dakota's pov +

"after party at my place!" connor announced outside the prom venue, creating a loud cheer from the few people around.

he walked alongside jonah wearing their matching prom royalty sashes, after rightfully beating crystal and her prom date.

jonah placed his prom king crown on his boyfriend's head, then turned around to liam and i who were walking right behind them.

"hey, are you two coming?" jonah asked us.

"yeah, i don't mind" liam agreed.

i pulled liam's jacket further on my shoulders for warmth and shrugged, "i don't know, i might just head home. not really in the after party mood".

jonah pouted, giving me a sympathetic look, "come on, dakota. is it because of who will be there?"

"don't worry" connor interrupted. "if crystal tries to run her mouth, i'll back you up" he winked.

"isn't he the best or what?" jonah grinned, giving his boyfriend a kiss. "but i've got your back too".

"same" liam assuringly put his arm around me.

i sighed, then nodded my head, "okay, fine. let's go".

connor's after party was pretty small and most of us were sitting in the living room, talking and drinking the beers and vodka that he managed to get his hands on.

it was all fun and chill until crystal managed to turn herself into the host and make almost every conversation about herself.

we were now forced to talk about her birthday plans and frankly, i couldn't care less about an event that i definitely won't be invited to.

"i want to switch it up this year" crystal spoke. "my parties are usually unforgettable, but i want this to top all of them".

"why don't you have a theme?" adrianna suggested.

"yeah like fancy dress or something" gia added.

crystal hesitated, "hmm, pretending to be someone you're not. any tips, dakota?".

as if on cue, the room grew silent and all eyes were on me, waiting for my response.

"no, crystal" i huffed, straightening out my dress.

she smirked at me, "are you sure?".

"crystal, either be nice or you're out" connor told her, thankfully defending me.

"well, something needs to liven up this damn party" she muttered.

"hey" derek clasped his hands together. "how about seven minutes in heaven?".

"yes! i'm down" sam exclaimed, getting comfortable in his seat, whilst everyone else began to agree with derek's suggestion too.

"sure, why not?" crystal said. "jack?" she questioned him, twirling her hair on her finger as she looked at him next to her.

jack settled down his empty beer next to the three others that he'd already finished.

"yeah, whatever" he answered.

i looked around at everyone else's drinks and noticed that they'd only had around one or two beers, yet jack somehow managed to consume much more. he wasn't completely drunk, but i could tell that he was on the verge.

"good" crystal responded. "why don't we start with you then?"

"me?".

"you've been down all night, so this might cheer you up" she stroked jack's arm.

johnson, sam and the other guys cheered and patted his back to congratulate him like he had just hit the jackpot.

"okay, so gilinsky up first" connor announced, leaning forward to grab an empty beer. "let's spin the bottle".

we all focused our eyes on the bottle spinning and spinning on the table until it finally stopped and happened to point directly at kelsey.

"what?! no, fuck that" sam immediately disagreed. "spin again".

"dude. it's a game" johnson laughed.

"calm down, sam. it's not like i'm your girlfriend and i wasn't going to join in on this stupid game any ways" kelsey explained. "i never said i was playing".

"really? so maybe i should just take over then" crystal volunteered. "you know, have your turn".

she looked directly at me once those words left her mouth, knowing very well what she was doing and that it would irk me in some way.

"actually, i need some fresh air" jack thankfully denied, getting up from his seat. "so i'm good, crystal".

"what?" she questioned in surprise.

"someone else can take my turn too" jack told, his eyes briefly glancing at me before he left the living room to go out the front door.

i just wanted to know what was on his mind right now, because for the past two weeks he's been a complete mystery to me.

"looks like i'll have to take over then" connor said, then grabbed the bottle to aim it directly at jonah. "and oh, would you look at that? the bottle landed on jonah".

everyone laughed and rolled their eyes at his tactic, as he excitedly took his boyfriend's hand and lead each other into the nearest closet.

"i'll be right back" i leant over to whisper to kelsey and got up to follow jack outside.

when i shut the door behind me, i could hear people raising their voices and shouting over each other. as i walked out further, i saw a small group of people huddled around something.

but it was until i noticed that jack was in the middle of the chaos that i rushed over.

"what the fuck did you say?!" jack yelled, harshly pushing ryan away from him.

ryan's the same guy that commented about my dad after crystal humiliated me in the lunch courtyard.

i tried to make my way through the people that were watching, and those who were trying to push the boys away from each other.

as i managed to get to the front, jack forcefully swung his fist and punched ryan in the face.

"jack!" i gasped, just as ryan retaliated back. he decided to punch jack in the face too, which only caused them both to start brawling on the grass.

even though ryan was a dick to me, there's no way that i wanted this fight to continue. but only for jack's sake.

"talk about her like that again and you'll regret it!" jack threatened whilst he had ryan pinned down, both of them lightly dripping blood from their faces.

