You Keep Me Safe (Jalex)

14: You Don't Even Know You're An Angel

Title from: "Bedless" by Pierce The Veil.

"My house, right?" Jack asks as he pulls out of the school parking lot, one hand on my leg.

"No, my dad isn't going to be home until late, and I'm sure he'll want me home since I wasn't last night," I say with a sigh.

"Okay, whatever you're comfortable with," he replies, giving my leg a squeeze. I smile to myself, putting in a Green Day CD to listen to on the way home. We pull into my driveway, leaving enough room for my dad to also pull in whenever he got home. We immediately go up to my room, me sitting on my bed as he stands in front of me.

"What do you wanna do?" he asks.

"Nothing," I reply, laying down. Jack jumps on top of me, knocking the air out of me. "Jack, what the hell?" I shout.

"M'comfy," he mumbles into my bed, him laying on his stomach on top of me.

"We can cuddle, but you gotta let me breathe," I reason, over-dramatically gasping for air when he gets up.

"Oh, come on, I'm not that heavy," he whines.

"Never said you were, but it's hard to breathe with a human laying on top of you."

"I suppose." With that, he swings my legs sideways and lays beside me. I turn on my side and let him cuddle into me, wrapping my arms around the thin boy. "Can you tell me what happened exactly with Lisa?" he asks.

"Well, okay. I was walking out of fourth period when they stopped me. Michael pushed me against the lockers, and I asked him what his problem was. That's when Lisa appeared. She's like obsessed with you or something. She somehow knew that we're together, told me we couldn't be, so I tried to tell them they can't control my friendships. Michael pushed me to the ground and Lisa told me she wasn't planning on only hurting you if we showed any signs of being more than friends."

"Oh," Jack says simply, curling closer to me for a few seconds before saying, "I need to use the bathroom," and getting up. I sigh at the loss of warmth, hearing the sound of a car outside.

Wait, what?

I rush to the window, seeing my dad getting out of his car. How is he home already? Moments later, I hear him coming up the stairs. Jack had better get out of the bathroom soon...

"Who's here?" my dad asks angrily, eyes scanning my room.

"J-Jack, he's in th-the bathroom," I stutter out. Why do I always fucking stutter?

"What did I tell you about him?" my dad warns, taking a few steps closer to me. His fists clench, causing me to close my eyes, but I snap them open again when I hear someone clear their throat loudly.

"Hello, Jack!" my dad says cheerfully, walking over to shake his hand.

"Hi," Jack says flatly.

"I'll leave you two to it, I suppose," my dad says, closing my door as he leaves. Why didn't he ask Jack to leave?

"Lex," Jack says, rushing over to me. He sits in front of me on my bed where I'd sat up, wrapping me into a hug. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," I whisper, feeling tears well in my eyes. This isn't fair.

"That's good," he replies, pulling back to put both of his hands on my cheeks. He looks into my eyes for a few moments before one tear falls, which he leans forward and kisses off my cheek. I give him a weak smile and lean forward to connect our lips, which immediately makes me feel a little better. I pull away to hug him fully, nuzzling my head in his shoulder.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," I mumble suddenly. He hugs me tighter in response.

"You don't deserve any of this, Lex, okay? I'm gonna stick with you through this. One day... all of this will come to a stop. We'll be in college, and we'll never see your dad again. We won't have Lisa or Michael around." I start to tear up as he talks to me, which he can't see. "Are you okay?" he asks me softly after about a minute of silence.

"I am since you're here," I reply weakly. That's when it hits me. When Jack goes home, I'll be stuck to deal with my dad. He didn't want Jack to leave because he didn't want Jack to suspect anything. As if on cue, Jack's phone rings.

"It's my dad," Jack says, untangling himself from me. He walks out of the room to answer the call, leaving me to wipe away the moisture that had formed around my eyes.

He walks back into my room with a sigh, not sitting down. "I have to get home, my dad wants me home since he thinks I could use some time away from you. Kinda dumb in my opinion," he says.

"Okay," I murmur, my voice breaking.

"Alex, promise me that if anything happens, you call me right away. I'll talk you through it as best I can, and I'll even drive over here if I need to."

"I promise," I whisper, standing up to wrap him in an embrace. I take a deep breath, breathing in the slight aroma that I associate with safety. Jack has become my safety. "Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I l-," I start. Woah, what? Way too early to say that!

"What?"

"I love how you're here for me, and I guess I just want you to know I appreciate you so much. I don't think you realize how amazing you are. You don't even know you're an angel."

"Thank you," he replies softly, kissing my forehead, then the tip of my nose, then my lips for a few seconds. "Stay safe, please."

"You know I'll try," I reply, kissing him one last time. "I'll see you tomorrow if I can."

"Yeah, definitely. Bye, Lex."

"Bye Jack," I reply sadly, pulling out of his arms. I immediately miss them around me and feel a frown come to my face as he leaves, closing my door behind him.

It's a few minutes before my door opens again.