Nothing ever Changes

22

We eat the pizza in the sunroom. Zac and Ryder sit on the window seat, Aiden and Dominic are on the couch, Micah, Finn, and Jake are in bean bag chairs, with Apollo laying his head in Jake's lap, and DJ and I are sharing an armchair.

Micah and Finn talk to Jake nonstop, but he doesn't seem to mind. Dominic doesn't talk much, except to murmur things to Aiden, who has decided to tell me all the embarrassing things about DJ.

"Once, when we were in middle school, DJ thought it was crazy hair day, so he dyed his hair bright pink the night before, and went to school like that. It was the funniest thing ever."

DJ is bright red, and refuses to look at me when I grin at him.

"It was not funny." He mutters. "It was embarrassing."

"It was hilarious! He couldn't wash it out, and his hair was pink for a month!"

"Why didn't you just dye it again?" I ask him.

He sighs. "I was twelve. I didn't think about that."

"I'm bringing Zac up to bed." Ryder says, picking him up easily. He's asleep, and his head rests on Ryder's chest. "Night, you guys."

There's a chorus of "Good night," and he walks to the stairs.

The talking slowly stops as it gets darker. Eventually, Aiden and Dominic go upstairs, and Micah goes up with a half asleep Finn.

"I can give you guys some of our clothes to change into." DJ tells me and Jake.

We nod, and follow him upstairs. We go into our room while he goes to find clothes.

"You okay?" I ask Jake.

He nods. "Yeah. Did you hear any news about Jackson?"

"No, Ace said he hasn't woken up, yet."

I watch his face. He swallows, but nods. "Okay."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." He says quietly. "I'll be fine."

I pull him to me, and wrap my arms around him. He hugs back, and murmurs, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Everything. You always do everything for me. I'm always your first priority."

"You're important, Jake. One of the most important things in the world to me. I couldn't live with myself if I let something happen to you. I love you more than anything."

"I love you, too." He says quietly.

I smile. I know how hard it is for him to say that. "No matter what happens, I'll be here to help you, okay? And now you have DJ, Finn, Micah, Zac, Ryder, Aiden and Dominic, too."

"Okay." He says, smiling back.

DJ comes back a couple minutes later with clothes. Jake goes into the bathroom, and DJ sits by me.

"So?" He says, lacing his fingers through mine.

I lift an eyebrow. "So, what?"

"Do you like it here?"

I nod. "Yeah. All of them are nice, and there's a lot of space here. I don't like dogs, but Apollo's okay. And Jake seems to like him, too, which is interesting."'

"So you'll stay here?" He asks. I hear the shower water start from the bathroom.

I smile. "Yeah."

"Great! I know you guys don't like driving, but your school is pretty far from here."

"We'll figure something out. But definitely no cars."

He nods, and I'm grateful that he doesn't ask about it. "Anything new with Jackson?"

"No, he's still asleep." I say quietly. "I'm worried about what'll happen if..."

"Yeah. I don't know how much I can do, but you guys can stay here as long as you want to."

"Thank you." I tell him. "Seriously, you've been awesome."

"I try." He smiles.

I lean over to kiss him, and he holds the side of my face as my lips move on his. I twist my fingers in his shirt, pulling him closer. His tongue slowly works its way into my mouth. That surprises me, but I don't protest.

The water from the shower turns off, and I pull my face away a bit. He smirks, and presses his lips against mine again. "Good night."

He stands, and walks out of the room. I smile, and touch my lips lightly.

"You okay?" Jake asks, walking out of the bathroom on a big shirt and blue pajama pants with emojis that go past his ankles.

I nod. "I'm fine. I'm gonna get in the shower."

When I come out, Jake's on the phone. He looks up at me, and grins. "Hang on, Ari. Lio's here."

"What happened?" I ask, sitting next to him. I'm wearing an old t-shirt and black sweatpants.

He puts the phone on speaker so I can hear Ari.

"It's Ella." They groan. "She's really cute, and I feel kinda bad that I've been so mean to her, and I don't know how to tell her that actually I like her, and-"

"Just tell her." I say. "If she asked you out, she clearly likes you."

"Well, why don't you do that?"

"They both know I like them."

"Do they know how much you like them?"

"Do you know how much I like them?"

"I have a pretty good guess."

"Good for you." I huff. I'm not arguing with them right now.

"Alright, Ri, we've got to go to bed." Jake says. "See you."

"Bye!"

He hangs up, and puts his phone on the nightstand beside mine. We both climb under the covers after I turn off the light, and he curls up to my side.

It doesn't take long for us to fall asleep.