A Story to Tell Your Friends
Forty-Eight.
“Ugh, I fucking missed this place,” I whined, throwing myself onto Jack’s sofa face first. It was New Year’s Eve and Jack and I had finally made it home after my drama-filled trip home. I didn’t want to rush home and make my family suspicious, but after the shit with Kayla, I had had enough of that place. The only person I’d spoken to outside of my family and Jack since then had been Nel, who had forced me to go for coffee yesterday before I left in an attempt to prove I did still have some friends in the area I could trust.
“You missed my sofa,” Jack chuckled at me.
“Yes, don’t question it,” I replied, though I was positive he couldn’t understand me with my face in the cushions. I heard him laugh at me again and the sound of his bag thudding onto his kitchen floor, mine already flung down next to the sofa at the same time as I had flung myself. I turned in my spot, leaning over the back of the sofa so I could see Jack, who was busy brewing a pot of coffee for us. “Are we going out tonight?”
He glanced at me as he scooped coffee grounds into the filter, smiling as he saw me watching him before turning back to his task and shrugging and replying, “If you want.”
“New Year’s is so overrated,” I grumbled, though not unhappily, just thinking about the stupid amount of people who would be out queuing for drinks and getting in my way. I didn’t mind a night out (was that not abundantly clear?), but I don’t think I’d been out on New Year’s since I was 22. It was grossly overcrowded and overpriced.
“We’ll just have a quiet night in,” he shrugged as he switched the machine on and began making his way over to me, “with Tammy and Chris.”
“And wine,” I groaned. “Wait, no,” I hummed, debating if wine was the right choice. “Tammy isn’t Lisa, we don’t drink wine.” I hummed again, trying to decide on the best drink to appease Tammy.
“Just plenty of hard liquor,” he chuckled, pulling me into him as he sat down next to me. “And takeout.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever loved you as much as I do right now,” I told him, groaning again, having understood mine and Tammy’s relationship completely.
“You say that every time I offer you food,” he chuckled, pushing a kiss to the top of my head.
“I love you more every time you feed me,” I shrugged. I gnawed at my lip lightly, thinking over the words that had been bugging me since the other night. I had forgotten Kayla and all that bullshit immediately, but Dean had definitely rubbed me the wrong way. Well, okay, I hadn’t forgotten about Kayla’s actions, I was still a little pissed, but Dean had definitely gotten under my skin more. All Kayla had done is proved she was no longer a friend and Jack was loyal to me. “You don’t, uh, you don’t feel differently about me after what happened with Dean, do you?” I didn’t want to look at him as I said it, knowing I was being at least a little stupid.
“Why would I think differently of you?”
“Well, I just mean, like… I dunno. Apparently what I did to you over the summer isn’t a new fucking thing, you know? Like, I’m apparently frequently that kind of asshole. Don’t you think I’ll do it again or something, since it seems to be a pattern?”
“Are you planning on doing it again?”
“No, I—”
“Well, there you go. You get scared and you back off, but you haven’t done it since and I’ll know it when I see it next time. You’re an asshole, but you’re my asshole, alright? You’re stuck with me.”
“Six months doesn’t equal stuck just yet,” I muttered. He nudged my shoulder, prompting me to look up at his grinning face.
“Why? Are you planning on leaving me?”
“Well, no—”
“There you have it then. Never mind six months, I knew after six fucking days that you were the type of girl I could marry someday. So, shut up, alright? I love you.” I felt a smile tugging hard at my lips and I saw Jack roll his eyes at the way I was smiling, probably knowing what I was about to say.
“Aw, that’s cute,” I faux-gushed. “Little Jack wants to marry me,” I continued, beginning to tease him, despite the way his oh-so-casual words made my heart skip a beat or three. “I’ll warn you now, I’m going to be the best wife, because all I do is buy junk food and order takeout and make other people clean up my mess.”
“That is the opposite of a good wife,” he laughed. “I take it back: you’re the last person I wanna marry.”
“Too late,” I grinned. “You’ve said it now. You’re stuck with me.”
“Good,” he grinned, pushing a kiss to my lips swiftly. I heard the coffee maker ding to tell us it was ready to pour and Jack heaved himself up off the sofa.
“Boo-Boo!” Tammy screamed as I opened the door to her a few hours later, throwing herself on me before I could prepare myself. “Oh my, God, never leave me again.”
“You’re so fucking co-dependant,” I laughed, hugging her back before shoving her off me. “I missed you too, please drink copiously.”
