Chapter 7

"Shit!" I whispered. Jackson gently set me down on my feet and starred at me with wide eyes. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"Amy!" Benny continued pounding on the door.

"One minute!" I yelled back. "I have to get dressed you asshole!"

I threw open my bedroom door and removed Jackson's shirt as quickly as I could and tossed it at him. I scrambled into my own clothes, not even bothering to consider what kind of clothes they were, and went back into the living room

"Amy what about me?" Jackson asked.

"Damn it!" I turned back to him. "Stay in the bedroom for now Jackson. I'll find some way to sneak you out as soon as I can, but until then just stay in there and stay quiet." I closed the door on him as Kellie and Ben G. came into the living room; thankfully Ben G was now fully dressed.

"Amy." Benny's voice came through the door. I slowly walked over.

"Here goes nothing." I whispered towards Kellie; she mouthed a 'good luck.' I unlocked the door and stepped aside. Benny rushed through and Jerad followed at a slower pace.

"My god Amy! Where have you been? I called like ten times and you didn't answer. Where did you disappear to last night?" Benny gripped my shoulders and continued on with his tirade of questions. Jerad had an apologetic look on his face.

"Benny would you please stop shaking me; the room doesn't need your help to spin." He released my shoulders. "I'm sorry I didn't answer you calls but I only just woke up. And I left Leo's in a hurry because I started feeling ill."

"Oh." He took a step back and took in my mismatched clothes and my disheveled hair. Apparently I thoroughly looked the part of a hung-over graduate because Benny sighed in relief and relaxed his shoulders.

"Well I hope you learned your lesson." He said.

"Benny, I don't need a lecture from you right now. Trust me, this is torture enough."

Benny nodded and looked around the room absentmindedly. A puzzled look crossed his face when he saw Ben G there already.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. He looked at me and finally saw the panic in my face, and his eyes narrowed.

"He came home with me." Kellie spoke up, and Ben G nodded. Benny relaxed again.

"Have any of you seen Jackson? He kind of disappeared on us last night too." Jerad said, speaking for the first time. Damn you Jerad. Kellie and Ben G both denied seeing Jackson, but I remained silent. Benny turned to me and asked me a question.

"Hmm?"

"Have you seen Jackson? I left him talking to you last night." Benny said.

I shook my head. "Honestly Benny, I don't remember much of anything last night but the inside of my toilet bowl."

"Huh, try calling his cell phone again." Benny told Jerad.

Oh god I hoped Jackson hadn't turned it on yet.

"I need to use the bathroom. Do you mind Amy?" Benny didn't wait for a response as he headed for my bedroom. I rushed to beat him to it.

"No!" I threw hands out to block him.

"Amy…"

"The bathroom is still a mess. I haven't had time to clean it. You'll have to use Kellie's."

"I'll show you where it is." Kellie stepped forth and grabbed Benny by the hand and led him to her room.

Once Kellie had closed the door on him I quickly opened mine and found Jackson waiting by the door. I pulled him from the room and ushered him to the front door; I could hear Jerad's surprised gasp as I did so. I opened the front door and pushed Jackson out.

"You have to go Jackson." I said.

"Go where?" he asked.

"I don't know, but Benny can't know that you were here. He's not ready for that yet."

"Amy, how am I supposed to leave? I don't have a car remember?"

"Ugh, here." I shoved a pair of keys into his hand. "The car we took last night, take it. I don't know where, but you just have to leave. I'm sorry."

"Amy,"

"Jackson just go. Benny'll be…"

"Jackson. There you are." It was Benny.

"Shit!" I whispered under my breath.

"Yea, uh, I just got here." Jackson said without conviction.

I turned around in a whirl. "Isn't that weird?" I asked. "I mean you were just talking about him and then POOF up he pops. So weird. Scary weird. I'm hungry. Are you hungry? Cause I'm starved. I don't even know if I ate anything last night. I want pancakes. Do you remember when mom used to make us pancakes every Saturday morning? They were the best, weren't they? I want some pancakes. Who's up for pancakes?" I was talking way too fast and I knew it, but I couldn't stop myself.

"I'm going to go make pancakes." I pointed to the kitchen and hurried off.

"I'm going to go help." Kellie said as she hastily followed me.

"Er—ok." Benny responded. I heard Ben G. utter a faint 'girls' as I walked into the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen I sank to my knees by the sink and buried my face in my hands. I muttered 'shit' repeatedly as Kellie looked on. I could faintly hear what the guys were talking about in the living room. Benny had asked Jackson where he had been all night, and Jackson had responded with "nowhere in particular."

At which point Jerad spoke up to cover for him and said "don't lie J. Action. I saw you talking to that little red head."

I could hear Jackson let out a nervous little laugh as he said, "well, you know me."

I tuned them out as the conversation moved on to other things. I made a mental note to tell Jerad that I loved him while continuing to mutter 'shit' into my hands.

