5 CHAPTER V

Jack yawns as he gets out of Theo's car.

"You can wait here if you want." Theo tells him, taking the pile of books on the backseat and shoving it on Jack's hands.

"As if you can carry all these alone." He rolls his eyes. "Why does he have so much homework anyway?"

Theo shrugs and starts walking towards Vince’s house, the other following behind.

"It's not all homework, I got him some used books for his classes. I heard he doesn't have all of them yet."

Jack hums in response, his attention now on the house they're heading to. It's a nice house. Not too big, but definitely not small. There's a small garden on the front that looks like someone has poured a lot of time and love into. Jack especially likes the red roses.

Theo knocks on the door.

A woman greets them. She has beautiful shiny brown hair and a warm smile on her face. Her eyes look gentle, but tired – despite that, she still looks young.

"Hi?" She says, looking curiously at the boys in front of her.

"Hello! Mrs. Taylor?”

The woman nods.

“Is Vince home?" Theo asks, his charming smile already showing. The woman’s expression softens and she nods, opening the door wider, inviting them in.

"You must be Theo, right? From school." She asks as the boys follow her inside. “Vince told me about you.”

"Yes. I'm here to leave today's homework for him." Theo points at the books on Jack's hands and the boy smiles awkwardly.

"Thank you, that's very kind. You can leave them by the table." She smiles, guiding them towards the center of the living room. "You can wait here. I'll go tell him you're here."

Theo bows, thanking her, and Jack drops the books on the small table with an exaggerated sigh.

Theo glares at him but he ignores it, focused on shaking his now numb arms in a dramatic way.

"Should've locked you inside the car, I swear. Next time I'll handcuff you or something." Theo whispers angrily, organizing the books dropped on the table.

"Thanks but I'm not into that kinky shit." Jack grins, not worrying about the volume of his voice, and Theo widens his eyes, slapping his arm, which only makes him laugh.

"He's here!" The woman interrupts them, entering the room with Vince behind her. "I'll go make you boys some tea." She smiles and excuses herself out.

Vince is wearing an oversized hoodie and tight jeans, and he has no mask on now. He smiles when he sees the two boys and Jack can't help but stare at his perfect box-shaped smile, so different from the tired weak one he gave him when he woke up at the hospital.

"Thank you for coming." Vince says, looking at Theo. "You didn't have to."

"No worries. I brought you some books as well!" The short one answers excitedly. "I hope you're feeling better?"

"Oh..." Vince looks down, "Yes, I'm better. Sorry if I worried you." He smiles weakly.

Jack stares at him, puzzled. He has no idea what kind of sickness the other has. Sometimes he looks fine - even though he looks a bit tired he still smiles - but other times, he can't even breathe properly. It's confusing.

His mom comes back with a small kettle on her hands.

"Which one of you boys can help me bring the cups and sugar?" She smiles, putting the kettle on the center table in front of them.

Jack notices her finger. It's marked in gray. He swallows dry.

"I'll go!" Theo gets up and follows her.

Jack feels bad. He knows he wasn’t supposed to notice the woman's mark. He's only seen a mark like that once before, with a guy he slept with a while ago. Other than that, he's only heard about it.

When your soulmate is about to die way before you do, you feel the string burning around your finger. It burns and burns until, when their heart finally stops beating, it leaves behind a gray mark, as if the string burned out on your skin.

It's a cruel reminder that love is eternal but life is not.

He wonders how long has it been since Vince’s father passed away. He wonders if he should say something.

"Uh..." He clears his throat, finding courage to look at the other. "Sorry about your dad."

Vince looks up at him, furrowing his eyebrows. "Oh. you saw it, huh..."

"Yeah..." Jack nervously scratches his head. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Vince shakes his head and smiles softly, but his eyes look empty. "Everyone dies, anyway."

The way he says it makes Jack feel a cold on his chest. How come someone so young is in such good terms with the idea of death? Especially after losing someone. It scares Jack to even consider what made the other start thinking like this.

"Jack…?" Vince speaks, waking him from his thoughts.

"Yeah? Sorry." He shakes his head. "Uh... Anyway. You really do feel better right?" He asks, not knowing why his voice sounds like it's breaking out of a sudden.

"Yes.” Vince smiles, soft and warm and honest in a way it makes Jack feel something he can't quite name yet. “Don’t worry about me. And thank you... you know, for being with me. I don't really like waking up alone after I pass out." Vince feels his face heating up with shame of his own confession. "It's... kind of scary, I guess."

Jack stares at him, wondering how many times he had passed out in his life to come to this conclusion. He swallows dry.

"I promise I'll be there when you wake up from now on." Jack says sincerely, not even sure where it came from, not sure if he's saying it out loud, but absolutely sure that he meant it. And the way Vince looks at him surprised but smiles anyway scares him even more.

"Sorry it took us so long! Theo was giving me a recipe of these really good chocolate cookies I saw on TV once." Vince's mother comes back smiling, Theo laughing behind her. "They’re delicious!"

They put the cups on the table. But Jack feels weird now and he can't even explain to himself why.

He just knows he has to leave. Has to go out and definitely has to get drunk, maybe hook up with someone, get his mind out of things.

"I just remembered I have somewhere to be!" He gets up. "Sorry Mrs. Taylor. I'll be back for tea some other time."

Everyone smiles and waves him goodbye, except for Theo who glares at him, probably thinking he's being rude, but he doesn't notice, eyes glued on Vince and his smile even as he walks away to leave.

He needs to get his shit together.

He exits the house in a hurry, heart still beating faster than he could understand why.

He sees Theo's car parked across the street.

"I'll give it back later." He whispers to himself.

He gets in the car and starts it, thanking his friend for leaving the keys.