AJR-Panic Attacks

Jack- 8 (Babysitting)

Jacks POV

"Hey Jack! How's it going?" I hear as Ryan picks up the phone.
"Pretty good. Hey I have a question for you."
"What?" He asks.
"I'm forcing you and Cat out of the house tomorrow, so you can enjoy some alone time without the heathens." I say.
"They're not heathens Jack. Plus, do I trust you looking after a 4 and a 2 year-old?"
"Yes. You do. Well, you do now." I say. "Winter and Soleil will be well taken care of. You need to go have fun for one night." I can hear Ry contemplating for a moment.
"I'll bring Alba if that makes you feel better." I add.
"Alright fine. What time?" He asks.
"I'll be there at 6:30."
"Alright, sounds good. You sure you can take care of them though?" He asks.
"Yes Mr. overprotective. Those kids need some Uncle Jack time. They'll be fine. I promise." I say.
"Alright fine." He says.
"See you at 6:30 tomorrow!" I exclaim.
"Yeah yeah see you tomorrow." He replies and we hang up. I immediately text Alba.
"Hey."
"Hey what's up?" She replies.
"I signed us up for babysitting tomorrow at 6:30."
"Ok where? Cat and Ryan's?"
"Yep."
"Cool. Can I come over early and we walk there together?"
"Obviously."
"Alright, I have a meeting now. See you tomorrow!"
"Love you!"
"Love you too!"

