Unscripted (Jack & Crutchie)

Chapter 6 - Feelings

Criticism Spot!

(bit of a time skip, just a month or so.)

Jack's POV

I wiped the sweat off my brow after I sold my last pape. Normally I would head to Crutchie's corner to meet up with him and see if he was done, but he stayed in the penthouse today. He had a lot of pain in his ankle. He barely slept last night because of how bad it was hurting him. I only knew because I stayed up with him. He kept tellin' me to go to bed, but I couldn't. I just felt too bad. 

I grabbed some food for us on my way back to the penthouse and talked to some of the fellas. Race and Romeo said that Crutchie never came down. I didn't expect him to, but I still felt bad for him. Being up there all day, alone.

I climbed the ladder and as I was near the top, I called out to Crutchie.

"Hey, Crutch! I got us some dinner." But I didn't get a response. "Crutchie?" I got to the top and saw him laying on his side, his back to me. At first, I thought nothing of it, until I noticed a small amount of blood on the back of his head. 

I scrambled to get to him and shook him a bit. I lifted him a bit and set his head on my lap, saying his name over and over again. Shortly, his eyes fluttered open and met with mine.

"Hm..?" He said, still waking up.

"Are you okay? What happened?" I asked, not even thinking about giving him time to breathe.

"Huh..? Oh..." He said his words slowly as he looked around, seeming disoriented. "I was trying to see if I could walk and I fell. I must've hit my head on the railing..." He said, shifting to sit up. I quickly stopped him and pushed him back down to the laying position he was in before.

"No- hold on a minute Crutchie. You're bleeding a bit in the back of your head. Let me clean it first." I said, grabbing one of my shirts off the railing to try to clean him up. 

We sat in silence for a bit, before Crutchie sighed deeply and asked, "Jack, why're you doing this?"

I froze for a moment, unsure what he meant. "What do you mean?" I began to look at his head for any other places he might be bleeding from.

"Why do you waste so much time on me?" He said, his eyes locked on the sky.

"What do you mean 'waste my time?' You know you're my best friend, Crutchie." Crutchie only actually spoke about his thoughts every couple of days or so. I could tell he was always thinking, but I wouldn't push him to share. 

"Yeah..." he sighed once more, still studying the sky. "I'm not getting better." I could see his eyes well up a bit, but he wouldn't let the tears fall. It was still real hard for him to talk about his ankle, and I get why. I'd be pretty upset too.

"Of course you are. When we first met, what, three months ago, you couldn't get your own shirt off because it hurt ya so bad. Now look at you." I said, smiling to him.

"Yeah. I'm laying here while you patch me up again-"

"Crutchie, don't say that." I cut him off, not wanting him to beat himself up anymore. "I told ya before. If I didn't care, I wouldn't do it." After a few more seconds, I had finished checking his head. He sat up, and I moved to the back railing to rest against. He tried shifting over to the railing as well, but it was harder for him. I always felt real bad when I did something with ease and he couldn't.

We sat in silence again for a moment before Crutchie asked, "Jack, why're you different with me than the other fellas?"

"Hm? Whattya mean?" I said, turning my head to him.

"You're always real nice and... Emotional with me." He said, clearly choosing his words carefully. "But with them you're more closed off. Why?"

I sat for a moment, not sure how to respond. Why was I? I never really thought about it before.

"Sorry," Crutchie whispered. I was caught off guard, but then realized I had been quiet for a while.

"No no no," I quickly replied, "I just... I hadn't thought about it before." We sat for a few more seconds before I continued, "I just feel more comfortable with you." It was true, I always have felt more comfortable with him. I just felt like I could say what I was thinking and not worry about my reputation. I didn't want the other fellas to see that side of me.

"Well, I'm glad."

"Hm?"

"I'm glad. I'm glad I get to see this side of Jack Kelley."  He smirked, nudging my shoulder.

As we tend to do, we sat in silence for a bit again. Night had fallen and I knew Crutchie liked to watch the stars. I often looked over to see them reflect in his eyes. As I stared at him, he kept his gaze up. I studied every detail of his face. I looked at his light blue eyes and took note of how his dirty blonde hair fell in various areas, usually right above his eyebrows. 

While I continued gazing, he eventually turned his head to me and we locked eyes. Normally I would quickly look away, however, I didn't this time. We looked at one another in silence for a few moments before I began to lean forward. 

What am I doing? I thought to myself. All I knew at this moment was that I wanted to be closer to him. As I continued to slowly lean forward, I noticed that he was leaning toward me as well. We continued to get closer, and after just a few moments, we were kissing.

We stayed like that for a moment or two, before we each pulled back. Our heads still close together, we locked eyes once again. 

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," I said, without even thinking. Crutchie's lips grew into a smile as he looked down.

"Me too."

(Word count - 1057)