𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙯𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡𝙨 ➳ 𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘺

(07) Pretty Wo-Man

"Pretty woman walkin' down the street, pretty woman, the kind I like to meet! Pretty woman, I don't believe you, you're not the truth!" Jack sang out in the living room, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts and sneakers. "No one could look as good as you... MERCY!"

"Jack! Jack!" Hayley called out as she jogged down the stairs. Hearing her brother singing, she couldn't help but laugh. "I need your khaki jacket."

Jack was dusting the living area with a cloth, something Hayley had never seen him do. The terrible singing wasn't unusual for Hayley to hear, however.

"Are you feeling okay, little bro?" Hayley questioned Jack, reaching her hand out to his forehead as she jokingly felt for a temperature. "Are you... Actually cleaning?"

"Just doing some house maintenance" Jack shrugged, walking around the room as he cleaned up. "I've got a girl from school coming over."

Hayley laughed once more and shook her head. She'd found Jack's khaki jacket on the ground and picked it up before slinging it over her shoulder. "Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to get a girl to come over? What did you tell her?"

"Well, I told her I could help her out with her Social Studies homework, being the man of worldly experience that I am" Jack explained, picking up one of his father's cigar pipes and placing it into the top of his boxers, saving it as a prop for the night. "Then maybe we'll have some fun once she sees my charm."

Rolling her eyes at her brother's desperateness, Hayley nodded in response. "I see, an innocent tutoring lesson. Just... If for some extremely unlikely bizarre reason this girl does want to hook up with you, make sure you're done before I get back."

"Hey, make fun of me all you want, but at least I'm having a real date tonight!" Jack shot back at his sister, pointing a finger at her. "You're just toying along an innocent girl, that's a little sad."

Hayley slumped down onto the couch as she watched Jack checking himself out in the mirror behind it. "I told you, I'm doing it for Taylor's sake."

"I thought you were doing this for 'research'?" Jack puzzled, feeling confused. Seeing his sister nod in response, he continued. "Well, that's a little messed up. But hey, that's not the big problem here!"

"Oh yeah?" Hayley smirked, putting on the khaki jacket over her flannel shirt as she finished getting ready. "What is it, then? What's the big problem?"

Jack wore a jokingly concerned look as he sat down beside his sister and placed an arm around her. "If this Tay girl has the hots for you, she might wanna hook up. And if she gets too close to you, maybe if she starts getting all hot and touchy, she'll expose you for who you really are. Oh, and not to mention skinny dipping, because that's a whole other risk."

Hayley nodded in agreement, though she hadn't initially thought that far ahead yet. It felt crazy to her that anyone could find her attractive in her current state.

Hayley had barely slept lately, wanting to get the best writing out of her system as she could, whenever it struck her. So not only did she have horrible eye bags from minimal sleep, she also had the worst haircut possibly ever. She now realised why all the beauty magazines told girls to see professionals.

Shaking out of her thoughts and back to the problem at hand, just in case it was a possibility, Hayley turned to her brother for advice. "What do I do if that happens?"

"Text me, I could be there in ten minutes to take your place" Jack suggested, before quickly remembering that he was already busy that night. "Wait no, don't. In fact, maybe don't come home at all. Who knows how long this friend of mine will be around for!"