Growing with J.A.C.I.E. (All Time Low Fanfiction | Jack Barakat)

Chapter 12

"Alrighty!" Jack announced as he entered the apartment with a large box, huddled up in his heavy coat and beanie. "I got the most realistic tree I could find!"

I looked up from my comfy spot on the couch. "And how much did that cost?"

He froze for a second, his mouth open slightly as he thought of a way to break the news. "We won't mention that."

"Jack..."

"It's an investment," he quickly defended, unzipping his coat while he kicked his shoes off. "We need a New York tree."

I raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk tugging at my lips. "A New York tree, huh? Does that mean it comes with its own set of tiny taxi cabs and a miniature Empire State Building?"

"You know, I should have thought of that. Missed opportunity." He hung his coat up and carried the box to the living room, setting it down right in the middle.

I threw the blanket I was snuggled up under off myself and joined him. "Well, let's see this masterpiece."

Jack rushed to the kitchen to grab a knife and immediately started cutting the tape that kept the box shut. Eventually, he revealed the neatly packed pieces of a fake, yet supposedly realistic tree. It was hard to tell whether this 'investment' really was as good as Jack claimed it was with it still compacted in the box.

Although we had had this apartment for over a year, we spent the last Christmas back at our place in LA. It was the first time we were christening our New York home with twinkling lights and sparkling decorations, which meant a new tree was needed. And I was not about to deal with pine needles all over the place in my third trimester.

Jack grinned, looking at the unassembled tree parts with the enthusiasm of a child about to open a birthday present. "Behold, the best of artificial Christmas arboreal technology!"

"Arboreal?" I asked with a judgemental yet surprised look. "Do you even know what that word means?"

"Not until earlier today!" he clapped his hands together in excitement and rubbed them. "Now, help me put this masterpiece together."

I could only join in on the excitement as we sorted through the branches. We laid out the pieces on the living room floor, grouping together matching labels. After Jack assembled the centre pole, the task shifted to putting the branches in their corresponding slots. Each branch clicked into place, bringing us closer and closer to the luscious tree I was promised.

I hummed some Christmas tunes as we worked, pushing past the scratchy feeling of the plastic needles against my skin. We bent the little twigs at different angles, trying our best to make the tree look as full as possible.

As the tree neared completion, Jack stepped back to admire our handiwork. "What do you think?"

I pretended to inspect the tree with exaggerated seriousness. "I think... it's beautiful."

"I told you," he grinned, coming up to me and lightly wrapping an arm around my waist to pull me into his side.

"So..." I whistled, staring at the tree that was even taller than Jack, "do we also have ornaments?"

Jack looked around the room with a frown before realisation hit him. "In the car. I'll get them."

I chuckled as he hurriedly grabbed his keys and rushed out of the apartment again. While he was gone, I took a moment to appreciate the tree. Despite being fake, it had quite the charm of its own. It was even bigger than the one we had back in LA, as if it represented us truly putting our roots down here.

Sure, I had my studio here, and we were here usually for half of the year, but this was also where Meerkat was going to be born. This would be her first home and possibly the place where she'd grow up. We'd never completely say goodbye to LA, but we were really going to start the next chapter of our lives here.