Elle didn't know how or why, but she found herself waking up early in the morning and grabbing her car keys to head to Jack's house all because of a very mysterious text she got that morning with what she could only assume was his address. It was only now that she was given the opportunity to appreciate how liberating it was to drive in the audience of the streetlights and in the cool ambience of the empty road, instead of being overwhelmed by stress in the midst of the never ending traffic that usually filled these streets. It wasn't that she really needed to drive before the sunrise, it was just that Jack lived in the other side of town in the posh side of things, whereas she lived in the other side where the common people were.
She finally saw the common buildings slowly transition into modern and stylish houses and penthouses that surely cost more than her mother made in a year. She leaned forward a bit to get a better view to see if she was able to distinguish which one belonged to a certain black sheep named Jack but found that all of them were as isolated as he was. Elle leaned towards her shoulder bag beside her and dug through the many used tissues and gum wrappers and finally found her phone in all of that garbage that she never had time to throw away and looked back to her most recent text.
Scanning the text over and over again, she was willing to put her bet on the possibility that she hasn't crossed his house yet and chose to go deeper in the epitome of rich and chic. But going through with her bet was definitely draining her hope as she repeated the address over and over in her head, hoping that her eyes would soon lock onto it. Time soon passed when she was already approaching the edge of the road, and she finally saw his place.
It definitely stood out among all the rest, showing off that the owner definitely put in more money compared to the rest of the very impressive houses that she has passed for the last ten minutes. The house made it seem like the word modern was its love child. It was a penthouse that was made with the contemporary combination of polished wood and metal and was also complimented by the very welcoming Windows that gave everyone an teaser of the furniture that undoubtedly fit in with the whole current theme already laid out.
And after repeating and rereading the same address over and over again for a few minutes not wanting to know like onto a stranger's house all of a sudden, she finally gathered enough courage roster out of her car and walk up the gravel staircase before raising her finger and slowly ringing the doorbell, startled by the obvious reaction that caused a chime to resonate through the house.
And with every second that passed that the door stayed close, her thoughts went wilder by the minute as they kept whispering awkward scenarios and possible outcomes of this, but they were immediately silenced when she heard someone twist the doorknob before a woman of mid forties opened the door.
"Who are you?" She asked her, clearly bewildered and in expecting any visitors. As Elle struggled to straighten her words out, she noticed how youthful she still looked despite of the few wrinkles that covered her face. Her hair was still smooth and well kept. There was no attempt to cover any of her skin below any heavy coverage foundation as her skin still had a radiant glow to it. The only trace of makeup on her face was the red lipstick that gave her a more powerful vibe that successfully intimidated Elle.
She was about to apologize for ringing her doorbell and explain that she thought that this was her friend's house, when she heard a very familiar groan from behind the woman followed by very heavy footsteps that increased with every step he took closer.
"Mom, what are you doing?" A hand reached for the door and opened it further. It was Jack wearing a simple black v neck shirt with some gray jogging pants as pajama bottoms that hung relatively low on his hips. But she regretted letting her eyes scan him for that long, since he was showing of his cockiness the moment her eyes reached his face that provoked a rosy tint to pop in her cheeks.
"You got here earlier than expected." He commented, even when his mom was making it very obvious that she didn't have a clue as to what was happening and who Elle was. "I decided to get up early, since I anticipated heavy traffic. But it kind of escaped my mind that there were no cars before sunrise."
"Mom, this is Elle Martin. We met during a guidance circle meeting." Elle offered his mother her best smile, since she didn't know what type of mother she would be. She would either be the type of mom that respected their child's decisions and saw that it would be fit to learn from experience, or she could be the mom that restricted their children into living a very dependent life that would result in a very bad future. Judging by the way Jack turned out, her money was going on the first one.
"Nice to meet you, dear. My name is Helen." She extended her hand outside the door, ultimately erasing the cranky woman vibe that she gave Elle when she snapped at her. "I do apologize for my rudeness earlier."
