A love like war

Chapter 3

*Dakota pov*

After Alex told me the guys would be over soon, I went back upstairs to my room and shut the door behind me. I laid down on my bed and started listening to music. After what seemed like forever trying to find a song to listen too, I settled on listening to Bulls In The Bronx by Pierce the Veil.
"Do you know I count your heartbeats before you sleep (you sleep)? I bite my fingernails to bone (to bone). And then I crawl back under the stairwell to a place I call my home." I sing along to the lyrics quietly to myself. As the song continues, I kept thinking to myself, what if Jack ever found out how I feel about him? Would they get in the way and ruin everything? Not only was I worrying about that, but how would I keep Alex from finding out I still had these feelings for Jack? The questions kept running through my head, and they eventually gave me a headache.

If he ever found out that I lied to him about not having feelings anymore, and that they never went away, he would flip shit. Sighing, the song comes to an end and I'm snapped out of my thoughts when I hear a door closing downstairs and some mumbling. I quickly unplug my headphones and slide my phone into my back pocket. I slid off of my bed and I scurry down the hallway and try to be as quiet as I can going down the stairs, the voice becomes more clear and obvious of who it is, and I was surprised to hear that it was Rian!
I slowly and quietly walk into the kitchen as that's where I heard the voices coming from. Rian had his back turned away from me while talking to Alex about something. Alex looks behind Rian and sees me, I immediately bring my finger up to my mouth in an attempt to keep him quiet. Of course, that doesn't work.
"Hey, Rian, look behind you!" Alex shouted with an evil look on his face. He's such an asshole.
Rian turns around with a "what the hell" type of look on his face, and as soon as he sees me, his eyes widen.
"Alex, you fucking piece of shit!" I yelled, looking passed Rian and stared at my pigheaded cousin. My eyes snap from him back to Rian as he begins to speak. "Holy shit, Dakota!" Rian screams. "Hey Ri!" I screamed back at him. He engulfs me into what felt like a bear hug. I hugged him back as he squeezed the actual life out of me. God damn, I forgot he was pretty strong too. Wait, he's a drummer, of course he's going to be strong. I'm so stupid.
As we pull apart he looks at me and says "Well shit! I didn't know even know that you were coming! How long has it been- three, four years?" He looks down at me, that smile never leaving his Mr Potato face. I nod up at him.
"Five years actually." I say to him. I then turn to Alex, my anger slightly coming back. "Did you really not tell anyone I was coming?" I fold my arms over my chest, my eyebrows raising. 
"I thought it would be a good idea to surprise everyone. Plus, I wanted to be that asshole." He says with a smirk on his face, eyes holding something playful.
I rolled my eyes and give him the finger and he holds his hand over his heart and starts to make the ugliest cry face I've ever seen. Fucking idiot.
"You hurt my feelings, you bitch." He fake cries once more.
"It's my job." I reply, a menacing smile stretching across my face.
Not much later, there's a soft knock on the door. I run a little too quickly and of course, fall flat on my face. I pick myself up quickly, open the door and my heart sinks as my vision is encased in Zack's bold figure. My mouth hangs open as I stare at him.
"What's up, Thor?" I say with a sarcastic tone.
His eyes widen once he realizes that its me.
"Holy fuck, Dakota! How are you?" He says as he pulls me into a bone crushing hug.
"I've been pretty good, but you're kinda crushing me." I groan as I'm trying to gasp for air. I felt my bones compressing together as he hugs me tighter and then releases me completely.
"Sorry about that, I just can't believe that you're here." He says ecstatically, his body language showing it, too. I felt the same.
"Yeah, Alex didn't tell anybody cause he's an asshole." I say rolling my eyes, my eyes quickly dart to Alex who was shrugging his shoulders. I then turn to the side and let the man enter the house. I close the door behind him and lock it.

God, it was so nice to finally be able to see and speak to these two again. Guess I missed them more then I thought I did. Of course, I still have to wait for Jack to show up. I wonder what he's going to think when he sees me.
"Anyone know when princess Jack is gonna show up?" Zack asked, looking around the room at all the bodies occupying the space.
"Haven't heard from him since this morning." Alex exclaims, shrugging his shoulders honestly.
"I bet if he knew Dakota was here, he'd be here in a heartbeat." Rian chuckles, smile stretching from ear to ear.
I begin to blush at Rians statement. Rian grits his teeth, immediately regretting what he just said as Alex shoots him a glare and then looks back over at me. Shit, I think he saw me blushing. I try to avoid eye contact with him, so I stare down at the floor trying to hide my face.
Alex races over to me and forcefully grabs my upper arm. My arm burning under his very strong grip, and drags me down the hall and into the downstairs bathroom. He shuts the door behind us, and flicks the light on. Fear rising within me.
"Why d-did you drag me i-into the bathroom?" I question him, my voice failing slightly as the crippling anxiety starts to hit me wave after wave. I wasn't sure what he was going to say or how he was going to react.
"Don't think I didn't see you blushing at what Rian said." He growls at me, eyes narrowing. "I need to know now, do you or do you not have a crush on Jack?"
"I don't have a crush on Jack." I say lying straight through my teeth. Obviously he was able to tell I was lying.
"Don't lie to me." He snaps at me.
"I.." My voice begins to trail off and before I can say anything else, a very loud banging begins on the front door. That had to be Jack.
"Who the fuck locked the door?!" Jack shouted. My heart dropped at his voice. I hadn't heard it in so long.
Alex opens up the bathroom door scowling at me and says "This conversation isn't over." He says to me in an almost threatening tone.

I was able to breathe a sigh of relief, well for now. I take a moment to myself before I left the room to catch up with my asshole cousin. Alex proceeds down the hallway to unlock the door and that's when Jack comes barreling through.
"Dude what the hell? You never lock the door." I heard Jack whine.
"I wasn't the one who locked the door. Maybe I should from now on so your ass can't come barging through anymore." Alex states sounding a little annoyed. He was probably more annoyed at me though. I was the one who had the feelings here. Jack was oblivious to pretty much everything.
"Well then who fucking did?" Jack questions, voice raising slightly, which causes me to roll my eyes. 
My god, I forgot how much Jack complained about literally everything.
Although I'm still not over this whole conversation I just had with Alex, I couldn't wait to see Jack. I stepped out of the bathroom and into the hallway. "It was me." I said a little too eagerly. All Jack did was stare at me and attempt to take in the fact that I was standing right in front of him.