A/N: Okay here we go eventually! I am so sorry for the delay- exams, holidays, etc. I hope you enjoy it, however, I have extended a bit concerning Jack and his sexuality, which is why this story has been bumped up in the ratings. I hope you do enjoy rthis and if there are any concerns regarding Jack, Ryan and Paul, please let me know and I will tone down future chapters.
Chapter 6
"Janice is coming to dinner!"
When the twins rushed home and told everyone the news the entire room froze and went silent. Everyone, that is, except for Chandler who began to laugh hysterically. Everyone turned to look at him in disbelief and through the hysterics he managed to say:
"I'm sorry but it sounded like they just said, 'Janice is coming to dinner.'"
"We did!" said the twins in unison.
The colour drained from his face as the realisation that he was about to come face to face with the woman he had hated and feared for most of his adult life hit him.
"How is she…? Why is she…? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" he shrieked at Jack and Erica.
"Well, we decided to check out this new boyfriend of Emma's –" Erica started.
"You did WHAT?" asked Emma angrily.
"We went to see what he was like," continued Jack. "And we were chatting ever so nicely to him, and then his mother appeared."
"She somehow, within like five seconds, found out who we were, that we were mom and dad's adopted kids, and invite herself for dinner," said Erica. "She seemed to do it in one breath!"
"That sounds like Janice," said Joey.
"So, you all look mad… that's a good sign… Any thoughts? Or comments maybe?" asked Jack nervously.
"We need to clean this house," said Monica.
"And why do we need to do that?" asked Chandler, still in a deep state of shock.
"Because I am not going to give that woman the satisfaction of finding a speck of dust in this house," replied Monica.
Ross turned to Joey and muttered, "She'd have a hard job." Joey nodded in agreement.
As the adults began cleaning, Erica, Jack, Emma and Logan went up the stairs into Erica's bedroom. Jack and Erica could sense Emma's anger. It was so strong that even Logan felt it. When they entered the room, Logan sat in the corner while Jack and Erica sat on the bed awaiting their fate. As Emma stood in front of them they closed their eyes as they waited for her to speak.
"So… what did you think of Aaron then," she asked.
Erica and Jack opened their eyes in shock, even Logan looked up from his comic stunned.
"He seemed, nice…" ventured Erica.
"Very cute," added Jack.
"Funny, I thought that too and I think he thought that about me," said Emma.
"He does," said the twins.
"He may well do. But he won't after tonight! He won't after he is exposed for long periods of time to my father talking about dinosaurs! He won't after he hears about the 300000 women Joey has dated! He won't after he sees what he's gonna get when he gets involved with me!" Emma yelled.
"Em, he's not dating us. He's dating you," said Erica.
"So in the end no matter how weird we are, he'll still like you," said Jack as he hugged Emma. "And, if his mother is anything to go by, his family is just as weird as ours so you have absolutely nothing to worry about!"
"So are you looking forward to seeing him again?" Erica.
"I suppose so," replied Emma.
"Well tyhanks to us you get to see him a day early!" said Erica triumphantly.
"So what are you going to wear?" Jack asked Emma.
"This," she replied pointing to a pair of jeans and a lilac sweater.
"Oh no honey. Did I not teach you anything?" asked Jack.
"What's wrong with my outfit?"
"Firstly, those jeans are as old as your mother and show it," replied Jack heading to Erica's wardrobe. "And secondly, that sweater covers all of your assets. Honey if you wanna keep a guy you gotta show some cleavage!"
"So what cleavage is it you show then Jack?" asked Logan cheekily, who was ignored by Jack.
"I agree," said Erica. "How bout a sundress and strappy sandals? I have one in the back of my closet that I got last year. I think it's pink. And I'm sure I have shoes to match."
"Are you determined to give me every piece of pink clothing that you own?" asked Emma sarcastically.
"No, but it does suit you better than me. I think pink was invented for brunettes," she replied.
"Ah here we are," said Jack emerging from the closet with a pink sundress and matching sandals. "At least try them on. If you don't like them then you can change back into your own clothes."
Emma reluctantly left the room to try on the clothes. Jack turned to his sister and asked. "Do you think she's still mad at us?"
Erica shrugged but Logan replied, "She is, but she'll get over it as soon as she sees Aaron; you're all the same. Erica was with Michael, Jack still is with Paul and Emma will be with Aaron"
"And when did you become the profound philosopher?" asked Erica.
"Well through a combination really. The X-Men all have someone to turn to and no matter how rough anything gets that person always seems to make them forget their woes," he replied wisely
"What's the rest of the 'combination'?" asked Jack
"Sitting behind these comics gives me the perfect opportunity to watch all of you without your knowledge so therefore I can study human behaviour," replied Logan.
