99 Steps

Step 3: Breathe

Jack shifted awkwardly in the bundle of blankets on the bed. The sun shone brightly through the thin sheets of fabric that was being used as a curtain. That would have to be changed. He looked over at the door, noticing a cork board hanging on the wall that he must have missed last night. A piece of paper hung on it, covered in pencil marks.

Jack stood up, digging through his bag to find his glasses so he could read what the paper said. He found them, near the bottom, and put them on. He grabbed the paper, skimming over it.

I'm sorry, I'm such as ass. I know.

Can we work this out? Together though...

I'll be getting some stuff from about 7 till 8 or 8:30. Get ready, we're going out for breakfast and we're gonna hang out. 

'Great, now we have to hang out with this guy.' Jack shook his head at Mark, even though he wasn't in the same room, at this point -  7:45 - he wouldn't even be in the same house. The teen walked to his bag, feeling how messy and dirty his hair was taking note to shower. He decided to not even bring clothes, he could just walk back across the hall in a towel. Mark wasn't there, so he wouldn't be able to see his healing scars. Sure, Mark knew about the razors, but he didn't know how much scars there would be.

Since Mark was gone, however, he wanted to smoke before showering. Jack grabbed the pack of cigarettes, debating on just smoking out the window and have his room smell, or smoking outside and risk getting caught by someone he didn't know. He held still for a minute, not even breathing to make sure the house was completely silent. Jack pushed open the window, holding a cigarette in his lips and lighting it, savoring smoke as it filled his lungs.

Jack left his bedroom door and window open, hoping to air it out a bit while he showered. He took longer than he wanted to, so now he would really have to rush in the shower. 

Mark opened he front door, hearing the water running downstairs. He brushed it off, and brought the bag of food upstairs to put away before they left. He walked into his bedroom to quickly put away his headphones, but his head shot to the open window as he caught the unfamiliar whiff of smoke. He looked outside, not seeing any smoke clouds anywhere. The thought of it being cigarette smoke crossed his mind, and he nodded, remembered seeing the pack last night.

"Do you always sit and stare out the window, nodding to yourself like that?" Mark jumped, turning to face Jack. He had on dark skinny jeans, along with a black tee-shirt with a tiger head on it, that had the sleeves and neck parts cut out so it was more of a tank top. Hugging his arms, with his sleeves pulled to cover more than half of his hands, was a black and white flannel, and looped around his neck was a chain with .223 bullet hanging off of it.

'Depressed, but well dressed,' Mark mentally slapped himself for saying that. Lame and inappropriate.

"Well?" Jack asked, shifting his weight. Mark looked at Jack's face, only now realizing that he wore glasses; the type a hipster would wear.

"Let me put away the food and then we can leave." Mark took a step forward,just to step around Jack, but Jack walked down the stairs, going down into his room. He watched him take one step at a time, his body shaking. 

"Why don't you help me?" Mark stood at the top of the stairs, waiting for a reply. Jack stopped, not looking back up, and thought about it.

"Why?" His voice was back to the scared, small tone it was at when the two first met. After knowing how loud and sour his voice could get, it was almost heartbreaking to hear to hear it so small and sad again.

"I just figured that way we could talk a little bit." Jack was about to keep walking, but stayed still. He wanted to learn about Mark and what kind of person he was, but at the same time he wanted to hide in his room all summer and not even look at Mark again. Plus Mark would probably try to talk about all the stuff Jack had, and try to fill him with all the 'We are going to work together so you can get better' bullshit. He just shook his head and walked down the rest of the stairs, causing Mark to let out and audible sigh.