I groaned and rolled over. I yelped in surprise as I hit something, and then heard a crash and a groan.
“Jace.” Mitch’s voice floated up to me.
I peeked over the side of the bed to see him awkwardly lying on the floor. He glared up at me, rubbing his elbow.
“There are other ways to wake me up!” he snapped, pushing himself to his feet. He shoved me over and crawled into bed next to me.
“Ah…oops,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “My bad.”
“Whatever. Do you remember last night?” he asked, pulling the blanket back over us.
I nodded at him. “Yea. So that was really you who had Jake acting like my mom?”
“That was me,” he confirmed. “I was worried about you.”
I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder. He put his arm around me, pulling me closer to his body.
“We need therapy,” I mumbled.
“Probably,” Mitch agreed with a nod. “But that shits expensive. Anyways, I’ll talk to Trevor and Patrick today.”
I dropped my gaze, focusing on a book he had lazily tossed to the floor. “Why are you giving up so much for me, Mitch?”
“You idiot,” he said with a sigh. “Because I care about you. Because trust takes two people. I want you to be able to trust me.”
“Do you trust me? Even after I left you for a year?” I asked.
“Of course I trust you, Jace,” he said, forcing me to meet his eyes.
I realized how close I was to his lips. But as much as I wanted to kiss him, I knew that I couldn’t. We weren’t ready to get back together. We were still fixing things.
“I’m hungry. Let’s go get Rio and Shane and eat already,” Mitch said, sitting up and pulling me with him.
We got out of his bed and went to Shane’s room. Rio was passed out on the couch, and Shane was sprawled on his bed.
Mitch went over and grabbed Rio’s arm. He tugged him roughly and let him fall to the ground.
“OW!” Rio’s eyes snapped open and he glared at Mitch. “You know, you could just be a normal person and shake my shoulder or something.”
“Jace pushed me out of my bed this morning, so I figured you could enjoy the same experience,” Mitch said before going over to Shane.
“Wake up,” he said, grabbing a pillow and violently whacking Shane with it.
Shane sat up in surprise, scrambling away from Mitch and throwing his arms up defensively. He slowly lowered them and narrowed his eyes at Mitch.
“Mitchell,” he growled. “You’re dead. Run.”
Mitch dropped the pillow and darted out of Shane’s room. Shane jumped up and took off after him. Rio and I glanced at each other before shrugging and following the brothers.
I watched as Shane launched at Mitch, slamming into him. They both fell to the ground and Shane pinned Mitch there, pulling his arm behind his back and tugging it up painfully.
“Don’t wake me up like that!” Shane snapped.
Mitch struggled against him. “I could’ve pulled you off the bed!”
“I’m about to shove my foot so far up your ass!” Shane said.
“Keep the feet out of the asses,” Jasper said, passing by the brothers with a lazy glance at them.
“Jasper!” Carol said in annoyance, coming out and smacking him in the arm. “Shane, get off your brother before you break his arm.”
“Break his arm? That sounds like a great idea!” Shane said, tugging it up more.
“Ow! You asshole, you already broke my finger!” Mitch said.
“Oh, I forgot about that. Jasper, get Shane off of him before we need another trip to the hospital,” Carol said, shoving her husband at Shane.
“What? Why do I have to do it?” Jasper asked with a frown.
“Oh, men are useless. SHANE DANIEL MARION, YOU GET OFF OF MITCH RIGHT NOW.”
Shane winced and climbed off of Mitch, looking at his mom nervously. Mitch sat up and rubbed his shoulder, getting to his feet.
Carol went over and smacked Shane in the back of the head. “You idiot. Stop hurting your brother. Hospital bills are expensive!”
“Oh, it’s not like I cause him serious damage on purpose,” Shane grumbled.
“You hit him with a car!” Carol rubbed her temples. “Jasper, I’m divorcing you, and you can get full custody of the boys.”
“I don’t want them,” Jasper said.
“You know, I hear plugging in a toaster and then putting it in the bathtub is really relaxing,” Carol said to Shane and Mitch.
“I’m going to suffocate you with a pillow when you’re old so I don’t have to waste money putting you in a nursing home,” Shane said.
“I’m going to suffocate you with a pillow right now because you’re a rude bastard,” Carol said.
“We’re hungry,” Mitch said.
“Kitchen’s over there. Go fend for yourselves. Survival of the fittest,” Carol said and walked away.
“Come on you useless bastards. I know how to make food,” Rio said, rolling his eyes and leading us into the kitchen. “What do you want?”
“Make us wraps,” Mitch said, sitting at the counter. Shane and I joined him and nodded in agreement.
Rio shrugged and got to work, making all of us chicken wraps. He sat down with us when he was done.
“It’s really not hard. You just put the food on the tortilla and roll it,” Rio said. “A five year old could do it.”
“Jace could probably set it on fire somehow,” Mitch said.
“Most likely,” I said with a hopeless sigh.
