Chapter Text
On Saturday morning, October began.
As light filtered through the windows through the bedrooms of Trinity Academy, Jack Merridew awoke with a pounding headache and a lack of willpower to even get up for the day.
After contemplating for quite a while, he dragged himself to his washroom, brushing his teeth and fixing his blonde hair that had become rather haphazard through the night. He thought back to last night's events, how he had rushed out of the room after the whole interaction with Simon, cheeks ablazing and his heart on fire.
He still could not believe Simon did not tell anyone else it was his birthday. He wondered if Simon's parents had sent him anything. He wondered if Simon's mother was like Simon herself, all brown hair and kindness, and if his father also had Simon's traits of gentle confidence and humour.
Jack tugged on a grey wooden shirt and his light brown khaki pants. He knew deep down, that it was not normal to be thinking about someone he just met this much. Jack told himself that he needed to go the rest of the day without thinking about Simon, and everything would return to the way it was before Simon arrived, when Jack knew how to play the part of himself better.
Yes, he would not think about Simon at all.
Humming sounds bounced off of the old film projector as Jack, Roger, and Maurice took their seats in the old movie theatre.
They had frequented this movie theatre on Saturdays before, and were comforted by the worn plush seats, the scent of salty popcorn, and the velvet drapes that surrounded the area.
It was now afternoon, and they had decided to watch the theatre's re-run of an old classic film, Casablanca. Jack did not know anything about the film before, but found himself immersed in the story.
Jack had never been a romantic guy before. When he watched the same old love stories, he felt a sense of boredom. But now, watching the black-and-white film, he felt like he could somehow see its colours. As the film passed, Jack felt some kind of weird semblance to Rick, his cynical and isolated yet vulnerable nature touching something deep inside Jack. Jack loved every scene, his eyes fixated on the screen.
As the credits rolled, Jack felt reluctantly moved by the romance between Rick and Isla, the tragedy of Isla being torn between her moral duty to her husband and her love for Rick. Maybe he needed to watch more films, because they could be rather interesting, Jack mused. He got up from his seat and dusted off.
Roger and Maurice were talking about how they found the film dull (to Jack's silent disagreement) when they walked into the local market surrounding the movie theatre. There was little stores and booths and families everywhere they turned, warm spices of apple pie filling the air.
"Jack!" suddenly exclaimed a girl's voice, causing the boys to stop in their tracks.
Jack looked over, it was Bethany and a few other girls from the girl's boarding school, Courthill, that was a few miles away from Trinity.
Jack had met Bethany through his family years ago, when they were just kids. He remembered playing with her on the swings in his family's backyard, her in pigtails and him with much shorter hair.
Maurice and Roger looked at Jack with amusement on their faces. Many of the boys at Trinity had talked about Bethany, about how they thought she was quite good looking. Jack had never noticed or even really looked at her before.
Looking at her now, Jack supposed she was nice and pretty, but he did not know why he did not feel anything like other boys would have, as she approached him.
Still, he straightened up, fixing his collar. He put on his best smirk as he shook her hand before saying hello to the other girls, most of them exploding into fits of giggles. He recognized one other girl, Violet, who had a black shag accompanied with eyeliner and light pink lipstick on, who only offered him a nodding smile.
"It has been so long! We must catch up sometime soon!" Bethany said to him as she touched his arm, tucking a piece of small, light blonde hair behind her ear.
"I'm sure you would like that." Maurice snickered.
Bethany rolled her eyes as she awaited Jack's response.
Jack had enjoyed Bethany's company when he was younger, but he was not exactly urging to catch up.
But with all the eyes looking at him expectantly, and the reminder that maybe this would be a good distraction from... other things, he nodded at Bethany, and simply stated, "I'm sure we can arrange that."
This caused Bethany to squeal in excitement as she bid the boys farewell, pulling along the rest of the girls with her. Violet trailed a bit behind the other girls.
"Well, look at the ladies man!" said Roger, his eyebrow raised, as Maurice dragged them along to the apple pie stand.
Ladies man, right.
"What can I say?" Jack forced a laugh, as they stood in line.
This was supposed to be what he wanted. So why did it feel so wrong?
