ℒℴ𝓋ℯ ℒ𝒾𝓀ℯ 𝒴ℴ𝓊

Second Thoughts

Jack laid upside down on the couch, texting Katherine. She hadn't left him alone about the whole jacket thing and he was fed up with it honestly. But they had gotten into silly little arguments before, and that was all it was, a silly little argument. Crutchie had left again in the same obnoxious fashion. But he was Jack's alarm clock; he probably wouldn't get up in time if it weren't for him.

Jack finally put down his phone after a long while. He didn't want to talk to Katherine anymore really. There was something strange about being with her. It didn't feel right, but he brushed it off for now, telling himself it would pass.

Jack hated the silence that he laid in every morning. It was awkward and uncomfortable. He wouldn't mind it if Crutchie busted down the door right about now. With lectures cancelled because the teacher got sick and they had no backup, Jack was free the entire day. And Katherine was honestly the last person he wanted to hang out with. His prayers were answered when Crutchie walked in, a very tired Davey behind him.

"The kid couldn't get through five minutes of a lecture without falling asleep." Crutchie threw his keys on the half wall. "His roommates are asleep and he refuses to go back there."

"So Dave, ya pull an all nighter?" Jack smiled wide, not a fake one like he normally puts on. Being around Davey made him genuinely happy.

Davey nodded, "I don't mean to be a bother but Crutchie insisted.." he looked at the ground.

"It's no big deal! Crash here for a few hours. I don't have anything to do today."

Davey nodded, sitting on the opposite side of the couch. He took Jack's jacket off and just draped it over his shoulders, immediately falling asleep.

Jack sat up properly on the couch. He got a warm and fuzzy feeling seeing Davey with his jacket on, but didn't acknowledge it. It was just a jacket anyway. "He needed it."

Crutchie nodded, looking between the two. "I'm gonna go back to my lecture. I don't want to sit around while you stare at David with heart eyes all day."

Jack snapped out of his trance, looking up at Crutchie hurriedly. "What? Heart eyes? Crutch ya outta your mind!" He knew he felt something towards Davey, he didn't know what it was and Katherine existed so he wouldn't dream of thinking about Davey like that. This was a strong friendship, that was all. And that's all it ever will be. But he couldn't tell himself that there wasn't something here. A little spark inside him waiting for another added spark to engulf into a beautiful flame.

Jack listened to music very quietly after stealing Crutchie's earbuds. Just thinking about whatever, He got up to grab his sketchbook at some point but had lost all track of time, just deep in the music and his sketch. Was it weird to draw someone asleep? Jack didn't think so. Davey was just so peaceful and perfect. As in....... anatomy...... yeah that sounded weird and Jack wasn't doing a good job convincing himself that was the only reason he had drawn him.

Jack didn't know when or how it happened, but Davey had ended up right next to him, curled up into his side. His hair brushed Jack's chin, the way Katherine's did, but this was different. It was stupid how something as small as hair made all the difference to Jack, but it did.

Davey hummed and nuzzled his head into Jack's neck. It had been awhile since Jack had just relaxed with someone. Davey was just so close. He smelled like coffee and a new book. An odd combination, but Jack liked it. Something just wasn't letting him wake Davey up, something was pinning him to the couch. An iron grip on his entire body that wouldn't let him budge, except to put his sketchbook down. He kind of just looked at Davey. A million thoughts a minute as he studied his features. He looked away from him again.

A strong friendship Jack. A strong friendship.

But you like him.

But you don't, think about Katherine.

The devil and angel on his shoulders were fighting again. They always did. But it was more frequent lately. Jack had thought he had found something with Kath, a sense of belonging and peace. A rest to those angles and devils, but he was wrong. And it would take a few more things for him to finally come to that conclusion.

About an hour passed, the iron grip never left and neither did the angel and devil. Davey started to stir next to Jack, his eyes fluttered open and he slowly sat up. He noticed he was leaning against Jack and his eyes went wide, "Oh my God I am so sorry." He almost sat up all the way but stopped when Jack gave him a small smile

"Don't sweat it Dave! You're fine." Jack just stared at him. Davey looked so scared, embarrassed, excited. Jack didn't want to look away, some sort of magnet had their eyes attached. Drawn to each other, but it was the negative sides, they repelled at a certain distance and no matter how hard you tried you couldn't get them to connect.

Without any warning Katherine came through the dorm door. Davey jumped, pushing himself against the back of the couch and hugging his stomach. Jack noticed he did that, he didn't ask about it, but he did it whenever Katherine was around. She sat right in between the two, practically on top of Jack, rambling about who knows what.

"Um I should uh get going." Davey's voice got quieter as he went on with the sentence, rushing to get up, the jacket falling on the floor as he did so. He gave Jack a half smile and quickly left.

Katherine picked up the jacket, snuggling into it. "You need to wash this." She made a face.

Jack raised an eyebrow "Why?" He didn't want to deal with her right now.

"It smells like coffee. And books." She took the jacket off, throwing it across the room and continued to just ramble on.

Davey was hurt and scared. Katherine barged in in the middle of one of the best moments of his life, she had seen him with Jack. It hurt him that Jack didn't try and ask him to stay, or what was wrong. Davey knew when he was wanted, he knew when he wasn't. And just then, he was not wanted, well, by one person in the room. Maybe it's a good thing Katherine showed up. If she hadn't, who knows what would have happened. Davey wasn't meant for Jack. Never was, never will be. And the more he told himself that the more his crush subsided. Which to him, was a rather good thing. The spark he had was slowly and surely dying off.

Davey opted for the library again. The same two person table in front of the same wall of windows. The same essay that Davey felt even stronger about now, able to project more thoughts and information into it. He and Jack had a great friendship blooming, and Davey wasn't going to let a feeling get in the way of it all.

"David, right?"

David looked up from his laptop to see the piercing brown eyes. The ones that made him so insecure and scared. "Yes. Katherine?" Davey knew her name, just didn't want to seem like he cared for it.

She nodded "Saw you had Jack's jacket."

Davey raised an eyebrow "Yes.."

She hummed "Consider yourself lucky, he doesn't just give that jacket to anyone."

What Katherines target was Davey didn't exactly know, and it was hard to pick up on. "Um, sorry why are you telling me this exactly?"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "I don't want you getting in the way. You could never meet his expectations so don't get your hopes up." With that she left.

Davey was at a loss for words. Words. Funny little things. They can build people up, comfort them, and they can tear them down like they just did to Davey. The spark was completely gone, the last ember had diminished and it made David an empty hole again. This was college anyway, there was no time for love.