Next to You ☼ Jack Avery

four

we walked into the apartments

"so who lives here?" I asked as we walked down the hall and to a door

"um literally all of us, Jonah Corbyn Daniel and Zach all live down this hall with me, all of our parents live here, along with most siblings, kinda like a reality tv show but without the tv show"

I chuckled and Jack unlocked his door

"I think Gabbie is either in here or on the patio"

the three of us walked in and I heard music playing and two voices, they sounded like girls

"hello?" Jack called out and a girl with long curly hair and one who looked similar to Jack with brown hair peeked around the corner

they both smiled and Jack kissed the curly haired girl

so thats Gabbie

"um Gabbie Sydnie, this is my friend Bryden"

Sydnie hugged me and I was a little confused, wait Sydnie is his sister

"hi nice to meet you" I smiled and she smiled as we pulled away from the hug and then Gabbie hugged me

"nice to meet you, you are like really pretty" Gabbie said as she pulled away and Jack put his hand on her lower back

this is kinda weird

he was doing the same to me but I could be really overthinking this

I turned to Zach and we gave each other a look and I could tell we were thinking the same thing "thank you" I finally said back to Gabbie

"well lets go up I think the rest of the boys are on the patio with everyone" Sydnie said as she shuffled everyone out of the apartment and I followed the crowd

Zach slowed us down so it was just the two of us walking

"I know I joke about us being a thing but I think Jack has some real feelings" he whispered

"but he has a girlfriend, and i've only known him 2 weeks thats not enough time to develop feelings" I sighed

"then how come you did?"

"I-" I stopped and turned to him

Gabbie, Sydnie, and Jack kept walking and it was just Zach and I in the hallway

"Bryden i'm not stupid, I can see you have feelings for him" he looked down at me, they were all very taller then me

"yeah but its only been 2 wee-"

"Bry"

I sighed

"i'm trying to get over it"

"well until Jack gets it through his head that he doesn't have strong feelings for Gabbie anymore, i'm always here for you"

he hugged me and I leaned into the hug

"thank you" it came out muffled because my face was buried into his shirt

"anyway lets go meet the family" he said in a dumb way and rushed outside, when he opened the door I was met with the bright light of outside and a bunch of people sitting around

lets get socializing

•••
its been 3 hours

3

hours

of talking about myself

I hate it

but they're all really really nice so it makes up for it, Zach's little sister is very shy but Jack's youngest sister Isla was adorable

I sat beside her Jonah and Zach

Jack has been preoccupied with Gabbie so I have kinda been clinging to Zach, I wasn't close with the rest of the boys yet so I didn't want it to be awkward

Jonah and I had been talking though

he's really nice

"so what else do you do?" he asked

"well theres a stable like 30-45 minutes from my house and i've been going there ever since I was little, so I have a horse there and a few friends which is pretty cool"

"there is a horse stable in Los Angeles?"

I nodded and chuckled

"yea pretty far from downtown though, but its really fun to just go out there when things get, overwhelming"

"well I need to go out there with you someday then because insomnia is up my ass"

we both laughed and Zach tapped my shoulder "hmm?" I turned

"Im gonna go film a video of my brother singing while I play the guitar ill be right back" he gave me a reassuring smiled and I nodded

Isla scooted so she was facing me "so you have horses??"

I smiled "well technically I only have one but my sister owns the other one"

"whats its name"

"well its a boy, and his name is Toby"

"I wanna meet him"

"maybe you will one day" I smiled at her and she got up and rushed to her mom, Kristin

•••