Orphan (A Jack Gilinsky Fanfic)

15. My Hero?

...long time no see, you look great >:)

Previously

"Jack." I repeat mid-kiss, smiling foolishly against his lips.

"Kat." He smiles.

"Stay the night." My eyes fall shut, darkness overcoming me. But I feel at ease. "Don't leave."

My eyes gently flutter open when I feel his finger under my chin, forcing me to look at him. He gazes at me, an emotion, a real, tangible emotion, etched in his eyes that I can't quite place. "Okay. I won't leave, baby." Still smiling, he leans in and hungrily reattaches our lips.

--

KATHRYN

"Kat?" Jamie questions choking back a laugh, his tiny voice sounding more amused than anything.

My eyes flutter open groggily as I sit up much too quickly, detangling myself from the warm, persistent limbs wrapped around my torso. I squint my eyes at the obscenely bright daylight pouring through the open windows as Jack's arm falls quietly into the soft sheets.

"Mhm?" I croak, ignoring the pulsing pain on the left of my skull and languidly rubbing the sleepiness from my eyes.

"Why are you sleeping in here...with Jack?" Jamie questions, releasing the doorknob from his grip and galloping towards the bed.

He leaps onto the end of the mattress, landing square on his knees, and begins to bounce - much to the distaste of the dozing brunet boy laying next to me. Jack groans impatiently and flips on his opposite side, still half-unconscious and engulfed in pristine white sheets.

"I-let him sleep, J!" I reprimand when Jamie continues to bounce, giggling playfully at Jack's insentient complaints. "It was dark outside and he was too scared to walk home...so I told him he could sleep here."

"Why were you sleeping with him?" He raises an eyebrow.

"I told you J, he was scared. And you were already asleep." I pout.

"Sure." Jamie rolls his eyes playfully, dragging out the syllable. "Are you guys gonna get married?" He flashes a toothy grin.

My eyes wide with surprise, I feel three times as awake. Alarmed, I glance sideways at Jack and relax slightly at his chest breathing evenly and his eyes soundly shut. I lick my chapped lips. "What?" My voice drops to a whisper. "No, Jamie. Now shoo, you're going to wake him." I swat my arms lazily toward the door before running my fingers through my tangled bed-hair.

"Can we um... Could we make...pancakes maybe? It's Saturday...." Jamie stutters, glancing nervously at his twirling fingers. I freeze.

"Jamie..." I start, and stop. He looks up at me with the same sad, drooping eyes he'd worn the first (of many) weekends we were deprived of our weekly pancake breakfast and I can't bring myself to tell him no. "Maybe. I'll ask Mrs. Finnegan, okay?" He nods obediently, giving me a small curl of his lips and blinking back month old tears. "Go watch TV, I'll be down soon." I kiss his forehead tenderly before listening for the sound of his soft footsteps against the hardwood and the click of the TV turning on.

I sigh deeply before letting myself fall back into the sheets, resting my arm over my eyes and wishing I could fall back asleep forever.

Suddenly, the comfort of the sheets engulfing my skin and the low hum of the air conditioning circulating the spacious rectangle room and the faint, unmistakable laugh of Spongebob blaring from below make me nauseous. These luxuries are temporary. A tease.

We can't get too comfortable. We can't overstay our welcome.

The sheets ruffle loudly, and I lift my arm from my face just in time to see Jack's shirtless body hovering over me, a wide smile on his lips. I gasp as he ducks down to pepper soft kisses along my exposed clavicle, trailing his lips up my neck to the corner of my parted, grinning mouth. "So the boy wants pancakes, eh?" Jack's morning voice croaks, his nose touching mine. "We can do pancakes."