"Is that helping at all?" Kellie asked.

"A little," I responded. "Kells I'm in a right foul pickle right now and I don't know what to do."

"Hmmm, why don't you try telling Ben the truth for once?" She said it like it was so obvious.

"What, that his baby cousin just had friggin amazing sex with one of his best friends? No way. You saw the look on his face when he thought Ben G and I had done something. He was ready to murder him. Plus, he saw me drunk off my ass last night. He'd never believe that it was consensual or that I was the one who initiated it. There's no way I could tell him. Besides, I don't even know what Jackson and I are right now."

"So then, what are you going to do?"

"For now… I'm going to make pancakes like I said I would." I got to my feet and began to scramble around the kitchen making pancakes.

*~*

I made a mixture of regular pancakes and banana pancakes, where I threw in a few banana slices into the batter. I even made a few pancakes with chocolate chips as per Kellie's request. We sat around the coffee table in the living room to eat. Everyone seemed to be perfectly at ease and was actively engaged in the conversation, everyone but me that is. I was still ill at ease, worried that Benny would discover the truth of Jackson's whereabouts last night and that I would be solely responsible for breaking up the 100 Monkeys, or at least ruining a perfectly good friendship.

During our breakfast, or lunch since it was closer to noon when we ate, Dillon came by to pick up his car. There was an awkward moment as he bent down to kiss me and I turned my head, offering only my cheek. Benny had a few questions about that, but I insisted that Dillon was only a friend, and Jackson finally looked as uncomfortable as I had been feeling since Benny's arrival.

After eating, Kellie somehow convinced the guys to stay another night in Berkeley, offering up our apartment as a place to crash, and to return to Leo's t to help us clean up. And so, later that afternoon we all went down to the lounge and set to work. Well the guys more or less just played around and Kellie and I had to do most of the cleaning. Jackson did, however, take advantage of Benny's distraction to talk to me.

"I hope you know that it takes a little more than talking about me to make me 'pop up.'" Jackson said from behind my back.

"Well it didn't take much last night." I replied. I finished wiping the table down and straightened up.

"We had just finished a show. The adrenaline was still flowing. Plus I had been drinking."

I cocked my head. "So you slept with me because you had been drinking?"

"NO, no, no, no, no that's not what I said or meant. I just… you see…I uh…shit!" He stammered over his words; I smiled and walked off to clean another table. I was halfway done when he finally rejoined me.

"You're not really mad are you." It wasn't a question, but a statement. I turned around smiling, and shrugged.

"Oh, now that was just cruel."

"Whatever are you talking about Mr. Rathbone?" I faked innocence and moved on to the next table; Jackson followed.

"So, about that Dillon character?"

"He's a friend Jackson."

"Just a friend?"

I paused. "No, not just a friend, but he'll never be anything more. We've only actually slept together a few times and it wasn't all that good. He's just too preppy for me. I prefer a man with a little edge to him, maybe even a tattoo."

"I have a tattoo." Jackson grinned.

"So I noticed. You've also got this very cute freckle on your left butt cheek." I walked off again, this time to the kitchen, out of Benny's line of sight. And once again Jackson followed me.

"I do not." He protested.

"Yea you do."

"Well, you're not the only one who noticed things last night. I noticed a few things as well."

"Really? Like what?"

"Well for one, you have an interesting scar here." He gently traced the u shaped scar that was located on my right side; my face paled.

"You weren't supposed to see that."

"My apologies, but, well you know I saw a lot of you last night." He let his hand drop to my waist. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, it's just an old childhood scar. It happened a long time ago, in North Carolina. It's not important." I was a terrible liar. "Was that all you noticed last night? A silly little scar?"

"No." He leaned in. "I also noticed that your neck is a very sensitive area because when I do this," he breathed on my exposed neck gently, "you get goose bumps. And when I kiss you here," he kissed the spot just below my ear lobe lightly, "you lose control and give in." He continued to kiss the area like he did this morning when he wanted his shirt back.

"Jah…Jack…Jackson." I stammered breathless. "Buh…enny is just in the other rah…room."

"Ok… I'll stop," he pulled back ever so slightly, "but I just want to know one thing."

"You already know too much."

"Can I come see you tonight?" He continued without hesitation.

"You're staying at my apartment."

"Yea I know, but Johnson falls asleep pretty easily, and what's better he stays asleep. So, I ask again, can I come see you?"

I knew I should say no. It was too risky. What if Benny wasn't really asleep when Jackson left? What if somehow he found out? What if he saw us together? No was the correct response; no is what I should have said.

"Please?" he asked

I nodded my head. "Yea, I'll leave the door unlocked." He smiled and kissed me tenderly before turning to leave. I began to laugh softly and he turned around, puzzled.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"Nothing, it's just…I told you I would leave you begging for more."

He grinned devilishly, and we both went back to work.

*~*

Later that night, Jackson did come into my room and it was just as amazing as it had been the first time around.