“Em.” I hear Jack whisper lightly shaking me awake.

“Woah.” I open my eyes, realizing I fell asleep. “How long have I been asleep?”

“20 minutes or so. My mom just came in to say dinner is ready.” He smiles at me.

“I fell asleep in your arms? You could’ve woken me up. I wouldn’t have minded.” I tell him stretching lightly, still in his lap.

“Nah, it was no big deal honestly.” Jack responds.

I crawl out of his lap and stand up, helping him up as well. We walk out into the dining room where Jack’s mom is waiting with cheeseburgers and macaroni and cheese. This woman is a goddess.

“Hey sleepy girl.” She smiles at me. “Ready for some dinner?”

“Sure. I’m not even sure why I fell asleep. Sorry about that.” I apologize quickly. I hope I didn’t overstep any boundaries. Parents can be weird about those types of things.

“Nonsense. It’s not a problem at all.” Jack’s mom grins. “Now let’s dig in.”


We eat our food and talk about how our days were. Jack brings up the trip this weekend for our English class. She agreed to let him go and offered to drive me to the bus and back for my mom. I love her already.

We finish dinner and I help her clear off the table. This time, Jack helps us as well. It goes twice as fast as yesterday, so Jack and I have more time to hang out.

“We are going to hang in the back yard, is that okay mom?” Jack asks her.

“Of course, just don’t get eaten up by all the bugs.” She laughs.

Jack leads me outside to his backyard. There is a giant pool, a patio, and two trees with a hammock in between them. Jack leads us to the hammock and we climb in it.

As we lie side by side, looking up at the stars, Jack sighs loudly.

“What’s on your mind?” I ask him.

“I don’t know really. I’m just relieved to have you as a friend. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a decent friend. I feel like I can tell you almost anything.” He replies.

“I know the feeling. Try going years without someone to talk to. You’re the first person in a long time I’ve trusted. I’m not going to lie though, I’m still a little scared that you will leave me.” I admit to him.

Jack turns on his side to face me. “Don’t be. I have no reason to leave you. I’m here to stay. I don’t think there is anything you can do that will make me leave you.”

I smile and relax a little. “I really hope not, because it’s not easy to let people into my life. I’ve been hurt way too many times.”

“Do you mind telling me about that? How were you hurt?” Jack asks me innocently.

I sigh. “Well there was my ex Andrew. He found out I cut after two months of dating. He then proceeded to break up with me, with the promise of getting back together when the cuts healed. When they finally did, he told me he loved me, kissed me, treated me like we were back together. Little did I know, he told all of his friends we were fuck buddies.”

“Damn. That’s messed up. I don’t get how a guy could do that to a girl. Especially one as beautiful as you.” Jack strokes my arm lightly.

“Jack, please.” I quietly beg him. “Don’t do this.”

“Do what?” He asks, continuing to draw patterns on my arm.

“Try to make this something more than friends. I’m scared enough being friends with you, let alone taking another step. You are really special to me, I’m just not there yet.” I whisper, looking down at his hand on my arm. Slowly, he pulls it back and lies on his back.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just never met anyone like you before. I don’t want any of this to end. I’ll relax though.” Jack replies.

We rock in the hammock in silence, watching the stars and enjoying each other’s company. My phone vibrates and I check it.

Can you please come home? Sorry, but mom and dad are both drunk and harassing me. It’s always easier when you are here.

“Jack, I gotta go. My brother needs me back at home.” I say as I climb out of the hammock slowly, trying not to tip it. He follows me to the house and I say goodbye to his mom. Jack walks me to the car and opens the door for me.

“I’m sorry. I really want to stay. It’s just hard being alone with my parents when they are drunk, so I know where he is coming from. But hey, I’ll pick you up tomorrow?” I smile at him. I poke him in the stomach and he laughs.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Stay safe, huh? I’m not mad, more worried than anything else. If you ever need somewhere to crash, my mom would be more than willing to let you stay here. And your brother.” He offers up, shuffling his feet in place.

I wrap my arms around his waist and hug him to me tightly. He towers over me as he wraps his arms around me. I breathe in his scent of laundry detergent and Axe. We separate and I climb into my car. As I drive off, I glance in the rearview mirror and see Jack stare at my car as I drive off. He runs a hand through his hair and lets it drop back to his side.