"jack, stop!" i yelled at him, pulling back his shoulder along with the other people that got him off ryan.

i dragged him to the side and observed how his chest breathlessly rose and his eye area, and cheek were cut from the hard punch.

and it didn't take me long to notice that my own heart was beating extremely fast from relief that jack was okay.

he wiped his bleeding cheek with the back of his hand, looking over at ryan who glared back and spat out the blood from his mouth.

"hey," i held his cheek to face me. "look at you, we need to get you home".

jack shook his head, "my parents are home, i've been drinking. i can't".

i sighed and quickly thought of a solution, "then it looks like we're going to my house to sober up".

he soon nodded to agree, before i ordered an uber to take us both to my place.

i took my keys out of my purse to unlock the door and came in to all of the lights out. it was just after eleven pm, so i knew that nate wouldn't be back yet and my mom would be in bed.

"my mom's asleep, so we have to be quiet" i told jack as he shut the door behind him and i kicked off my heels. "let's go to the kitchen".

i switched on the kitchen light and gestured for jack to sit down on one of the bar chairs. i gave him an ice pack to hold on his face whilst i searched for the first aid kit.

continuing to search, i glimpsed over my shoulder to check on him. he pulled his fingers through his hair and took off his suit jacket, leaving him in pants, a creased white shirt and the untied bowtie resting on his neck.

i finally found the first aid kit and grabbed a damp towel. i stood between jack's legs and tried to compose myself as i noticed the minimal space between us.

"this may sting a little" i warned him.

"i'm a big boy. i can take it" jack let out a deep breathe.

i took the damp towel and started to wipe the dried blood from his cheek.

"ow, ow" he immediately started to wince with pain, contradicting his words. i trapped my lips in my mouth to suppress my laugh and continued wiping until his cheek was clean.

"that was just a reflex. i'm still a big boy" jack mentioned, causing me to let out a small laugh.

he smiled at me and ran his tongue over his lips as my laughter died down.

"what?" i questioned the deep stare that he was currently giving me. he eventually lifted his hand and by my surprise, softly stroked my cheek.

"you're so beautiful" jack's deep voice whispered, sending so many chills through me.

i didn't know how to respond. but i knew that his words was just the alcohol kicking in, so i somewhat smiled back and tried finding the plasters in the kit.

jack stopped my next move by gently lifting up my chin, so that i was looking directly at him again.

"i mean it, dakota" he continued.

"jack—".

"you're beautiful, and funny and intelligent" he whispered. "and i-i've missed you".

i constantly reminded myself that he had been drinking whenever my chest started to pound with emotion. this isn't him speaking. there's no way that a sober jack would see me like this.

"you're drunk, jack" i told him.

"no, i know what i'm saying" he shook his head. "i didn't realise it until recently, but a day doesn't go by where i don't think about you or where my heart doesn't feel like it's about to freaking burst out of my chest whenever i see you".

i looked into his eyes and for some reason, at this moment, i could tell that he was being genuine. jack meant it and i couldn't help but let my lips form into a smile.

"and after not speaking for all that time, nothing's felt normal without you there"
he added.

my smile was growing bigger by the minute as i also aimed to console any tears of happiness that were trying to force their way out.

"...i miss you too" i quietly replied.

jack took held of my hands and i leant my forehead against his. his warm breath lightly fanned on my lips, before he closed the space between us by attaching his soft lips to mine.

i followed jack's lead and moved my lips in sync with his whilst my hands moved to holding to his cheeks and his arms migrated to my waist.

months ago, i would have thought that someone was crazy if they told me that this would be happening right now. but it is, and it doesn't feel weird or awkward but as if our lips have been craving each other this entire time.

once i slowly pulled away, i let out a small breath as jack's eyes met mine again.

"you don't understand how long i've been waiting to do that" he confessed with his voice low, followed by a chuckle.

i bit down on my bottom lip, looking back at him, "me too".

"hey, do you mind if i crash here tonight?" jack eventually asked and without a second thought, i nodded my head.

after getting back to jack's wellbeing, i gave him a glass of water to sober up more, then focused back on these wound plasters.

i tried my best to carefully add them onto jack's face, but every time my face came close to his, he'd annoyingly do this thing where he stares into my eyes and holds back a smile.

it was cute as hell, but only caused my stomach to erupt with butterflies, my mind to lose all focus and the plaster process to be much slower.

once i was finally done fixing his injuries, i took his hand and we quietly walked upstairs to my room.

he sat on my bed and began to undress, whilst i went to the bathroom to remove this uncomfortable prom dress. my face was soon cleared from make up and i threw on a big shirt, before going back into my room.

jack was patiently sitting on my bed in his boxer shorts, then followed me into the white bed covers once i did so. i assumed that we would keep to our own space, but i surprisingly felt jack's arm snake around my waist and hold me closer to him.

i smiled and made myself more comfortable in his warm arms before sleep finally took over me.

-

jakota has risen

but i have a feeling that all of you will hate me soon 🙈

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