FAST FORWARD CAUSE IM LAZY

The next day Alba comes over around 4 so we can hang out for a bit. We watched a movie, built a fort, ate some food, and then headed over to Ryans. We knock on the door and Ryan opens it.
"Hey." He says frantically. Ry was dressed relatively nicely, in the same outfit he wears when we're on stage. Winter and Soleil we're playing on the floor in their living room. Winter and Soleil both had a car in their hand, playing on the play mat.
"Alright. In bed by 7, sing a bedtime song if you want, they've already been fed." Ryan says.
"Alright." I say.
"No goofing off when the kids are asleep, they wake up super easily."
"Alright."
"Are you sure you can do this?" He asks.
"Yes Ry! We'll be fine!"
"Go enjoy yourselves for a night!" Alba adds as Cat came out of their room, giving Ryan a hug.
"Alright.."
"Are you still worrying Ry?" Cat asks.
"When do I not?" He responds. Cat laughs, as do me and Alba.
"We'll be home by 10, don't terrorize our house, thanks, see ya later." Ryan says, walking out the door with Cat.
"Thank you guys!" Cat says as the door shuts. We go over to the kids and sit down with them.
"Where's mommy and dada go?" Soleil asks.
"They went out for dinner."
"But they left us?" Winter asks.
"They'll be back." Alba says.
"Okay!" Soleil says happily. They go back to happily playing with their cars.
"Alrighty, time to get ready for bed!" Alba says.
"But I don't want to!" Winter says.
"But you get to get in your cozy bed with your blankets and fall asleep and have happy dreams!" I say, hoping it'll work.
"Okay.." Winter says standing up. Soleil follows her big brother and stands up. Winter starts walking to their room, and Soleil follows, but is too slow to keep up, so Alba picked her up. They were already in their pyjamas, which was easy for us. I put Winter in his bed and Alba put Soleil in hers. Soleil immediately grabbed her blanket, and snuggled it into her face. Winter grabbed his blanket and did the same. We put the covers over the kids, and stood up to leave. We get stopped by them at the door and they screamed,
"What about the song!"
"What song would you like to hear?" I ask.
"My song!" Winter says.
"Alright." I say, grabbing the guitar off the wall. I sing them the song and once it's done, me and Alba leave the room. We go sit on the couch in the living room, and Winter comes out of his room almost immediately after.
"Winter! Go back to bed!" I say. He laughs and runs to his room. We go silent for a second and we can see him poking his head around the corner.
"Winter!" I say. He laughs and runs back to his room.
"He's not gonna sleep is he?" Alba says.
"Probably not. Ooh, what if I hold the door shut? Then he can't get out." I suggest.
"Good plan." Alba responds. I stand up and Winter pokes his head around the corner. He runs back laughing and I close the door behind him. He starts laughing really loudly, and inevitably wakes Soleil up. I hear her on the other side of the door, laughing along with Winter. They start knocking on the door, and I can't take it anymore.
"Just go to bed!" I yell at them. Alba heard me and comes over.
"What's wrong?" She asks, resting her hand on my lower back.
"The kids won't go to sleep." I say, frustrated.
"Let me take care of them. You go sit on the couch." She says.
"You sure?" I ask.
"Yes, now get outta here!" She says.
"Thank you." I say. She walks in as I go sit on the couch to try to relax. As soon as I sit down, my stupid thoughts take over my head. What will Ryans reaction be when we tell him I yelled at his kids. What if Ryan hates me for that. What if these adorable children hate me for what I said. Why did I have to snap? Why did I have to yell at them! Now Alba has to deal with them! Ugh why did I drag her into this!
I didn't even realize it, but my knees were now up in my chest and I was shaking a lot. I froze my hands in my hair and my legs start rocking into each other because I was so jittery. I start hyperventilating as the thoughts continue in my head. I need to snap out of this. But I can't. I'm gonna pass out. I feel awful.
"Jack what happened!" Alba asks concerned. She sits down beside me, placing her hand on my shoulder. I freak out when she touches me, and jolt away from her.
"Hey hey hey, Jack, it's just me, it's ok baby." She says. I can't focus on anything but my rapid breathing.
"I can't breathe!" I say frantically as I continue hyperventilating. I feel Alba stand up, but I'm too busy not focusing to realize what she's doing. A moment later all of the lights turn off, and I feel Alba sit beside me again. She very carefully and gently placed her hand on my back, making sure I am aware of what she's doing. I am so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I get overwhelmed and I break down crying.
"Jack..." Alba says, brokenheartedly. Alba scares me a bit when she puts her other hand around me, but I let it happen. She wraps me in a gentle hug, making sure I don't feel too confined.
"Jack, I need to get your breathing back, ok?" Alba says, pulling away from me, and resting her hands on my chest and back.
"Alright, breathe with me, ready?" Alba says. I shake my head no, which makes Alba start rubbing my back.
"In through your nose, out through your mouth." Alba says, doing the actions as she says them. She does it a few times, but realizes I'm failing at following her.
"Jack, Can you to lay down in my lap baby?" Alba says. I give up. I fall into her lap and she turns me so I'm laying on my back.
"There you go baby." She pulls me up so I'm laying more in her lap and I cover my face with my hands. She rests her hand on my chest and runs her fingers through my hair. I had my knees up still, and they we're still jittering.
"There we go." Alba starts. "Jack, I need you to focus on my words. This will end. You will be ok. I'm right here with you, and I'm not leaving. I need you to focus on your breathing, and try to get it back to normal. I'll be right here with you the whole time. Feel the weight of my hand on your chest. Feel my fingers running through your hair. Listen to my voice, slowly getting you back to reality. I've got you baby." As Alba was speaking, I felt myself start to calm down. My legs stopped moving, and I started just rolling my ankle around in circles. I was still breathing very quickly, but that slowed down as I came back into reality, realizing that Alba is calm and I realize what she's doing to help me calm down. As Alba notices I'm focusing, she tries again to get my breathing back.
"Alright, listen to my voice. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. I'll do it with you, ready?" She breathes with me until I start calming down.
"There you go baby. You're doing great." Alba says encouragingly. We keep breathing together until I calm down completely. I take my hands away from my face as I wipe my tears away. I look up at a darkened Alba, and from what I can see, she looks happy.
"Don't look at me!" I say, turning away in embarrassment.
"Jack, it's ok." She says, turning me back. "There's nothing else I'd rather do." She says. She's the sweetest.
"Ok.." I give in.
"Good job Jack. I'm so proud of you." She says. I try to sit up, but Alba pulls me back. "Nah ah uh, you're not moving until you settle down completely." She says. She finds a blanket on the couch and she puts it over top of me.
"Thank you." I say quietly.
"Of course Jack!" She replies. "Would you like to talk about why you panicked?" I go silent for a moment, debating in my mind what to do.
"Ok.." I reply. "The thoughts took over my head and I couldn't stop worrying about what I did when I screamed at the kids." I say quietly.
"Thank you for telling me Jack. I'm glad you allowed me to calm you down." She responds.
"Thank you." I say again. I stayed laying down on Albas lap until Ryan and Cat came back. I sit up off of Albas lap and throw the blanket beside me.
"Hey, how did it go?" Ry asks.
"Pretty good!" I respond, not wanting to tell him what actually happened with me.
"Liar." Alba says. Ryan and Cat pause.
"The kids are fine." Alba adds. "But Jack had a panic attack."
"Jack!" Ry expresses.
"I didn't want to tell them!" I say to Alba.
"Too bad. I told them anyways." She tells me.
"It had nothing to do with your kids, it was me overthinking something." I explain.
"Are you ok?" Ryan asks.
"Yeah. Now I am." I respond.
"Alright. How were the kids?" Cat asks.
"Good." Alba responds. "How was your date?"
"Amazing as always." Cat says.
"Where did you guys go?" I ask.
"We went out for dinner then went to the beach by the river to watch the sunset." Ryan answers. Alba turns to me,
"We should do that sometime!" I smirk.
"Nah, we need to start a babysitting business!" I joke. We all laugh when I see Winter hiding behind the wall again, holding his blanket.
"Winter! Why aren't you in bed!" Cat asks when she sees him. Winter comes running over to his parents and Ryan picks him up.
"We need to get you back to bed mister." He says. Winter lays his head on Ryan's shoulder, snuggling with his blanket.
"We should get going." I mention.
"Alright. Thanks for coming guys! We really appreciate it!" Ry says as they take Winter back to his room.
"Thank you!" Cat adds as me and Alba get our shoes and coats on and head out.