The Apartment

Flirting and Breakdowns

Unsure what to say, I muster a smile and thank her.

She laughs and says, "and the tension between you two is astounding! It wasn't my intention to make you uncomfortable, but I just had to say something. I really do hope to see you again someday."

Monica gives me a warm smile, her kind eyes crinkling at the corners. Jackie opens the door and walks over to give his mom a hug, large arms engulfing her for a heartwarming second. Then we walk to the car and start the long drive home.

#####

A shrill scream breaks through my unconscious state, bringing me to life with a gasp. "What? What is it?!" I yell, running from my room in my shorts and tank top to find Iz standing in the foyer with her suitcase in hand.

Jackie's door swings open behind me, and I turn to see him in baggy sweats wearing absolutely no shirt to cover his defined abs and hard chest and toned arm muscles from my pervert eyes.

"Shit, what's wrong," he breathes in worried exasperation as we run down the hallway to find Iz standing in the foyer with her suitcase.

"What's wrong?" Iz growls. "What's wrong is that I miss my best friend and she doesn't even care enough to greet me at the damn door."

I sigh, running a hand over my face. "Iz it's seven thirty on a Sunday morning. You wouldn't have greeted me if I had arrived this early."

She points a finger at me threateningly. "You don't know that! And I had to leave, I just had to, I couldn't stand another minute in that house, and I love you and want to be with you so come over and give me a damn hug or I'm gonna scream again!"

"You're already screaming," Jackie points out.

Iz scrunches up her nose in disgust. "No one asked you. Go away."

Jackie throws is hands in the hair and turns back to his room, unknowingly tensing his muscles and making my mouth grow dry.

My gosh I need to get a hold of myself.

I run over and hug Iz, and after she dramatically throws her suitcase into our room we go and sit on the window seat, opposite the kitchen. We spend the entire morning talking and catching up. Jackie leaves around eleven for his last shift at the pizza job, which I had almost forgotten about because it's only a summer thing. Kyle and Ferris are gone relatively often during afternoons to work. Apparently Ferris is the one that makes the most money, with a high management job at a clothing store.

Me and Iz talk about Mike and her family and and how everyone sucks except us, and then I tell her about the blacklight party.

"I'm sorry, hold up, you guys spread paint all over each other?!"

I scrunch up my nose and begin to deny this when she continues, "he totally flirted with you. That's flirting. He clearly likes you. RAY HE CLEARLY LIKES YOU!"

"Shut up," I hiss. "So what if he likes me? He's never gonna act on it because he knows it would be too weird to live together."

"Bullshit," Iz blurts, just as the front door opens and Ferris steps in.

He blinks, startled, then says in mock-surrender, "I swear it's true, I'm innocent, innocent I tell you!"

Kyle and Jackie come home later that night and we decide to all go out for dinner. We are by far the loudest table at the small diner, bickering and laughing together chaotically.

"Hey, what are your guys' plans for the weekend?" Kyle asks as we walk to Jackie's car. Jackie's the only one of us who actually owns a car, so it's pretty crammed with all five of us in the small cab of his truck. "I was thinking we could take a camping trip Saturday through Sunday. Just a one night thing, we could borrow my mom's van and drive out to a spot in the morning."