Status: Completed! Sequel up soon

Hospital Beds and Memories

New Information at a Family Dinner

It was 2:30pm and Jack and I were still in our pajamas, hanging out on the couch while playing video games. We were supposed to leave at 3:30 to go to my parent’s for dinner, but I was just so comfortable on Jack’s lap, his arms wrapped around me to reach his controller, while mine were comfortably between his for me to be able to play with my own controller. You know, it was basically what all cute couples did when playing video games… something I never thought I would have been doing, let alone with Jack. But it was my reality now, along with the fact that I was bruised and sick.

I snuggled further into his chest and sighed in content while I shot a couple more people on the screen. Jack placed a tender kiss on top of my head before resting his chin on it. We weren’t saying a word to each other, yet everything was still so comfortable. It was easy just being able to around each other without actually having to act a specific way. You often don’t realise it, but you put up a different act for everybody around you. With Jack it just wasn’t like that.

However, moments like these couldn’t always last; if it were up to me and Jack, though, it totally would have. But, Cam had to once again come ruin it. He was supposed to pick us up and drive us, since my dad insisted on giving me and Jack the car he had talked to me about before. The only problem was that I still couldn’t drive. I was getting close to having the ok again, but this time I had to wait a bit longer than last time. So, it would have been useless for Jack to drive us there only to be stuck with two cars. However, we had made the mistake of telling Cameron that the front door was already open and that he could just walk in. He was an hour early.

“Wow, I’m starting to think I’m not the lazy one here anymore,” Cam chuckled when he entered the living room without even letting us know he was here first. Jack and I could have been having a heated make out session, or even worse, sex, on the couch, and Cam would have walked right in on us. It wasn’t like we heard him coming inside over the sound of the loud videogame, and living with Jack meant that us being naked together often happened, except when I was feeling like absolute shit, of course.

“Shut up,” I grumbled, annoyed that my brother managed to once again ruin my time with Jack, “at least we got out of bed.”

“Didn’t we fall asleep here last night?” Jack laughed at me, reviving himself after he got shot by the opposing team.

“Don’t tell him that!” I gasped, hitting his forehead lightly with my controller so I would get my point across, but not enough to actually hurt him. It happened before, I would playfully hit his arm and it would be a lot more painful than I had intended it to be.

“You guys disgust me,” Cameron groaned, sitting down on a recliner to watch the game that we were playing.

“And why’s that?” I asked him, not taking my eyes off the screen myself. I was just getting a good killing streak, I wasn’t going to let him ruin that for me as well.

He looked at me with a disgusted face, scrunching up his nose before looking back at the action filled fighting going down, “just the way you guys are sitting and playing video games together,” he put his feet up on the coffee table… the one I had decided to clean just the day before… “it’s what cute couples do. Like, can you not?”

I didn’t even care about the video game I was playing anymore. His dirty shoes were resting on the table I had cleaned completely with soap and everything. It was like the table had never been cleaned before, but was in desperate need of it. Maybe it was a good idea for me to move in here, just for the housekeeping Jack obviously didn’t do. But Cam also making a stupid remark like that just made me throw the hard plastic controller right at him. He let out a yelp of pain, but grabbed it to continue playing my game.

“No,” I whined and slowly slid down Jack’s chest in self pity, reaching out for Cam, “gimme.”

Cameron shook his head at me and pointed at the stairs, only quickly reaching back to the button to avoid getting hit by one of the fatal bullets, “you have to go get ready. Remember, aunt Doreen is going to be there, she will not hesitate to make comments about you.”

“Well, then I’ve gotta cover my entire body in foundation and concealer,” I sighed, literally climbing out of Jack’s hold so I could stand up. It might have been a week after the entire incident, but that didn’t mean the bruises had gotten any better, quite the opposite actually. The bruises that had started to heal left a disgusting yellow color, while the ones on my face will still as purple as before.

“I meant clothes and hair, not the other stuff,” he rolled his eyes at me. By now he already knew exactly what had happened, and my parents knew parts of it. I didn't want them hating Jack, so I occasionally added a white lie here and there. If possible, I would have never told them, but I knew I would show up today looking somewhat like this, so I thought it was better to tell them before hand than have to explain it all on the spot when we just arrived.

“Ugh, fine,” I groaned, really not feeling like having to go up those stairs. Yes, I was pretty lazy, but that was only because the chemo made me so tired and feel sick, it wasn’t exactly my fault. “I’ll go take a shower, then.”

“Ok,” Jack threw his controller to the other side of the couch and stood up as well ready to follow me the entire way, “I’m coming.”

“Oh god,” Cameron moaned, and shivered thinking about what he thought was going to happen.

