RECAP:

"i don't think i can stay with you guys in the apartment. at least for a couple days."

jaeden made a confused face, shaking his head. "what?"

"i think i'm gonna stay with mama roo in her hotel room. not for long! just a couple nights. i need to, just, get my feelings under control."

"what do you mean by 'get your feelings under control', though?"

jack shrugged, his eyes softening. "i don't want them."

"you can't stop your feelings. that's not how it works. and we're filming a tv show here. what about andy? he wants you and finn spending time together."

"i know we need to work on the chemistry part, but-"

"you guys already have that chemistry; i know you do, we all do. that's why you and finn were cast as richie and eddie in the first place."

at that moment, a firework erupted above them. jack heard his name being called, and looked behind him to see finn motioning him to come over.

"come join us! you guys are slow pokes."

the two rushed to join the others, and jack shimmied in between finn and chosen. finn resorted to pulling jack onto his lap.

it caught jack by surprise, but he easily cuddled into finn. finn placed his head on jack's shoulder and wrapped his arms around him, watching the fireworks up above. jack turned to his right, making immediate eye contact with jaeden; jaeden gave him a sad smile, mouthing one word to him:

"chemistry."

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

andy had agreed to let jack stay with his mama for a few nights.

jack had pulled andy to the side after the fireworks, asking him for a couple days by himself, not with the others in the apartment. it took a little while, but eventually, after mumbling endless excuses, jack got what he wanted, and andy reluctantly agreed to give him time to himself.

he joined the others as they piled into the car, positioning themselves in the same seating arrangements as before. this time, it was dark out, so they could barely make out where they were going; low street lights guided them to their seats.

they were all tired, several of them sunburned, and generally high on life. they had a perfect day, (or at least, some of them did) and they all blindly buckled their seatbelts and engaged in a pointless conversation about sophia's past experiences with waterparks. jack wasn't really paying attention.

however, everyone miraculously went quiet when andy took out his phone to make a quick phone call.

jack knew it was his mom on the other side of line. he cringed internally as he heard andy discussing how jack would be going back to the hotel for a little bit, as barbara started up the van.

jack looked down at his lap; he felt embarrassed. he didn't want the others to think it was their fault he wasn't going to be staying with them (even if it was just for a couple days), even though it partly was their fault.

jack was just too nervous around finn to be comfortable in the apartment, or at least for now. he wanted to run and hide from his feelings, not be forced to deal with them. if there was one thing jack was bad at, other than making stupid mistakes, it was definitely dealing with his feelings in a healthy way. he tended to joke about things to cover up how he really felt, or just ignore them and push them down altogether.

when andy finished the phone call, the van was silent for a moment. jack knew they had heard every word. he looked up at finn, who was looking out the window, the headlights outside flashing on his porcelain skin through the window. he didn't turn to look at jack, didn't try to do anything. he just closed his eyes and took a deep breath, almost as if he was trying to calm himself down.

"why are you leaving, jack?" sophia whispered (even though the van was so quiet, everyone could still hear them.)

jack cleared his throat, folding his hands in his lap and playing with his fingers. "oh, it's nothing to do with you guys! i just, need some time alone to get into character and prepare for the next little while of shooting."

"speaking of," andy interrupted, "you'll all be getting the full script tomorrow. i'd like you guys to go through it together."

the others nodded. usually they would be a little more excited, but the mood had dropped with jack's news.

it was a quiet ride the whole way home.

jack didn't lay on finn's lap, finn didn't call him beautiful, and he definitely didn't attempt to start conversation, or initiate physical contact with him again.

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

finn woke up in his bed alone.

jack wasn't there to burst in the room and jump on him to wake him up, and certainly wasn't there to cuddle him like he had done the day before.

last night was a bit of a blur for the boy; finn knew something was up with jack. but he couldn't figure out what. and it drove him insane. sure, jack would be with him later to go over the complete script with the rest of them, but he wouldn't talk about anything serious. he would pretend everything was fine, like he was staying in the apartment with them, and everything was perfect.

he heard a knock at his door, and groaned. the person obviously took it as a 'come in' though, and sat on his bed.

finn almost expected it to be jack, but was met with blueish greenish eyes instead of jack's light brown ones.

"hi, jae."

"are you okay? it's eleven; you missed breakfast."

finn nodded, shrugging. "yeah, yeah, i'm all good. just thinking."

"about jack?"

finn laughed and shook his head. "do you know what's going on with him?"

"no, i don't. i think- i think he just needed time to- get into character, like he said." jaeden stumbled over his words, trying to cover up for jack. jack had called him last night; he wanted jaeden to act like nothing had happened the day before, that jack hadn't had that conversation with him. which was fair enough, so jaeden respected his wishes. he cursed himself for not being a better liar.

"right." finn nodded. "i'll get ready now. aren't we meeting andy soon?"

"yes!" jaeden jumped up, on his way out. "get up sleepyhead. important business to tend to."

with one last cheeky smile, jaeden closed the door behind him, leaving finn alone. he quickly got dressed into black jeans and a maroon striped shirt, not wanting to put much effort into his outfit today. he didn't even bother doing anything with his hair; it was too wild to attempt anything.

he grabbed a cold waffle as sophia ushered him out of the door, saying that they were gonna be late to meet andy. they group of six trudged down the stairs ('the elavator is too slow!!' sophia claimed) and finally made it to the cute cafe across the street that andy wanted to meet them at.

jack was already there, sitting at a small back table with andy and angela. he was leaned over on the table, his head resting on his hand, his eyes closed. he had a baggy sweater on, and had little sweater paws; not to mention the fact that his hair was messy and partly curling into his face. finn felt a soft feeling inside his stomach and smiled to himself, joining the others as they took a seat. finn sat across from jack.

"sleepy, jack?" wyatt teased, poking his side. jack's eyes fluttered open and he covered his face, giggling and telling wyatt to stop, and that he was ticklish.

"i can testify for that." finn grinned, and jack moved his hands, returning his smile. finn felt his insides melt all over again.

"okay, guys, should we get started?" andy proposed. jaeden raised his hand, quickly speaking up.

"this isn't a mean thing, we love you mama roo, but how come angela is the only parent here?" jaeden asked.

"i invited her!" jack exclaimed, grabbing her hand. "you should've invited your mama roo."

"jack," sophia laughed, "you're the only one with a mama roo. we have MOM'S."

"are you making fun of me?" jack raised an eyebrow, throwing an empty straw wrapper from his apple juice at sophia. she shook her head and threw it back, until andy quickly interrupted them.

"okay guys, here it is."

he handed them each their own script. the final, good copy. sure they had rough copies, and had occasionally looked through it, but they didn't completely read the whole thing.

andy let them flip through it a little bit, and jack, of course, flipped to the kissing scene he had with finn.

however, by flipping through the script to get to the "final" kiss andy had told them they would have, he realized they had several kissing scenes. scenes by themselves. one where richie sneaks into eddie's bedroom and kisses him goodnight, and another scene where eddie falls off of his bike, and richie kisses all of his wounds better (which includes a busted lip.)

it made jack nervous. so incredibly nervous.

and when he looked up and met finn's eyes, he could tell he was nervous too.

but he wasn't sure if he was thinking exactly what jack was.

if i'm not in love with finn now, these scenes will definitely make sure i fall for him now.

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

SHITTIEST CHAPTER EVER OHNYGODOD. it was just like, a filler type chapter to get the plot going again, idk how to explaiN. but it's not edited or anything, so:(

also, does anyone watch big brother or love island? BAHDHAH, i'm a reality tv show whore and like, no one watches those shows:(

thanks for reading!

-courtney