Hospital Beds and Memories

I woke up to Jack holding me closely against his chest, much closer than he used to. Our legs were tangled together and somehow we had managed to switch sides of the bed again. We really had a weird talent for that. You would think we would realize during the night and quickly go back to our normal positions, but we didn’t. Either we just didn’t notice or didn’t feel like moving because we were already very comfortable.

I checked the clock and saw that it was 11 am. We had been asleep for at least 13 hours. Going to bed that early was a one-time thing, or was probably going to be a one-time thing. Normally we would stay awake until 2 am before thinking about going to bed, but this time we were so fatigued and exhausted that we had fallen asleep really early.

Jack’s grip around me was pretty tight, but not tight enough for me to be stuck until I woke him up or he woke up himself. I carefully moved his arms off of me and got up before making my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. I knew my way around this place like it was my own; I didn’t have any trouble finding things I needed from the cupboards. Jack probably didn’t even know his own kitchen as well as I did.

I look out a box of the first cereal I could find and poured some into a white bowl. When I was nearly done I felt some arms snake around my waist and some lips touching my neck. Soft kisses were placed up and down as I melted into his touch. I put the box down as Jack started making his way up to my jawline.

“This is really weird.” I squirmed as his fingers tickled my sides.

“Oh,” Jack froze and stopped what he was doing, “you don’t want to do this?”

I quickly turned around so I was facing him. “No, no, no, no. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that we have been friends for such a long time that it’s different to suddenly act around each other like this. This also is, like, my first relationship thing, I guess, in my mind, so I don’t exactly know what to do. And I’m just messing everything up.”

Jack chuckled and shook his hea., “You’re rambling. It’s ok, you just made up for it by confessing your feelings.”

“I did not confess my feelings!”

“Ah, so there are feelings.”

“Stop messing with my mind! And yes, there might or might not be any feelings, I wouldn’t be ok with you kissing me otherwise, would I?”

“Hmm, I think it will be ok to ask you to be my girlfriend then.” Jack looked at me with hopeful eyes and a smirk. He actually wanted me to be his girlfriend? Why would he want that! We both didn’t do relationships, we hadn’t been on any dates together. How did we know that this wouldn’t result in a break up in a matter of days! He also wouldn’t want a girlfriend, he liked one night stands too much. Jack wouldn’t give that up to be with one girl. Was he playing a joke on me right now?

Apparently, I had been quiet for way too long because Jack started stuttering, “I-- I guess we could also stay best friends. That would also be ok, right? That would be fine. I mean, I don’t mind.”

“Jack?” I cocked my head to the side. “How long have you, umm, had feelings for me?”

“Umm, I-- I never said that. We are j-- just best friends, right? It’s nothing like that.”

“Jack! I just practically admitted that I liked you, why are you freaking out? Just take a deep breath, calm down, and tell me.” I held onto his arms and motioned for him to breathe in deeply by doing it myself.

Jack took a couple of seconds and finally nodded his head. “For a while now. A couple of days before I slept with Abagail, actually…”

“What?” I whispered. “Why did you sleep with her then?”

“I thought it was just me acting silly… Sleeping with other girls didn’t help, so I thought maybe doing it with Abagail would straighten me out.”

“You slept with my best friend because of me?”

“No, that wasn’t the only reason, but it doesn’t matter. When I finally had the chance to kiss you, I took it.”

“And then you stopped talking to me for a month,” I pointed out.

“Because I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do, it just made me realize that my feelings were real and not some crazy imagination, as weird as that sounds. You know I’m not the guy for relationships, so I was freaking out. And then I suddenly remembered that you made clear that you didn’t do relationships and it just made it worse. I needed some space to think about it. I even tried having sex, but it didn’t feel right. I haven’t had sex for three weeks, Ireland, three weeks!”

“Oh wow, I’m impressed, that’s a long time,” I said honestly.

“Literally everything around me is turning me on. You don’t know how difficult it is for me to not get a boner right now.”

“During a serious conversation?”

“Yes! Something is seriously fucking wrong with me!”

I interrupted him by pulling his face towards mine and pressing my lips against his as hard as I could. Jack was shocked and didn’t do anything before finally getting into it and kissing me back. I wrapped my other arm around his neck as well while he moved his hands back to my waist. This was exactly like the first kiss we shared, but a lot less gentle. Our movements were filled with desire and lust as we were giving each other our last breath. I knew this could quickly turn into something else, especially with Jack’s little ‘problem’. So I separated from him, but not before giving him a quick peck.

I caught my breath. “Even though it’s pretty early and there is a possibility that this will go horribly wrong: yes, I will be your girlfriend.”

The corner of Jack’s eyes wrinkled up and he gave me the biggest smile ever. “Really?”

I nodded, but pushed Jack away when he went for another kiss. “If we are going to start again it will never stop. I want to eat my cereal and you probably want to fix what going on down there.”

Jack pouted, “but I want it to go on forever. But ok, fine.”

I held on to him for a bit longer when realization hit me. I hadn’t thought of what was going through my mind before I had agreed. Since Jack was still practically attached to me, I leaned forward and groaned, “now I’m going to have to shave, ugh. Ok, no, you know what, I’ll do it more frequently, but I’m not shaving down there. No way, been there done that, I hate it.”

He chuckled, “Why not?”

“Umm, that’s pretty obvious. It’s difficult, you get ingrown hairs even though you do it the way that should make sure you don’t, and it fucking itches. I’m not going through that again.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“Yes, it is! Never again! Never! Now go, your boner is poking me and I’m hungry.”

He started walking away, when I called him back one last time, “was that one time you you-knowed while thinking about me when you already liked me?”

“Which time?” He was being completely serious.

“No, Jack! No, no, no, no, no! I thought it was a one-time thing because I just happened to interrupt you!”

“Well, it obviously wasn’t. Plus, I’m going to be doing it again right now.”

“No! My innocent ears!” I covered my ears and slid down onto the floor, trying to make it as dramatic as possible. Why couldn’t Jack just act like it was a one-time thing? I really didn’t want to know how many times he did it and when he did it. Now I was going to have to eat my cereal with this though stuck in my mind the entire time.

“Shut up,” Jack chuckled, “you’re not innocent, you’ve been around me for too long.”