“Urgh, please,” she whined, taking the glass I offered her and walking past as I greeted Chris, who was trailing behind her. “I did bring vodka though, because Kayla and Nel have both been on my back for days and I feel like you need it.” I rolled my eyes, closing the door behind the pair, not quite sure what Tammy knew about our trip or how she felt about it, except she seemed to know enough to get me really drunk and I was totally down for that.
“I need my own body weight in vodka,” I told her, “but I’ll settle for greasy food with my two favourite people.”
“Nice to know you’re settling,” Jack chuckled.
“You’re the reacher, babe, sorry,” I replied, going for the How I Met Your Mother reacher/settler theory, whereby one of us was settling for someone beneath us and the other punching above our weight. Clearly, if you thought about it for more than five seconds, I was the reacher because Jack was way above my paygrade, but that’s what gave me the balls to say it.
“I was going to insist I was settling, but we both know you’re out of my league,” he responded, pouting playfully. I kissed him quickly before taking the vodka from Tammy and putting it in the fridge for later on. Honestly, I was hoping there would be a later on and we weren’t going to turn into my parents and fall asleep on the couch by ten.
“Okay, okay, but am I a sports guy?” Tammy laughed, still holding the piece of paper to her forehead despite how many times we told her it was stuck there. She was so drunk and it was, frankly, hilarious. She hadn’t been this drunk for years, given she was usually too busy looking after her friends (read: drunk ass me), and I had forgotten how funny it was.
“For the tenth time, you don’t do sports and you’re not a dude,” Jack replied. “If you attempted sports, I’m pretty sure you’d fall on your face.”
“Oh, my god!” She gasped, it suddenly dawning on her who she may be. “Am I J-Law?!” I snorted loudly, nodding vigorously as she cheered. We’d given up trying to get her to take turns with her questions when she'd interrupted me asking Jack if I could play guitar better than him (I could, I was Alex, because Tammy was drunk as fuck and we’d all written names for each other). Chris had no idea how to deal with her, but I knew you just kept drinking until you caught up so it continued to be hilarious. He was a little annoyed, having probably assumed a night in would be more chilled out, but Tammy only really let loose like this somewhere she felt safe. I appreciated that she felt comfortable enough with Jack that she was willing to do this, especially since the last time she was this drunk had been two Christmases ago, drinking egg nog in my bedroom.
“Well, that only took you an hour,” Chris chuckled awkwardly. I snorted loudly, grabbing the vodka from the table next to me and topping Tammy and I off.
“It’s forever until midnight though!” She whined in response, pouting in a way that would make even me proud.
“Uh, actually, it was about half an hour ago,” he chuckled, showing her the time. It was indeed, half an hour into the new year.
“No!” The pair of us gasped, looking at each other in horror. We’d missed our countdown and, frankly, we’d been looking forward to both having someone to celebrate with this year. It’d be the first time ever and we were going to be all out obnoxious about it.
“What? Did you want to kiss me at midnight?” Jack chuckled, raising an eyebrow at me as I drunkenly pouted at my best friend. I turned my pout to him, nodding slowly.
“I wanted a really cute picture and for everyone to be jealous of us.”
“Bitch, you know you’re taking my picture,” Tammy interrupted. I snorted loudly once more, grinning at my best friend. I opened my mouth to remind her it was past midnight when I caught Jack from the corner of my eye, shaking his head at us.
“But how am I supposed to be cringey and adorable at the same time?” I whined at her. “You make me really clingy,” I told Jack.
“Well, you know, it’s 30 seconds until 12:30, so we can always call that our New Year,” he shrugged, smiling at me as my eyes lit up and I nodded vigorously.
Had I been sober, I would have been remarkably embarrassed at myself for allowing myself to get so cheesy with Jack. I all but threw my phone at Tammy to take our picture as Chris looked at us weirdly and she pretended to be annoyed, while Jack and I counted down softly toward 12:30 like some kind of madmen, lost in our own world. He pulled me close by the waist with one hand, cupping my cheek with the other as the clock struck the minute, pushing a soft kiss to my lips as I melted into him, taking in the love I had for him and he had for me. There were some kisses where you could just feel it more than the others, and something here made me really feel our love, despite how sloppy drunk the pair of us were. I couldn’t imagine anywhere else I’d rather be.
