To say that the situation Kaycee found herself in at that moment was awkward would be a horrific understatement.
"I don't want jackass coming over, he treats you like garbage!" Kylie shouted, slamming her palms on the counter in front of Kaycee. "Have a little self respect!"
Kaycee sighed, they'd been arguing for awhile now, after Kaycee had asked her parents if Jack could come over for a bit. Kylie just so happened to be in the room and lost it, and has been preaching about 'having some self respect' for the past hour.
"He's not a jackass, and you're not a part of our relationship! You don't know everything!" Kaycee cried.
"I know that he's not good enough for you!" Kylie yelled back, pointing her index finger in her face.
"You're ridiculous." Kaycee spat, getting up from her spot at the counter. "Stop meddling in my life and worry about yourself first."
She started towards the staircase to lock herself in her room until Jack got there, but Kylie followed and stopped her.
Kylie stood in front of Kaycee, holding onto her shoulders. "You're my little sister," she started, her eyes softening and her voice almost a whisper, "It's my job to protect you."
Kaycee ripped herself out of Kylie's grasp forcefully. "I don't need you to protect me from Jack. He's my boyfriend, my soulmate."
Kylie snickered, which turned into laughter, and soon her whole body was shaking as she cackled at the younger girl in front of her. "I-I don't know...I don't know what exactly you're on, but I need some of it." She spoke through uneven breaths.
"What's so funny?" Kaycee interrogated, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"You! You're delusional!" Kylie sputtered, still recovering from her fit of laughter moments ago.
"Why? Because I said Jack is my soulmate?" The younger girl asked. "He very well could be, I'm not delusional."
"I'm willing to bet my entire life savings and then some that he's not your soulmate." Kylie quipped, placing her hands on her hips.
They stayed that way for what felt like forever, the two staring daggers into each other's eyes. Kaycee found herself so frustrated with her sister that she almost didn't hear the knock at the door. It sounded as if it were lightyears away, she was in her own little world, glaring at Kylie so intensely, willing her to burst into flames.
"You should probably get that." Kylie growled, turning around to clomp up the stairs. "Wouldn't want to keep your soulmate waiting." And with that, she finished her ascent up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door.
Kaycee let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding and made her way toward the front door. She made eye contact with her parents who sat on the couch, knowing they had listened to the entire argument with Kylie. Her mom gave her a sympathetic smile, while Brad gave her a blank stare; she could never tell what he was thinking.
She opened the door to reveal Jack, standing on the 'welcome' mat, his hands in the pockets of his black jeans and his head hanging down. When he heard the door open, he shot his head up and smiled at the girl in front of him.
"Hey Kayc," he spoke quietly, stepping forward to get closer to her.
She closed the gap between them, wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her head on his shoulder. She broke away seconds later, afraid to touch him for too long, fearing he'd disappear.
She cleared her throat, motioning him forward and into the house. "Hey, come on in."
Jack stepped past her into the house, sliding his shoes off and placing them on the shoe mat next to the door. Kaycee watched him patiently, then led him into the family room where her parents resided.
Laura noticed him right away, perking up in her seat. "Jack, how are you sweetie?" She asked, adjusting herself to face him.
Kaycee sat down on the couch adjacent to where her parents were seated, patting the spot next to her for Jack to sit.
He obliged, sliding down next to her, keeping a respectable distance. "I'm good, how are you both?" He asked politely.
Kaycee cringed internally while Laura and Jack kept up their forced conversation. Nothing about it was natural, you could cut the tension in the room with a knife. She couldn't help but feel as though bringing him home was a mistake, maybe she should've went to his place.
She was snapped out of her thoughts when Laura directed a question at her. "Kaycee? Did you hear me?"
"Mmm?" She hummed, moving her gaze from her lap to the woman in front of her. "Sorry, I was zoned out. What did you say?"
Laura smiled meekly. "I asked what you two were up to tonight?"
Kaycee looked to Jack, who shrugged. She sighed, "I'm not sure. This was kind of a last minute thing."
