Painting Flowers (A Jack Barakat fanfic)

Chapter 15

*Kathryn's POV*

Isobel and Peter weren't very pleased to hear about our suspension, and neither were my parents over the phone. Alex and I have been confined to our room ever since we did get suspended. It's Thursday night and I'm especially bummed out, because Jack and I were supposed to be going on a date tonight. 

Alex picks up his acoustic guitar slowly, careful not to knock it on his electric guitar and softly strums it. At that moment, Peter's voice booms through the wall of the next room, "Alex! No guitar! Or I'll come in there and take them!" Alex frowns and puts his guitar down, flopping back on his bed. I stare back out the window sadly. "What's up, Kat?" he asks, standing next to the chair I'm seated on. I look up at him and sigh gloomily. "Jack and I were supposed to be going out tonight. Remember?" I plop my head back down on my arms sadly once more. "I'd always dreamed this day would come and now it's been ruined..." I mumble. Alex's reply partially shocks me though.

"Oh, stop being so stupid and sappy!" he nearly shouts. "C'mon Kat, this is Jack we're talking about! He's ruthlessly reckless as well as insane. He'll do anything he needs to do to get here for you becuase, well, you're Kathryn. And he loves you." He says, giving me a spark of hope. He's right. Jack is probably crazy enough to try sneaking out. "And this whole 'I've been dreaming of this day' crap? C'mon Kathryn you're not that sappy and I know that. Don't let a crush turn you into some cliche-lovesick moron! Do you really think Jack, or any guy for that matter, is into that? He wants you to be yourself! He wants you to be the same girl who decided that spaghetti and milk would be a new thing. He loves you because you're just like him. And damn it I can see that you guys are exactly the same because I gave him this exact lecture just last week!" 

I'm sitting up now, a little taken aback by Alex's shouting. I open my mouth to say something in my own defense when the door opens quite suddenly and Isobel appears in the doorway. "That's enough noise, you two. Go to bed now. Goodnight Kathryn, goodnight Alexander." She says before shutting the door again. Alex sighs and peels his shirt off as he walks over to his bed again, crawling in wearing only his track pants and a pair of socks. I slip into my own bed only in a singlet top and a pair of cotton short-shorts. It's quite stuffy this evening. It's as though summer has come early. I feel disappointed that I couldn't go out with Jack tonight. I was so excited. I didn't know what we would be doing tonight, but I knew it would be one of the greatest moments of my life. I stare at the ceiling for what feels like an eternity before something breaks my focus on the darkness.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The noise was coming from the window. I stand up and walk over hesitantly, glancing over at Alex and finding him still asleep. I draw the curtains back and look down into the dark yard below. I can't see anything at all. I rush to one of Alex's drawers and pull out his flashlight and hurry back to the window. As I open it, the source of the tapping hits me in the forehead. "Ow!" I hiss. A familiar voice fills the yard in response to my pain. "Sorry! Sorry!" He whispers loudly enough for me to hear him. I turn on the flashlight and his hands fly up to his face, shielding his eyes from the sudden light as his vision adjusts. "Jack?" I whisper groggily. He slowly lowers his hands and smiles widely. It is Jack. Or maybe I fell asleep at some point and this is all just a dream. "Hey." He says. A grin spreads across my face as I lean out the window a little more. "What are you doing here?" I ask. I look at the alarm on Alex's bedside. The luminant red numbers proudly read '11:48 PM' So I must've been staring at the ceiling for hours. "Don't tell me you forgot, Kat! We had a date tonight! Remember?" He beams up at me. My heart skips a beat as butterflies explode in my tummy. He snuck out and came down here just so we could go through with our date. "How could I forget Jack! Just one question though," I say as I look down and the 2-storey drop from the bedroom to the grass. "How do I get down? The doors are locked. I'm stuck up here." My heart sinks now, knowing there's no way to get outside to Jack. He smirks up at me mischiveously. "Come down to the bathroom. The downstairs one." He says. I nod quickly and shut the window quietly, turning off the flashlight, pulling on a pair of black tights and creeping out of the room silently, careful not to wake Alex.