𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐲 ⋆ 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆

one

𝘎 𝘙 𝘌 𝘠
chapter one

A deep sigh escaped his swollen lips, him biting them was a bad habit from his younger years that came back every so often whenever he felt anxious or nervous. He could taste the metallic flavor of blood, the chapped skin opening up whenever his bad habit took over once again.

She usually teased him about his chapped lips, but would kiss them with much love anyways. It was something he couldn't help but think about. She would shower him with kisses every second of every day, and to not feel her plump lips against every inch of his face was something he missed extremely bad. Hell, he even missed the lipgloss he had to wipe from his face after her kissing attacks.

It was silent. There was no laughter ringing through the house, because he wasn't able to chase her down after he found out she stole one of his oversized shirts. There was no bad singing voice coming from the shower, because she wasn't there to sing along with their conjoined Spotify playlist.

He even missed her not turning back the temperature after showering to a decent one. Normally he would turn on the shower without thinking about it, cursing when he found out the temperature was at its highest and he had to change it back to his preferred warmth. The fact that he didn't have to do that anymore made him well aware of the fact that she had not been at their place in forever.

Jack's eyes lingered on her contact name. He never changed it and he was sure he never would. He had contemplated calling her several times now, but when push comes to shove, he always backed out. He didn't know where she was staying, who was comforting her and how she was doing. He had been dying to know, but was always too scared to actually take action. His thumb hovered over the screen, a deep sigh falling from his lips. Jack decided it was finally time to call her after two and a half weeks, not wanting to be in misery anymore.

When he pressed the call button and raised his phone up to his ear, taking his bottom lip between his teeth as he waited for her to accept he call. It didn't take long until she did so, her voice soft and fragile, as if she was afraid of speaking too loud. "Jack?"

The way his name fell from her lips sent shivers down his spine, breath stuck in his throat. He didn't expect his body to react the way it did when he finally heard her voice. It was as if his body lingered for her touch, and even thinking about having her in his arms was something that made goosebumps arise on his bare arms. "H-hi, Lee."

From the other side of the phone call, Harley tried her best to keep a good composure before answering Jack's phone call. She didn't want him to feel guilty for how she felt, even if he was the exact reason why she felt this way after all. She wiped away the tears that rolled down her rosy cheeks and took a deep but inaudible sigh before she spoke up, "Is everything okay?"

He opened his mouth to answer her question, wanting to tell her everything was fine and he just called her to make sure she had everything she needed. But he didn't. He wasn't going to tell her he was okay when he clearly wasn't. Harley was able to see right through him when it came to his feelings and the way he was trying to keep his tough act up, but it was no use.

"No, not really to be honest," He sighed, putting her on speaker and placing his phone down onto the marble of the kitchen island he was sitting at, so he was able to run his fingers through his tangled hair. "I hate it. I hate being alone. No, fuck that, I really hate being without you. It fucking sucks and I don't like it at all."

It was silent for a while, and Jack was afraid he had been too straight up with her about his feelings. He didn't know how she was coping being away from him and if Harley was hurting just as much as he was, and he may have ruined his chances of having a nice phone call after outing what he felt.

But when Jack heard a small chuckle coming from the other end of the phone call, a huge burden fell from his shoulders. A small smile crept its way onto his face and he sighed contently when her statement rang through his speaker.

"You know I'm a sucker for when you tell me about your feelings," She smiled, letting her head fall back onto the bed as her gaze fell upon the ceiling. "Is this your way of luring me back, Avery?"

Jack laughed, "Maybe. It might be. Is it working?"

She rolled her eyes playfully at his joke. And even if he wasn't able to see her, she was aware that he knew she did that. His corny jokes were the reason of her eye-rolling and even a hard goodbye couldn't stop her from reacting like this.

"I wish you told me about your feelings earlier though," She told him softly, "It would've spared us a lot of hurt, Jack."

His laugh instantly fell into a frown once he realized she wasn't ready to let go of all of this. She didn't say that in those exact and precise words, but from the way she mumbled and how her mood suddenly dropped, he knew enough.

"I know," He told her, his heart full of hurt and regret because he knew she was right. It would've spared them loads and loads of pain, sadness and tears and she would still be by his side. "I've never been this hurt before."

Harley sighed to herself as she toyed with a string on her sweater, "I feel the same. It hurts when you think everything is cool and it turns out everything is the exact opposite."