Chapter 26: Without the Bitter, the Sweet Isn't As Sweet

Sammy's POV

Two days later, I had talked to my sister again. I found out where she lived, that she was married, too, and was currently pregnant for the first time. I had just hung up with her, setting my phone down on the kitchen counter, when I just kind of stared off into space and blinked in surprise.

I never really realized how much things can change in just six years.

"You okay?"

I blinked, composing my thoughts and noticing Jack was in the kitchen. He leaned against the counter next to my spot on the bar stool as I shrugged. "Just shocked."

Pushing himself up and onto the counter, he asked, "About what?"

So I told him what my sister had said and shrugged again when I was done. "I just didn't expect it."

"Oh." He nodded.

"She wants me to meet up with her somewhere."

"Does she still live in Tennessee?"

I shook my head. "Philadelphia."

Jack furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "Why'd she move there?"

"Her husband lived there and she's a cake decorator now."

He got down from the counter and put his arms around me from the side. I leaned into his chest as he said, "Do you wanna go up there?"

"Will you go with me?"

"Of course."

Two More Days Later

Jack and I walked into the door of the bakery my sister worked at. I looked up at him and he grabbed my hand, squeezing it a bit, and I took that as reassurance. We walked to the front counter, seeing a girl with black hair tied back into a ponytail behind the counter counting money in the cash register. My eyes widened. That was my black hair.

I glanced up at Jack again, but he was looking at the cakes in the display case to the left. I dropped his hand and walked up to the counter, taking the safe approach even though I saw that her name tag on her apron said 'Chelsea'. "Um...I'm looking for Chelsea," I said.

She looked up, looking confused or disoriented for a second. Her eyes widened and I'm pretty sure my eyes were just as wide. "Sammy?"

My sister looked the same, except older. She had my hair, but her eyes were my dad's-blue. She was a few inches taller than me, but always had been.

"Yeah," I replied, shrugging and slightly smiling.

She hopped over the counter and wrapped me in a hug. I wasn't shocked and didn't do anything to prevent it, just hugged her back. We were just silent, but I sniffed once I noticed I was crying. "I missed you," she whispered.

"I did, too," I finally confessed to myself out loud. Six years. Six whole fucking years. I glanced over at Jack, who was smiling and standing a few feet away with his hands in his pockets. I found myself chuckling then pulling away from my sister. She looked at me confused, smiling. "Holy fuck, it's you!"

She laughed through her own tears, nodding. "Hi," was all she replied, waving a bit. I hugged her again, tighter this time. "Oh my gosh, you're actually here!" she exclaimed.

Yup. We're a lot alike.

"This is weird." Chelsea let me go again, adding, "You're all grown up! Last time I saw you, you still had a bit of a baby face." She took my chin, looking at my face.

I laughed, looking at Jack again when he smirked. Chelsea followed my gaze, and I saw her raise an eyebrow. "Jack from All Time Low?"

Jack gestured to himself. "In the flesh."

She looked back at me. "So, all of it's true? You really play bass in Hey Monday?" I nodded. "Wow. Lot's changed."

"Oh, yeah," I agreed. "How far along are you?" I asked, pointing to her stomach, referring to the child currently growing inside her.

She smiled. "Only a month."

"What? She's pregnant?" Jack asked, walking up to me and grabbing my hand.

Chelsea and I nodded as I laced my fingers through Jack's. "Don't you listen to anything I tell you?" I asked him, laughing a little.

"Oh, yeah..." he said, and then smiled sheepishly. "I forgot, sorry."

My sister blinked. "My mind is just...blown, right now."

"Same here," I said.

"How long are you here?"

I shrugged. "As long as I need to be. Or...until I have to go on tour again."

"Wanna go out to lunch?" she suggested.

"Can I go?" Jack asked.

"No," Chelsea said seriously, but slowly smiled.

"Oh, great. Another Sam," Jack said sarcastically.

"Hey!" Chelsea and I said together.

She grinned. "Still got it." We high-fived.

Ten minutes later, we were sitting at a restaurant four blocks down from the bakery. Jack and I on one side of the table, Chelsea on the other.

"So, you guys are married now?" she asked.

I nodded and Jack said, "Yup."

