A Dance Of Crowns & Thrones | Book I

Chapter 130 | The Double Date

Matthew and Jackson maintained a silent gaze across the table, neither of them inclined to speak.  Matthew was frustrated that his evening plans with his girlfriend, a buffet of dessert and a hotel room were being disrupted by this encounter

Meanwhile, Jackson appeared to share his sentiments, fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat. The Headmaster of Allegiant, who had a formidable reputation among both adoring fans and legion of soldiers. Just like they knew that his girlfriend was not one to be trifled with, and that she had been best friends with the woman he had been seeing.

Matthew was relieved that Jackson was refraining from speaking, and the only noise around them were the high-pitched sounds of some girls deep in a conversation that carried over to their table. Jackson took a sip of water, and then pulled at the collar of his shirt.

Matthew's eyes narrowed, smirked, and then pulled out his communication device, Toni would have a field day on this with him.

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"Please just go out there and support me Eko," Jesse whined. "Just go out there, tell Matthew to behave and not to tell Toni either. Then we can all just have a nice romantic evening." Her hands were clasped together in prayer as she spoke, "just the four of us."

"Matthew is gonna kill you, and he's probably already texted Toni," Eko replied while shaking her hair and smoothing it out.

Jesse persisted with her whining, "Ek'sssssss...." 

"Fine," Eko relented, "I'll support you, but this is not my problem."

Eko turned abruptly on her heel, exuding a burst of frustrated energy, and stalked back to their table. Her presence was immediately noticed by the two men seated there, with Jesse trailing behind her.

As Jesse and Eko settled into their seats, Jackson swallowed his drink loudly before turning to Eko. "Did you fix your hair? I didn't know it was broken."

"What?" Eko asked, her eyebrows knitting together with a glare, which was really unfair. Jackson couldn't help it that he wasn't anyone else in the world. He couldn't really help that he was Jackson either.

Jesse snaked her olive hands under the table and smacked Eko hard on her thigh. The flap was far from silent, as her leg was mostly bare. "Haha, you're so funny, Jackson," she smiled as she stomped on Eko's foot. The table shook slightly with the activity before it stilled again.

The group lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, and Matthew hoped that the waiter would return soon to take their drink order. They desperately needed a drink to break the tension.

"So, Jackson?" Jesse started, "what's it like on the administration side of things. It would be demanding considering the workload." She was now determined to make this evening a success to spite her best friend that was glaring at her.

Jackson smoothed his hand over his hair, "not really, I just do what needs to be done. It's straining some days with the hours we put in. The migraines are next level with all the screen time," he pretended to flex his muscles, which wasn't helpful because he was wearing a dress shirt. "And then on the other side of things I do technician work as you guys know, but don't want to bore you with that."

Jesse looked down and nodded her head, she looked back up and smiled a tight smile. 'Think of something else to keep this going'  her mind snapped at her with the way Matthew and Eko were staring at them bewildered.

"But I personally feel that my specific talents aren't fully utilized there," Jackson's eyes brightened as he spoke about his job. "But we all have to start somewhere," he nodded his head to himself, "Allegiant needs administration and tech's and there I was. I'm committed to helping Allegiant achieve its goals."