The Program

Chapter Thirty-Three

In the end, I went to the bathroom, changed out of my pants, and cut them myself.

Turns out my knight in shining armor wasn't needed for those steps, much to his disappointment.

They looked awkward after they were cut and I still had to do something about them not staying up, but at least one problem was taken care of.

Once I made it back to Jack's room, I handed him the scissors, a yawn escaping me right after. He chuckled at the sound and kissed me on the forehead, saying a quick good night and letting us know that if we needed anything, just come next door.

The second I hit his bed, I felt like sleeping, which was strange since I was just in a coma for months on end and in all technicality slept the whole time. But Annie had different plans.

"Did you see the way he talked to me?" She asked, looking over at me from her side of the bed. "God, he's stubborn."

I placed a hand on my face, running it down it and groaning. "Annie, I actually want to sleep if that's okay."

"Oh," She said. "I understand. Sorry. Good night."

Once she pulled the covers over her, I felt bad and told her, "I'm kidding. Tell me about it."

The covers fell and she smiled. "Well, for one, that stupid thing he did earlier at the hideout just totally made me mad. But at the same time I thought I was overreacting a bit." She sighed. "I was so mad though. I mean, I won't let just anyone get away with saying i'm jealous, especially when I wasn't and they thought they could turn it into a joke."

"Uh-huh." I took a deep breath, trying to keep my eyes open.

"But the thing is, John's not 'just anyone', you know? He's different. At first I didn't see it, him being this awful jerk that called you a freak and all. No one, and I mean, no one, get's away with making fun of people I care about." She stated, running her hand through her hair. "But then when you went into the coma again, he sat with me every night before he went in after you. Jack would be on the other side of the bed, this being before he was sent to jail, and me and John would sit opposite of him. And while he was sleeping, we'd just talk about anything. It was amazing and I felt something, you know?"

I didn't realize a lot of what she was saying had happened. "Yeah. It's great to feel that. Wait until you fall in love."

"Oh, Lexi," She smiled. "Is it as amazing as it's described in the cheesy romance novels? Does you're stomach fill with butterflies and your thoughts become only of him?"

I shook my head, her frowning a bit. "No." I replied. "Most likely you'll get a stomach ache from seeing them, not the sick kind but the nerve filled kind. You'll barely be able to stand on your feet because you can practically feel them turning into jelly when he looks at you. Your thoughts are still about other things but somehow they always lead back to them. Like, what are they doing right now, are they thinking of me because I know I am about them? And when they are around, your brain is a jumble of thoughts and words you can't properly say without thinking you sound like an idiot. Love is confusing and scary." I looked right at her. "But then when you hear them tell you they feel the same way, it blows up even more and everything is two times worse."

"Wow. Sounds scary." She pointed out.

I shrugged my shoulders, yawning again from all the talking I just did. "It's one awesome feeling though, one that can never be matched with another."

"Really? Have you never eaten chocolate?" She joked, chuckling.

I laughed too, snorting a bit as I did and trying to cover it up. "Well, when you put it like that."

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Annie finally went to sleep after talking forever five minutes ago, me seeing the alarm clock on the night stand say it was three in the morning. And guess what?

I was no longer tired, hunger taking over instead.

Hearing something about Martha putting the leftover pizza in the fridge and that we were welcome to it earlier caused me to go downstairs to get some from the fridge. I quietly walked past my parents sleeping in the living room, tip toeing my way into the kitchen.

Five more minutes later, and I had already downed a cold slice of pizza and was happily going for another one. The stove light was on in the kitchen, helping me not be completely in the dark as I ate.

As I was turned around and faced the counter to grab that other slice though, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist and someone whisper in my ear, "Would you like to continue our conversation from earlier now?"

I smiled, thinking back to the exact conversation he was talking about, remembering the tiny kiss he gave me at the jail yesterday and how the closest we'd gotten since then was short embraces of him kissing my cheek or forehead. "If you're asking me to choose between you and pizza, you might want to walk away because you're going to be very disappointed." I joked with him.

"Is that so?" The heat of his breathing tickled my ear and I squirmed a bit, turning around as he closed the pizza bow behind me. "I think I can change your mind."

I rolled my eyes and placed my hands around his neck as he did so with his on my sides. "I think you're right."

Bringing his head down to mine, I smiled at him and ran my hands over the tips of his hair. The light sounds he made as I did just made me giggle and move closer.

