We've Got Unfinished Business

"You're a harlot, do you know that?" Kellin joked over the phone. I had just finished telling him about my kiss with Alex.

It was twelve pm and we were talking about this. Kellin was on his lunch break, but he was out with friends. I was only up because Aubrey woke up from her nap and woke me too. My mom got her before I could.

"Yes I know. I really feel bad about it." I said.

"If you were to see him right now would you kiss him again?" He asked.

"...maybe."

"Then you do not feel bad at all."

"No I do! I just have no self-control." I explained.

"Yeah sure call it whatever you want." He chuckled.

"I know it was wrong, but we couldn't stop ourselves. We both still love each other."

"I understand that, but honestly if Alex isn't making plans to stop the wedding then he's just using you."

"Using me? No he's not." I told him.

"If he continues to marry Lisa while having sex with you then he's using you, because at the end of the day she'll still have a ring on her finger and you won't."

"We didn't have sex it was just one kiss." I sighed.

"Mhmm well keep it that way."

"I will, but I should go. I need to go watch Aubrey while my mom gets ready for work."

"Why is she going to work so late today?"

"She worked overtime and has too many hours or something like that." I said. My mom tried to explain it but I wasn't really paying attention.

"Oh okay. I'll talk to you later."

I tossed my phone to the side and went to my mom's room. She was holding Aubrey and going through her closet to get out her shoes.

"Sorry mom!" I exclaimed as I came to get Aubrey from her, but she waved me off.

"No it's okay. She was actually keeping me company while I got ready. Isn't that right, Aubrey?" She said and Aubrey looked up because she heard her name.

"She has been babbling a lot lately. It's so frustrating because she wants to tell me something but I can't understand a word she says." I said and my mom laughed.

"She says give her a few months and you'll understand a few of her words. Also don't forget Avery's birthday dinner is this weekend." She reminded me.

"Yeah I know. I don't have any plans for this weekend." I said. I needed to do something to distract me and help me not think about Alex's bachelor party.

"Okay well I'm going to go. I'll see you two tonight." She handed me Aubrey and kissed us both on the forehead.

I watched her leaved and then decided that I needed to take a shower. I should have done it earlier instead of waiting for my mom to leave home.

"Can you be a good girl while Daddy takes a shower?" I asked her as we walked upstairs. She squealed and made random noises back to me, but of course it was incoherent.

"I'm just going to be five minutes." I grabbed a bunch of her favorite toys and placed her in her crib to play while I took a quick shower. She happily played with her toys so I slowly backed out of the room so she wouldn’t notice I left. I made it out and went into the bathroom, I left the door open so I could hear her. By the time I was pulling my shirt off she noticed I wasn’t with her anymore and she started crying. I stopped what I was doing to see what kind of cry it was. It was the cry she used to get my attention so I continued to get out of my clothes then I quickly got in the shower.

"Hold on, baby I won't be long." I called out to her as she continued to cry.

I quickly washed over my body twice and then I washed my hair. I slowed down a bit while washing my hair so I wouldn't get shampoo in my eyes. Aubrey continued to scream until I turned the water off and stepped out. I wrapped my towel around my waist and ran to my room almost slipping. She had actual tears on her face when I picked her up from her crib so I knew she was really upset.

"Daddy's sorry." I told her and kissed her on the cheek. She calmed down and tightly held on to my wet skin. I did my best to dry off and get dressed while holding her, I felt horrible for making her cry.

"Let's go eat breakfast." I took us down stairs and went into the kitchen. I grabbed her apple and banana baby food, it was her favorite and so it was going to make her happy again.

I tried to sit her in her high chair so I could feed her but she wouldn't let me because she was afraid I would leave her again. I sat her on my lap and opened her jar of food. I was supporting her with one hand and feeding her with the other. It was so complicated to answer my phone when it started ringing a few seconds later. I looked at the screen and my stomach got butterflies when I saw Alex's name.

I sat Aubrey's spoon down and she immediately started whining.

"I'm going to feed you just let me answer this first." I told her. "Hello." I answered and put Alex on speaker phone.

"Hey, is that Aubrey?" He chuckled.

