I Painted A Picture (Jalex)

God, I'm Sick Of Sleeping Alone

Jack got back from rehearsal around seven-thirty. My mom was already home, making dinner in the kitchen. I'd informed her of Jack's situation, and she had said she'd be fine with it as long as he didn't do drugs.

"Hey, Jack, have you met my mom yet?" I asked him on his way in.

"No, I don't think so," he said, setting his stuff down on my couch.

"Well, let's change that," I said. I took his hand and led him into the kitchen.

My mom looked up from chopping her cilantro and smiled. "This must be Jack."

Jack nodded and offered his hand, and she shook it. "Alex said you'd be okay with me staying over."

"I am. He told me you were going through a rough patch and didn't feel safe at your house. Our door is always open for you," she said warmly.

"Thank you so much, Ms....uh..." Jack turned to me.

"Gaskarth," I supplied.

"Ms. Gaskarth," he said, facing my mom again.

"You can call me Isobel," she said, and resumed the cilantro slicing.

"Want to go play video games or something?" I asked Jack.

"Sure, why not?" he said. "You can choose the game. Whatever you pick, though, I'll kick your butt."

I smirked. "We'll see about that."

Six rounds of Call of Duty later and Jack had, in fact, kicked my butt. We'd only paused once for dinner and a bit of snuggling, after which we resumed the butt-kicking. Somewhere in there we must've lost track of time, and nine o'clock snuck up on us.

I first noticed it was getting late when Jack yawned after the last round. I looked out the window and realized the sun had gone down. "Jack," I said, nudging him with my elbow. "Should we go to bed now?"

He set down his controller. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

He yawned again and I chuckled. "Come on. You know where my bedroom is."

I took his wrist in my good hand and led him upstairs to my room, allowing him to sit on my bed. "You're fine with casual male nudity, right?" he asked seductively.

I laughed. "Only if it's you."

He grinned and took off his shirt as I scrambled to close my bedroom door. "And that's about the time he walked away from me," he jokingly sang.

"Nobody likes you when you're twenty-three," I joined in with a smile.

"AND ARE STILL MORE AMUSED BY T.V. SHOWS!" he and I belted together. "WHAT THE HELL IS A.D.D?"

I slid onto the bed next to him, and we sang the entire rest of the song while taking our clothes off. I know, so romantic. Next we're going to skinny-dip to "Longview".

After the song was done, we were both sitting on my bed in our boxers and laughing our asses off. Jack leaned up against me, and I pressed right back up against him, being careful around his bruises. Slowly, he lay down, and I quickly got up and turned off the light before climbing back into bed with him.

We lay there in the dark for a few moments, just kind of snuggling with each other before Jack pressed close to me. "What next?" he whispered in my ear, wrapping an arm around my lower back and pulling me into him.

"Well, we can't fuck. We have school tomorrow," I said, and he laughed. "Also, my mom's in the next room."

"Right," he said. "How 'bout we just cuddle until we fall asleep?"

I smiled and nodded. Jack ran his hands along my shoulder blades and hugged me closer, pressing my body against his. Keeping my sprained wrist clear of the action, I wrapped my good hand around him and slowly maneuvered my body so my back was to him. He picked up on my cue and pressed up against my back, sliding his arms around my chest and drawing me into him.

My blankets had gotten pushed to the side, but I didn't mind much. I had Jack, and in my opinion, that was better.

Jack's breathing started to slow down and become steadier, and I did the same to my breathing, so as to match him. With his arms around me, I began to drift off, and from the sounds of it, he was starting to as well.

I smiled sleepily to myself. This was a good idea...

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

Sorry for the wait, guys. I was busy and had no motivation whatsoever.

Also, the picture in the header is Jack and Alex's junior yearbook pictures. This story is set in their junior year.

Mmhmm.