Ralph started to spiral the way Jack spiraled when he first got to the Langley house that night. Jack broke up with Emma. Did that really change everything? Anything? He was beginning to feel overwhelmed with emotion, and with uncertainty. He couldn't figure out what the right thing to do or think was. But perhaps, maybe he could stand to be a little more like Jack. Maybe he could spend less time worrying about doing and thinking the right thing, and more time doing and thinking what felt right.
"When?" Ralph asked faintly after a moment or two of tense and heavy silence.
"Before the dance" Jack began. "We were about to go in, and I looked at her. She was so pretty, in a dress that hugged her body perfectly, her curly hair up in a ponytail with a flower, her skin smooth and smelt like daisies and lavender... and I felt nothing. It should've been this perfect storybook moment, but all I could think about was how I'd rather be here playing video games in my pyjamas, and eating fruit with you; both of us looking like we hadn't changed in days; like we did the summer before the island... and I just couldn't do it anymore."
"So you just left?" Ralph judged.
"Sort of" Jack shrugged. "I told 'er I was sorry, but I just didn't want to force it anymore. She wasn't exactly surprised, she knew something was up with me long before tonight. She was always asking if I was okay, like all the time. Truth was, I hadn't been since I met 'er. I just couldn't pretend anymore."
"Does she know—"
"About you? No. I don't know what's gonna happen with her and I at school and stuff, so I thought it'd be better not to say anything in case she reacts in the weird, dramatic way girls do" Jack admitted.
"And pits the whole school against you?" Ralph insinuated.
"Exactly."
"Sucks when someone does that to you" Ralph pressed his lips together tightly, tensely.
Jack diverted his gaze out of discomfort. He had nothing to say. There wasn't a single word that would've done either of them any good right now. When matters of the island came up between himself and Ralph, Jack thought it best to just prevent the conversation from the inevitable escalation that was bound to occur.
A heavy tension hung in the air between the two boys as the moment slowly and painfully passed. Jack stared intently down at his shoes as he waited for Ralph to change the subject.
"Just because you broke up with Emma, doesn't mean that we can... y'know, go back to doing what we were doing. I meant it when I said I don't want to be your secret anymore" Ralph broke the silence to say.
Jack had lifted his head to look at Ralph as he spoke. He nodded, dropping his head when Ralph finished. He was strong, confident, unbreakable. At least, he thought he was until now. He felt tears fall from his eyes; just another thing he had to try to control. Deep down, all Jack Merridew wanted to do was scream, cry, smash things, dismantle his entire life in a few rage-induced seconds. He hated himself, he hated his life, and he hated that he lost Ralph trying to live up to standards that didn't even matter.
"Jack?" Ralph spoke up when Jack failed to respond. "Did you hear me?"
Jack nodded, keeping his head down as the tears flowed down his pale, sticky face. Ralph's heart fell as he watched. He didn't know what to do; maybe he too was trying to be something he wasn't. Why should it be this hard to walk away from Jack; to do what was best for himself?
But was it really what was best?
"I should go" Jack decided, facing away from Ralph as he set down his water glass and made his way to the door. He needed to get away from here, and away from Ralph, even if that isn't what he wanted.
Jack grabbed the doorknob, and was a split second from opening it, as he decided that this would be the last time he'd come to Ralph when he needed to. He'd blown it, too little too late. But suddenly, he felt Ralph come up behind him and grasp onto him, wrapping his arms around him, painfully tight.
"Don't" Ralph pleaded in a sad, trembling voice. The brunette boy clutched onto Jack from behind, his arms securely around Jack's arms and chest.
Jack lifted his arm to grab onto Ralph's, squeezing it tightly in return. "Don't what?" he asked softly.
"Leave" Ralph clarified.
Jack turned around in Ralph's embrace, forcing the smaller boy to loosen his grip a little. When they were face to face, Jack brought Ralph back in and held him as tightly as he could. Ralph returned the gesture, allowing himself to feel the uncomplicated love he felt for Jack without all the complicated outside factors plaguing his mind.
Ralph swayed back and forth a little, holding Jack tightly as if he might slip away if he were to let go, even just for a moment. Jack rested his head against the side of Ralph's, allowing all the outside pressure and conflict he'd been under to slide off his skin like soap under water.
Laurie came out to make sure Ralph had cleaned up properly about an hour after she went to shower. She found Ralph and Jack holding each other in the front doorway, oblivious to her presence. She wondered how Jack got here and when, and why he was dressed like Prince Charming while her own son's sugar and flour stained clothes ruined his formal wear as they held each other closely. She wasn't sure what all led up to this point; just that whatever had kept them apart the past few weeks seemed to be obsolete now.
