Well, Hi there! Thank you for clicking on this special one-shot! :) This is more of a one-shot that is meant to get across a message that has come to both of our attention recently. I think all in all this one-shot took us two months? How we came up with it is kind of a funny story. We where kind of ranting to each other about this issue that has crossed the line lately and then we got an idea to write something about it. Some people write music to express their feelings; we write stories. :P Ha-ha. I really hope y'all like this. I think this author's note is long enough... on with the one-shot! :D
Disclaimer- We don't own Kickin' It, Taylor Swift's "Ours", Megan Nicole's "Summer Forever" in any way, shape or form. We do own our original OC though. :D
Dedicated to Leo Howard
Jack was having a great day. He got an A on his English mid-term the day before (Which is amazing considering how he's been struggling lately in that class.), today was the first day of spring break and the sun was shining in a way that made Jack smile from ear to ear. Taking advantage of the beautiful April weather, Jack decides to ride his skateboard through the park.
The normal sights of the local Seaford Park greeted him as he came up the sidewalk towards the park. People walking their dogs, kids playing on the playground and in the sand pit, kids playing soccer, boys tossing a football around, little girl's having fake tea parties and picnics with their friends or dolls and your occasional squirrel that gets in your path and you have to swivel around it.
After swiveling around the 4th squirrel, Jack finds himself struggling to keep his balance. As he's trying to regain his balance, he looks up and see's he's heading straight for a bench that a girl is sitting on, reading a book. He doesn't really have time to think before he crashes into the bench, knocking the girl off and onto the ground and he lands on top of her.
He shakes his long brown hair out of his even browner eyes and looks down at the girl. She is what Milton would call a 'Fashionable Nerd' -while Milton was just a nerd. He notices she looks to be around his age, but he's never seen her before.
One of the first things he notices is her beautiful green eyes hidden behind black framed glasses. The beanie on her head of brown hair with natural auburn highlights had fallen off and was lying on the ground a couple feet away from them.
He also noticed, unlike all the other girls at Seaford High, her face had no traces of make-up what so ever. His first thought was that it went along with the whole 'Nerd' thing but even Julie wore make-up sometimes.
This girl was different.
"Oh my gosh," Jack hops to his feet with no problem and holds out a hand to the girl who was sitting up on her elbows, looking at him. "I apologize for that, my skateboard went a little out of control." The girl looks at him some more before directing her vision down to his hand.
Jack is wondering if she's mad at him or if she's a prudish cheerleader in disguise but after looking at her for another second, she just looked shocked. Not mad, not like she wanted to rip his head off, just shocked. Jack shoots a smile her way to try and get her to have some other emotion on her face.
She reluctantly puts a hand in his outstretched one and allowed him help her up. Once she was standing, she bent down and picked up her hat, holding it to her chest with the book she was reading before Jack knocked her over. She looked down at her white tennis shoes and Jack had to bend his knees and tilt his head a little bit to try and meet her eyes.
"You okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?" The girl looks up at him a piece of auburn hair falling out of her side braid. She tucks it behind her ear before nodding, "I-I…" She stumbled. Jack noted she seemed extremely nervous and he's not really sure why. Yes, he could be intimidating on the Karate mats but when he was just skateboarding, he really didn't think he was all that intimidating. "...I'm fine." She says before taking her purse from the bench and taking off.
Jack stands there for a second. "That was weird…" He mumbles to himself before picking up his skateboard, putting the bench right side up and continues to skate throughout the park.
"Great practice today guys; really awesome work." Rudy says, wiping his face with a towel. "I'm gonna go call Kim and see how she's liking the Bahamas." Rudy says with a smile, walking into his office. Kim's been in the Bahamas for a vacation with her family since a couple days before spring break even started, and Rudy has called her almost every day to see how she's doing and how she likes the Bahamas.
Rudy's tactics may be a little off sometimes but he cares for the Warriors like they're his own children. -Rudy also wants to take the vacation days and last year's Christmas bonus he's getting from Bobby to take himself and his girlfriend, Bethany down to the Bahamas later this year.
Jack hadn't mentioned the girl he ran into a couple days ago, basically because he didn't want questions from the guys. -Not like he could answer them. Jack hadn't really thought much of it because it's not like he hasn't ran into people with his skateboard before.
Jack walks over to the bench and grabs a towel, wiping his face with it. "Hey, Jack you wanna come with?" Jack hadn't even realized the guys had started talking behind him. "Huh?" Jack says, turning to face them. "Weren't you listening?" Milton groans, obviously not happy that Jack was zoning him out. "Uh... No." Jack says throwing the towel on the bench.
"We found this new café the opened up at the other end of the mall. It's amazing!" Eddie gushes. "And the waitresses are cute!" Jerry yells excitedly, moving his eyebrows up and down. Milton stomps on Jerry's foot causing said Latino to scream out in pain. Jack shakes his head and laughs in amusement. "Mika told me to do that if you looked at any pretty girls, flirted with any pretty girls or talked about pretty girls since she's not here, to stomp on your foot."
-Mika was back home visiting her family in Hacmacistan for spring break. "And they're bread is freshly cooked everyday; it's AMAZING!" Milton adds. Jack rolls his eyes and laughs at his friends. "Sure, I'm up for it. -Just let me hit the showers-" "There is no time!" Milton yells over-dramatically, putting Jack's bag in his hand and shoving him out the door; Jerry and Eddie right behind them.
"Seriously, Milton?" Jack asks as they walk into the café. It was pretty neat. They had a lounge area but also a bar area along with a restaurant area. -It's like every kind of food place rolled into one. Jack laughs as Eddie yells, "I call the couch!" And leaps onto a dark green couch. Only to have Jerry whine and go, "NO FAIR, EDDIE! NO CALLING DIBS!" And jumping right on top of Eddie. And then Eddie groans out in pain from the sudden air that Jerry had just knocked out of him.
Milton rolls his eyes. "I got it... Jack, how about you go order me a regular green tea and Jerry and Eddie..." Milton and Jack glance at the two 15 year olds, acting like 3 year olds, having a girly slap fights, trying to figure out who gets to lay on the couch. "-Anything without caffeine." Jack nods, "Gottcha." Jack walks up to the counter, putting his hands on the dark black marble countertop.
"Excuse me," Jack says to a waiter behind the counter. "One second sir!" He calls over his shoulder. Jack sighs and looks at the menu board, deciding on a hot chocolate. "Harmony! Come help this customer, would you?" The waiter calls as he walks behind the bar. Jack looks over behind the bar to see a waitress with her back turned to him. He had to do a double take though.
The waitresses hair color looked vaguely familiar and he recognized the girl's white tennis shoes. Jack saw the waitress' shoulders go up and then down. "Of course." Jack figured the waiter was somebody in upper management, since the girl sounded tired and a little more respective of him. The waitress turns and heads down towards Jack, looking down at a notepad. "May I help-" When the waitress looked up Jack didn't have to do another double take.
"Hey..." The waitress nervously gulps as Jack grows a smile and points his index finger at the girl. "I know you. -Bench girl!" The girl tries to smile but it comes out looking like she's constipated or something. "Uh..." The girl tucks a piece of hair that had fallen out of her braid back behind her ear; just like the first time Jack saw her. "Yeah... T-That's me."
"I hope I didn't hurt you when I fell on you. Sorry again about that, by the way." Jack says. The girl nods, "I-It's okay... Nothing's broken." She laughs slightly but she looks like she mentally wants to slap herself. "-Not that you where heavy or anything it's just that you where...you are a guy and... you're heavier then us... girls.. are..." She trails off and looks down at the counter.
Jack laughs at her, "Hey, don't beat yourself up, Okay?" The girl looks up at him; green eyes shining with curiosity. "It's cool," Jack sticks his hand out. "I'm Jack." The girl shakes his hand, while looking at him with a confused/shocked face. "I-I'm-" Jack smiles, "Harmony?" Jack reads from her name tag. Harmony looks down at her name tag then back up at Jack.
"Yeah. -It's a weird name, I know but;" Harmony looks down at her name tag while she's talking. Jack laughs, "No, it's pretty." Harmony looks up at him to make sure he's serious. -He is. She can tell by his friendly smile that he really means that. A small smile grows on her face, "Thank you..." Harmony opens her mouth to say more but is cut off by the waiter, "Harmony, did you take care of that customer yet?"
