"Jay... angel, hey," I said quietly, pulling my lips away from his. After that initial kiss, we'd shifted enough for him to lay along my bed with me at his side, hovering over him. It had been at least an hour, and while I wanted to kiss him until my lips had turned completely swollen and raw, I could feel his movements become groggier by the second.

It took a few seconds for him to hum in response, his eyes remaining closed, but then he was pulling me back down to his lips by his arms around my neck.

"Baby, no," I chuckled, my mouth pressed sloppily against his. "It's getting late. I should bring you home before you pass out or something. Come on, it's time for you to get up now."

"No," he mumbled, rolling onto his side. His arms were still around my neck, and the unexpected move caused me to fall on top of him. Jack let out a small groan, but nothing that indicated too much pain.

"Babe," I started again, wriggling myself from his hold and pushing him onto his back once more. "Let's go. You're exhausted. We can stop at Taco Bell or something on the way, alright? How's that sound?"

"No money," he argued, eyes peeling open to look at me before they slipped closed yet again.

"I'm buying," I retorted with a roll of the eyes and a scoff to match. "Just like old times, yeah? Lemme take you out."

"Nap first," Jack whined, turning his head to bury it in my pillow.

"You'll let me take you out if I let you take a nap? I guess that sounds pretty fair," I decided after a few seconds of thinking. Leaning down, I let my forehead rest against his for a moment, our noses brushing together gently. "I'm gonna go downstairs, okay? Just come down whenever you're ready to get going, angel."

"No," he mumbled, his arms tightening around my neck and holding me in place before his lips puckered enough to just barely skim my own. "Stay with me."

With a faux sigh, I was kissing him one more time and then sitting up enough to adjust him so that we'd be able to lay on the bed comfortably together. Only, even after I'd made room for the both of us, he still pulled me over so that half of my body was covering his own, our legs tangled together and my arm thrown protectively over his waist.

"Missed this," I said as he curled himself under me a little more, his head tucking itself under my chin.

"I know," was all he had to say in response.

"Missed you."

"Me, too."

---

"This isn't Taco Bell," Jack pointed out as I led him into the brightly-painted Mexican restaurant just across the street from the fast food I'd originally promised him.

"I told you the first time I took you to Taco Bell that I was gonna have to take you somewhere classier the next time I took you out," I countered, pulling his body into mine from the arm wrapped around his waist as we waited for someone to seat us. "This place is great, angel. I promise you'll love it."

"I think you said 'fancier,' actually," he said, body willingly leaning into mine even more so than it'd been before, "and I don't think I'd call it that. Classier, sure, but fancier? It's not like everyone's wearing suits or something. Bad word choice on your part."

Squeezing at his waist, I turned my head enough to kiss at his cheek. "Shut up. You're probably failing English just as much as I am," I grumbled. Jack shrugged in my hold, but didn't say anything in response before a portly Hispanic woman was coming around from the back and asking us if we were waiting for anyone else to join us. When I shook my head no, she motioned for us to follow behind her.

Jack seemed transfixed on all of the decorations and murals covering the walls that we passed, even jabbing me in the side with his bony elbow a few times to point them out for me to see.

We didn't say much as we were finally brought to an empty booth, nor as we ordered our drinks and began to scan the menus that'd been handed over to us by our waitress. It was only after the menus had been taken back by the same waitress that Jack reached across the table to link our hands together.

"I think we should talk about us," he said after a moment of looking down at our entangled extremities. I squeezed my fingers around his as a way to tell him that he could continue, and then he was taking a deep breath. "I've been thinking a lot about me and you recently, and that kiss earlier kinda told me everything I needed to know. I overreacted about what you did, and I should've listened to what you had to say a little more, but everything was piling up on me and it was all just a lot at the time, y'know? But you... you make me really happy. Like, really happy. And y-you kiss me like you mean it, and at first I kinda thought that maybe I still had feelings for you because I-I had a crush on you f-for so long, but... I don't think that's it."

When he paused, I squeezed at his hand again. "What do you think it is?" I pressed, wanting to know everything he was thinking about himself, about me, about us.

"I don't know," he mumbled, glancing up at me through the hair hanging in front of his face. "I just... I know that with you, I feel okay. I feel safe, and wanted, and even though sometimes I still get a little skeptical about what it is you could actually want from me because of everything that's happened, when you kiss me, it's like nothing else even matters. I can feel it with you, and you make me feel like I matter, and I... I don't wanna lose that, y'know? Because it feels like everything's just been falling apart lately, but I know you've been there to pick up the pieces, and you... you're still important to me."

"Does that mean what I think it does?" I questioned, feeling a smile spread across my lips as I awaited his response. Of course, all he did was shrug.

"I mean... is it too soon? It is too soon for us to just try and jump back into what we had? Can we even just pick up after this last month and a half?" he asked, his teeth soon biting at his bottom lip.

"I don't think it's too soon," I answered with a shake of the head. "It's all I've wanted to happen since you said we were done, Jay. I meant what I said when I promised that if you gave me another chance, I wouldn't fuck us up. I think earlier proved how much I still want you. If you'll have me again, I'm all yours."

