I Need A Getaway

I hadn’t slept at all and let my paranoia get the best of me while Jack hugged my pain away. I’m pretty sure he’d fallen asleep, but he still managed to never let me go.

We were downstairs at the kitchen table and sat awkwardly in silence. My grandmother walked into the kitchen and a smile formed on my face.

“Good morning grandma!” I smiled and got up to hug her.

“Who’s this?” She asked with a small smile on her face. “Oh! Is this the friend of yours that I heard an ear-full about from your grandfather last night?”

I nodded and she laughed.

“Well he doesn't seem as bad as your grandfather explained him to be.”

“It’s cause he blows everything out of proportion.” I sighed.

“I know he does, but that’s just how he is. He’s not used to having a teenager around in his life.” She sighed, too, and I smiled.

“Good morning,” My mother said brightly, entering the kitchen.

“Morning, mom.” I said.

“Morning Alex’s mom.” Jack said, causing everyone to laugh.

“So what are you two boys going to do today?” She asked as soon as we stood up to leave the kitchen.

“We’ll figure something out.” I answered and we ran back upstairs.

-

It was a little after ten o’clock after Jack called his mom and asked to stay again. My mom was okay with it, so it wasn’t really a problem when Jack’s mom said that his family was going out of town for a few days. I could ask my mom in the morning if he could stay a few more days, and it would be fine because I’m pretty sure my mom loved Jack.

Jack and I sat on my bedroom floor with nothing to do. We hadn’t done anything all day except sit around and talk about random things such as how much of an ass my granddad was and how I wished there was something to eat in the house.

I was hungry as fuck.

“Let’s play twenty-questions.” Jack suggested and I shrugged.

“Okay. You start.”

“Sure…what’s your favorite color?” He asked and I rolled my eyes.

“Uh…green. Or something. I’m not too picky about colors.” I said and he rolled his eyes.

“Favorite food?”

“I’ll eat anything.” I answered and he sighed.

“This isn’t working.” He said.

I began to think of things we could possibly do at this hour, but the possibilities were limited.

“Hey, I have a question.” Jack said out of the blue and I looked at him with a confused grin.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want…but do you know why your brother killed himself? Is it because your dad left? Or…” He trailed off and his eyes fell to the floor.

I paused for a minute, and before I could even begin to form words, Jack spoke again. His voice was at a whisper.

“I’m sorry for asking. I was just curious. I won’t ask again.”

“I don’t know why he killed himself. I really wish I knew, though. Like, I wish I knew what was going on in his head when he was taking all those pills…I just-“ I paused and bit my lip, feeling my eyes start to sting a little bit.

“Don’t worry about it, okay? We can talk about-“

“I need to be alone for a minute.” I cut him off and stood up and walked out onto the balcony and climbed onto the roof.

I let out a deep sigh and I honestly felt bad. I didn’t want Jack to have to see me this way. It hurt me too much to think about what he might think of me.

I closed my eyes and thought of something other than all the troubles I had. I thought about Jack’s smile.

For some weird reason, it made me happy. Whenever I saw him smile, I got butterflies in my stomach that wouldn’t settle. I wasn’t sure why, but when I saw his smile, all the bad feelings would melt away. And I liked that.

“Alex?” Jack’s voice sounded like it came from down in my room, but I looked down at the balcony to see him standing there. “Are you okay? Do you need me to leave?”

“No!” I frowned. “You don’t need to leave.”

“Oh. I just wasn’t sure cause I thought that maybe I upset you or something because of what I said. I’m really sorry about asking.” He apologized and I couldn’t help but feel bad.

“It’s alright.” I forced a smile on my face and waved at him to come up and sit next to me.

He climbed up the latter and up onto the roof where he sat next to me. He threw his arm around my shoulders and hugged me close to him.

“I really am sorry.” He whispered. “I don’t mean to-“

“It’s okay,” I smiled and he released me from the hug. “It really is.”

“Okay.” He smiled.

It grew quiet between both of us for a few minutes. I listened to his soft breathing and I felt suddenly calm as the night breeze blew over my face.

“What are you thinking about right now?” He asked and I turned to face him.

“A lot of things.”

“Am I one of them?” He asked in almost a whisper, so I was surprised I heard it.

“What?” I asked, laughing quietly.

He shook his head slowly and smiled. That smile.

“Nothing,” He said and stared me in the eyes. “Can I try something?”

“Like what?” I asked and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“This.” He whispered, opening his eyes.

Before I could try and think of what ‘this’ was, he leaned in. I didn’t realize I was leaning in, too, until our lips brushed and I moved back quickly.

“I’m sorry, Alex.” Jack said, his eyes growing wide.

“Stop saying sorry.” I smirked and breathed deeply before leaning back in and pressing my lips to his.