No Strings Attached ; j.g

t h i r t y - o n e

"Mrs. Gilinsky?" I asked. "Do you think you could help me pick out an outfit for dinner, I don't want to under or over dress," I gave her a weak smile.

"Oh sure!" she sounded excited. "I miss having someone to help dress!" she laughs.

"Thank you!" I say and we walk to Jack's room. I try on some clothes and she critics them. After putting on a bunch of different clothing combinations, we finally picked one out. Dark red jeans, a white shirt with a pretty cardigan, and she even gave me a BEAUTIFUL necklace to wear with it. "Thank you so much! It's beautiful, and it'll go great with this!"

"No problem, sweetie," she smiled.

"I'll be sure to give it back," I smile at the pretty necklace.

"You can keep it," she tells me and my jaw drops.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"I'm positive," she smiles again. Mrs. Gilinsky was sort of like a mother figure to me, and it was nice. It made me kind of miss my family. I'd never really missed them before, except for my cool brother. Now I wish I could see them.

"Do you think visiting my family is a good idea?" I ask out of the blue. Her eyes widen and she looks at me seriously.

"Alexis, I'm going to be honest with you. I think that you should go see them. They may be mad, or happy, or both. Mad because you left, happy because they love you and they're glad you're back, but they might want you to stay," she explains. "You've got to decide how you're going to approach them, and it'd be a good idea to take Jack along. You know, so you have someone for support." She was good at this stuff, I smile. "Are you wanting to see them?"

"Well, I'd have to get money for a ticket, and ask Jack about it, but being around you and just around your family is making me miss mine," I tell her.

"Well, if it doesn't go too well, you have the Gilinsky family," she smiles. "And I don't care how tough things may get with you and Jack. I don't care if you break up, you can still always talk to me," she smiles. "Although I really hope you don't split."

"Thank you," I hug her. "For everything."

"It's no problem," she smiles.

"Awww!" Jack calls from downstairs. "Babe, come look at this!" I run downstairs and find Jack in the living room. I sit next to him on the couch and he shows me his phone. "Sam sent me this."

It was a picture of Augie carrying a new toy through petsmart. Sam was watching Augie for me, he must've taken him to get more toys. "Aw, I miss my little puppy," I say sadly.

Jack kisses my head, "you'll see him in a few days."

"Jack?" I asked him as he continued texting Sammy.

"Hm?" he asks without looking up.

"C-can we go visit my parents?" I stuttered. He immediately looked up at me and sat his phone down.

"Yeah, of course," he held my hands. "Whenever you want, babe," he said looking at me concerned.

"I just don't wanna make you spend a bunch of money, I should really get a job-"

"No, baby. It's okay," he rubbed my arm soothingly. "What made you change your mind?"

"I just- being around you guys and seeing you so happy. It makes me wonder what my family is doing. Do they miss me? Do they even care? You know?"

"I'm sure they miss you," he consoles. "And if anything goes wrong, or doesn't work out, I'll be there to make you feel better," he smiles and kisses my lips. I stare off into the distance.

"Jack, what am I supposed to tell them?" I asked, worried.

"Just tell them the truth babe," he replies. "Tell them your boyfriend pressured you, tell them it was a mistake. You didn't know your way back and eventually you just started adventuring with new people?"

"I feel like that's not a reason for not coming home. I mean, if I tried, I could've gotten home," I say blankly.

"Alexis, they're your parents. They can't just unlove you because you never came home," he soothes.

"You didn't," I laugh sadly and he smiles.

"I love you," he laughs and kisses my nose.