"Wow. Lot of shit happened since I last saw you."

"I don't know how you guys did it," Jack said, shaking his head. "I don't like being away from my family for three months on tour. How'd you do it for six years?"

"We didn't have a whole lot of options," I said.

"But I still should've stayed in contact with you," Chelsea said. "I tried to talk Mom and Dad out of kicking you out. I kept telling them that you wouldn't always be like that." She shrugged. "But I do think they were stupid for not supporting you having a career in music."

I blinked. "Thanks for defending me."

She shrugged again. "What was I supposed to do? You're my sister. I didn't want to see you get kicked out."

"So, then why didn't you keep talking to me?"

"I don't know. I guess I told myself you brought it on yourself and it was the only way you'd change."

I looked down at the table and Jack squeezed my hand that was clenched with his. There was no doubt in my mind she wasn't lying, but did I want her back in my life?

"You guys look a lot alike," Jack said.

"We used to get that a lot," I said, never looking up.

Chelsea nodded. "Yup."

I finally looked up at her. "What made you call me all of the sudden?"

"Honestly?"

"That'd be pretty cool, yeah."

"My husband was asking about you about two weeks ago and it just made me think that I was sick of not being able to talk to you. So I took a shot and called you." She paused when the waiter brought over another glass of water for her. "You answered and now I feel like we have to go through an awkward get to know each other phase."

"That's because we do," I laughed. "We haven't talked to each other in so long."

Chelsea smirked then looked at Jack. "Nothing personal, but why are you here?"

Jack shrugged. "Moral support."

"Oh. Nice." She smiled.

I looked up at Jack, who half smiled at me. He squeezed my hand when I started playing with the sugar packets on the table. I always did this. Opened a sugar packet and put the sugar into an empty glass that I'd already drank the pop out of.

"You still do that?" Chelsea asked.

I smirked, nodding. "Yup."

"Stop it." Jack grabbed my other wrist while laughing a little, which stopped me.

"But I'm bored!" I said.

"Oh, gee, thanks," Chelsea said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," I laughed.

We ate, getting caught up on our lives a little. But she had to go back to work, so while we were standing outside the restaurant we said goodbye.

"Can we hang out again before you go back?" Chelsea asked.

I nodded. "Of course."

She hugged me. "I love you, Sam."

"Love you, too, Chels," I replied, hugging her back. She let me go, said bye to Jack, and waved a little before walking off in the direction of the bakery. I took Jack's hand as we walked.

"That went well," he said.

I nodded. "A whole lot better than I thought it would."

XXXX

At around midnight, Jack and I were back in our hotel room. He walked out of the bathroom then plopped down on the bed next to me, crossing his legs. "I wanna go swimming," he said.

"That does sound pretty fun right now," I said.

"So, is that a, 'yes, let's go'?"

I chuckled. "Yes."

"Yay!" He got up and went over to his things.

We changed, got towels, and went down to the pool. Due to the fact that it was midnight, there wasn't anybody at the pool. No surprise there.

Jack jumped in right away, but I had to take my tank top and shorts off. "You coming?" he asked.

"Duh." I jumped in then swam over to him. "Hey."

"Hey." He kissed me then grabbed my hand as he started to swim away, making me follow him. He stopped after a minute in a spot that he could stand up straight, but I couldn't. So I swam over to the wall, holding myself up with my hand. "What are you doing?" he asked, confused.

"I can't touch here," I said.

"Oh." He swam over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "I'll hold you up, come here." Jack pulled me away from the wall. I looked at him as his arms slid around me. I wrapped my limbs around him and kissed him, but minutes later I pulled away from him completely. Splashing him, I swam off in the opposite direction.

"I'll get you for that, Sam!" he called after me.

"Mmhmm, I hope so!" I called back.

We swam around some more, but a little while later, I jumped out of the pool, just to sit down next to it with my feet over the edge. Jack started tickling my feet which made me giggle, pull them out of the water, and bring my legs to my chest.

He chuckled then jumped out of the water and sat next to me. "You're cute," he said, wrapping arm around my waist. I leaned into him and he kissed me. "Your lips are wet, too."

"Jack, my entire body is wet," I said.