Jack jumped when he opened his eyes to see Laurie standing and watching from the entry to the hallway. Ralph then turned too, his eyes wide with surprise when they landed on his mother.
"Mom! How long have you been standing there?" Ralph asked with concern.
"A few minutes, maybe. Is everything okay?" she fretted as her eyes wandered back and forth from one boy to the other.
"Yeah" Jack confirmed, "we're alright. I just had a rough night, that's all."
"That's okay. You're always welcome here, Jack" she insisted as she passed by them to enter the disaster zone of a kitchen.
"I'm sorry, Mom, I promise I'll finish cleaning up" Ralph insisted as he abandoned Jack in the doorway to follow her into the mess.
"It's okay, just finish up then head off to bed, okay?" she requested of the boy. "Jack, you're welcome to stay the night if you need to."
"Thank you, Mrs. Langley" he smiled warmly at her as she headed back to her room. "Where's your dad?" Jack asked Ralph curiously.
"Downstairs" the younger confirmed as he washed the floor with a freshly soaked wet cloth.
Jack came over into the kitchen and grabbed a dish towel, wet it, and began cleaning the counter.
"You don't have to do that" Ralph assured him as he scrubbed on his hands and knees.
"I know" Jack asserted as he continued wiping. "The sooner you're done, the sooner we can go to bed."
"Have fun sleeping in that" Ralph chuckled as he observed Jack's powder-stained suit.
"Jokes on you, I sleep in my underwear anyway" Jack scoffed back jokingly.
"That's the joke" Ralph taunted him, earning a well deserved but light slap across the head. Ralph reached up and slapped him back, both boys laughing. Before they knew it, they were whipping their damp cloths at each other, laughing until their stomachs hurt.
The boys finished cleaning up, and went off to bed a couple hours before Jeffery came upstairs to send his friends home for the night. He popped his head into his son's room after he locked the front door. He was surprised to find Ralph and Jack sleeping in the middle of the floor, Jack's body horizontal to Ralph as his head rested in the centre Ralph's stomach, Ralph's arm laid over the other boy's shoulder and chest. He smiled at them, and to himself, before he headed off to his own bedroom.
"When did Jack get here?" Jeffery asked his wife as he begun changing out of his clothes.
"A few hours ago, I think" Laurie claimed as she kept her head in the novel she was reading, her back propped up against the headboard.
"What's going on with them? Last I spoke with each of them about the other, it seemed like they'd been pretty distant by lately" Jeffery observed.
"I don't know. I thought maybe Ralph wasn't getting along with Jack's girlfriend or something like that, but he didn't want to talk to me about it" Laurie concluded as she placed her finger inside the book, closing it over it to hold the page as she looked up at her husband.
"He hasn't been very open about Jack in general lately" Jeffery added as he entered the master bathroom to wash up.
"Well whatever their problem was, they seem to have worked it out" Laurie concluded.
"Looked like a little more than that" Jeffery suggested, his voice muffled by the toothbrush in his mouth.
"What do you mean by that?" his wife questioned curiously.
"Ralph seems to be pretty invested in Jack, in spite of their differences" Jeffery treaded lightly, balancing observation with assumption.
"They've been through a lot together" Laurie pointed out, but her perception of this had been clouded by the memory of Ralph hiding behind her in the Virginia airport.
"And if I remember correctly, you didn't think Ralph was very fond of Jack after the island" Jeffery reminded her.
"Something was off between them, but everything about Ralph's behavior was off. It still is in some respects. We can't begin to guess what they went through, I'm sure all those boys had their share of problems out there. Maybe I overreacted when you were helping Jack at the airport and the hospital. Now that we've had some time away from the urgency of it all, and Ralph is starting to recover, I'm willing to admit I might've misjudged the situation" Laurie thought before taking a swig of water from the glass on her bedside table.
The truth was, Laurie thought her husband might be right about it being a little more with Ralph and Jack. She wasn't sure exactly in what context, perhaps it had to do with their shared island trauma, but she saw something different in the way Ralph was around Jack. Her son was more relaxed, comfortable perhaps, when he was with Jack. He held back less, she noticed.
"For what it's worth, I think they're good for each other. Ralph's a great support for Jack given all he goes through at home, and Jack brings out the things in Ralph he tends suppress" Jeffery responded as he climbed into bed beside her.
"You mean he's acting like an actual twelve year old kid?" Laurie suggested.
"He's thirteen now, remember?" Jeffery chuckled at his wife's absent mindedness.
"It's easy to forget considering we didn't know if he was even alive for half of twelve" Laurie defended herself.
Jeffery sighed. "I'm just glad he's finally finding a way to be happy again."