crossways: a jack hughes story

chapter 31

you try to lay onto jack's arm, but it's uncomfortable for him with his sling, so you end up laying in his lap. you both end up falling asleep on each other.

you wake up in the middle of the night. you're still laying on jack's lap on the couch, and jack's passed out asleep. you sit up and reach for your phone. it's 3:33 am. you rub your eyes and put your hair up into a messy bun. jack feels you get up and he starts to stir.

"what time is it." he asks, rubbing his eyes.

"3 am." you yawn.

"let's go to my bed." jack slowly gets up off of the couch. you hold your hands out to help him, but he shakes his head no.

you go to his room and look at his nightstand. you see a framed photo of you and jack. your eyes shift over and you see a ring sitting next to it. jack is in the bathroom, so you lean down to look at it closer.

jack doesn't wear rings, does he?

even if jack did wear a ring, this couldn't be his; it has diamonds in it. you realize that it's not your ring.

questions start to fill up inside your head.

who's ring is this?
is jack cheating on me?

you try the ring on, and it fits. hm. she has the same ring size as me.

you want to scream at jack when he comes out of the bathroom.

he comes out of the bathroom and hugs you with one arm from behind, and you embrace him in the hug. jack sees your eyes looking down at the ring, and he starts to freak out.

"oh-oh, um." jack stutters.

"who's ring is this jack?" you pick up the ring and move it closer to his face.

"i can explain."

"jack-" your voice starts to crack as you prepare for his response.

"it's yours."

"what?"

"yeah..."

"i don't understand"

jack's eyebrows firm, he's thinking of how to say what he wants to.

"it's a gift. for you. this ring."

he grabs the ring from your fingers.

"it's a promise ring. i know how much you love rings, and i wanted to get one for you. but not just a regular ring, a special ring, that means something. so i picked out this one for you. i'm not proposing, well
not yet..." you both laugh at jack's comment. "so yeah. it's your ring. i didn't mean for you to find it, i had a box to put it in and i was gonna wrap it up all nice and-"

"-jack" you interrupt him and he looks up from he ring, a little confused.

"i love it. i absolutely love it and i absolutely love you. it's beautiful. and it doesn't matter that you didn't wrap it, i love it. i love it!" you squeal as jack puts the ring on your ring finger and you both admire it.

"i'm so happy you like it."

you kiss jack but then slap him on his good shoulder.

"you scared me! i though you were cheating on me with another girl."

"zoe i would never..."

"i know, but you seem you forget that i'm an over thinker." you laugh.

"you hurt my shoulder." jack pouts.

"at least i didn't hit your bad shoulder."

jack grabs your cheek and kisses you again.

you lay down on his bed, pulling the blankets over you. jack lays down on his back, he can't really lay in any other position because of his sling.

"you can't take it off when you sleep?"

"not for a few more weeks. it's still freshly broken, i have to keep it stable all the time. unless i'm taking a shower, then i can take it off."

"oh. okay."

"yeah."

"i can't stop staring at my ring."

jack smiles.

"hey, you're wearing your J necklace." jack points to your neck.

"of course. i never take it off."

"i love you so much. i would lean over and kiss you right now, but my shoulder...i can't-"

you interrupt jack and lean over to kiss him-well more like make out with him.

you two get interrupted with your phone alarm going off. you groan and turn the alarm off.

"what's that for"

"i have no idea. i don't remember setting an alarm for 4:16 in the morning."

"weird."

"shall we continue." jack smirks.

"yes." you smile and lean back down into jack.

the two of you stayed up until the sun came up, and you both fell asleep around 7 am, and didn't wake up until 1, thanks to ty.

"LET'S GO LOVEBIRDS. ITS LUNCH TIME. I'M HUNGRY." ty shouts from outside the door.

you and jack wake up, startled by ty. jack checks the clock and realizes what time it is.

"it's 1 pm." he sits up, but grabs his shoulder in pain.

"got up too fast?"

"yep. i forgot about my shoulder for a second."

"we're up ty! thanks for being an annoying alarm
clock!" jack yells.

"anytime!" ty shouts back.

"let's just go back to bed." jack pulls the covers back over you two.

"i like that idea." you smile and cuddle jack for the rest of the day in bed.