Jack points a finger in the waiters direction, "Boss?" Harmony nods. "Yeah..." Jack nods as well, "Thought so. So, maybe I'll see you around." Harmony smiles slightly, "Yeah. Maybe." Jack tapes the countertop with his fingers before walking back over to Milton, Eddie and Jerry who are now sitting in a stack, Eddie being smashed on the bottom, Jerry sitting on top of him and Milton sitting on top of Jerry, trying to pull him off.
"Guys, seriously, let! GO!" Milton yells. "NO!" "NEVER!" "This is a public place!" Milton yells. "WHO CARES" Eddie and Jerry both yell causing Milton to 'GAHHH'. Jack looks back over at Harmony who had stopped taking someone's order to look at the 3 boys strangling each other. Jack catches her eyes and she quickly snaps her eyes back down to her notepad.
Now it's Jack that mentally wants to slap himself for bringing these three lunatics into a public place... -Well, technically, Jack was dragged here by said lunatics, but he could have stopped them.
"Great, thank you." Jack says as he sticks his wallet back in his back pocket as he finishes paying for himself, Jerry, Eddie and Milton's drinks (And Jerry's platter of buffalo wings). "Jack, ready?" Milton calls from a table near the front door. Jack nods and the guys start to exit the store. Jack opens the door and his eyes snap back inside.
He see's Harmony grab her jacket and her bag and start to head out the back door. "Hey guys," Jack says to the boys. "I'll see you guys later, ok? -I forgot my wallet inside." You and I both know Jack didn't forget his wallet but he just needed an excuse to go back inside. "Ok, bro. Later." Jerry says slapping his hand before Eddie and Milton say goodbye as well and they all head off towards their homes.
Jack goes back inside and catches Harmony on her way to the back. "Harmony-" Jack calls. At the sound of her name Harmony spins around to face the owner of the voice. She's expected to come face to face with a customer, but she finds that taller skater boy standing a couple of feet away from her. "H-Hi." She stammers as she balances herself back on two feet.
"Hey," Jack smiles, stepping towards her. "You headed out?" Harmony examined his face. Nothing seemed obviously scary about that statement but she was still only able to nod. "Can I walk you home?" Harmony's mouth dropped open a little as she looked at the perfect friendly smile on his face. "O-Oh no. I-I couldn't ask you to do that."
Harmony starts for the front exit but Jack stops her by stepping in front of her. "What if I want too?" After staring at his smile for another couple of seconds she nods. -So faintly that if you weren't looking for it; you wouldn't have seen that she moved at all. "Ok..." Harmony says, biting her bottom lip; causing Jack to smile and relax his shoulders. "-As long as you don't mind." she adds quickly.
Jack chuckles at this, "Please. My only other option is to walk home in shame with the knuckle heads I came in with." Harmony lets out a small giggle. "Ok." Jack smiles as he opens the door and holds it open for her.
Harmony doesn't know what's crazier. The fact that she's walking home with a boy she just met (Who, not to mention, ran into her with his skateboard.) or the fact that she's actually enjoying herself.
"Yeah, so Rudy made a hole in the wall because of a lady bug," Jack is telling Harmony about the dojo and all the Warriors. To which she probably hasn't said more then 15 words on the way home, but she was smiling and laughing and enjoying Jack's stories. "He claims they'll bite if provoked." Harmony lets out a laugh. "The 'Wasabi Warriors' seem entertaining." Harmony says, looking down at her feet.
"Yeah. That we are." Jack shakes his head. "That we are." After another second, Jack sighs and looks at her. "So, do you do any sports?" He asks her. She shakes her head, "No. I tried field hockey once; worst headache ever." Jack laughs. "Hey, I can't even throw a football. We're even in that respect." Harmony smiles up at him.
"Do you go to Seaford High?" Jack asks. He's found out he has to ask all the questions because she's extremely shy. "Yeah... unfortunately." Jack laughs, "I'm surprised I haven't noticed you before." She shrugs, "I- I try to stay invisible. It's what I'm best at." She jokes, but she's actually serious. Being invisible is one of her many talents of staying as FAR away from other idiotic 15 year olds as possible. He smiles, "Well, I'm just glad you're not invisible to me anymore."
If Harmony didn't know any better, she'd think he was flirting with her, but she had NO idea to respond to that. -Especially with the pink color starting to creep onto her cheeks. Luckily, her mother's friendly wave and yell saved her from having to answer it.
"Hi Harmony!" She calls from her flower pots on the front porch. Harmony smiles and waves at her mother who is focused on Jack. Harmony's mom was like an older and taller version of Harmony. Auburn hair (Longer then Harmony's brown with auburn highlights), green eyes and a perfect body. The only difference is that her mom is way tall. Harmony was short; about up to Jack's chin. But Harmony's mom looks to be about 6 feet tall.
Harmony's dad pulls the earplugs out of his ears and shuts off the lawnmower. He was way different then Harmony. He was about the same height (if not a couple of inches taller) as Harmony's mom, but he has black hair, light hazel eyes, and looks to be in pretty good shape for a 40-year-old. "Who's this?" Harmony's dad pants as he wipes his sweaty palms on his grass stained, worn jeans.
"Oh, Mom," Harmony starts as her mom takes off her gardening gloves, sets down her watering can and comes over to the two teens. Harmony's dad also comes closer. "Dad, This is Jack. Jack this is my mom and dad." Harmony says. Jack shakes both of their hands with a friendly smile on his face.
"Nice to meet you, young man." Harmony's dad says with a smile. Harmony smiles at the ground. "I was just making some pie, would you like some?" Harmony's mom offered. Jack looked at Harmony who smiled at him. "I don't want to intrude-" Jack starts but Harmony's mom waves her hand. "Pish posh. You're more than welcome here, Jack."
Jack sneaks a glance at Harmony again who slightly nods with a smile. He looks back at her parents. "Sure, Thank you." Harmony's mom smiles, "Come on, George. I need to know where you put that pie slicer." and with that Harmony's mom drags her husband inside the house. "And take off your shoes, George. They stink." Harmony and Jack laugh at this. Typical Harmony's Parents. Ha-ha.
"So Jack, do we know your parents?" Jack has figured out in the 15 minutes that he's been here that Harmony's mom is a real-estate agent and her dad is a vet, Harmony's last name is Russel and her parents names are George and Linda. "I don't think so, Mrs. Russel. My mom is a nurse and my dad's a chef."
"Really? Where is he a chef?" Mrs. Linda asks him. "Over in the Seaford Tower. He does all the food for the events there." Jack says, taking another bite of his pie. Harmony has basically listened this whole time while Jack and her parents talked but Jack would always let her know he still knew she was sitting next to him. The family was now in Harmony's backyard at an outside table they had set up.
"Do you play any sports, son?" Mr. George asks him while shoving a massive piece of pie into his mouth causing his wife to slap his arm. Jack slightly chuckles at this scene while Harmony just smiles and shakes her head. "Just karate, sir. -I stink to high levels at everything but karate." Mrs. Linda raises her eyebrows at him, "Really, what belt are you?"
"I'm a second degree black belt." This causes Mr. George to almost fall out of his seat. "Dad..." Harmony whines, shaking her head. Her parents are awesome but her dad can be a little weird.
"Thanks for the pie." Jack says as he and Harmony walk around the side of the house. "No problem." Harmony says, smiling up at him. He smiles back and stops near Harmony's front porch. "How about I call you tomorrow? -Unless you'd rather text." Jack offers. Harmony laughs. "Either one." Jack pulls his phone out of his back pocket while Harmony does the same.
"Hey, twins." Jack jokes. Harmony laughs and flips open her phone. "Wow... dinosaur." Jack says, glancing at Harmony's purple flip phone. Harmony nods, "Yeah... It's like... extinct. I'm planning on getting a new one for my birthday." Harmony says. "I thought other people were supposed to get you stuff on your birthday." Jack jokes again with a smile.
Harmony laughs, "It's a present from me, for me." She jokes. Jack smiles, handing her his iPhone. She takes it and hands him her phone. They both put each other's numbers in and hand each other their phone's back. "Picture?" Jack asks, smiling. Harmony rolls her eyes before taking a step back while Jack opened his camera app.
