Chapter Ten
As soon as Jack told me where he was, I took off running. I had to get to him and apologize.
I didn’t see him at first, but then it dawned on me to check the hang out area. I sprinted over there, but he didn’t appear to be there either. However, his cell phone was, so he had indeed been there at one point. I would simply wait there for him when he came back after realizing he had left his cell phone.
And so I waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
I ended up sitting there for two and a half hours, just waiting for Jack to appear, but he never did. I gave up and decided maybe he had gone back to his house, so I stood and headed there, taking his cell phone with me.
I knocked on the Barakat’s door nervously, wondering if Jack would answer it. The door opened, revealing Joyce Barakat. “Hello dear. I’m afraid Jack isn’t home at the moment.” I nodded jerkily, “Yeah, um, would it be okay if I waited for him ?” Joyce opened the door, “Of course ! You can just head on up to his room.” I stepped inside, “Thanks, Mrs. Barakat.” “Call me Joyce.”
I walked into Jack’s room, feeling weird about being in there without him, or his permission, for that matter. I sat on his bed, casually looking around. I had been in here many times before of course, but it just seemed so damn different without Jack, so empty without his presence…I hoped he wouldn’t be mad that I was here, but I was desperate. I had made up my mind that I was going to tell him the reason why I had halted our kissing session, but not the reason why for the reason why. See, I was going to tell him I had a ‘wound’ on my hip that I didn’t want him to touch. I was not going to tell him the reason behind the wound just yet though. It’s not that I liked lying to him, I was just too selfish to lose him this soon. It looked like I might anyway.
I laid my head down, closing my eyes for a few seconds. The day really had me tired out….Some minutes later, the door to the room opened. I sat up, awake now. Jack stood in front of me, but his back was turned, he hadn’t noticed me yet. A split second later, he turned around from closing the door, locking eyes with me. His face crumpled, and he looked ready to cry. I patted a spot next to me on the bed. He obliged, but avoided my gaze, staring at the ground. “Jack, it’s not that I didn’t want to….continue what we were doing, actually I REALLY wanted to…but I sort of freaked out because there’s a wound on my hip and I didn’t want you to touch it on accident, and yea….I’m really sorry, okay ? Please don’t be mad.” His watery eyes looked at me, “Is that the truth ?” I swallowed, “Yea. I promise.” In a way, it was the truth- nowhere in there did I deny causing the wound myself.
I opened my arms for a hug, and he leaned into it, burying his face in my chest like a child. I collapsed backward onto the bed with Jack still on top of me, snuggled into my chest. He peeked up at me, and my lips met his once again.
We shared one brief kiss before we both moved to get more comfortable, which meant me laying back with Jack hovered over me. My heart was beating incredibly fast, and my hand tangled itself in his hair. Our lips moved in sync like we’d been doing this all our lives. Jack tasted, oddly enough, like pineapples, but it was a taste I never wanted to forget. He pulled back, panting. His breath washed over me, and I smiled at him, causing him to grin in return. His chocolate eyes stared straight into mine, and he moved deliberately slow toward my lips, pulling on them and sucking on them as he drew back again. “God, Jack, where’d you learn to kiss like that ?” He shrugged, “I don’t know, you were my first kiss.”
I sat up, “No way.” He nodded, pinning me back down again, this time kissing my neck. He kissed from behind my earlobe all the way down to my chest, and then along my collarbone. I tugged his hair, and he bit down on my skin in response. I gasped, and I felt him smile against my neck. Jack moved his kisses to my jawline, and then the corner of my lips before finally placing his lips back to my own.
Just when I thought I couldn’t love him more, he had to be such an amazing kisser.
Had I just said love ?
Truly, it did seem like the only appropriate word. But how embarrassing that I should love someone I’ve only known for about a week…yet I still feel it. I love Jack Barakat.
I suddenly remembered something. I grabbed Jack’s phone out of my pocket, handing it to him, “Here. You left this at the school.” His eyes widened, “You went to look for me ?” He looked upset. He looked down, muttering to himself, “That’s why you hung up…” I tilted his head so he was looking at me, “Yeah, why else ?” “I thought you were done with me, I thought you weren’t gonna talk to me anymore…” I realized that’s why he looked so sad before, he had thought I had come to tell him I was abandoning our friendship.
“Jack Barakat, I hereby promise to never leave you, no matter what happens.”
