20 Hours - Jack Gilinsky

hour 6; madison

I wake up around 30 minutes later, to Jack huffing and puffing and angrily tapping on his phone screen. I rub my eyes lightly, letting them adjust to being awake.

"Jack?" I say in a hushed voice and he rips his eyes from the screen, anger laying beneath the surface of his captivating brown eyes.

"Austin that was the cutest thing I've ever heard." He said and all anger dissipated from his irises. I roll my eyes and giggle a little bit at his stupidity.

"What's wrong Jack?" I say a little more normal, and put my seat upright in an ungraceful jerking motion.
"Have you ever been in love?" He asked inquisitively. I shook my head and he huffed. "It's Madison. I just, God I hate that girl so much. Can I talk to you about this? Like you're not secretly a huge Madison Beer fan?" He said in a teasing but slightly serious way.

"Of course you can Jack, and no, I don't even have social media." I laugh and he looks a little shocked before getting comfortable to tell the story of the witch that is Madison.

"When we dated she was very fame oriented, she didn't even talk to me for most of our relationship besides through Twitter. I didn't really mind at the time, I just thought she wasn't one of those clingy girlfriends. It was all so fake and like a week ago her publicist told me it was all a scam for her to become more famous. Can you believe it? Her publicist said they had planned it. I really didn't want to love her or be hurt by that, but I guess it was just one of those things that happened. I hadn't known her really well before we started dating, she had been circling around my friend group for a while, and not just in a friendly way. I know this is awful, but she had been with 4 of my friends already, like been in bed with. Even though it was disgusting, it's not like I was one to judge. You pegged me right when you said I had slept with a lot of people, it was kind of just something that I did. I never really thought anything of it, I was doing girls and everyone else didn't have to worry about it. I had never thought about how they felt or how it made me look. I never thought about the consequences of how the girls felt, that I was leading them on or anything like that, I was just doing it for me.

"We were at this party when she came up to me, she looked damn good let me tell you. She was wearing this low tank top, and I knew exactly who she was. But I didn't care, after the night of dancing together, I told her that I didn't want her to just be another fuck buddy. I wish it had been a drunken mistake, but it wasn't and she was ecstatic. So was my manager believe it or not, because even though 80% of my fandom hated her according to a poll, I was settling down and it was good for my image. But God do I wish I could've picked someone else.

"We dated for so long. God I couldn't even tell you how many times I took her out to expensive places- I took her to awards shows and fancy restaurants and anywhere she wanted, she had me wrapped around her pinky and I was completely happy with that. I even ditched Johnson- the other Jack who I travel the country with- more than a few times for her. She happily took me away from him, claiming that showing people how happy we were was more important than showing people that Jack and I were still friends. She was tearing apart the only real thing I had to love, and at the time I was completely okay with it which makes me sick to my stomach. I don't have any feelings for her anymore, after I found out that all we had together was fake I completely lost my feelings and now I'm just afraid of the old Jack coming back." He took a few deep breaths and I looked at him star struck. I had no idea that I could think of a girl as such a bitch before even meeting her, but I feel so bad, because Jack is one of the sweetest guys I've ever met. I guess I haven't really known him long enough to assess whether or not he is sweet or if he is a complete asshole; but I could not care less.

"I'm sorry." I said quietly, not having much else to say.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Austin. I just wish I hadn't fucked up." He laughed a little, but he didn't look happy.

"You should have a girlfriend that appreciates your lifestyle and respects your friendship with... Johnson? Is that your friends name?" He chuckles and nods, paying close attention to my words, "You deserve a girlfriend who loves you, you deserve someone who doesn't want to be famous and who isn't already fawning over your friends. You deserve someone who puts you first, holds their standards only as high as you are, makes you feel invincible. You deserve respect, Jack." I go with my gut, and pull Jack into a strong hug.

He hesitantly wrapped his arms around me. My mind told me this was right, that he felt the same internal hum while our skin touched, that he cherished my warmth and my slight squeeze more than anything in the world. But I reminded myself that he isn't me. I pushed those thoughts out of my head, he's famous. He hugs thousands of girls a day, ones much prettier and more charismatic than me.

He starts humming Right Where You Are in my ear and I laugh slightly into his shoulder, loving the feeling of our bodies fitting so perfectly together.

"Thank you for that." He says quietly towards the ground, his cheeks getting slightly pink. I nod back in response, not knowing what else to do because my voice suddenly doesn't exist.

I know that Madison completely fucked up with Jack, and I'm completely determined to not do that.

I, Austin Opal Fara, will NOT screw up my 18 hour romance with Jack Finnegan Gilinsky.

And I would sign a contract saying that.