Unscripted (Jack & Crutchie)

Chapter 41 - Santa Fe...?

Criticism spot! :)

TW: THERE WILL BE TALKS OF S**F H*RM. I will put ** where it begins, and if this is a triggering topic to you, I would skip the rest of the chapter after that. I will put a TL:DR-esc thing if you need to skip, so you don't miss anything.

Crutchie's POV

I stretched a little after I woke up, smiling as I looked at Jack. The sunrise slowly lit up his face, and I felt as though I could lay there forever. I snuggled myself up closer to him, closing my eyes again. He eventually moved a little, likely trying to stretch without waking me, as he thought I was asleep. I didn't move, hoping he'd stay longer if he continued thinking I was asleep. However, he began to gently get up, planning on getting ready while he let me sleep for a bit longer. I quickly wrapped my arms around him, pulling him back against me, making him laugh.

"You're awake?" He said, his voice scratchy.

"No," I mumbled, and I felt him laugh again.

"We gotta get up," he said, and I could tell he was smiling by his tone of voice.

"No we don't," I whined, still holding him back from getting ready.

"Yes we do," he said, moving my hair out of my eyes as I looked up at him. "We can stay for five more minutes, but that's it." He said with a smile, causing me to smile back as I looked away, closing my eyes.

After the five minutes were up Jack stood, grabbing our clothes. I stayed laying down however, still feeling exhausted. I put my hands over my face, sighing as I eventually sat up, rubbing my eyes.

"Tired?" Jack asked as he sat my clothes beside me, starting to change.

"Yeah," I said, beginning to change as well.

"Did you not sleep much?" He faced me as he talked, his voice still rough.

"No, I couldn't stop thinking," I said, breaking the eye contact between us, knowing he'd be worried.

"Oh? About what?" He finished getting dressed now, walking over to me and kneeling down as I buttoned my shirt.

"Random stuff, nothing important," I smiled at him, wanting to drop the topic. In reality, I had once again been too afraid to sleep, as I was terrified I'd have a nightmare. I had been mildly improving, and I didn't want to ruin my progress.

"Promise?" He said, and I felt a lump in my throat.

"Yes, I promise." I got out, feeling bad as I lied to Jack. He smiled back at me now, standing.

We went down the ladder moments later, Jack handing me my crutch as I got to the bottom. The moment we began walking pain shot through my leg, and I quickly realized that I was having one of those 'episodes,' as Jack and I called them. I clentched my jaw tightly, ignoring the pain the best I could. Thankfully, for once, Jack didn't notice, so we kept walking as normal, Race, Romeo, and Specs catching up.

As we kept walking the pain only grew worse and worse, something that didn't happen with these episodes. I couldn't help but feel worried about it, unsure as to why it was getting more intense rather than just leveling out. I was tuning out the conversation that was going on beside me, mainly focusing on not making it apparent that I was in pain. I could tell I failed however when Race looked at me, raising his brows with concern.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, making everyone stop talking and look at me.

"Mhm," I said, trying to smile.

"I dunno Crutchie, you don't look so good," Romeo chimed in, and Specs nodded.

"I'm good," I said, wanting them to drop it. They finally did, continuing their conversation. I could feel Jack's eyes on me as we walked, but I wouldn't look back at him. I was looking at the ground as we continued forward, once again tuning them out.