A Sunrise On the East Side

It didn't feel like any time at all had passed since Jack was in Maryland again. Just a few days after we had last seen each other and he was back. It was a much shorter amount of time until we were back in my bed again. A few minutes after he showed up on my doorstep was all it took really. I guess we hadn't even actually made it to my bed. The floor next to it was the closest we got. It didn't even matter. It felt fantastic just to be around him again. Plus, with all the pillows that usually consumed the bed now on the floor, the hardwood wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as it normally would have been. Neither of us complained as we lay there, talking and laughing. We loved talking to each other.

I didn't tell him what I had determined about him being around. I didn't want him to think I was using him, because that wasn't even something that had crossed my mind as serious. We didn't sleep anyway. I'm sure he would have started to make the connections like I had done if we had. But we stayed up all night with whispered conversations running between us. We weren't alone in the house this time, my dad coming home late into the night like usual. We didn't let that stop us from doing what we wanted. My father was oblivious to so much anyway.

"How's Shawn been?" Jack asked sometime after the sun had come up. He was rubbing the scruff of his cheek against my own cheek playfully. I was almost positive his question was only to fill the silence, though he probably did care to some extent. He just didn't want our mouths to be busy talking anymore.

I giggled, turning my head and kissing his cheek. "Oh, he's pissed at me," I answered, playing it off like it was nothing. In this moment, here with Jack, it really felt like nothing.

He pulled away from me, a serious expression taking over his features. It was still so odd for me not to see a smile radiating from his face. I felt like some form of a smile should always be on his lips because that's who he was. I reached up the few inches to rest my hand against the side of his face, caressing it in hopes it would bring his normal self back. He didn't need to worry about me. "Why?" he wondered, leaning into my hand. His own covered it to keep it there as he lie back down beside me.

I shrugged before turning on my side to face him more. "I didn't tell him about us sleeping together until I was babbling. That was apparently not good enough for him," I sighed. I closed my eyes and shook my head, warding off the anger I was acquiring toward my best friend. There was no point in the two of us being mad at each other.

When Jack was sure I wouldn't move my hand, he lifted his own from atop it and let his fingertips run up and down my arm. I discovered that he liked to trace the lines of the tattoo on my shoulder, much like he had the other morning. His fingers ran in and out of the galaxy that lived in the feather silhouette that resided on my skin. Maybe Alex had been right; I was borderline hippy. "Girl's best friends are just weird to me," Jack stated, breaking my focus on his skin on mine. "They get angry at the stupidest things. That could be because I don't get mad at anything." He chuckled, the smile finally back. "But he'll get over it," he promised like he was positive.

I couldn't stop the grin from forming at this. I had known since we met that he made me feel content, almost like being around most people did. But I was more at ease as he distracted me from so many things I was fine with forgetting. I finally pulled my arm close to my body and squirmed until I was right next to him. I lay my head on his chest, snuggling to get more comfortable. He was scrawny but that didn't mean he wasn't strong. His arms wrapped around me and held me tightly to him. It was a secure sense I hadn't felt in a long time, one I had almost forgotten about. I nearly sighed, knowing he wanted to protect me in some capacity and that I should be pushing away to prevent this. But it was hard -once again- to not want to let him calm me.

Slowly, the morning hour wore on. We listened to my dad get up and stomp around to get coffee before getting ready for work. It was strange that I had someone else by my side to hear him leaving. It was me letting Jack just a little further into my secret world. I had considered this such a big deal a month ago. I didn't want him to know so many things that I held close to me, even a small occurrence like this. There was much more that I hadn't been afraid to tell him though and all of this had gradually joined that group. Having someone else in this hidden niche in my brain felt like a huge weight left me. No matter what we were, I was no longer alone here.

I took a deep breath after uncountable minutes. It had been quite a few since we had last spoken. I rolled so I was lying on my back again, straightening so our heads were on the same level again. He had been a little resistant to let me go, and I smiled over at the face I had expected to be asleep before I moved. This time, I really did sigh even though I was utterly pleased. "Want to hear something fucked up?" I asked, averting my eyes to stare at the ceiling. It felt right to share more secrets, though Shawn knew this one.

Jack laughed, shaking his head. From the corner of my eye, I could see the diamond in the ear closest to me glinting from the sunlight slanting across the room. "I ask a lot of questions," he reminded. I felt his hand patting around and knew he was searching for mine. I slipped mine into it, letting his fingers warm mine. "Of course I want to hear," he assured me.

