Oh No, Aliens

Jack had expected to be on his own again, but now he wasn't sure he'd ever be allowed to leave. He sat wedged between two of Hadley's brothers during the big family sing along, just watching everyone as they talked and laughed. It was a foreign sight to him. His only real family had only ever been his father, and he certainly never sang songs. Or smiled. In the foster system, he was always unlucky with the families that took him in. They were only ever in it for the checks. He may as well have raised himself.

As the night went on, Jack started to fade into the background. He sat on the couch and just watched everyone in silence. After a little while, one of the younger children waddled up to them. One of the nephews, he supposed. The kid looked up at him, and then at his phone sitting on the couch next to him.

"Do you have games on your phone?" he asked.

"Uh," Jack mumbled, caught off guard. "Not really. I'm sorry."

"How come?"

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it again. He didn't know how to talk to kids in general. He really didn't have an answer as to why there were no games on his phone. Hadley came to his rescue, putting her hands on the boy's shoulders.

"Jack is looking a little tired," she said. "I think he wants to go to bed now."

"I do?" Jack frowned. "I mean... I'm staying the night?"

"Oh, honey, of course you are," Jo said, popping up out of nowhere. "You got somewhere to go?"

"No, but-"

She didn't give him a chance to protest, lifting him up to his feet and leading him to the guest room. His bag was already set on the bed with fresh sheets folded next to it. There was even a little bed for Hershey, though he knew that Hershey would be content to stay with the children who gave him treats. Jo handed him an extra folded blanket.

"It can get a little chilly on this side of the house at night," she told him. "The bathroom is that door on the right. I set some fresh towels for you. I hope you're not too picky about soap and shampoo smells. It was all we had on us, and it's difficult to get out of the house these days."

"No, this is perfect," Jack assured her. "Thank you. You didn't have to do all this."

"Nonsense, of course I did," she said. "You're a guest in my home. Hadley, help him unpack his things."

"No, that's not necessary-"

Jack's protest was once again left unheard as Jo left him and Hadley in the guest room. Hadley gave him a slightly embarrassed, but happy smile. She opened up his bag and took out the t-shirt on top, opening it up to reveal the Star Wars graphic on the front.

"This is cute," she said.

Jack snatched it out of her hand.

"You're not actually helping me unpack, are you?" he asked.

"It was an excuse to look through your stuff," she admitted. "You like Star Wars?"

"I like a lot of things. And Star Wars happens to be part of them."

She sat down on the edge of the bed as he folded up the shirt and tucked it back into the bag.

"You're not unpacking at all?" she asked.

"I was going to leave in the morning," he said. "I thought that was our deal. I was going to drop you off at home, then leave you alone. Remember?"

"Oh, right," she said softly.

She looked down at her feet, then back up at him.

"You don't have to go."

Jack was surprised to hear this. They were getting along now, but she still had every reason to hate him. He felt dumb for thinking she'd still want to be friends. Now she was asking him to stay, and he wasn't ready for that.

"Your parents don't know, do they?" he asked.

"Know what?"

"That we have... history."

"No," she shrugged. "They knew I had a rough time in school, but I kept the details to myself. It wasn't important. And I don't really intend on telling them now. My parents are good judges of character. They can form their opinions on their own."

Jack nodded slowly.

"Well, either way, I can't stay forever," he said. "Maybe a few days."

"Oh."

"And then," he sighed, "I guess I can find a place to stay near Fairlee. Instead of Houston."

She broke out into a grin and for a moment it looked like she was going to hug him. She took a small step back as they both stared at each other and tried to read the moment. He was stunned when she kissed him on the cheek while they were outside.

He supposed now was good a time as any to shoot his shot. His bags were already packed, in case she decided to kick him out. He leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the lips. When he pulled away, she seemed shocked. Shocked, but not repulsed or offended. She didn't say anything, but stepped towards him again and rested her forehead against her chest. Jack put a hand on her head and ran his hand through her hair.

"Your entire family is out there," he said quietly.

"I know," she muttered. "That's okay."

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," he told her.

"You didn't," she said. "Just... stop apologizing to me. For five minutes. Let's just stay like this."

"Okay."

Not much more needed to be said. Eventually she bid him goodnight and went to her room. He found it difficult to sleep and spent most of the night staring at the ceiling. This was the nicest room he had ever been in. It was the nicest house he had ever been in. Occupied by the nicest family he had ever met. It was so strange to be in that situation.

The next morning, he was invited down to a family breakfast. It seemed like they all sat down at the table for almost all their meals. Once again, nicer than Jack had ever experienced in his life. He sat down across from Hadley, surrounded by her family. Every now and again she would look up at him from her waffles and smile, then look back down again. Thankfully, the house too loud and crazy for anyone to notice the slight shift in the atmosphere between them.

"Thank you again," Jack said to her parents. "You've all been so hospitable."

"Oh, of course," Jo said.

"Any friend of Hadley's is a friend of ours," Daniel told him. "As long as that friend stays a foot away at all times."

"Daddy, please," Hadley said, turning red.

"So, Jack," Daniel said. "Tell us a little bit about yourself. Have you always lived in New York?"

"I was born in El Paso, actually," Jack said. "I moved around a lot. Hadley and I actually went to school together for a few years. It was coincidence that we both ended up in New York."

"Oh, wow," her brother said, raising a brow. "So you knew our Hadley in high school?"

"Not really," Hadley answered for Jack. "We didn't really know each other until recently."

Jack gave her a sort of grateful look for not exposing him as a fool to her entire family. She gave him a slight nod in return.

"Moving so much must have been difficult," Jo noted. "Did your parents have demanding jobs?"

"Oh, no. I was in the foster system, so I only stayed with a family as long as they needed the checks.
It was usually kind of hard to find the next foster family within the same school district."

There was a beat of silence as her family looked at him with a mixture of sadness and pity. Jack was pretty numb to it at this point, quickly waving his hand.

"Oh, it was fine and stuff," he promised. "I learned how to be independent pretty quickly, so that was nice."

Jo leaned over and fixed his hair for him with a smile. He felt a tug at his heart when she did it.

"Jack, you are welcome in our home whenever you like."

Jack wasn't sure why that hit him so hard. For the first time in his entire life, he was happy to be involved with a family. Things were turning out much better than he ever could have imagined.