ᴡᴏʀꜱʜɪᴘ ᴍᴇ (ᴇᴊ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ)

16: Welcome Home

        You didn't know when you'd fallen asleep last night, all you knew when you woke up was that you were still on the couch and still in Jack's arms. The only change was that you'd both laid down, and instead of sitting you were squished between the back of the couch and Jack's chest. As you blinked away the sleep in your eyes, slowly but surely the memories from yesterday came rushing back. The genuine forgiveness, the apologies, the crying. After all of that you must have passed out.

With your current position, you couldn't tell whether Jack had woken up yet or not, and a part of you was afraid to find out. You didn't know what to think after yesterday. Jack saying the words "I forgive you" had definitely reassured you, and him holding you had comforted you more than you could've imagined. A part of you still felt guilty, but at the same time another was doing its best to believe Jack.

Slowly, you raised your gaze to look up at him. Your face felt hot. Now that you weren't sobbing the closeness made you feel a lot more vulnerable. Even looking up, your vision was still obscured by his chest and the fabric of his hoodie. You still couldn't tell if he was awake. His breathing had remained steady, and he hadn't moved since you'd regained consciousness. You shifted, trying to move yourself upwards to get a clearer view of his masked face.

As soon as you moved, Jack glanced down at you. Your eyes went wide, and though you knew he couldn't see it, you were embarrassed by how flustered you were sure you looked.

"Uh... morning." You muttered up at him.

"Morning." Jack said, continuing to stare yet not moving. For a moment the two of you stayed still, arms still around each other and eyes still locked. It didn't last forever though, and soon enough Jack pulled away and sat up.

Immediately you were reintroduced to the coldness of the cabin, but you didn't dare to reattach yourself to him. You were no longer sure where the lines that shouldn't be crossed were. You didn't know if sleeping in each other's arms meant anything more than comfort, and you weren't sure whether it would ever happen again. The thought made you frown, but you couldn't bring yourself to ask anything about it.

Once Jack was out of the way, you stood up from the couch and headed for the kitchen. As you stepped onto the tiled floor, you watched through the window as white flurries floated towards the ground.

"It's snowing..." You said, looking back at Jack for a moment. You moved closer to the window and peered out, seeing the new layer of snow covering the forest floor. There wasn't much so far, you could still see bits of browns and greens poke through the white coat. Behind you, you heard soft footsteps approaching.

Jack walked up beside you with his head turned toward the window. "How much is there?"

"Not much, I don't think it started that long ago." You replied. Jack only nodded, his focus still out at the trees.

You'd momentarily forgotten all about why you'd gone to the kitchen in the first place, that being for food. Instead, you stood gazing out at the snowy forest, watching with Jack as snowflakes danced in the wind. Unintentionally you found yourself leaning towards him, your shoulders brushing just enough for you to not feel cold.

You looked up at him. Jack's mask was still on as it always was, but his hood was down and you could see his messy brown hair that was ruffled from sleeping. He seemed calm, and though you knew he couldn't actually see the snow, he seemed content.

A sudden growl from your impatient stomach reminded you of your hunger. You sighed, backing away from the window and reaching for the plastic bag containing the current food supply. You settled on yet another granola bar and quickly ripped open its packaging. Sinking your teeth into the bar, you were met with the familiar taste of honey-covered oats.