queen bee

Jackson smiled softly and poked her nose when she said that she had known what he meant all along. “Sure you did, cupcake.” He said with a smile before leaning down and placing a kiss to her forehead.

“I get it, we don’t have the best life. But we do have each other, and as long as we have that, we’ll make a good life, okay?” He asked softly, looking down at her.

She couldn't help but laugh a little bit more when he poked her nose and then relaxed into his arms longer. "I just want what's best for us, you know. On some days I just wish I could get out of this town... run away with you... live somewhere else and just never look back," she said thinking about her future.

Jade held onto her sister tihtly for what seemed like forever before she finally pulled away. As she pulled away, she sighed softly and looked up at her sister, wiping her eyes and just shaking her head. 

Lori had held onto Jade for what seemed like years considering she needed something like this for the past few days. She took a deep breath and wiped the rest of her tears away hearing what Jade had said. "I'm sorry... it's just been a little rough."

Jadeyn was halfway to the door by the time her sister had convinced her to stop. Turning around to her sister, she sighed and just shook her head when Lori tried to apologize for something that didn’t need apologizing. Instead of saying anything, Jade quickly just ran to her sister and threw her arms around her, holding her tightly. “Shh.”

While Lori was talking, she kept thinking to herself about how much of a bitch she was sounding like. She wanted the best for Jade her whole life and she would never change anything about it. She just wished she had a little bit of her life as well. When Jade hugged her, she couldn't help but hug her back and let tears fall from her face.

Jackson watched as Lori tried to compose herself. She was struggling–bad. It wasn’t until she asked what he had meant about his light that he let a soft smile fall to his face. “There’s a little light, that lights up my life and gives me a reason to keep going each day.” He said with a small smile as he looked down at her. “That light is you, Lorelei. You are my light.”

Lori couldn't help but stare at Jackson directly into his eyes. She was so in love with him that every time he spoke, she gave him her undivided attention. Hearing that she was his light made her feel a little bit better about herself. She bit her lip and blushed feeling loved. "Right... I knew that," she giggled a little.

Jade wanted to talk, to apologize to her sister–but with each passing second, Lori just grew more and more upset. While Jade knew that there was more going on in her sister’s life than the things that involved her, she couldn’t help but feel like she was the main cause of her sister’s upset, and that only upset her as well. It wasn’t until Jade felt a tear fall down her cheek that she realized she had even started crying. Bringing a finger to her eye, Jade wiped one of her tears away and backed away from her sister. “Right..clearly you hate me right now..so I’m just–I’m gonna go.” she said with a sniffle or two as she turned on her heels and slowly walked away from her sister.

Lori hated hiding this from her, but she wanted to hold everything in just a little bit longer. She then saw Jade shed a tear which only broke her heart more. She saw Jade turn for the door and then interrupted her leaving. "Jade wait... I don't hate you. I could never hate you. You're my sister, and I love you no matter what. I hate myself... seeing you get married, have a child, gain so many friends from Off the Walls fans, and go on a honeymoon just makes me wish I had your awesome life. I am happy for you don't get me wrong... I just hate myself for being the jealous type. It's my fault, okay? Not yours," she said covering her face.

Jackson sighed as he listened to Lori speak. He wanted to stop her from yelling, but he knew that if he didn’t let her get her thoughts out that they were just going to bottle up inside of her and get that much worse. Once she was finally done screaming, he sighed and stepped closer to her, putting his hand on her arm. “While all of that may be true. There’s one thing I’m going to need you to remember okay? And that’s the fact that while your sister might steal the spotlight from you all the time, there’s always going to be one light that she will never steal–mine.” He said softly as he reached up and wiped one of her tears away.

Lori felt horrible for letting her true feelings about her sister. She just wanted to roll up in a ball and hide away forever for saying that. She was an outcast, a nobody. She watched her sister gain so much in such little time: a husband, a baby, a newfound life with so many new friends. She looked away from him listening to him saying that Jade was indeed stealing her spotlight. She sighed heavily and cried more, that was up until he wiped one of her tears away. "What do you mean by that..? Your light?" she would eventually feel stupid after he told her, but she felt too depressed to even think about it.

