Vacancy

7. Dinner.

I was desperate to ask Ari what she and Luke had spoken about on the phone but everyone was enjoying their take away and I didn't want anyone to find out about Jai.

Jordan kept giving me looks, as if he knew something was wrong, but I ignored him.

Ainsley and Arielle were in deep conversation about some MTV show i'd never watched and Aliyah was watching adventure time, which I had begun to watch more often than not.

The front door opened and my father walked in, looking incredibly stressed, but he still managed a huge smile as Aliyah hugged him.

Dad soon sat down with us in the living room to eat and Jordan continued to stare at me.

"Oh, I'm going over to help Gina tomorrow, Jordan I said you'd come and you Ari?" I voiced over dad and Ainsley discussing how dad's day at work had been.

"Yeah I'm free." Jordan muttered, and shrugged.

"Same, what are we doing?" Ari chipped in.

"A big batch of the boys merchandise is being sent out tomorrow and she can't do it in her own." I smiled, thinking of how much the boys would appreciate it.

The boys were very protective over their mother, they were all so close and that's one of the things that made me love them all so much.

"Sounds great." Ari smiled as I caught Jordan checking her out, again.

"How are the boys?" Dad asked, he got on with them almost as well as I did.

"Yeah, they're rehearsals in L.A are almost over and soon they'll be beginning the tour." I said, jai still constantly on my mind.

"So they'll be back pretty soon then?" He continued, but Ari interjected.

"They've got a few extra tour dates in Ireland and the U.K and I think one extra in Sydney and Perth so they'll be gone an extra week or two."

"Oh, well I guess that's not too bad, they'll be home before you know it girls!" Ainsley smiled and continued, "what you're doing for Gina is lovely."

I excused myself, unable to finish the food left on my plate and walked into the kitchen. I placed my plate into the dishwasher and turned back around to find Jordan standing there.

"Jess, what's happened? I know it's Jai." He said, sympathetically and held his arms open for a hug.

"I'll tell you later, when everyone's finished dinner and Ari and I go back upstairs." I forced a smile and hugged him gently.

Dad walked into the kitchen with the collection of everyone else's plates and stopped, looking stunned. "You're hugging? What's going on?!" He laughed.

Jordan and I were close, but we never really showed emotion towards each other. "Yeah just bonding. Jess misses the boys and talking about them got to her a bit." Jordan covered for me.

"Well, Aliyah's off to bed now, Ainsley and I are going over to Harry and Mel's for a few drinks so are you okay to stay here?" He asked.

"Sure" I answered, "have fun."

-

"So?" Jordan asked, dad and Ainsley had left no less than ten minutes ago, Aliyah was in bed and Ari was slouched on the sofa next to me.

I explained everything that happened and Jordan looked pretty angry. "He did what?! No one treats my little sister like that!" He clenched his fists and stood up.

"There's nothing you can do Jord!" I yelled at him, making him sit down again. "Just leave it, these things happen." I whispered.

"Well I spoke to Luke..." Arielle began, sounding pleased with herself.

"I told you not too!" I began getting angry this time.

"Wait! Calm down!" She reasoned with me. "Jai didn't want to break it off, he said you got the wrong end of the stick and that before he could say anything, you'd gone. Jessy, he's been trying to phone you all night. Just call him back, please?"

"I can't the things he said hurt." I began crying again.

"It's worth a try right? I hate seeing you like this Jess." Jordan chipped in.

"Okay.." I gave in. I pulled out my phone, 38 missed calls, 2 from Luke, 3 from James, the rest from Jai. "He's hurting Jess." Ari showed me twitter on her phone.

"@jaiBrooks1: you just don't understand how much you mean to me Jessy."

Ugh, time to make that call.