Jack lay Ara down on his bed, pulling the bed sheet over her body. Her eyes fluttered as he set her down. He froze, afraid to wake her, but she didn't fully open her eyes. Once she was on the bed, he walked off to the shower where blankets were kept in a wardrobe. Grabbing a couple of them, the material flew over Ara's body, hopefully helping her body warm up back to normal temperature. Picking up his night clothes, Jack made his way, once again, to the bathroom. He turned on the shower full bast, waiting for the steam to rise out of the nozzle. Meanwhile he was pulling his shirt up and over his face, casting it onto the tiled floor. Breathing in the steam, he pulled down his pants and underwear and climbed into the shower, feeling the hot water hit his body in a thousand small droplets. 

Ara snapped her eyes open to see herself covered in blankets on a soft mattress, heavy against her body.  She cast her mind to when she was on the streets, snow landing on her face, in her hair, dampening her clothes. She remembered the feeling of hopelessness and abandonment. The feeling of emptiness and hurt. For the second time of the day her vision went blurry, losing focus on the objects in front of her. Around ten minutes passed and a door opened, Jack coming out wearing a towel around his waist. He was rubbing another towel on his head, pulling it away to reveal a very messed up set of hair. She smiled behind the covers, a very classy boy thing to do. Steam was pouring out of the room he just came out of, white translucent smoke choking the air. She watched as he put his worn clothes, smarter than the clothes he had been wearing yesterday, in a basket. Nonetheless she averted her eyes when his hands made way to the knot which held the towel up. Ara waited until she heard some more rustling and movement and then she looked back over the blankets. His back was facing her, his shoulder muscles moving under his skin. It was such a beautiful process to observe, how his skin flexed over the pressure of the bones underneath. His tanned skin stood out in the illuminated room. This was a beautiful picture for her; Jack in a relaxed manner, no danger to make him anxious, no fear to tense his perfect body, and no responsibilities to weigh him down. She drank in this image while she could. Ara felt like she had to say something, to break the awkward silence, maybe..

"Hey Jack" she said in a whisper. Jack (just in his boxers) spun around, embarrassment clear on his face. 

"Oh, Ara! You're awake.." his looked at her sheepishly, not knowing that she had been watching him for the past fifteen minutes or so. He came to sit down on the bed next to her. She shuffled to the side to give him more room for him to sit. 

"How you doing?" he asked, "feeling better? Are you warm enough?" Ara laughed and shook her head.

"Yes, i'm positively sweating!" With his arm, Jack reached out his hand and placed it on her cheek. For what seemed like a lifetime, the two stayed in that position, her cheek in his hand, his palm pressed against her face. The feeling of his skin on hers was soothing, relaxing. She sighed and leant into it. For once everything seemed right. Nothing out of place, nothing going wrong. Everything in order.
"Why can't we just stay like this?" she said. Ara looked up to see Jack's face, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Ara..." he began. He took his hand away and backed off from her.
"We cannot feel like this, it is forbidden. It will be going against law."
"Yes but I don't care! We have both broken laws, coming over the border, seeing each other in private!"
"No Ara!" he snapped. Jack's eyes were firing up. She had never seen him like this before and it was scaring her. She shrank away from him and his eyes. He sensed this and he tried to cool himself down.
"I'm sorry I snapped, I don't know what came over me-"
"Neither do I," Ara interrupted,
"You have changed, not just in looks but in personality too! What happened to the innocent boy who loved to read books about dinosaurs and fighting?"
"He grew up" Jack replied coldly.
"Just because he grew up doesn't mean that he has to loose himself completely!" she lashed out, not holding back any more. And for the first time she witnessed Jack, the Jack she had known for as long as she could remember, crying. His endless sobbing made her heart melt, the noises of his sadness too heartbreaking to hear.
"Oh Jack, i'm sorry." Ara climbed off the bed and walked to stand in front of him. With his head bent down and his hands to his face, he looked lost and lonely. Suddenly an urge to hold him surfaced and it nearly drove her to do it, but she managed to hold back, it would not have been wise. She put her hand on his arm, just above the elbow, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. The sobbing subsided and soon enough he was looking at her with his gorgeous blue eyes. With her free hand, Ara swiped at a rolling tear from his cheek, the water collecting on her thumb. She looked out of the single small window to see that it had stopped snowing.
"Meet me tomorrow night back at the cottage at eight thirty. I will wait for fifteen minutes, but no longer." She looked back at him. Finally she stretched onto her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek, where a tear had been.