"I'll see you in a minute. OK?" Jack said as he stroked my cheek. He was dropping me off at me dorm to clean myself and put on fresh clothing.
"I'll only be an hour, you won't have time to miss me." I swiftly put my lips to his and headed off to my room. I was almost to my building when I turned around to see Jack watching me go. I couldn't hide my smile. He was amazing.
My dorm sisters had all left for summer. But since my parents were having trouble with multiple things, I decided to stay out of their hair. The girls also needed someone to take care of the building, and that girl was me.
All I needed was a quick shower and some clean clothes. That would take way less then an hour, but I needed time to think about things. Was I going too fast with Jack? Was I falling again? What was up with Zack earlier? How are things with Rian and his girlfriend? Why is Alex so attractive?
I shook my head to scratch that thought, I didn't want to see Alex that way.
I drove myself back to their hotel, Jack was already waiting outside. He led me upstairs to the room, which had loud abrupt noises coming from inside. Jack opened the door and I was flooded with relief. The guys were playing Xbox. Halo to be exact. They were getting extremely in to it, hence the shouting and cursing.
"Sorry about that." Jack apologized, "Guys, say hi to Grace, please."
Without looking away, in synchronization, they harmoniously said, "Hi Grace."
"Hi to you too. I guess."
"Want to play?" asked Jack. This got the boys' attention. Still in synchronization, they turned to look at Jack, horrid looks scribbled on their faces.
"What?!" they all said. Jack seemed confused.
"Dude, guy code? Do you remember? We made it Junior year." Rian explained.
"Page 4, section C." Zack continued.
"It states, that when enjoying Halo against any level higher than a Gunnery Sargent..." Alex added.
"That no person of the female variety can join the party, Yeah Yeah I know." Jack mimicked, remembering his oath to his friends back in high school. "But guys, that was like, forever ago, who cares."
"We do." the guys said angrily.
"Guys! Just let her play!" Jack shouted. They all started bickering about the 'guy code'. I couldn't help but wonder...
"Guys?" I said, but no one heard.
"Guys!" I yelled as loud as I could. They finally shut up and looked at me with surprise, "Sorry, it's just, do I get any say in this?"
"Oh..." Jack began.
"No, I don't want to play." I said.
"OK, well, we can go hang out."
"I would much rather hang out than play with these idiots." I said as I turned to the other room. Jack followed me in and shut the door behind him. The large bed in the middle of the room was quite intimidating to me, but when he just sat down, and patted the seat next to him, my fear soothed.
I sat in his lap instead. He played with my hair as I thought and put the right words together. I had to word this right or I could eventually ruin things with Jack.
"So, what are you thinking? You know, about us?" I couldn't think of anything else.
"I'm thinking... that you're really sexy right now." he laughed.
"Jack! I'm serious!" I crossed my arms in frustration.
"I think I missed you more then you can imagine." and then he kissed me. Jack made me feel like I was floating on a cloud. He made me feel like I was a princess.
I pulled away and I buried my face in his chest. I could stay there forever. We ended up falling asleep there. Sleeping with him next to me, made me feel lucky, yet vulnerable. What if he realized that I don't deserve him? I pushed the thought from my mind and slept peacefully.
I woke up that morning still in Jack's arms. He was awake and waiting for me. He rubbed my arms and kissed my shoulder sweetly.
"Good morning." he said like a gentleman.
"Good morning to you too." I said as wrapped my arms around him.
"So heres the deal." Uh-oh, "We have a concert tonight at the old theater. But... I have to be gone all day." Jack told me about a friend who was having trouble with things and how he was spending the day with him to help. It made me realize that theres more to Jack than his crazy side.
"Sorry about all that. But if you can hang with the guys if you want."
"Oh thats fine. I need to get to know your best friends to learn more about you. I'll be fine, we could play some Halo." confusion crossed his face.
"I thought you didn't like Halo?"
"Are you serious? This is a Brigadier you're talking to! I love Halo!"
"Holy shit, Grace!"
"I could've kicked their asses last night, but I think I can do it today." he smiled and finally lifted himself off the bed. He extended his hand and I took it as he lead me into the front room. Amazingly enough, Alex, Zack, and Rian were passed out on the couch exactly where we left them. We laughed and went downstairs for breakfast.