Warped ||Luke Hemmings

Chapter Twenty-Three

Merry Christmas :) <3

Media is one of my favorite covers of theirs and I love Calum's faces in it!

It was a random Thursday in mid September when Jacqueline Keel was shaken from her bed by a slightly terrified Curtis. She was groggy, her mind fuzzy with sleep even though it was only eight at night but she had gotten her year book today and spattered across almost every other page was a picture of her and Max. It had made her cry a lot, she wanted desperately to pick up the phone and call Max but her mom had told her to wait, Max was driving home tonight apparently and then they would see her the next day.

Jac glanced nervously out the window, it was raining pretty heavily, every so often the sky would light up in angry electricity and Jac assumed this was what had caused her younger brother so much distress but then she heard a banging at the door.

"Jac," Curtis said, his voice low and face barely illuminated by the light of Jac's clock on her nightstand. "There's someone at the door." Jac groaned and knew she had to get up, she couldn't send her baby brother to answer the door to a stranger in the black of night with both of her parents at work. They didn't have school tomorrow so her parents were letting Curtis stay up until they got home but apparently they weren't there yet.

"Okay Curt, stay here. Everything is fine I will yell for you when I know its safe." Jac was seriously doubting it when the knocking came faster this time, harder even and she grabbed the large flashlight from beside her bed. Her dad had gotten it for her as a Christmas present because it was functional as well as could probably kill a man if swung hard enough.

"Coming." Jac announced and disregarded her pajama clad body to pad barefoot from her little room the their front door which someone was trying to knock in. Jac jumped a little bit when the knocking came again and she shouted, "If you don't stop and take three steps back I won't open the door." There was a soft laugh from the other side of the thick wooden barrier and Jac swung open the door just as she flicked on the porch light hoping to startle the intruder but she startled herself more.

There on the porch of her small, rural home stood an absolutely soaking wet Ashton who whimpered when the too bright light shown in his eyes. Jac felt a hurricane of emotions: anger, frustration, happiness, sadness and in the heat of the moment she threw her self at Ashton who held his arms open thinking it was for a hug but cringed when her sharp and tiny fist connected with his torso.

She pushed at him, struggled against him for a few moments before sagging into his arms. The whole time she fought the Aussie boy hadn't even lifted a finger to stop her, just cradled her in his arms when he was done and let her sob and curse into his chest.

"How fucking dare you show up here after shutting me out for two months." She said brokenly, "I lost you, I lost Max, and I had no one." Hot tears were seeping into Ashton's shirt and the tall lad scooped Jac up into his arms, her bare legs slung over his arms bridal style and stepped into the house. He followed his intuition and found the living room just off of the front door and laid Jac down on the couch before going to shut the door. When Ashton turned back around he came face to face with a tallish, blond boy who was brandishing a long kitchen knife.

"What are you doing in our house?" The boy demanded, taking a menacing step towards Ashton and Jac scrambled from the far end of the couch to peer into the entry way at what was unfolding. Curtis must have gone to the kitchen and grabbed a knife in hopes of backing Jac up but he didn't know who the boy was. If the hall light was on then Curtis would have recognized the drummer from the posters that had covered Max and Jac's room when Max lived with them but it was too dark.

"Curtis!" Jac shouted while Ashton flashed his palms in innocence. "This is my frie- this is Ashton. From 5 Seconds of Summer." Ashton's heart had soared when she began to refer to him as a friend but it crashed when she altered her statement. The boy, Curtis, seemed confused and slowly reached over to snap on the hall light. Once again Ashton had too much light in his eyes too quickly and when he got done rubbing the sensitivity out of them he could focus on the boy in front of him staring up in awe.

"Wow! My sister used to talk about you a lot!" Curtis blurted and Jac was quick to tack a spiteful "Not anymore," on the end of the embarrassing confession. Ashton giggled and Jac got up from the couch, whispering to Curtis that he can't tell mom and dad and that she would be in the basement with Ashton then she grabbed Ash's hand, ignoring the slight jump she felt when she did and drug him to her basement to talk.

"You have five minutes," Jac stated after shoving Ashton towards the couch until he stumbled onto it. He looked up at her with confusion and she sighed, cocking her hip out in a gesture she had learned from Max and glared at him for all she was worth. "Beginning to end, I want the truth, the whole story." Ashton nodded and gestured for her to sit next to him but she refused. She had learned from Max that if you want answers you cannot give in. Max, whenever she was forced to speak with her father, would never sit just because when you sit your body language can be manipulated until they can make you forget your anger.

Ashton started spewing words when Jac tapped her non-existent watch. "Okay, so we got invited to be the special guests on the East Coast circuit of Warped. We were all really excited and started to talk about all of our stupid hook ups at music festivals." At Jac's glare and hurt look Ashton quickly said, "Look I know Max told you about the bet but I swear to you that once I got to know you I forgot about the bet completely. Hell I lost the bet because I couldn't go through with it once I realized how much I actually really liked you. And I don't regret the bet because without it I never would have met you but because of it you hate me and I am desperately crazy about you." Jac was silenced at the sincerity in his voice.

Honestly, seeing Ashton on her door step had been enough to tell her he was sorry. If she had been posting their fling on social media and everyone who would listen then she would be skeptical of him showing up but she hadn't. She had only told her mother, who was not pleased by the way at Ashton's age, but here Ashton was. Sitting on her couch, looking scared and nervous and all Jac wanted to do was hug him and hold on tight.

So she did. She had spent too much time hating Marcus, too much time being angry at Ashton, too much time being angry with herself and angry at Max that she hadn't been able to be happy. She knew that her feelings were still hurt and that Ashton still had a lot of explaining to do, which he did while she cuddled up on his lap and the two fell asleep on Jac's couch, talking until they were too tired and enjoying being in each other's embrace. Curtis came down later to check on his big sister and smiled at the happy look on her face as she lay tangled in Ashton's long arms. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and was surprised to see their mother smiling at the scene too.

She recognized Ashton and she recognized that her daughter was probably the happiest now than she had been in two months. Hopefully, Lara thought, tomorrow will make her even happier with seeing Max again. Lara still didn't know how the meeting would go but she was hopeful, for Max and Jac's sake.

Merry Christmas! 

Thoughts on Jac forgiving Ashton?

Thoughts on Curtis being a little bad ass?

Any changes of hearts as to thoughts on Lara who is turning out to be less of a bitch?

Predictions?

Love you all :) -Meg:)