The next day, I wake up to the sound of things shuffling around. I peer over the covers to look at the clock on the night table. 6:34AM. I look over to the side of the room where the culprit was closing his drawers.
"What are you doing up this early?" I groan, sitting up on my elbow.
"Why are you?" Jack shoots back, zipping up his jacket.
"Where are you going?" I ask, trying to keep my eyes from shutting.
Jack lets out a breath, "Just go back to sleep, Aislynn." He slips out the door without another glance.
There was something about his voice. It sounded different, but I couldn't figure out what it was. As I drift back to sleep, I realized it was tiredness. Also, he used my full name and I am going to punch him for that.
I wake up at around ten thirty and look over to Jack's side of the room. He isn't there. After I am done doing my usual morning routine, I walk into the living room where Joseph and Austin were sitting.
"Morning, Ash." Joseph greets me.
"Hey." I grab a glass and fill it with juice.
"Want to go to the mall, Ash?" Austin asks me.
I finish drinking my water before I answer, "Yeah, sure. Are we going to wake the others up?"
"Nah. Just us." Austin gets up from his seat and walks towards me.
"Us? As in you and I?" I say as I rinse my glass.
"Actually, it's you and me," Joseph looks over at us.
"You and me are going to the mall?" I joke, fully knowing what Joseph meant.
"You and I are going to the mall." Austin says.
"Who am I going to the mall with?"
"Austin," Joseph says, but when you said us, the correct way would've been-"
"It's too early for proper grammar. We're just going to leave now." Austin interrupts Joseph.
"It's never too early for grammar. "Joseph mumbles to himself.
"Why aren't you coming along, Joseph?" I set the glass back on the tray beside the other glasses.
"I got some work to do." He glances at Austin.
"Aw, come on. It's just for a little while."
"Just leave him be." Austin opens the front door and looks at me.
My eyes shift back and forth between them, "What's going on?"
"Nothing," Austin looks at Joseph again, "We haven't eaten yet, let's go have breakfast."
"Bye, Ash." Joseph glances at me before going back to his work.
"Okay then," I say, still feeling skeptical, "See you later." I follow Austin out, shutting the door behind me.
I look around as we walk, checking out the new neighbourhoods that weren't here two years ago. Our school was built in the newer part of our town, where it used to mostly be empty fields and dirt. We kids always came to this area to play because there was nothing in our way. Now everything is houses and road. I felt a little sad knowing the place where the guys and I would play tag is now occupied by a house. It felt like a part of my childhood decided to grow up and be useful. That part didn't even make sense, I thought to myself, but feelings usually don't.
"Hey!" A voice cuts through my thoughts. I look up and see a blonde girl walking towards us.
Austin stops to be polite so the girl could catch up to us. She wasn't even walking fast nor made any effort to get to us faster. I cross my arms, impatient. I still haven't had breakfast yet and this girl is interrupting. Austin looks at me, trying not to laugh at the annoyance written on my face.
"Hey Austin," The girl beams brightly at him, "Hey, uhm, Brock right?" Cynthia.
"No... It's Ash." I raise my eyebrow at the reference.
"Right," She turns back to Austin, "So, where are you going?"
"To the mall, speaking which, we better hurry." He walks off without giving her an explanation. I stifle a laugh and walk after him. To my despair, she follows us.
"Can I come with?" She asks. I inwardly groan.
"No." I put bluntly.
"I wasn't asking you." She rolls her eyes.
"Sorry, we're on a date," I whip my head to look at Austin. "And a date is kind of meant for two people so...?" Austin says as he puts his arm around my shoulders. His touch made my stomach feel like someone has just turned the heater on inside and it was filling with warmth. Was there truth to his words? Is this really a date?
"Uh huh," she gives a look that says she's unconvinced. "I had something to do anyways, so bye." She spins on her heel and walks the other way.
We shrug and continue on walking. Not even ten seconds later I look back, feeling like someone is watching us and oh, would you look at that, that someone was Cynthia. I urge Austin to walk faster, feeling very uncomfortable. She didn't look angry or anything at all, she looks completely blank of emotions and that was creepy.
"UGG," I pat my now full and protruding stomach, "I'm sooo full. The food is like up to my throat. I am ready to throw up if I make any movement."
"That kind of ruins everything since to shop you kind of have to move." Austin says.
"Not if you kind of shop online." I mock him.
"You still have to kind of move."
"That's barely kind of anything-"
"But-"
"Hi, Austin!" A girl with vibrant red hair who was passing our table suddenly stops.
Austin looks over and a smile blooms on his face while a frown overtook mine. He gets up and gives the girl a bear hug. I frown harder.
"Hey, Ash," Uh, that's not me. "I missed you this summer. How was building homes in Africa?" Are you serious?
"Same as always, the kids are so sweet and lovely." Who even says lovely anymore? What is this, the 20th century? And they are still hugging.
"That's great! I wish I was as good of a person as you are. You're always helping others." They are still embracing. Can they please stop embracing?