"That's what happens when people go swimming." He kissed me again, deeper and longer this time. I pulled away first when I had to yawn. Jack's jaw dropped. "Am I really that bad of a kisser?"

"What? No, no." I shook my head. "I'm sorry." I giggled a little as I hugged him, hiding my face in his neck. "I didn't mean to."

Looking up at him, I saw he was pouting. "That's never happened to me before."

"I'm sorry." I kissed his neck a few times, but stopped when he moved a little to kiss my lips again.

"It's fine," he smiled, "I was just a little shocked," he laughed.

"Okay." I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Wanna go back to our room?" he asked.

"Sure," I replied.

I dried off a bit, put my tank top and shorts back on, then Jack and I went back to our room. He shut the door behind him as I was sniffing my arm. "I'm gonna smell like chlorine for ages," I said. "Do you care if I take a shower?"

"We could take one together?" he suggested, a grin on his face.

I considered this then shrugged. "Okay. Let me get clothes first."

"Mkay." Jack walked into the bathroom. "Will you get me sweats and a t-shirt?" he asked as I heard the water turn on.

"Yeah," I replied as I went over to my things. Then I realized something. "You going commando?"

"What? Oh! No. I need boxers, too!"

"'Kay, just checking!"

I got the clothes out and a hairbrush then went into the bathroom. Jack poked his head out of the shower just as I pulled my tank top off. "You trying to turn me on?"

"You're the one that wanted to take a shower together," I said as I took off my shorts.

Jack cocked his head to the side. "Do you not want to? You don't have to."

"I don't really care either way," I said, laughing a little.

"Well, then come here!"

I walked over to him, just to push him lightly back in the shower. "Wash yourself."

"Fine." He closed the curtain and I started taking off my swimsuit.

After a shower that took way too long, (cough, cough) Jack and I were laying down on the bed in the hotel room, watching reruns of Seinfeld. He was messing with his hair, flipping it back and forth and he kept running his fingers through it.

"I don't think my hair has ever been this clean before. Can you wash it every time?"

I laughed and looked up at him. "If you don't stop running your fingers through it, it's only gonna get dirty faster."

"How?"

"The oils from your skin will get in your hair."

Jack considered this. "That makes sense." He slid his arms around me and buried his nose in my damp hair. "You smell nice."

"So do you."

About a half hour had past when Jack's phone started ringing. "Eh, I'm not getting it." he said, his arms tightening around me.

It was on the bedside table and I could reach it, so I answered it. "Hello?"

Jack pouted at me as Alex said, "Hey, what's up? How'd it go with your sister?"

"Pretty good. Way better than I thought it would," I replied as Jack started kissing my neck and started sliding his hands in my shirt. Alex was saying something, but I couldn't focus, so I said, "Jack, stop it," and pushed his hands down.

"What's he doing?" Alex laughed.

Sparing the details, I said, "Distracting me."

Alex and Jack both laughed. "Okay, I can tell now's not a good time," Alex said. "I'll call you later?"

I stood up from the bed and went over to the couch in the room. "You wouldn't have to if Jack wouldn't kiss my neck."

"Whoa-hoa, don't need details."

"Sorry." I shrugged, even though he couldn't see it.

"You sure I don't need to call later?"

"You're fine. I moved away from him. But it is, like, three in the morning. Why are you still up?"

I could picture Alex shrugging. "I couldn't sleep. Hey, I have a question."

I replied, "Are we finally running away together?" just to mess with Jack.

Sure enough, Jack sat up on the bed and said, "What?"

Alex laughed. "No, I'm not ready for that yet," he said. "Actually, Lisa and I were wondering if you could help plan a wedding."

"Oh, yeah. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"Yeah, sure, I can help."

"Sweet. So, I'm gonna try to go to sleep. Have fun," he sang.

"I'm gonna punch you."

"Can't do that through the phone. Ha! I'll see you when you get back. I love you!"

I laughed. "Love you, too, Alex. Bye." Hanging up, I went back over to the bed and set Jack's phone down on the nightstand. I laid down next to him on my back. "Hey."

"You just love messing with my head, huh?" he asked with a smirk.

I nodded, smiling. "Yes." He chuckled a little and pulled me close to him, pressing his lips to mine.