“Okay, you have like five pictures and you’re adorable as fuck, so please stop making out now,” Tammy huffed, throwing my phone to me as I broke away from Jack. I grinned, making a kissy face at her and replying with a ‘thanks, boo-boo.’ I scrolled through her snaps, clicking the one I wanted and uploading to Twitter and Instagram.
Fall for someone who stops time for you.
“You missed my sofa,” Jack chuckled at me.
“Yes, don’t question it,” I replied, though I was positive he couldn’t understand me with my face in the cushions. I heard him laugh at me again and the sound of his bag thudding onto his kitchen floor, mine already flung down next to the sofa at the same time as I had flung myself. I turned in my spot, leaning over the back of the sofa so I could see Jack, who was busy brewing a pot of coffee for us. “Are we going out tonight?”
He glanced at me as he scooped coffee grounds into the filter, smiling as he saw me watching him before turning back to his task and shrugging and replying, “If you want.”
“New Year’s is so overrated,” I grumbled, though not unhappily, just thinking about the stupid amount of people who would be out queuing for drinks and getting in my way. I didn’t mind a night out (was that not abundantly clear?), but I don’t think I’d been out on New Year’s since I was 22. It was grossly overcrowded and overpriced.
“We’ll just have a quiet night in,” he shrugged as he switched the machine on and began making his way over to me, “with Tammy and Chris.”
“And wine,” I groaned. “Wait, no,” I hummed, debating if wine was the right choice. “Tammy isn’t Lisa, we don’t drink wine.” I hummed again, trying to decide on the best drink to appease Tammy.
“Just plenty of hard liquor,” he chuckled, pulling me into him as he sat down next to me. “And takeout.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever loved you as much as I do right now,” I told him, groaning again, having understood mine and Tammy’s relationship completely.
“You say that every time I offer you food,” he chuckled, pushing a kiss to the top of my head.
“I love you more every time you feed me,” I shrugged. I gnawed at my lip lightly, thinking over the words that had been bugging me since the other night. I had forgotten Kayla and all that bullshit immediately, but Dean had definitely rubbed me the wrong way. Well, okay, I hadn’t forgotten about Kayla’s actions, I was still a little pissed, but Dean had definitely gotten under my skin more. All Kayla had done is proved she was no longer a friend and Jack was loyal to me. “You don’t, uh, you don’t feel differently about me after what happened with Dean, do you?” I didn’t want to look at him as I said it, knowing I was being at least a little stupid.
“Why would I think differently of you?”
“Well, I just mean, like… I dunno. Apparently what I did to you over the summer isn’t a new fucking thing, you know? Like, I’m apparently frequently that kind of asshole. Don’t you think I’ll do it again or something, since it seems to be a pattern?”
“Are you planning on doing it again?”
“No, I—”
“Well, there you go. You get scared and you back off, but you haven’t done it since and I’ll know it when I see it next time. You’re an asshole, but you’re my asshole, alright? You’re stuck with me.”
“Six months doesn’t equal stuck just yet,” I muttered. He nudged my shoulder, prompting me to look up at his grinning face.
“Why? Are you planning on leaving me?”
“Well, no—”
“There you have it then. Never mind six months, I knew after six fucking days that you were the type of girl I could marry someday. So, shut up, alright? I love you.” I felt a smile tugging hard at my lips and I saw Jack roll his eyes at the way I was smiling, probably knowing what I was about to say.
“Aw, that’s cute,” I faux-gushed. “Little Jack wants to marry me,” I continued, beginning to tease him, despite the way his oh-so-casual words made my heart skip a beat or three. “I’ll warn you now, I’m going to be the best wife, because all I do is buy junk food and order takeout and make other people clean up my mess.”
“That is the opposite of a good wife,” he laughed. “I take it back: you’re the last person I wanna marry.”
“Too late,” I grinned. “You’ve said it now. You’re stuck with me.”
“Good,” he grinned, pushing a kiss to my lips swiftly. I heard the coffee maker ding to tell us it was ready to pour and Jack heaved himself up off the sofa.
“Boo-Boo!” Tammy screamed as I opened the door to her a few hours later, throwing herself on me before I could prepare myself. “Oh my, God, never leave me again.”
“You’re so fucking co-dependant,” I laughed, hugging her back before shoving her off me. “I missed you too, please drink copiously.”
“Urgh, please,” she whined, taking the glass I offered her and walking past as I greeted Chris, who was trailing behind her. “I did bring vodka though, because Kayla and Nel have both been on my back for days and I feel like you need it.” I rolled my eyes, closing the door behind the pair, not quite sure what Tammy knew about our trip or how she felt about it, except she seemed to know enough to get me really drunk and I was totally down for that.
