Worlds Between Us - Jack Hughes

Chapter 10

"We're home!" Jack called as we walked into the house. "Hello? Mom, Dad, Luke?" He turned to me. "Where is everybody?" I shrugged, but then something caught my eye. A piece of paper taped to the railing of the stairs. "Jack, look at this." I said. "What is it?" He wanted to know. "It's a note..." "Who's it from?" "Oh my god, you dipstick, I'm reading it, calm down!" I laughed. "It's from your parents. It says they went out to dinner and took Luke with them." I looked at him. "They said they'll be back at around 10:00 pm." Jack checked his phone. "That means we have about, two hours before they get back." He said. "So, what should we do?" I asked him. He shrugged. "Wanna just hang out in my room?" He suggested. "Sounds good." I agreed. All of a sudden. Jack started sprinting up the stairs, screaming "race you!" I ran right behind him, and with a sudden burst of speed, passed him right before we reached the top. "Yesss!" I celebrated doing a little victory dance. He rolled his eyes at my antics, but was grinning all the same. "Aw, c'mon, you know I let you win!" He said. "Suuuure, Mr. Hughes." I said sarcastically. "Now c'mon!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him into my room. "Hey, I thought we agreed on my room!" he protested. "What?" I said, pretending not to hear him "I said, oh, never mind." He laughed. We burst into my room, and launched ourselves onto the bed. "Wait, stay here, I have something for you." He told me. "Okay, but hurry up." I told him as he walked out the door. About a minute later, he came back holding something behind his back. "Finally." I said. "Aw, you couldn't even go a minute without me." He teased. "Shut up Hughes." I muttered embarrassedly. "Hey, I was kidding!" He said. "Whatever." I told him. "Whaddaya got for me?" Now it was his turn to look embarrassed. Shyly, he pulled out a navy blue jersey, with a Team USA emblem on it. He turned it around, to reveal a number 6, underneath the nameplate that read  'Hughes.' "Aw, Jack, I love it!" I tell him. And I did. I had secretly always loved the US logo. "But you do realize I can't wear it right?" He looks confused at this. "What do you mean? Is the size wrong? I can-" "No, no." I laugh. "It's just... this is Toronto. No way I can wear this without getting mugged!" "Oh yeah." He said, nervously laughing. "My bad." "Can I still keep it though?" I asked. "Of course." Jack smiled. "Here, come sit with me." I said, gesturing to the spot next to me. He crawled over to it, and then sat with me. I reached over to my dresser and grabbed a bottle of white nail polish. As I cracked it open, Jack gagged and plugged his nose. "What the hell is that smell?" He asked with his eyes watering. "Nail polish." I reply, holding up the bottle. "Why does it smell like chemicals?" He demanded. But I couldn't take him seriously with his voice all nasally so I just giggled and said "have you never smelled nail polish before?" "I have two brothers" he reminded me. "And my mom never uses nail polish." "Ugh, fine, I don't have to use it." I told him. As I closed the bottle, he unplugged his nose and took a deep breath. "Ahhh, fresh air." He sighed. "You are such a drama queen!" I told him. "Take that back!" he gasped, pretending to be offended by it. "Make me." i said stubbornly. "Okay." He said sitting up from his position on the bed. He reached over to me with both hands and before I could ask what he was doing, I burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. "Jack... stop, please!" I gasped. "Not until you take it back!" He grinned evilly at me. "Okay, okay, you're not a drama queen!" I shrieked. His tickling motions didn't stop though and I managed to wheeze out "why... didn't, you... stop yet?" He flashed that evil grin again and said "You gotta tell me that you enjoyed today, at the lake." "Ugh fine, I enjoyed today at the lake with you Jack, I enjoyed it, okay!" Finally, he let me go and I sat back, catching my breath. Once I could breathe again, I looked up at him and said "I would've told you that without the tickling you know."