When Lori admitted that she had the worst day, Jade sighed and looked at the ground. It wasn’t until Lori asked what was going on that she even snapped back to reality. “Oh I uh–I felt bad about missing your birthday because of my honeymoon so I uh, came to see you.” She said looking up at her, innocence all over her face. “You don’t hate me, right?”

Lori sighed heavily hearing about Jade's honeymoon. Great. Another thing her sister could brag about. The fact that it was directly on her birthday made her even more pissed. "Right... your honeymoon," she said putting her hands on her hips. "Totally fucking forgot that it was on the same day as my birthday.. because I can't hate you for that.. you were having fun. Per usual," Lori tried so hard not to blow up. She was done feeling left out.

Jackson knew that Lori was upset about her birthday situation, but there was really no way that he could fix it other than to comfort her. “I know you’re upset Lor, but you have to believe that they had logical reasoning–especially Jadeyn. You know she wouldn’t just forget your birthday like that. Besides, wasn’t she in Fiji with her husband Wednesday?” He asked softly, pulling away.

Lori knew that Jackson was trying to help and all she could do was appreciate him helping her out. She nodded slightly, but then said, "It wouldn't have killed her to send a fucking text or call me to take five minutes out of her honeymoon time to say happy birthday to her sister! Ugh.. you know what? I'm not gonna say anything more, because I know I'm gonna get reprimanded if I put Jade down one more time. It's just... she's always in the spotlight! Jadeyn this! Jadeyn that! Jadeyn has an excuse to forget your birthday!" She then stopped her tracks to avoid a fight. "I'm done talking.. I'm sorry... I'm so fucking horrible," she then felt tears come down her eyes.

Jade sighed as she watched her sister jump, immediately taking a step back. she could tell that her sister was upset, and that only made her feel that much worse about the situation. “H-hey. Sorry.” She said softly as she leaned against the wall. “Look, I know you probably don’t want to see me, and I can go I just–”

Lori had thought somebody broke into her home which made her feel like she was going to be attacked. The moment she saw Jade, she sighed in relief. "God, I am so sorry for that.. I had the worst day of my life so... sorry," she said talking about her being startled. "No, no, no... just... what's going on?"

Jackson had a smile on his face, but the second that he saw tears in Lori’s eyes, his smile fell. “Hey, hey, hey. None of that.” He said as he pulled her into a hug. “What’s going through your head baby?”

Lori bit her lip thinking she had upset her boyfriend while talking to herself about her horrible birthday. She couldn't help but hug him back and then took a deep breath. "Everyone forgot my birthday.. my sister, my friends... everyone. It just sucks to see them so happy and so satisfied with their lives. I get nothing."

“So uh–I’m boring now?” Jackson asked as he appeared in the doorway of the couple’s bedroom.

Lori's heart raced hearing Jackson's voice. She turned around feeling her eyes swell with tears. "I--I never said that... sorry, babe... I'm just having a bad day."

Jadeyn had done the worst thing imaginable–she had forgotten her own sister’s birthday. At this point, Jade knew that there was no way that she was going ot make it up to her and that Lori probably hated her, but she knew that she had to at least try. So, Jade made her way to her sister’s house and walked through the front door. She heard her sister rambling from her bedroom and so she sighed and walked up the stairs, stopping in Lori’s doorway, knocking on the side of the door and staying silent.

Lori sighed heavily and just gave up. It had been two days since her birthday occurred and nobody bothered to say it. She just wished her life was something so much better at this point. She didn't want to talk to anyone or see anybody else. She was too upset to notice that Jadeyn walked through her front door. All of a sudden, she squealed and jumped a little bit. "What the fuck..?" she questioned. Jackson was out at the time, so she had no idea who else could've been inside her house. She then took a deep breath and opened the door seeing her sister on the other side. "Jesus Christ, Jade, you gave me a heart attack!"