destinesia | gnr

must be love

1990

ABOUT A WEEK LATER, IZZY was still at Jackie & Mason's apartment. She kept asking him if it was okay that he stayed there instead of helping the guys with the new album, but he'd just shrug it off with something like 'nah, they'll be fine.'

She began to slightly worry about it. She didn't want them to kick Izzy out like they did with Steven. She thought it wasn't likely though, considering how close Axl and Izzy were.

Classes were starting back up again, and with Izzy hanging around it was a lot easier for Jackie to wake up in the morning and have the motivation to go to her classes. On the harder days, he'd come in the room with a cup of coffee and sit on the bed rubbing her back until she could get up, responding to her sleepy mumbles with a soft "I know, I know." then telling her that it would only be for about an hour then she could come home.

It only made her want to sleep even more though, because of how calming it was, but she was thankful that he wouldn't push it like her mother would whenever she wouldn't go.

He'd usually have an apple in his hand for her when she walked out the door, and for whatever reason, on the days she didn't accept the apple, he'd walk with her to whatever building she was going to. She would make sure to leave him behind at a safe distance so that no other college students would see him and freak the fuck out, but he'd stay in the same spot and watch her walk the rest of the way until she was out of view.

She liked it at first, but after a while it got annoying, so one morning she asked if she could just walk alone. Izzy reluctantly approved, then glared at Mason as he giggled on the way out, eyeing him over his shoulder.

Audrey was still a problem, but not as big of one. She'd still come around their apartment just to see how Izzy was doing. Jackie got sick of it and finally snapped at Audrey to calm the fuck down before she scared him off. Then, she ended up feeling like a bitch for shooing her away because she didn't want to give Audrey any mixed signals that she was jealous of her being around Izzy so much.

Her classes flew by pretty quickly as most of them were just catching up on missed work before break. She stared at the ground under her feet while Mason babbled on about some girl from class.

"Like.. we stared at each other for like- ten whole seconds."

Jackie snorted. "Must be love." She joked.

"No, yeah- it definitely is." Mason said, then he continued with his story.

Jackie occasionally nodded and mumbled in response as they walked back home. Mason stopped abruptly as they were about to turn the corner to their street. "Shit, I'm supposed to help Audrey with something, I'll be home later."

Jackie just stared at him over her shoulder with furrowed brows as he zoomed down the sidewalk. "Whatever." She shook her head then began walking the rest of the way home.

When she walked up the steps to her house, she decided she'd call Steven and see how he was doing. She hoped he'd gotten some into some kind of rehabilitation program. She only wanted the best for him.

The door swung open before she even got to the last step and broke her from her thoughts.

"Hey!" Izzy smiled brightly at her. She stared at him then averted her gaze to the chocolate covered spatula in his hand, then to the apron around his waist. "Hi..?" She couldn't help but smile back.

"Come on, I made brownies." He said, turning back into the house. She raised her eyebrows. "Brownies, huh?"

"Yeah, well they're not done, but you're here now so you can help me." He grinned at her from the kitchen as she shrugged her bag off her shoulders.

"Can you make the frosting?" He asked while he started poking holes into the brownies. "Uh, yeah sure.. but what's the occasion?" She started grabbing ingredients from the cabinets.

"Nothing. I was just bored." He shrugged.

"You know.. you do have that world renowned band that you could get back to." She said.

"Yeah, yeah." He said. She noticed his expression dimmed a bit when she mentioned the band. Oh well, she'd ask him about it later. "You're more fun anyway."

"Why are you poking them?" She chuckled.

"So we can put caramel inside them."

She furrowed her brows for a second. Isn't that what her mom used to do?

"I got the idea from thanksgiving." He muttered. He didn't want to bring up any bad memories. "Right." She chuckled awkwardly.

"Okay!" She chirped, rolling her sleeves up and pouring powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Once her hands were covered in it, she clapped them together in Izzy's face. He cocked his head back and rubbed his arm on his nose.

She waited for his reaction as she stared with wide eyes and a mischievous grin on her face. "Oh, you little.." he growled low as he slowly walked toward her.

"No, wait- I'm sorry, no no no-" she immediately regretted her decision as Izzy bolted toward her, bending down and hanging her over his shoulder. She let out a shriek. "Izzy!"

Her eyes widened when she realized the shirt he was wearing and her powder covered hands. "Uh oh." She said aloud, slowly lifting her hands off his favorite sweater.

"What?" Izzy asked while still laughing. She ignored him as she saw the white handprints all over his back.

Izzy put her to her feet and stared at her. "You're gonna kill me." She said with her hands behind her back. "What..? Why would.." he trailed off as she revealed her hands.

"Oh, now you're really gonna get it." He said. She yelped as she bolted down the hallway into her bedroom and flopped on her bed. Izzy was clearly exhausted too when he flopped next to her as they breathlessly stared at the ceiling.

She thought about how if Mason walked in right now, he'd probably think they were doing something else.

She laughed at the irony as she turned her head to look at him. They held each others gaze as they both caught their breath.

jesus fucking Christ fucking FINALLY A NEW CHAOTER yall im sorry idk