LOTF: Before and After

Phase 3: Chapter 40

"Not without you" Ralph countered. He hadn't even realized he was angry until now; angry at Jack for scaring him shitless, for running away without telling him where he was going or why, for always holding back, for constantly keeping a safe distance, a safe amount of secrets, between the two of them.

"I'm not going back" Jack scoffed as he shook his head disapprovingly.

"Your sister is shitting herself worried about you, you asshole!" Ralph's volume raised close to a shout as he shoved Jack firmly but with no intention to cause him any actual harm.

"Fuck that" Jack sneered, shoving Ralph back. "Fuck her, fuck my dad, fuck 'em all. I don't need their shit, or yours" Jack declared, exasperated.

"So what? What are you gonna do? Stay here with Roger's brother forever?" Ralph forced Jack to consider.

"For now, yeah" Jack scoffed. "What are you gonna do about it, huh? You gonna make me go back, drag me by my hair just so I can turn around and leave again the second you're done looking?"

"Look, I get that you're upset but—"

"No actually you don't get shit" Jack interrupted rather hostilely. "You have no fucking idea what you're asking of me, alright? I'm not going back, not for Paige, not for my bitch-ass father, not even for you" Jack announced scornfully.

"It's bigger than that, Jack. Your sister reported you missing, the police are investigating your disappearance. If you don't come back, they'll find you, and it won't be me standing here asking you to listen, it'll be them hauling you out and straight to a police station for questioning. Is that really what you want, Jack? Is it?"

"You gonna tell 'em where I am?" Jack challenged Ralph to deliberate, to test his loyalty.

"I—" Ralph stopped himself and let the thought trail off in silence. Jack stood in front of him, raising his eyebrows as he waited for an answer. "No" Ralph decided after a moment or two. "I wouldn't do that."

Jack sighed as his anger subsided a little. He looked Ralph up and down as he considered the lengths he must've gone through to find him.

"How'd you find me anyway?" Jack wondered, "you don't even know Malcolm."

"I just figured that since you didn't come to me, Roger would be the only other person you'd go to. I found his address in the old student directory for the academy and then I made him tell me where you were when I got there" Ralph explained.

"Shit, I can't believe Roger caved" Jack pondered as he shook his head disapprovingly.

"I threatened to go to the cops if he didn't" Ralph admitted. "Turns out he'd rather talk to me than to them."

"He'd be in a world of shit with his parents if the cops came knocking at their door again" Jack acknowledged.

"So that's why you're here instead of with him?" Ralph assumed.

"Well that and his parents wouldn't let him harbour me for more than a day or two without knowing the reason for it" Jack determined. "Plus, the authorities aren't gonna take their eye off him until he proves he's square. Y'know, cause of the island and the interviews and all that shit. One wrong move and he's back under twenty-four hour surveillance."

"Right" Ralph mindlessly agreed as he tried to contemplate what might've happened with Roger after the Flag State interviews concluded. He knew that Roger had been in some kind of trouble, but he wasn't sure how deep it actually went.

"Can I ask you something?" Ralph bravely put his scrambled thoughts to words.

"Guess so" Jack shrugged.