"What did you do? Take a psych class on the side this year or something?" asked Erica.
"No, but I plan to major in psychology at college."
"You're fifteen and you've decided on your college major. I knew you were weird but…" at this Jack was cut off by the return of Emma, head to toe in pink and smiling nervously.
"See, you should always listen to Jack. You look beautiful babe," he said proudly.
Logan looked out of the window to see Janice's car pull up in front of the house. "Looks like our visitors have arrived. I better go down and prevent Gilda and Austin from causing chaos," he said. "Jack and Erica have already caused enough of that."
As Logan left the room the twins looked at the door with shocked expressions on their faces. But Emma soon removed them. "Don't you two look shocked. He's right." And with that Emma followed Logan downstairs.
When Emma got downstairs she saw Aaron sitting on the couch and again smiled nervously at him. He smiled back and she again found herself staring speechlessly into his deep hazel eyes. She was brought back intro the real world with the arrival of a half naked Jack searching furiously for something. Emma hoped to all that is sacred that it was clothes.
"Umm Jack, honey, did you forget something?" asked Emma as she sat next to Aaron.
"Ha. Ha-ha. Ha-ha-ha-ha. No I did not forget something; it's gone missing." Jack replied.
"What has? Your sanity?" asked Erica.
"No my brand new silk shirt which I spent $40 on and I was going to wear this evening."
"Oh, okay, what does it look like?" asked Erica.
"It's silk and it's a shirt," he replied.
"What colour?" asked Emma. "No wait don't tell me – pink?"
"Again, Ha-ha-ha. No it's Lemon Surprise," he said sounding very annoyed.
"So it's yellow," replied Erica.
"Okay, yes whatever, now are you three – and yes that includes you Logan – gonna help me?" Jack asked.
"I think you should just stay like that." Emma stated, "You look good, have you been working out?"
"Okay, 1: You are sitting next to your new boyfriend and talking about another man's body!"
"Okay point taken," she replied.
"2: I have been working out. Does it really show?" he asked.
Emma and Erica nodded in agreement.
"And thirdly – NO. No-no-no."
At this point Joey, who had been watching the event along with the rest of the household, threw a blue shirt at Jack "I know it's not 'lemon surprise' but it is silk."
"Thank you," replied Jack just as Gilda and Austin walked into the room carrying what looked like a yellow rag. On closer inspection it was clear that the rag was silk, much to Jack's annoyance.
"What is that?" he asked trying to restrain himself from picking them up and throwing them out of the window.
Gilda put on the fake smile that made her look hurt and innocent all at the same time and replied, "Just a rag we found in Jack's room. We thought we would help Aunt Monica with the cleaning."
Only Monica and Janice had smiles on their faces and it took the combined strength of Emma, Erica, Logan and Ben to restrain Jack.
Before anyone could say anything Monica announced that dinner was ready and everyone moved into the dining room. As Mike stood up he shoved $40 dollars into Jack's hand.
"For a new shirt," he said before looking at his two smug children and saying "Don't look so happy, you don't get any pocket money until it's paid back."
And then it was Jack's turn to look smug as he took the only available place left at the table, next to Janice's son Ryan who looked at him with disgust. Jack looked at his sister and Emma who shrugged their shoulders before Logan whispered "Homophobic" in his ear. Before continuing his conversation with Janice's other son Jamie who seemed both interested and confused at the complex relaitionship of Cyclops and Jean. Jack looked at Erica who was deep in conversation with Janice's daughter Natalie, tuhen back to Ryan and thought 'Great
As dinner progressed most of the party started to relax, even Janice and Joey looked deep in conversation, and Joey didn't even look bored, just a little drunk. Despite everyone else getting along though, the tension between Jack and Ryan was felt between every teenager (and Ben and Claire) so, when Monica announced that dinner was over, they couldn't get away from each other fast enough. Their happiness was short-lived, however, when Chandler suggested that they all go upstairs to get to know each other better.
As the younger group of friends left the room, somewhat tensley due to the heated glares between Jack and Ryan, Ben and Claire braced themselves to tell the older group their news.
"You two not going' with them?" asked Joey drunkenly.
"In a minute. We have something to tell you guys first," replied Ben.
"Well don't keep us in suspense," said Phoebe.
"Okay, um…well… Claire's pregnant and we're getting married," said Ben quickly.
Everyone turned to look at Ross who sat there with his mouth open.
"Dad, what do you think?" asked Ben gently.
"I think it's, it's… great! Congratulations!"
"So are we the first to know?" asked Joey excitedly.
"No, we told Emma, Erica, Jack and Logan first," replied Claire.
Before anyone could say any more there was a knock at the door. When Monica answered there was a tall, athletic, tanned and very good looking man standing in the doorway… wearing a black sparkly cat suit.
