Jack Johnson
"Hey, what's going on over there?" Nadia asks over the phone, her voice surrounded by static. It's the first time she's called since she Mom and I dropped her off at Binghamton.
I slide out of my lecture hall without missing a beat, glad to finally hear from my sister. We've fallen into such a normalized routine of seeing each other every day that it's a little strange to be apart like this. It makes me feel even worse for leaving her and Mom last year. But hey, I'm back. All's well that ends well.
"Just finished my second class of the day."
"Oooh, that's fun. Which one?"
"Marketing Management, nothing too crazy. What about you? What're you up to at this time of day?"
There's a short pause followed by a loud laugh that is definitely not Nadia's and most likely Jack's. I shudder at the thought. They probably just did it and decided it'd be fun to torture me by calling me right after.
"You guys are horrible human beings," I complain, searching for Mom's car as I reach the parking lot. I love days when she carpools with another employee to work so I can drive myself to campus, it's way easier than having to hitch a ride or take the bus.
"What?" Nadia queries, as if completely innocent.
"Yeah, what's your problem, Jack?" Gilinsky jokes.
"Listen, I'm glad you two are having a blast and all, but I'd appreciate it if check-in calls could wait until sexy time has been over for at least three hours."
"An hour, three hours, two days - what's the difference?" Gilinsky says, the same time Nadia argues, "who said anything about 'sexy time'? I don't even like Gilinsky."
"I'm hanging up now, goodbye."
"Love you!" She calls out before I press the red button on the screen and shove my phone in my pocket in exchange for my (well, Mom's) keys.
Scanning the parking lot to make sure Hannah isn't wandering around like she had been yesterday, I hop in the drivers seat and head home.
I wanted to ask her last night why she'd been here, but I didn't know where that'd steer our conversation and I didn't want things to get awkward so fast that we'd both be scared to ever reach out to one another again. It's going to take time to rebuild the friendship that we once had, but I'm glad it's happening. It was weird not having her in my life.
As soon as I pull into my driveway my phone dings. In case it's Mallory or Hannah asking for a ride somewhere, I stay in the car as I check the message. It's from Hannah. My stomach clenches thinking of what she could of possibly texted to me.
Are you busy tonight?
Nope. Didn't expect that. I thought maybe a simple 'hey' or a 'what's up' or maybe even a 'how'd your first two classes go?'. Not a sentence that foreshadowed us interacting for the second night in a row.
I've got another class at five, but after that I'm free.
My friend Kendal is throwing a party at her place, it starts at nine. Would you want to come?
I'm not new to being invited to parties; I went to plenty of them during my four years of high school, but for some reason this seems way more personal, and I can't believe I'm admitting this to myself, but her invitation is the first one that's ever made me almost too nervous to accept.
Yeah, sure thing
Would you wanna tell me the address when I pick you up?
Double texting at it's finest. I can do that, but I can't stop myself from being a dumbass while doing it. What if she was already at Kendal's? I mean, how awkward would it be if she replied saying that she didn't need a ride? Or didn't want one? From me, specifically? What possessed me to text that to her? She has a car for heaven's sake! Hannah has a car and I assumed that I would be driving her!? What has gotten into me?
My phone dings in my hands as I continue to kick myself for being stupid, and it takes all the courage I have to open it up.
Sounds good
I breathe a sigh of relief, letting my neck relax so I'm laying my head against the headrest.
What time should I leave my house?
I'll be ready by eight-fifty or sometime around then.
Alright
Thank you
Of course, see you then.
Hannah
"You're so whipped," Kendal squeals, dropping one side of the cooler onto her deck, causing my arms to practically tear off of my body. "I'm not even that bad with Sarah."
I roll my eyes, dropping my side as well. All Kendal has been doing for the past half hour is bringing up my 'ridiculous' (as she put it) conversation with Johnson. It's starting to get on my nerves. "Do you want me to leave you to set up by yourself? Because I will."
"You might as well," she asserts. "You're leaving soon anyway so Jack can go pick you up to bring you right back."
"Shut up," I mutter, my face growing hot. "It's not that big of a deal."
"Are you kidding?" She scoffs back a laugh, "what kind of person walks three miles to go home when they're already at their desired destination and don't need some boy to pick them up and bring them there?"
"The kind of person who doesn't have a caring enough friend to drive them three miles to go home."
"I'm not wasting my gas on you."
"You drove way farther than three miles to go pick up Sarah yesterday," I remind her.
"Sarah repays me in the way that you can't," Kendal sasses.
"Oh, God," I grumble, making my way back into the house to get some more sodas to put in the cooler.
"You know it's true though," her voice follows right behind me. "Do you know how are you gonna thank Jack? I'm sure Sarah can give you some tips."
I stop dead in my tracks, almost dropping the pack of Sprites I grabbed from the fridge. Why would she want to put a thought like that into my head?
"Wait. Could that be why he wants to come get me? Do you think he's expecting something in return?" I don't see Johnson as that type of person, and considering our relationship is still pretty rocky, I don't think he'd do anything like that to jeopardize it. I mean, he didn't even kiss me yesterday, which I think proves enough.
She shrugs, positioning herself so she's sitting on the counter in front of me. I pray that one of her parents come downstairs and sees so they can yell that smug look she's wearing off of her face and replace it with an apologetic one.
Usually I'd say that Kendal is a pretty good friend. She looks out for me and always makes sure that I'm doing alright, and vise versa. However, ever since I started talking to Johnson again she's been putting up a front. A part of me wants to ask her about it, but the other thinks I should just leave it alone.
I have a feeling that it has to do with the fact that I've been really down lately and she might think that it's because of him, although that would be kind of ironic since he's such a minuscule part of everything that's happened to me in the last few months.
I don't want to work myself up by thinking about all of this, so I decide to start heading home. Hopefully I'll feel normal by the time the party starts.
"I'm leaving now. Have fun fixing this place up alone."
Kendal frowns. "Aw, come on. I was only kidding."
"I know," I lie. It's kind of hard to tell when Kendal's joking or not; she's basically made up of sarcasm. I'm pretty sure that's the main reason she is the dumpee almost as often as she is the dumper. "It's just that it's getting late and I have to get ready."
"Get ready?" She questions. "There are so many things wrong with that statement. First of all, you already got ready before you came over - so obviously this sudden rush to change your appearance is due to Jack's presence, although you did claim you were over him if I am not mistaken. Secondly, it's only three. The party doesn't start for another six hours."
"It's going to take me at least an hour to get back to my place thanks to you and your selfishness of not helping a sister out because you won't be getting any action in return," I retort. "And who says I want to make myself look good for Johnson? A girl can want to look good for herself, you know. Also, I'll be all sweaty and gross from my walk - I can't go to a party like that."
"As if," Kendal snorts.
With a big sigh, I swivel around and start to leave her alone in her kitchen. "Finish the rest while I go make myself beautiful so I will want to kiss myself whenever I see my reflection."
"You have a face not even a mother could love!" She calls out in order to get the last word.
As I make my way out the front door I hear, "Kendal! Get your dirty butt down from there. That's where we put the food that goes into our mouths."
Now it's my turn to look smug.
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sorry for the short chapter and for any grammar mistakes. I didn't want to continue rambling throughout the chapter just to reach 2000 words.
I hope you enjoyed 10.2, 11.2 will be out when I get the chance!
don't forget to comment and vote if you'd like, feedback is always appreciated.
As I stated before, this is going to be a shorter story, so I'm estimating only ten chapters left give or take.
Thanks for your time!
- gilinskyshigh