"If you want, we can leave you two the tv out here and we'll go to our bedroom." Laura offered, nudging Brad with her elbow to get his attention.
"We will?" Brad whispered, making no move to stand up with Laura.
"Yes," Laura spoke, snapping her fingers. "We will. That way they can watch something in peace."
Brad finally stood, following Laura down the hall toward their bedroom. Kaycee heard him mumble something along the lines of how he wouldn't be a distraction to the kids, and that he didn't want them in there alone; which was met with more of Laura's snapping to get him to keep quiet.
There were several seconds of awkward silence after Kaycee heard her parents' door close, neither her or Jack knowing what to do or say next. She finally clambered up from her seat to snatch the remote that rested on the couch where Brad had sat. She stood in front of the television while she navigated to the Netflix application, only returning to her seat when it was up and running.
Jack broke the silence first. "Your dad doesn't seem to like me all that much." He joked lightly, his hands wringing in his lap.
Kaycee shook her head, flipping through various movies to find something interesting. "He's always like that. I can never get a read on him." She finally settled on some thriller movie that she remembers Jack saying he wanted to watch and set the remote down.
Jack scooted himself closer. "What do you mean?"
"It sounds stupid, but I feel like lately, he's been almost disappointed in me and my choices." She paused, using the remote to turn the volume up more. "He's been more distant from me, it's not something I particularly enjoy."
"You're probably just imagining things." Jack said, using this as an excuse to drape his arm over Kaycee's shoulders. "You're growing up, things are going to be different sometimes."
"Mhm," She hummed, nuzzling herself into Jack's side. She rested her head in the crook of his neck and brought her legs over his, her arms hooking around his neck to keep herself in place.
Jack tensed, shaking his legs to get Kaycee to untangle herself from him. He pulled his upper body backward to look at her, leaning back on his hands.
"As much as I want to just brush things under the rug and pretend like we didn't have a major blowout a few weeks ago," he started, using his fingers to tilt her chin up, "we have to talk about it."
Kaycee nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right." She inhaled sharply, moving her hands to her lap and interlacing them. "Where do we start?"
"I mean, I wanted to apologize. That's where I'm starting." He spoke gently. "I get that you and Sean are close, and when you told me he's always cognizant of our relationship and tries his hardest to be respectful, I should've stopped the argument there. I shouldn't have turned it into an attack on you, more than it already was."
Kaycee snickered, "Yeah, but I shouldn't have lied." Her voice wavered slightly, but she kept going. "I thought that what you didn't know wouldn't hurt you, you know? Which is dumb, because if someone did that to me, I'd feel betrayed, too. So I'm sorry."
Jack smiled faintly, reaching forward to place his hand on her knee. "I think we did need this break, I found myself getting jealous a lot more than I'd like to admit." He paused, chuckling at his revelation, "And it made me realize how much you mean to me, and how it would really stink to lose you over something like this."
Kaycee bobbed her head up and down, resting her hand on top of his. "I agree. One hundred percent. I've missed this."
Jack beamed at the girl next to him, leaning in to press his lips gently against hers. Kaycee moved herself closer, crawling into his lap and deepening the kiss. Jack reached his hands up, leaving one on the small of her back while the other rested in her hair. The two were lost in each other, a feeling of intimacy between them that they'd never felt before.
That's when Kaycee heard footsteps coming down the stairs, causing her to catapult herself out of Jack's lap and onto the opposite side of the couch. Her eyes met Jack's and they stared at each other wide-eyed, hoping that whichever one of Kaycee's siblings that was coming downstairs hadn't seen the spectacle on the couch. Kaycee was also hoping it was Devon and not Kylie, she wasn't sure what snarky comment the latter would make if she saw Jack in person.
Fortunately for Kaycee, she heard a familiar hearty chuckle from behind her. "Don't act so suspicious." Devon said, walking from the staircase to the kitchen. "I don't know what was going on, but I wouldn't recommend doing it on the couch if your reaction to someone coming into the room is to throw yourself nine feet in the opposite direction."
