Friends But More

Chapter 7

The next morning, Jackson woke up with a horrible headache. He got an aspirin and didn't eat breakfast.

"Buenos dìas, everyone! Oh, and you," Veronica said, walking in the kitchen, rolling her eyes at Jackson. DJ passed her a plate with eggs and bacon. After she finished, DJ dragged her in the living room.

"Hey, Veronica, I know that you're mad at Jackson, he told me everything last night," said she.

"I'm really sorry, DJ. I didn't know that he would get drunk or something, none of us did."

"Woah, woah, it's all OK. I'm not mad at you or Ramona or even Jackson. He was so worried about you last night, he was begging me not to ground you. And you have absolutely no reason to be worried about you getting punished, you didn't do anything wrong. Just please, go talk to him, he really needs that," DJ said and Veronica smiled a bit.

"Okay, thanks, Deej!"

Veronica ran in the kitchen and hugged Jackson tightly. She felt bad for behaving like a child last night, he wasn't really deserving of it. When she pulled away, she noticed his almost red from blushing cheeks and chuckled.

"W-What was that for?" asked he, clearly confused of Veronica's sudden hug.

"I'm so sorry for talking like that to you last night, I feel horrible. I mean, you just got drunk," Veronica said, looking down.

"It's alright, I deserved it-"

"No, you didn't," she cut him off.

"Thanks, V, but you have nothing to apologize for. And I'm sorry that I assumed you didn't care about me."

"You know I do. And apology accepted."

"Awwwwwwww," all the others exclaimed in unison, Ramona got up and pressed their bodies together.

"Hug already," said she, making both Jackson and Veronica blush. Max nodded and so did DJ, Stephanie, Kimmy, even Tommy. So, there was other choice left, they hugged and the awwws started again.

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Veronica and Ramona were upstairs in their room, talking about yesterday's party. They both enjoyed themselves, but the Drunk Jackson event kinda ruined their night. It was a giant surprise to them that DJ didn't make such a big deal about it. Max opened the door and interrupted their talk.

"Jackson and I are going to the Troller Coaster at night with aunt Steph. We thought you would like to join us," said he. Veronica and Ramona exchanged looks and said in unison, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

They both nodded and yelled, "We'd love to!" at the same time, for once more.

"Great! I'll go tell Jackson. He'll get so excited when he'll hear that Veronica's coming too!"

Max closed the door and rushed to his room.

"Why would Jackson get so happy about me joining you guys?" Veronica asked with a slight tone of confusion in her voice.

"I dunno. Truth is, he really seems to like you. Maybe he's glad that his best friend is joining his ride."

"I'm the best friend?"

"I guess so," Ramona said, shrugging her shoulders. The girls dropped the Jackson-getting-excited-about-Veronica theme, and went downstairs to tell Stephanie about them joining.

"That's great! The better the best!" Stephanie said after Ramona told her everything.

"In case Max forgot to tell you, we're going to the Troller Coaster in about an hour, so start getting ready in a couple of minutes."

"Sure, Steph! Ahhh, I'm so excited, I've never been to a roller coster before," Veronica said, clapping her hands together.

"Welcome to the family," Steph replied with a smile and hugged her.

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"SHE'S COMING WITH US!" Jackson yelled, shaking Max from his hapiness.

"Stoopp shaking mee!" Max yelled back. Jackson just realised he was shaking his little brother the whole time and let him go.

"How did you convience her, Max? What's your secret?" asked he curiously.

"I just told her that you and I would like them to join us. What's wrong with you?"

"Nothinggg! Absolutely nothing."

Max didn't buy that, but he decided not to ask further about it, for now. It was pretty obvious that Jackson was dying fron the fear inside -you see, he's never been to a roller coaster either, he's too scared for that- but for his good luck, Max hadn't noticed that. Instead, he was thinking that his bigger brother was fearless, looked the fear in the eyes and told, "Not today, fear."

If he only knew...

"You will be there to keep me safe, right, Jackson?" Max asked, getting a bit scared of going for the first time at the so called Troller Coaster. He couldn't chicken out, not in front of Max, who for the first time in his life admired and needed him.

"Of course, Max. I'm always here for you."

The little boy smiled widely and hugged Jackson. For the very first time in his life, Jackson Fuller felt confident, useful, really loved by Max. And he didn't want those feelings to disappear.

'I've got to be brave. I'm J-Money. Action Jackson. I can do this!' thought he.

"Oh, I also assured Veronica about how excited you'd get about her joining our Troller Coaster ride. Jackson smile dropped. His whole face turned red, he started sweating.

"You did WHAT?! Are you out of your mind?!!! Please tell me you didn't make that sound too desperate!"

"No. Maybe just a little bit..."

"You're crazy! Now she probably thinks I'm desperate! WHY ON EARTH DID YOU DO THAT, MAX?"

"Sorry, chill. She seemed totally fine. And so did Ramona. Why all this stress? Are you on your boy-period or something?"

"Period? Boys don't have- Anyways, I've gotta talk to her RIGHT NOW!" said Jackson and rushed to the girls' room. He knocked on the door and Ramona opened it.

"Sup, Jaxito?"

"Leave, I need to talk with Veronica. Alone."

"Okay, calm down, bro, I'm leaving," Ramona replied, raising an eyebrow at Jackson's weird behaviour.

"What do you want?" Veronica asked, patting the seat on the bed next to her. He sat down and gulped.

"You're coming with us tonight, huh?"

"Yeah, I hope you wouldn't mind. It was so kind of you and Max to invite me and Ramona."

"Sure! I mean, yeah, of course."

"You're really kind. And you have such a sweet personality. I'm still sorry about what happened when you were drunk," Veronica mumbled the last part.

"Hey, hey, it's OK. You have no reason to be, we talked about that."

Veronica nodded. A little voice inside Jackson's mind was telling him that he should hug her right there right then, but he wasn't sure.

"Would it be too weird if I hugged you right now?" asked he.

"Shut the hell up, Fuller," and with that, she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. Veronica knew only one thing that moment, Jackson Fuller was from now on someone very important to her.