missing | gilinsky

42

Jack Gilinsky

"Are they really asleep?" Johnson laughs.

"To be fair it was a long game," I say, looking between Nadia and Hannah with a smile on my face. And to think Hannah was way too into the game before, look at her now. 

Johnson's chair scrapes across the ground, causing me to jump a bit. I turn to him and furrow my eyebrows when he places a hand on my shoulder. "Before we wake them up to go, can we talk?"

In my head I'm thinking about how that's exactly what Nadia wanted to do and then we ended up making out, but I'm sure that's not what Johnson has in mind. I don't know if that should make me feel relieved or nervous.

"Yeah, sure."

He lets me slide out of my seat before pulling me over to where the couches are so we don't bother the girls with our deep and manly voices. I don't know what this is going to be about but it has to be serious if we can't talk about it in front of Nadia and Hannah.

"I don't have a long-term plan," he blurts, biting the inside of his cheek. 

"A long-term plan?" I question, needing clarification. 

"Nadia's prom is in like two days, right? The 20th - then her graduation is the 22nd."

Still confused, I nod. I completely forgot about all that. Time really has gone by fast since we first got here. "How'd you know?"

"I'm not dumb, G, she's been talking about this shit since she was a freshman." 

Since she was a freshman? Damn. She must really care about this. I missed my senior prom and graduation. Personally I didn't really care about high school enough to participate in any events, but the thought of Nadia being excited about it makes me kind of regret the choices I've made.

"Hey, man, are you listening to me?" He snaps, waving a hand in front of my face. 

I push his hand away and shake my head. "Yeah, except I don't understand what you're getting at."

"My short-term plan is to come back to Omaha with you guys for her prom and graduation, but after that I don't know what I'm gonna do..."

"Why not just stay home? What do you have here for you?"

"A  future."

"A future in what? It's not like you're going to college here, you're family is in Omaha, and I'm technically you're only real friend that actually lives here."

Jack's focus is trained on his shoes, not even bothering to look up at me. "I don't think I'd be able to stay there...it hurts too much to remember." 

I'm about to ask 'remember what' but then I understand. It's all about his dad. Sure, Omaha is where he's lived all his life, it's what he knows. But it's also what he hates, and the shit he's endured. Going back there and pretending like nothing has changed would kind of be like reliving everything that's happened in the last year. 

He's told me all the stories from home, how the town has labeled him as some bad guy, and how nobody knows him for what he used to be. I could see why he wouldn't want to be around that place, but another part of me wishes it wasn't like that. 

His family and friends deserve to have him back, and he deserves to be in a stable environment. Not here living with me in this bullshit life of mine. The only thing I've got going for me is money, and not even that is going to last forever. 

Dad's in jail, mom's in a mental hospital. I haven't spoken to Molly and Laura since I was visiting them in Pittsburgh before Johnson got here, and God only knows if they'll ever wanna see me again. Things aren't looking too good for me, and I don't want to keep Johnson here with me along for that. Come to think of it, I don't think I need Nadia dealing with that shit either. 

With a deep sigh, I fall onto the couch and let my head lean back over the edge. Jack follows my lead, flopping down next to me.

"This sucks doesn't it?" He mumbles.

I chuckle. "Yeah."

As much as I want J to stay in Omaha where he belongs, I also don't want to be alone here. I think about moving into that place I rented when I was first figuring out who exactly Nadia Johnson was, but I know that's not a good idea. All the problems I have here are just going to follow me there, and I don't wanna be infecting anymore lives with my troubles. 

"Guys?" 

Johnson and I instantly pop up off the couch at the sound of Nadia's groggy voice.

"What time is it?" She wonders, rubbing her eyes. 

I scratch the back of my neck, rapidly opening and closing my eyes to make sure any negative emotion that I was expressing before was gone. 

"Five," Johnson answers, walking passed her to nudge Hannah awake. 

"Damn, how long was that game?"

I shrug, standing in place. "Only like three hours."

"I'm ready to crash."

"You've already been crashed - for literally the whole game. You don't even know the end score. Who won, huh?"

"I'll crash my fist into your face if you don't shut up."

"Oooh, feisty," I tease, raising my eyebrows. 

She rolls her eyes and strides over to me so she can fake punch me. I fake dodge her and smash into her waist, throwing her up over my shoulder. I cringe as her loud squeak pierces my ears. 

"Where we headin'?" I ask Johnson, Nadia swinging around in the air as I turn to face him.

"To bed, please," Hannah mutters, still slumped over the table. Jack's got his hand on her back, his face inches from hers.

But then he looks up at me and glances at Nadia. My heart does a weird flutter thing because I don't know how he's going to react to me touching his sister. Should I put her down? Is this weird? Does he care? Is he mad? Why would he be mad? If he was mad he wouldn't have let me go anywhere near her after he caught us in the hallway...right?

"Back to the hotel," he tells me before I can think of anything else that could stop me from falling asleep tonight. 

"Let me goooooo!" Nadia pleads, pounding on my back. 

"You wish!" I say. 

But really, I think she is wishing that this day would never end. Because that's exactly what I'm wishing for as I carry her out of the baseball stadium to Johnson's car. 

_____________

Yo yo yooooo! are you as surprised as I am that I updated this quick!! :) You're welcome!

First things first, I just wanna say sorry for any mistakes and while I know there are grammar ones I don't mean that, I mean story plot ones. I haven't reread my work in forever so I'm not sure if I'm getting Gilinsky's backstory right or not about where his family is and stuff like that, so if in any prior chapters I've stated something different please let me know! I'd really appreciate it, thank you. 

Second things second, I know this was short but since I updated like two days ago I figured that it'd be okay. If you liked it feel free to vote and comment whatever, and as always thank you for being patient and amazing readers!

Chapter 43 will be up soon enough!

- gilinskyshigh