Within The Bonds

Bonus Chapter 2

One day, six hours, fourteen minutes and five seconds...four seconds...three seconds...

"Are you just going to keep staring at your phone or actually come here and help hang this up?" Jack's breathless voice cuts through my thoughts.

"Nah, you seem to be just fine on your own," I reply, sparing him a single glance before I return my attention to my phone and continue my countdown.

"Lazy ass," he grumbles, his words muffled by the nails he's holding between his lips.

"Although I would consider helping you if you say the magic words first," I say with a smug look throwing my legs up on the coffee table.

"Go to hell," he bites back before going back to struggling to fix the photo frame on the wall all by himself.

"Feet off the table, amor," Noah says as soon as he enters the living room, making me drop my feet back to the ground with a 'thug!'.

"A little help would be appreciated here," Jack calls out from the step ladder, hearing Noah's voice.

"You could have helped him out, you know?" Noah tells me in a whisper so that it doesn't reach Jack's ears, patting the top of my head he makes his way to Jack's aid.

"He didn't say please," I defend, my eyes still glued to my phone screen.

"Can you look at me while talking to me, Astoria," he admonishes causing me to immediately tear my eyes from my phone and offer him a sleepy smile.

"She has had her eyes glued to that thing since morning," Jack tattles, earning an eye roll from me.

"Oh like you have your eyes glued to your phone...every minute of every day?" I retort.

"Well I'm not the one getting scolded for it," comes his swift reply which marks the start of our never-ending bickering contest.

"Can the two of you ever not get into a fight about the most ridiculous things?" Noah cuts in cutting both Jack and me off mid-fight.

"He started it!"
"She started it!" We both say simultaneously making Noah sigh.

"Jack you're eighteen now..." Noah cuts himself off sighing yet again as though the topic is already a lost cause.

He then turns to face me with a little more hope in his eyes while Jack goes back to working on fixing the frame straight.

"Astoria, you're going to be fifteen in--"

"One day, six hours, twelve minutes and fifty-five seconds... fifty-four seconds..." I cut him off focussing my attention back on the timer on my phone.

"That's what you've been so caught up with? The countdown to your birthday," Noah asks, sounding it out to be more of a statement than a question.

I shrug in response before going back to fixating my gaze back to my phone screen counting as the second's tick by into minutes.

"You still don't want a celebration, do you?" Noah asks clearly a bit less enthusiastic about my choice of spending my birthday.

"Oh I will be celebrating alright," I say, peeling my gaze off my phone for a brief moment I lift my eyes to meet his to find a confused yet tiny bit of hopefulness in his gaze.

"I just don't want to be surrounded by more than a dozen strangers, wearing something I otherwise I wouldn't be caught dead in and having Jack stepping on my toes 'cause he's a lousy dancer," I list off ignoring Jack's scoff at the end bit.

"You're a weird little human, did you know that?" Liam says making his presence known from the doorway.

"She's a Halloween baby, what more did you expect?" Jack remarks only to be swatted upside his head by Noah eating an unintended chuckle from me to be sobered up by his glaring eyes.