her drawing, a bunch of random scribbles, her version of a rainbow, and then added, “Maybe not college or art school, but places.”

As I was finishing picking everything back up, Skye and Jack entered through the front door. Skye about shit a brick when she saw Elizabeth sitting on the table legs the way she was.

“Elizabeth Ann, you fix that table and sit in your chair the right way,” she scolded and then turned to Alex. “Why would you let her do that?”

“I didn’t!” he defended, throwing his hands up in defense. “She just suddenly did that like thirty seconds before you walked in.”

I helped Elizabeth set her table back up and got her situated again with her coloring supplies while Jack grabbed his own sheet of paper and sat down across from her to start drawing his own picture.

“Keep it appropriate, Jack,” Skye warned him and sat down on the couch next to Alex where I had been. We stayed mostly quiet for a bit while Elizabeth’s show played, save for Elizabeth and Jack chattering back and forth, though none of us had any idea what they were talking about.

Around lunchtime, Elizabeth had to go down for a nap, so I told Jack it was time to go and let the Gaskarths have some well-deserved peace and quiet. He was hugging Elizabeth goodbye when she handed him her “rainbow” drawing that she’d been working on.

“For me?” Jack asked, pretending to be shocked. “Thank you. I’ll keep it forever.” He handed her the drawing he’d been working, apparently a family portrait of Skye, Elizabeth, Alex, me, and Jack, Kellin conveniently missing. “This one’s for you.”

Elizabeth threw her arms around his neck, thanked him, and went with Skye to get settled down.

Alex walked us to the door and Jack skipped out to the car, leaving me with Alex for a few moments. As I was saying goodbye and turning to leave, he caught my arm. “Hey, I just need to ask you something really quick.”

“Sure,” I said, waiting for him to continue.

“How long until it stops hurting?” he asked. “Like how did you deal with it? I can’t remember the last time I ever felt this shitty.”

“Probably when you read my journal and we had a fight about it,” I teased. When he didn’t laugh, I frowned awkwardly. “Sorry. I was joking.” I sighed. “Honestly, there’s no set time limit. I’m not gonna lie, it hurts for a while. But take a week or something and mope around. It’ll help. But don’t spend too long being sad. Get mad instead.”

“That would explain your general demeanor,” Alex heckled, allowing himself a small smile.

I mockingly glared at him. “You’re lucky I told Skye I’d be nice to you.” I half-smiled to show I was kidding. “If you need to talk, call me. I’ll be around.”

He thanked me and I joined Jack outside, driving home together in his car. He was apparently still very hungover because he started to play the radio at a low volume, winced, declared, “This isn’t going to work out,” and shut it off. When we got home, I straightened the house a little more and then headed out to return the keg while Jack took a nap. So much for him helping.

By the time I’d returned, Jack was awake and power-watching Hell’s Kitchen. I grabbed my laptop from upstairs and came to join him on the couch while he watched. I attempted to work on an outline for my novel, but I couldn’t concentrate.

“You have a headache and you decided to watch Hell’s Kitchen and listen to Gordon Ramsay yell because why?” I asked him, looking away from the white of my screen and the flashing of the cursor.

“Because he’s awesome,” Jack replied, which was explanation enough. When the episode he’d been watching finished up, he asked if I wanted to watch a movie.

“What about Oculus?” I suggested. “The brother and the girl’s boyfriend are hot. I’d totally bang the boyfriend like a screen door in a hurricane and ride him into the sunset.”

Jack made a sick face. “That’s disgusting. You’re my little sister; you’re not supposed to say things like that. That’s my job.”

I laughed. “Jack, you once told a huge crowd of people that I was offering free pee-pee touches at the merch table, and when we were kids, you threatened to deflate my boob. I’d say that’s worse.”

“At least I was kidding!” he protested and found the movie on Netflix, pressing play. We started to watch and I kept looking back and forth between that and my computer. Jack nudged my foot with his. “What are you working on anyway?”

“I wish I knew.” I explained to him that my agent and publisher were both breathing down my neck for a new book, preferably a sequel to Lines, though I felt like that story was through. I’d ended with the main character being burnt out on drugs and the repercussions of the bad decisions that she’d made while living in Los Angeles and being on the music scene. I had nothing else to say about her or any of the other characters.

“You should write about zombies,” he suggested. “Zombies would be cool.”

“No,” I immediately shot him down. “Do you know how fucking sick I am of hearing about zombies and vampires and werewolves? I like The Vampire Diaries and Teen Wolf as much as the next person, but I want to do something original. And anything I write about zombies will probably be compared to The Walking Dead and I don’t want that.”

“I love The Walking Dead,” Jack said defensively.

“Yeah, and I don’t.” I sighed. “I’m just so stuck here. I don’t want to let anyone down and I really don’t want to have to payback my advance.”

“When do they need something?” Jack asked.

“As soon as possible,” I replied. I rubbed my temples. “God, I should have had something weeks ago. It’s like since Jay and I broke up, I can’t think. I can’t concentrate on this stupid fucking book; I can’t complete a thought about it. I’m just blocked.”

Jack eyed me sympathetically like I was going to cry or something, though I was far from it. I was more or less ready to tear my hair out. “You’ll think of something soon. I’ll ask the guys, maybe they’ll have ideas.”

Thoughts of grossly perverted erotica and immature dick jokes filled my head when I pictured the guys brainstorming. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”

We finished the movie mostly in silence, save for me making unnecessarily sexual comments about the girl’s boyfriend and Jack screaming about how gross it was (he’d made a vomiting noise when I half-jokingly said that the boyfriend would look better with my legs framed around his face). When Oculus was over, we went into the kitchen to grab snacks before we continued our movie marathon. I noticed Elizabeth’s drawing front and center on the freezer door.

“She’ll be happy the next time she comes over and sees that,” I told Jack, pointing to it and smiling.

“I save everything she gives me,” Jack replied, grinning a little shyly, which was very un-Jack like. “I love that kid. Kellin’s a lucky guy, he’s got two great girls.”

“Aww, does someone have a crush on Skye?” I teased him in a sing-song voice, poking his arm while he frowned.

“No,” he denied, which was pretty obviously a lie. I’d suspected for years that Jack had a crush on Skye, but it also seemed like it was an on and off attraction, and probably one-sided. And since he’d been back, it seemed like it was in full swing. “I’m just saying, he’s got a beautiful family and he’s fortunate. That’s all.”

“Sure,” I said, stretching the word out sarcastically.

“I just hope the paternity test goes okay for her,” Jack said somberly, continuing to frown.

I patted him on the shoulder. I told him, “It’ll be fine,” though I wasn’t completely sure myself.