Oh Calamity!

I got comfortable, he passed me the remote and walked out of the room, I found something to watch, and Jack came back in with drinks
“So how’s school other than Laura?” he asked
“Fine, I mean I like it most of the time, if Laura isn’t there” I added
“Good, Alex said he knows you will do well if you try, you’re like your mum, she was so smart, I should know, I made fun of her all the time because of it”
“Really?” I asked, she told me stories of her and Alex but never mentioned his friends, and Alex didn’t bring her up much,
“yeah, she was in all the best classes, and we well weren’t, Alex never heard the end of it from his dad, he could have been if he didn’t mess around so much, we all got accepted in to college but different ones, which bummed us out a little, until we got signed, so Laura was going to be the college kid, then she got pregnant with you”
“So why didn’t she go part time? Why did she move so far away?”
“This is a story Alex should tell” he said uncomfortable,
“He doesn’t like talking about her, I know gran and granddad weren’t supportive of her, that’s why we never visited them when we came, but I don’t get why she didn’t still go?”
“she was upset when her mum and dad weren’t supportive, you guys had some family over in England who were sticking up for her, so you moved, she got her life together, they moved to another part of the country, so she was alone, Alex begged her to come back, we all did, but she didn’t want to rely on him, and she didn’t trust me”
“What why?”
“she said I would be a bad influence, she knew me when I was younger and stupider, so I get where she was coming from but we would never have did anything bad around you, but then again if Alex was just the cool uncle he would have just spoilt you he wouldn’t tell you off he would be even more of a push over”
“He is not a push over” complained “I wish he was” I huffed
“Ok so you move over don’t do homework, he does nothing, you hide detentions and mess around and he grounds you, but barely shouts at you, and now everything seems forgotten”
“It was worse than that” I defended myself
“ash if we did that we would be screamed at, our parents would have went crazy, he let you off early, took you to practices, we would have been made to stay in our rooms no guitars nothing, trust me they would have made sure we had nothing fun to do and we would have been made to do so many awful chores to make sure we wouldn’t do it again”
“That’s insane”
“No that’s a bad punishment, Alex is a push over, but if you kept it up you would have broken him but luckily you didn’t”
“Is he still mad?”
“You need to ask? No he’s not mad, he is disappointed, worried you will do it again, but he wants to trust you so he’s trying to give you space, that’s why I made sure you didn’t hide that stupid report card, it would have made a mess out of nothing, now he’s just worried you are so hard on yourself”
“But I got a D!”
“ash no one expects perfect grades out of you right now, you only just adjusted, next year maybe, but you came in mid-year after a traumatic accident, that’s why people went easy on you, things are going back to normal, now stop worrying about that ok”
“Ok, is Alex doing ok?” I asked, Jack sighed
“It’s hard for him but having you here helps, you guys need to talk more though you both worry about each other but are too scared to say anything” Jack said shaking his head
“But what if I upset him”
“He’s already upset he’s already thinking about it”
“It’s just hard to bring up, to anyone” I said
“hey you can bring her up to me anytime” he said softly, I nodded but stayed quiet, I was going to start crying, and I was proud that I hadn’t cried in a while, he was looking funny at me so I guessed he knew
“Ash come here” he said holding his arm out, I shuffled over and cuddled into him, hoping I could hide if I cried,
“You have all the same tells as your mum did” he said sadly, I didn’t realise Jack would get upset too, I thought about changing the subject, and decided it would be best
“Which film we watching first” I said jumping up,
“And are just as bad at changing the subject when there’s an awkward subject” he said shaking his head “how did you know her so well?” I asked, he looked shocked
“Oh erm” he said pausing thinking about the answer,
“she hung out with us all, she was my best female friend, we almost went out a lot but I never had the confidence to ask her out, she was pretty like you, and then she got drunk with some idiot from school, I was jealous, he was older than me and well we fell out, when she realised why it was too late, I offered to help her out, to help look after you, but she wouldn’t let me, she wanted me and Alex to stay in school and go to college, then when the band seemed to take off I didn’t want to leave you both touring and that’s when she decided to leave”
“I didn’t know that, how old was I?”