As the sun began to set, the boys went into the last shop of the day before having to return on the train. It was an antique store, filled to the brim with leather items, ancient furniture pieces, porcelain decorations, and music records.
Maurice and Roger were in the corner, looking at vintage sports gloves and equipment. Jack took this time to survey the shop. He was about to tell Roger and Maurice that they should head out soon, when something sparkling caught the corner of his eye.
He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. I mean, he had not even thought about... him, at all today. He was doing so good!
Nope, Jack was not going to do anything. He was simply going to walk out of the store, and not think about anything else.
He grabbed the item before his mind could fully stop him, dashing off to pay before Roger and Maurice found him.
Jack strides to the library as he approached Monday's tutoring session. It would be the first time he saw Simon since the party, only two days really, even though it felt a lot longer.
He had tried to search for Simon's brown hair at class, but he was missing. He had searched for him at breakfast too, but was only met with the sight of Ralph and Piggy chattering at the table with an empty third seat.
He had given up hope for even seeing Simon, but when he approached the library corner, it was like his prayers had silently been answered.
"Jack." Simon looked up at him, quickly shoving a red leather journal into his satchel, his eyes lighting up.
Jack looked at the journal, quirking an eyebrow, "Huh, what is that?"
"Oh, that's nothing, nothing important." Simon immediately said, suddenly averting his eyes nervously.
He was such a bad liar, Jack thought fondly.
He already knew his plan to forget about Simon would be a spectacular fail.
He let Simon's excuse drop (only this time, determining to find out what the mystery book was, just later). He cleared his throat. Dropped something on the table with a thump.
A small, brown parcel lay between them.
"What is this?" Simon questioned, clearly confused. Confusion had become such a common look on Simon that Jack almost laughed.
Jack shrugged nonchalantly, acting like he did not know what Simon was talking about.
Simon slowly picked up the parcel, turning it over between his long fingers, his eyebrows furrowed.
He opened the small ribbon tie slowly, making sure to not rip any of the paper. Simon was always rather delicate with everything, like he knew how easy it was for things to break.
Jack eyed him silently, not saying anything.
Finally, Simon pulled out a long, blue leather strip. It was adorned with a regional crest, metallic gold stamping, and faded florals scattered across the edges.
It was the most beautiful bookmark Simon Cambourne had ever seen.
But what attracted Simon's eyes most was in the middle of the bookmark, was a beautiful depiction of religious symbols and art, with a small, thin man with dark hair illustrated amongst it, floating.
"Jack.."
"The man there is St. Francis. I learned about him in religion class, quite a few years ago. You know, he was a friar, who had given up his total earnings and wealth to go live in nature with animals and the birds or something. I never heard about anything like that before." Jack rambled quickly, his hands tapping on the desk, looking anywhere but Simon.
Simon was looking down at the bookmark, tracing St. Francis's frame slowly. Jack left 'you remind me of him' unsaid, knowing that Simon understood.
Now the master of this landscape he was standing at the view
With a sparrow of St. Francis that he was preaching to
"I missed your birthday, after all. And well, you seem to like reading more than the average person." Jack laughed gently, trying to lighten the mood. Simon was still not looking up, his head bowed down like a saint himself.
Did Simon like the gift?
Simon looked up then, clutching the bookmark like if he did not, it would suddenly fly away.
"You-Jack, it is lovely" Simon whispered.
Ah the man she wanted all her life was hanging by a thread
"I never even knew how much I wanted you, " she said.
Jack felt so pleased then, so proud that he had caused that look on Simon's face. He knew every penny he had spent on the bookmark was worth it.
"Great. And it's some good use then, we can remember what page of this Pride and Prejudice we are on. My grades will go over the moon." Jack winked, trying to avert the conversation, causing Simon to laugh and roll his eyes.
Simon opened chapter two of the novel, and started reading, but did not stop smiling.
In between pages, when Simon was looking at his notes, Jack would sneak glances at him over the top of his own book, looking away before Simon could catch him.
He did not know that Simon was doing the same thing.
"I'll never see a face like yours in years of men to come
I'll never see such arms again in wrestling or in love."