bad timing

eight

{chapter playlist}
the shining - the neighborhood
imagine - john lennon

        Sam had his arms wrapped tightly around me, his face nuzzled in the crook of my neck. I played with his hair as he snored quietly. I shifted a little, and I guess it was a little too much, because he groaned. "Good morning." He mumbles after a moment, and I couldn't help but smile. "Morning, Sammy." I whisper. He leans up, kissing my cheek before looking down at me. "I love you." He mumbles, leaning down to kiss me softly. "I love you too." I smile, putting my hand on his face. "Alex," His expression hardens slightly. "Yeah?" I furrow my eyebrows, wondering what could be wrong. "Alex." He repeats, and I pull away a little. "What's wrong?"

"Alex." He says for a third time, but this time, it wasn't his voice. It was Jonas's. "Alex, wake up." He shook me a little, and I squeezed my eyes shut as he pulled the covers off of me, trying not to let the sunlight blind me. I groan, covering my eyes. "We're gonna be late for breakfast." Jonas says, standing up when he saw I was awake. Of course. It was a dream. It always was. "Sorry." I mumble, sitting up slowly. "I'll be ready in ten minutes."

I got up and got dressed, quickly brushing my teeth and fixing my hair before I walked back out to Jonas. "Are you sure you're okay with us doing this?" I ask. I wanted him to like the Kiszkas, seeing as they were basically my family, so I had set up for us to all go to breakfast. "Yeah. It should be fine." He says, putting on his shoes. I sigh a little before nodding.

About fifteen minutes later, we were at the diner. I sat down next to Jonas, and across from the brothers. I was a little surprised Sam had shown up, given what happened last time we spoke. "So, what have you guys been up to?" I ask, trying to avoid looking at Sam. I wasn't sure if it was the dream, the fact I knew that he was in love with me, or the fact I might love him, too. Probably all of the above, actually. I kind of tuned out what they talked about, but they didn't seem worried about me, so I guess I must have chimed in a time or two.

I didn't even remember ordering, but before I knew it, the waitress was back with our food. I reached up to grab my plate, and I caught Sam's eye as I set it down in front of me. He gave me a worried look, glancing down at my wrist. My heart skipped a beat as I realized I hadn't covered up the bruise Jonas had given me just a couple days ago. I quickly put my hand under the table, 'it's nothing' I mouthed to Sam, but he didn't look convinced.

"Hey, we're doing a show in town this weekend if you guys wanna come." Jake offers, and I smile. I had always loved seeing them play. I opened my mouth to speak, but Jonas spoke first. "I wish we could. Unfortunately, we're busy." He says with a fake smile, squeezing my hand so tightly my eyes began to water. I decided against asking him what he meant, seeing as we had absolutely no plans this weekend. "Oh, come on!" Josh says, "Free tickets." He grins. "Sorry." Jonas shrugs, and I roll my eyes.

"Alright, well, maybe next time." Jake says, and I nod a little. I see Sam typing something on his phone, but I decided to ignore it. I didn't blame him for not wanting to be here. Then, I felt my phone buzzing beside me. I picked it up, reading the message from Sam.

'family bathroom in 5'

I sigh, quickly deleting the message so Jonas couldn't see it. He then takes my phone right from my hands, "It's rude to be on your phone at the table." At first, I thought he was joking. Then, I realized he wasn't. I looked down at my untouched food, and although I hadn't eaten yet, I had no appetite. "I'm gonna run to the bathroom. I'll be right back." I say, glancing at Sam before turning to Jonas. "Okay. Don't be too long."

I got up quickly, walking down the hall and turning to where the bathrooms were. I stepped inside, looking at myself in the mirror and closing my eyes temporarily. How had I let it get to this?

About a minute later, I hear a knock on the door. "Sam?" I ask, hoping it was actually him and not a random person who had to use the bathroom. The door opens, and Sam steps inside, locking the door behind him. "Alex," He says sadly, like he knew exactly what was going on. I fought the urge to cry as I looked up at him. "Tell me what really happened to your wrist." His voice wasn't angry or demanding in the slightest. He spoke like he was genuinely worried. "I shut my car door on it." I say quickly, hoping he would believe it.

"You think I don't know when you're lying?" He says, giving me a pained expression, like I was hurting him by lying to him. "Are you only with him to get me to stop loving you?" I looked to the side. I hadn't even realized it, but he was right. "No." I say under my breath. "Alex, please, I'll get over you, I'll do whatever I have to. Just please leave him." He sounded hurt now, and it was breaking my heart. "What if breaking up with him just makes him lash out? I mean, nothing he's done so far is that bad, but..." I tear up, avoiding his eyes.

"Jesus, Alex." He sighs, stepping closer and wrapping his arms around me. I hug him back, squeezing my eyes shut as I bury my face in his chest. "I'll... I'll be there with you when you break up with him. I'll stay at your apartment with you for weeks in case he decides to show up. I'm not gonna let him hurt you again." He says, and I could tell he was angry, but he was trying to keep his composure for me. He rubbed my back softly, and I frowned. "Just... don't tell the twins. Please. I don't want to make this a bigger deal than it has to be." I say sadly.

"Of course." Sam pulls away, taking my hands in his. "You wanna do this now?" He asks, wiping away the tear that was rolling down my cheek. I took a moment before nodding, and he put his hand on my face. "It's gonna be okay. I promise. I'll be right there." I nod once more as we make our way out of the bathroom, walking back to the table. "Oh, what the fuck is this?" Jonas asks, a little too loud for my liking. I was sure everyone in the diner heard him. "I need to talk to you." I say calmly, and the twins both look back at us.

Jonas clenches his jaw, standing up from his seat. He grabbed my arm, pulling me outside with him. Luckily, the storefront was glass, so the boys could see everything. "What? You gonna break up with me? Did you guys fuck in that bathroom, or something?" He yells, getting in my face. "Can't you get it through your thick skull that I don't want any of them?" I yell back. My raised voice surprised him, then only made him angrier. "I don't fucking believe you!" He screams, and I take a deep breath. "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. We're done, Jonas." I say, pulling away from his grasp on my arm.

"We're done when I say we're done." He says through gritted teeth. "No. I can't be with you anymore." I say, my lip twitching as I watch his face turn red with anger. He steps forward, pushing me backwards forcefully, "You think you can just break up with me? Over nothing?" He exclaims, his voice echoing through the street. "You know what? I don't even want to be with a whore like you." He pushes me again, harder this time. Hard enough for me to fall backwards onto the concrete.

I look up, seeing Sam standing over me, looking at Jonas. "Sam, I got this," I say quietly, and he shakes his head. "No. Just..." He says, balling his hands into fists when he looks down at me, seeing that I was in pain. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He says, stepping towards the man and letting his fist connect with Jonas's face. "Sam!" I croak, getting to my feet. Sam grabs the hem of Jonas's shirt, leaning down to his face as he hunches over in pain. "Touch her again, and I'll do a whole lot worse than break your nose." He says angrily as blood poured from Jonas's very obviously broken nose.

Sam turns back to me as the twins rush outside. "Thank you." I mumble, and Sam clenches his jaw. "He's lucky I didn't kill him."