Under the Mistletoe

Grounded

After a long night once we had been released from the hospital, I made the decision to stay at Jake's in case he needed anything. I knew that if I was hurting, he would be too and I figured it would be easiest if we could support one another.

Before we left the hospital, my dad informed us that we would be grounded for a few days while we both healed and felt like we were in a good place to be back in the air.

Despite mine and Jake's agreement, we slept in the same bed with surprisingly no funny business— just talking until the sun came up and then we finally fell asleep.

After managing to sleep for a few hours, I ordered us some bagels and coffee to be delivered. When Jake woke up, everything had been delivered and I had it ready at the table. Unfortunately, it was easy to tell that he was in a bad mood when he found his way into the kitchen.

"Well this sucks," I sighed as I slowly sat down at the table, still sore from the accident.

"Grounded," he replied as his fist met the table, which made me flinch hard. "I've never been grounded before."

I kept my eyes on Jake as he fully turned towards me, realizing that I had flinched.

"B, what was that?"

I didn't say anything as he moved to stand in front of me, his hands gently moving to hold my face.

"You don't think I was about to hurt you, do you?" Jake questioned but I still didn't answer. "I would never lay a hand on you, Brooklyn."

I blinked back tears but Jake was quick to wipe a single stray tear with his thumb.

"Who did it?"

"It doesn't matter," I replied.

"It clearly does matter," he replied, his gaze holding mine. "Was it your ex?"

"It really doesn't matter," I replied, pulling my head away. "It's in the past."

Jake frowned and walked to his freezer to grab an ice pack before walking over to me and gently holding it against my bruised cheek.

"You need it more than I do," I replied, offering it back to him.

"Oh, please," he muttered before going back to the freezer to grab a second ice pack.

"Come on."

He nodded towards the couch and I had a seat before he laid down and rested his head in my lap.

"Comfy?" I asked as I looked down at him.

"Very. Thanks for asking."

I instinctively started to run my fingers through his hair before catching myself and stopping. Jake didn't like that I stopped and grabbed my hand before dropping it back on his head.

"That felt good," he admitted."Please don't stop."

I laughed to myself before continuing to stroke his hair as he switched through channels until he found a movie for us to watch.

"You keep surprising me."

"What do you mean?" He questioned.