“I need my own body weight in vodka,” I told her, “but I’ll settle for greasy food with my two favourite people.”
“Nice to know you’re settling,” Jack chuckled.
“You’re the reacher, babe, sorry,” I replied, going for the How I Met Your Mother reacher/settler theory, whereby one of us was settling for someone beneath us and the other punching above our weight. Clearly, if you thought about it for more than five seconds, I was the reacher because Jack was way above my paygrade, but that’s what gave me the balls to say it.
“I was going to insist I was settling, but we both know you’re out of my league,” he responded, pouting playfully. I kissed him quickly before taking the vodka from Tammy and putting it in the fridge for later on. Honestly, I was hoping there would be a later on and we weren’t going to turn into my parents and fall asleep on the couch by ten.
“Okay, okay, but am I a sports guy?” Tammy laughed, still holding the piece of paper to her forehead despite how many times we told her it was stuck there. She was so drunk and it was, frankly, hilarious. She hadn’t been this drunk for years, given she was usually too busy looking after her friends (read: drunk ass me), and I had forgotten how funny it was.
“For the tenth time, you don’t do sports and you’re not a dude,” Jack replied. “If you attempted sports, I’m pretty sure you’d fall on your face.”
“Oh, my god!” She gasped, it suddenly dawning on her who she may be. “Am I J-Law?!” I snorted loudly, nodding vigorously as she cheered. We’d given up trying to get her to take turns with her questions when she'd interrupted me asking Jack if I could play guitar better than him (I could, I was Alex, because Tammy was drunk as fuck and we’d all written names for each other). Chris had no idea how to deal with her, but I knew you just kept drinking until you caught up so it continued to be hilarious. He was a little annoyed, having probably assumed a night in would be more chilled out, but Tammy only really let loose like this somewhere she felt safe. I appreciated that she felt comfortable enough with Jack that she was willing to do this, especially since the last time she was this drunk had been two Christmases ago, drinking egg nog in my bedroom.
“Well, that only took you an hour,” Chris chuckled awkwardly. I snorted loudly, grabbing the vodka from the table next to me and topping Tammy and I off.
“It’s forever until midnight though!” She whined in response, pouting in a way that would make even me proud.
“Uh, actually, it was about half an hour ago,” he chuckled, showing her the time. It was indeed, half an hour into the new year.
“No!” The pair of us gasped, looking at each other in horror. We’d missed our countdown and, frankly, we’d been looking forward to both having someone to celebrate with this year. It’d be the first time ever and we were going to be all out obnoxious about it.
“What? Did you want to kiss me at midnight?” Jack chuckled, raising an eyebrow at me as I drunkenly pouted at my best friend. I turned my pout to him, nodding slowly.
“I wanted a really cute picture and for everyone to be jealous of us.”
“Bitch, you know you’re taking my picture,” Tammy interrupted. I snorted loudly once more, grinning at my best friend. I opened my mouth to remind her it was past midnight when I caught Jack from the corner of my eye, shaking his head at us.
“But how am I supposed to be cringey and adorable at the same time?” I whined at her. “You make me really clingy,” I told Jack.
“Well, you know, it’s 30 seconds until 12:30, so we can always call that our New Year,” he shrugged, smiling at me as my eyes lit up and I nodded vigorously.
Had I been sober, I would have been remarkably embarrassed at myself for allowing myself to get so cheesy with Jack. I all but threw my phone at Tammy to take our picture as Chris looked at us weirdly and she pretended to be annoyed, while Jack and I counted down softly toward 12:30 like some kind of madmen, lost in our own world. He pulled me close by the waist with one hand, cupping my cheek with the other as the clock struck the minute, pushing a soft kiss to my lips as I melted into him, taking in the love I had for him and he had for me. There were some kisses where you could just feel it more than the others, and something here made me really feel our love, despite how sloppy drunk the pair of us were. I couldn’t imagine anywhere else I’d rather be.
“Okay, you have like five pictures and you’re adorable as fuck, so please stop making out now,” Tammy huffed, throwing my phone to me as I broke away from Jack. I grinned, making a kissy face at her and replying with a ‘thanks, boo-boo.’ I scrolled through her snaps, clicking the one I wanted and uploading to Twitter and Instagram.
Fall for someone who stops time for you.