I whipped out my phone, butterflies actively flying around my belly, my cheeks surely blotched red. I couldn't help the face splitting grin that refused to subside, so instead I checked if Lexi had sent me anything.
"Hey." A deep voice rumbled, and I looked up to see Jack Gilinsky staring down at me, hands buried in his pockets.
The light anger I felt before when we locked eyes has completely vanished, and all I could do was grin wider.
"Hi."
At seeing a familiar face I wanted to tell him about Carter asking me out, but I didn't know if it was a dream or reality, so I left it for until I knew for sure.
He shuffled awkwardly, before sitting down in the lounger in front of mine.
"So what's up with Reynolds." Jack suddenly asked, catching my attention.
Well he asked for it. "He asked me out!" I announced, not containing my happiness and joy any longer.
"And you actually said yes?" He said like it was the most ridiculous thing he heard.
"What do you mean? Of course I said yes."
He chuckled, but it wasn't a genuine one. It was menacing and cold. "Don't be stupid Juju. Do you even know what you're getting yourself into?"
I frowned. What the hell was his problem? "What's it to you who I go out with?"
He seemed lost for a second before he composed, and shook his head disapprovingly.
"He's not good for you."
I scoffed. Where did to he find the guts. "What do you know about being good for someone? All you do is sleep around, Jack."
The little alcohol gave me the confidence I needed to stand up for myself, my heart thrumming loudly in my chest. It was true, though. Ever since he was in middle school he flirted with every girl. And everyone always fell for him, way too easily. He was different with me, though. Never hit on me once. There are times he makes inappropriate comments about me in the absence of my brother, but I never take them seriously. He only does that to get a reaction out of me.
"Because I'm different; I have my reasons for not getting serious with anyone. I know you're looking for a committed relationship and I'm telling you he's not the guy for you."
"What if I don't want a committed relationship?" I blurted out of nowhere. "This isn't your business Jack, stay out of it." I warned him, feeling myself get heated. I've never had an argument quite like this one with him before, and it wasn't my style to argue in the first place.
"Everything okay here?" Carter's voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and we both whipped our heads to him.
He awkwardly stood with two drinks in hand, assessing the situation. His hair was ruffled by the wind, his cheeks pink because of the cool wind.
After progressing his words it took me a second to decide how I was going to handle the situation, and I faked a smile.
"Everything's fine. Jack was just telling me how excited he was about us going out." I lied, glancing at Jack, who seemed just about ready to snap Carters neck off.
"I'm thrilled." He said, getting up from his seat and squaring Carter who was way shorter than him. Jack didn't even look me in the eyes before he walked back to Sammy who was still talking to the two blondes, before putting his arm around one of them. Jack joined them, putting an arm around one of the girls like Sammy was doing.
I couldn't help the odd feeling I always felt when I saw him flirting around with girls who were obviously way more gorgeous than I was. You'd think the feeling would have passed by now; after five years you'd get used to it, but it never did.
Carter handed me a red cup before sitting beside me. The burning feeling from our argument didn't reside, so I turned to my drink, taking a long gulp. Whoa... this was strong. I scrunched my face.
"What the hell is this?" I giggled, looking at Carter, the alcohol burning down to my toes, heating me up entirely.
"I call it the Devils Brew. It's a little JD with soda and lemonade."
I already felt my head swimming. Damn. "Well it's good." I muttered. I just wanted to get my mind off Jack. He had been acting so weird.
Unwillingly my eyes found their way to where he was sitting down, facing me. One of the blonde girls had been replaced by a short brunette, who shamelessly took a seat right on Jacks lap. I tightened my grasp on my drink the moment I realized who it was, biting the inside of my cheek.
It was Amber. The slut of the state. I never liked her. Somehow she always found her way to the guys I cared for. She played one of my best friends, Aaron, before moving onto Shawn, and she even fooled with Carter before. The fact that she was now basically sitting on Jack was just ridiculous.
Ever since we were in kinder garden she always managed to ruin my life. She'd spill juice over my pants and tell everyone I'd peed myself. Somehow she'd always find out who I had a crush on to make sure she either embarrassed me in front of them or to steal them away from me.
It never stopped and all throughout middle school and high school she continued her torture. The worst thing she had done to me was spread a rumor around that I was doing boys in the bathroom for a dollar. Back then I was in sophomore year, and she convinced everyone I had sex with Jack Turner who told everyone it was true. Since then boys kept making remarks about it, even though I've never even kissed anyone. That was easily the worst day in my entire life.
The worst part was that Jack knew. He knew how much I despised her. He knew what she did to me. What the hell was he doing fooling around with her? He knew I was sitting right where I could see them; he was looking right at me. Was he doing it to get a reaction out of me? If that was it, it was certainly working.
It took everything in me not to get up right then and rip out the weave I was positive she had, instead downing the entire drink at once, turning to Carter. He stared at me, wide eyed.
"You know, I'll never get used to seeing you drink like a sailor." He muttered, drinking from his own cup with an attractive grin on his lips.
I shook my head, smiling. "I'm getting another drink."
"Don't sweat it." He said, already on his feet. "Devils Brew?"
Two cups later and I was a giggling mess, skipping dinner before drinking usually had that effect. I was completely leaning on Carter, and we were laughing over some kid in our History class. I didn't even notice his hand that was on my leg while he leaned in, starting about how he hated our history teacher.
"Hey! I happen to like Mr. Collins allot, okay." I said, resting on his shoulder.
"Well excuse me, princess, didn't think you liked that old man." He chuckled, his putting an arm around me. I snuggled into him, craving his warmth. Consuming alcohol usually made me all happy and cuddly, and fearless. This was actually not that bad of a combination.
My eyes wandered over to Jack for the 5th time since my first drink. I knew I was tipsy, I just wasn't drunk enough to completely forget about him. The moment I had looked up to check on him, his eyes found mine. They were dark as he noticed how close I was to Carter, and he pulled Amber closer to him. She had altered her position on his lap so she was facing him as he whispered something in her ear that made her giggle, never losing eye contact with me.
A burning anger washed through me as I abruptly got up from my seat. "I'm getting another drink." I announced, waddling away before Carter could offer to come with me.
I didn't even realize I had to tinkle until I had gotten up from my seat. I walked up the stairs; ducking under the tape we had put to block people from going up to our rooms.
I rushed into my room and into my bathroom, careful not to trip over my own feet, finally letting go what I didn't know I was holding. Focusing hard on washing my hands when I was done I slowly walked back inside my room.
It was safe to say I hadn't expected Jack G to be sitting on my bed, looking down at his hands. The room was spinning slightly as I quickly grabbed a hold of my desk chair.
"What are you doing in my room, Drizzlinsky?" I said slowly, closing my eyes briefly to stop the damn room from spinning.
I heard him chuckle and I opened my eyes to him looking up at me. "You need to stop calling me that, Juju."
"What are you doing Jack?" I asked seriously, referring to what happened outside. He knew because he was deadly quiet.
"I could ask you the same." He answered, eyes hooded and dark, looking up at me through his eyelashes from the seated position on my bed.
I scoffed, bringing my hand to my hair. All the giddy happiness I was feeling less than five minutes ago had completely turned into anger in a second.
"Don't even fucking go there Jack!" I yelled, exasperated. "You know what she did to me, what the hell are you doing?!"
"What's it to you?" He asked coldly, reciting the words I had said to him when he told me he disapproved of Carter.
My jaw almost dropped. Why was he like this?! He was never this cold towards me.
"If you want to hook up with that whore, go ahead, I don't care." I said eventually, trying to convince myself that was true. "Just get a fucking room so I don't have to look at you." And with that I walked out of the room.
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