Chapter Text
Jackie sat on her sofa at home and ate cereal while watching some show that Laura Lee had put on. Her phone rang and she barely glanced at it before she pressed the answer button and put it up to her ear.
"Hello?" She said, her voice slightly muffled from the cereal still in her mouth.
"Hey Jack! Me and the band talked and we decided that you would join us!" Lottie's happy yet hesitant voice on the other side said.
Jackie finished swallowing and beamed brightly, "Really!? That's great! Thank you guys!" She exclaimed.
"...Jackie, are you sure you should do this?" Lottie asked in concern. Jackie smiled warily, feeling self conscious about her plan.
Shauna wasn't the only person who was affected when what happened with them happened. Jackie has spent every moment of her life hating herself for what she did, and also slightly Shauna for what she did too. She's been concocting a plan since the first year she spent without Shauna's presence.
Jackie's plan was, quite frankly, simple and stupid. Just get close to Shauna and force the other girl to tolerate her, have a talk about what happened, become friends again, and maybe become something more, who knows? She just wasn't going to make the same mistake again.
"Yeah, I'm sure, I'll be careful not to cause a lot of problems," she smiles sweetly, even knowing that her just being at the concerts caused a problem.
She could tell, because the moment her and Shauna had locked eyes at the last show, the other girl's eyes were filled with emotion and she could barely keep it together as she stepped back from the mic to play her guitar.
"Alright. If you're sure," Lottie sighed, not believing Jackie but giving her the benefit of the doubt, "I feel like I should tell you, Shauna was not hyped. In fact she got very upset."
Jackie swallowed harshly and glanced at her now soggy cereal, "How upset?"
"She punched a whole in the wall and her fist got bloodied and bruised," Lottie sighed in concern for her bandmate and friend.
Jackie inhaled sharply 'I caused that,' she thought distastefully, suddenly doubting her plan. She shook her head, she was already too deep, she couldn't back down now.
"I'll promise not to speak to her for the first few days, don't want to scare her away or cause her to hurt herself more," She sighed, sagging on the couch and glaring at the show on the TV screen.
"She better not, we need her hands to work for the tour," Lottie joked, still worried but using humor to cope, "Ok, Van will send you the schedule Jack, see you then."
With that, the other girl promptly hung up and Jackie was left alone in her living room with soggy cereal and a boring show. She sighed, please let this stupid plan work.
"I don't need you to babysit me Nat," Shauna huffed, crossing her arms as she sat on her hotel bed.
Natalie sat on the other end, eyes glued to her phone as she scrolled on whatever app she was in. She looked up briefly to send Shauna a glare, before looking back down.
"Those bandages on your hand say otherwise," the blonde simply says.
Shauna rolls her eyes and picks up her own phone, doing her own mindless scrolling on Twitter, before seeing a post that she really didn't want to right now.
PopBase: Famous photographer and model, Jackie Taylor, spotted at a concert for 'The Burnouts'!
And below the words was a nice photo of Jackie in a dress, smiling at the person taking her photo.
Shauna scoffs, turning off her phone and setting to the side, taking a peek at Nat's phone to distract herself by seeing what the other girl was doing. Her eyes widen and her brows furrow.
"Natalie Scatorccio, stop stalking Travis Martinez's fucking Instagram account," She says disappointedly, crawling over to her friend and grabbing the phone out of her hand.
"Wha- no peeking Shipman!" Nat yells, grabbing at her phone, Shauna straddles the other girl and stretches her arm out of Nat's reach.
"Shauna!" Nat groans, giving up and slumping down on the bed.
Shauna smiled victoriously before looking at the phone in her hands, ready to block the account, before seeing that, in their tussle, she had accidentally liked one of his posts. Shauna inhaled sharply, eyes flying wide, as she curses herself in a panic.
"Fuck! Nat, I'm so sorry," Shauna apologizes, immediately getting off the other girl and hurriedly unliking the post.
"What? What happened?" Nat frowns in confusion, sitting up and observing her panicked friend.
