The Flirt

2.6

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Mark: Tuesday, 19 December
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Jack didn't say anything when he visited the next day, my parents were there and apparently he was indeed told he had dyscalculia despite the fact that he refused to listen to me.

I was still in a lot of pain from being in the accident, but I was going to go home and spend time under my parent's care. I just wasn't expecting Jack to show up after my father had forced him into a test.

He did though, with him he brought a thing of roses. He hid behind it and handed it to me without meeting my eyes. I thanked him and he just nodded.

"How are you today, Jack?" My father asked him.

"G-Good.." He said quietly without meeting his eyes.

"How was school, hun?" My mother asked.

"Al-Alright." He stuttered and still refused to look at anyone. He was wearing his thin jacket he looked rather cold, in fact I think he actually had a cold when he turned away and sneezed into his arm. "Sorry."

"No you're fine, bless you!" My mother smiled at him. "We are actually getting ready for Mark to leave the hospital."

"Oh, really?" Jack seemed to perk up at this. He turned his head to me. He gave a small smile, the first sincere one I've seen since I've been here with my parents. "That's great!"

"We're going back to my parents' house though." I told him and his looked like he was trying really hard to keep himself smiling. "You know, until I feel better."

"Oh.. Right!" Jack laughed a little bit, but it was clearly forced.

"Do you want to come with us Jack?" My mother asked. "It's a two hour drive, so you might miss some school if you come but if you want to, I wouldn't mind having another boy in the house."

Jack seemed a little flabbergasted by the offer. "I-I mean.. I would. I just would have to ask my mum."

"Understandable." She said. "If you want me to talk to her, I can."

Jack shook his head, he stated it was fine before exiting the room on his phone. "Do you guys really like Jack?" I asked, I didn't want them to just be faking liking him.

"I think he's wonderful." My mother said. "I'm sure when he's more comfortable around us, it won't be so hard for him to interact anymore."

"Funny, he must work really hard. After all, having a learning disability and having perfect grades must be a lot." My father smiled. "Good thing he's got a math genius like you, do you help him out?" I nodded. "That's good."

Jack walked back in the room and said it was fine with his mother, so we went to both his and my own house before driving two hours to my parents.

It was already dark when we left town and I was in the back with Jack leaning on my shoulder, his hand entwined with my own.

My mother and father were chatting idly in the front when I kissed Jack's head and I felt him squeeze my hand.

"How do you feel?" He whispered without looking at me.

"A lot better than before, that's for sure." I said. "How do you feel?"

"I felt dizzy earlier today but now I just have a bit of a headache. I feel fine otherwise." Jack admitted. I was glad that he actually said that he wasn't all perfect, it was nice. "I didn't go to school today."

"What? But you told -"

"I know." Jack interrupted. "I didn't feel all that great so I didn't go." Jack let out a yawn as he nuzzled into me. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked, but by the time it had even registered in Jack's brain, he was curled up beside me. Fast asleep.

When we got at my parents' house, I knew I was going to unfortunately have to wake Jack up. "Leave him, Tom can come get him." My father insisted and so I did, I was sitting in the living room when Tom came in with Jack in his arms. He must have thought it was me, because he woke up a little and when he looked up to see my brother he screamed and pushed on him so fast that they both fell onto the floor.

"I-I am s-so sorry!" He panicked.

Tom laughed though and lifted himself up off the ground. "No problem." He helped Jack - who was red in the face - up and he looked extremely apologetic.

"I-I thought y-you were Mark.." Jack managed to stutter out, I thought as much. "I should've k-known that he couldn't have c-carried me in."

"This is my brother, Jack." I introduced the two who had already gone through the painfully awkward phase that Jack did.

It was weird, when we first met he wasn't shy at all. Now it was as if meeting my family was really important; he didn't want to mess up.

Jack looked around the room a little bit after that. It was decorated with lights and tinsel. He looked at the pictures on the wall and smiled to my mother. "You have a lovely home Mrs. Fischbach."

"You're dating my son, and that's what you're going to call me?" My mother laughed and it made Jack freeze up. "Come on, I'm technically your mother in law. The least you could do is call me mom."

"Oh.. Okay." Jack nodded his head.

"But thank you for the compliment. Isn't the holiday season a fun time?" My mother laughed and squealed like a child. Jack nodded his head and laughed a little bit at her sudden enthusiasm. "Well let me help you boys get settled in." There was a pause. "Do you want to stay in the same room?"

"Uh.." Jack trailed off. We've slept together so many times before but now that we were in my parents' house it felt taboo almost.

"Yes please. Who else is going to get me water in the middle of the night?" I laughed.

"Wait what? I'm not getting you water in the middle of the night! You can technically walk still." Jack rebutted and it made my mother laugh. I suppose she was okay with us sharing a bed because when she gave Jack the Grand Tour, she introduced it as the room we would be staying in.

Eventually we all had dinner together and Jack actually started becoming more and more comfortable around my family. It was nice. They asked him about the things he liked doing and about his own life. He asked about their's in turn. He was a little shy when school was brought up but I think he was avoiding the fact that he got his grades through other methods.

I wonder if he actually stayed true that he would stop doing it, I never saw him working on homework when he spent time with me - besides math and occasionally science which I helped him with - it almost made me wonder if he could continue to boast about his high grades.

Jack and I went to bed the moment he let out a yawn, my mother insisted that we each got some rest. When we walked into my bedroom, Jack looked around. All of the personalized belongings had been torn from the walls and now it was just a bed with a dresser as well as the bags that laid on the floor.

I climbed into the bed first and Jack stood across the room, looking at me with caution. "Are you just going to stand there all night?" I asked him. "Aren't you going to come here?"

"Are you sure?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah of course." I said, and my tone must of belittled whatever he said. I had no idea why he would think I wasn't sure, I was more sure than anything else. Jack crawled into the bed and he curled up into me, there was something definately wrong right now but if he really wanted to talk he would have said so. I wasn't going to sit here and bother him when the painkillers I were on almost instantly shut me up.

~AN

I used to pre read these chapters and edit them and now I don't. I wonder if that is like a terrible idea.

Rinny!