𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 - JERIC

2) question

"I'm so lucky," Rachel grinned at the two boys in front of her, "you two are my heroes; thank you so much." Eric smiled as he felt a sense of accomplishment at her words, and mainly relief that she was not leaving. She stood up and extended her arms open, which Eric quickly put himself into to beat Jack to the punch. He felt her arm wrap around him quickly and kiss him on the cheek before turning to Jack. It was in slow motion, the way she placed her hands delicately on her shoulders as she was about to wind up another kiss for his cheek, but Eric quickly pulled her away. Nopity nope nope, Jack was not winning this one!

"No, thank you." He smiled a little too broadly and made his voice a little extra sweet while placing a kiss on Rachel's cheek, mirroring her previous actions. She just laughed obliviously, still very grateful to them, for a reason Eric was still a little confused on. "Hey, we're the ones that are lucky," Jack grinned, using his charming words to refocus her attention back on him, and kissed her on the cheek. What a horrible person to take advantage of a poor, vulnerable woman. Tainting her cheek with his lips.

"Oh, come here, you," Eric said as he wrapped his arms around her again. And so, some sort of game started between the two boys. Who can have Rachel's attention the longest.

Rachel continued to laugh, looking a little more confused when Jack hugged her again. Eventually, they stopped the cycle and stood there awkwardly, sighing to themselves. She held her hands in front of her, clearly confused on what to do now while they both waited expectantly.

"Excuse me," Rachel said politely with a smile before making her way to her room. Before she could get very far, though, she turned around.

"Oh, by the way, I promise I'm not going to be a bathroom hog, but I really do like to start the morning with a bubble bath..." She continued talking after that, but Eric stopped listening after the word 'bubble bath.' He just stared blankly at her with a dazed smile on his face until Jack spoke.

"Yeah," Jack said quickly when Rachel asked for reassurance.

"I demand you take bubble baths," Eric added.

"Really?" she asked, smirking and crossing her arms. "Why?"

His eyes widened dramatically at the realization that this was reality, waking out of his trance. "Why?" When he couldn't think of anything, he tilted his head toward the boy next to him. "Jack?"

He wasn't looking at Jack, but he knew he was probably giving him a glare to the back of the head. Not his problem.

"Well um..." Jack hesitated, trying to think of a reason on the spot: "You know, if you don't take bubble baths, that means you're not comfortable—"

"Comfortable," Eric emphasized, nodding his head at her in an attempt to reinforce the point. Just as he was about to continue along with Jack, he could feel his arm sling around his shoulder. He glanced at it quickly before choosing to ignore it and the way it felt. At this point he wasn't sure if Jack was being friendly or trying to strangle him.

"--living here with us," Jack finished, and Eric added a "with us" at the end of his statement for both extra emphasis anc credit for the lame, yet considerate, excuse. In the corner of his eye, he noticed Jack give him a fleeting glance, but he kept his gaze on Rachel. She was the focus of this anyway, and he didn't want her to catch on.

"We just want you to be yourself," Jack assured her, his other arm patting Eric on the chest.

"With bubbles," Eric said, nodding. The hand wasn't there for long, but it felt like ages due to the creeping pricks of warmth rising on his chest where he was tapped.

He brushed it off as Rachel's intense gaze on him and then she waved her hand in the air while she walked up the stairs, dismissing any of Eric's thoughts in the process. "Oh, you guys, I am this close to being glad that my boyfriend actually left me." Hell yeah! Eric couldn't help but think.