Always Forever

Rathe

"H-hey" Jack breathed out. He tried to strike up conversation with an awkward smile but it barely worked. It only left a confused looking Ralph in his sights. Jack tried to talk to him but his brain was practically tearing him apart between Ralph and Roger. On one hand he really liked Ralph even if he was a prudish soc. But on the other hand, He and Roger already had sex. Even if it was just pity?? Or maybe it was just a one night stand. Somehow, something in Roger's eyes made it feel as if Roger wanted to make it more than a one time thing. He's have to be more direct to him next time they talked, which would be a little while after he talked to Ralph and his gang of geeks.

"What is it." Ralph grumbled

"Ain't gonna let me sit down? C'mon, we ain't so different." That couldn't have been farther from the truth. Ralph was rich, Jack was poor. Ralph was blonde, Jack was a red-head. Ralph was studious. And Jack? Well, he tried.

Ralph rolled his eyes and let the greaser sit down. This caused quite a few stares in the lunchroom, including those of his peers. Ralph sighed. Jack didn't have lunch with him, he usually got food at the diner after school when he had the money on him.

Honestly, looking at the soc as he ate quietly and stared off into space, Jack realized that he really couldn't find it in himself to hate him. He couldn't even dislike him; Ralph wasn't really a dislikable person. Yeah, he was sometimes rudely honest or irritable or had no patience, but he'd never done anything bad and Jack knew that Ralph never had anything but the best interests in mind for everybody else. He found it charming. Plus, he seemed to shrink into the seat when he sat down and Jack thought it was super cute.
     "Well?" Ralph muttered after a while, almost too quietly to hear.
     "...Well? Well what?" Jack replied in a confused manner.

"You wanted to sit here. I assumed you'd have something to say." Ralph didn't make eye contact. He didn't even turn his head to face Jack, actually. He kept staring down at his food or staring into the nothingness in front of him.
     "Oh, not really. Can't a guy just sit wherever he pleases, hm?" Jack smirked. It was a reflex to him. If you're happy, smirk. If you're angry, smirk. If you want to be as condescending as humanly possible, smirk again. Jack was surprised his face hadn't gotten stuck like that yet.

"I suppose you could." Ralph went quiet again after. Jack would literally never admit it, but the silence between them made his heart ache. Sometimes he really wished that he were a soc, or that Ralph was a greaser, just so the two would have more in common and could be good friends. Of course, "friends" wasn't all Jack wanted to be, but it would be better to be friends than to be whatever the two were now. What could he even consider them? They weren't close enough to be considered friends, so maybe acquaintances? Whatever; it didn't matter what they were now, it only mattered to Jack what they would be in the future.
     "Aren't you gonna eat?" Ralph had already finished his lunch after a while. Jack had barely been picking at his food. He forgot it was there, actually.
     "Oh, yeah," he said, taking a bite of the mildly stale sub sandwich sitting in front of him. "Sorry, I eat slow i guess."

"Yeah," Ralph said shortly. God, this was so awkward. If only Jack didn't feel so intensely for the blond next to him, maybe he could talk to him easier. He could talk so easily to literally every other person, just not the boy he wished to get close with the most. Screw it.
     "So," he finally said after another minute of tension. "What hours you work at the diner? Just in case I get hungry, or in case I miss you," he said with a sly chuckle. Ralph blew air out of his nose and kept the same facial expression.
     "Monday through Friday. 3-7 pm. It's enough to get by, I'd say." Ralph still refused to make eye contact and was rather expressionless, but the tone in his voice was in no way bitter or negative.
"Neat. Maybe I could swing by and pay you a visit again sometime soon, doll?"
the use of the nickname made Ralph flinch. Jack chuckled at that.
     "So you're really not..." Ralph finally glanced over at Jack for the first time that day.
     "Not what?"
     Ralph hesitated. "Nothing. Ice it."
     Jack figured that if Ralph had finished his sentence, it would've sounded something like 'so you're really not gonna mention our small make out session the other day?' which is probably why Ralph chose not to finish talking. Obviously, neither boy had mentioned it (they hadn't even really spoken since then).

The conversation would be nearly impossible in front of a table of judgemental socs. So the bell cut it short and saved their asses by screaming at the pupils to get a move on. It was fifth and sixth period then time for hell.