"It's not that hard, Austin. Hey, maybe you can come with me next time." She smiles at him and he notices. I don't think he ever notices me.
"That'd be great," No, no it wouldn't be. "I'd like that." No, no you wouldn't. Okay, they are still wrapped in each other's arms. Who even hugs that long? Maybe married couples and I'm pretty sure Austin is not married.
I really feel like I am going to throw up, and not from the food. Okay, forty percent from the food, I ate a lot.
"Excuse me, I need to go to the washroom." I fast walk away, not really going to the washroom. I just need to get away from this.
I slow down when I was far enough from the food court. This was not how things were supposed to go. When I came back here, I thought my plans for the future would follow through. It's my favourite cliché in stories: best friends end up lovers. I didn't ever feel the need to push that hard for us to be together, it always seemed most probable that Austin and I would end up together. The more I thought about it and look back into the past, I couldn't recall a time where Austin really did anything that showed he liked me back. It became clearer that I was obviously blinded by my own emotions after all these years. Whenever he did something, I just wanted it to mean something, so it did. But really, it meant nothing.
"Hey, Ash!" I look towards the direction of the voice, thinking Austin came after me. Nope. Instead I see Ryan waving at me with his free hand, the other holding a bag. I feel disappointed, and then feel guilty for feeling disappointed.
"Hey." I try to make my smile look convincing. It must've worked because he didn't look at me any differently when he was closer.
"What's up? Why are you just staring at an advertisement of a girl enjoying her yogurt?" He asks, oblivious to the storm inside my head.
"Just thinking," I look at the advertisement, "I didn't even realize I blanked out on this ad. People must think I'm really into girls that are into yogurt now. What have you got in there?"
"Yogurt," I crack up, "Can you also be into guys who are into yogurt?" He jokes.
"As long as they enjoy it as much as that girl is, then yes." Ryan chuckles.
"Well, I better get going, but it was nice running into you."
"See you." I wave.
Alone again. I decide to sit on the nearest bench. I don't even like shopping at the mall. I like clothes and stuff, but I'm so picky when it comes to prices, I nearly always end up leaving empty handed. For some reason, my feet get tired easily when walking at the mall, so that's another reason why I rather not shop. The only reason why I came this time is not even here with me now.
I look over when I see two small figures stop in front of me. Jack's little siblings, Avery and Evan.
"Hi Ash!" Evan, the more outgoing twin grins. Avery just looks at me.
"Hey guys," I smile, "What are you guys doing here?"
"Oh yeah! Hiding," Avery and Evan duck behind the bench, "From Jack."
"Why?"
"It's funny."
"I see." And not that far away, I see Jack, frantic. I laugh a little.
"You see it right?" Evan says, also giggling. Jack now spotted me and was walking towards me.
"Yup," I smirk. Jack's little siblings loved to mess with him. 'What do you want me to say when he gets here?"
"We've been 'lost' for half an hour now. I guess you can just give us away before he gets a heart attack." Evan says.
"Hey," He says, looking bored, but I can hear the slight desperation in his voice, "Have you seen Avery and Evan?"
"Yup."
"Where?" He says, looking less bored.
"Here!' They pop out behind me.
"You little rascals," He tries to scolds them but I could hear the relief in his voice. "It's time to go home."
"With Ash? Yay let's go!" Evan pulls my hand.
"Whoa, I did not say with Ash." Jack takes Avery's hand.
"Well, we're not going to go home then, right Avery?" Evan asks her twin. Avery nods.
"I'm sure Ash has more important things to do," He gives me a look, "Right?"
"Nah," I thought about Austin and the other Ash, "I've got nothing else better to do, actually."
"Yay!" Evan cheers.
Jack groans, "Fine."
I trip over a shoe when I walk down the front hall.
"Sorry," Jack closes and locks the front door, "It's kind of a mess."
"Not as much of a mess as your side of our room." I pick up the shoe and place it with its match.
"Ha, ha."
I look around their house, remembering the last time was almost ten years ago. Jack's mom was babysitting me and Clara when my parents had to fly out of a country for a funeral. Their house looks pretty much the same, except messier.
In the kitchen, dirty dishes and glasses lay on the table from this morning, probably. Unfolded clothes and old looking toys strew all over the staircase and floor of the living room. I start picking things up.
"Stop," Jack takes the teddy bear with one eye from my hand, "You don't have to do that." He doesn't look me in the eye.
"I want to," I take the bear back.
"Oh, well... Thanks," I look at him and I notice the dark circles under his eyes. "Come on guys, let's clean up and surprise mom when she gets back home." He says to the twins. I notice the energy within the tired in his voice.
"Okay!" Evan chirps and starts picking up toys. Avery follows in pursuit.
"I'll help with the laundry." I offer, and pick up a sweater and start folding it. Jack does the same.
Later, we all work together to tackle the dirty dishes. The twins drying, Jack scrubbing and me rinsing. Of course I spray with the water nozzle Jack every now and then. When we were finally done with everything, we all collapse on the couch together. The twins turn on the television to watch cartoons.
