Cabin Nine [[Revised Edition] Under FURTHER Revision]

Nineteen

Jack takes my hand and pulls me into his room. I've only been here for less than five minutes, but that's fine by me. We made sure his parents were gone and then raced up the stairs like first graders. I'm taller, so I should've won, but Jack's athletic. He beat me by like four stairs. It's infuriating, but at least he's not gloating this time.

Once I'm past the door frame, Jack pulls me into him and we spin like we're in a Hallmark movie. I smile into the kiss and he laughs.

Of course, I ruin the moment by tripping and falling onto his bed. It's probably the best fall I've ever had, because Jack is still holding onto me and he ends up on top of me. We would've gotten here anyway, I'd just rather do it without clothes on.

He grins and kisses me again. His hands fumble with my jeans, so he rolls off of me and we take a short commercial break to remove clothing. Introducing the most awkward way for a tall person to kick off jeans without hitting his boyfriend in the head with a knee! What a revolutionary product. That wouldn't be a very good commercial.

I fall asleep in his bed, after. I don't know why he let me. He never has before. It's not like we're not safe here, but I like spending time with him. Especially since it's so limited nowadays. He told me once that he likes watching me sleep. It creeped me out until I did the same. I understand it now. Sleep holds a different kind of peace.

Whatever the reason, he lets me sleep and he's gone when I wake up.

I dress myself in Jack's pajama pants and my own shirt and wander downstairs. Jack's an awful cook, so the delicious smell wafting from the kitchen is a little confusing. It gets even weirder when I see an unfamiliar girl in the kitchen.

Jack is sitting on the counter behind her, yapping away like he always is. When he sees me, he lights up and says, "Sophie, this is my boyfriend!"

She turns and sees me and just about drops the spatula. Her colors go from a content orange to an embarrassed pink.

She looks kind of familiar, I guess. I don't know what her deal is with me.

Jack pulls me into the kitchen with both hands and jumps back up onto the counter backwards. He turns me around so I'm facing Sophie but still standing between his legs so he can rest his head on top of mine. I love it when he does that.

"Um... do I know you?" I ask. I wish Jack had talked to me before inviting someone over.

Sophie's eyebrows come together. "What?"

"You're embarrassed about something, aren't you?" I must've read this wrong. I'm not usually wrong about colors. God, this is so embarrassing. I shouldn't have said that.

She still looks confused. "I... how do you know that? I don't blush."

I can feel Jack smile. He lifts his head to say, "He can see your colors. Synesthesia. Tyler, what am I right now?"

I don't even have to look at him. "Gold."

"That means I love you, right?"

"It means you're really, really happy."

"What means I love you?"

"Pink."

"Look at me."

I look up at the bottom of his chin. His eyes are squeezed shut. I bet he's thinking really hard and trying to change his color. It's still gold but he's got one pink streak. I love this. When I explained the colors, he's the only one who understood. My parents sent me to get a psych evaluation. I could tell they were a little disappointed that nothing was wrong with me. I guess they wanted an explanation.