grace under pressure • jerome valeska

CHAP.50: Make Us Laugh

  "Where did the the women go during the explosion?" 

  "Where?"

  "Everywhere!" Jerome raised his hands in the air, chuckling. 

  I couldn't contain my laughter, falling over the bed and almost going over the edge as I held my gut as tears came to my eyes. Jerome laughs with me and I hit bed with the palm of my hand. I try and control my breathing as I sit up to try to not fall. Jerome grinned at me. I nod, pointing my finger to him as I try to get my ability to get speech back. 

  Jerome tilted his head at me with a smile. 

  "I didn't know ya liked puns that much, Grey." He laughed. I slap my knee, nodding and trying to get a sentence out. 

  "How...did you not...know that?" I say between laughs. He responds by just laughing along with me. 

  After awhile I finally calm down and shift on my spot on the bed. I look at Jerome with a grin. He copies it.

  "That was a good one." I breathe out. He chuckles then sighs. 

  "Yeah, I'm good like that." He tells me. I smirk. 

  "Cocky much?" I say. He raises a brow to me. 

  "Do ya even know me Grey?" He asks. I nod, making a face. 

  "True." I say.

  I continue to sit there, just smiling even after I had stopped talking. Jerome smiled back, warmly. He then put out his arms, motioning me to come next to him. I crawl over to him and snuggle in close, breathing in his cinnamon smell. I didn't know how he managed to stay smelling like that despite being in this place. I loved it. The smell kind of stayed in your system for awhile. It was nice. I curled closer to him, my head against his chest. I feel a rumble of a chuckle rising from him. 

  I look up at him and sigh, going to touch his hair. I poke at it. The side of my head was on the pillow, my other free arm in front of me while the other was in Jerome's red locks. I then dropped my hand, shifting a bit. Jerome stared at me, his smile gone. His eyes were filled with adoration and I knew I had the same look in mine. He went and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear with his gloved hand. I feel a small smile rise on my lips. He does the same. I then think of something. Something that had been on my mind recently. 

  "Do you ever wonder what would have happened?" I ask quietly, my voice almost a whisper. He makes a questioning face. 

  "Whata mean?" He questions.  

  "What would have happened to us if we never met?" I ask. He stills, his hand resting with the hair behind my ear. He breathes in, seeming to think of a way to answer. He looks away for a moment before turning back to me. 

  "I've thought about it." He replies. I make a slight nodding motion. 

  "What do you think would have happened?" I say softly. He looks into my eyes.

  "Well," He starts, putting a hand around my waist and settling on my back. He rubs my back a bit in a comforting motion as he thinks. He ponders for a second then grins.

"If we never met I know, knowing you, ya would keep going on. Even if you had to struggle. Even if everything went the opposite than you wanted...you would continue on. You would keep fighting til the very end. That's just how ya are. Stubborn no matter what." He says and I laugh a bit. I smile sweetly, a real smile. Again, he was the only one who could do that to me. I tilt my head. 

  "I think you'd keep on being crazy." I say simply. He chuckles then nods. 

  "Yeah. Probably." He says truthfully.