missing | gilinsky

10

Jack is waiting for me as soon as I step out of Westside with Hannah. I guess probably soon was sooner than I expected. It's nice to see him again, showing up outside the school. I was afraid those days were over. Hannah says goodbye to me as we step down the stairs, I watch her walk off with Kendal. I wonder where they're going together for .2 seconds, then focus my attention back on Jack. 

"Hey," I greet him, feeling a little anxious. Am I ready to hear what he had to say about Jack? 

"Hi," he says, scratching the back of his head. 

"I'm s-"

"Don't apologize." He cuts me off right away, getting into his jeep. I follow suit. "I'm sure Hannah told you everything I said."

I nod. "She showed me the texts."

He looks scared for a split second. "All of them?"

"Well, the ones from today," I assure him.

His shoulders slouch and he goes back to looking normal. I raise an eyebrow at him, confused to why he'd be nervous if I'd seen any other messages. What do they talk about that's so private?

"I'm taking you to my house," he says, pulling out of the parking lot. I almost laugh. He sounds like he did when I first met him. Firm and orderly. 

"That's fine," I say. Even though it might not be fine. I'm nervous. Will his parents be home? Will I have to meet them? Does he have siblings? A dog? A cat? I hate not knowing things in advances, I like to be prepared. Jack is the complete opposite of that. He likes to live in the moment and be spontaneous, make decisions as he goes. 

We get to his house around ten minutes later. He lives on Dodge Street. As soon as we pull into his driveway he shuts off the car, and races to the front door. I do the same, not understanding why we're in such a rush to get inside. 

"Sorry," Jack apologizes, closing the door behind me. "I hate my neighbors." 

"Oh." I laugh. "Ok." 

Looking around I see that the house is fairly empty, it's lacking basic furniture. It doesn't seem like anyone's home. I want to ask him who he lives with, but I feel like that would be prying too much into his personal life. The house isn't big enough for more than a family of four, so I assume he might not have any siblings. 

"Follow me up to my room," he says, walking up a few stairs. His room is the first one we see. He throws open the door and shuts it as soon as I'm inside. So I guess the open door rule doesn't apply here. 

I make my way over to his bed and sit down on it. I examine everything in his room, noticing that cardboard boxes are in every corner of his living space. The only thing that's out in the open is a laptop that sits on his desk. He has nothing else unpacked, which makes me wonder how long he's been here and how long he's planning to stay. 

"Sorry about the mess," he says, kicking around a couple of boxes. 

"It's fine," I reply swinging my legs up and down. "Why don't you unpack your things?"

Jack purses his lips. "There's not really a need for me to." 

"Why is that?"

"We're here to talk about Jack," he hints, sliding his hands in his pockets. 

"Yes, of course," I say, forgetting about all the things I'd like to ask him about his living conditions. 

"I might have a lead of where he is," he starts. My stomach squeezes itself. A lead? 

"Wait, so you know where he is?"

"Not really, it's more like I have a small idea. My buddy, Nate, says might've seen him in New York."

Nate? Who the hell is that? New York? Why the hell would Jack be in New York? Out of all places. We don't have any family there, he never mentioned anything about ever wanting to live there. He applied there for some colleges but he never said that he got into any of them. That's why he stayed here in Omaha with Sam. 

"How do you know someone from New York?"

"I lived there before I came here," Jack answers, running his fingers through his hair.

I stop talking for a second. Letting all of this sink in. There's so much that I don't know about Jack. I thought he wasn't a stranger anymore but now I'm starting to rethink all of this. I don't even really know who he is. I know practically nothing about him. 

"And so your friend Nate might've seen him? How valid is this might've?" I question, not sure that his friend makes a good source.

Jack shrugs. "I don't know, Nadia. That's all he told me."

"Do you think he went there looking for you?" 

"No way, we never talked about meeting, we weren't even that close," Jack tells me. They weren't that close? What a load of bullshit.

"Then why'd you come here?" I ask, feeling my anger rising. "Why did you come here? Tell me."

Jack bites his lip. His Adam's apple rides up and down his neck. "I came here because I had to." 

"What the fuck does that even mean? You had to? Why'd you have to? Did Jack tell you to? Do you know where Jack is? Are you lying to me? How can I trust you?" I watch Jack flinch, I can tell he's holding himself back from saying something he'd regret. At this point I couldn't care less.

"Just listen to me for a second, Nadia, you're blowing this way out of proportion." Jack's voice is as calm as ever. I'm surprised he's not yelling at me.

"I fucking hate this, I just want to know the whole story and you're the worst possible person who can be giving me these answers if you're going to be keeping things from me."

Jack seems stuck. He looks up at the ceiling, as if that's where all his answers lie. "Look, I know you're frustrated - I am too - getting mad won't do us any good." 

I know he's right, but I still can't calm myself down. I was so excited to get some information about my brother but now that I've got it it's like nothing has even changed. "What am I supposed to do now?" 

"Find him?" Jack suggests.

"How?" I scoff, standing up off his bed. 

"Come back to New York with me." 

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hellooo! hope you enjoyed this chapter! things are starting to pick up as you can tell haha. feel free to comment any suggestions or questions that you may have and don't forget to vote if you'd like

-gilinskyshigh