Hospital Beds and Memories

I squealed in excitement as Cam and I got out of the car. I was lucky enough that today was one of the days I got off of chemotherapy so there was no need for me to go to the hospital, and I wouldn't need to go for another three days. But that wasn’t why I was so excited. Sure, yes I was happy about it, but excited? No. I was excited to see Jack. He was finally coming home from tour and Cam and I were here to pick him up. I was literally doing a happy dance. Never did I think I would say this, but I literally couldn’t imagine a life without Jack anymore. In the beginning he was the clingy one, but you could say that I now held that title. But I had a good excuse… right? Right!?

I was just so excited, and Cam was just taking so long. He was still in the car, only just now taking his seatbelt off. Okay, sure--I got out of the car as soon as it stopped moving, but still. Couldn’t he at least make an effort on trying to be a bit faster? I wanted to make sure I was there before they came; I didn’t want to make Jack wait any longer after the flight they had. And maybe I just wanted to be able to kiss him already.

“Come on, Cam,” I whined like a child wanting ice cream on a hot summer’s day, “we’re going to be late! I’m pretty sure they’ve already gotten their baggage.”

“Ok, ok,” he rolled his eyes and got out of the car before locking it, “Calm down.”

Yeah… no. I was not going to do that. I probably had never been as excited for something as I was now. So, really not being able to wait any longer, I grabbed Cam’s hand and dragged him inside the airport. We stood at the barrier that was set up around the doors where people would enter the public part of the airport after getting their luggage. Even though I knew how awkward it was to see all those people when they walked through those doors, it was still pretty exciting to see who had just arrived. But I was only looking for one specific person. I had gotten a text from Jack saying that they were collecting their luggage 10 minutes ago, so he was going to be here any minute-

I saw Alex walk through first, he was carrying suitcases and bags, some which seemed to be the band’s while others were his personal belongs, and Jack was right behind him -- the other two had connecting flights to get back home in other states. Of course I wanted nothing more than to run up to him and hug him and kiss him. But having Cam with me, it wasn’t going to be easy.

He took hold of me before whispering, “Just wait a bit. Let him see you first. You don’t want to seem too eager...”

I waited while Jack scanned over the crowd, all while trying to hold myself back. He was literally a couple of steps away, but I couldn’t run up to him because my stupid brother was holding me by the shoulders. Jack’ gaze continued until his eyes fell on mine. He grinned widely, showing off his teeth, and causing his eyes to wrinkle. I just wanted to break free from this stupid grip already.

“Okay, now go.” Cam gave me a small push and I used it as my start to run up to Jack. I wrapped my arms around the man I had missed so much, while he went straight for a kiss. He dropped his bags and instead cupped both my cheeks to deepen the kiss, which I very happy returned. I would never reject Jack’s kisses, though. There were some bystanders awing at us, but not everyone seemed to think it was so cute.

“Guys, seriously,” Alex groaned as he walked past us. “You literally saw each other two weeks ago. Cut the PDA.”

“Says the one getting married in a little over two weeks,” I rolled my eyes while breaking away from Jack, suddenly realising how many people there actually were here. “And I’m pretty sure you’ll be all over Lisa as soon as she gets here.”

He raised up his hands in defense and scoffed. Boy, did that kid need to get laid. I knew exactly that was the cause of his sour mood. Why did I know? Well, I obviously lived with my brother for long enough to know and Jack had turned bitchy a couple of times before we even started dating. It was like this was their time of the month. Pretty funny, actually. Girls would be emotional and get pissed off easily because their uterus was shedding tons of blood, while guys just did it if they didn’t get to use their dick. Kinda ironic, if I said so.

Jack and I laughed to ourselves at Alex’s behaviour and went over to Cam, who was patiently waiting. He might have tried to look like he didn’t care much, but I knew he couldn’t help but smile because I was so excited and happy to see Jack. Plus, Cam and Jack were pretty good friends too, so they all seemed to be able to have fun together as well.

“I see how it is,” Cam sighed dramatically and tried to look mad, “She gets to be kissed, but I don’t. Sure, whatever, see if I care.”

“Maybe later, when she’s asleep,” Jack winked, acting as if he were whispering, but actually just saying it in his normal voice.

----

When we arrived at the apartment, Jack looked around with bewildered eyes. What was once a full apartment with decoration and furniture everywhere, was now almost empty. A couple pieces of furniture were still in their place, for example the couches and the table, but many shelves were already either in storage, sold, or being shipped to LA. Since Cam’s band was going to be staying at an unfurnished house, Cam offered to bring stuff over. I wouldn’t need any new furniture anyway, there wasn’t any space at Jack’s place.

“You guys packed up so much already!” Jack gasped as he looked at the walls made out of cardboard boxes.

“Well,” I looked up at him and smiled, “there was this plan where I would have to start moving tomorrow, and hopefully have everything out of this place.”

He let out a groan and closed his eyes out of frustration, “I forgot we were going to do all that tomorrow! I’m going to be so tired!”

I let out a giggle and put my hand on his chest, giving him a soft kiss on his jawline. “We can still sleep in, there’s no rush.”

This caused Jack to smirk down at me before capturing my lips with his. His left hand went down to the small of my back, pressing me further up against his body. I let my hand trail up his chest before I finally linked it with my other arm behind his neck. Our bodies moved ever closer when Jack added his other hand to my waist as well. Things were getting pretty heated pretty fast, but I had missed this too much to stop him. All I wanted was him to-

“Ok!” Cam came in the room clapping his hands loudly to scare us. “Break it up! No sex in the living room!”

I grabbed the nearest object around me, which happened to be a banana -- Jack and I had somehow managed to walk closer to the table while heavily making out -- and threw it right at Cam. He shrieked, avoiding the flying fruit by just an inch and glared at me. I just laughed, sat on the table, pulled Jack closer to me by wrapping my legs around his waist, and hid my face in his chest. His hands went straight to my hair, stroking and running his fingers through it, while kissing the top of my head occasionally. It was moments like this that I tried to cherish most: the fun ones, the cute ones, and the loving ones.

“I think Cameron’s right,” Jack whispered to me while I drew shapes on his back. “We shouldn’t have sex in the living room. I’d much rather cuddle with you.”

I rested my chin on his chest so I could stare up at him. “Jack Barakat turning down sex? I never thought I’d witness that in my life.”

“Well, you just did.” He picked me up easily and shuffled to one of the couches, laying me down on one before climbing behind me and wrapping his arms around me tightly.

It was that moment that I realised that this relationship was very serious to Jack. This wasn’t just some joke or some fun that he was having, he was in it for the long run. And maybe, just maybe, I was too.