“How do you people not know how to make yourselves food? You’re 18 and 20,” Rio said.
“Easy mac,” we all said at the same time.
Rio rolled his eyes. “Dumbasses.”
“We don’t all spend time being mommy’s little bitch in the kitchen,” Mitch said.
“Well, sorry I’m not hopelessly reliant on my mom to make me food,” Rio said with a smirk.
We finished eating and moved into the living room, turning on the TV. We all lazily laid on the couches.
“Shane, come help me!” Jasper called.
Shane sighed in annoyance and got up, leaving to help his dad. Mitch stood up and I looked at him curiously.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to call Trevor,” he said and walked away.
“Why’s he calling Trevor?” Rio asked in confusion.
“Because he’s going to stop going out at night,” I said, keeping my eyes on the TV.
But to my surprise, Rio laughed. I looked over at him and he shook his head, grinning at me.
“Seriously Jace, do you not realize how much people give up for you? From what Mitch told me, your mom gives up a shit ton for you. And I know for a fact that Mitch gives up a lot for you,” he said.
“So?” I grumbled.
“So it’s because they love you,” Rio said. “Trust me. My mom quit her dream job to stay home and take care of my brother when he got out of rehab the first time. And then she had to go find another job to afford to put him back in rehab again. People give up the things they love for the people they love. Mitch told me he quit smoking because of you. He’s spent the past several years going out at night with Trevor and Patrick because his sleeping problems drive him crazy. He’s willing to give that up to earn your trust.”
“It’ll keep him safe,” I grumbled.
“Maybe. But what’s he supposed to do all night? He can’t sleep at night. He just lays there with nothing to do,” Rio said.
“He can read a book,” I said with a shrug. “I don’t know. But I think being bored beats being jumped.”
Rio laughed. “For being so close with Mitch, you don’t know him very well.”
I shot him an angry look. “Shut up, Rio. You barely know him. I’ve known Mitch since he was born.”
He raised his hands innocently. “Whoa, calm down, I’m not trying to steal the guy from you, remember? I’m just saying. Mitch likes the excitement of fights. He likes going out at night.”
I stood up and left the room without another word to Rio. I went to Mitch’s bedroom and let myself in.
“Well you could always just call me if you need me,” Mitch was saying. He looked up at me in surprise as I came in.
“I need to talk to you,” I said.
“Learn to knock,” he said with a sigh. “Trevor, I’ll call you later. What? No, I already said I’m not going out at night anymore. Yea, yea, yea. Bye.” He hung up and turned to me. “What?”
“Go out at night, Mitch. Just…be careful,” I said.
He sighed. “Rio talked to you?” he guessed.
“He had a point,” I mumbled. “You only started going out because you couldn’t sleep at night.”
Mitch went over to his TV and gestured at all the video games stacked up near it. He pointed over at an almost full bookshelf.
“I can play video games, read, go on my laptop, watch movies or TV, listen to music…I can figure something out, Jace,” he said.
“But you won’t be happy,” I said.
He came over to me, a crooked smile on his face. “How about this? I’ll stop going out for now. If I really start to get bored, I’ll let you know, and we can figure something out. Maybe I’ll start going out again and just keep my mouth shut. But for now, I’ll give it a rest,” he offered.
“If you’re okay with that,” I said.
He nodded. “I’m fine with that. I could use a break, anyways.” His smile grew.
“What?” I asked. “Why are you smiling like that?”
“Because we’re doing what we didn’t do last time,” he said. “Trust, compromise…”
Compromise.
I shifted guiltily. “Mitch…do you really think I have a drinking problem?”
He nodded. “I do.”
I dropped my gaze. “So, uh…”
“So we’ll help you,” he said, reaching out and taking my hand in his. “We’ll cut back slowly. Ease you off it. I told you last year that I wasn’t going to let you become an alcoholic.”
“I don’t want to be the next Deryck Whibley. Although I feel Pieces on a spiritual level,” I said.
Mitch laughed. “I won’t let you follow in his footsteps. Damn, we grew up off of that music.”
“Guess we picked the wrong idols,” I said with a sigh.
“Come on; let’s go back out to the living room,” he said, releasing my hand and leaving his room. I followed after him.
“Aw, look at the lovebirds,” I said as we came into the living room.
Shane was lying on the couch, his feet in Rio’s lap. Rio sighed and shoved Shane’s feet off of himself, but Shane put them back where they had been.
“I’ve been trying to get his feet off of me,” Rio said with a pout.
“Trust me when I say that I would never get with Rio,” Shane said, lightly kicking Rio in the chest. “If I was going to start playing for the other team, I’d hook up with someone less obnoxious.”
“I can feel the love,” Rio said and shoved Shane’s feet off again.
Mitch and I sat down together, rolling our eyes at them. I laid down, resting my head on Mitch’s lap. He began to play with my hair, and I fought off my emotions.
