Chapter 24 #2
If he stays in the tub too long, it’ll end up hurting more than it could help.
I’m about to nudge Jack when Dylan walks into the room without knocking, typing on his phone.
“Schultz, are you still one of the living dead, or can I tell Coach you’re feeling better?
He just called to remind us to keep all our sink cabinets open to keep the pipes from freezing and asked. ”
Ouch, Dad called them before me? Why don’t you just stab me next time, Dylan? “He’s sleeping,” I answer, and he looks confused.
“Um, where?”
“The tub,” I say, and Dylan walks closer to peer around me, finding Jack asleep surrounded by a mountain of bubbles.
“He’s not actually asleep like that, is he?” Dylan asks, looking at me in disbelief.
“Yep.”
He scratches the back of his neck. “Shit, we were hoping after sleeping all morning, he’d start to feeling better.”
“I was just about to wake him up if you want to ask how he’s feeling after?” I ask, and Dylan’s dark eyes teem with what I can only assume is mischief, smirking.
“If you pass up the opportunity to draw a penis on his face, I’ll be extremely disappointed,” he jokes, and my jaw drops.
“He’s sick!”
Dylan rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. “So? Jack once put pink hair dye in Coop’s shampoo bottles, and he had to bleach his hair to try and dye it back to his normal color. Ended up turning orange, so then he buzzed it. Coop was more pissed off than usual for weeks.”
“Jack wouldn’t do that,” I argue, but I’m not sure why Dylan would lie about this.
“Oh, he totally did. This is harmless in the grand scheme of things.”
I look at him skeptically, but if he’s going to do it, then he needs to hurry up. “So do it. Why are you waiting for my permission?”
“Because you’ll be stuck here until further notice with his pissy mood once he’s coherent enough to realize it’s there.
They just shut down campus. Coop just got back a few minutes ago from picking up Sara and Ellie, so they can crash here too.
We’re officially snowed in, but at least we can have some fun. ”
“I had nothing to do with this if he asks,” I say, and he frowns.
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“I’d like to think I can plan a prank more mature than, Har har, let’s draw a penis on his face. What are we? Seven?” I ask, chuckling under my breath. I cast another look at Jack, feeling a little bad for him since he’s sleeping peacefully, but it sounds like he’s had it coming.
“Actually, I’m a five-year-old at heart. But if you want to step out for a moment to leave me alone at the scene of the crime, it’d give you plausible deniability.”
“Good luck,” I say, patting his shoulder to refill Jack’s water. When I come back a few minutes later, Dylan’s laughing so hard he can barely breathe, clutching his side.
I shake my head, shoving him out of the bathroom to check on Jack, who is still passed out, except now there’s a graphic drawing on his forehead.
I nudge his shoulder, trying to be gentle.
“Jack, c’mon, you gotta get up. The water is starting to get cold, and you’ll end up worse if you stay in here longer. ”
His eyes blink open lazily at me. “Did I fall asleep?”
I can’t help smiling at him. “Yeah. You did.”
“Thanks for not letting me drown,” he murmurs, still sounding congested, but hopefully he starts feeling better soon.
“You won’t be thanking me later.”
“Huh?” Jack asks, and I shake my head.
“Never mind. Here’s a towel,” I say, grabbing a clean one from under the sink for him. Pretty sure Jack might be the only college guy I know who has clean and folded towels. “And a tissue, you might want to blow your nose.”
I give Jack some privacy to get out because I honestly don’t think I’m capable of watching him without staring to the point of crossing a boundary.
I like Jack much better with clothes on.
Just kidding, but it’s certainly a lot easier to pretend we’re friends when I’m not distracted by his lack of clothes.
I sit on his bed, checking my phone to fire off a quick text to Macy, asking if she’s okay. She was hanging out with a friend from one of her classes when we spoke earlier, but she’ll probably have to crash there tonight if she hasn’t made it home by now.
It’s hard to not feel disappointed when the only notifications on my lock screen are from Ellie asking if I got stuck on my way back from class.
Jack walks out in only a towel a moment later, and it takes a lot of effort to not laugh at Dylan’s handiwork.
“I didn’t have any clean clothes in there,” he explains.
“No worries. How are you feeling?” I ask, trying to appear casual while he grabs some clothes out of his drawers I shut a little bit ago.
“Better, I think? I can kinda breathe now, which is better than earlier, but I’m still freezing,” he says, tugging on his clothes.
“You sound a little better. I told you it would help. Have you eaten?”
“No, but I’m not hungry, though. I think I just want to sleep.”
I nod because I expected he’d want to go back to sleep. I just wanted to check. I’m acting like a hovering girlfriend except I’m not his girlfriend. My phone vibrates in my hand, and I have mixed feelings when I see my dad’s name. I wanted him to call me, but not as an afterthought.
I don’t know how to make our relationship better, especially when I’m never his first priority.
Still, I answer it reluctantly because ignoring it will only make me feel worse.
He hardly ever calls without a reason. “Hello?” I answer, holding the phone up to my ear as Jack climbs into the bed next to me.
“Do you still have power?” he asks, cutting straight to the point.
“I think so, but I’m not home. I’m at a friend’s,” I lie, because it’s not like I can say where I really am.
“If you want to come stay at the house tonight, I can come get all of you. It’s been a while since we’ve seen you, and it’d make your mother feel better if you were home in this storm,” Dad says, and I suppose I should be glad he hasn’t seen me at the stadium, but I’d rather stay here.
“Dad, I’m okay, but thanks. We’ll do dinner soon, or something?”
There’s an awkward silence, and I can feel Jack staring at me. “How are your classes going?” Dad asks, continuing the conversation.
I reach for the end of my braid, twisting it between my fingers. “They’re good. All A’s.”
“Good.” This conversation feels like pulling on teeth.
“So, um, I’m assuming you still have power?” I ask, trying not to choke on the awkwardness I feel.
“Yeah, I’ve got the generator hooked up just in case. The damn news said it was only supposed to be a couple of inches, not a foot of snow with blizzard conditions.”
“Well, I hope you guys stay warm, but Macy is trying to show me something, so . . .” I trail off.
Dad coughs, clearing his throat. “You guys too. We’ll schedule dinner soon.”
“Sure. Bye, Dad,” I say, and he hangs up, but I feel beyond drained from that short interaction.
I drop my head against the headboard, and Jack reaches for my hand, squeezing it to offer his quiet reassurance. “You okay?”
I can’t help smiling when I look at him because there’s nothing like seeing a dick drawn on the forehead of the guy looking at you like he wishes he could fix all your problems. “Yeah,” I say, squeezing back his hand dwarfing mine.
“This might be a dumb question, but why wouldn’t they have power?” Jack asks, yawning.
“The snowstorm turned into a blizzard, and we’re officially snowed in. You’re stuck with me for the night.”
“I don’t mind. I like having you around, even if I’m shitty company at the moment.”
My heart turns to mush at those words. “I enjoyed watching you get in a bubble bath.”
He chuckles, his eyes drifting shut again as he relaxes into the pillows. “I knew you had an ulterior motive. If I find out you sent pictures of me lounging in bubbles to the group chat, I’ll . . .”
“You’ll what?” I taunt, and Jack shivers.
“I’ll figure it out later. I’m too tired.”
I pull my hand from his, still holding mine, to brush his hair from his face. Jack’s full lips quirk upward into the ghost of a smile as I help pull the blankets further up to cover him.
I’m in deep shit.