the feminist librarian reads

bootycap:

i just love love love so much the idea that jack is blowing up bitty’s phone with texts.
like. jack.. who isn’t much of a conversationalist, who uses words so sparingly…
it’s him—he’s the one who’s just going on and on to bitty. what is he saying? is he just sending random things to bitty, telling him about his day? is he sending a bunch of short little messages or is it a handful of long messages spanning multiple texts? is the conversation light and flirty, silly small talk, or is jack telling bitty things he would otherwise have trouble telling bitty face-to-face, talking about all the reasons jack had sprinted across campus just to kiss him, just to have that small moment together before they had to go their separate ways for the near future?
it’s only a few hours after the kiss. is jack sitting at dinner with george and his parents right then? is he just completely ignoring them to text bitty with a stupid little smile on his face?
what about his parents? do you think they’re sneaking glances at each other before smiling softly at jack who’s so engrossed with his phone that he doesn’t even notice?
maybe his mom says something so outlandish, something that doesn’t even make sense like, ‘so i heard the falconers are moving to mexico’ just to see if jack is at all paying attention to what’s going on around him.
and jack just kind of idly nods along while typing at his phone until his dad sighs and says, ‘jack…’
and jack looks up at his dad, and then at his mom… and then he glances to his phone before starting to apologize. only, before he can get the word out in its entirety, his dad interrupts him and says, ‘tell bitty we say high’
and jack just turns bright red and nods
and bitty, bitty who’s literally just gotten back to georgia minutes ago is sitting at his kitchen table with his suitcase barely even inside the house, staring at his phone and texting back while his mom shakes her head, rolling her eyes fondly. ‘the boys,’ she thinks.
and there, in the middle of all of the texts from jacks, the ones that say things like
‘what about the fourth of july?’
‘my schedule is pretty full but i think we get time off for the holiday’
‘are you sure you’d want that?’
‘i’m sorry, i wish it could be sooner’
there’s an incongruous text that says
‘oh. my parents say hello.’
and with that, bitty knows, the same way he knows the very second one of his pies is done, that jack’s parents know about him. know about them.
bitty warms all over, knowing his face must be bright red. his mom notices this and she clears her throat and he looks up at her and stutters out, ‘um. mama. i have something to tell you.’
his mom looks at him, really looks at him and then nods at bitty’s phone and asks, ‘that jack, then?’
bitty nods quietly, biting his lip and his mom just walks over and ruffles his hair before pressing a kiss to the top of his head and whispering, ‘i’m happy for you, honey’ leaving bitty alone with the phone that’s chiming gently in his hand