Keep the Change, You Filthy Animal

Chapter 16

Alex.

-

We ended up falling asleep after all. There’s not much to talk about when you’re keeping a hundred secrets and worrying that they’ll slip with each word. Sleeping with Jack there, so close to me, was a lot better than all alone. For the first time in a long time, I dreamt of clouds and fields and familiar faces and just normal stuff that flies away as soon as you open your eyes. It felt nice.

When I woke up, we were both pressed against the side of the comfty couch – which was much less comftier. Funny though, how I knew I was way better off on the floor next to Jack than on some puffy cushions alone.

Jack still had his arms around me, so I stretched my neck to check the time without moving too much. It was already nine. Definitely time to get up.

Before I could act though, it suddenly hit me how much I had changed my way of thinking in such a short period of time. I used to be that constantly hungover loser who went to bed in the morning and got up in the afternoon, who had forgotten what it was like to be happy without also being drunk, and now… Now it felt like, despite all the shit going on in my life and all my guilt and my worry and my confused emotions, despite all that, I was actually happy to wake up in the morning. I wanted to live again, like actually LIVE.

It wouldn’t have been this way if it wasn’t for Jack. It was a sappy thought for sure, but I couldn’t deny it. Jack had reminded me what it was like to be alive.

And now here I was, acting like a total alien by wanting to get up before noon – worse, before TEN – and not even feeling weirded out about it. I smiled at the thought and finally decided it was time to get moving.

“Jack! Wake up!” I’d done this enough times to know that waking him up was not something to be taken lightly. If turning to desperate measures was necessary then so be it. “Jack!”

“Mmm…” was the only sound he made.

“Jack… Don’t make me do this.”

No response. Great, now he was snoring again. I sighed and wriggled out of his grasp. I couldn’t help but feel a hint of malice as I filled a glass with freezing water from the sink. Just as I was tiptoeing back to where Jack was lying, I heard someone step into the room.

I turned around to see Rian’s amused expression – the same one he wore just a few hours earlier when he’d seen us kissing.

“Are you done spying on us?” I whispered angrily.

He threw his hands up innocently. “I was just getting breakfast! Please resume your evil activities and disregard my presence.”

I rolled my eyes and did as he told me.

Standing over Jack, I apologized in my mind for what I was about to do and splashed the cold water all over his face.