Stay ≫ Jack Gilinsky

chapter fourty three - cringe

I can hardly recognise the bus.

My last memories of it consist of smoke and shattered glass.

Not to mention the blood.

It was such a surreal night, but how things have changed since then.

"What"

The word sends shivers down my spine.

His tone is harsh, but not threatening. Rude but not painful.

"Oh you know, just getting some more ice for Johnson, you know, your friend, the one you punched."

His eyes widened from my courageous tone which I'm certain he was not expecting.

"Yeah his eye's kind of swollen shut, so if you don't mind" I wave my hand signalling for him to move out of my way,

"I-is he okay?"

"Careful Gilinsky, you almost sound like you care"

"Of course I fucking care you slut"

"You know, the word slut is so overused that it becomes brutally inoffensive. Besides it's irrelivent in this conversation which seems to be going no where so move"

"You're scared" he mumbles.

He looks down at my hand which I hadn't realised is shaking.

"But hell, you can sure talk the talk" he chuckles.

I ignore him and grab a bag of frozen peas from the freezer "I'm not scared of you, and if you really want to show Johnson you care then give him this yourself instead of hiding down here like a baby" I shove the bag to his chest.

"Fuck you"

"Feeling's mutual"

As he glares at me, I notice the scratches running across his face and neck - some more serious than others.

"And about Johnson, he's fine but it could've been a lot worse" I return the glare.

"Knowing you" I mumble.

"Knowing me?" his glare stiffens.

"Oh Sarah, what have you been told?" he chuckles.

"N-nothing" I stutter, realising I am not supposed to know what I do.

"Hm, what was it that they told you about? The drugs? The alcohol? The anger?"

I gulp.

He nods, "well, I can assure you babe, not all fires begin with a spark, some are ignited from an outside force"

Andrea snaps me out of it by asking me a life altering question.

"Nikes or Converse? Because I literally always wear the converse but the Nikes are so rad I wanna save them" she says, holding up her black high top converse and her white Nikes.

"Nikes for sure, I have a matching pair and they're so comfortable"

Andrea nods and returns to her suitcase.

"This room is way too quiet" Mahogany jumps up from her seat on the mattress and walks over to the speakers.

"Just because Madison is gone, doesn't mean we can't party without them" she plugs in her phone and starts playing Drake.

"Does anyone want anything from the kitchen?" I ask, jumping up from my seat.

Everyone shakes their head so I make my way downstairs.

The others are doing various things which don't seem to grab my attention as I walk towards the kitchen.

When I slide open the doors I'm thankful that nobody else is here.

I take a second looking around, remembering the argument with Jack.

Actually, come to think of it, we had several arguments in here.

I open up the freezer to see the bag of frozen peas that never actually made it's way to Johnson's nose.

"Well isn't this ironic"

I hadn't heard the door open, nor had I heard Gilinsky walk in.

"You could call it irony" I laugh.

"Or you could call it awkward as hell"

"True" he smirks.

He slowly walks towards me, "I remember the top you were wearing, when you were cleaning my scratches. You really need to wear that top more often"

He chuckles when I don't know how to respond.

"Want to know a secret?"

I nod.

"I really didn't really need to have those scratches cleaned, they weren't even deep - my grandma's cat could've done more damage" he laughs and I join him.

"You should laugh more often" He smiles.

You should smile more often.

"What's this, Gilinsky being cringe?"

"Shut up" he laughs.

He looks to the floor, "this room makes me uncomfortable" he mumbles.

"How come?"

"Because the majority of the times we've spent in here together, consisted of me being a jerk to you"

I'm not going to deny it, Jack had been horrible to me. I'm just glad he knows it.

I realise our bodies are almost touching and, sooner than I'd like, someone knocks on the door.

"Well, well.. What do we have here" A familiar face smirks.

Jack turns to face the door, before stepping away from me.

"Nate" Jack says blankly.

"Gilinsky, man"

"Who let you in" he says asks after they do some awkward man handshake.

Jack increases the distance between us and I'm just sort of standing there.

"Turns out, your uncle wanted to speak to me about what happened that night. We hit it off and he said I could come and go as I please"

Something about this guy puts me off.

He's slightly shorter than Gilinsky, yet gis presence makes him seem larger than life.

Dispite the height difference, Nate is just as muscular as Jack.

This is the first proper look I've gotten of Nate. His shaggy brown hair and his dark eyes perfectly compliment the scars that I notice are dotted around his well structured face. One on his chin, one on his cheek and one the outside corner of his right eye, which disappears in to his smile lines when he smirks, something he seems to have done at least five times in the past thirty seconds.

"Anyways, I'll leave you guys to it"

He turns on his heel and before leaving says, "Sarah, wasn't it?"

"Yeah"

"I look forward to getting to know you"