"Nashville? That's so exciting!" Steven exclaims from across the booth. "Steven, keep it down, man. We're in public." Axl shushes him, looking up from his menu. Steven glares at him then shifts his attention back to me.
"Yeah.. Nashville." I say in an unsure tone. It all happened pretty fast.. I thought my mom would hate me and tell me to never show my face in Nashville again..
"You should get us a gig down there, or something." Axl remarks, peeking over his menu again. "No, Axl. You won't step foot in the same state as my mother." I shut him down quickly. Axl and my mom would probably get into a cat fight.
He scoffs and mumbles a 'Fine.' Then finally focuses back on his menu. "Jackie, you should take Slash with you!" Steven suggests. Both Slash and I turn our heads up at this.
"Uh..." Slash's face lights up. "Yeah, I could meet your parents!" He exclaims. "Uh.." I repeat. Luckily the waitress saves me from ripping Slash's heart out of his chest.
"Hi, welcome to Celeste's, I'm Valerie, and I'll be your server today. What would you folks like to eat today?" She says in an overly cheery voice. "Well, Valerie.." Axl offers her a sly smile. All six of us order our food and return back to our conversation after the waitress leaves.
"Anyway, yeah. You should totally take Slash with you! He can meet your childhood friends and inbred cousins!" Steven exclaims. Axl slaps his menu on the table, glaring at him.
"Steven.. I don't have inbred cousins." I whisper, eyeing the older people in the restaurant who were staring. "Oh.. I thought that was a Tennessee thing."
"What? Dude.. No." Duff furrows his brows. "Okay, whatever. Slash, its bum-fuck USA, I promise you won't be missing out on anything."
-
"If Mars had earthquakes, would they be called Mars-quakes?" Steven continues badgering me while I keep abusing my closet to find some decent clothing. "Dunno."
"When lightning strikes the water.. Why don't all the fish die?" He asks again after a minute. "No clue."
"Can you cry underwater?"
"Steven, I don't fuckin' know, man. I'm trying to pack here." I respond. I'm starting to think he found a 'Ten questions to annoy your friends.' Book or something.
"Fine, I'll just go ask Izzy."
"Yeah, you do that."
I continue shuffling through drawers and hangers. "Jaaaaaack." I hear a voice from behind me, followed by lazy footsteps walking toward my room.
"In here!" I shout from the deepest darkest corners of my closet. "I'm bored." I turn back to see Slash standing in the doorway with a bottle of Jack Daniels.
"Sorry, I'm not." I respond, brushing past him. He throws himself onto my bed. "Careful, dude. I don't want JD soaked sheets." I warn him, returning to my half-packed suitcase.
"Do you really hafta go?" He groans. "Yeah, I told my mom I would." I reply, shoving a pair of boots into my bag. "At least let me go with you."
"No, Slash. I'm sorry. If it were any other trip, I'd let you, but it's my mother and I's first time seeing each other in like... four years.. I'm sure I'll go again, and you can come with me next time."
"Fuck, fine." He grumbles, rolling off the bed and leaving my room without another word. I shake my head and continue packing.
"Yo, Jackie." Another voice calls me. I drop a pair of pants to the ground and sigh. "Steven, I swear to God.. if it's another goddamn stupid question.. I'm gonna filet your limbs and shove you in my suitcase, then mail you to my father's doorstep." I say with my back kept turned toward the door.
"Uh.. Not Steven.. Please don't chop up my legs." I turn back to see Izzy with a feared look on his face and his hands up in defense. "I actually came here to escape those questions myself."
"Shit." I chuckle, softening my expression. He closes his door behind him and takes a seat on my bed. "Um, ew.. why is it wet?" He immediately stands up. "Oh, Slash spilled some JD." I reply. "Before he stormed off like a little baby." I grumble in a quieter voice.
"Oh."
"Yeah, pretty fuckin' stressed. If you came in here to tell me bad news, or ask a million questions, don't."
"Nah, I just wanted to see what you were up to." He replies casually. "This." I gesture to the clothes spread out across my floor. "You wanna talk about it?"
"What?" I furrow my brows in confusion. "Not the clothes. Whatever's got you stressed." He chuckles lightly, readjusting himself on the bed with one leg hanging off.
"Oh.. just uh.." I trail off, sitting back on the floor. "I mean.. Slash got upset.. I think? 'Cause I told him he couldn't go.." I began. "And I'm overall just stressed about the trip.. The plane ride.. Seeing everyone again.. Leaving you guys for dead.." I let out a hearty laugh at the end. "I mean, what if she forgets I'm coming? Did she tell my dad? What if they had a baby or something..? What if my dad doesn't wanna see me?"