"Thanks, again." Jack says barely audible. I turn my head to look at him. His eyes were closed and he looks ready to fall asleep.
"Anytime." I say, really meaning it and also falling asleep. Despite the way I feel about Jack, I still believe him to be a genuine good person, -when he's not being a jerk.
Hours later, I wake up to the sound of the front door opening and see Jack's mother enter. She blinks and looks around the house.
"Hi, Mrs. Taylor." I get up and help her with her bags.
"Thank you Aislynn," She looks even more tired than Jack. "How are you?"
"Good," I say automatically. I follow her into the kitchen.
"You kids are too sweet," She gives me a hug before putting away the groceries. "Thank you so much, even though you really didn't have to."
"It's okay, I wanted to." I echo the words I said to Jack earlier.
Jack enters the kitchen, "Hey mom. Are you off work now?"
"No, I just finally had a break to buy groceries so the twins don't have to live off of leftovers," She sighs, "Or at least for this week. I'm so sorry I've been pulling you from your own time." She holds his face in her hands.
"It's fine. Do you need me to cook dinner for the twins?"
"That'd be great. I'm sorry." She brushes his bangs back.
"I said it's fine mom, don't worry," He pulls away, "You better get going."
I watch her kiss each of the twins who are asleep on the carpet in front of the television. She turns off the television and opens the front door.
"I love you both." She smiles at us and slips out the door.
"I never knew you could cook," I say, interested in this new found fact about Jack.
"It was never brought up." He opens the refrigerator and takes out ingredients to prepare.
"I'll keep that in mind the next time we order pizza three nights in a row."
"Maybe I like having pizza for dinner every night."
"It couldn't hurt to have a home cook meal once in a while." I say, missing my parent's cooking.
Jack looks at me, "Maybe one day."
Then, I suddenly remember and punch Jack.
"What was that for?" He glares at me.
"You called me Aislynn this morning," I say, "Why were you up so early?"
"I don't think you're important enough to know every detail of my life." He turns his back to me to work on the counter.
"I've folded your clothes and seen your butt, I think I'm pretty important." I say, watching him stop what he was doing.
He gives in, "I just needed to baby sit the twins. My mom had to work."
"I don't understand why that was so hard for you to say." I didn't see anything wrong with that.
"I don't understand why either." He says, but I think he's lying.
I let myself fall onto the couch and Jack closes the door to our dorm. I played with the twins until it was time for them to eat dinner, and then entertained them some more until bath time. Finally, we sent them to bed.
"Is it okay to leave them home alone at night?" I had asked.
"Yeah," Jack had said as we were walking back to school, "I was always home alone." I felt like Jack was telling me a secret, even though the guys probably knew this fact already. It was the way he said it.
"Where'd you go?" I open one eye and see Austin, not really looking worried. I look at the clock hanging on the wall above the door. It was almost nine thirty. I've been gone for pretty much the entire day and he asks me like I've only been gone for thirty minutes.
"Babysitting," I close the open eye, "Who was that girl?"
"What girl?" I hear Nick from somewhere.
"Was it Ainsley Ashley?" I hear Logan ask.
"Her name is Ainsley Ashley?" I snort.
"No, her name is Ainsley, but when she was younger other kids kept calling her Ashley so it stuck." Austin explains.
"And then you called her Ash and that stuck." I guess.
"It was an accident." He sounds a bit sorry and I open both my eyes.
"Whatever. It's not like I'm the only Ash in the world." I say
"You are to me." Joseph pipes up.
"And us." Logan adds in.
"Just not Austin." Nick says. We all look at Austin.
"I'm uh, going to go take a shower." Austin leaves the room. The guys, excluding Austin, look at me.
"Who's Ash?" I ask, genuinely wanting to know. The four boys exchange looks.
"Austin's girl while you were away." Nick says.
"Nick!" The guys, except Jack, shout.
"That's not exactly it." Joseph sits down beside me.
"So... What then?" I cross my arms, waiting for an explanation. The guys exchange more looks.
"Can you all stop doing that?" I ask.
"Sorry." They chorus.
"This is going to be a long story." Nick sits on the other side of me.
"Depending on if you want all the details or not." Logan says.
"I want to know everything." I pry.
"We've got school tomorrow." Joseph looks at the time.
"It's not even ten yet," I say, "Tell me everything."
The guys exchange looks and I send them each death glares.
"Guys, just tell her." Jack who was quiet through all of this says.
"Okay," Joseph adjusts his glasses, "It was a week after you left..."
hAHAhaha so it's been exactly a year since I've last posted. Sorry guys!!!! There has been a lot going on combined with other things and bleh. Thank you all so much for sticking up with meand my inconsistency.
Please comment and vote! I apologize for any grammatical and spelling errors. I also apologize for that cliffhanger, I didn't mean to end it like that but it just happened and now it's there. Also I made an ask.fm!! Link in my profile.