ajr one shots

jack

"Aubrey, can I please come up?" Aubrey heard Jack's voice say from the intercom by her door. "The snow is coming down pretty bad and I just want to talk."
   Aubrey sat at her kitchen table, staring at the intercom as she sipped her tea. The little red dot of light would come on and off when Jack tried to buzz in.
    "Please Aubrey," Jack said, more quiet than the last times he had asked. "Just for a minute. Please."
    Aubrey set her mug down on its coaster and debates even getting up. She looked towards the window and saw how hard the snow was coming down and she knew how cold it was by the sound of her heater trying to keep up.
   Aubrey reluctantly got up from her chair and walked over to the intercom, her hand hesitating to reach for the accept button. Her heart thumped as she pressed it.
    "Oh gosh," Jack said into the speaker on his end with excitement and relief in his voice. "I'll be up in a second."
    "If you can keep that promise too," Aubrey said to herself quietly and she slowly trudged back to her seat at the table after flicking the lock off of the door.
    She waited, staring at the door. The soft sound of the TV in the background and the snow pounding on the windows made Aubrey feel a weird emptiness.
    She hadn't seen Jack in a few days, not since the fight. She didn't know what to do or how to act so all she could do was sit in silence and wait for the storm to grow like the one outside. 
   Three little knocks startled Aubrey out of her day dream that she was drifting into.
   "Come in," her voice said faintly, cracking as it did. The door handle twisted open and there he was. Aubrey's breath hitched at his sight.
    Jack stood there in his heavy winter gear on, covered in the snow that hadn't melted on his way up to the apartment. His cheeks were rosy from the hard winter wind, something that even Aubrey couldn't help but crack a small smile at.
    "Sorry," He said, looking down at where he stood. "Didn't know we'd be getting the blizzard of 2019 all at once."
    "Usually how blizzards go," She said, sipping at the rim of her mug. She tried to avoid eye contact as he took his coat and gear off to hang them up, besides the trapper hat that always stayed on his head.
    Jack joined Aubrey at the table, but didn't sit down. He awkwardly stood there, not knowing wether it was appropriate to sit or not. The last thing Jack wanted to do was to piss Aubrey off, even in the slightest.
    "You can sit," Aubrey said, gesturing to the seat across from hers, the same one that Jack would sit in every morning in his boxers as he chomped down cereal by the spoonful. Aubrey used to look at Jack across the table with so much love and light, now it was a grey cast.
    Aubrey couldn't help but notice how off Jack looked. His beard wasn't groomed, the bags under his eyes grew darker, and the little glimmer in his eye was fading fast.
    "Look, Aubrey. I just want to say that I-" Jack started, but Aubrey took the conversation into her own hands.
    "Say what?" She said, a little more harsh than what she was intending. "Say that you just want to forget the past and move on? Forget that anything happened and just act like we are fine?"
    "I know that's not how this stuff works," Jack said, folding his hands in his lap. "And I don't deserve your forgiveness. I don't deserve you, Aubrey."
     "You're right," She said, leaning back in her chair and sipping on her mug. "So why should you?"
     "I'm not saying I should, but-" Jack started, but Aubrey interrupted him again, making him roll his eyes back.
     "Then why are you even here right now?" She said, raising her voice louder. "Why did you even-"
     "Because I need you, Aubrey!" Jack yelled at her, standing up abruptly. He pointed his finger down at her as his chair flung out from behind him. "I need you."
     "Looks like you needed that bitch at that party more than me, don't you think?" Aubrey said setting her cup down and standing up. She crossed her arms as she stared Jack down.
     "When will you realize that it was a mistake?" He yelled. "That I made a mistake?"
     "This isn't just a simple mistake, Jack," Aubrey said to him, getting a little emotional as the conversation went along. "You made out with that girl at the party. You took her upstairs and you kissed her for so long. Long enough to forget me!"
     "You wanna know why I kissed her? The truth?" Jack said, wiping his mouth off from the yelling before talking.
      "Flatter me with the thought, Jack. Really, I'd love to know what went through your mind in that moment."
