Helplessly; j.g.

Five

"Hi, Johnson," Rome said, moving to be at the foot of his bed. "It's nice to meet you. Jack's told me a lot about you." 

Johnson smiled a little at that, glancing over at his friend. Jack was leaning forward, his elbows on the top of his knees and his head resting on a balled fist. "That's nice to hear." 

Rome smiled softly, looking between the two friends. There was an unexplainable bond between them, something that close siblings had. She couldn't imagine what would happen to either of them if the other was gone. 

"So, how do you two know each other?" Johnson asked, still looking at Rome. 

"We work together," Rome answered, Jack's head now bowing down so he was looking at the ground. 

"And we met tonight," Jack added. 

Jack wanted to laugh at that; it seemed like he and Rome knew each other for a while, not just a few hours. And they'd met because he had wanted to kill himself. He was glad he didn't. Jack was even glad for that drunk couple that came up on the roof. They made him hold off on the suicide. 

"Tonight?" Johnson asked, moving his eyes over to Jack. "Wow. Get it, Gilinsky." 

Jack laughed, but not a big laugh. It was the kind of laugh that showed sadness if you looked close enough. And Rome saw the sadness. 

"It's not that kind of thing," Rome said, moving around to where Jack was sitting. She sat down on the thin, wooden arm rest, her legs to the left as she faced her torso forward. "Is it okay if I ask you a personal question?" she asked, looking at Johnson. 

He nodded. "Go ahead, I'm an open book."

"I thought of this when you said, 'Get it, Gilinsky," she said, using the reasoning for her question. "Do you have a girlfriend? Or something like a girlfriend?"

Johnson sighed and Jack leaned back in his chair, making sure he didn't touch Rome's butt. She looked at the two of them, knowing she may have struck a chord with that question.

"I'm sorry if I brought up something you didn't want to talk about," she started, but Johnson shook his head.

"No, no, no, it's cool, it's cool," he said. "Well," he looked over at Jack, his eyebrows slightly raised. 

Jack nodded, knowing what Johnson was asking of him without him actually saying it. He stood, patted Johnson lightly on the shoulder and looked at Rome, giving her a small smile before walking towards the door.

"I'm gonna go see if the cafeteria has something to eat," he announced, pulling the door open and shutting it. 

Rome pulled her brows together, confused at why Jack had left. "Why'd he leave?"

"This isn't particularly a topic I like to talk about when he's around," Johnson said. Rome nodded, sliding into the chair and facing Johnson. "To answer your question: technically, no, I don't have a girlfriend. I have a girl who I want to be my girlfriend." His blue eyes moved to his hands and he started playing with his fingers. "But, I don't think it would be such a good idea to ask her. Especially in my condition."

Rome understood why he didn't want to talk about this in front of Jack: it was about Johnson dying. He didn't want to upset Jack even more. 

"What's her name?" Rome asked after a moment. 

"Kayla," Johnson answered, a dreamy smile crawling onto his face as he said her name. 

"Pretty name. She your age?" 

Johnson nodded. "Seven months younger than me, but same birth year." 

"How'd you guys meet?"

"We were in tenth grade and I got paired up with her for a science project. I don't know, that first week of being her partner was one of the best weeks of my life."

"What's she like?"

"Funny, smart, beautiful, kind, she likes to draw so sometimes she'll do album covers for Jack and I. We've used two, I think. The others we kept just for ourselves."

"She sounds great, Jack." Rome tilted her head. "Ask her out."

Johnson's eyes widened, his head shooting over to look at Rome. "What? Are you crazy?"

"No. If you really like this girl, you should ask her out. I know that you may not have a lot of time left, but you should spend it being happy. Not wondering 'what if'. And what would happen if you got through this? Then you could celebrate with her and know she's yours," Rome said.

Johnson shook his head. "That stuff only happens in the movies, Rome. Real life sucks."

"It does. But your life is a movie if you want it to be. Pretend it is a movie and ask her out, knowing she'll say yes. And if she says no, so what. You're bound to meet another girl. It's a movie, right?"

Johnson stared at her, wondering how the hell she and Jack ever spent the whole night together. They seemed like complete opposites. She was so optimistic, while he was... Jack. 

"I guess you're right," Johnson said slowly, nodding his head.

At that moment, the door opened and Jack stepped in, holding a tray with three plates on it.

"Alright, they had some pizza so I got each of us a slice, because that was all the lady let me get," Jack said, putting the tray on Johnson's food tray. 

Jack handed a plate to Rome and took one for himself, leaving the other one for Johnson. They ate the pizza, meanwhile talking about random stuff that they wouldn't remember the answers to. An hour later, a nurse tapped on the door and opened it, seeing Johnson asleep, Rome and Jack quietly talking to each other.

"Mr. and Mrs. Gilinsky, it's time to go," she said.

They looked up at her, and nodded. Rome stood, Jack already standing, and looked at Johnson. She stepped forward and placed a light kiss on his forehead before grabbing Jack's hand and walking out of the room with him. 

They ended up in front of Rome's apartment building ten minutes later, and Rome sighed. She didn't want to leave Jack. Not after tonight. 

"So, I guess this is where we say good-bye," Rome said, crossing her arms over her chest. 

"I guess so," Jack nodded. 

She waited a moment and stepped closer to him. He drew in a breath as she leaned forward, stood on her tiptoes, and placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. 

"See you at work, Jack," she said, pulling away and walking inside her apartment building.

"See you... at work," he repeated, his fingers where she'd kissed him. He smiled softly, looking down at the ground before he walked to his own apartment building. 

<><>

word count // 1120

i'm back and better than ever. not really, but i'm back. sorry for this chapter, i didn't know what i was doing lol. 

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