"How's the eye, 'Spades?'" Townshend asked Jack as he popped the hood of the Cadillac. "Hand me that ratchet, will ya?"
Jack blinked and looked down on the ground where tools were spread across the grass. He knelt down and picked it up and looked at Townshend with his one good eye.
"It's okay," he sniffed as he casually caressed the white patch that was taped across his left eye. "Burns a bit..." He took his cell phone out of his hoodie and flipped it open, staring at it.
Townshend glanced at him and grinned. "Three days, Jack," he mumbled as he began to detach the car battery. "That's the rule."
Jack snickered. "I know, 'Dad.' I just...I'm just a bit antsy..."
"Just like your old man...here hold these." He handed him the bolts of the battery. "She seems like some gal if you keep manhandling your phone every three minutes..."
Jack grinned. He couldn't get Cat out of his head since the night of the fight, which was only one day ago. He was anxious to call her just hours after she had written her number on one of his boxing gloves.
"You live around here?" he had asked her.
She smiled, shyly, as she tucked her hair behind her left ear. "I live with my aunt near downtown, you know around the park."
"Cool..." he returned her smile. "Maybe...maybe we can meet there one day and...I don't know...hang out?" When she had lifted her surprised eyes to him, he stammered, "I mean...if you're not already...you know...seeing someone...are you?"
She shrugged. "Kinda, but...I don't think you have to worry...I mean...you just knocked out a guy almost twice your size..."
"Yeah," he looked away, almost bashfully. Before he could look at her again, his one blue eye and throbbing red eye staring at her, she was jotting something down onto his glove. He watched her and when she finished, they shared another coy smile and he asked, "It doesn't bother you...who I am?"
Her soft chuckle made his heart race. "No...kinda cool, actually."
He heard Townshend laugh at the involuntary smile that had stretched across his face. "Man, you got it bad..." he muttered.
"Why should I have to wait, Towser? I mean, it isn't really in my blood to adhere to any kinda rules, right?"
"Hey, you do what you want..." he grunted as he positioned the battery under the hood.
Jack bit his lip, bouncing anxiously on his toes. "Ah, fuck it..." he whispered as he walked to a far corner of the lot.
"Hey! Leave the bolts, kid!" Townshend said. "A getaway car ain't worth shit if the battery falls out..."
Jack carelessly placed the bolts on the car engine and he heard one of them drop down through the machinery. "God dammit..." Townshend cursed, but Jack already had his ear to his phone.
After a few rings, Cat's voicemail picked up and he grinned when he heard her gentle voice. "It's your dime...make it worthwhile," was all it said.
He laughed and he left his message. "Hey, Cat. It's, uh...it's Jack. Listen, you said that you lived near the park so...I was wondering if we could meet there...I don't know, like...Wednesday around noon? Maybe grab a hot dog and take a walk? Or whatever...anywho...uh...I'll understand if you can't make it since you said you kinda had a boyfriend, but I mean if you wanna take a rain check I can see if there's a decent movie and-"
BEEP!
"Shit!" he whispered to himself as the voicemail ended. He shut his phone and was about to call her back, but he pocketed his phone and walked toward the theater to go back inside as the sun started to set.
At dinner, he sat in his place at the table, his knees bouncing up and down. The Joker took a gulp of his water and raised a curious eyebrow toward his son as he glanced at his anxious legs. "You okay, kiddo?" he asked.
Jack's eyes shot toward his father and he leaned forward and poked his spoon in the risotto his mother had made. "Yeah...I'm good..."
Harley noticed his demeanor and asked, "You sure, honey? You seem a little nervous."
"I'm good," he repeated, but set down his spoon and instead took a swig of his soda.
The Joker sighed and glared at him as he set his drink down hard onto the table. "You called her, didn't you?"
"What?" Jack said, startled.
"You did; admit it..." his father continued.
Jack rolled his eyes and sighed.
"God dammit, Jack," Harley said. "You have to wait three days!"
"What's with this dumb 'Three Days' rule?" Jack asked.
