Always Forever

Reticent

A/N: guess who's back bitches,, 😎

Eventually the end of school rolled down on the boys. It was only a matter of time before Jack met Ralph at the library for his tutoring.

Ralph walked patiently to the library and did his own work while he waited for Jack to pop up. English was easy peasy, so he moved onto math and science. Math took some time to do the problems, since his teacher required the students to write out how they got the answer anyway. Science was just retaking notes he didn't do and piggy would probably help him out with that after his shift at the diner. He didn't take history so no problems on that.

Jack questioned what he should do; face the guy he was crushin' on and MADE OUT WITH or just not show up. He'd get reprimanded by the teacher of course, but hey, his social life was at stake! He decided to go. He left his sixth period class and slowly made his way to the library; where they were supposed to meet. He was walking when all of a sudden Roger was dashing at him.

"Hey." Roger panted. "What's up?"
"Uhh, tutoring." Jack replied.
"Oh." Roger said like he was disappointed or somethin'
Jack tried to keep going but Roger held him back somewhat, the smaller greaser didn't say anything but he looked at him like Jack just killed his dog. Jack moved  restricting hands away from his shoulder.
"Anyways, I gotta get goin'" Jack said cooly.
He finally made it to the library and saw Ralph napping on his hand. Geez, was he that late?
"Hey, wake up." Jack shook Ralph's shoulder. Now it was his turn to be the studious one.
"Ah, hey." Ralph snorted. He rubbed his eyes and got pencils out to start working.
He stopped when he saw Jack not sitting down to work.
"Aren't you gonna sit down?" Ralph quizzed
"Oh, uh yeah." Jack cleared his throat and sat down in the chair. 
Jack didn't really pay attention to what he had to do for English so he just got his backpack stuffed full of crumpled papers and slumped it next to his chair.

"So are you going to bring out your work for English?" Ralph paused.
"Ah- oh yeah I forgot about that.." Jack's eyes glanced to the side as he blushed in embarrassment. Ralph sighed in frustration and got his already done work out. "Here you can just copy this down, but WORD IT DIFFERENTLY!!! the teacher will bust both our asses if you copy it exactly." , "if you need more explanation just ask." Ralph puffed.

Then he brought out a nice book to read and read quietly while Jack just looked at him and his work in shock.
"o-ok" Jack replied.

It was some sort of rough draft about a book they all had to read. Jack copied it roughly on a piece of scratch paper and wrote his name on it.

"Uh ok." The task was easier than expected. He scribbled his name and just sat there.
Small talk. Small talk fixes everything. He scratched his bright red locks and talked to the shorter soc.

"Is this book interesting?" Jack spoke up
"About as interesting as the past books we had to read I guess." Ralph replied
"Is it as interesting as......nevermind haha" Jack coughed.

Ralph really wanted to ask "as interesting as what?" but he decided not to, partially because he already knew the answer and partially because he wasn't interested in carrying on the conversation much. Jack was trying to make small talk, and he respected that, but that's not what they were there for. They were there to work. right, work... Work, and hopefully relieve some built up tension. Or just work.
     "so..." Jack continued after another awkward moment of silence, "What's your favorite of the books we've read in class?"
Ralph actually thought about this question.  As much as he wanted nothing to do with the small talk, he decided to humor the taller boy sitting next to him as it was clear he was struggling to keep up this one-sided conversation.
     "I'm not sure, actually."
     "Don't you read a lot, golden boy? I always notice you reading books in your free time."
"Yes, but..." Ralph thought for a minute after that. Blushing only slightly at the humiliating nickname. Not about favorite book, but about what Jack had just said. What did he mean he 'always notices' Ralph reading? Sure, he reads a lot if he gets the chance, but so do lots of other people. He never knew Jack as the type of person to pay much attention to what others are doing. Maybe he only ever notices Ralph because they know each other pretty well? Or maybe it's because...
     "but," he continued, "the ones at school don't interest me much. They're  dullsville and repetitive, I prefer other types of genres anyway."
     "Like what?" Jack chimed. he seemed genuinely interested in the conversation. how sweet.
"like, I don't know, mystery? They're fun to read and figure out. And ones that talk about the past and future, as well... I like ones that are more outside of the box and make you think, ya know?"
     Jack smiled a bit. "yeah, I dig."
     "What about you, what kinda books do you like?" Ralph inquired. he didn't think Jack liked to read in the first place, but why not ask?
     "well, I don't read much, actually." noted. "I get that reading is a nice way to see other people's ideas and points of view or whatever, but I like to get that by just talking to people directly instead of reading what they write down. 'course, most people don't feel too keen on talking to me about their beliefs and feelings." he laughed a bit, which made Ralph laugh a bit, too.
     "wait, wait, what time is it? am I wasting your time too much?" Jack almost sounded concerned. how endearing.
"No, don't worry about it, my parents let me stay at school for however long it takes to finish up my work. Sorry for making this drag on, though. What do you need help on today?"
     "no worries. and nothing much, I just feel like this assignment is easier assigned than done."
     "hm," Ralph hummed, leaning closer to see the paper. he had only leaned in a couple inches further, but it made Jack's heart die a little bit. "alright. Do you need help on what to do or how to do it?"
     "I think I get what to do. We just finish writing this summary draft, right."
     "Basically. Finish writing the summary draft, then answer these questions on the back," he explained as he flipped the page over to reveal 3 analysis questions. Jack hadn't even seen those. He groaned, which made Ralph smile a bit. "Hey, they're easy, I swear. You didn't read the first chapter yet though, did you?"
"Nope," Jack said, popping the 'p'.
     "Geez, okay. Read it real quick. It's short. Once you're done, write the summary for it and answer the 3 questions about it. They're really easy, I think, but ask me any questions you have."
     "Alright." Jack answered shortly. He opened his book up and began to try reading, but like hell he could focus. He was more focused on the boy next to him, and how soft his hair looked, and how he twitched his nose and squinted his right eye from time to time, and how he tilted his head as he wrote, and how he was staring directly at Jack, god!
     "need something?" Ralph asked softly.
     "no, no, sorry, I didn't mean to stare I was, I was just in a daze is all," Jack frantically responded. He hoped he didn't sound too panicked, but he probably did. Why did he sound so panicked? He didn't usually get like that.
"Alright. as you were, then." Ralph returned to his own work.
     Jack practically snapped his neck from how fast he turned back to his book. He tried reading a bit more. This time, he was able to focus for a while, getting around halfway through the chapter before finally becoming distracted again. He glanced over at Ralph, who was... sleeping. sleeping? really? just like he had been earlier, it looked like he fell asleep on accident. Jack wondered if he should wake him up, clearly he had been real tired, but it didn't feel right to just leave him like that. He tapped the blond's shoulder gently.
"w- huh?" he groggily replied.
     "sorry. You fell asleep again. I'll just, uh... continue my work now." Jack turned back to his own things. Ralph looked a bit confused still, but nodded and continued what he was doing.
     The rest went by mildly quickly. Jack finished reading, finished the summary, finished the questions without having to ask many of his own. This made Ralph proud, though he didn't say anything. After, the latter told the former that he'd have to get going. Jack seemed a bit upset about this, but agreed and packed his own things. god, how neither wanted to leave, and god, how neither wanted to say a thing about it.