After snapping a picture of her, Harmony flips open her phone. "Your turn." Jack groans and Harmony laughs. Harmony snaps a picture of him and sets it for his number. Harmony then walks him to the side-walk. "Thanks for walking me home." She says, shyly. Jack smiles down at her but she doesn't see it since she's fiddling with her hands. "Anytime." Jack sighs. "Well, I guess I gotta go hit the showers. The guys made me come to the coffee shop right after practice. -So I don't normally smell like this."
Harmony laughs, "That's alright. I'm used to it. My dad is a vet... I've smelled some nasty things before." Jack laughs before waving. "Bye." "Bye." Harmony says. Jack waves again before he takes off towards his house. She takes a deep sigh, closing her eyes. "MOM! DAD!" She yells turning around to see her mom and dad trying to sneak pack into the house. They turn around as Harmony crosses her arms across her chest.
"Really? That's movie scene low." She says, raising an eyebrow at them. "Sorry." Her mom says. Harmony jogs up to them and into the house. "No your not." "Your right." Her dad laughs. "I'm getting in the shower!" Harmony yells as she runs up the stairs.
No sooner had she gotten in her room and grabbed her pajamas, her phone beeped. New text message: From: Jack. Harmony laughs as she opens it. I mean it. I'm seriously glad you're not invisible to me anymore. ;) -Jack She grins at the text before she raises her eyes to the window. In the next neighborhood over she could see a light go on in a room.
Jack walked over to his window and saw Harmony standing at hers with her phone in hand and pajamas tucked under her arm. He chuckles as he waves at her. Harmony jumps slightly but reluctantly waves back.
Harmony's so glad he couldn't see her face that well because it was turning a light shade of pink.
What a weird day.
"So," Harmony looks up from her book to her father who was sitting across from her at the table, and her mother over at the sink who was cleaning breakfast dishes in the sink. She offered to help, but her mother likes doing the dishes by herself. She claims Harmony uses the spoons as microphones when she did it.
"What are you doing today?" Her dad asked from behind his newspaper. Harmony holds up her book with a knowing look on her face, "What I usually do during spring break." Harmony's mom laughs and shakes her head, "Harmony, sweetheart," Harmony marks her pages and sets it on the table. She gives her mom a look. Some parents need to almost BRIBE their kids to read, when she reads for fun all the time.
"Why don't you call some friends?" Harmony laughs, "Oh yeah, like who? The turtles down at the park? Or the lemurs over in the Seaford Animal Park?" Harmony didn't really have any friends her age because, in her opinion, they're a bunch of hormone crazed stupid idiots. Harmony's mom gives her daughter a look who she takes a sip of orange juice.
"Harmony-" But her mother is cut off by the doorbell. "Can you get that?" Mr. George says. Harmony rolls her eyes and laughs, opening her book again and leaning back in her chair. "Sure, because I'm a lot closer to it." Harmony's mom jokes with a smile. Harmony's dad gets up and tucks the paper under his arm, heading into the living room. Harmony makes a face before her mother calls her name.
"Harmony! It's for you!" Harmony scrunched her eyebrows together. Who the heck is at her front door with only a couple of days of spring break left? Harmony sets her book down and starts towards the door. "SEE! INVITE THEM IN!" Her father yells over the sports he's blaring from the living room. Harmony rolls her eyes.
When she gets to the door her mother gives her a goofy smile and walks back to the kitchen. Harmony watches her mom go with a weird face and she turns back to the tall figure at the door. Wait a minute... Tall...
"Jack?" Harmony chokes out, walking- more like stumbling and knocking stuff over- slowly over to the open door. Jack smiles at her. "Hey," "W-What are you doing here?" And the nervous feeling is back. "Just wanted to see if you wanted to go for a walk." Harmony raises an eyebrow. "Or just hang if walking isn't your thing." Jack says, noticing she's leaning on the door now.
"What?" She asks, dumbly before realizing what she's doing. "OH!" Harmony laughs and Jack raises an eyebrow and smiles at her. Harmony got embarrassed a lot around boys so she usually wasn't aware she was being a little odd unless they said something.
Jack knew Harmony wasn't like any other girls. He noticed that she was oddly nervous around him and was very shy. But Jack is not a quitter; something about this girl makes him happy. Something about her makes him want to learn more about her.
"Umm... Sure. -Do you wanna come in?" Harmony asks, regaining what's left of her dignity. Jack laughs, "Sure." Harmony steps to the side, letting Jack come inside.
Harmony's room was a little different than most teenagers rooms. Most girls have pictures of rock stars and cute celebs on their walls and neon colors. Harmony had a light pink room with a couple decals of ladybugs, butterflies and flowers on her walls- that are free of posters. She has a regular twin bed unlike most girls' full bed, and her desk was neat with all her schoolbooks and papers organized. Her backpack was sitting against her desk chair and her laptop was shut on her desk.
Her closet was on the wall across from her desk. It was a regular closet that was extremely neat. She also had a bookshelf next to her desk. One of Harmony's favorite things is a hammock that was set up across the room from her bed. She had a guitar on a stand sitting next to it. She had a two windows on the wall behind her bed and the hammock. And at the end of her bed was a cushioned bench that looked like it opened up to store stuff in.
"Cool room." Jack compliments as he and Harmony enter her room. Harmony bites her bottom lip. "Thanks. I-" She laughs. "Sometimes I think it looks too childish." "Not at all," he turns to her. "It's very you." Harmony smiles. "Harmony," Mrs. Linda appears in the doorway with a basket of laundry. Harmony turns towards her. "Keep the door open." She tells her daughter before walking down the hallway.
"MOM!" Harmony yells after her, hearing her mom laugh seconds later. Harmony turns back to Jack and rolls her eyes. "I apologize." Jack waves his hand; He's been in a fair share of situations where the girl's mom always says "Keep the door open" and all of those times where at Kim's house before her parents realized they where just friends.
"Hey, it's okay. My granddad does that with me and my girl buddy all the time." Harmony laughs, "Girl buddy?" "It's better then Girl Friend. -If you say it the wrong way it'll sound like Girlfriend; and that would be totally wrong." Jack says, sincerely. Harmony giggles. She noticed he was getting the point across that he doesn't have a girlfriend but at least he was doing it more subtly then she would have if she was trying to get the point across that she didn't have a boyfriend. -Which she didn't. Ha-ha; she's never been on a date in her life.
Jack turns around and looks at the hammock. "Whoa- that's awesome!" He's almost jumping up and down and that causes Harmony to giggle again. "Go on. I know you wanna try it out." Harmony laughs. He looks at her. "Really?" "Go on!" She pushes him towards the hammock. He walks over to it and flops down on it. Harmony laughs and smiles down at him as she walks over to the hammock.
"Why is this in here?" Jack asks after a minute. "-Not that I'm complaining." Harmony laughs. Jack sits up and moves over so Harmony could sit back down. "I wanted to be different." Jack laughs and shakes his head, "That you are, Harmony. That you are." Jack's eyes scan the room again until they land on the guitar sitting next to him.
"Whoa, you play the guitar?" Jack asks, pulling the guitar into his lap so he can look at it. It's an acoustic guitar so it's fatter then his electric one. It was a tan wood color but it had red, pink, purple, orange and yellow sketches of clouds, stars and other random scribbles on it. Harmony makes a face at it, "Not really." When Jack gives her a confused look, she evaluates. "I got it for my 8th birthday and at that point it was too big for me to play." Jack nods but chuckles slightly at this information.
"Then when I got older I tried playing it but I didn't know any chords so I kinda gave up. But it's cool to look at." Jack smiles at her, "Guess what?" Harmony makes a face at him to tell him to go on. "It's even cooler, if you play it." Her shoulders slump at this and Jack chuckles at this. "You wanna learn?" He asks her.
"Uh-" "You wanna learn; I know you do." Jack says with a smile and wink, causing Harmony to get nervous again. And I was just beginning to relax. Jack gets up and sits on the other side of Harmony as she scoots down to where Jack was just sitting. "Here," Jack says, putting the base of the guitar in her lap.
Jack's arm snakes around her waist to grab the bottom end of the guitar so he makes sure it doesn't slip while they're playing. Jack scoots closer to her so that their shoulders where touching and he felt her go tense. He brushed it off, trying to see if he could make her relax. "Put your hand up here," He instructs, patting the neck of the guitar.