"Yeah I stopped feeding her for two seconds.” I picked up the spoon and fed her more. “What's up?"

"Oh I wanted to see if it was cool if I came over for a little bit."

"Isn't it too early for you to be up?" I asked and he laughed. It was just noon but he usually slept until one or two.

"It is way too early, but Lisa just left to do some more shopping and I want to see you and Aubrey."

Kellin's words began to bounce around in my head. Alex and I did admit we still had feelings for each other, but he made no effort to end their wedding. Maybe he meant he just wanted to come see Aubrey while he had time.

"Yeah sure come over." I told him.

"Cool. I'll be there in a few." He said and hung up.

I went back to feeding Aubrey. Once she finished all of her food we went into the living room and I sat her in her new walker my mom bought her last week. Avery had put it together a few days ago, but this was the first time she was using it. I just wanted to see if she would do in it.

Aubrey’s feet touched the ground and she tried to jump like she did in her bouncer. That movement made her slide backwards into the couch.

“No Aubrey you’re supposed to walk not jump.” I laughed. She giggled as she continued to scoot against the couch.

“Come towards me mama!” I took a few steps backwards. She watched me move but she didn’t know what to do to come towards me. The doorbell rang so I stopped and went to go answer it.

"Hey!" Alex greeted me with a hug.

"Hey." I chuckled.

"What have you two been doing?"

"Trying to teach Aubrey how to use her walker." I told him and he laughed. I let him in and he went over and watched her try to scoot forward.

“You gotta use your legs!” He exclaimed and she giggled. She seemed to be having a lot of fun in that thing.

We both sat on the couch watching her try to get the hang of it. She was trying her best to get to where we were sitting.

"So what have you been up to?" Alex asked.

"Uh nothing much. I’ve been taking a few GED courses so I can finish with Kellin. What have you been up to?"

"Um nothing really."

"No wedding planning?" I asked sarcastically and he rolled his eyes.

"No. Lisa is handling all of it. I usually tell her that I'm going to visit my parents when I come over here."

"You shouldn't lie." I grasped dramatically.

"Yeah you're one to talk." He chuckled.

"Shut up." I giggled.

We both smiled at each other because of the playful banter. Alex looked down at my lips and I quickly turned away before we could kiss again. It’s not that I didn’t want to kiss him again, I just didn’t want to give myself any more false hope. Alex sighed and turned towards me.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked.

“Talk about what?”

“The kiss.”

“Oh um we don’t have to. It’s a little awkward to talk about it.” I nervously chuckled.

“Yeah, but it was pretty nice.” He said, making me blush.

“It was.” I agreed. “But Aubrey wasn’t too happy about it. She told me it wasn’t a good idea to kiss a guy who’s about to get married.”

“Oh really? She really told you that?” He laughed.

“Mhm she talks to me when were home alone.” I joked.

“If she’s talking to you then you might need to go see a psychologist.” He said and I laughed.

“Shut up. She looked at me and I knew that’s what she was trying to tell me.”

Aubrey started whining holding her arms up for me to come get her. I walked over and picked her up from the walker then we went to sit back down next to Alex. Aubrey stared up at him as he texted on his phone. She reached up to grab it, but he moved his hand away from her reach. She immediately started whining because he wouldn't let her have it.

"Aubrey you can't get everything you want." I sighed as she continued to whine.

"How about I buy you your own play cellphone? So you won't want mine." Alex said.

"Please just get one without noise. Literally every toy she has makes some kind of annoying noise or plays music."
"I'm going to look for the loudest one." He joked and I rolled my eyes.

I handed Aubrey her rattle off the table so she would stop trying to take Alex's phone. She shook a few times and then threw it on the floor.

"I'm not picking that up." I told her and she started to whine. "Oh my God. Here!" I picked it up and handed to her again. She, once again, shook it a few times and then threw it on the floor while giggling.

"That's so mean!" Alex laughed and I shook my head.

"I told you she's not an innocent little girl. She's always mean to me." I chuckled.

"I wish I could take her off your hands sometimes. Maybe I can after I explain everything to Lisa." He said and I tried my best not to frown at hearing that.