"Woah, slow down." He tries to interject. "I don't even know if they're together anymore.. I mean she said something about him over the phone, but what if she remarried? What if-"
"Jackie." He raises his voice a bit, getting off the bed and walking toward me. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "What?"
He sits down on the floor next to me.
"You're creating problems in your head again." He looks into my eyes. "Stop that." He shakes his head a bit. "Fine." I huff, standing up again. "If Slash wants to be a crybaby, let him. He'll get over it."
"Yeah, he'll get over it by banging some bitch off the street." I roll my eyes, leaning against the wall. He sighs, walking toward me. "You just did it again."
"Huh?"
"Creating problems."
"Whatever."
"Look, Jackie. I'm on your side and all, but you gotta have some faith in Slash." He says. "I know, I know."
He takes a step closer, getting dangerously close to me. All the worries in my brain have completely vanished at this point.
I find myself slowly leaning in closer, as is he. His lips graze just above mine, the feeling of his breath sends chills down my spine. "I wanna kiss you."
"Kiss me." I dared, parting my lips. Just before he could close the gap, he backed up, taking a deep breath. "I can't."
"Why not?" I couldn't believe my own words. What if Slash walked in? He sucked in air sharply.
"If I kissed you," he said as he leaned in again. "I don't think I'd be able to stop."
My breath hitched into the back of my throat as he pulls back, turning toward the door and leaving without another word. Did that really just happen? Izzy and I almost kissed?
My back stays glued to the wall as I stand there, stunned.. Acting like a teenager after her first date or something. It was weird, and very unexpected... But some part of me liked it.
God I'm such a whore...
But fuck it!
-
"Alright, you ready?" Duff asks when I approach the front door. "Yeah." I sigh, dropping my suitcase onto the floor.
"I'll help you." Axl offers, getting up from the couch. The three of us head outside to find Steven and Slash lighting firecrackers in the street. "The hell are you idiots doin'?" I look over at them.
"Firecrackers!" They respond simultaneously. "Yeah.. M'kay." I turn back into the house to get my third bag and spot Izzy leaning against the porch banister, but ignore it. I almost feel guilty about our little moment yesterday.. I feel like I betrayed Slash or something.
It didn't happen, though.
"Jackie, c'mere." Slash beckons me over into the empty neighborhood street. I hand my bag off to Axl and follow Slash.
"Hey.." he smiles down at me, wrapping his arms around my waist. "Hi." I smile back. "Sorry for bitching yesterday." He says, tucking some of my hair behind my ear.
"It's okay.. and I'm sorry that you can't go. I want you to, but being that this is our first time seeing each other in so long.. She'd probably expect to see Aaron. I'll bring it up to her that we're not together anymore.. and I'll talk to her about you coming down some time."
Shit. Aaron. He's my moms fucking neighbor.. How am I supposed to avoid that?
"Alright, let's go!" Duff shouts, getting into the drivers seat. I nod and turn back to Slash. "I'll see you soon." He smiles. "M'kay." He closes the gap between us and drags out the kiss a bit longer than I expected. He lets out a deep groan when I try pulling back. "Slash." I mumble in between kisses. "I.. Have... To... Go..."
"Whyyy?" He moans, finally pulling back. "Bye, I'll see you soon." I say, leaving a last peck on his cheek. "See ya, Steven!" I wave. He returns the wave with a huge smile on his face before jumping when the firecracker startles him.
"Later, loser." Axl punches my shoulder lightly. "See ya."
Izzy waves from the porch, keeping his distance. "Turner." He nods with a smile. I return the smile and nod in response. "Stradlin."
I hop into the passenger seat and shuffle through the radio stations as we pull out. Slash and Steven wave their arms dramatically. "Love you, Jack!" Steven shouts. Slash holds up a heart sign with his hands above his head. I shake my head at his cheesiness and wave back at them.
"God, they act like I'm fleeing the country."
"You're leavin' us." Duff responds, wiping fake tears from his face. "Ah, you'll be fine. If you run out of food just sacrifice Izzy or something."
"Nah, Slash. I like my meat dark." He raises his eyebrows and smirks. I laugh and shake my head. "Weirdo.." I mumble.
authors note:
hi!! apologies for lack of updates, thanksgiving was pretty wild for me and my enormous family. anyway jackie is in DEEP SHIT
also sorry for short chapter :/ was kinda stuck while writing this.
Jackie and Izzy's little moment was actually inspired from another book but i cant remember what it was called.
c u next time! thank you for reading.