“That is not my problem. You’re the one who decided to show up early,” I snickered although I knew Jack and I weren’t going to do anything but actually take a shower. Yes, he had tried to get me to do it, but I was nowhere near ready for that. On a scale of 1-10, my experience level was maybe a 1.5, there was no way that would ever end up without any injuries.

----

You could say my experience level had gone from a 1.5 to a 2 after the shower. We were going to stay the night at my parent’s so we didn’t have to worry about driving back home late in a car Jack didn’t know shit about, and this way he would also be able to drink a lot more than just one or two glasses of wine. However, the problem was with having to actually sleep in my old room. You see, Jack and I hadn’t done anything lately because of all the pain I had all over my body, but that didn’t mean he got any less horny. So, while my brother now believed nothing had happened at all in the shower, I gave Jack a handjob… yep… I went there… woah, so daring!... not really. All I got in return was a hickey that blended in nicely with all the other colored splotches on my skin.

You probably didn’t need to know that… sorry.

Anyway, as soon as we entered through the gate to my parent’s house, I could already see my aunt’s car parked close to the front door. She always made sure to come early, so my family had the habit of giving her a different time whenever a party started. Would it officially start at six pm? Well, you’d have to tell her it started at 6:30pm. But, hey, it did mean she wasn’t stressing out as much on her wedding day…

Speaking of which, I hadn’t seen her since then. She had met Jack that day and Jack and I had a couple of ‘issues’. It was very likely she didn’t even know about Jack also coming today, let alone that we were in a relationship and living together. Well, she was definitely going to freak out when she found out. As soon as I got to the age where it was normal for kids to start dating, she wanted to set me up with someone. Now that I actually found someone, somebody who she really wanted me to be with, and not tell her about it, boy was she going to be ecstatic.

After Cam parked his car next to my aunt’s minivan and my dad’s fancy sport car, we all got out of the vehicle. The sight of the three cars next to each other caused me to giggle ever so slightly. They all had such different stories and contrasted each other perfectly. My dad’s car had recently been polished, making the black color act like a mirror. It was obvious he had way too much money. My aunt’s car wasn’t as clean, but it was still being well maintained. She had gotten the car when all my cousins were still kids, but now only the youngest, who was 14, was left over. And then there was Cam’s car; oh, how ‘beautiful' is was. Paint was scratched off, dirt was covering areas that normally weren’t as dirty, and it really looked like the whole thing could fall apart in no time.

“Wait, which cousin is here again?” Jack stopped me before I could walk the last couple of steps to the large white double door that was expecting us. He had been asking me questions about who was coming over and over again, but he just kept forgetting what I was telling him. It was like he was the one with memory problems here.

“My aunt Doreen’s youngest daughter. She’s 14 and isn’t the one who couldn’t keep her hands off you at the wedding. You probably didn’t meet her, I barely saw her other than when she walked up the aisle as a bridesmaid. Her name’s Sophie and she’s pretty shy, so stop worrying. It’s Dorren you have to be scared of. She doesn’t know about us being a thing yet.” I told Jack like the whole thing had been rehearsed, which was basically true, other than the last part. I had only thought of that small detail in the car. If I had remembered earlier, I would have made sure that my parents told her before hand or I would have even shot her a quick text (there was no way I would risk calling her and have to talk to her for three consecutive hours).

“Oh god,” his eyes went wide, already knowing how bad this was going to be. He had only met my aunt once before, yet that was enough to know how excited she was. “I will not hesitate to sacrifice you when the time comes.”

“I will take you down with me!” I giggled, catching up with Cam who had decided to ignore the couple talk, as he would call it, and just go straight for the front door. He was probably just pissed off that I was in a relationship and that he wasn’t. Now, it wasn't a big deal that he didn't have someone to love; it was more because of the whole aunt Doreen thing. She had been obsessing over my love life more than Cam’s, but now it was time for Cam to be in the spotlight.

He rang the doorbell, but me being me, I quickly decided to press the button again as soon as his finger left it. After shooting me a quick glare, he pressed the button another time, trying to show that he was the one doing it. But I wasn’t having it. I gave him a goofy grin and decided to ring the doorbell straight after him again. With the amount of times we did it, the people inside were probably going crazy. The sound wouldn’t even finish yet and the small white button next to the door would be pressed again. All while doing this, Jack just awkwardly stood next to us, waiting to get inside.

“Ah, Jack, come on inside,” my mom greeted while she finally had opened the large front door. She quickly glanced at Cam and I still fighting over the doorbell. “We’ll leave them out here until they’re finished.”

“Jack’s here?!” I heard being called from further inside, footsteps coming closer. It was most definitely Doreen, still knowing exactly who Jack was. Jack had some weird kind of control over my family, after just a couple seconds of knowing him, they would already adore him, not that I minded or anything.