With a gulp, she puts one hand on the neck of the guitar up near the top but a couple of inches away from Jack's hand that was holding the very top of the fret board. Jack grabs her hand and moves it to where his hand just was, "Up here." he smiles over at her. Jack placed her fingers on a C chord and kept his hand on top of hers, to help her press down the strings.
"Okay," Jack brushes some hair out of his eyes. "That's a C. Try strumming." He nods towards the other end of the guitar. Harmony looks down at her other hand and does a single strum. It comes out a little shaky so Jack adjusts their fingers. "Try again." So she does as he says and strums. This time it came out great. "Perfect." Jack smiles at her.
She smiles at him, letting out a slightly shaky, nervous breath. "I think guitar is more fun with two people." She whispers. Wait- did I just flirt with him? Whether she did or not, he didn't mind. He smiled at her, "That would depend on the two people." This causes Harmony to smile and bite her bottom lip. "Harmo-" Her dad starts as he stops at the doorway but stops talking once he sees Jack and his daughter.
"Now, what are you doing?" Harmony's dad joked, with a smile. Jack laughs and shakes his head while Harmony pulls out of Jack's grip. "Mom said to keep the door open. Blame her." "Just don't do anything you'll regret at 15." Her dad says, starting to pull the door closed. "DAD!" Harmony loudly whines as she flops onto her face onto the side of the hammock that Jack wasn't sitting on.
Jack takes the guitar and sits the base on the floor, holding the neck. "Girls." He jokes at Mr. George. Mr. George points his index finger at him and laughs.
Seriously dad?
4 months later
"Jack!" Harmony and Jack have been dating for two months and Harmony has almost, with the help of Jack, cured her nervousness around boys. -WELL, she's not nervous around Jack anymore... that's as far as they've gotten. Now it's just the typical stuff that she gets nervous about. Like... kissing- which they haven't done yet...
...How long is this story?
Harmony laughs at her computer at a completely stupid video she found that's called "How Animals Eat Their Food"and she's had it on replay for about 5 minutes now. Jack takes his eyes off of Harmony's TV that she had hanging above her bed (Christmas present from her grandparents) and turned his head to look down at her and smiles.
"Jack! Look at this!" Jack chuckles as he leans down so he can see the screen better. Harmony has defiantly opened up a lot more to him and he never has a bad time around her. Even if one of them isn't having a very good day (Which is usually Harmony because well, she is a teenage girl. Duh.), they always have fun around each other. Harmony has also been working on her guitar skills and her and Jack will always play together.
Even though they've been dating for two months and Jack's met Harmony's parents, Harmony hasn't met his parents. -Not that she's in a rush to do that; there's really no rush. Really.
It's not that Harmony doesn't want to meet his parents, it's just that she's afraid they won't like her or approve of her.
Jack watches and laughs along with Harmony as the man imitates lots of animals eating their food. Actually, it was quite stupid, but it was hilarious because it was so stupid. The funniest one, by far, is defiantly the Rino. -He runs completely into the table and knocks the whole thing over. -Along with the man on the other side of the table just calmly eating his salad.
"How many plates of salad do you think they went through?" Jack laughs after the video was over. Harmony shakes her head, trying to catch her breath. "Who knows. I wanna know how they did that without laughing." After they regained their breath, Jack flipped through the channels, as the show he was watching went off and Harmony went back to doing whatever she was doing on the computer.
Then, an Instagram mention popped up at the top of her screen. Kim had made Harmony get a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram so she could "Live her life more" or something like that. Kim and Harmony are like BFF's now, so Harmony trusted her and made some pages.
Anyway, Jack has taken several pictures of her and tagged her and nobody at school really knows their dating because yes, they are a couple but no they don't act all lovey dovey or whatever. So everybody's kind of confused. Jack also has like, I don't know, 300 followers or something, so there is a lot of people who can see his pics.
Harmony clicks on the mention, which takes her to Instagram. Jack had tagged her in a picture of her sitting outside her hotel room two months when she accompanied the Warriors on a karate tournament trip. Her and Jack where just friend's then, but they where really good friends. So, Jack, being the kind-hearted friend he was, invited Harmony to Florida with them for a week. No, Harmony doesn't do Karate but she fully supports all the Warriors.
Anyway, it's a picture of Harmony outside her and Kim's room trying to pick the lock because Kim lost their passkey. Jack humorously said in the caption, "That awkward moment when Harmony_Russel can't get into her own room." Harmony squints her eyes at her screen and looks over at what the comments said. She had gotten several comments where she was tagged.
NinjaSpaceMonkeysFan1998: Harmony and Jack sitting in a tree. K-I-s-s-I-n-g. Harmony shakes her head, "Immature." She mumbles to herself as she scrolls down. Jake_isboss: NinjaSpaceMonkeysFan1998 I got that, it's supposed to be that, but with Kim. "What?" Harmony mumbles to herself as she scrunches her eyebrows together. "What?" Jack asks, keeping his eyes on the TV. Harmony shakes her head. "Nothing."
kathrine_homer: She is really pretty Harmony cracked a small smile at that. Jack is the only one that has called her pretty before. -Besides her parents and grandparents. Jake_isboss: So you wanna go in room with her "EW." That kind of just slipped out of Harmony's mouth. Jack laughs as he looks down at her. Harmony's been known to do stuff like this when she was on the computer, so it's not really unusual to have her scream something in his ear. "Uh..." Harmony slides her computer so he can see the screen. She points to the comment.
Jack just rolls his eyes, "People will naturally be stupid and annoying. -You know Jerry, right?" This causes Harmony to laugh. "Yeah, I guess so." With another sigh, Harmony continues to look through the comments. "It is your girlfriend? *_*" "WTH it looks like she's picking the lock!" "Does she do Karate?" "That is so sad...lol." Harmony pushes some hair out of her face and shakes her head, closing out of Instagram. Let them be confused. It's none of their business anyway.
BEEP. BEEP.
Harmony groans and rubs her eyes, sitting up from leaning on Jack. It's about 2am now and from the looks of it, it looks like she had fallen asleep on Jack's shoulder and he had decided to be a gentlemen and to not move her. ...Or he just ended up falling asleep too because he's sacked out on the hammock next to her. She rolls her eyes and picks up her laptop from the floor where Jack must have sat it.
Another Instagram notice. This time all the comments where on a photo Jack and her had taken last week when they went to the beach. Jack had been lazy with the caption and just tagged her, but the comments where blowing up. She wasn't quite sure why everybody found her and Jacks relationship so interesting; it's not like people don't date. Rubbing her eyes, she scrolls through the new mentions.
"That is so cute" "Is that your girlfriend? whoisJack" "Wait" "She not dating the other boy, I think she's dating now jack! Or maybe they're just close friends" "Other boy? What other boy?" Harmony mumbles to herself. The whole thing has made her confused out of her mind. "Im so confused" "Its jack friend?" "Please tell me their just close friends" "I hope they're just friends" Harmony scrunches her eyebrows again at the screen before shaking Jack awake. "Hey," he says groggily, sitting up straighter in the hammock. "What's up?" Harmony turns to face him, "Why does everybody want us to be just close friends?" Jack scrunches his eyebrows at Harmony.
Yeah, he knew his pictures got a LOT of comments about him and Harmony, so many actually to the point where he had it so that whoever he followed where the only comments that would show up in his mentions. Which is basically Harmony, the Warriors, his family and a couple of his old friends. But that was one thing he understood fine. He understood why everyone wanted them to be just friends. "Um... Promise you won't freak out?" He asks, wincing as he rubs his one eye to get it to adjust to the computer light shining on his tired but still perfect face.
"Jack, its 2am. I couldn't even if I wanted too." Jack sighs, "They all want me and Kim to get together, so if I post anything of me and any other girl besides Kim, they all go wacko." Harmony is now confused out of her mind. Yes, Jack and Kim have been friends since 8th grade when Jack first moved here...-But that's all they've ever and will be. Just friends. "But... don't they know you're just friends?"