I missed being with Mitch. It was torture, knowing that I loved him and he loved me but we couldn’t be together the way we used to be. All because of me. All because I had ruined our relationship with my trust problems.
“Stop,” Mitch said, his voice low so that only I could hear him. “I can tell what you’re thinking, Jace. Just stop it. You’re blaming yourself, and it’s not your fault. We both made mistakes.”
I stayed silent, keeping my eyes on the TV. Rio and Shane were arguing about Shane’s feet being on Rio’s lap again, and they weren’t paying attention to us.
“I’m sorry Mitch,” I said at last, so quiet I didn’t even know if he would hear me.
But he did hear me, because he shifted me so that I was sitting up, and hugged me. I pulled out of his arms.
“Stop apologizing,” he said.
“Oh, they’re having a moment. We should probably leave,” Rio said.
“Rio, I know 27 ways to kill you and make it look like an accident,” Mitch said without taking his eyes off of me.
Rio chuckled. “Hey man, I told you about my cousin. The guy is a scrawny little mess of troubled past, daddy issues, and insecurities, but even he got a happy relationship. You and Jace should just make up already so we don’t have to sit around and watch you make bedroom eyes at each other all day,” he said.
“Hurt him?” I offered.
“Hurt him,” Mitch agreed.
We jumped up and tackled Rio off the couch. I restrained Rio as Mitch punched him. Shane laughed and cheered us on.
“You guys are assholes!” Rio groaned as Mitch gave him a particularly hard blow to the chest.
I released him and he rubbed his chest, glaring at us. Mitch and I grinned and shared a high-five, sitting back up on the couch.
“Rude,” Rio grumbled, sitting back down, still rubbing his chest.
“Want to see my favorite thing?” Mitch asked.
“What’s your favorite thing?” I asked.
Mitch stood up and snatched Rio’s glasses off of his face. Rio swatted at him blindly and let out a whine.
“Mitch! You’re such an ass!” he said, carefully standing up and trying to take his glasses back.
“Mitchell, give him his glasses,” Carol said as she came into the room. “You are such a dick to your friends.”
“I’ll give them back in a second,” Mitch said. “Just let me do this first.”
“Don’t you dare!” Rio cried.
But Mitch grinned and shoved Rio so that he fell over the arm of the couch and crashed to the ground. Rio yelped as he landed on his back clumsily.
“Mitchell!” Carol said in annoyance. “You freaking moron. Give him his glasses and stop trying to kill him. Shane, you should’ve hit him a second time with the car to make sure you finished the job.”
Mitch snickered and tossed Rio’s glasses. They hit Rio’s chest and he sat up, putting them back on and blinking a few times.
“I’ll get you back for that,” he growled, standing up and punching Mitch roughly.
Mitch winced and rubbed his arm. “You’ve been saying that for months.”
“Oh, shut up,” Rio said and rolled his eyes.
Mitch came back over and sat down next to me. “See, that’s one of my favorite things to do.”
“You’re an idiot,” Carol said.
“You’re a genius,” I said, and winced when Carol smacked me in the back of the head.
“Don’t encourage him you idiot!” she said.
“Sorry,” I said, cautiously watching her in case she hit me again.
“You, come with me,” she said, pulling me to my feet and leading me down to the basement.
“Am I in trouble?” I asked. Was she going to murder me for encouraging Mitch?
“No. Your mom called this morning,” she said. “She wanted to know how you and Mitch were acting around each other. I know you still want to be with Mitch, and I know he still wants to be with you. But take it slow, Jace. Don’t rush into a relationship just because you miss having one with him. Make sure you’re ready.”
“What if I’m never ready?” I asked, feeling hopeless. My trust issues had ruined us last time, and they could ruin us again.
“Then I’ll make Mitch his favorite dinner to cheer him up and tell him to deal with it. But you’ll be ready someday, Jace,” she said, offering me a smile. “You’ve been my third idiotic son for most of your life. I know you well enough to promise you that someday you’ll be ready for a relationship. Don’t rush into it. Ease into it nice and slow.”
“I’m sorry I hurt Mitch,” I said.
“And I’m sorry Mitch hurt you. But you know what? That’s in the past. Honestly, haven’t you ever watched The Lion King? What’s done is done, and you two seem to be moving on from it,” she said.
“Thanks Carol,” I said gratefully.
“I watch out for my kids. All of them,” she said, giving me a playful shove before heading upstairs.
I went upstairs and sat back down with Mitch, leaning against him. Carol was right. I could just ease into a relationship with Mitch, nice and slow. At the thought of that, I smiled lightly at Mitch.
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A.N.- Hey guys! So as many of you know, I have a prompt account where you can sent me little prompts and I'll write them and yea. It's a good time. I need to kill some time today, so you should send me some prompts! They can be Jace/Mitch, Shane/Rio, Rio/Ethan...whatever you want! Here's the link to the prompt account:
http://www.wattpad.com/user/promptingskenekidz
Also, do you guys think Mitch and Jace should get back together? :)