Assorted Mericcup/Jackunzel

In The Elevator

I glanced at myself in the mirror. Black leggings, brown boots, purple hoodie. All covered, just the way I needed it. Twisting my braid into a bun, I threw the hood over my head and grabbed my backpack. After carefully sneaking past my mom's room, where she was passed out and smelling like alcohol, I slipped through the door, over to the elevator, and pressed the button.

When I had just stepped in, a familiar voice yelled, "Wait!" My best friend and neighbor, Jack, dashed inside just before the doors closed, his dark gray beanie practically flying off his head.
"That was close." I whispered, smiling softly. He nodded, out of breath, before squeezing my shoulders.

12 floors to go.

We had been friends ever since I was eight. Mom had been drunk, which didn't do so good with her anti psychosis meds, so I ran out of the apartment and onto the roof. That's where Jack, his mom Krista, and little sister Emma were. They had been stargazing when I had popped up. Krista took me in and cared for me that night, telling my mom in the morning that it was just a sleepover. Jack and I soon became friends. He protected me from bullies, I protected him from Mom. He told me fairytales, I painted him portraits of his family. You get the point.

He rested his chin on my head while I leaned into him. His skin was cold, due to the poor heating in the building, but his aviator's jacket was fresh out of the dryer and warm. We pulled away from each other, and his thin hand rubbed my back, pressing onto my new wound.
"Ow." It slipped out of my lips before I could stop it. Jack yanked his hand away faster than speed itself and the coldness that felt so good disappeared. I unconsciously pulled my sleeves over my hands and yanked my hood down over my face. But guess who wasn't having any of it?

He took my shoulders in his hands and turned me so that I was facing him. "She did it to you again, didn't she Punz?" I shook my head, but his grip only tightened. He knew all about my scars, some from her, some from me. He had been through all my lows with me, all the times I ran up to the roof. No matter what I went through, no matter what happened, Jackson Elias Frost was always there.

9 floors left.

"Jack, it's just-"
"Don't use that old excuse. I've never stopped wanting to get you away from her and you know that. I hate the way she treats you, like a defenseless baby one minute and a punching bag the next." He ranted, his piercing blue gray eyes examining every inch of me, as if trying to find all my scars.
"It was my fault. I talked back to her, I made her angry." I explained, raising my voice to an almost normal level. I had always been quiet, because of, well, you know. "It's not like I can leave, you know! She'd find me and bring me back, then everything would be the same again." I was looking up at him now, at his crazy white hair, his stormy eyes.

His hand traveled up my shoulder, took my hood off and cupped my cheek. I welcomed the cold of his skin on mine, leaning into it.
"You can always run away with me, you know." He whispered softly, playing with a lock of hair that had fallen out of my bun.

5.

"I'd take care of you." I was touched deeply. He would do something like that, abandon his family, his life, just to allow me to escape. A tear slipped down my cheek as a weak smile crept onto my face. His expression changed to worried almost instantly.
"No, Punz. Don't cry, please don't." He leaned in and kissed away the tear. A gasp escaped my mouth and he pulled away, his eyes searching my face intently.

My eyes must have told him everything, because only seconds later, his cold lips clashed with mine. I clung to him desperately, like he was the one thing that would stop the world from ending. My life support. I loved his coldness, and he loved my heat. He was my winter night, I was his summer day. I opened my mouth a bit and the kiss became deeper yet. And in that moment, I didn't care about my scars, my mother, anything. Nothingness echoed through my mind as his fingers tangled into my blond hair, not allowing me to think.

We finally separated, breathless and longing for more.

1 more.

I clasped his hand in mine. "Let's do it then. Run away. We can go anywhere. Be anyone." Jack grinned at me, hauling up his own backpack and squeezed my hand.
"I love it when you talk like that, Punz."

The elevator dinged, the doors opened and we left. And for once in my lifetime, I wasn't afraid. Not of anything. As long as Jack was with me, I was invincible.

Sorry if this one was kind of depressing, I wrote it after seeing 'The Country Girl'. YouTube it. Anyways, I hope you keep reading. PK45