Jack shrugs. As much as he likes Harmony, this one subject is a pain in the butt to talk about because one little thing can set these people off. "Yea-No." Harmony scrunches her eyebrows at him. "I think in the back of their mind they do, but they don't want to believe it. I don't know, some people are just weird, Harmony." He tells her. "Don't worry about it," he rubs her shoulder. "It'll blow over soon enough. They just don't know what they're talking about." Harmony gives him a week smile before looking down at herself.
She had fallen asleep in her clothes. "Uh...I think I'm going to go change..." Jack nods, "Okay, I'll change into my sweatpants after you." Harmony laughs, knowing the many times she's video chatted him at midnight or something, he's always been in a t-shirt and sweatpants. She jokes he doesn't believe in pajamas. "Alright, be right back." She says, pushing herself off the hammock, grabbing her pajamas off her bed and walking into her bathroom across the hall.
This isn't the first time Jack and Harmony have been hanging out late at night and fallen asleep. So, Jack pulls out his phone and texts his mom, telling her he's just going to stay here for the night. Really, what's the point of going home at 2am?
Hey Mom. Fell asleep at Harmony's; will be home tomorrow after practice. -Jack
Jack's parent's didn't really know he and Harmony where dating, but he really didn't want to tell them because he was afraid they'd be judgmental about her because she's not Kim. Apparently, Jack and Kim acted like they like each other when they didn't, so it was a bit confusing to some people when they found out Harmony and Jack where dating. It's not that Jack didn't want to tell his parents about Harmony, it's just that he didn't want to introduce his parents to her, only to have them disapprove because she wasn't Kim and that's the last thing Harmony needs to hear right now.
He's also afraid if that happens, Harmony will want to change so his parents like her... and he doesn't want her to change. Harmony's different and he wants her to stay that way. "You know," Harmony's sudden voice splits the silence like a knife. Jack jumps and turns his head towards her. She had changed out of her red and white striped t-shirt and jean capris into her black sleep shirt with a red lip blot design on the front, grey sleep pants and dog slippers. She also let down her hair, so it was now just freely flowing past her shoulders, unlike tied to the side in a braid.
"It's funny. I didn't realize the bathroom light was burnt out until I finished getting dressed. Ha." Harmony laughs quietly at herself before taking a second look at Jack. "You okay?" Jack shakes his head to bring himself back to reality, "Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine." Harmony continues to stare at him with concerned and caring eyes. "I was just... lost in thought." "...Okay."
"You know, I thought this kind of music would annoy me, but it isn't half bad." Harmony and Jack are at the Seaford Park, which is dead on the day before the 4th of July. Some band was practicing for a show for tomorrow so it was literally just Harmony, Jack and this band near the other side of the park. Jack chuckles as he routes in the picnic basket for something. "Maybe you where just listening to the wrong version." Jack says, tossing a sandwich Harmony's way.
She catches it and makes a face at him, "Maybe... And stop throwing food at me!" A evil grin grows on the black belt's face. Harmony's color drains from her face as he routes in the picnic basket for something else. Harmony was starting to think he fell asleep in the picnic basket or something because he hadn't moved in the past couple seconds. "Jack?" Harmony pokes his shoulder, only to have him turn around and start pelting grapes at her.
To say Jack and Harmony where a normal couple was a complete misconception. Yes, they where normal..er then Jerry and Milton and Eddie, but they still had their moments. Like, who else do you know that would have a food war in the middle of an empty park the day before Independence Day? Nobody. Except Harmony and Jack. Eventually they got up and ended up chasing each other around the park, the sound of laughter and the band's sound check ringing through the hot July air.
Finally the heat caught up with them, and they sat back down on the picnic blanket. "Jack!" Harmony whines laying down on the blanket, causing Jack to chuckle and smile down at her as they both try to regain their breath. "Hey! Don't blame me that I'm a ridiculously fast runner!" "You never caught me!" Harmony laughs, still out of breath. Jack takes a deep breath and shakes his head while smiling. "That's because you're also ridiculously fast!" After sitting there for another couple of minutes trying to regain their breath, Jack speaks up.
"Hey, I knew I've been meaning to ask you something." Harmony sits up and turns her head towards him. "Shoot. What's up?" "My Aunt is getting married on Saturday and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me." Harmony raises her eyebrows at him with curious eyes. "It's way better then hanging out with my cousins." Harmony giggles, "Gee. Thanks." Jack chuckles now, "I didn't mean it like that." "I know." She grins at him. Jack stares at her with a smile and a look of disbelief on his face as he leans on his one hand.
"Sure, Jack. I'd love to come." Harmony laughs at Jack's expression. Jack makes a face before shaking his head and laughing. "Good. You'll be okay? You won't like, hyperventilate because there's a lot of people in one room, will you?" Jack half-jokes. Harmony laughs, throwing her head back, causing Jack to smile at his adorkable girlfriend. "Yes! I'll be fine." "Good." Jack says scooting closer to Harmony. "You need a better adjective vocabulary." Harmony laughs, picking her head back up.
But as soon as she lifts her head up, she instantly wishes she kept it thrown back. Her and Jack's face where only a couple of inches apart. Harmony's eyes get slightly bigger as neither of them move a muscle. "I...Uh..." Harmony's breathing starts to become erratic. It's not that she doesn't want to kiss him... It's just that she's afraid she'll throw up on him if she does.
Harmony squeezes her eyes shut, at war at whether she wants to stay like this and see if he kisses her or if she should she pull away. Jack's eyes travel around Harmony's face, not sure what to do. He figures if she doesn't move in the next couple seconds, she doesn't not want him to at least try. But before either one could do anything else, Harmony's phone rings. She takes a deep breath before pulling back and turning to her purse and pulling out her phone. Jack sits back on his hands while he processes what just happened.
Hm. Not a situation he thought they'd be in.
"Shoot. I have to go. A couple of my parents are coming over for dinner tonight. Blech." Harmony says, rolling her eyes at the end. Jack smiles, causing her to smile back at him. "Here," Jack tosses a sandwich at her. "Better then gourmet food." He grins. She smiles and giggles at her lap, feeling butterflies in her stomach for whatever reason. "Thanks." After another second, Harmony stands up, putting her phone in her purse and resting her purse on her shoulder. Jack stands up in front of her.
"So, do you want me and my parents to pick you up on Saturday?" Harmony thinks about it. The last place she would want her parents to be is a wedding. They don't really embarrass her like most parents do, but their dancing... Woo. Call the Dance Police. "Sure. If you don't mind." He smiles, "Of course we don't." Although, Jack is not really sure that's 100% true. They exchange eye contact for a couple of seconds before Jack leans down and gives her a light kiss on her cheek. She smiles up at him once he pulls away. He smiles warmly back down at her.
"Thanks, Jack." She says before starting to back away from him. "I'll text you later." He smiles and nods. Jack smiles to himself as he watches Harmony walk away. He's not sure why she was so nervous being close to him; she is never nervous around him anymore... Time to call in professionals.
"Hey guys." Jack greets as he opens his front door to 4 smiling faces. "Hi, Jack." "Sup, Bro?!" "Hello." "Hey." The warriors enter Jack's house and go straight for the kitchen. Jack rolls his eyes, following them into the kitchen. He and the boys are bottomless pits since they are teenage boys, but while he eats a lot at one time, the boys eat a lot, all the time. "Jack! You have no food in this house!" Jerry complains, going through his black belt's friend's cupboards and cabinets.
"Not true, my mom just got back from the grocery store." Jack says, putting his hands on the island, watching his friends raid his pantry. Kim sits down at one of the chairs at the island. "Correction: You have no GOOD food in this house." Eddie says. "My mom is training to run a marathon!" Jack defends, picking his hands up and spreading them out in a "What are you gonna do" fashion. "And you can't be in training and eat bacon every morning." Kim interjects. Jack holds a hand towards Kim to say "Thank you".
"Well, tell her to train fast, because I'm hungry. OOH! Ribs!" Eddie says, routing around in the fridge. "Eddie! No! Those are for the 4th of July party tomorrow!" Jack says, walking over and shoving the rib platter back in the fridge. "Can we just focus please?" Jack says, pressing his back to the fridge and letting out a sigh. "Is Harmony rubbing off on you yet?" Milton jokes, causing Jack to roll his eyes at his nerdy friend. "And is that why you have no cookies in this place?" Jerry adds.