I chuckled at him, squeezing his hand a bit. "Do you know why my mom left my dad? Took Kegan and ran back to Michigan?" I asked a little offhand just to stall. I could tell he was giving me a look that said obviously not, but he answered anyway with, "Well, because he's never here, I'd assume."

Biting the inside of my lip, I nodded sharply. "Yep. She cheated on him because of it, too. And just guess what the lucky guy that she had an affair with and married does for a living," I dared. I turned to look at him again, but saw his eyebrows raised. He wasn't going to guess. "He's a trucker! Not only is that something to question her state of mind over, but he's also never home." I couldn't help but laugh. Maybe I was delirious once more. I probably should have taken advantage of him just for the night to sleep. I mentally shook that thought from my head. Nothing was worth using him.

"You're right," Jack agreed with a chortle. His voice only hinted at a small percentage of the worry he had over how crazy I surely sounded. He swept my hair back, pushing it away from my sleep-deprived face with his free hand. "That is pretty fucked up. You don't sound unhappy about it though," he pointed out.

I shrugged. "I was little. It was a long time ago. I'm over it now that I've been able to understand it for quite a few years," I explained. "I know my mom's a bitch and she couldn't handle the way my dad was. She didn't stay with my sister's dad either, so it's really not surprising." More of me telling him more than he probably wanted to know. I thought I had gotten over this babbling problem since we'd starting talking all the time. Apparently not. He didn't seem to notice though, as he often didn't. He simply continued to stare at me with that smirk on his lips. "Why are you looking at me?" I snorted, looking away and blushing as I became self-conscious and uncomfortable.

"It's your eyes!" Jack insisted, chuckling. His hand found the side of my face, his calloused fingers gentle on my cheek as he made me look at him again. "It's the color. They're a normal amber at any given time. But when you're happy or surprised -or angry, probably- they change to this yellow and it just looks like they're glowing." His voice was filled with a passion that had me believing he had never paid a lot of attention to someone else's eyes in the past.

I really had never noticed this before, which probably had something to do with the fact that I couldn't really view myself without a mirror. And though he had made this observation in part once before, no one else ever had. I was finding it hard to believe even as a deeper crimson filled my cheeks. "Other people would probably say I'm jaundiced. Or, more appropriately, call me Scut Farkus," I argued, letting my eyelids flutter shut.

He laughed through his nose, just a tiny sound. "Well, I like them," he confessed.

I thought that would be that. But after a second, I felt the pressure of his lips against mine. I kissed him back without hesitation, remembering how he had wanted to kiss me while our last conversation ended. He was patient, so I wouldn't make him wait anymore. He didn't hold back his wandering hands, and his fingers left goosebumps over the skin they traversed. My own ran through his hair, staying in one place and tugging some when his tongue slipped into my mouth.

Finally, after so many hours, I was able to ask myself how we ended up like this again. But I wasn't worrying like I had the last time. Turning it into something bad just seemed impossible, and frankly, pointless. If Jack wanted more, he most likely would have come forward by now and said something. It just really felt as if no time at all had passed between him asking to come over to him stepping through the front door to him attacking my lips with his to leading us to my room without parting in the least. And now here we were, lying on my floor with no clothes on in the morning sun.

Breathless, I pulled away from him. After the several minutes we had spent with our lips locked together, I knew he hadn't wanted to stop. I couldn't really say I wanted to either. There had to be more to do today though. First and foremost, we were friends and I firmly believed that we should do something to prove that, and that wasn't by having sex. His expression was one of confusion which proved me right. He tried to move closer, to kiss me again. I pushed further away though with a smirk, shaking my head against the pillow and telling him to think horrible images so he wouldn't want to continue.

Jack frowned dramatically, turning it into a pout swiftly. "I don't want to get up," he whined, watching me as I sat up in an attempt to get dressed.

I snorted, turning back to him after managing my underwear on. "I think it's time to get lunch," I told him. I threw the blanket off of myself, leaving him behind to stand and root through my closet. I could hear him moving around behind me as he began to follow in my footsteps, realizing that I was probably right. There was no way he wasn't as hungry as I was.

After a couple moments, I felt his arms go around my waist. He obviously had to crouch some to do this, so I leaned back into his warm, now shirt-covered chest. "Where do you want to go, Kenley insert-middle-name-here Alanis?" he said slowly, remembering that he didn't know my middle name.