"Maybe. I don't know how I would feel about her being so far away." I told him. This had nothing to do with Lisa, I just didn't want Aubrey to be out of my sight for too long. Alex lived in New York and that was at least two hours away from me.

"You don't trust me?"

"Alex it's nothing like that. I just wouldn't feel comfortable having her far away from me."

"So you wouldn't let her spend like summers with me?" He sounded kind of hurt.

"I don't know. Maybe when she got a little older. I'm just too attached to let her go."

"I understand. I guess I could just come visit when I'm not touring and stuff."

"Yeah that's fine with me." We both fell silent after that awkward conversation. I didn't want to seem rude or distrustful, but there was no way Aubrey was going to another state without me. My mom wouldn't even let me consider sending her either.

"Ugh I'm hungry." I mumbled to break the silence, plus my stomach was starting to growl.

"I can go make you something." Alex volunteered.

"No I can make something myself." I insisted.

"I'll get it. What are you in the mood for?" He asked.

"Okay um pancakes and scrambled eggs."

"Got it!" He quickly got up and went to the kitchen.

I followed behind him with Aubrey and sat at the kitchen table. I told him where everything was so he could find it easily. I watched him cook for me and I started to check him out. I think the fact that he was taken made him even sexier to me. He smiled at me when he noticed I was staring and I blushed and looked down. He was so confusing! He says he has feelings for me and he makes me feel special, but he is still planning to marry someone else.

Alex finished cooking for me and sat the plate down in front of me.

"Thank you! Do you want some?" I asked.

"No I ate before I came over. I could uh hold her if you want." He point to Aubrey, whose hand was already on one of my pancakes.

"Yes please." I chuckled. I handed her to Alex and she whined. Alex took out his phone and handed it to her and she stopped.

"That was easy." He said.

"Yeah she whines all day until you give her one of the things she wants."

He played with Aubrey showing her how to make his phone light up while I ate. Then his phone vibrated from a text message and he texted back. It quickly vibrated again and he laughed to himself. He responded and then sat his phone down.

"Um so Rian just texted me and asked what I was doing and I told him that I was visiting you and Aubrey. And now he and Zack want me to bring Aubrey over so they can see her." He explained.

"Um I don't know."

"You can come too, of course."

"Are you sure Lisa won't come back and see us there?" I asked. I didn't feel like having to lie myself out of another situation.

"Yeah she'll be gone for a few hours. She's out with her maid of honor and they're meeting with the planner."

"Okay I guess I don't mind then."

"Cool, thanks!" He exclaimed as he picked up his phone to text Rian back.

I finished eating and went up to my room to put actual clothes on. Then I called Alex up so I could dress Aubrey in real clothes. I dressed her in black and yellow onesie my mom bought her and I put a bow in her hair. Alex picked her back up and held her as I got her diaper bag together.

"She has huge eyes. She definitely got that from you." Alex chuckled as I placed a few of her toys in the bag.

"Shut up, my eyes aren’t that big." I laughed.

"Yeah they are. Her eyes are shaped like yours too."

"Well she got your nose and hair color."

"That's a good thing. And this is like a mix of both of our hair colors because my hair isn't naturally dark brown like this." He said.

"Oh I guess it is a mixture. I thought it was weird that her hair started turning dark brown."

I finished up and we went to my car to get Aubrey’s car seat to put it into Alex’s car. He drove us to a house that wasn't the one that they used to live in. It was actually pretty impressive from the outside. Mike's truck was outside so he and Vic were probably here hanging out too.

"You guys are staying here?" I asked.

"Yeah we rented it since it was cheaper to do this than to get multiple hotels." He said.

We got out and he took Aubrey out from her car seat. Luckily she didn't fall asleep during the drive. I didn't want her to be cranky while meeting them. I grabbed her diaper bag and followed Alex to the door. He unlocked it and we walked in. The first thing I noticed was Kellin sitting on the couch with Vic and Mike.

"Jack! Um uh what are you doing here?" Kellin nervously asked.

"No what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at school right now!" I scolded him.

"I only skipped one class. It's no big deal." He waved me off and rolled my eyes at him.

"Oh my God! Is this her?" Rian asked as he came up to Alex.

"Yeah this is Aubrey." Alex told him.

"Dude this is surreal. Can I hold her?"

