DISCLAIMER: I don't own four brothers, or anything associated with the movie.
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He held her in his arms as she was bleeding. Death would have came soon, had it not been for him. He sat there, holding Jessica's head in his lap. He looked into her eyes, watching them fade. Her icy blue eyes were turning paler, if possible. Jack reached out and stroked her cheek softly, as his tears dripped down onto her.
Knowing her, means knowing her story.
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Jessica Tomlin was pretty average. She was 16 and roughly about 5' 11" barefoot. Her hair was naturally brown, but she had dyed it many months before, now giving her auburn-red hair. She had the most impossible blue eyes that Jack had ever seen. Jack had met her his junior year of high school, in Washington Township. She just moved there and lived down the street from him. A random chance encounter changed them both.
Jessica was walking to the school's lunchroom. While waiting to get inside the crowded doorway, Jack walked past her, knocking over her books.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Jack looked back at the red head and leaned over to help her. "I'm Jack Mercer."
"Name's Jess Tomlin." she looked up at him, hesitating a moment as she looked into his eyes. "It's nice to meet you, Jack." She smiled as she picked up her notebook, but spilling a few pages out. Jack leaned over and picked them up before she could. His gaze was caught as he looked at the papers.
"Are these lyrics?" he asked her, reading some of the top paper.
"Y-Yeah. I know they aren't very good.. but I write my own song lyrics sometimes." Jessica blushed slightly, as Jack handed back her papers.
"They are really good." Jack saw her blush and smiled. "You show them to anyone?"
"One person, but that's a whole different story." she looked down and stuffed the papers back into her notebook. Looking back up at him, she smiled slightly. "Thank you though."
Jack nodded as they stood up. The crowd around the door had gone down, but still students would trickle inside. Jack held the door for her and offered to sit with her. After a long wait in the lunch line, they two sat down at a table, not to far away from the door.
"You must be new here." Jack said, smiling with an underlying smirk.
"Yeah, my family just moved here last week," she nodded, sending a strand of her red hair into her eyes. "I like it so far though."
He nodded quietly as she brushed her hair behind her ear effortlessly. He looked her over, noticing her attire. She was wearing a black t-shirt that had a silver, elegant butterfly on it. Her jeans were long, spilling over her black boots, which made her 6 foot. The jeans were intricate and had ties and beads sewn down the sides. Her long hair spilled over her chest and back, ending just under the middle of her back. Looking up, she noticed he was staring.
"Something the matter?" she tilted her head slightly as she looked at him.
"Oh what? uhh.. no every thing's cool." he snapped back to reality when her voice broke his concentration. "So, tell me a little about yourself."
"Hmm.. Well.." Jessica took a bite of her food before continuing. "Born in New Jersey, raised in New York. We just moved here because.." she trailed off absent mindedly "..stuff that happened." Her eyes were glued to the table as she finished her sentence. Jack reached over and put his hand on her arm softly. Not expecting it, she flinched slightly.
"Sorry. Well, for me, I never knew my biological family. When I was younger I moved from foster house to foster house." He paused momentarily. "Until Evelyn took me in, that is. She adopted me, and three others as well."
She smiled at him. "That's cool. Well, my two older brothers have moved out. My younger sister lives in California now, with my aunt." She shrugged then looked at him again, her eyes full of joy once more as she spoke. "So it's just pretty much me and my parents here."
"It's me, Evelyn, and my adopted older brothers. Bobby, Jerry, and Angel." he looked into her eyes. "Bobby, the oldest, is in love with hockey... and fighting. Jerry, he's got a solid girlfriend now, Camille. She's cool though. Angel, he's in the marines right now. Should be coming home soon though."
"Wow,thats awesome. Well..." she was interrupted by the school's bell. "I guess that means its time to go." she still had a happy smile. That smile. Her smile. Jack couldn't look away when she had that smile. Her smile was delicate yet genuine. Her emotions were easy to read, and Jack noticed this.
They walked down the corridor, where they both went to their lockers. They noticed their lockers were across the hall from each other. Smiling, Jack offered to walk her to class.
"Sure. I have Algebra II next." she looked down at her schedule. While doing so, she bumped into a very large, older looking man. She looked up at him.
"Watch it, Scab." The guy scowled at Jessica. Jack jumped in between them.
"You watch it Malcolm." Jack said, nearly glaring at him, slightly pushing Jessica behind him.
