the forgotten sister (jack manifold)

ii.

i wake up, sunlight beaming through my unclosed curtains. it stings my eyes as i try and adjust to the sudden change of light. i groan as my phone vibrates beside me, i pick my phone up and see a large amount of notifications from all my social media. i open youtube to see that tommy posted the video from yesterday already, i hope he paid his editor over time for that.

i then check the comments, some talk about how they want more videos featuring me, wisp and james while most of them talk about shipping me with wisp or jack. i move over to instagram, my face is plastering every post i can see, along with jack and wisp. finally i open twitter deciding not to bother with the other platforms.

on twitter there are several different things trending but one certain one catches my eye. a hashtag with my name in it, #teamy/nandwispory/nandjack? i stare at my screen for a few moments before hastily typing away at my screen. several people are discussing tommy's video we filmed yesterday.

i get up out of bed and start walking towards the kitchen, i continue typing away at my phone screen as i enter the kitchen. "hey n/n, you seen twitter yet?" jack mentions, my head flies up in panic. "uh yeah, don't worry i've already messaged saying that nothing's happening between you and me. don't want to ruin your date!" i exclaim, my voice cracking at the last sentence. jack's smile cracks for a moment and he seems to frown before it quickly disappears and he's smiling again.

jack opens his mouth to say something when his phone goes off, quickly he takes it. before i know it he waves me goodbye, grabs a couple things and rushes out the house. must be for his date. a foul taste fills my mouth when i think about it. my phone ringing brings me out of my thoughts. it's wisp, or should i call him kit now we're not being filmed?

"hey wisp, or can i call you kit?" i ask once i answer his call, i walk back towards my bedroom getting ready for the day. "you can call me kit now we're off camera. i'll be picking you up in an hour okay? send me your address!" with that he ends the call. wisp, sorry kit leaves me in confusion. i don't really know how i feel about him, however i send him the address and prepare for our date.

he arrives on time and collects me, he has a picnic and some paints. "where are we going?" i ask, kit laughs lightly. "you'll see!" a few minutes later we get to the beach, kit grabs the picnic and the paints laying them out on a picnic blanket. we sit down and begin to eat the food while painting.

i smile as i begin to paint a green dinosaur on the beach on my canvas, i try to peak over and see what kit's painting but he shields his canvas from me. i laugh as he fake glares at me. "so, what do you enjoy doing as hobbies?" kit asks me, i take a bite out of a strawberry before i reply.

"thanks again for today kit, i enjoyed it." i say softly once kit drops me off back home. the date was uneventful, i didn't really feel any sparks with him if i'm honest. "we should do this again!" kit announces happily clearly not realising how i felt about the date. "uh yeah- definetly!" i mutter trying my best to sound enthusiastic.

with that i turn away from kit and head to the front door, once i open the door i wave at kit one last time before shutting it. i breathe out a sigh of relief, it's not that i don't like kit. it's the fact i don't have any feelings towards him. i feel bad for leading him on like this, i need to tell him the truth.

before we left the beach we swapped paintings, kit's got a painting of a green dinosaur on the beach while i have a painting of me that he did. it's beautiful with a certain precision i could only dream of having.

my phone vibrates, it's an instgram post from jack. opening my phone i look at what jack has only posted seconds ago, the colour washes out of my face and suddenly i feel faint. "hey kid." scott says as he passes me as i head to my room, his voice souding far away. i ignore him, too busy staring at my phone. the only thing ringing in my mind is the caption of the post, my girlfriend melissa.

the post is a picture of jack kissing a girl, she's got blonde hair and blue eyes. typical white girl really, she's shorter than him and in a mini black dress. i'm guessing by the caption she's called melissa and she's now jack's girlfriend.

i just stare at my phone in horror, i feel the world is collapsing around me. not like how it felt in the airport, this feels different. i feel myself hyperventilating, so i do the only logical thing. i start calling nick. "hello? y/n are you okay?" his voice echos through my room, before i can stop myself a sob leaves my body.

"hey, hey it's okay. let it all out okay blossom?" nick says softly as he begins to instruct me on breathing exercises, this isn't the first time i've called him up crying. "thank- thank you, n- nick." i hiccup out through my tears. "it's okay blossom, we're always there for each other remember our promise? our unbreakable bond yeah?" nick mentions, he's right. since that day when he saw me crying he promised he'd always be there for me, in return i promised the same.

i sniffle softly, my sobbing having stopped a few minutes ago. me and nick sit quietly on call, occassionally i can hear nick's keyboard as he types something or other. "panda?" i call softly, he hums in reply. "you know why i called you up don't you?" i whisper. nick stays quiet for a moment before he hums again in reply.

"will it get better? the pain?" i ask, my voice barely audible. nick once again pauses for a moment. "honestly blossom? it doesn't for a while. it hurts and hurts and hurts for a long time before it doesn't. you just have to power through it, no matter how hard it gets and trust me it'll get hard at some point." nick pauses.

"remember how you felt when you and purpled broke up at the end of your 6 month exchange program? you felt happy because you both knew you didn't belong together and long distance wouldn't work. now you're really good friends and you're both happy. that's how it'll feel eventually but it'll take time. the pain will get better one day. let me ask you this, do you love jack?" nick mutters softly.

for the second time today, i feel the world collapsing around me. "yes, but it's too late. i- i- i realised too late that i loved h- him n- now he's got melissa!" i cry out softly, tears spill down my cheeks while nick continues to console me for the remainder of the day. i'm lucky to have him as my best friend.