The Benefits of Sexting

Chapter 11

I rolled my eyes. "You sound like a jealous boyfriend," I said before I could stop myself, immediately embarrassed by my words.

Jack's next words surprised me. "I am jealous. I don't like idea of you being with another guy, especially a guy like Sawyer."

I was about to answer but before I could someone appeared at the edge of our table, holding a tray stacked with our food. I smiled at the women as she set down our food, trying to wrap  my head around Jack's words.

None of this made sense.

Absolutely no sense.

Jack broke up with ME and now he was talking about being jealous of other guys? He gave up that right the moment he ended things with me...

"I said something to upset you, didn't I?" Jack asked.

"You just don't make sense," I told him, unable to hide how flustered I was with the whole situation. "You're the one who broke things off, so why are you telling me this stuff? Do you still have feelings for me?"

He sighed. "Of course Danny."

"Then why did you break up with me? Can I please just get an explanation."

Jack bit his lip, looking down at his food sadly. "I was going through a lot at the time. I just, there were certain things that I couldn't tell you and keeping that from you felt as though I was lying. I just couldn't be with you like that, I felt terrible."

"What things? You can tell me anything, I'm your best friend, Jack."

Or at least I was.

"Danny, I don't want to get into it. I don't even want to think about it. It's over with and I need to move on from it. It was wrong of me to end things with you so suddenly and without any explanation, and I'm sorry for that." He took in a long breath of air. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Jack's expression was serious, and from the way the corners of his mouth turned down into a frown and his eyebrows scrunched together, I could tell this was a subject that bothered him to talk about. Still, it was necessary. Even if it wasn't easy for him to talk about whatever he kept from me, I deserved an explanation.

But was his explanation enough?

I took a long sip of my drink, watching Jack as he waited for a response. Truthfully, I didn't know what to say. "Do you still love me?"

I don't know why the question came to mind, but it was the only thing I could muster up in my head. He may have hurt me, but I still loved him. And if he no longer loved me, then I had to move on, no matter how much pain it would cause me.

His answer made my heart melt and, for the first time in awhile, I felt as though we might still have a chance. "I don't think I'll ever stop."

Jack leaned over the table and brushed his mouth against mine. The kiss was short, and I barely had time to soak in the familiarity of his lips, but it left me smiling so wide that my face would turn sore in no time.

"I don't know if that was appropriate," he said, leaning back down into his seat, "but I couldn't help myself."

I shrugged my shoulders and tried to play it cool. On the inside, I was beaming with excitement. Jack smiled back at me, his familiar blue eyes gleaming. "So what does this mean?" I asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I just know that I don't want to lose you. I need you in my life."

Despite my happiness, I was still somewhat confused and even a tiny bit upset. I wanted to know what was going on in his life that was so serious that it ended our relationship. "It took dumping me to realize that?"

The smile had slowly faded from my face. Sometimes, when it came to Jack, I was too forgiving. He really hurt me, and despite how much I still loved him, he needed to know that. I didn't like that he caused such a weakness in me, but I couldn't do anything about it.

He was my Jack, and it had been that way for three years now.

I didn't know anything but him.

"I don't expect you to forgive me right away. And I don't want us to jump back into things as if nothing happened. I hurt you, and I'm sorry for that."

He reached across the table and covered my hand in his own. "Please at least tell me you'll give me another chance. We can take things slow, start out with seeing each other as friends. I just need you in my life."

There was no moment of hesitation in my mind, no moment or thought of considering the circumstances. The moment Jack told me he still loved me, all was forgiven. He was my weakness, and even though I tried my best to act like he wasn't, there was no doubt he was.

"Of course," I told him. "We'll take things slow."

**

"You did that wrong. That fraction is a bit off, take another look."

Hallie, Sawyer's little sister, looked down at her math sheet and frowned. I could practically see her head spinning, all the numbers and equations we'd been working on in a jumbled mess. She wasn't terrible at math, but she was easily distracted and was quick to get things mixed up.

She leaned over the paper and scribbled out the old answer before replacing it with the right one. "Very good," I told her.

A triumphant smile spread across her face. "You're much better than my last tutor. He was never patient and always popped his gum super loud."

"Like this."

From behind me, someone blew a bubble so close to my left ear that I felt the tiniest bit of a breeze from the gum popping. My shoulders shot up in surprise and I let out a tiny yelp, my hand clapping over my mouth as soon as the sound left it. I spun around, my angry eyes landing on a smirking Sawyer.

"Not cool," I whisper hissed. "My boss is going to come over here and yell at me for screaming in the library."

"I'm sure she'll understand. Women usually have that response when they're in my presence."

I pretended to gag as I turned back around to face his little sister. "You should sell him on Ebay," I told her. "He might catch a high price."

"I'm priceless," Sawyer huffed, clearly offended by my comment.

"One time he tried to sell my Humphrey the Camel Beanie Baby on Ebay," Hallie said.

I gave Sawyer a funny look.

"What, it's worth like 350 dollars! All it does is just sit on her shelf anyway."

"He's special," she muttered.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just go pick out some books, mom said you need to have three checked out today."

Hallie jumped up from her seat, relieved to be done with her math tutoring. I watched as she disappeared into a faraway row of books, turning back to Sawyer as soon as she was out of sight. "So, Mr. chauffeur..."

"So, Miss tutor girl..."

We stared at each other for a moment, neither of us knowing what to say. "Did she do alright?" he finally asked, breaking the silence between us.

"Well, she has a great tutor, so I'd say so."

"Cocky are we?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Confident is a better word to describe it."

Sawyer laughed. "Well, I guess I'll see you when I see you next."

"I guess you will."

And with that, Sawyer turned around. I watched as he strolled down the rows of books, his strides as confident as his every word.

That boy sure was something.