"Mercer..." the man named Malcolm growled under his breath and walked away. Jessica looked at Jack, slightly confused. He turned and watched Malcolm walk away, as the scowl on his face faded.
"Malcolm Sweet. Thinks he's some sorta big guy." Jack looked down at her, smiling. "He wont bother you as long as you hang with me and my brothers." She smiled and nodded her thanks. After the school bell rang, signaling the end of the day, Jack walked Jessica to her house. She lived three houses down from Jack.
"It was a pleasure to meet you Jack." Jessica smiled as they reached her house. "I'll see you tomorrow." she nodded.
"Alright. Cool." he watched her walk away. "If you need anything, ... let me know." Jessica turned and waved as she smiled her thank you. With that jack continued to walk down the street towards his house. His smile never left his lips as he walked and pulled out his MP3 player, putting one head phone on. His eyebrows popped up as he looked at his play list. "Fuck you Bobby.." Jack stopped the Spice Girls song that Bobby had jokingly put on it, which he did once every few weeks. Jack sighed and stuffed his MP3 player back in his pocket. "Stupid Bobby.. Always touching my shit... When is he ever gonna realize I'm not fucking gay?!" Jack muttered under his breath, heading inside the house.
Evelyn was on the couch, knitting a scarf. She looked up and saw Jack. She finished and set aside the half knitted scarf and walked to the kitchen. Jack followed her and went to the fridge, grabbing a soda.
"So how was school?" Evelyn smiled and pulled open a cabinet.
"It was alright." Jack shrugged slightly. "I made a new friend." he smiled and sat down at the table and looked at Evelyn, as she pulled out a bag of chips and placed them on the table. "She's pretty cool. New in town."
"She? Hmmm..." Evelyn laughed slightly. "New as in, new girlfriend? Jackie..."
"No, no. She's cool though. We have a lot of classes together." Jack looked up as he opened the bag. "She writes lyrics too... they are pretty good."
"And does this lyric-writing-class-sharing girl have a name?" Evelyn smiled and walked over to the sink. She began washing dishes as she listened to Jack. Evelyn seemed to be easiest when it came to Jack. He was the youngest, most innocent, and carefree of all of her boys,and he still lived at home.
"Jessica Tomlin." he laughed slightly. "Shes shorter then me, blueish grayish eyes, red hair." he smiled. "She is pretty cool" he shrugged slightly. "Malcolm was going to mess with her, but I kept him away."
"Well hero Jack saves the day again." Evelyn grinned widely and washed the dishes. She grinned as he walked back to his room after finishing eating. "Boys will be boys." Evelyn chuckled softly to herself, hearing his door close.
Jack walked into his room and sat down on his bed. He picked up his guitar, remembering some of the lyrics he had read earlier. Strumming a tune, he began to sing what he could remember. The soft music seemed to spark the dulled air in his room. He could only imagine how much better it could be having her sing it.
"Wait.. Jack, you only met her a few hour ago." he thought to himself, putting down his guitar. "Besides, there is no way she'd try anything.. from they way she flinched in lunch.. she's not.. was she..?" his thoughts were over crossing themselves, over lapping before his head could make sense of it. Before he could even try to, he heard a door open and close.
He could hear a familiar male voice. 'Wait.. Could it be..? Nah..' Jack shook his head and looked out the window, hearing Evelyn's cheery voice coming from down stairs. He sighed and opened the window. He heard Bobby walk past his room, so he waited until the foot steps retreated downstairs until he climbed out onto the porch's roof, sitting there with his head against the outer wall.
"Hey Jackie-poo." the voice came from inside Jack's room. This made his head spin and look at the man he hadn't seen in months.
"Angel!" Jack climbed back inside and gave his older brother a hug. "I haven't seen you in a while man. How is the Marines? I didn't know you were coming home today."
Angel chuckled at his younger brother. "Yeah, I just got in. It's pretty good, I guess." He grinned and looked at his little brother "How you doin' white boy?" he chuckled as he hit Jack's shoulder softly.
"I'm fine." Jack rolled his eyes as Bobby came in. Jack sat against his window sill as the two older brothers walked out of Jack's room, talking and laughing. Jack's lingering eyes found their way outside as he saw someone walking down the street. It was Jessica. Jack's head cocked to the side as he saw her walking down the street, but then he noticed something unnerving. Malcolm was nearby. In fact it looked as if he was following her. "Shit.." Jack's eyes widened as he jumped off the window sill and raced down the stairs, making his way outside.