Run. || Alex Gaskarth A.U.

Chapter 9: Jack

In the past, there had been a straggly strip of my auburn hair that would always manage to slip out of my tight ponytails and buns. It would always get in the way of my right eye, and it bugged me so much that I got you to cut it off--remember? It was on the same day that I met Jack.

Oh, Jack. Always the charmer, of course, and his sense of humour in a time like this amazes me to this very second. His heart of gold is the reason why he will bear my bracelet on his slender wrist. I can picture him now, actually. Almond shaped eyes with irises the colour of mahogany--or maybe ebony--I'm not quite sure. And let's not forget his messy two-tone hair that could stop traffic and his slightly-bigger-than-normal nose.

You know what, Alex? You could take a leaf out of his book. I'm sure he wouldn't have done what you did at the waterfall.

I'm sure he wouldn't have been as selfish as you.

~

Alex let me keep the mutated tiger that had fallen in love with me the minute I had scratched the spot behind it's fuzzy ears. After debating over calling it Leo or John (Alex was of course team John), we settled on the name Kaspar. The mutated tiger became our companion, although, come to think of it, Kasper was never too fond of Alex.

 Kaspar had a habit of giving Alex dirty looks every time he tried to stoke his fur, which was rather amusing for me. Alex was mightily pissed off at that, but I found it funny. It was like Kasper had ruled Alex out the minute Alex had tried to name him John. I wouldn't blame him though. 

It was while Alex was trying to make Kasper drink some water that we found something else amusing--or at least I did.

"Come on, Kasper. Be a good kitty and have something to drink." Alex cooed, trying to coax Kasper towards the bank of the lake we were resting at. Kasper didn't move an inch, and instead proceeded to growl at Alex.

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink from it." I chirped, sending him a smirk as I released my hair from it's tight bun, shaking it out so I could let it blow in the breeze. Oddly enough, Alex didn't look at me as I shook out my hair, which led me to wonder if he was still feeling a little awkward after the kiss.

To be honest, I was still feeling a tad awkward. All it took was for our fingers to accidentally nudge off each other for one of us to start apologizing profusely to the other. It was a shitty bump in our road to friendship, but I was sure we would get over it.

Eventually.

"I think I'm going to wash myself off a bit. It's been nearly two weeks since I washed myself properly." I sighed out, heading towards an area of the lake that was sheltered by huge palm leaves. I was in dire need of a good scrub. The tiger blood was still on me, and I smelled like a dead rat that had been locked in a cupboard for two years.

Alex just nodded and muttered something along the lines of "Okay. I'll look after Kasper. Stay safe." He didn't offer to join me (thank God) and I was off, pottering along to the secluded spot that was to become my personal bath. I was going to have to scrub myself with the leaves a bit, but that didn't bother me too much. I had worse things that I had been forced to scrub myself with.

I don't know how I didn't see him at first. I must have been too deep in thought to even acknowledge the boy that was stark naked in the water already. Being the idiot I was, I remained oblivious to the company I had, and I began to strip off. I started with my boots and socks, then my jeans, followed by my top, and it was only when my hand reached to unclasp my bra that that the boy in the water--that I was still blissfully unaware of watching me--finally opened his God damned mouth.