A Pair Of Pears (Completed)

Tomatoes In Trouble

Thankfully Mum’s attention is so taken with the old stoner that she doesn’t notice me. He whispers into her ear and I watch her toss head back laughing, a sudden wave of sickness overcomes me, it’s disgusting to watch. This guy is obviously much older than my dad even his facial hair is completely grey. Mum, well, she just looks trampy and desperate, Even by the standards of some of the other scruffs here. I pull Jackson away quickly and in the direction of the food table. 
‘Hungry, are we?’ he jokes. I look back in the direction of Mum who is still sat on the stoner's lap, Jackson looks over.
 ‘Ah, let’s grab some food then.’ He suggests. 
The food is laid out on a long table that has now been placed under the tree with the hanging dreamcatchers. Jackson bends down, so he doesn’t get his messy hair caught in one of the lower hanging branches. The food is much like the rest of the garden, bursting full of colour. There are bowls stuffed with mountains of roasted vegetables, rice, bean mixes and some other things. One looks like it might be roasted chickpeas. Jackson loads up his plate with a bit of everything, it looks like he’s going to feed a small army, not just himself. He picks up a ketchup bottle from the end of table and squirts ketchup all over his food. The bottle makes that ‘ketchup fart’ noise and several drops of ketchup splatter on his jeans and over the table 
‘Whoa!’ He steps back. ‘Tomatoes in trouble!’
‘Want some food with that ketchup?’ I ask jokingly. 
Jackson has that cheeky grin on his face, the one that makes my heart melt in seconds, he pokes his tongue out at me. I fill up my plate and we find a spot to sit at the back of the garden, away from everyone else. We sit in silence for a while, watching Jackson's dad and his band set up their instruments. Willow seems to be trying to detangle a friendship bracelet from the messy hair of a small girl and Lily seems to be getting cosy with the girl who she ditched us for earlier, so we don’t call her over. Not that I want to anyway, I want it to just be us.  
‘Didn’t know your mum was coming.’ Jackson says looking at me. 
‘Neither did I.’ I look down at my Doc Martens, the left one is more scuffed than the right I have a habit of kicking my left foot with my right when I walk. I hold back my tears, I’m utterly repulsed and embarrassed by the sight of mum. Jackson takes my chin in his hand and turns my face towards his. The band start playing, they remind me of The Clash. I ignore the music and look into Jackson's eyes, I notice for the first time that they are a very dark brown and remind me of melted chocolate. He brings his face closer to mine and my heart leaps. 
‘Shall we go somewhere else?’ he whispers in my ear. 
I nod. Jackson gets up, takes my hand and leads us out of the garden.