THE WEEK has gone smoothly so far. I haven't seen Aaron at all, which was one of my biggest worries. The other part of my mind was too preoccupied with Slash & what happened with Izzy.
"You know..," my mother began, placing a breakfast plate in front of me on the table. "Since thanksgiving is coming up, you could stay a bit longer..?" She shrugs, sitting across from me. "Mom.."
"Well, for gods sake Jackie Lynn. You can bring yer damn bandmates if you wanna. Just tell me what I have to do to keep my little girl here a while longer." She finally snapped.
For a minute I really, really considered the offer.. the guys probably had no where to spend thanksgiving, and we'd probably have no one else spending it with us.
"I don't know." I shook my head lightly, stabbing the eggs with my fork. The guys can be a lot sometimes, and I don't want to give my mother another reason to try and convince me to stay. "Thanksgiving isn't for another few weeks." I said.
"Jaqueline, would ye' stop bein' so darn stubborn and stay here with your parents for at least a month before you disappear again?" My father joined in from besides my mother. "Clarence, get off her tail, will ya?" She interjected.
"I don't know, guys. Just give me a few hours and I'll think about it, 'kay?" I said in hopes of leaving this conversation in the dust.
-
"Jackie Lynn, before ye' go, could ya bring in the mail for me?" My mother called from the kitchen as she washed dishes. "Yeah." I shouted back, jogging to the mailbox before returning the envelopes to her.
"Come on, Battle."
I decided to take Battle on a walk, because he looked in need of one, and now that I'm back home, I can act like a teenager again. I don't have to worry about five grown men burning my house down. When I lived here, I'd take Battle to the park everyday before sunset, and swing while he'd play with the children.
I made it to the park and immediately saw a familiar face. "Jackie Lynn? Oh my lord, you're home!" The sweet old lady sped up toward me. "Hey, Carmen." I smiled, pulling her in for a hug. Carmen was one of the neighborhood grandmas. She'd always show up to the barbecues with the sweets, whether it be a pan of brownies, chocolate chip cookies, cake pops..
"Yeah, home for thanksgiving." I said as she pulled away. "Well, that's great!" She exclaimed. "Oh, sweetie.. let me make ya some sweets for the holiday." She bumped my shoulder lightly. "Just come by my house and I'll have some ready for ya."
She hasn't changed a bit.
I spent my time at the park sitting on a bench next to Carmen. She updated me on the neighborhood gossip, specifically sticking to one certain topic about the new family that moved in next to her, who'd always leave cigarettes on the ground just next to her garden. Battle played with the new generation of little kids who'd taken over the park. I wonder how those other kids are doing, the ones he used to play with. They're probably in high school by now, gushing over their first boyfriends or stressing about grades.
NOVEMBER 12th
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4:54 pm
I twirled the phone cord as I listened to the dial tone. beeeeep... beeeeep... beeeeep... Then the garbled sounds of a phone being taken off its receiver.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's Jack." I said, not really sure of who I was talking to.
"Oh, hey Jackie! How's it going?" I recognized the voice as Steven's.
"Great, it's great. I just wanted to talk to you and the guys about something." I responded.
"Yeah, what's up? Everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's good." I reassured him with a small chuckle. "Uh.. I actually just wanted to see if you guys were doing anything for thanksgiving."
"Um.. I don't really know, I think Axl's doing something with some girl he met.. but the rest of us are on our own."
"Oh.. m'kay." I said. I was still a bit hesitant about inviting them. Luckily, the root of the chaos is doing something with some girl he met, so I don't have to worry about him.
"Why do you ask?" He asked with a twinge of confusion in his voice after my silence.
"Oh, nothing."
"Jackieeee..."
"Fuck, fine. I was gonna see if you guys wanted to come down here and spend it with my family and I."
"Oh my god, really?" He responded in excitement.
"Uh.." I immediately started regretting my decision. "Yeah, just talk to the guys and call me when you figure it out."
"Okay!"
I placed the phone back onto its receiver and fell back onto my bed. I was pretty tired after today's events. My mother dragged me out shopping with her because the Black Friday sales had just been popping up.
My eyes began to feel heavy as I looked over the shapes on my ceiling, but soon.. the tiredness took over.
-
I must've slept for at least thirty minutes, becau-
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGG...
"Shit." I jumped awake, rubbing my eyes. "Oh." I mumbled, grabbing the phone. "Hello?" I picked it up, bringing the telephone to my ear.
"Hey, sorry. Did I wake you?" The voice on the other line obviously noticed the sleep coating my voice.
"Yeah."
"Shit, I'm sorry. I was just calling to let you know that Axl's plans are canceled, and the other guys all agreed to go. So did I." I finally recognized the voice as Izzy's.
"Oh, okay. Great." I said before yawning and resting my head back onto my pillow. There was an awkward silence for a moment.
"Soo.. uh.. how's home treating you?" He spoke up.
"Good, but I'm starting to miss you guys." I responded honestly, scratching an itch on my calf.
"Well," he chuckled.
"Shit, what'd y'all do this time?"
"Oh, nothing.. we may have just blown up another toaster."
"And possibly shattered the coffee table..."
"Oh my god." I breathed, rubbing my hand over my face.
"But it's okay. Everything's okay." He reassured. "And you won't miss us when we invade your house and eat all your mother's desserts." He snickered.
"Yeah, alright."
"So when do you want us to come down?"
"Uhh.. I guess like, on the twentieth?"
"Alright. Sorry for interrupting your beauty sleep. Goodnight, Jack."
"Night."
Click.
And he hung up. Though, during the call he acted as if nothing happened back in L.A. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Or maybe he did it purely to start shit. Or to squeeze into the crevices of my brain just as I'd managed to get away from the shit show.
authors note: hi lol um i cant even remember if I published chapter 12 today or yesterday but whatever 🤗 n sorry this chapter was kind of a filler and mostly consisted of phone calls but yeah!