I speed home, hoping I’m not too late to help my brother out. It’s not easy living with alcoholics. They can be so damn unpredictable. I pull up to the house and basically run inside. My mom and dad are nowhere to be found so I run to my brother’s room. Sure enough, they are both in there harassing him for no reason. They are laughing and talking loudly, switching moods from happy to pissed within seconds. Basically the usual.

“Chris, wanna go to Dairy Queen?” I pop my head in his room.

He leaps up from his bed without any shoes and sprints to my car. I follow him, ignoring my parents. We get in the car and drive off to the nearest ice cream shop.

“Thank you so damn much.” He lets out a relieved sigh. “I can’t stand them sometimes.”

“Trust me, I know.” I laugh bitterly.

“Sorry if I interrupted your night.” Chris apologizes sheepishly.

“It’s fine, I was getting ready to wrap it up anyway.” I smile at him.

We may fight sometimes, and we may be two totally different people, but at the end of the day, he’s the only one who really understands what I go through with my parents. I love that little mutt.

We pull up to the Dairy Queen and go inside. I order an Oreo blizzard and he gets a hot fudge sunday. I pay for us and we grab a booth away from everyone.

“So where were you?” Chris asks me with a mouthful of ice cream.

“My friend Jack’s house. Yeah, that’s right, I said friend.” I laugh.

“It’s about damn time you let someone in.” He smiles at me. “Is he nice to you?”

Such a simple question, but an important one nonetheless. “Yeah, he is. He is really nice to me actually. Maybe you’ll meet him someday.”

“Anyone who’s good enough for my sister deserves a fucking medal. I need to shake this dudes hand.” He laughs at me.

I smile at him. “You are such a jerk. So how are things with you?”

“Pretty good. My grades are good and my friends are good. I don’t know, something about all the girls at this school piss me off. It’s impossible to find a real girl. You are pretty much the only girl at this entire school that knows exactly who she is and could give two fucks less as to what people think about you. I wish it were that easy for me.” He sighs. “The only real person I can find is my friend Jason, but he’s a dude so I can’t exactly date him.” He laughs.

“You can. There’s nothing wrong with it.” I encourage him. “People will look at you different, but who the hell cares. If Jason makes you happy, go for it.”

He looks as if he is considering it, but shakes the thought out of his head. “Nah, I’m not gonna be a fag. I make fun of people like that.”

I stay quiet, realizing I’ve pushed him a little far.

We finish our ice creams and sit there in silence.

“So now what?” He asks.

I glance at my phone and see it’s still only 7:30. “Well, curfew is in 30. Do you want to meet Jack really quick?”

“Sure, why not.” Chris replies hopping up.

I dial Jack’s number and he picks up on the first ring. “Hey, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine for now. I took my brother to Dairy Queen. You mind if we drop by to say hi? Chris said he wants to meet the dude that’s good enough to be friends with me.” I laugh.

“For sure, bring the kid by.” Jack says excitedly.

We drive to Jack’s house in silence, with the radio playing whatever garbage everyone listens to these days. Chris pulls out his iPod and hooks it up to my car, playing Mariana’s Trench.

“I didn’t know you liked them?” I asked him confused.

“Your music isn’t so bad.” He mumbles.

I laugh and pull up to Jack’s house. He’s waiting outside for us. We hop out of the car and Jack greets me with a big hug. He gives my brother a handshake.

“So, this is the famous Jack? I gotta say man, you deserve some kind of trophy for breaking my sister’s wall down. She hates people.” Chris laughs.

“That’s me.” Jack grins proudly. He slings one arm over my shoulder and pulls me in close. “She’s my trophy though, I don’t need anything else.”

My brother fake gags at us and I laugh.

“I told your sister earlier that if you two ever need a place to stay, let me know. My mom would be more than happy to let you stay here.” Jack offers up to my brother.

My brother grins at him and thanks him.

“Ok, well we gotta go. Curfew.” I shrug Jack’s arm off. “Sorry, but I’ll see you in the morning. Thanks for letting us stop by.”

He pulls me in for a hug and gives my brother a high five.

“Night Chris, night Em.” Jack tells us.

Jack walks me to the car door and opens it for me. I get inside and he closes it lightly. As we drive off, he watches my car drive off yet again.

“He likes you.” Chris says matter-of-factly. “A lot. You two would make a cute couple. He seems like a really cool guy.”

He is a really cool guy. And I like him too. But fuck every part of my past because it won’t let me be happy.

Notes

Hello c:
Updated for you all. Hope you enjoy this chapter, I chose to write this over my music project whoooooops.
No regrets.
hah.
Thanks for the support
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