emerson
"sorry i'm here," a voice exclaims as the back doors slide open and closed again.
my jaw drops, seeing what appears to be jack without his curls.
i haven't been around the boys in a while due to them touring and stuff, and i'm barely on social media so this is a big surprise to see.
"is that the jack avery?"
his smile widens and he runs over to me, "emerson! God it's good to see you."
i stand to give him a hug and he nearly knocks the wind out of me.
"woah alright then," i giggle while patting his back.
"it's been a minute."
"i know?! look at you, your hair!" i pick up a strand of his faded dyed hair.
he chuckles, "impulsive decision but i'm not mad at it. i cut it and dyed it purple for lav."
"oh my, lavender. how is she?" i gush over the precious girl.
when we were told that jack and gabbie were having a baby, it was obviously a shock but i was so happy for them. noah would have a friend and i wouldn't have to worry about him being as lonely as i am here in l.a.
unfortunately, they haven't been able to see each other as much as i had hoped.
jack's smile drops from his face but he tries to hide it before i can comment, "she's good. healthy and happy."
i motion for him to sit in the spot that daniel had left vacant, i sit back down as well.
"what's wrong? i know that look..."
i really hope that my instincts are wrong, because the look on jack's face is the exact same look that i had when jonah and i ended things years ago.
"um.. gabriela and i broke up. a lot of stuff went down and i don't really want to get into it but yeah. it's been crazy," he lets out a deep breath, showing how hard the topic is for him.
"oh jack i'm so sorry. i had no idea."
"it's okay. i'm trying to move on but you know how it is- wait i don't mean that as in you're not over jonah, i just-"
"jack it's fine," i laugh as i place a hand over his to calm his panic, "it's certainly not an easy thing to go through."
he nods, "this break will be good for me though. i just thought i'd see more of lav and that hasn't really been the case so far..."
"that's awful. i'm sorry, again."
"not your fault," he musters up a small smile, "she's in florida with gabbie and her family right now, they have plans to go to hawaii."
"plans as in visiting or...?"
"she wants to officially move there but we'll see."
i don't bother speaking further on the subject.
he looks just about ready to burst into tears so i decide to talk about something else.
we spend the next thirty minutes or so catching up. i was always closest to jack and it's so nice seeing him again.
"how interesting," i look up, shading the sun from my eyes, to see tate standing just in front of us.
"what?" jack asks.
tate smirks but shrugs, "oh nothing. anyway the food is ready."
she skips back over to the others.
"that was strange," jack comments.
"all of my encounters with her are strange," i laugh before following him over to the food.
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