A Little bit of Shade

E I G H T

"Zach, pass me some chips please" I ask, pointing at the bowl beside him. He grabs three chips and hands them to me. I roll my eyes and reach over him, grabbing the bowl.

"Hey I'm going out" Jack says, reaching the bottom of the stairs. "Going to hangout with gabbie again?!" Zach sing songs. "Yes actually, and if things go well I might ask her to come meet all of you" he blushes. "Yay! I can't wait" I smile. "I gotta go but I'll talk to you later" he grabs his keys and leaves.

"I have to leave for work in thirty minutes" I sigh. Zach laughs. "Shut up" I whine.

•••

I was sitting at the front desk of the book store, working on a story I've been writing when the door dings. I look up to see Jack and the young girl from a few weeks ago. My eyes widen. They head to the back of the store.

Jack didn't know I was working today because I picked up Amelia's shift. He didn't notice me.

The girl was Gabbie... oh god.

After a few minutes of them looking around Gabbie walked up to the front holding another book from a series.

"Hey, sorry to bother you about this again but I was wondering if you had the second book to this?" She smiles at me. "It's ok, I'll go look for you" I smile back and head to the back room, quickly peaking back before I enter the room.

I find the book and walk back out. Jack was standing with her. Oh shit. I go and awkwardly hand her the book. She thanks me. Jack and I make eye contact, before he quickly walks to her. Him not saying anything means he doesn't want her to know who I am.

When they come up to pay, I avoid eye contact. They leave and I immediately get a text from Jack.

Curly🍟: come to the house once your shift is done. I wanna talk.

What does that mean? He's never been mad at me or acted like this. I don't know what to do.

•••

That was the longest 8 hours of my life. I was nervous while driving back to Jack's house. He can't be mad at me, I didn't do anything wrong. Yet, I was still nervous. He wasn't texting like he usually did. He was very dry and... weird.

I pulled into the driveway and headed inside. All the guys were sitting around on their phones. Once Jack sees me, he grabs my arm and leads me upstairs. All the guys watch, not knowing what's happening. Jack hasn't said a word yet.

He shuts his bedroom door behind us.

"You knew Gabbie and didn't tell me?!" He raises his voice. "Ok one, shut up-" he's shocked by my words. "Two, I didn't know it was Gabbie when we first met, she never said her name" I say, in a calm voice. "Ugh, she was talking about a girl she met at the bookstore. She said she was really pretty and nice. She wants to be friends with you" he lays on his bed and throws his arm over his eyes.

Gabbie thought I was pretty, I can't help but smile. I know I shouldn't because of Jack but it's hard.

"Why were you mad?" I ask. He doesn't move. "I guess somehow I knew she was talking about you and I thought if she thinks that... what will happen when she actually meets you, what if you like like her too?" Uh oh. "Jack, you'll be fine. I'm sure she's nice, but I would never do that to you" I lie, sitting next to him and play with his hair. I found it calms him down when he's stressed. He moves his arm and looks over at me. "I guess your right" he sighs. "Of course I am" I smile, causing him to laugh.

"Let's go see what the guys are doing" I say, he follows me downstairs. I sit on the couch next to Daniel, Jack goes to the kitchen.

"What was that about?" Daniel whispers. "Gabbie" I reply. He nods slowly and continues watching Jonah and Corbyn playing a video game. "I have another question" he looks back over at me. "Go for it" I smile. "Why do you hangout with us? Not to be rude but don't you have any girlfriends?" He asks.

"I'm gonna give you a short rundown of my life" I laugh, crossing my legs and turning to face him. "When I was younger, I grew up with three guys. I just learned to fight and do things guys do. Of course they always saw me as a weak little girl, causing me to practice and get better at things they did. Finally after a while, it's just how I was. I was never into playing house or having tea parties. I've just always been closer to guys. When I moved out here, I didn't know anyone until I met Jack. We connected so quickly, I never thought of making other friends until I met you guys" I explain.

(Literally my life tbh)

"Oh, okay that explains how you act. I like that you can beat Corbyn at video games and like to shove cream in peoples faces" he chuckles. I smile thinking back to those two days. "Yeah, it's just how I learned to act. I had to learn defence to pranks too" I laugh. "One day I'll prank you, you won't even see it coming" he smiles. "Oh, prank war?" I ask. He nods. He puts out his hand. I shake it. "Prank war."

•••

It was around 1:30 am when I woke up. I could hear Jacks quiet snores. I look over, trying to see if Daniel was in his bed. He wasn't. I looked over towards the bathroom, the light was shinning under the door. I get up quietly and grab all of Daniel's shoes from the closet. I chuck them onto his bed and pull the covers over them. I slip back into Jack's bed. I lay down, closing my eyes. When the door opens and the light flick off, he shuffled back to his bed. I hear the covers lift. "Ow!" I can't hold my laugh back, it's so loud Jack wakes up.

"Oh my god. I can't believe you actually did that" Daniel says, turning on his light. He was standing beside his bed covered in shoes. Jack sits up and starts laughing. "You're so lame" Jack says, laying back down. "It was the first thing that came to my mind" I whine. Daniel picks up the pairs one at a time and reorganizes them in the closet. "It wasn't super lame, I know you both have a little OCD, so I know to mess with things you've organized" I explain. "Wow, you're making this personal. I guess I have to be personal too" he was sat on the floor, rearranging his shoe order. "Try me hoe" I lay back down, Jack laughs. "I'm dead inside" Jack laughs harder. "It's so true"

_______________________________

I'm updating a day early because of everything happening with Zach. I've avoided being on Instagram a lot because my whole feed is peoples opinions. Honestly, don't put that word in songs if you don't think white people should say it. All he did was mouth along to the song, as did everyone else.

But it's also none of my business, it's Zach's and everyone who was offended by it.

ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT TALK? Like I watched the video and almost cried. They all looked so grown up and CORBYN LOOKED SO GOOD IN THE BLUE JACKET I SCREAMED.

That's all, thanks for reading:)

-Ann