"Yeah of course." Alex said and leaned Aubrey towards Rian. She held on tighter to Alex not wanting to leave him.

"Why doesn't she like me?" Rian pouted.

"She's just shy. Give her a few minutes." I told him as I sat her diaper bag on the couch.

Alex sat on the couch with Aubrey and Rian and Zack followed so they could try to get Aubrey to come to them. Kellin got up and walked over to where I was standing.

"Don't think you're so innocent. What are you doing here with that engaged man?" He whispered and chuckled.

"He came over because he wanted to see Aubrey that's all. Then Rian and Zack wanted to see her do we came here. Nothing else happened." I explained.

"No kissing or anything?" He asked skeptically.

"Nope!"

“Good." He said. Alex walked to where we were standing and I noticed that Rian was holding Aubrey. He had pulled out his cellphone and let her play with it. That's the only reason she wasn't crying.

"Hey Kellin, I never got the chance to apologize for going off on you last weekend." Alex told him as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's okay, I know we were both pretty heated and we only want what's best for Jack. Right?"

"Yes." Alex agreed.

"Good. Then there are no hard feelings...about that." He mumbled the last part so Alex wouldn't hear him. He was still convinced that Alex was just using me for some reason.

The front door opened as I was about to hit Kellin's arm but he pulled me to hide in the kitchen instead.

"Ow! What's wrong with you?" I asked and rubbed at my wrist where he grabbed.

"Shhh!" He shushed me. He moved closer to a wall to hear better.

"Hey Matt." We heard the guys say. I still didn't understand why we had to hide until I heard, "Hey May!"

"Hey!" I heard May exclaim. I turned towards Kellin and he nodded. May was in the house with us.

"What the hell are we going to do?" Kellin asked and my heart stopped as I realized something.

"Aubrey's in there." I mumbled and Kellin slapped his forehead with his palm.

"Shit."

"What are you two doing?" Alex said and we both shushed him.

"Keep your voice down." Kellin whispered.

"Why?" Alex whispered.

"That girl that just walked in with Matt is my sister." I sighed.

"Who? May? How?" He asked.

"Her name is May Barakat." I told him.

"I never knew her last name."

"Okay you two can finish this conversation later, right now Alex you have to go get Aubrey before May sees h-"

"Who had a baby?!" May asked before Kellin could finish his sentence.

"Alex did." Rian told her.

“Wait what?” Matt asked confused.

Kellin rushed Alex out of the kitchen so he could stop anyone from saying my name. Alex quickly ran out of the kitchen and went to the living room.

"Hey May." I could hear the nervousness in his voice.

"Hey! When did you have a baby?" She asked him.

"Um my fiancé got pregnant uh months ago and blessed us with this angel." He chuckled. I peeked into the living room and thankfully May had her back facing me. The guys all looked confused by what Alex just said but they didn't call him out. Rian was still holding Aubrey and her back was to May.

“Wait What?” Matt repeated. It was very clear that Alex didn’t tell him anything about Aubrey yet. Alex held his fingers to his lips telling Matt to hush for now.

"Aww can I hold her?" May asked, ignoring Matt.

"I don't know if she'll go to you since she doesn't know you." Rian said. He turned Aubrey to face May and May took a step back.

"What's wrong?" Zack asked her.

"Nothing I just . . . she looks exactly like my niece." She said slowly. Rian, Zack, Vic, and Mike all glanced at me and I nodded.

Aubrey quickly reached up for May which made things worse. I had to go back behind the wall because May was turning around.

"She's holding Aubrey." I whispered to Kellin and he sighed.

"Um what's her name?" May asked Alex.

"Her name? Oh it's um Mari-ah, Maria." He said, using a name close to Aubrey’s middle name.

"This is crazy! She looks just like my niece." She repeated.

"Yeah babies all look the same to me." Alex joked, but May didn't say anything. It was quiet for a few seconds and then she spoke again.

"Why does that diaper bag say Aubrielle?" She asked pointing to Aubrey’s bag on the couch.

"Um oh I um uh." Alex stammered.

"What's going on?" May asked and everyone remained silent. "Alex. What's going on?" She asked.

