Where I Found You

Chapter 16 - Jack now.

Chapter 16 - Jack now.

I'm in the car shop again on Monday morning with the radio playing Rihanna crap. Ash is under the car that's beside the one I'm working on and Keith is taking a break - as usual. As I finish off and slide out from underneath the car, Ash calls to me.

"Jack. You know, I'm worried about Melanie. She's acting nice to me."

That makes me gulp and sit up, feeling my insides heat up. Of course she is. She just wants Ash to keep at a safe distance so he doesn't know what has been going on between us. Awkward thing is that I'm meant to be meeting her tonight.

Melanie is a cool girl. She's sexy as hell too, with some real substance there in her personality so I can actually hold a conversation with her. But it's not like we're going out. It'd be nice to go out with a girl like Melanie, despite her hunger for dominance and her stubbornness.

Alyssa has been staying away.

"That's weird, mate," I reply casually with a shake of my head. "It's probably just a 'phase'." I put quotation marks around the last word.

We give each other the understanding eyebrow raise.

"Oh yeah," Ash agrees, and then chuckles, standing up to get something from the toolbox.

"How's it going with ... With, uh, Sofia?" I smirk and spin the pliers around the floor.

He rolls his eyes. "Alright, I guess. What you doing tonight?"

This would be funny if it weren't real life. Me trying to change the subject and Ash keeping it obliviously near subjects I don't want to venture to with him. But that's life, I guess - everything is funny only when you look back.

But it would really be awful if he knew I'd banged his step-sister.

"Nothin'," I reply. "Just stayin' home ... With the family."

-

"What the hell took you so long to get here?" Melanie's stood on the other side of the door in a black skirt and crop top when I get to her mum's house. "I literally- We literally have just five hours until my mum and step-dad get back. I know that seems like ages but not for what I want to do."

It's good that she doesn't live with Ash and her dad and Ash's mum. Just visits.

Or maybe it's bad. Bad because I'm betraying my best friend, and her living away from him most of the time makes it easier to do that.

"Sorry," I mumble as she opens the door wider for me to come in. She leans up to kiss my cheek and I throw my jacket onto the banister. I had to go home to check on the girls and Dan before I came here. Everything seemed okay, and Dan was reading to Jess, but Stella looked like she'd had a crap day at school and I wished I could have stayed to talk to her about it.

"No!" Melanie exclaims suddenly, reaching a hand out. She quickly bites her lip. "I mean - Don't take your jacket off."

I watch as she grabs her long black coat from the hook beside her and then wraps her red scarf around her neck. She smiles a sweet sort of smile and then takes my hands in hers.

"We're going out."

I feel almost disappointed - I was hoping for a calm night in with her (as calm as possible) without venturing out into the cold night. But then again, I'm happy that she wants to spend time with me in other ways ... Maybe I'm not being used by girls as much as I thought I was.

"Where?" I ask as I take one hand away to grab my jacket again. After I pull it on she holds up a hand and runs upstairs. A few seconds later she comes rushing down, plus her bag.