And then a taxi pulls up outside the apartment block and the back door of it opens, Jack steps out and it’s good to see he hasn’t changed at all. He’s back in his turtle necks, his jeans, and of course his pencil thin moustache is firmly fixed in place. Nobody would ever talk him into changing THAT let me tell you.
“Katelynn!” he exclaims at seeing her, and already he’s rushing to her, arms out. “Oh god K-Katelynn it’s so—I missed you so much!” Jack wraps his arms around her, pulling the shorter woman against him while the taxi driver works at getting his luggage out of the boot.
It felt so instantaneous – one second she had been standing there among the crowds like any other face, hard to distinguish and yet Jack had scoped her out without problem and she was swept up in his arms the next second, eyes blinking as she felt arms wrap around her.
Arms she had missed.
Heart pounding in a mixture of pain and joy, her own thin arms hugged him tightly to her person as she nuzzled into his chest, lashes moistening as tears began to collect at the corner of her eyes before falling down her cheeks. His smell, his body, his everything – how much she had missed it, craved it and now he was back, his voice filling her senses as the rest of him wrapped around her like a security blanket.
“J-Jack…” she choked out, unable to speak as her lips trembled from the force of her emotions. Her knees wobbled a bit and she clung to him tighter, all other thoughts, all other sounds blocked out.
“I-I missed you more…”
He wouldn’t argue with her over something as silly as that, instead he just held onto her for dear life. For a while it had felt as if he wouldn’t see her again, no matter how silly that was, truly. She had only been a phone call, and plane ride, away and yet he’d been incapable of doing either until now. He shivered before pulling back, and swiftly kissed her despite it feeling as if it were their first all over again since he had an eruption of nervousness and worry.
But her lips were warm, soft, and the kind of familiarity he needed right now to help him feel more grounded in the city that he called home. Yes, he’d been away, but he was back now and never again was he going to do something like this. He loved his art, of course he did, but he loved Katelynn more.
Jack Maple 