It wasn't fair for me to make Alex go through this alone. So I took a few breaths and I stepped out before Kellin could try to stop me. May looked at me as if I was a ghost.

"Jack! What are you doing here? What's going on?" May asked me.

"How do you two know each other?" Matt asked before I could answer.

"He's my brother." She told him and his eyes flew out of his head. "Answer me Jack." She said.

"Alex is Aubrey's father and-" she cut me off before I could finish.

"-Are you fucking kidding me?? You took advantage of my little brother." She yelled at Alex and began attacking him with her purse. She wasn't hitting him as hard as she could off because she was still holding Aubrey.

"No May! Stop! He didn't take advantage of me! I tricked him into thinking I was older than I actually am." I told her and she stopped.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I had a crush on him and I knew he wouldn't date me if he knew I was sixteen." I told her.

"So he was the one you were sneaking out to see all the time." She was starting to put all of the pieces together.

"May I'm sorry that this happened. Trust me if I would have known his real age at the time I wouldn't have continued our relationship." Alex told her.

"You two are going to be in a world of shi- stuff when our mom finds out." She told us.

"May please promise me you won't tell her." I sighed. "I was going to wait until I turned seventeen to tell you both."

"I won't tell her, but regardless of when or how she finds out she's going to be pissed."

"I know." I mumbled.

"Wait wait let’s just back up a second. Alex you got a minor pregnant and didn't think to tell your manager?? Do you know what would happen if this got out to you guys fan base??" Matt scolded him.

"Matt I'm sorry, I barely told Zack and Rian. I just wanted it to be as private as possible. Lisa doesn't even know about her." Alex apologized and Matt just glared at him.

"You didn't tell your fiancé?" May asked and Alex shook his head. "It is a miracle that you two haven't been caught yet."

"Yes, so please just keep this to yourself until I turn eighteen." I pleaded.

"We’ll see. What about Kellin?" She asked.

"He's in the kitchen." Alex answered without thinking. May was asking if Kellin knew anything about this, not if he was here with us.

Kellin stepped out of the kitchen and glared at Alex. "I don't accept your apology anymore." He told Alex. “And I'm just going to take this opportunity to ask you nicely not to mention this to my mom." Kellin politely to May and she looked at us both in disbelief.

"Wow both of you, really? Anything else I should know about?" She asked.

"No I think you're all caught up." I said.

"Good. Now grab your things so we can go home." She demanded. "You too Kellin."

We both did as she said without complaining. We kind of owed her since she was not going to tell our moms about any of this.

"I'm so sorry about this." I told Alex.

"It alright. I’ll try to talk to you later." He said and I nodded. He took a deep breath and went over to talk to Matt.

We told every bye and May apologized to Matt for having to leave so early. I felt bad again for once again coming between her and Matt.

We got in May’s car and took Kellin to get his car from Vic's house first, then she drove me home.

"I'm honestly so disappointed in you, Jack. I'm more disappointed about this then I was when I found out you were pregnant." She told me as we were parked outside our house.

"I know, May." I sighed.

"No you don't know. He's literally a grown man, you were having sex with a grown man, and you had a baby with a grown man. You tricked him into being in a relationship with you, why?"

"Because I really liked him." I mumbled.

"You are so young and naïve. You thought it was okay to lie to him just to get him to like you back? And now things are so much worse because you have a baby with him, Jack."

"I know May. I've literally dealt with this every day since I found out I was pregnant. I know it was wrong for me to lie. I know I made things worse off by getting pregnant. I've told Alex sorry hundreds of times. I know the damage I've done."

Aubrey began to cry in her car seat and I moved to get out and let her out of the seat. We all went into the house and I sat on the couch with Aubrey. May followed and sat next to us.

"I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings. It's just my job as your big sister to tell when you have made stupid decisions." She said and I chuckled.

"I know May. Thank you though." I told her and she smiled.

"You're welcome. I'm going to go back to check on Matt. I think he needs a drink or two.” She sighed. “Don't leave this house." She demanded and I nodded. I was going to do everything she asked for the next few days. I didn’t want to give her a reason to blackmail me.

Notes

All Aubrey wants is to play with someone's cellphone, not all of this extra drama.