Kaycee felt as if she were going to burst into flames, her face was most definitely the reddest it had ever been. Jack didn't dare move, let alone say anything, his eyes as round as saucers.
Devon sensed the uneasiness in the room. "I thought what I said was clever." He spoke loudly from his place in front of the refrigerator. "Feel free to laugh any time."
Kaycee finally felt a tug at the corners of her lips, which made her break out into a full smile. "I'll keep your advice in mind, thanks Dev." She laughed, turning herself around on the couch to face the boy in the kitchen.
Devon snorted, "You're just lucky it was me and not Kylie. I take it you guys aren't exactly friends right now."
Kaycee rolled her eyes. "How'd you know?"
"I heard yelling awhile ago. Then I felt the floor shake when she slammed the door like a five year old. I just assumed it was you she was mad at because she wouldn't dare act like that if she were arguing with mom and dad."
"Good observation." Kaycee mumbled, turning back around to face the movie in front of her, even though she had no idea what was going on.
She slowly allowed herself to crawl into Jack's lap again, resting her back against his chest and leaning her head in the crook of his neck. Jack reciprocated and wrapped his arms around her torso, moving his legs so the lay straight ahead and entangled themselves with hers.
Kaycee had almost forgotten that Devon was still in the kitchen, making himself something for dinner. She had been nodding off for a few minutes when the microwave dinged, jolting her completely awake again.
She listened as Devon stood up from his seat at the counter and shuffled over to retrieve his food. He opened the microwave and set the plate down on the counter, but instead of walking back to his seat, he stayed put.
"Kayc?" He called, annoyance laced in his voice.
Kaycee sat up, glancing over to where he stood at the side of the fridge, seemingly reading something. "What?"
"Please tell me you have a ride to class on Thursday." He murmured. "It looks like everyone else is busy and I think I'm working in Glendale all day."
She stood up, walking over to look at the calendar he was staring at. "I was wondering what you were doing over here." She said, running her finger along the row to remember what class she had signed up for. "Jojo's class. Yeah, Sean's taking me."
Jack perked up from his spot on the couch, looking to the two siblings that stood in the kitchen. "I'm signed up for that class, too." He announced.
"Really?" Kaycee asked, her face contorting in disbelief. This particular class was contemporary-based, which definitely wasn't Jack's strong-suit.
He shrugged, "I want to branch out. I didn't know you guys were going."
"So is Bailey." Kaycee thought aloud. "That'll be fun, all of us together."
"Yeah." Jack tapped his fingers on the couch cushions. "So you're sure Sean's getting you?"
Kaycee nodded, moving from the kitchen back toward the couch. "Mhm. He has another class after Jojo's, so I'm gonna wait around for him to give me a ride home too."
"I can take you back." Jack responded, "So you don't have to wait, I mean, unless you want to."
Kaycee giggled, plopping herself down beside the boy. "I'll take you up on that offer. Sean's usually grouchy after two classes in a row."
"Understandable." Jack muttered. He leaned over and draped his arm over Kaycee's shoulder, pulling her closer to his side.
She snuggled in, turning her attention back to the screen in front of her in an attempt to catch up on what she'd missed. A few minutes later, Devon finally left and returned to his room, leaving the two teenagers to their own devices again.
Kaycee closed her eyes, allowing herself to get more comfortable in Jack's embrace. She slowly felt herself slipping into sleep, only to be awoken by intrusive thoughts.
She found herself worrying about Sean's reaction when he found out that Jack was back in the picture again. She worried that he'd be hurt that she wouldn't be waiting around for him after class. She worried that he'd think she was choosing Jack over him.
Kaycee tried to brush her thoughts away so she could relax, but she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that Jojo's class would catalyze an argument; and not one between her and Jack.
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Author's Note: You guys thinking Jack & Kaycee were over and then reading this chapter:
Hehe, sorry. Trust me, I hate writing him in as much as you guys hate reading about him. I gotta string this along a little bit, we haven't gotten to the drama yet sooooo. I promise I won't shatter your hearts, though. Trust the process hahaha xo.