(4) Out of Control: An All Time Low FanFiction Romance

Chapter 67: I Care

        I woke up fairly early the next morning, when the sun was rising steadily through the sky. The clock on the bedside table read shortly after nine, just a little before the time I'd be getting ready to go to the studio. It took me a minute to remember that I wasn't in my own apartment, and that it was Jack's king sized bed I was laying in, not my own. Yet, the space beside me was empty. Another minute passed, a slight feeling of confusion surfacing before my ears picked up the sound of running water from a shower and I realized he was here.

        I pushed myself up by my elbows, holding the sheets against my chest with one hand as the shower stopped, telling me Jack was done. I took the moment to glance around the room I'd barely looked at last night. It was simple and modern, black furniture with shades of grey fot the bed set and curtains. The walls were gray and the carpet was white. It was clean, with the exception of my clothes in random spots scattered on the floor, wherever they'd been thrown last night.

        I sighed, breathing out loudly as I remembered last night. I honestly had no idea what I was going to do now. I wanted to be with Jack, I think that was clear to everyone, but I didnt know if I could give him what he wanted. I'd never had a committed relationship before, it was going to be completely new territory to me.

        I rubbed my eyes lightly, running my hand over my face before standing up, picking my clothes up off the floor, pulling them on one by one.

        The thought left an uneasy feeling in my gut, but the feeling disappeared after a moment when the door that led to the bathroom opened and Jack walked out. Dressed in just basketball shorts, he grinned at me while rubbing a towel over his head.

        I just rolled my eyses as I sat back down on the side of the bed, crossing my legs  in front of me. He let the towel fall to the floor by the door and hopped onto the bed, making me move slightly as the mattress shifted under me.

        "Round two?" Jack whispered, words coming out by my ear. I huffed out a laugh, feeling his arm wrap around my stomach to push me against the bed. He hovered over me, the ends of his hair brushing against my forehead. I reahed up to brush them away from my skin, shaking my head lightly.

        "I have to go to the studio," I muttered, but the devilish grin never left Jack's face.

        "I don't think they'll mind if you show up a little late," he said, leaning down so his mouth was trailing across my jawline, lips moving against my skin as he spoke. "Everybody knows where you are, they'll understand."

        "Oh, really?" I hummed, and Jack muttered a quick "yeah," against my skin as a response. I felt myself smiling softly as I moved my hand to cup his face, moving it away so I could meet his gaze.

        "I really do have to go," I said quietly, fingers brushing against the freshly shaven skin along his jaw and chin. "I have to go to my apartment and get clean clothes. I think it'd be a little obvious if I showed up to the studio in the same clothes as yesterday."

        "Do you really think everyone doesn't know already?" Jack asked, chuckling softly. "You asked Lauren where I lived, and she obviously talked to Stella about it. Stella tells Alex everything, and if he knows Rian and Zack most likely know, and if you didn't go back to your aprtment last night, I think Mav, Port and Zave are all smart enough to read between the lines as to where you went. If they aren't, then they asked somebody who did," Jack explained, still grinning. I half laughed, half groaned while running my hands through my hair.

        "Whatever, I still need to go back," I said, uneasy that everyone knew. I probably should have expted it once I asked Lauren. I should have assued that she'd tell someone, and if I didn't return to the apartment, it would've been normal for the guys to wonder. Thinking about it now, they'd probably called me or texted and since I hadn't answered, they would definitely asked someone. I guess it really did make sense that everyone knew. It happened the first itme Jack and I hooked up.

        "Alright, alright," Jack said, his voice breaking me from my thoughts. He moved away from me, sitting beside me, allowing me to sit back up. "I can drive you, then. Unless you care that we show up together. Are you worried of giving people the wrong idea?" He asked, his eyes more serious as he stared over at me. I bit at the inside of my cheek slightly, looking away from Jack's gaze, trying to come up with an answer from the mess of thoughts running through my head.

        "Nat," Jack said softly, almost a hint of worry in his tone, as if he thought my silence meant that I'd had my fix and we'd go back to being nothing again. I looked back into his eyes, offering a small smile.

        "I don't care," I whispered, watching his expression shift to slightly relieved, but happy.

        "So, this means...?" Jack questioned, watching me with an expectant look. He was sitting with his knees bent, feet planted about two feet apart, his elbows bent around his knees with his hands clasped in the middle.

        "Do I have to spell it out for you?" I wondered, reeating a line I'd used the night he was at our apartment, cornering me in my room. I watched his mouth twitch into a smile as he nodded. I shook my head lightly, moving to sit on the bed in front of him. He turned his knees outward so I could sit between his legs, crossing my ankles again. I let my hands rest on the top of his knees, fingers tapping against his skin as I took my time trying to decide how I watned to word what I was going to say.

        "I really can't believe you're going to sit here and make me explain how I feel about you," I muttered. "I'm not good at this." I sighed, tapping my fingers against Jack's knees.

        "I want to know what you coming here means, for us," he said, more reserved and serious than I'd ever seen him. "I want to hear it coming from you." I glanced down at the space on the bed between us, for some reason, I was unable to hold his gaze as I started to talk. I think it was the newness of this feeling and this position I was in that was making me nervous, something that rarely happened, but everything that had happened, and was happening, with Jack was new to me.

        "It means that I want to give this whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing a shot because for some reason, I care about you. I care about you more than I've cared about anybody else and you know that and I found out that ot being with you can pretty much drive me fucking insane and I haven't really figured out why. It's easier just being with you, and yeah, that kind of scares the shit out of me beause I've never wanted to be with someone as much as I want to be with you."

        I looed up at him to find his eyes, comforted that they were warm, holding mine so easily I coudn't look away if I wanted to.

        "And I can't tell you how or even if this is going to work out, because I've never done this before and it could end up being really hard so you're just going to have to be patient with me because I have no idea how this works. But, like I said, I want to try because for some reason you're different than any other guy I've met and I care, I care probably more than I should, but I do. You and Kinsley and my mom and everyone els ein this world are right. There's absolutely nothing I can do about it."