As his hand cupped one of my cheeks, I felt my belly do that nervous flip I was talking with Annie about earlier, my legs going to the full effect of jelly as well. My breathing was shaky and my hands were sweaty. Despite this, Jack got closer and lightly kissed me, his arms completely snaking around me and pressing me up against the counter.

His lips were soft unlike my chapped ones, them moving with mine in the slightest of ways before he let go and he touched or foreheads together. "I really love you, Lexi."

I ran one of my fingers over his cheek, running down his face and to his bottom lip then grabbing his chin and bringing his lips back to my own again, trying to forget about how my parents were in the next room. It was harder this time, him moving his lips more against mine and me still feeling like I had no idea what I was doing like every other time.

All I knew is that I enjoyed it, every bit of it. So whether I knew what I was doing or not, I was going to continue.

Then, because it's clear that the world has some kind of score to settle with me, Jack's cat started walking around below us, moving around each of our legs and twisting its tail over them.

Jack chuckled against my lips then left them again, looking down at the creature that ruined this moment for me. "Milo! Go to bed. Can't you see i'm busy?" The cat had the freaking audacity to purr and jump onto the counter. "No, bad cat. Shoo, get off there!"

I leaned back against the counter, grabbing another slice of pizza as he started playing with the animal instead of telling it to leave like he was a minute earlier. "Just in case you were wondering," I said between bites. "I love you too. Not like it matters now." I bit at the sauce and cheese covered crust again, swallowing hard.

Jack turned back to me, both of us watching as the cat finally left the room. He stuck his hands in his pajama pockets -those pajamas being just plaid ones in case anyone was wondering- and lightly grinned at me. "Sorry about that. Guess I ruined the moment, huh?"

"No, the cat did that. You just continued to is all." I explained. "But don't worry, I got over it. Pizza?" I asked, holding a piece out to him that hadn't yet been bitten off of while I took another bite from my own.

"It does matter that you said 'I love you too', Lexi." He said before taking it and hopping onto the counter, sitting there. I just stood, him, pulling me to him and positioning me between his legs, both of us staring in the same direction.

"I know, I was only joking." I told him.

I felt him move a little, a moment later saying, "I just don't want you to think I didn't care. When i'm tired, i'm easily distracted and i'm sorry."

"Jack, I said it's fine. And despite popular belief, sometimes when a girl says that, she means it."

He turned me around as I said it. "I can make up for it."

"Not tonight you won't." I stopped him as he moved closer. "Not while you still have pizza in your hand anyway. Priorities, Jack."

He laughed some and I joined him, both of us finishing off the box and throwing it away. Everything after that was just us talking for awhile, simple things. How the other one's family was, favorite shows, movies, and other things we had yet to learn about the other. Then, Jack brought up something else.

"Who would have thought that something as awful as the test would have given me you?" He smiled, holding me closer, now off the counter. I rested my head against his chest, his words making my heart feel like it would burst any minute. He was ever so slightly swaying, causing our hips and bodies to move some in the emptiness of the kitchen. "I would do it all over again as long as it had the same ending. Okay, maybe take out the forgetting you part, that was pure torture."

"Compared to bears and horrible creatures?" I asked.

He cocked his head to the side, probably silently questioning why I would even ask such a question. "I'd go through a thousand bears and those despicable monsters any day as long as I would get to see you."

"You better slow down, Jack." I teased. "Your romantic side is showing. I don't know how much more of it I can take."

And to add to the effect, he started moving his hips a little more, grabbing my hand and placing the other on his shoulder, his other on my waist. "Can't help it."

"You are not seriously setting up a way for us to do that cheesy romantic thing in the movies and books where the couple in love dances alone in a kitchen are you?"

"Come on, Lexi. You're killing the mood." He partially whined, suddenly spinning us slowly. "I may not be the best at it, but I think you deserve some kind of guy that can bring normality to your life."

"And what, dancing in a kitchen in a very cliche way makes me normal?"

"Compared to our lives? Yeah." He responded.

No more words were spoken beyond that besides for tiny whispers in my ear from time to time when Jack would say something sweet.

There was no music. Just us and a kitchen.

This was us, the not caring what tomorrow or the next day has to bring, living in the moment of now no matter how cliche it seemed to either of us.

Because we both deserved it at least once.

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I was going to post this chapter tomorrow but i'm busy so here it is. There will be another update next Friday :)

Please Vote and Comment if you liked it. I know it's going a bit slow, but this is the last book and I want everything to be perfect and not leave anything out :)