Alex's POV:
I hear a knock at the front door, so I drag myself downstairs to reveal Zack standing at the front door. I knew he was one of Jack's friends, but I hadn't talked to him much.
"Alex, Jack needs you right now," he says urgently.
"He doesn't care about me," I mumble, starting to close the door.
"There's a rumor going around that you killed yourself, and he believes it."
For some reason, that stops me from walking away. "What do you mean?"
"People saw that Jack was especially sad the day after your breakup and that you weren't there, so they all assumed the worst. I'm assuming that's why Jack's so upset, he probably heard the rumor and assumed it to be true." He lowers his voice and he sounds genuinely concerned. "He cares about you so much, Alex, he just sucks at showing it half the time. He needs you right now, it's killing him that he brushed you off like that the other day."
"How did you know about that?"
"He FaceTimed me last night about it, he was a wreck. I promise, he loves you so much. At least go to his house to show him you're not dead, okay?"
He... loves me? No, that's not right. It's platonic. Yeah, that's it.
"Okay," I agree. As much as he hurt me, I couldn't let him be sad over a false rumor. We get into Zack's car, sitting in silence. He eventually describes his plan to me, so once he goes into the house, I wait in the car. For some reason, I'm nervous. You're nervous because he doesn't actually care. You should be dead and he'll be disappointed that you're alive.
I'm about to get out of the car and run home when Zack comes back out the front door, and I know I can't leave Jack. We make our way to Jack's room as quietly as possible until I'm standing in front of the one and only Jack Barakat, who's trying not to cry. He has his hands over his eyes with his head dipped down, and although I knew it was because Zack told him to, he looked even sadder like that.
"Open your eyes," Zack instructs, whispering, "good luck," to me before leaving the room, as we planned.
"Hey, Jack," I say, looking at the ground. Jack stares at me without moving for a good 20 seconds before he says anything.
"Am I dreaming?" he asks hoarsely.
"No, it was just a stupid rumor, I guess people just-" I'm interrupted as he slams his lips into mine, holding me so tight that I can barely breathe. Everything that I was mad about dissolves in a second. He pulls his lips away, burying his head in my neck, crying. I start crying too, hugging him tightly. He does care, you stupid voices. He does care.
"I'm so sorry, Lex, I'll never let you go again, I swear to fucking god I'll never do that again, I won't lose you again. I'm so fucking sorry, I can't believe I did that, I'll never-"
"Shh," I say, rubbing circles on his back. "We can talk about it later, okay? All that matters is we're both here."
"Where were you the past week?"
"I stayed home. That's literally all I did."
"It's not like you at all to miss school."
"I know, I just... didn't want to face you."
"It's my fault, I'm so sorry, I wish I could-"
I kiss him to shut him up, which continues for a few minutes before I pull away, breathless.
"Please don't die," he says quietly, now that he isn't crying much anymore. "You'll miss out on everything life has to offer, and I'll miss you so much more than you'll ever imagine."
"I promise, I won't," I say, squeezing his hand to reassure him.
"Never for a second blame yourself for all the shit that's been happening to you this past week," he says, pulling me into a hug once more. His hugs were some of my favorite things ever. It gave me the kind of warm and safe feeling that nothing else could offer. Over his shoulder, I see his guitar next to a piece of paper that looked all-too-familiar to me. I release Jack, approaching it, seeing it's some lyrics I'd written awhile ago for a song called A Daydream Away.
"Where'd you find this?" I ask.
"They were in your math book, I found them and decided to make up some chords, but I haven't played it since the day I found them last week. You're really good at writing lyrics, Lex," he says, draping his arm across my shoulders. I walk over to his guitar, handing it to him.
"Let's play it."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Um, okay," he says, strumming the first few chords. They're exactly how I imagined it to be. We practice for about an hour until we get it (almost) to perfection when Jack's mom calls us downstairs for dinner. Before I can walk out the door, Jack pulls me toward him, kissing me softly. "My turn to ask now, be mine again?"
"Of course," I say, kissing the tip of his nose. We walk downstairs and eat, but for some reason, the room feels tense. His dad goes upstairs as Jack and I finish eating, putting our plates on the counter.
"Jack, may I speak to you for a moment?" his mom asks sweetly.
"Sure," Jack says before turning to me. "I'll be right back."
"Okay," I reply, going upstairs into Jack's room. I close the door and turn around, practically jumping out of my skin when I see Jack's dad sitting on his bed, looking at me.
"Alex, can I talk to you for a moment?" He asks innocently.
Something feels off. I just don't know what.
YOU ARE READING
You Broke Me, You Saved Me (Jalex)
Fanfiction-COMPLETED- - trigger warnings in first chapter "Let's get to my house, we need to get you warm," he says. I look at him, and he's soaking wet. He's only wearing a short sleeve shirt with skinny jeans, since he gave me the sweatshirt he was wearing...