"I accidentally liked one of his posts," Shauna winces, handing Natalie back her phone and scooching away from the other girl so as to not get hit too hard.
Nat stares at her phone for a minute, face blank but eyes expressive, shifting from surprise, to anger, to something else. Natalie looks at Shauna, then sighs.
"I would curse you out but I feel like you have it worse," Nat rolls her eyes and sets her phone down on the bed.
Shauna furrows her brows, "What?"
"Well I don't have to spend the whole tour with Travis, and I'm not the one that fucked up my hand."
A scoff, "Don't do that Nat."
"Do what?" She quirks a brow.
"Pity me. You've never done that before and I don't want you to start doing it now," Shauna crosses her arms and glares at the girl in front of her.
Natalie rolls her eyes and shifts to sit next to her friend, "It's not pity, Shipman. I care about you and I don't want to make this tour harder for you by being upset."
Shauna sighs, leaning her head on the slighter shorter girl's shoulder, staring at the ceiling and wanting to cry, but refusing to.
"I don't want to see her."
"I know."
It was the first day for Jackie on her job as The Burnouts photographer. The Burnouts was a name she guessed Natalie came up with because she would always get called one.
Lottie sent her their schedule, after this concert they would be on their way to Europe, and she had to take some pictures and send it to Van so they could post it on The Burnouts official account.
Wasn't too complicated, but she still felt her heart quicken at the thought of seeing Shauna once again, this time probably closer than last. She exited her house, anxiously walking up to Laura Lee's car.
The other girl gave her a soft smile, "You alright?"
Jackie sighs, "Yeah, just nerves."
The drive over was silent, but comfortable. They walked into the concert together, getting good spots so Jackie could take good pictures that didn't come out blurry.
The show started, another band opening. Jackie didn't know their name, didn't know if she wanted to, their music was good, just wasn't her cup of tea. Finally, the moment she was waiting for, her old teammates entered the stage.
Lights turned on and focused on each member, Lottie on the keys, Tai on the drums, Natalie on the bass, and Shauna on the guitar, with a microphone in front of her face.
Shauna stared at the crowd, anxious smile on her face, "How's everyone doing tonight?" The crowd roared in response.
"Glad to hear it. I think we made you wait long enough, haven't we?" Shauna asks, breathless as her eyes scan the crowd.
Jackie can't help but hope that maybe the other girl was looking for her. She smiles fondly as the brunette beams at the crowd, and pulls her camera up to her face and takes a picture. She adjusts how it looks, and then nods her head at the finished look. She glances back up at the stage to hear what else Shauna has to say.
"Let's start with my first song, Waiting Room," She says, before stepping back slightly to place her hands on her guitar strings and starts to strum lightly.
Jackie's heart clenches, she's heard all the band's songs, wanting to hear Shauna's voice, and she knows most of them about her, the other girl was never subtle. The only songs not about her were the ones written by the other members.
She swallows thickly, listening to Shauna sing the first lines of the song while she brings up her camera again and points it at Nat, who is also strumming her bass with a small content smile on her face.
"If you were a teacher I would fail your class, take it over and over 'till you notice me," Shauna's voice was velvety, as if she was whispering.
Jackie got the picture she wanted from Natalie after a few tries, and tries her hardest to tune out the song. She moves on to Lottie, finding it easier to get a good photo of her friend. She leans over and lets Laura Lee have a look, seeing the other girl's smile and pink cheeks makes her feel better about the song playing that was about her.
She smiles and moves onto Tai, while she was never really on good terms with the taller girl, both of them having a rivalry about being team captain and Shauna's friend, she can admit that Tai was surprisingly photogenic.
As the song starts to end, she brings her camera back to Shauna, and watches as the other girl finishes the song by strumming her guitar. She gets ready to take the shot, zooming in closely to her ex-friend's face, before Shauna looks up and directly at the camera.
She clicks the button right at the moment, face going slack before Shauna's eyes quickly glance away, staring at another section of the crowd. Jackie lowers her camera slightly and looks at the picture she just took, Shauna's soft but stern gaze staring directly into her soul.
She gulps, she'll probably keep that photo for herself.