      "Because She had your eyes, Aubs," Jack said, the anger in his voice turning into a cracking sadness. "They obviously weren't the same, but in the right lighting it-it was like I was staring right into yours."
     Aubrey scoffed and turned to the living room, trying to hide her emotions from her boyfriend.
     "I hadn't seen you in months, Aubrey. Months," Jack said to her back. "I was counting down the days until we got back home but I missed you."
     "So you settled for some whore at a frat party with blue eyes?" She asked, staring at the blue screen in front of her on the TV.
     "Aubrey," Jack said quieter that before. "What I did in inexcusable, I get that completely. I know I shouldn't ask, but I need you to look at me the same way you used to."
     "Why should I?" She asked him confused.
      "Because who else is going to wake me up when I've slept through three alarms? Who does duets with me in the shower in the mornings? Who else will remind me that it's a birthday of someone's or to me brutally honest with me when I try on an outfit at the store and it sucks."
       "You do lack fashion sense dearly," Aubrey said, laughing a little. Jack smiled at her smile.
        "See? You are the reason I function from day to day. You're my glue holding all of my broken pieces together. I know this sounds like I'm desperate, but I made the worst mistake I could ever make. I broke a trust with you and I can't apologize enough until it's right. Aubrey, I love-"
      "Wait," Aubrey said, reaching for the remote to turn the TV up.
       "We have issued a level three snow emergency for all covering counties. This means any operating of a vehicle besides emergency vehicles or traveling of any kind in the weather will be ticketed or actions will be taken. Stay indoors until the Sheriff's office gives any more further notice on the clearance."
     Aubrey's heart dropped to her stomach as the news anchor said the words.
     "Well," Aubrey said turning back around to Jack. "Guess you're sleeping on the couch tonight."
_____________________________________
    "You know where everything is," Aubrey said as she headed towards her bedroom door after the fight with Jack and the awkward silence that followed. "Pillows, food, whatever."
    "Aubs, can we please talk about this more?" Jack said, taking her hand in his. Aubrey looked down at their hands and then back up into Jack's eyes. For a split second she felt at home again, but it quickly faded back to the normality of the situation.
    "Don't call me Aubs," She whispered and took her hand back from Jack. She turned quickly around and shut her bedroom door behind her. She could feel her heart break just a little bit more than it had, and she could even feel Jack's break for him.
***
    Aubrey did nothing but toss and turn in the bed. Her thoughts crowded her mind as she stared at the ceiling above her, trying to process everything.
     You can't possibly forgive him. That's the fifth rule of the girl code. Don't forgive a cheating significant other.
     But you heard him. He needs you Aubrey and you need him. You haven't left the apartment since he left, you cried when you found one of his shirts in the laundry still. I mean geez man. You've gotta go with your gut. The bridge is burnt but that doesn't mean it can't be rebuilt.
      You've gotta go with statistics. You know a s/o is bound to cheat again after the first offense.
      But, Jack is your person. He is yours...
      Aubrey let out a sigh as she slammed her arms down on the mattress.
      She pulled the covers off of her body and walked towards the bedroom door, her hand was on the handle, but it took her a minute for finally turn the knob.
    She opened the door and when she looked up, Jack was standing there with red puffy eyes. He had the look of defeat, of vulnerability. A look Aubrey never thought she would see Jack have.
     "Aubrey," He said, letting out heavy breaths. "Aubrey I'm so fucking so-" but before he could say anything, Aubrey reached up and planted her lips onto his, catching him by surprise.
     He still tasted the same, still the same softness in his kiss. Aubrey craved this since the moment he left.
     "I need you too," Aubrey whispered to him as she wrapped her arms around the base of the back of his neck. She connected foreheads with him, standing on her tippy toes. "I can't go through this again. You can't put me through this again, Jack Evan."
     "You won't," he said. "I won't. You will never have to feel this pain, I promise you that."
      "Good," Aubrey said as her own tears started to form in her eyes. "Because I can't lose you like that again. I can't, Jack."
      "You won't ever have to worry about losing me," Jack said, pulling her close into his chest. "I'm here, love."