#LKJSDKLFJKSDLFSDF

[alicelillianshaw]

Alice's cheeks round and round in a smile— grin growing so wide that it almost hurt.

'Well, I would’ve asked. All the time. About everything.'

Hmm. Alice would have liked that. Would have like that a lot.

Fuck.

Honestly?

All this talk only highlighted how sad Alice is that they didn't know each other earlier— that they weren't meeting over a work interview, over the wreckage of a political scandal. They could have met in English Literature. Maybe ceramics, if they were in need of an elective.

Jack would have pestered her, and Alice would have retaliated, and it was very likely they wouldn't have spent more than five minutes apart.

Alice's mom would probably invite him over for dinner— Jack could explain how he'd executed his sky-writing plan so perfectly.

God.

If only they'd had that.

But they have today, here at the falls.

And Jack.

Still holding her hand. Now looking at Alice with a gleam that looked ... alert. His eyes seemed to be darting everywhere.

'Yeah. Yes,'

Her brows raise. It almost sounded very emphatic, his answer.

'I’ll do anything.'

Anything? Alice's brows climb steadily higher as Jack expands upon his answer.

'I’d … walk on broken glass. Jump off this rock. Carry you all the way down these steps, to my car.'

'To be a good boy for you.'

The gleam in his eye could almost be described as fevered. Alice wasn't sure, but— he didn't seem as if he was overly joking, or exaggerating for effect much.

Not much.

Her brows knit together. Alice stares for a moment. How intense. How impulsive.

How very Jack.

Fuck, that heat in her abdomen was back for some reason.

Alice straightens and appraises.

"Well," she begins. "I don't need you to do all that."

"Yet."

A smile stretches across her lips. Yeah. He looked extra handsome like this, for some reason.

"...You can just keep being this amount of good and that should be sufficient...."

Jack had shivered. Without thinking, Alice reaches forward, pushes a lock of his hair back over his head, as if settling him into place— tidying up.

"Just like this."

She smiles. Fuck. He was so fucking ... endearing. Intriguing, if she was being honest, this very earnest tone he had just adopted it. Alice's skin felt prickly all over. Maybe all that earnestness did deserve a reward.

"I think you've earned New Mexico."

"I would have said yes, obviously. To every time you would ask me something."

Something about this statement. Jack didn’t feel it was fair to compare, but — he thought about his marriage, and how little patience his ex seemed to have for him. It already felt different with Alice — in this make believe high school scenario.

“Well, I would’ve asked. All the time. About everything.”

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Jack watched as Alice pondered over his question. She had no reason to say yes to New Mexico. He wouldn’t have blamed her, actually, if she drew it out until the very last day of her visit. Or if she revoked the points simply because he'd asked.

Whatever rules she established — well. Jack would try to play by them.

She placed her other hand atop of his, and it made his chest feel all tight and warm.

"...You have been a very good boy today, haven't you?"

Jack smirked. Well. Yeah, he liked to think so. He found himself nodding, leaning in for the simple pleasure of being closer to her.

“Yeah. Yes,” he finally answered. Jack’s eyes bounced around her features — her eyes, nose, mouth. God. He briefly wondered what would have happened if he’d kissed her earlier.

“I’ll do anything.”

Alice in his Yale t-shirt. Yeah. He would've done anything. They were just getting bolder and bolder, weren’t they? This was a lot to reveal to someone after only two days. But he trusted Alice.

“I’d … walk on broken glass. Jump off this rock. Carry you all the way down these steps, to my car.”

Jack swallowed.

“To be a good boy for you.”

Could she tell that he really meant it? Jack shivered.