Delicate Love || The Music Freaks AU

Chapter 7: Drew

Jake's POV:

I was shaking as I knocked on Hailey's door. My mind was a train of thoughts--none of them processing clearly. I was going to be seeing the club--after all these years finally. We'd be reunited. The door opened slowly. Hailey stood there, her blue hair covering part of her face. Her eyes were wide and she looked excited. 

"Hey," I said when I saw her. "Hey, Jake! Um, everyone's here, so you can just come in." She moved aside, letting me enter. 

From the moment I stepped into her house, it was clear that she was much more well off than I. Her house was big and well-decorated, unlike my crappy apartment. I took my shoes off and followed her into the entranceway. "They're in the living room." She said softly. I nodded and took notice of all the pictures strung along her walls. Some of her and Zander, some with the club, a few with family members, and...

One of me. It was a picture Hailey's stepmother--Shannon-- had taken before the whole incident with the club. Hailey was yelling at her mom and lunging for the camera while I was laughing in the background. I physically stopped seeing the photo. All these years I thought she hated me and it turns out she'd had a picture of me in her house. 

"Jake?" She said, noting my halt. She noticed me staring at the picture and her face went red. "C-C'mon, Jake." She said, hiding her face. I smiled at her as she led me into the living room. It felt like a dream.

I saw Milly, Zander, Sean, and Luke all there. We were all quiet. Milly tried to smile at me while Sean waved slightly. Luke faintly grinned and Zander stared at me sternly. 

"Jake," Sean began, clearing his throat. The tension was consuming us. "It's good to see you again." He smiled at me. I smiled back. "It's good to see you guys," I said quietly. Zander's face softened. 

I breathed a shaky breath. "Look--I'm sorry. I was stupid, and I shouldn't have been so naive, and I should have never said the things I did. And I'm sorry I didn't realize Drew was toxic earlier. I know you hate me but... I'm sorry. I'm... I'm just sorry." 

They were all staring at me. Eventually, their faces (except for Zander) formed into warm smiles. Milly ran up and hugged me tightly. "Oooh! I missed you, Jake!" She said, squeezing me tighter. Sean and Luke came closer to me and Zander followed cautiously. "I really, really, really, really, really missed hanging out with you! You were so fun! And I'm sorry I slapped you," I laughed at Milly. "It's okay. I deserved it." I hugged her back. I saw Hailey take a deep breath out. She looked relieved. 

Drew's POV:

I thought I'd finally get to see Jake again. After all these years of isolating ourselves from each other, I thought we'd finally be reunited. But turns out, he'd ditched seeing up for the music club. Which I thought was weird, since I was convinced that they hated each other. But according to Lia, Jake and Hailey had made up, and now he was at Hailey's house. I was pretty angry.

"I can't believe eight years later, he's still ditching us for those guys," I grumbled. Zoey was filing her nails beside me, making an annoying background sound. "It's whatever. It's not like we came to see Jake." She blew on her nails. Henry and Liam were too busy watching Netflix on their phones to take any notice of our conversation. 

"I tried to stop him, but he didn't care. I don't think he was too keen on seeing you, Drew." Lia admitted. Sure, Jake and I have had our differences, and sure we weren't exactly best friends anymore, but I didn't think he hated me.

"I guess he's still mad at you." She shrugged, peeking over Liam's shoulder to see what he was watching. "Yeah, but I didn't even do anything!" I complained. Lia groaned. "I mean--you did manipulate him into saying bad things about his friends, bullied his friends, sent that audio to the club --" 

"Wait, what?" I said. Lia looked at me. "W-What was that last thing you said? About the audio?" Lia stared at me blankly. "That you sent it to Hailey?" I couldn't believe what she was saying. "I never sent anything to her. I didn't even know she had the audio!" Lia looked baffled. 

"Then how did you think Jake got kicked out? He never told you?" I gazed at Henry and Liam. "No. And I thought these two asses just told Hailey." Liam looked at me. "Huh?" 

Zoey was silent and was twirling a piece of her hair. "How do you know about the audio?" Lia scratched her neck. "Zoey told me she overheard their conversation." I looked at Zoey, who looked pale. "Why didn't you tell me?" I interrogated her. "I didn't think it was important! It was years ago, it doesn't matter. Let's wait for Jake to get back, all right?" I sighed but listened to Zoey. 

Luke's POV:

We were all laughing at a joke Jake made. I even saw Zander giggle a little. It felt good to have Jake back. I'd always felt guilty about kicking him out. Especially since he never got a chance to explain. But now things were finally falling back into place. Zander and I were getting married, things with Jake were finally better, and everything was going well.

Sean was in the middle of sharing a story when Jake's phone buzzed. We all stopped and stared at him. "Uh, sorry, it's Lia." He said, getting up. "Oh, okay," Hailey said quietly. Jake went into the kitchen and Milly started talking again.

A few minutes went by and I was starting to feel thirsty. I didn't want to interrupt Jake's call, but if I just got a glass of water and left, it wouldn't matter, right?

I tapped Zander on the shoulder. "I'll be right back." I smiled at him. He nodded as I stood up and walked into the kitchen. Before I even entered, I heard Jake's conversation. 

"I don't care! I don't want to see Drew!"

I could hear Lia on the other end.

"Well, he wants to see you!"

"Tell him to leave!"

"I can't! If you don't get here soon, he will come to you!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Jake. He was your best friend. Cut him some slack."

"No, Lia. I won't. He sent the audio to Hailey! He ruined my life!"

"No, he didn't!"

"What do you mean? Of course, he did."

"Actually, no. I was talking to him. He had no idea about the audio."

"He didn't? Then... then who sent it to Hailey? It wasn't you was it?"

"Of course, it wasn't me! Why would I do that? I had no problem with your singing."

"Well, it was one of the five people who were with me that day."

"I don't know, maybe it was Henry."

"That doesn't make sense. It has to have been Drew."

"Get your ass over here, already. We can talk about it here."

"I told you, no! I don't want to see any of them!"

With that, Jake hung up the phone. He turned around he saw me standing there, flabbergasted. "Luke!" He said when he saw me.

"What... what was that about?"

Jake hesitated. "It's nothing. Forget about it." He smiled and walked past me. I didn't want to mess things up again. So I left him alone after that. 

A little while went by and it was close to midnight. There was a knock at the door. "Oh, Luke, could you get that?" Hailey asked me. "Sure!" I smiled and went to the door.

My heart stopped when I saw who was on the other side.

"Hey, Luke. Remember me?"