However, this was my cue to stop teasing Cam and go inside as well. I really wasn’t looking forward to telling Doreen all about the relationship, but it was better to get it over with than have her be furious with me at the end on the day.

I saw her rushing into the hallway just after I had entered the house. Taking a sneaky look around the place, I started making an escape plan incase she went all crazy and teary eyed on me. She got excited way too easily. I could only imagine how she reacted when my uncle finally proposed to her.

“What are you doing here!” she exclaimed, wrapping Jack in a tight uncomfortable hug. He definitely didn’t seem prepared for it, but used his expert rockstar skills to make it seem like he actually didn’t mind it. He must have had to endure so many awkward hugs before, that this was only a minor thing.

“What do you think?” Cam decided to join us, but something seemed to annoy him; something about me, as evident by the reply he gave. Maybe he just wanted to watch me suffer, maybe he thought it was funny, or maybe he wanted to get back at me. “Do you really think Ireland will come her without her boyfriend? I mean, they go everywhere together!”

He then left me to deal with my hyperactive aunt who was so happy for me, while he just walked off to the dining room where I guessed my dad and cousin were. I tried to reciprocate her joy, but I really didn’t like all the attention. With the way Jack was standing there with the same exact posture as me, he didn’t seem to particularly like it either. We were both giving her small smiles and nods, but just stood still and stiff, while she kept gushing about the news she just heard. At least it was over and done with and didn’t interrupt something else.

When I finally found the chance to slip away, I took it, only to find my dad boring Sophie with his business talk. I had to endure it most of my childhood, there was no way I was going to let her slowly be bored to death, just like me. So, I grabbed her hand and pulled her off the chair before dragging her along to my dad’s study, which was mostly used as a smaller living room. The only cool thing about this place was that there was an awesome CD player with speakers all over the room and a record player. I shouted a sorry to my dad, telling him the exact reason why I was taking her away from him, and made us sit down on one of the leather couches.

Cam and Jack joined us only a couple minutes later. Sure, we three were technically classified as adults, but we definitely didn’t act like we belonged in the group. We were all kids at heart, and that meant we weren’t going to hang around the dull older adults while they talked about things that were actually significant. I could swear that I would fall asleep if I ever had to be around one of those conversations again.

After turning on some music, Jack stood up announcing that he was going to go to the bathroom. Before leaving the room, he quickly looked at me with a very serious face, “I’ll call you if I get lost.”

“And I’ll leave you in this maze,” I winked back. Taking a wrong turn would lead to you ending up on the wrong side of the house, and since Jack only actually knew about the rooms such as the living room, dining room, kitchen, and a couple small rooms around these, such as the one where we were situated now. However, there was still so much to this place that he didn’t know about.

While he was gone, I decided to make conversation with my cousin. As I had told Jack, she was quite shy kid, and she was probably so apprehensive to say anything around three 20-something year olds. If she already had trouble talking to kids her age and kids younger than her, this must not have been easy. And I knew exactly how that felt. I had to make sure she felt ok and safe around us. If I had been her, I would probably already have freaked out and ran away crying… but that was probably because of my social anxiety, and not because of the fact that I was also shy…

But we were cut short with Jack returning shortly after. He seemed excited about something, and I was ready to hear him talk about the soap dispenser or something. But no, he had actually found something that was remotely interesting, especially for me.

“Babe!” He blurted out, looking between his phone screen and my face eagerly. This was like a whole new level of fuss and enthusiasm for him, and he already seemed to be pretty high on that scale. “I found out what you are!”

“Oh no! He blew my cover!” I rolled off the couch and pointed a finger gun at him, adding a small sound effect when I acted like I shot him. To be honest, I didn’t even care about the fact that the impact of my falling on the floor hurt me. I had actually managed to get my cousin to chuckle and let out a small giggle.

“No, seriously!” Jack proclaimed, thrusting his phone into my face. I could make out an article was open, but I couldn’t read a thing with how close the letters were. “Read it!”

I sighed and grabbed the phone from him so that I could hold it at a reasonable distance from my face. At first I wanted to make a comment and joke about the fact that Jack had been using his phone on the toilet, but the article actually caught my attention.

What is Demisexuality?
Demisexuality is a sexual orientation in which someone feels sexual attraction only to people with whom they have an emotional bond.

I continued to scroll through the piece of writing, taking in all the information, not daring to skip a word. It all made so much sense now-

“Hey, Jack, let me show you that car,” My dad popped his head around the corner, making eye contact with Jack.

Jack nodded, taking his phone back, leaving me with the thought…

I was demisexual.