"Enough with the food!" Jack yells, stretching his arms out again, almost whacking Milton in the face. "Here," Kim pulls a bag out of her purse. "I carry these around to keep you guys quiet during a rom-com. Just eat them." The boys almost tackle each other to grab a corn dog from Kim's bag. "Great. Now can we get back to the reason I called you all here?" Jack questions, walking up to the island again. "Sure." "Whatever." "Go." "Shoot." Jack rolls his eyes at their responses.
"Great. Now, actually, Harmony is what I wanted to talk to you guys about." "What? You're not breaking up with her, are you? Cuz if so, I called dibs." Jack makes a disbelief face at his Latino friend. "JERRY!" The Latino laughs, "I'm just kidding, bro. Harmony's cool but I'd never do that to you." Jack rolls his eyes, "Right. Anyway, I'm just a little confused about something. I thought maybe you guys could help me out."
"Sure, Jack. What's up?" Kim asks, leaning her elbows on the island. "We almost kissed today-" "AWE!" Kim interjects, putting a hand on her heart. The other Warriors gag. "ALMOST." Jack yells over all the noise. "Wait- Is that good or bad?" Milton asks, munching on his corn dog. Jack thinks for a minute. "I don't know. But, She looked terrified. Like she wanted me to kiss her, but also wanted me to be across the world from her at the same time." Kim makes a confused face and exchanges glances with the other Warriors. "What?"
"I don't know; Women are strange creatures!" Jack says, exasperated. "First of all, calm down bro," Jerry says, walking over to Jack and slinging an arm around his shoulders. Jack let out a deep sigh. "Second, what exactly did she do?" Jack sighs before shaking out of Jerry's grip. "I don't know. She... she squeezed her eyes shut... her breathing wasn't normal... and she was fidgeting with the end of her dress." Jack shrugs. The behavior of women has always confused him. Even his mom and Kim continue to confuse him.
Jack saw some quote on this TV show where this one man said, "When God made women, he made a strange creature." Jack and his Dad laughed about it for weeks because it was just so dang accurate. "It sounds like she was just nervous, Jack." Kim informs him. Jack leans his hands on the counter and looks at Kim, "Yeah, I thought of that, but... what if we get stuck in that situation again? Should I try to kiss her? Or... we have to have our first kiss sometime, so what do I do then?" Kim chuckles at her best friend's confusion. "Honestly Jack... I don't know. It really depends on what she does. But... maybe If you try to kiss her before she gets nervous... maybe she won't have time to think too much about whatever she thinks about when she gets nervous."
Jack nods, letting the advice sink into his brain. "What do you guys think?" He turns to the boys. They all shrug. "Don't ask me. I can't get girl's to kiss me under a mistletoe." Eddie says. Jack slumps his shoulders and rolls his eyes. He feels like whenever he's around the boys, he's constantly rolling his eyes. "Maybe try talking to her about this afternoon?" Milton suggests. "Yeah, that won't be awkward." Kim shoots back, turning in her chair to face Milton who is sitting on top of Jack's kitchen table. Jack takes this into consideration because he and Harmony have yet to have an awkward conversation- which is extremely rare in an average 15 year old's first relationship.
"Don't listen to them," Jerry says, hopping up on the island. "I say, go for it. The worst thing that could happen is she pushes you back and breaks up with you. OO! Or she barfs on your shoes. OO! Or-" "How is that supposed to help him feel better?" Kim questions the Latino. Jerry shoots daggers at her, only to have Kim shoot daggers back at him. "You know what, I'm just gonna trust my gut." Jack says before walking over to the fridge and pulling out a cookie. Obviously, the boys hadn't looked past the ribs. "DUDE!" Jerry asks, widening his eyes at the sight of the sweet dessert in Jack's hand.
Jack chuckles, "I didn't say me and my dad where running a marathon."
About 10 seconds after Jack had to pry Jerry off the fridge, his mom walked in the front door and recruited all the Warriors to help set up and get ready for tomorrow's 4th of July party. Now, they're all sitting around Jack's kitchen eating some Circus Burger (courtesy of Jack's dad.). Jack's iPhone buzzes on the counter. He smiles as he puts the jug of milk down on the counter and picking his phone up, smiling at the Caller ID. "Uh, oh. Girlfriend alert." Jerry jokes from one of the counter tops by the ovens.
Jack rolls his eyes but smiles nonetheless, and answers the phone. "Hey," Kim chuckles a fry at Jerry who is making kissy noises and faces. Jerry stops when the French fry pelts him directly in the forehead. Jack chuckles at this before turning back to the phone. "You know what I figured out?" "What is that, Harm?" Jack asks, slightly amused at her tone of voice and at Kim kicking Jerry's butt in front of the island. "I figured out that even though Gourmet food is supposed to be good; It's disgusting and it doesn't even begin to fill you up." Harmony informs him. Jack laughs before Jerry screams as Kim tackles him to the ground and starts beating the snot out of him.
"What is that?" Harmony asks her boyfriend, who just laughs. "That, Harmony, is the sweet sound of Kim beating the living snot out of Jerry. No biggie." "JACK!" Harmony yells, causing Jack to hold the phone slightly away from his ear. "Set the phone down, pull Kim off of Jerry and then pick the phone back up again. We don't need to go to a Wedding AND a funeral this week, Jack." Jack just chuckles at this and follows his girlfriend's orders.
Finally, after getting Kim back in her seat and Jerry back to sucking down his dinner, Jack picks the phone back up. "Alright, I'm back." My life...
"Do you have it on, Harmony?" Her mother asks through the bathroom door. Harmony opens the door seconds later in a cranberry dress, sparkles on the top half and a poufy tulle on the bottom half. "What do you think?" Harmony asks her mom who looks at her daughter like her daughter just made her the proudest mom in the world. "I love it!" Her mother gushes. Harmony rolls her eyes and smiles, sliding her glasses onto her face that has a light coat of eye shadow and lip gloss.
Harmony looks at herself in the bathroom mirror while fastening the necklace around her neck and sliding 2 bracelets onto her wrist. She can't remember the last time she had on make-up. Stepping into her sandals, she fastens them onto her oddly white feet. Even though she lives in California, she's never laid out long enough on the beach (or at all) to get a tan because she burns way too easily in the sun. A horn honks from outside and Harmony's mother gives her daughter and excited smile, "I'll go let them in." Harmony nods and smiles nervously as her mother disappears down the stairs. Harmony grabs her golden clutch and her phone from the sink and heads downstairs herself.
Once she reaches the middle of the staircase, she only see's Jack in the doorway. She continues down the steps and greets Jack with a smile. "Hi, Jack." Harmony grabs her sweater from a coat-rack hook, and turns to her mom and dad. "Don't wait up." She smiles at them. "Have fun, sweetie." Her dad says, giving her a hug. "Don't be too late." Her mom says as she gives her daughter a hug as well. "Bye." As soon as the door closes behind them, Harmony blurts out, "Do I look OK?" Jack laughs at Harmony's nervousness. "Of course. You look beautiful. As always." Harmony blushes and looks down to try and hide it.
Jack opens the back door to his parents blue mini van, letting Harmony slide in first. "Hi, K-" Mrs. Brewer starts, turning around in the passenger seat to face the girl Jack had invited to her sister's wedding. "Hi... Jack, who's this?" His mother asks him as Jack slides in the seat next to Harmony, chuckling at his mom's question. He had cleverly avoided the subject of who he invited to the wedding. "Harmony... My girlfriend." Jack says with a smug smile on his face as he buckles his seatbelt. Harmony smiles at Mrs. Brewer who looks at her like she's an alien clone from another planet. "What?" His dad asks, turning around in his seat.
"I told you I had a girlfriend; It's not that big of a surprise." Jack says. "Yes, but we just figured it was..." Mrs. Brewer's land on Harmony in her backseat, next to her only son. "Never mind. Nice to meet you..." Mrs. Brewer shakes Harmony's hand. "Harmony." Jack tells his mom. "Right! Harmony. What a...unique name." Mrs. Brewer says, turning back around in her seat, slapping her husband to do the same.
Harmony sneaks a glance at Jack who smiles at her and gives her a thumbs up, but as soon as she looks out the window, Jack lets out a breath and widens his eyes.
It could have gone worse.
