The Reckless and the Brave

The next thing Lily knew, she was waking up in her bunk with Alex's limbs tangled with hers. As she looked at him, the realization of what they'd done hit her in the face like a truck. She grabbed her phone from beside her and checked the time. It was 4AM and the bus was rolling. That meant everyone had come back and undoubtedly knew what they'd done.

Carefully, she pulled her clothes back on and slid out of the bunk as quietly as possible, doing her best not to wake Alex out of the deep sleep he'd fallen into. She made her way to the front of the bus and wasn't totally surprised to see Jack sprawled across the bench seat with his laptop in his lap. He'd never really slept much and she'd kind of been hoping he'd be there.

"Ew," Jack said quietly as she sat beside him and leaned heavily on his shoulder. He didn't look up from his computer for a moment, and she took the time to settle in beside him.

"Shut up," she said, and he smiled.

"What happened?" he asked, closing the laptop and placing it beside him.

"We talked. We both bared our souls and told each other all the shit we should have said a long time ago," she said, and he gave her a funny look.

"And then..?" he prompted, and she nodded.

"And then we kissed. It was... something else, Jacky. I haven't felt that way since the last time he kissed me," she said to him, and he rolled his eyes.

"And then..?" he prompted her again and she rolled her eyes right back at him.

"And then one thing led to another and I just woke up at 4AM half-naked with my sleeping ex-boyfriend half-naked beside me," she said, suddenly feeling just slightly hysterical.

"How do we feel about that?" Jack asked, obviously detecting the tone of her voice.

"Honestly, I have no idea how we feel about it right now," she said, and he nodded. "We feel... good but also really scared."

"Scared?" Jack asked, and she nodded.

"So fucking scared, Jack. He and I fucked each other up so much the first time. What if we do it again?" she asked as Jack wrapped his arm around her and squeezed her tightly.

"I don't know, Lil. But what I do know is that what you guys had was something else. You guys were made for each other, and everyone that ever looked at you two together knew it. There's just something electric between you, and I've always thought you two could work it out," Jack told her and she looked at him, surprised. He'd never said any of those things to her before. "You told me a long time ago to stop saying shit like that so don't give me your attitude," he joked a moment later, taking in her look.

"Fuck," she mumbled, sighing and leaning on Jack a little bit harder.



Alex's eyes slid open slowly, and it took him much longer than it should have to remember the events of the night before and when he did, he looked beside him and wasn't surprised to see that Lily was no longer in bunk.

"Fuck," he mumbled to himself, raking a hand through his hair and straightening his clothes before pulling back the thick curtain that covered the bunk. He rummaged around in his own bunk for his phone and once he found it he realized it was only about 5:30 in the morning. He'd wondered why it didn't sound like anyone else on the bus was awake.

He made his way to the front of the bus where the fridge was and popped out a bottle of water, downing almost the whole thing in one go. Looking over at the bench seat, he wasn't totally surprised to see Lily and Jack asleep in an awkward heap. They both looked like they were about to fall and smack their faces on the floor. He stood there for a moment looking at them and was suddenly hit with a ridiculously strong deja vu. He'd seen them sleeping very similarly to how they were so many times before, and he'd missed it. Everything about it made him simultaneously nostalgic for the past and oddly optimistic for the future. Smiling at them, he pulled a thick blanket out of Lily's bunk and draped it over them, grabbing Lily's arm from where it was hanging over the side of the bench and tucking it neatly at her side.

"I love you both, you fucking idiots," he whispered, smiling at them again and kissing the tops of both of their heads before going back to his bunk to try and sleep more.