July 17

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At some point in the night, Katherine woke up and attempted to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She found herself in Jack's bed, but didn't find it as unusual as the first time she woke up in that same spot. Ever since then, there would occasionally come a night where they'd stay in one or the other room together.

Katherine tilted her chin up to try and catch a glance at Jack, but her attempts not to move so much only prohibited her line of sight. She could have sworn he was asleep, up until the moment he let out a chuckle and propped himself up on one elbow.

"You're awake?" Katherine mumbled groggily, looking at Jack through glazed eyes.

"Yeah," Jack said. "Couldn't get back to sleep."

"How come?"

"Beats me," Jack said with a soft shrug, tightening his arm around Katherine's waist.

"What time is it?" She asked sleepily, attempting to restitute herself so she could peer at Jack as he spoke.

"Don't know. Prob'ly two."

Katherine sighed softly, sinking into the pillows. "I really need to stop waking up in the middle of the night."

There was a comfortable silence for a moment as Katherine and Jack lay there, listening to the sounds of their soft breaths. It wasn't until Jack spoke up that the silence was broken, "Hey..."

"Yeah?"

"Do you think... we'll still be together when this thing is over?"

Katherine sat up, closely followed by Jack. Through the darkness, she gave him a small smile, reaching for his hand and interlacing their fingers together. "I'll try if you will."

"Why wouldn't I?" Jack replied, looking down at their hands before bringing his eyes back up to Katherine. "But it'll still be different."

"That much is obvious," Katherine said with a soft sigh, shifting her weight so that her body was facing Jack's.

There was another silence.

Jack, again, was the one to speak, but what he said startled Katherine. "When this is over, let's move in together."

"What?" Katherine breathed, her voice barely above a whisper.

"When we go back to New York, let's get a place. You and me."

Katherine was momentarily stunned. She didn't know why it shocked her so much, seeing as they were already living together.

The difference, though, was that this was a choice. The Close Distance Experiment wasn't. The appraisal wasn't. With whatever Katherine answered with, that would be herself speaking and not her father.

Katherine dropped Jack's hand, and instead leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his neck. Jack's arms instinctively wrapped around her waist. They stayed like that for a long moment, before Katherine nodded softly against his shoulder and murmured quietly into his ear, "I'd love that. You and me."

When Katherine pulled away, Jack placed a hand tenderly behind her neck, bringing their lips together in a kiss. Both felt themselves melting in each other's presence, and the circumstance it was in didn't matter. Nothing was taken out of context; it was just Jack and Katherine.

Katherine was the one to break away, but it was barely a second later when she spoke in a whisper, "Jack... I-I love you."

"What?" Jack leaned back, looking at every part of Katherine's face in an attempt to find a sign that she wasn't serious. The last time he had heard that statement said sentimentally from someone was his mother, but that was several years ago. To him, that wasn't a statement just to be thrown around carelessly. "You—?"

"Don't act stupid, Jack," Katherine said with a soft sigh. "You know exactly what I said." She brought her eyes back down to their hands, "I love you."

Katherine remembered wondering if she would ever have the courage to say something like that to Jack's face; if she could expose her true feelings. Now that it was out in the open, she didn't know if it was a mistake or the right decision. Nonetheless, Katherine didn't regret it.

Jack hesitated, his jaw hanging open slightly. Katherine looked tenderly at him, her teeth biting down onto her bottom lip. There was a long silence before Jack finally made a reaction, looking up at Katherine. "I love ya, too, Ace."

Katherine let out a breath she wasn't even aware she had been holding. Her next actions were completely involuntary, for she leaned forward quickly to hug him once again, but the shock of the unexpected action caused Jack to fall backwards, taking Katherine with him.

"It only took us six months," Katherine said with a soft sigh, using one of her hands to support herself above Jack's body and the other to brush her hair over her shoulder so it wasn't in the way of their conversation.

Jack chuckled quietly, bringing one of his hands up to rest at the back of Katherine's neck. "I'd rather do it now than not do it."

"Ditto," Katherine murmured softly, shifting to the side so she could lay down beside Jack.

"Huh?" Jack looked over at her. "What does that mean?"

"You've never heard that expression?" Katherine asked with a soft smile. "It's used to express a repeated opinion or statement."

Jack nodded as Katherine reached beneath them to pull the covers over their bodies. They returned to their usual sleeping position, with Jack's arm around Katherine and her arm resting across his torso.

Katherine's voice was soft when she spoke her last words of the night, "Goodnight, Jack."

"Ditto."

<><><>

I was going to take this milestone of their relationship in a much different direction but I like this a little more

also, one thing that's been bothering me is what people might think of my depiction of Katherine's and Jack's personalities. no one has said anything, I'd just like to clear it up

I've been writing my stories the way I personally see Katherine and Jack like. and, honestly, I view Katherine in this story kind of like Kara's sassy, sarcastic representation of her in the bootleg of her and Jeremy. however, I view Jack kind of as a mix of Corey's and Jeremy's portrayal as stubborn—yet soft—and careless

idk I just wanted to clear that up. it would personally make me feel better

anyways, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! 💕