"So, Harmony... Is Seaford your hometown?" Mr. Brewer asks her. "Uh...-N-o, sir. I was born in Virginia." "When did you move to Seaford?" Mrs. Brewer asks her son's girlfriend. Jack is now mentally slapping himself that he didn't suggest that just he and Harmony walk to the wedding. "When I was 5... ma'am." Mrs. Brewer let that information sink in for a whole 3 seconds before asking, "What do you want to go to Collage for? -Or are you planning on going to college?" Mrs. Brewer asks. "MOM! DAD! What's with 20 questions?" Jack groans. "Oh, Hush, Jack. We're just trying to get to know Harmful." Mrs. Brewer tells her son. "Harmony." Harmony corrects quietly.
"I...I'm not sure yet." "Oh. Why not?" "Because we're only 10th graders! We still have 10th grade, 11th and 12th to figure that out!" Jack defends his girlfriend. "What are you thinking, Harmony? You have to be planning something." Jack groans and hits his head on the back of the leather seat. "M... Maybe some sort of Lit. major. English is my strongest subject." Mr. Brewer laughs, "HA! That's Jack's weakest!" Harmony glances at Jack with a smile. She well knew that. He struggled to pass that class this year. "Maybe it's because his brain works better at other subjects." Harmony knew that Jack was extremely strong in Math and History. Science and English where not his thing. While English was Harmony's strongest subject but she got straight A's in every other class as well.
"Ha, tell me about it! He can do Algebra problems in his head!" Mr. Brewer laughs again. "Guilty." Jack laughs, holding up his hands in defense. Harmony giggles at this as well. Harmony see's Mrs. Brewer glare to the side at her husband. Harmony's thinking she's going to stay as far away from Mrs. Brewer as possible. She didn't seem like she was in the best mood.
The service was really sweet and Harmony thoroughly enjoyed it. It was after the service in the church that Harmony didn't enjoy too much. The bride and groom left to drive to the beach where the "after party" was being held, or rather, the reception. So, people had to stay put in the church until they got there and did something; Harmony didn't catch that- It was in Scottish. (Jack's family is Scottish.) Jack had left to use the bathroom. Apparently a bottle of water and an 1 and 1/2 hour church service doesn't sit on Jack's bladder too well.
So, Harmony was stuck sitting in a pew waiting for him. Down near the middle of the aisle, Mrs. Brewer and several of her friends where talking rather loudly about something. And since they where talking so loudly, Harmony couldn't help but over hear. "Yeah, she's been his girlfriend for two months." A woman in a big pink hat gushes, "He's growing up." "Yeah. Honestly though, I think he's in over his head with this one. He'd be much better off with Kim." Mrs. Brewer lowers her voice a bit but Harmony can still hear her.
She has to blink back some tears... She knows they're talking about her. "I don't know... don't you think this is Jack's decision?" a woman with 8 inch heels asks. "Well, yeah, of course it is. But, I'm just saying... I think he needs to extremely consider dumping her." "For Kim?" the woman with the big hat asks. "Well... yeah. This other girl is just... ugh. Not right for my little boy."
Harmony looks away and lets a single tear fall from her grass-green eyes. She now knew why Mrs. Brewer treated her the way she did on the car ride over here. "She's a horrible girl. He belongs with Kim, if you ask me." Mrs. Brewer says. As more hot tears pour out of her eyes, Harmony grabs her purse and bolts out of the church, right past the group of women who were just talking about her. "...Do you think she heard that?" A woman with deep purple eye shadow asks her friends. "Was that her?" the woman with the big heels asks Mrs. Brewer.
Mrs. Brewer felt a little guilty that Harmony had over-heard them, but she just brushed it off. "Yeah." Mrs. Brewer says. "Cute dress." The woman with the big hat says. Harmony bolts out of the church and runs home. If she wasn't wanted there, why should she stay? Luckily she was only 15 minutes away from her house.
Jack comes out of the bathroom and notices Harmony wasn't sitting at the pew he left her at. "Dad," He taps his dad's shoulder who was talking to a couple of other men. "Have you seen Harmony?" Mr. Brewer looks over Jack's shoulder at the pew Harmony was just sitting in. Why would she just take off. "She was just sitting right there... I'm not sure. Go find her, make sure she's OK." Jack nods at his dad and notices his mom and some other women talking. "Mom! Have you seen Harmony?"
"Yeah... She ran out of here several minutes ago." the woman with the dark eye shadow says. "What?" Jack asks, concern creeping through his voice at mock speed. "Why? Is she OK?" "She's not the one for you. So, no. She's not OK." a woman with 10 million bracelets up and down her arms tells him. "What?" Jack asks, anger making its way into his voice now as well. "She's not Kim. You should dump her." a woman with a shawl says. "Dump her hard!" a little boy yells from the pew behind the woman who Jack is guessing is his grandma. "Again... WHAT?"
"She must have overheard us talking." Is all Mrs. Brewer chose to say. Jack turns to stare in disbelief at his mother. "You're being stupid, you know that right?" Jack says, anger evident in his voice as he starts down the aisle towards the door. "JACKSON!" Jack turns around, anger in his eyes. "What." He asks bitterly. "I'm being stupid? You're the one that's not with Kim!"
"Seriously! That's what this is about? Get over it! She's just a friend! Always has been and always will be! I... really like Harmony, Mom, and you're just going to half to deal with it. Even though I love you, this is none of your business. Who I date is my business. And you're not going to change my mind just because the girl I'm dating isn't Kim. Okay? Deal with it." Jack says before turning on his heel and running out of the church and going straight to Harmony's house- He figures she'd be there most likely. It is her house, after all.
Running into her house she runs into her parents in the kitchen who made her stop and explain why she was crying her eyes out. After that, she ran upstairs and slammed her bedroom door behind her. She flipped her radio on, before unbuckling her shoes and placing them back in her closet. "It is 7:00 in the PM, and welcome to the country music station! Here's something from T. Swifty that I hope always makes you smile; I know it always makes me smile. Don't forget: People throw rocks at things that shine." the announcer says before turning on Taylor Swift's "Ours". Harmony stands there in bare feet, arms crossed over her chest and crying hyperventilating tears as she listened to the lyrics.
Seems like there's always someone who disapproves...
They'll judge it like they know about me and you.
And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do; the jury's out...
:My choice is you.
So don't you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine.
And life makes love look hard.
The stakes are high,
The water's rough...
but this love is ours.
Harmony had to stand there for a second and make sure she was still breathing. Once she had concluded she was still alive and wasn't imagining this, she turned back to the song. It's almost like she was meant to hear this song right now. Not thinking twice, she grabs her laptop and searches the chords for this song on the internet. Sitting on her hammock, she grabs her guitar and starts to learn the chords.
She was starting to get it but after 10 minutes of messing up the strum pattern, she gave up and went to change into pajamas. Why stay in this dress longer then she has too, right? When she finishes, her mother tells her she got some frozen lemonade for her, it's out on the front porch. Harmony is not sure why her mom would leave frozen lemonade on the front porch of their house in California in July, but she wasn't going to question it. She was miserable.
The last thing she expected to see sitting on her front porch was her boyfriend with a frozen lemonade in his hand.
"Your mom says this is for you." He hands his girlfriend the cup of frozen treat. She takes it timidly and looks down at her bunny slippers. Jack knew Harmony wouldn't feel like talking, so he would have to do most of it. "Harmony, I'm sorry you had to hear what you did." She swirls her straw around in the lemonade. "But I promise you; that was just people being selfish and stupid and harsh. I promise, I would never dump you for Kim." Jack says, walking up closer to her. "Don't listen to them." Jack whispers. She looks up at him with glassy eyes. "But... It's hard too when that's all you hear."
Jack stares back at Harmony with caring eyes. "Plus, I don't want to be somebody who your mom doesn't like." Harmony adds. Jack laughs, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Harmony, the only person my mom would like is Kim; and that is not happening in 1 million years. They make something out of nothing... and I'm not sure why people feel like they need to hate on you. They don't even know you."
Harmony sighs and walks over to the steps and sits down sitting her lemonade behind her. Jack copies her action. "But... I... I just don't understand why people say that stuff about me... when they don't even know anything about me." Harmony says, another tear falling down her clean, natural face. "Maybe that's why I've been invisible my whole life." Jack sighs. He hates seeing Harmony like this. He loves his family, but it makes no sense why people would do this. He bets people wouldn't like that if he did that to them... so why do they do it to him and Harmony? Is it really all that bad that he's not with the girl that everybody wanted him to be with? What's so stinking appealing about him and Kim?
