I Wanna Be Free, I Wanna Be Loved

Ch. 8: Hey Jude

RYAN'S POV

"Great news!" I yeled when mom came into the house.

"Oh no, did your sister finally get arrested?" she asked.

"No, not yet" Rachel interrupted "Herp McDerpson over there just has a crush on our guest"

"I do not!" I blushed "But I did get her to agree to come to dinner with us"

"Oh honey, that's wonderful!" mom hugged me and left to go get Hannah "Thank you for making an effort unlike some people!"

Rachel was texting like crazy, probably talking to Slash or Scum or some other criminal. Slash had changed her so much and not in a good way; before him she was like Hannah. She was on honor roll, she did community service, and she was on the volleyball squad. Now her grades were just good enough to keep her off academic warning and she only did community service when she got caugh trying to buy cigarrettes with her fake ID.

"Rach" I said, she didn't look up from her phone "RACHEL!"

"What?" she snapped.

"Cool it with the Hannah stuff, okay? I don't like her like that" I said.

"Yeah and I'm the Queen of England" she countered.

"Rachel, please. It's awkward enough for her to live here, she doesn't need you embarrassing her and I certainly don't need more of it, so for the sake of all of us, button your hole"

She was about to fight back but mom and Hannah were now in the living room with us. Rachel was staring directly at Hannah, who hadn't noticed because she and mom were talking. I had to do my best not to stare too even though I just wanted to look at her all the time. Hannah finally looked at Rachel and semi-smiled. If Rachel would just stop hanging out with Slash and his scumbuckets, she and Hannah could actually get along.

"Hi Rachel" Hannah said sweetly.

Rachel just grumbled and went back to texting. On an impulse I took the phone from her hands and shoved it in my back pocket.

"What the fuck, Ry?" she yelled, laughing herself at me but I fought her off.

"Give me the phone, Ry" mom yelled.

I handed it over and mom dropped it in her purse. "Rachel, I have to support your brother on what he just did. I want you all to get to know each other and phones won't help with that. You can have it back after we all have a nice dinner out"

"YOU'RE SUCH A KISSASS!" Rachel yelled at me.

"I'd rather be a kissass than have a tattoo on my ass!" I blurted.

Rachel, Hannah, an mom all covered their mouths at the same time. I couldn't believe I just said that but my sister was pushig my last nerve and I just had to one-up her. Mom dropped her purse, marched over to Rachel, lifted the back of her tank top, and screamed bloody murder. I went over to Hannah who looked like she herself was ready to cry. I wrapped an arm protectively around her waist.

"Let's go up to my room" I whispered "It's about to get deadly"

She willingly accompanied me upstairs, thank god I had just cleaned my room or she's be stepping on piles of dirty jeans and stray guitar picks. I opened the door and she followed me in, looking around at all my posters.

"You like ACDC too??" she smiled.

"Yeah, but I'm a classic Beatles nerd" I smiled back.

"Love them too" she replied.

This girl...wow. Her eyes fell on my guitar and I went to pick it up before sitting down on my bed and patting the spot next to me, which she took. She perked up when she recognized that I was strumming the beginning of "Hey Jude". I played the song and sang for her and she looked so peaceful. When I finished, she fluttered her eyelashes and smiled wider. I put down the guitar and got up off the bed but she pulled me back, wrapping her arms around my neck and burying her face in my chest. Her hair smelled like a mix of coconut and raspberries; I hugged her back and felt like a total creep for actually sniffing her hair.

"Thank you for making me feel accepted here" she said.

"Of course, it's my pleasure" I replied. In that moment, all wanted to do was kiss her but I restrained myself, yet my lips couldn't help but drift toward hers. I made contact with her cheek instead and she blushed as we heard more of mom and Rachel's fight. She rested her head on my shoulder and I laughed.

"Welcome to the family" I joked.