Something's Gotta Give

Jade's Point of View

Up until arriving at Alex and Skye’s, Christmas morning had been going well so far. Alex joined Jack and me over at my mom’s for breakfast, which was delicious, and Mom loved all her gifts, even though she could hardly move through her small living room. Since both Jack and I had moved out, she’d decided to downsize and sold the house that we’d grown up in, so she had a lot less space.

Due to the exuberant amount of presents that Jack had for Kendall, we had to take two cars over to Skye and Alex’s. To save on driveway space, I rode over with Alex while Jack trailed behind us, every square inch of his car filled to the brim. Rian pulled in right after us, and as Alex was parking, we caught sight of Skye stepping outside to talk to Kellin, who did not look happy.

“Oh, this doesn’t look good,” Alex commented, and quickly exited the car. I followed, and Jack and Rian were close behind me.

We stood off to the side while they argued, partially because we didn’t want to insert ourselves in the fight, but also because deep down, we were nosy dicks who wanted to know what was going on. After a little back and forth, Skye blew up at him, and after all the time that they’d been broken up, we finally learned why they’d split in the first place: he’d cheated on her.

As he started to respond, Kellin and Skye finally noticed us. Thankfully, our presence was enough to diffuse the situation and Kellin just walked away. Alex, Jack, and Rian walked in, giving Skye sympathetic smiles as they headed inside.

“You okay?” I asked her. Skye had been pretty private about their breakup, mostly just giving me non-answers when I asked what happened. She’d say that they drifted apart, that Kellin didn’t really seem interested in being a family anymore, things like that. But she’d never mentioned cheating.

“I will be,” she answered.

Together, we headed inside to see Kendall climbing Jack like a jungle gym. She was always excited to see the guys, but she was always especially thrilled to see Alex and Jack. I had to admit, her bond with Jack was pretty damn adorable.

“Hey, who wants to see what’s in my car?” Jack asked when he was done swinging Kendall around.

“Please never say that to another child, ever,” Rian commented.

“And your shitty comment just got you promoted to present duty, congratulations!” Jack responded. “Zack, help Rian bring presents in, will you?”

“Me? I didn’t do anything,” Zack protested. “I’ve literally just been sitting here and minding my own business.”

“I know, but you’re the strongest, so by default, you have to help,” Jack said, and then clapped his hands together. “Chop, chop, everyone!”

Rian and Zack exchanged annoyed glances, but headed outside with Kendall anyway to start bringing things inside. Who were they to deny her happiness? I moved to start helping them, but Jack yelled out and stopped me.

“Wait, Jade, no! Core four meeting!”

“Core four meeting? What the fuck is that?” Alex asked.

“Us! No more stupid questions, we don’t have much time,” Jack said, and then turned to Skye. “Why didn’t you tell us that Kellin cheated on you? I would have beat him up for you.”

I scoffed and crossed my arms. “No, you wouldn’t have.”

Jack paused. “Well, no. Maybe not. But I would have done a bunch of super irritating and inconvenient things, like leave a toilet on his lawn, or stuck Lego pieces in his shoes. Which is worse, by the way.”

“Frankly, I don’t think Jack should be conducting this meeting,” Alex said. “But for real, Skye. We all would have been there for you, you know that.”

Skye shrugged. “You guys were all on tour and busy, so I didn’t want to bother you about it.”

“It wouldn’t have been a bother, Skye,” I said. “You’re my best friend and you’re family. I don’t care what’s going on, I always have time for you.”

“Thanks,” she said. “Maybe we should start helping them bring stuff in though, otherwise we might be here all day.”

With the core four meeting adjourned – I wanted to slap Jack for coining it that, for the record – we started to head outside.

“You know, it really sucks that all three of you guys got cheated on,” Jack remarked, pointing out the obvious, as usual. He then started to sing under his breath, “We’re all part of the same sick little games…”

“See, what we’re not gonna do is that.” Alex shook his head. “If you sing my own lyrics to me one more time today, Christmas is cancelled.”

“Rude,” Jack mumbled, but shut up.

The rest of the day was really nice. Kendall had a great time opening her presents, and it was fun to watch her face light up every time she opened a new one. At Jack’s insistence, the guys and Kendall watched Home Alone while I helped Skye with dinner. Jack always kept Home Alone on a constant loop during the holidays since it was his favorite movie, and usually made me watch it an additional dozen times through the rest of the year, so I was kind of happy to have a break from it.

The dinner Skye cooked was amazing, and we were all pretty lazy the rest of the evening as a result of gorging ourselves.

“You know, we should do this more often,” Jack commented as we were all gathered in the family room to watch Home Alone II: Lost in New York. “New Year’s Eve party at my house next week!”

“Hell yeah, I’m down,” Rian said, while Zack nodded in agreement.

“I mean, we’ll have to check our very busy schedules, but we can probably squeeze in an appearance,” Alex teased.

Skye swatted his arm. “We’ll be there.”

“Sweet! I’m gonna invite everyone,” Jack went on.

“Hello? I’m right here.” I rolled my eyes. “Could you at least double check with the other person in the house before you start making party plans?”

“I have full confidence in you that you can pull this off,” my ass-hat brother replied.

I rolled my eyes again, but didn’t fight him on it. At least I had a week to prepare for whatever clownery Jack was going to put me through.

After we finished up the movie and ate some Christmas cookies, Jack and I decided it was time to go home, and Rian got ready to do the same. We figured it was probably best to be gone before Kellin got back. Kendall gave us giant bear hugs goodbye, and not to be outdone, Jack picked her up and swung her around.

With all our goodbyes said, Jack and I waved goodbye to Rian and waited for him to back out so we could leave. I insisted on driving home, leaving Jack to stare dreamily out the window.

“Did you see she was wearing the necklace?” he asked.

“Yeah, I noticed,” I said. That wasn’t all I had noticed, though. While I was glad that Skye and Zack were being civil, it seemed like they were almost getting along too well. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. “You should probably tell her it was from you though, so she doesn’t get the wrong idea about someone else.”

“Why, do you think that would happen?”

“Maybe. What do I look like, a fucking psychic?”

“You don’t think she thinks it’s from Zack, do you? It certainly wouldn’t be Rian, and that’s not the kind of necklace you buy your sister. And I’ve never gotten her anything like that, so she probably doesn’t think it’s me…” He groaned, putting his head in his hands. “Oh God, I fucked up. I should have just left my name on it. Why did I let you talk me out of it?”

“Me? Oh no, we’re not making this my fault,” I argued. “Anyway, there’s a very simple solution to this: just tell her it was from you. Boom, problem solved.”

“Maybe I should reveal it was me, but make it like a big, grand gesture,” Jack went on like I hadn’t said anything. “We have a fancy staircase, I could make it like a cool, sweeping entrance. Should I get a cape? Maybe I should get a cape. Do you think I should get a cape?”

I felt like banging my head against the steering wheel. “I hope a truck hits this car right now and we both just die.”