"You better get going, mom." Jack broke off their awkward exchange, receiving a very discreet expression of gratitude from Elle. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek as well as a good squeeze before she exited the door and walked past Elle, but not without waving back at her son and receiving a wave back from Jack before he finally invited Elle into his house.
"Your mom was interesting." Elle had a pause as she looked for the right adjective that could grasp their little exchange through her very intermediate vocabulary. But as she expected, the inside of the house looked like a celebrity's multimillionaire mansion. There were pieces that were probably imported and some that were custom made by well known home designers. It looked like one of those houses in the movies that didn't even seem real.
"Yeah. Since you're here, give me around ten minutes to prepare before we go." Jack grabbed her hand, sending an entire firework show's worth of sparks through her body, as he pulled her up the very minimalist stairs. "Wouldn't you want me to wait downstairs or something?" Elle said in between steps.
"What are you talking about?" Jack and Elle finally made it up the stairs and turned right before hey came indent of an opened door. "I only do that to formal guests, and let's face it, all formality between us has been out the window for a long time." Jack gestured for her to take a seat on his bed, while he walked into his walk in closet and picked some clothes out.
And as Elle say cross legged at the corner of his bed, she couldn't help but look at how much this room resembled him in a very artistic way. The walls were a matte muted teal with wooden shelves that hang in a slanted pattern as it supported books that stood both upright and laid down. There was a desktop at the corner of his room, whereas the biggest flatscreen she has ever seen in her entire life was attached to the wall. The entire room gave of a very cool and down to earth feel to it that was very Jack Kingston.
"You have everything you need right?" Jack said in his closet, and Elle made the mistake of turning her head because standing there was a very shirtless, a very steaming hot Jack. His shirt was crumpled somewhere on the floor as he continued picking out a shirt that screamed road trip.
"Like money, your cellphone, maybe some earphones." He said, but his words ultimately went ignored as Elle looked him over for the second time this day. She couldn't take her eyes away from his undoubtedly killer torso. All that time he spent in the gym was definitely showing. Elle didn't want to admit it, but she was very disappointed when he finally chose his shirt and covered the piece of art.
"Elle?" She finally got out of her distracting thoughts and jumped up when she snapped out of it. But just by looking at his face as his tongue poked his inner cheek with his arms on the upper shelf as he leaned on it, he obviously felt her once again staring at him. At this rate, his ego was going to blow up like.
"Let's go?" Elle abruptly squealed as she tried to avoid the subject, but the sparkle in his eyes was taunting her completely. It kept telling her that she slipped up again. It reminded her that she was caught. It told her that admiration for such a beautiful person was absolutely and undeniably inevitable.
"Let's go." He repeated with a very smug face on. Elle assumed that he was still living in the fact that she was staring at him, but Elle sensed something else on his face. Something along the lines of satisfaction and contentment. But that wasn't a possibility, since he probably had an army of girls look at him like that, maybe even harder.
She watched Jack make his way to the corner of the room where his desktop was stationed and grabbed the knapsack that was casually placed on the rotating chair before he gestured Elle to come along to what could be her first adventure. They exited the room and soon the house. And as usual, he insisted that they drove in his car, which stirred the hypothesis in Elle's mind that he wouldn't be caught dead in anything less than what he had. But maybe that's just how he rolled.
"Where was your mom headed?" Elle asked him as a conversation starter and partially to satisfy a petty curiosity as they both buckled their seat belts. "She was headed home." Jack replied as he started the ignition with only a second of eye contact.
"I'm confused." Elle stated.
Jack raised his finger and pointed outside his car window and onto the penthouse. "This is my own place. I don't live with my folks. I insisted that they get me something small scaled, but they obviously would never let me settle for anything below their standards of living." He clarified as Elle finally concluded that her hypothesis on his car pride was correct as they finally drove off.
mid week update to make up for last week