"Hey Paul what's up?" asked Monica stifling a laugh.
"Is Emma here?" he asked.
"Yeah she's in Jack's room, you know where that is right?" she asked.
"Yeah, is it ok if I just go up?"
"Sure."
As Paul left the room Chandler's face turned white. "Please don't tell me him and Jack…"
"Yep, afraid so honey" replied Monica and the entire room burst into fits of laughter.
As Paul entered Jack's room everyone went silent and looked at him with strange expressions.
"Emma, did you forget something?" Paul asked angrily.
"Oops," replied Emma. "Paul, I am so sorry! I meant to call, we were having dinner because Joey's in town and then I found out Aaron and his family were coming and I was stressed out about that I am so sorry," she said in one long, rushed sentence.
"That's okay, I booked the hall again for tomorrow morning so you better be there," he replied.
"I will I promise," said Emma.
"So this is hospital guy then?" he asked looking at Aaron.
"Yeah, sorry, Aaron this is Paul my dance partner and best friend."
They shook hands before Paul sat next to Jack and promptly kissed him passionately. At which Ryan looked at as if he was going to throw up.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Erica.
"I thought you two broke up," asked Emma, feeling very confused.
"We did," replied Paul.
"So what's with the kissing?" asked Erica.
"We are what you would call 'friends with privileges'," replied Jack.
"Which is…?" asked Aaron.
"It means you can get laid without the hassle of a relationship," said Logan.
"And how do you know that?" asked Ben who was now standing in the doorway with Claire at his side.
"Jack told me." he replied simply.
"Oh and there was me thinking it was your amazing psychology experience," replied Erica.
"Ha, ha, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't know half of the stuff that you know."
"That doesn't make sense."
"How many of the great psychologists do make sense? Most people are still trying to work out what Freud was trying to say."
"Is anybody else confused?" asked Claire.
"Umm, yeah," replied Jamie and everyone else nodded their heads. Ryan, however, was watching Jack and Paul with a look of clear disgust, which only Jack and Logan noticed.
Then, after enduring over an hour of glares of disgust at what he and Paul were doing, Jack finally snapped, left the room, went straight to the garage, found his dad's new hiding place, took as many cigarettes as he could find and went to sit on the garden swing his mother had insisted on buying. The others who had been engaged in friendly conversation, mainly about Ben and Claire's impending marriage, fell silent to see what had happened and eventually Paul left the room.
As he sat there contemplating whether to light one of the cigarettes, a familiar voice came from behind him,
"You know, smoking's bad for your health," said Paul before sitting next to Jack.
"Never stopped you and you're a dancer – worse for you," he replied.
"Okay Jackie-boy, something's wrong, so spill." demanded Paul.
"Nothing's wrong," Jack replied hotly.
"It's the brunette kid, isn't it? Ryan or something." said Paul.
"Why would I care about that homophobic idiot?" asked Jack sarcastically.
"Come off it Jack, he's no more homophobic than you or I," said Paul.
"I'm not discussing this anymore," replied Jack angrily.
"You know what's really bothering you?" asked Paul.
"What?" asked Jack sarcastically again.
"This Ryan kid reminds you of yourself," he replied.
"What are you talking about?"
"God, Jackie-boy, you do have a short memory," started Paul. "When you and I met, you were petrified of me, just like Ryan's petrified of you. You weren't scared because I was flamboyant, loud, in your face; every gay label under the sun – it was because you knew deep, deep down that you were exactly like me, and that scared you. Just like Ryan's scared because he's exactly like you."
"So how's this supposed to help me?" asked Jack
"If you remember rightly, I was there for you as soon as you admitted it to yourself. So you have to be there for him," replied Paul.
"How do I do it, if he won't even look at me?" asked Jack.
"He'll come to you. Just like you came to me," he replied.
"But if he doesn't?"
"He will. You like him don't you?" said Paul suggestively.
"No. What makes you say that?" asked Jack defensively.
"You've got that look in your eye. It's the same look I had every time I saw you," said Paul.
"But you and me - " started Jack
"Are over," finished Paul. "Yeah it was fun while it lasted and even more fun since, but we have to call it a day at some point and move on. I got a dog for that!"
"Are you sure," asked Jack.
"What, that I got a dog? Yeah he's a Chinese Hairless and I called him Kyle," said Paul.
" You know fine well what I mean," said Jack sternly.
"Yeah I'm sure," replied Paul. "One last kiss wouldn't go amiss though…"
Jack laughed and the two shared a passionate kiss for what they both knew would be the last time. Little did they know that they were being watched by Ryan, whose stomach was churning not with disgust, but with jealousy. As they broke away from the kiss Paul and Jack turned to see Ryan and Paul whispered to Jack before leaving.
"Mmm, sooner than I thought."