"Take it from a woman, Jack Quinn," Harley told him. "Calling a girl before the Three Day grace period is over makes you look desperate."
"Grace period?" Jack chuckled, amused. "It isn't like Dad had a damn grace period and you two have been together forever."
"That's because my grace period was eight months!" The Joker said, smiling.
Jack sighed again and crossed his arms. "Okay, yeah, I called her, but she didn't pick up. I left a message, though, so-"
"No!" Harley shouted. "You never leave a message! It makes you appear-"
The shrill ringing of Jack's phone pierced the tension at the dinner table, and their son quickly jumped out of his seat as he answered it before it could ring a second time. "Hello!" he bellowed as he flipped it open. "Cat! Hey...oh, no, I can talk..."
Harley shook her head and mumbled, "Oh, sure he can talk...he's just having dinner with his family on one of the rare nights his father is actually home to enjoy it..."
"Harl, come on..." The Joker told her as he tried to listen to Jack.
"Puddin', don't eavesdrop..."
Jack climbed to the top of the stairs and sat down as Cat said, "I got your message and I just wanna say-"
"If you wanna pass, hey, it's cool. I understand-"
"No, Jack" she giggled. "I was gonna say that I do wanna hang out. Wednesday's fine..."
"Yeah?" Jack smiled. "Great! I was wondering if that would be good since...well, after I left the message I thought about...I don't know, if you were in school or-"
"Oh, no...I'm home-schooled," Cat said.
"Yeah, I was, too. Ever since I was five...Mom was my teacher..."
"Well, I kinda got into some trouble a few months ago and they didn't want to suspend me and my aunt didn't want expulsion on my school record. So, home-school was an option..."
"Oh..." Jack said, a bit amazed that Cat was quick to admit to an apparent wild streak. "What happened?"
"Well...I don't wanna talk about it..." she said, quietly.
"Ah...sorry..."
"No, no...I mean...it'll give us something to talk about on our date." Jack grinned as a small pause occurred in their dialogue as he noticed her shocked realization of what she said. "I mean...um...I'll see ya at noon, then?"
"Sure! See ya then..." Jack smiled and he closed his phone and looked at his parents who had been watching him the whole time.
"Well?" Harley asked. "Did you scare her off?"
"Hell no! It's a date, Mom," he shouted triumphantly as he bounded into his room.
Early Wednesday morning, he made a stop at Dr. Stein's office so he could get the bandage removed from his injured eye. He sat in the examination room and fiddled with the instruments on the wall, looking through the ocular lens of one them. Soon, the good doctor strolled through the door leaning on his cane and he smiled when he saw him.
"Jacky, my boy!" he exclaimed. "I swear, you're lookin' more like a man everyday."
"Hey, doc," Jack said. "How ya been?"
"Eh...not too bad. Maroni's givin' me the run around...some financial business..."
Jack smirked. He had seen the slow dilapidation of Dr. Stein's private practice because of the debts he owed to Sal Maroni and it annoyed Jack that he couldn't do anything about it.
"Now, let's take a look at that eye, shall we?" he said as he carefully pulled away the bandages. "Hmm...still red, I see, but healing very well. The ointment is helping a lot. So, what are you up to today, Jack?"
Jack grinned. "Nothing much...going to the park...on a date..."
"Ah! A date! Bless you, boy," he smiled at him. "Well, it looks like this really is your lucky day. I don't think you'll need these wraps anymore. So go have fun! Can't keep her waiting, huh?"
"Thanks, Doc," Jack said as he jumped off the table. He was about to walk out the door, but he quickly turned to the good doctor and handed him a wad of bills.
"Jack, no, no, no...I can't take this," Dr. Stein said, fervently shaking his head. "I can't take your father's money..."
"It's my money and I want you to have it," Jack said, firmly. "I won it in the fight the other night and, well...I just want that asshole off your back, that's all."
Dr. Stein sighed and shook his head again. "Lang labn zolt ir, my boy..." the doctor whispered and pocketed the bills in his lab coat as Jack walked out of the office and headed to the park.