4 a.m. // Jeggy

Chapter 20

I quietly open the back door leading into the kitchen, John and I moving inside as quietly as possible. I'm sure my father will be awake soon, but Angelica and Eliza will be sleeping for a while still.

I make two cups of coffee for us and grab the box of remaining donuts from yesterday. There's still quite a few left, so I just take the entire box out to the porch with us, balancing my mug of coffee on the box while I carefully navigate John and myself through the hallways.

We end up next to each other on the porch, drinking coffee while John's arm snakes around me. I ignore my racing heartbeat and pass it off as just the caffeine and not the fact that John has his arm around me (!!!).

We sit together, sipping coffee and taking bites of donut for quite a while, talking and laughing while ignoring the elephant in the room that was John's situation with his dad. We continued this until I heard someone frantically yank the front door open.

Eliza practically tumbled out the door, looking around before noticing us.

"Oh, Peggy! There you are. I went in your room and you weren't there, I called for you all over the house and I thought you'd left." She said, leaning back into the side of the house. She greeted John and he waved back to her with a smile.

"Sorry, Liza. We just came out here to sit for a little while." I told her. She waved it off and shrugged.

"It's all good. I'll tell Dad and Angie that you guys are out here so they know. I'll leave you to it!" She said, smiling before going back inside.

John and I laughed for a second after she met, specifically lingering on her tumble out the door looking for us. Or maybe she was just looking for more donuts? Who knew!

A little while passed as we shared each other's company, basking in the late summer warmth. It was so, so close to autumn and leaves changing and pumpkin spice. So close to sweaters and long sleeves and cute, layered outfits. At least I could cover up some bruises better that way. My mind switched over to thoughts of what had occurred at John's house. We should probably re-dress that wound, just to be safe.

Just as I thought this, Angelica's car began to pull out of the driveway with Eliza in the passengers seat. Eliza unrolled the window and stuck her head out, waving me over. I told John to wait just a second and I ran over to her.

"Where are you guys going?" I asked.

"We're gonna go hang out and study with some people from school. There's a big test tomorrow morning. Dad apparently already left this morning to get some things done at work, and he probably won't be back til late, like usual. We'll be back sometime tonight. Alex and Laf will be there, so we're gonna hang with them after. You two can join us once we're done studying if you want, I'll shoot you a text." She said all at once. Angelica was looking impatient to leave. I nodded and waved at her as they kept backing out.

"Behave, children!" Angie called before zipping out of the driveway. I rolled my eyes and went back to John, explaining everything to him.

"Alright. Do you want to keep hanging out or call it quits? I'm hoping the first option but it's up to you..." He said. I smiled and told him I wanted to keep hanging out, then realized I had never mentioned the thing about redressing his cut.

"We have a while bunch of first aid stuff inside, so if you come in with me, I can get it all taken care of and hopefully better than the quick job I did last night." I told him. He nodded and agreed that it was a good idea before following me inside, empty coffee mugs in hand.

We stopped in the kitchen to put the mugs in the sink before I led him around, giving him a quick tour. Finally, I led him upstairs and told him to head into my room and wait for me to grab the first aid kit from my bathroom. I take a deep breath when I enter the bathroom and sigh, looking at myself in the mirror for a moment.

My recent stress and building lack of sleep is obvious, etched into my face. I'm still wearing sweatpants and my tank top from last night, and my curly hair remains in its tight, solid bun on top of my head. Without any makeup on, my face looks a little less bright than it used to, and my under-eyes are quite purple. I look like a little bit of a hot mess.

I search around for the first aid kit, and finding it isn't difficult. It's a huge, well stocked container, much bigger than the average first aid kit. I probably don't need this entire thing, but I bring it with me anyway.

When I get back in my room, John is sitting on my bed without a shirt on. If it weren't for the circumstances, I'd be quite excited to see that. I mean, I am excited to see it now. My heart is back at it's gymnastics routine. But for now, I tell it to calm down and let me help John with the more pressing matter of his sliced side.

I carefully unwrap the gauze and remove the bandages. He winces slightly as I dab hydrogen peroxide on it, and without even thinking, my free hand goes to his hair and I start stroking it to distract him. He relaxes into my touch as I put more antibacterial cream on before bandaging him up.

Once I'm done, I set the kit on the floor and sigh deeply.

"Thank you, Peggy. I'm glad it was you I called. I can't thank you enough for helping me." He said, laying there on the bed, still shirtless and not seeming to move to put it back on soon.

"Of course, John. I'd do it a thousand times over for you. Whenever you need me, just call. I'm usually awake anyway." I told him, continuing to run my fingers through his curls. I settled myself next to him, lying on the bed as well.

This seemed to be where we'd be hanging out for a while, talking. Don't start getting any naughty ideas, alright?

I suddenly felt at peace, almost tired. I could tell he was too, especially after being up all night last night. I was used to it, but I doubted he was.

After a little while in comfortable silence, he sat up and moved to lean against the pillows at the head of the bed. He waved me next to him and put his arm around me again, this time feeling a little different as he was still shirtless. Stay calm, Peggy. Just a gorgeous guy wearing no shirt with his arm around you, no big deal.

I leaned into him and rested my head in his shoulder. He began to shift again though, so I lifted my head and looked up at him.

Before I knew it, our arms were around each other and I was sinking into the pillows beneath and behind me as his lips met mine.

I felt fireworks, gorgeous, loud, perfect fireworks, go off in my mind as he held me close to him. I kissed back, he kissed back more, and it felt so right. So, so right. Sure, maybe it was a bit much to be borderline - okay, waaaay past borderline now - making out on my bed before ever even talking about dating. Sure, we'd known each other for not super long and sure, we had just began to form a relationship that wasn't even romantic yet. But God, this just felt like it meant to be.

I hadn't kissed all that many guys before, but out of the ones I had, John was the winner by far. His soft lips against mine were gentle yet powerful. His hands were in my hair, on my face, my waist, my back, all over the place. Mine did the same, lingering in his curls and on his shoulders, running across his biceps and the abs that I adored already.

We finally pulled apart after quite a bit, both of us breathing heavily after being without air for quite a while, blushing and smiling.

"Well, that was something." He said.

Hell yeah, it was.

a/n: 20 chapters in and the relationship has finally begannnn (not technically but it's a start!!) but also... what will james think if he were to find out about this lil thing??