“Erm about 2 or 3 maybe”
“Oh”
“Well you knew you were born here didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I don’t know mum never talked about the in-between time, in my head she had me and we moved” I said realising that was stupid
“I don’t think she liked talking about America, or why she moved, she wanted you to think of England as your home, and we visited when she let us”
“yeah I remember she gave me loads of rules before you came and told me to ignore anything bad you said” I laughed, “you didn’t say anything so I was confused, I asked her what she thought you were going to say and she got annoyed and walked away” I said thinking back, that made him laugh a lot. “Really? That’s great, it would have annoyed her so much” he grinned, then he stopped.
“let’s watch a film you can pick first” he smiled I jumped up and grabbed one, and he disappeared and came in with tons of popcorn and sweets, and coke for me, beer for him, I laughed
“Got enough there?”
“Nope but it was all I could carry, I have more supplies if we need it” I shook my head
“Stop being the adult and eat sweets” he ordered.
Jack pov
Ash picked a rubbish film, but we laughed and ate popcorn and rubbish, I stuck the home alone DVD in and she fell asleep, she fell asleep! I tucked her in and smiled she looked so sweet, I kept putting films on, until my phone rang
“Shit” I said grabbing it she stirred but stayed asleep
“Hello?” I said quiet
“Hey it’s me” Alex said “why you whispering” he laughed, I got up and went into the kitchen
“Why you calling? I asked
“Just checking in, is she ok?”
“Yeah she’s asleep”
“Oh has she been ok?”
“Yes but she fell asleep while watching home alone!” he laughed
“But she’s ok?”
“She’s fine, just weird” I repeated
“Ok good” it sounded like he was relaxing,
“Your date finished?” I asked worried he had been too preoccupied during the date.
“No we are on our way to a club, erm I’m going to go now” he said hanging up. I sat back down and she looked up at me
“Oh sorry I woke you, you ok?”
“Yeah, was that Alex?”
“Yeah, he was checking you are still alive, I think he was worrying his whole date” I said gently, laughing,
“why?” she said rubbing her eyes, she looked so young right now, I always thought of her as grown up, and talking about her as a kid made me realise she’s not that old,
“He worries about you all the time, he is rarely away from you like this since you moved over here”
“I’m fine!” she protested, making me smile
“I told him that, sleeping like a baby” I grinned, she tried to look annoyed but failed
“anyway lets rewind to before you fell asleep during the best film ever” I complained rewinding, I started it again and she cuddled into me, I held her close, she fell asleep again but I was so comfortable I left her. I woke up alone, I looked around and heard her in in the kitchen I jumped up
“Sorry did I wake you?” she asked looking guilty,
“Nah I was awake anyway” I smiled, I went to make coffee realising the pot was already full
“You made coffee?”
“Yeah”
“You don’t drink coffee” I said confused
“Alex is moody when he wakes up” she shrugged, so deadpan, it made me laugh,
“Yeah, I’ve noticed, thanks” I said pouring my cup,
“Come on lets watch TV” I said grabbing my cup, she followed me we watched rubbish and talked, “I’m hungry” she moaned, Alex wasn’t up yet and I didn’t want to wake him
“Well we have cereal, or left over from last night, or we could go buy some” she sat thinking
“Fine I will have cereal” she said getting up,
“Is that so you don’t have to get dressed and leave the house?” I asked
“Maybe” she laughed
“Make me some” I shouted making her laugh, she brought 2 bowls in and handed me one,
“Hey want to go for a wonder god knows what time he’s getting up” I laughed, she looked like she was waiting for him to do stuff, she was used to him always being there, she nodded and got changed, she came down with her bag looking happy, I drove us into town, we wondered round until we were bored then bought some coffees and food and went back home.

Notes