come home to my heart

v. And then she awoke

"Well, honey that's-" Lynne Bowen awkwardly fiddles with her hands while seated on the brown plush couch of her partner's home looking for the words. She narrows her eyes and purses her lips while Ricky somewhat anxiously awaits her reply, his foot shuffles as if of his own accord. Like he was seconds away from pacing away from this entire conversation and letting the words run laps around his brain.

The words being the cursed eight letters he hadn't been able to say to Nini sophomore year yet now realized he'd been feeling for the curly-haired beauty that blazed a trail through the school (and his heart) and changed everything.

It seemed thanksgiving break was the time he'd decided to let his mother know what he was getting up to these days. Particularly the entire situation with Gina which promoted him to tell her how they got close and all the Nini drama from the year before. Needless to say it was two hours of gasps, confused looks and concerned eyes.

A tiny voice that oddly rang loudly cuts through the room, "A lot" Jaz puts it bluntly, finishing Lynne's sentence. Ricky and his mother, who'd nodded in agreement at Jaz's words, had sharply turned to look at the girl that'd seemingly made her entrance.

"You heard all of that?" Ricky squints at the girl and crosses his arms while she simply shrugs, walking further into the living room. "Yeah, I was in the kitchen the whole time"

"What exactly were you doing there?" Lynne squints in suspicion while Jaz swallows and shuffles her feet. "I thought we'd said no cookies before bed."

"To be fair, you said that." Lynne raises her brow and Jaz immediately backtracks. Ricky resists a smirk, the realization there's still one person in the world not completely fallen for her charms settles pleasantly.

"I was only there for water." Jaz replies with wide eyes, "Scouts honor."

"God help that girl scout troop." Ricky mummers while Lynne skeptically adds, "You were never a scout."

"Why are we talking about me? Icky's in love!" Jaz exclaims, Ricky hurriedly moves forward to shush her as if the girl in question was in the room herself. "That nicknames gonna stop being cute at some point right." Ricky doubtfully asks his mother. Lynne shrugs with a small smile on her lips as she draws Jaz closer to the couch.

"Man I thought I had problems." Jaz continues as if she hadn't heard the older boy and shakes her head.

(She seemed to do that a lot)

Lynne strokes her light brown hair when Jaz settles her small head on her lap."Yeah, honey it's a lot you've been dealing with." His mother confirms, Ricky bites his lip thinking of the endless drama he'd been through this past year. "and a lot you put her through." She carefully adds.

Ricky's regretful gaze bounces back and forth between the pair, "No wonder she's mad, you dummy." Jaz reiterates while Lynne's lip quirks downward.

"I don't know how she feels." Ricky admits in defeat, Jaz spares him another deadpan look while fluffing her pillow. "Well other than the fact that she hates me." He dryly adds.

"Ricky sweetie, she told you she liked you." His mother says. "You don't just say you wouldn't quit on someone to just anybody." Jaz nods at her words as the elder Bowen fondly caresses her brown tresses; it all didn't seem so complicated to the younger girl.

Ricky falls into the space next to his mother, "I don't know what to do now." He breathes out, now slumped on the couch. "Everything is a mess and it's all my fault." The senior shakes his head and snatches the pillow Jaz had been fiddling with to hug close to his chest.

Jaz lifts her head from Lynne's lap with disbelieving eyes, "It's not all your fault." Lynne presses ignoring the pout growing on the younger girl's face. "These things happen, miscommunications can be the worst." she says, focusing on Ricky's crestfallen expression. She tucks another strand of Jaz's caramel hair behind her ear and she relaxes back into her lap.