The thought didn't cross your mind, at first. It's just what couples do, you thought. Spend as much time as possible together, right? If Jared was bothered by it, he didn't mention it. You two just held hands as you walked through the hallways, met at your classroom doors to walk the other to their next hour, walked to either your house or his house after school, and "study" for the rest of the night.
But Connor had thought it. Well, not just thought it. He bluntly said it. "Y/N, why are you so clingy?"
You had just passed him in the hallway, running an errand for your teacher in the middle of class. You hadn't thought you'd see Connor sneaking off to smoke and you definitely hadn't thought he would say such thing.
"What?" you asked, gripping the papers tighter in your arms.
"Why do you cling to Jared so fucking much? It's suffocating to watch. I can't imagine what it might feel like for him," Connor shrugged and continued on his way.
You, on the other hand, stood rooted in place. Clingy? Were you clingy? Did other people think you were clingy?
Did Jared think you were clingy?
You shook your head, erasing the thought, and continued on your way. When you arrived back in your class, though, the thought haunted you once again. Did Jared think you were clingy? Did your boyfriend find you clingy?
The bell rang and students flooded through the door. You slowly got up, grabbed your bag, and walked out into the hallway to see Jared waiting for you. You managed a small smile and grabbed his hand. "Hey," you said, pressing a small kiss to his lips.
"That's gay," Jared joked.
You gave a halfhearted chuckle and began the walk to lunch. You didn't speak, the thought still jumping around in your head. You almost didn't hear your boyfriend talk.
"You okay?" he asked, giving your hand a soft squeeze.
You nodded. "Y-Yeah, I'm good. Just…stuff we learned in class…really confusing."
Jared raised an eyebrow, but didn't press further. You two made your way to your table. Evan had already sat down and was munching on his sandwich. You and Jared sat across from him, Jared laying his arm around your waist as he always did.
"Hey, Evan," you smiled, taking out your lunch.
"H-Hi, Y/N," the boy greeted back. "Hi, Jared."
Jared nodded. "Hey, Hansen. Where's the pothead?"
"Fuck off, Kleinman."
"There he is!" Jared laughed as Connor sat down. Connor threw his arm around Evan's shoulders, causing the poor boy to turn bright red. Connor looked at you and how close you were to Jared. You looked down and scooted away from Jared, just a few inches so he couldn't wrap as close of an arm around you. Jared looked at you, his face showing signs of concern. "Babe? What's wrong?"
"Nothing. It's just a bit warm in here, is all," you said and took a bite of your food before he could ask anything else.
The rest of the day went by awkwardly. You didn't give him a goodbye kiss after lunch, your walks to class were silent, and you didn't meet him by his classroom after school. Jared was freaking out. Were you sick? Were you hurt? He didn't know! Luckily, he caught you as you were walking out of school.
"Y/N! Hey!" he called out and ran to your side. He grabbed your hand, causing you to stop. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but if it's something I did please tell me. I want to make it up to you," Jared whispered.
You shook your head and pulled your hand out of his grasp, pushing it into your sweatshirt pocket. "No, no you didn't do anything. It's just…one of those days, y'know?"
Jared frowned. "Yeah…sure. So, your house or mine?" he asked.
You were about to respond when you saw Connor out of the corner of your eye. He watched you two and crossed his arms, a smirk settling on his face, waiting to see how this played out. You bit your lip. "Actually, I think I'm gonna go home. By myself. Yeah."
Jared nodded. "Alright, then. I can't do anything to stop you, I guess." He grabbed your shoulder and kissed your lips, softer than he would've liked. "I love you," he whispered.
You cracked a smile. "I love you, too." You gripped the strap of your bag and walked home. Alone. And boy, was it awful.
Later that night, as you were perched on the couch with a book in hand, the doorbell rang. Being the only one home, you got up to answer it. Your breath caught at the sight of Jared holding a bouquet of roses. "Hey," you said.
He smiled and held out the flowers. "That's gay," he teased. "Mind if I come in?" You grabbed the flowers and stepped aside, closing the door behind him. "Can we talk?"
You nodded and walked to the kitchen, filling a vase with water for the flowers. "What do you want to talk about?"
Jared stood next to you, cautiously putting his arm around your waist. "You know what I want to talk about, Y/N. This isn't some off day for you. Tell me what happened," he whispered and helped you cut the stems.
You shook your head and put the cut roses in the vase. "No. It's no big deal."
Jared set the scissors down and grabbed both your hands, forcing you to face him. "Y/N, this is a big deal. You're not acting like yourself. Just tell me what's going on so we can fix it," he said.
You sighed, knowing there was no way he would leave without you saying what was bothering you. "Connor said…Connor said I'm clingy. And I didn't know if you felt the same so I tried to back off but it's really hard, Jared. I'm sorry. I just love you so much and-" you were cut off by his laughter.
"Murphy said you were clingy?" Jared laughed. "Him? Why would you believe an asshole like that? He can barely keep his hands off of Evan at school! If anyone's clingy it's him."
You closed your eyes and groaned. "I messed up, didn't I?"
Jared calmed down and smiled gently, cupping your cheek. "Nonsense. You always mess up," Jared joked, causing you to punch him in the shoulder. He chuckled. "Alright, I deserved that. But the point is, fuck Connor. Not literally, though. You fuck me."
"Jared!" you exclaimed, feeling your cheeks heat up.
Your boyfriend laughed. "Anyways, just…fuck Connor. Fuck him and fuck anyone who thinks that because it's not up to them to decide what our relationship is and is not. If they think were clingy good for them. But we don't so it doesn't matter." Jared walked you back to the couch and sat down, pulling you close. "What matters is you and me and that's it. So what do you think? Do you think we're clinging to each other?"
You shook your head. "No. I like how we are."
Jared smiled. "Me too. So lets keep it that way."
You smiled and leaned forward, gripping the collar of his shirt. "I love you, so much. Thank you for everything."
Jared smiled and cupped the back of your neck. "Thank you for everything. I love you, too," he whispered before slamming his lips against yours.
The rest of the night was filled with cuddles, kisses, and teases. You two went back to your normal ways and teased Connor about his own clinginess.