Jack scoots closer to Harmony before grabbing the sides of her glasses and removing them from her face, causing her to turn her head towards him with confusion flooding her eyes. "You really have to stop hiding behind these things." He cracks a small smile as he stares into her eyes. She smiles a small, miniscule smile before taking her glasses and placing them back on her face. "I'm also blind without them." She jokes, smiling at her lap. "You don't think I'm horrible?" Harmony questions as a minute.
Jack looks taken back by her question but still answers her. "Of course not. Don't believe what anybody says. Real life, or on the computer. You're funny, awesome, kind, honest, innocent and annoyingly beautiful." He tells her and he really means all 100% of it. She smiles up at him, butterflies showing up in her stomach again. "Thank you, Jack. You're annoyingly sweet." She says, blushing.
Just like two days ago, Jack and Harmony's where now only a couple of inches apart. Difference was, Jack knew exactly what to do. He leaned in closer, only to have her back up. Harmony did really want to kiss him... but to actually be in the moment... well... it was terrifying. But... as we said before; Jack is no quitter. Jack scoots closer to her and tries again. Unfortunately, Harmony just giggles nervously and turns her head. Shoot! Don't turn your head, doofus! Harmony silently scolds herself. Jack leaned in again, causing Harmony to scoot backwards and hit her back on the pole behind her. Okay... Not good. Not good. Not good. Why can't I just sit still?!
Jack is beginning to think she doesn't want to kiss him but something else told him to keep trying. He tried again but Harmony does a bob and a duck to get away from his face. "Harmony," Jack whispers, slightly chuckling. He grabs one of her hands and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Hold still." Jack brings his hand up to cup the side of her face. Harmony squeezed her eyes shut as she rests her head on the pole behind her.
Soon enough, his soft, warm lips met hers. Harmony felt her heart jump and fall into her stomach of butterflies. It was just a sweet kiss. The perfect first kiss. That kind that seems too sweet to be true... but Jack's warm lips on Harmony's told her it was true. After several seconds they pulled away, smiling like creepers at each other. Jack rests his forehead on Harmony's as he slides his arm down from her face to her arm and intertwining her other hand with his.
"Wow..." Harmony giggles, causing Jack to smile. "I had nothing to be worried about." "Does that mean I can lean in again and you won't back up?" Jack whispers, causing Harmony to giggle again and look down. Then she realized what he meant. "Ohhhhh..." Harmony broke her hands from his and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him down into another kiss.
When they broke apart from their second sweet kiss, "Does that answer your question?" Harmony whispers. Jack laughs. He's so glad Nervous Harmony is gone. This Harmony is way more fun. Jack leans back down and presses their lips together for a 3rd time. Each time, both of their hearts seemed to jump.
Harmony and Jack had figured that since the party wasn't over yet, they might as well go back and have some fun. Harmony's mom dropped them off, promising to come pick Harmony at 11. Walking onto the beach, Harmony grabs Jack hand and gives it a terrified squeeze. Jack chuckles to himself before leaning down and placing a kiss on Harmony's cheek, throwing an arm around her shoulders.
The beach was beautiful, especially at sunset and the music playing just made it that much better. Right now Megan Nicole's "Summer Forever" was blasting through the speakers scattered across the beach. "Harmony," somebody says from behind the two teenagers. At the sound of her name, Harmony whips her head around and turns around, causing Jack to retreat his arm and turn around as well. And who do they come face to face too?
Mrs. Brewer. "Mom-" Jack warns but his mother holds up a hand. "It's alright, Jack. I just wanted to apologize to Harmony." Harmony's eyes widen as she looks at Jack, then back at Mrs. Brewer. "I am so sorry, Harmony. I'm not sure why I got so caught up in the whole... Jack and Kim need to be together thing," Mrs. Brewer shrugs and sighs before continuing. "Plus, nothing gave me the right to say what I did about you. I don't even know you... I deeply apologize." Harmony raises an eyebrow at Mrs. Brewer before looking at Jack who had a look of happy disbelief on his face.
"...Wow. Thank you, Mrs. Brewer. That means a lot." Harmony says. Mrs. Brewer smiles, "Please, call me Sandy." "Does Mrs. Sandy work?" Harmony never felt right calling Adults by their first name. Mrs. Brewer smiles and makes a face at Jack. "Nice manners. Hold onto this one, will ya Jack?" Mrs. Sandy says to Jack before winking and walking off towards Mr. Brewer who gave Harmony and Jack a smile, wave and a thumbs up.
Jack and Harmony laugh and wave back at him.
That was the moment where Harmony knew everything would be okay.
Harmony is sitting at a table, drinking a mango smoothie out of weird cup, watching Jack talk to his family members. Harmony had talked some, but she wasn't much of a talker- even when she's not being shy.
Suddenly the fast beat of the music is replaced a slow waltz. Harmony takes a sip of her smoothie while she watches couples walk onto the dance floor (including Jack's Aunt and new husband.) and start dancing. She smiles to herself and scans the people not dancing. It looked like Jack excused himself from talking to the group of women that had also apologized to Harmony for earlier that day.
Harmony is so happy that some people actually can grow up and apologize for their mistakes.
Harmony takes another drink of her smoothie before seeing two monster size 13 dress shoes in front of her. She turns and looks up at a smiling Jack. "Can I help you, Sir?" Harmony jokes, smiling. He chuckles before holding out a hand, "I think I owe you a dance." Harmony just looks at his hand before looking up at his face. "But... I can't dance." A grin grows on Jack's face, "Neither can I."
Harmony tilts her head to side, giving Jack a questioning look before placing her hand in his and standing up; following him to the dance floor.
Okay, so maybe Harmony and Jack's story doesn't have a ninja attack or a dire emergency or a heated make-out session or your typical jealous girlfriend & best friend scenario... but it's their story.
So, even if you're like Harmony and are tongue tied around boys, don't worry; The right boy will try his hardest to make you say more then 3 words to him in a conversation.
Also, don't doubt your relationship with somebody for too long. Lucky enough for Harmony and Jack, they came to their senses about liking each other fairly quickly... but there are more stubborn people out there... if you like somebody- tell them. Don't waste any unnecessary time. Who knows... they might not be there with you for much longer. Take a chance, take a risk. You don't know if you don't try.
Well... I guess that's it for this story.
...
OH! There is one more thing.
Watch what you put online. Or what you send to your favorite celebrity on Twitter or Instagram. Sometimes it's better to keep your opinions to yourself. Live by the old saying "If you don't have anything nice to say; don't say anything at all." Or if you feel the need to hate on your favorite TV star's new possible girlfriend just because she's not somebody else; remember that even if they are famous, they are people with feelings too. You don't know anything about her... so just try to stay out of their business. Who he dates is up to him- not you.
And we're positive you wouldn't like that if that was you.
Also, grow up a little bit. Just a little bit. No offence but the fact of you actually meeting your celebrity crush and actually having him/her like you back is probably about 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. So lay off a bit. Nobody likes a crazy, needy fan girl. No offence to anybody again, but it is something that we think has gotten out of hand.
And don't make something out of nothing.
WELL.
I think that's it for now.
All I have to say now is...
It's funny to think that a forever relationship came out of a simple skateboard malfunction.
SO. We hope that was entertaining for you guys. We really wanted to get a point across that what some of our fellow fandom members are saying to Leo and his possible girlfriend is becoming too rude and really needs to stop. We're not even sure if Leo and that girl are dating or not, but either way; there is no reason to judge them. Rather, judge her because she's not Olivia. We really don't mean to offend any of you, but that is just how we feel and we felt like we needed to write this because there is no reason to say some of the things some people have said about their relationship.
As we said, who Leo dates is up to him; not us. So, we should just be happy for them. Anyway, enough of our blah, blah, blah-ing.:) I hope you enjoyed andhave a FABULOUS rest of your day! :)
Summer is here... we have a virtual pool for y'all to jump into; all you have to do is review. ;)
And feel free to check out our other stories Behind The Borders and The Girl Who Didn't Cry Wolf. ;)
~NaturallyWritten