One Shots

Jack Barakat: You're Beautiful, Inside And Out.

You lay in your bed groggily staring at the ceiling, your -insert your eye color here- lazily twinkling up. Your black tank top rests loosely against your torso while your purple plaid pajama pants radiating heat among your body. Your alarm clock has gone off three different times. Once at 5:30 a.m., second at 6:00 a.m. and third and last at 6:20 a.m. You figured after high school, you'd never have to wake up again this early; well, you were wrong. Why couldn't you just sleep in? Well, the answer remained simple. College.

Your phone begins to vibrate while it lay on your tummy, as you begin to roll into the curled and tucked blankets and sheets, all black. You bury your face into the black fluffy pillow. "Whyyy?" You groan aloud. You contemplate playing hooky, but you knew if Jack ever found out, he'd be upset with you. Not like it mattered all that much, you aren't together. But he is your best friend, and his opinion does matter to you.

You grab at your phone, holding it in your stretched out arm, ahead of your tired eyes, waiting for them to adjust. 'Are you going to be ready any time soon?' Your eyes read the blurry message, sent from Jack. You groan, "No..." You mumble to yourself. You text your mumble in response. You throw your phone somewhere in the blankets and sit up lazily. You look around at your small room, only holding your bed, the closet and desk, the desk covered in papers, the T.V. and your newly bought laptop that Jack got you for your birthday. Your bedroom walls are a sky blue and the ceiling is the same color. The carpet, however, is a plain black.

You stand up and walk over to your closet tiredly, just to hear your phone vibrate once more. "Fuck off, Jack," you whisper. You slide the closet door open slightly to reveal a nice set of clothes, picking out a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a purple Jack and Sally shirt, and a matching blue panty and bra set. You lean down and grab a pair of black converse, standing back up and walk to your bed. You quickly strip of your clothes and change into the outfit that was grabbed. You leave the mess, flopping down onto your bed and quickly search through the blankets and sheets for your phone, quickly finding it. (You have an iPhone 5, that Jack bought for you, he spoils you with everything even though you tell him not to, because you can't give him anything in return, but he always just gives you the cute half smile and tells you he doesn't care.) Before walking out the door of your room, you sit at the end of your bed, going through it to check your messages, seeing that you have two from Jack. ‘You ready yet? I’m outside.’ You shrug not caring, replying with a no. You look over his second message, ‘God, I hate how girls take forever to get ready. I’m still outside. I’m going to come inside in a few minutes if you don’t hurry up to raid your fridge. I’m hungry.’ You shrug once more messaging him that it’s okay, that you still need to go to the bathroom and do your hair, make-up and work on your smelling good.

As you travel two steps out your door across the hall into the bathroom, you swipe your hand against the light and hear the door unlock and open, revealing a lot of light into your small one bedroom apartment, that you’ve been living in since you turned eighteen, three years ago. “Hello?”  You hear Jack’s familiar voice call out. You call back out to it, “Hey!” You have everything waiting on the sink counter, the brush, the ponytail, the make-up. You begin simply running the brush quickly through your hair as Jack peeks his head into the bathroom, revealing his deliciously yummy adorable face. You never had the guts to admit it, but you’ve always had a crush on him, and he’s never directly said it, but he’s always kind of flirted with you in the manner of him liking you in return; which made things a lot worse. He stares at you for a few seconds before asking, “Can I please brush your hair? I swear, you’re going to tear every piece of hair of your scalp the way you brush it.” In the pit of your stomach, the butterflies swirl. You quickly nod your head, handing him the brush. His skunk hair perfect, Jack grabs the brush and turns you around, back to face the mirror. He grabs the ponytail and slides it down his hand to his wrist and gently begins to brush your hair. He always has managed to brush so carefully, knowing that he’s scared to hurt you. “Thank you,” you manage to whisper.

You can’t help but stare into the mirror at both of you standing so close, his hand to the brush and the brush riding through your hair, there being no rats; as if they all ran away because he came around. He brushes all the hair together and put the ponytail in your black shining, shoulder blade length hair. “You’re welcome, love,” He says, with a full smile on his face. You step forward to grab the make-up to begin putting it on, but you notice Jack scowling in the mirror. You stare back, “What?” He shakes his head, “You’re one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met, inside and out. You don’t need make-up. It just makes you ugly.” You stare at him awkwardly, the butterflies worse since he just called you beautiful. You let go of the make-up and grab the perfume. “Can I at least put some of this on?” He nods approvingly. He steps back and allows you to squirt the bottle of Vanilla Fields at your neck, wrist and torso. You then grab the deodorant and quickly slide it up your shirt and put it on. He blushes as your shirt rises up to show your tummy, but he looks away politely. You turn around and smile, walking out of the bathroom and slide passed him, sliding the light switch off. You walk the short distance into the plain living room to see a bouquet of roses. You quickly turn around and look at Jack to reveal that he is standing exactly behind you. “-Insert name here- I’ve wanted to ask you something for a long time now, but I’ve never known how to say it.” His cheeks flare to a hot pink color, and the cute grin you love is covered all over his face. “Yeah?”  You ask in an unsure voice, but you’re hoping that it’s what you’ve been dying to hear. “Well, you’re quite special to me. You’ve been my best friend since 3rd grade, and we’ve been through thick and thin together. And well, I’ve had the biggest crush on you for a very long time. So, I was wondering that if I took you out on a cute date, or a romantic date, would you be my girlfriend?”