I giggled. "It's Sloane," I enlightened him. His grip loosened and I was able to turn around to see one eyebrow raised. He clearly hadn't been expecting something so out of place. "My mom was really big into the eighties, as most people seemed to be," I shrugged. "It explains why I'm just a little strange. At least I'm not Kegan, because his name was almost Bono. Crazy bitch and her lack of concern for traditional names," I stage mumbled under my breath. I really did wish she would have listened to my dad and given us names that made some sense to our heritage.

Jack laughed with a shake of his head before leaning down to press his lips to mine gently. He let me go then so that I could actually put clothes on. "So where do you want to go eat, Kenley Sloane Alanis?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. I only shrugged as I went back to thumbing through my closet. "We could go to Panera and get some badass sandwiches," he suggested, making me giggle.

I pulled a dress from a hanger, eyeing it a minute before pulling it over my head. It was loose and comfortable and sleeveless, so it would be perfect for the lazy, hot day. Thinking about how high the temperature probably was outside, I agonized over how much I really didn't want to go out in it. It would probably be easier and cheaper to simply stay in and make some big feast for the two of us. Digging through the bottom of the closet for a long-forgotten pair of flip-flops, I said as much to Jack.

He was nodding when I faced him again, slipping my feet into a pair of flats since the other shoes were a no show. "Sounds wonderful," he announced with a wide grin. He held his hand out to me, refusing to use his vocal cords to beg to help him stand. I stared at him sitting there in his usual black jeans and a teal t-shirt, wondering if he really expected me to get him on his feet. He waggled his fingers at me in gesture to go on and I gripped them in my own. When I pulled, he didn't budge. He was shaking with silent laughter. He was enjoying torturing me with the deadweight act.

"That's cool. More of my amazing homemade dolmades for me," I pretended to huff. Before I could drop his hand, he pulled me into him. I lost my balance and fell onto him completely. Because of this, it knocked him back with me lying on top of him.

He didn't care one bit. Our faces were close together and he pressed his nose to mine, his radiating smile glowing underneath. "I don't know what those are. But I'll eat them if you make them." His smile didn't break when his lips connected to mine, it simply didn't shine as much without his teeth showing.

We probably could have ended up in the exact same place we had started. We were definitely heading in the direction of what I had tried to get away from. So it was a good thing my phone started ringing from somewhere in the bed. The blaring ringtone made me jump, making Jack bite my lip unintentionally. I snorted at the injury and rolled off of him so I could search for the ringing phone. I was surprised it hadn't interrupted any time before this. After looking around the sheets for a few seconds, Jack found it under his thigh and handed it to me with a shake of his head at me still laughing. With one look at the screen, I stopped abruptly.

I had been talking about my brother a lot lately, much more than usual. But I knew that him calling now wasn't just because of the weird coincidences that always happened when I talked about people. I knew that this was the call. The one I had been dreading ever since the last one I had received from him. My hands shaking visibly, I unlocked my phone and pressed it to my ear. My mood had changed so drastically in such a short amount of time. I was glad I wasn't Jack at this moment, seeing the horror that was surely playing out on my face.

Kegan didn't wait for me to say anything. Eight words left his mouth before he hung up again. "You need to come back to the Mitten." The dial tone sounded ten times too loud to my ears.

I threw my phone back down without hesitation and began tearing my room apart. I had to pack and I had to do it quickly before it fully hit me what was happening and I started to cry. My head was buzzing so loudly that I couldn't hear anything outside of my breathing. Jack's questioning of what was going on skirted the edges, trying hard to break through. I just couldn't let him in without breaking down the wall I was building up in the moment so that I didn't lose it. He caught me off guard, his hands firmly gripping the tops of my arms so I would stop moving and had to look him in the eye. Once more, he asked me what was wrong.

"My- my grandma. I have to get back to Michigan," I choked. I swatted at his hands to no avail. He wasn't going to let me go to make this harder on myself. "Let me go!" I demanded.

He shook his head. I had never seen him so serious and had never expected to. Even when he had questioned me that first time. This topped that and it shocked me. "Calm down for two seconds. Breathe," he urged me. "Then pack. Give me an address to put into the GPS and we'll go." With that, he dropped his hands. At least I looked stable enough for that.

"We?" I questioned, confused. In no way had I expected him to offer to come along. Shawn, my best friend, was the only person I could imagine willing enough to make the trip with me when I was such an emotional mess, and Jason would obviously tag along. And since Shawn was mad at me, I had fully planned to go this alone. I had no idea what Jack was thinking.

"I don't think there's any way you'd make it up there in one piece. So go ahead and pack. I'll wait downstairs." Leaning down, Jack placed a comforting kiss on my forehead before grabbing his book bag and heading out the door. I couldn't find it in me to argue with him.