He was quiet for a moment before he sighed. "It's just... I still don't know if I can trust you as much as I want to. I wanna be able to know that no matter what happens, you'll still tell me the truth without hesitation."

"What do I gotta do, Jay? Just say the words, angel. Anything you want to know or have or whatever, just tell me and I'll do it for you," I vowed, reaching out my free hand to lay it over his forearm.

Jack didn't look up at me as he thought over my words, but then a simper was spreading across his lips as he finally made eye contact with me. "You promised I would love this place, right?" he inquired. I was confused by his words, but nodded all the same. "Maybe if I love it as much as you think I will," he started, his own free hand moving to tap at the back of my own, "then we'll see what happens from there on out."

"You're deciding whether or not to trust me again based on your love of Mexican food?" I realized after he finished his declaration. When he nodded, I couldn't help but laugh. "You're on, Barakat."

---

"Your kisses taste so much better after you've eaten Mexican," Jack all but moaned into my mouth from where he was leaned against the door of my car in the parking lot. "You taste like chicken enchiladas."

"You taste so much better now that you're my boyfriend again," I retorted, having to hold in a comment and chuckle about how weird he was. Jack smiled against my lips before he pulled back enough to see me through the darkness.

"I guess I am, aren't I?" he teased. He looked happier than I'd seen him when he was with Oli, and that had me diving back in for another kiss without giving an answer.

When I pulled away next, it was with a sigh. "I guess I gotta get you home now, huh? You still look tired. Come on, the sooner you get home and go to bed, the sooner I'll get to see you tomorrow."

In response, Jack yawned.

---

Like I'd predicted, Jack fell asleep curled up in the front seat of my car before we were even halfway back to his house. Something I hadn't predicted, though, was seeing Oli walking down the sidewalk on just the opposite side of the street. And, of course, I couldn't help but slow the speed of my car to a crawl and roll my window down as I got closer.

"Someone looks lonely tonight," I called sympathetically, smirking when he looked over to me. "It's not me for once either."

"What the fuck do you want, ya fuckin' cunt?" he all but growled. I could see his body tense as he stared me down.

Instead of giving much of a verbal response, I reached up to flick the overhead light on before gesturing to my boyfriend. With that, I was lifting my hand up to give him the middle finger, calling out a "bitch" as I sped up once more.

I figured I was in the clear as I turned the light off, but then Jack was shifting awake in his seat. "Why're you yellin'?" he asked, his voice indicating that he was still at least half asleep.

In that moment, I had half a mind to lie and tell him that someone had cut me off or nearly hit me, but then I thought about what lying had gotten me last time. Sighing, I said, "I saw Oli and kinda, maybe called him a bitch..."

Thankfully, Jack had already fallen back asleep.

---

"Jay, wake up, angel. You're home now. Gotta go head up to bed, okay?" I said quietly, shaking his shoulder. He grumbled a few things before his bleary eyes blinked themselves open. When they landed on me in the driver's seat, they snapped closed once more.

"Carry me," he mumbled, snuggling himself down into his seat a little further.

"I can't just walk into your house with you passed out in my arms," I retorted with a roll of the eyes. "Your mum hasn't seen me in forever. Your dad doesn't even know who I am. Do you know how bad that would look? It's just a few steps, babe. I think you'll make it on your own."

"No, I won't," he whined.

With a sigh, I was climbing from the car and moving around to scoop him out from the passenger's side. He immediately burrowed himself against my chest, his fingers gripping my shirt tightly as I hip-checked the door closed and began the walk toward the front door. Thankfully, Jack didn't weigh all that much.

Inside, the lights were on but no one was around. I headed up toward Jack's room without running into anyone either, and when I reached Jack's door, I noticed a note had been left there.

Jack,

Your dad and I have gone out for the night.

We left the door unlocked because we know you probably forgot your key when you left this morning, and the lights are on so that it at least looks like someone's home.

Try not to burn the house down, baby, we love you.

xoxo
It was no struggle opening that door, just like it hadn't been a struggle to open the front door, but the difficulty came when I tried to lay Jack on his bed without causing him to wake up. My arms kept getting stuck under his body when I'd lay him down or his fingers would tighten their hold on my shirt and he wouldn't let go. After what could've been a ten minute fight, Jack was finally on the bed. He was still in his jeans, and that's when another problem arose.

"Angel, I'm gonna take your pants off, okay? Do you wanna keep your shirt on?" He seemed to come to with that, wide eyes looking up at me as though I'd grown an extra two heads. "Well, if you wanna just sleep in what you're wearing now, I can leave you like this..." I trailed out, glancing down at his body.

He relaxed after that, head turning back to lie on his pillow as he nodded.

Taking skinny jeans off of someone whose body is more or less a dead weight was a lot harder than I'd expected it to be, but once they were off and tossed on the floor at the end of his bed, I was busying myself with getting him comfortable under his comforter. When I knew that he was as cozy as he was going to get, I leaned down and pressed a kiss to his temple and whispered a final, "Goodnight, angel."

Without another word, I was walking from my boyfriend's house and heading home so that I could call Franceschi and let him know about everything that'd happened.

Notes