The Nightmare Before Him

This Looks Like Fun

I followed the directions of the GPS and turned the corner. The small device announces that I have now arrived at my destination. Yeah, no shit. The front door was cracked and you could hear the blaring of some rap song I didn't recognize from outside. There were cars lined down the street so I ended up parking two blocks away from the actual house. The cold air pricked my skin that was exposed.I chose to wear a white button up shirt that didn't have a collar, and a pair of black shorts that ended a little under my butt and showed off most of my thigh tattoo of Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas. As I walked down the side walk, I listened to the scuffing of my ankle boots on the pavement. The realization suddenly hit me that this might not be Jack's house, but maybe a friend of his. I don't know why this made me nervous. Maybe it was the fact that Jack may have invited me without asking them, and they wouldn't want me there.

I walked into the loud two story house and suddenly I didn't regret wearing shorts because the inside of the house was packed. I felt anxious because I only knew one person in a huge, packed house. I walked around the unfamiliar house trying to find Jack. After searching for about 15 minutes I see a tall man wave his hand at me. I let out a sigh of relief. I walk over to Jack and he leaves the group he was talking to to meet me.

"You came!" He exclaims while giving me an unexpected hug.

"Well, you did invite me," I say with an awkward laugh.

"I did?" He asks confused. I gave him a strange look and he laughs, "I'm only kidding. I hope you weren't lost for long."

"No, I just got here," I lie.

"Good," he says smiling down at me and I just smile back. I'm 5"8 so normally I feel pretty tall, but Jack made me feel extremely short. "Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone," he grabs my hand and pulls me towards the group of people he walked away from.

"Jack, are you harassing people again?" Another tall man with his arm wrapped around a short brunette asks.

"No, I actually invited her," Jack  says throwing his arm around my shoulder.

"Blink twice if he's forcing you to be here," a buff guy asks.

"She wants to be here, right?" Jack asks as he looks down at me with his arm still around my shoulder.

"Yep," I say.

"See," Jack says looking back to the group, but while he isn't paying attention I shake my head and mouth the word 'no'. The group laughs and Jack looks back at me playfully narrowing his eyes and I just smile. "Anyway this is Sally. Sally, this is Zack," Jack says pointing to  the buff guy, "Rian," he says pointing to a guy with a buzz cut, "Alex," Jack points to the guy standing next to the girl. "That is Lisa, Alex's girlfriend and Rian's girlfriend Cassdee is here somewhere."

"Nice to meet you," I say waving slightly. They all say something along the lines of 'nice to meet you too'. We talked to the group for a little longer as I enjoyed the feeling of Jack's arm wrapped around me.

After talking with the group, Lisa turns to me and says, "How about I give you a tour of the house?"

"That sounds great," I say hoping to move around a bit. She motions to Cassadee who showed up a little after Jack introduced me. Lisa showed me around the lower level that had a room full of guitars, that was apparently locked so that no drunk guests could enter, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room that was packed with people. We walked up a flight of stairs to reach the upper level which was much quieter. This level had two guests bedrooms and a master. Lisa told me to use the bathrooms upstairs because they would probably be cleaner than downstairs. We hung out in the master bedroom for a few minutes.

"So, how did you and Jack meet?" Lisa asks as she sits on the bed and tells me I can sit on a chair not to far away from the bed. Cassadee also takes a seat on the bed.

"I work at a little diner, and he kept coming in for a while, and then he saw me at a coffee shop and invited me here," I say realizing how strange that sounded. I was basically a stranger to Jack.

"That sounds like something Jack would do," Lisa says with a laugh.

"I bet he creeped you out," Cassadee says.

"Yeah, little bit," I say nodding my head.

Cassadee laughs, "Now that sounds like Jack."

"I'm glad he decided to invite you," Lisa begins, "some of the girls Jack brings places make me question his sanity."

"Yeah," Cassadee says nodding in agreement, "but I think you will fit in just fine with the group."

"Jack brings around girls often?" I ask feeling sort of confused because he doesn't seem like that type. I also feel a little... jealous.

"I mean sort of, but I can tell you're not like them. In a sense that you're not a porn star, and I can actually get a long with you," Lisa says trying to not sound rude.

"Jack also seems to like you in a different way," Cassadee adds. My heart skips a beat, and I feel hopeful.

"Jack dated a porn star?" I say as my mouth drops open. I could potentially hold this over his head later.

"Kind of sad," Lisa says. "That was a long time ago though, and, so far, you are definitely my top choice for Jack. Not saying that you guys will date or anything. Just that... I mean... I'm going to be quiet now." Lisa smiles like she just told me something that I wasn't supposed to know.

"It's fine I get it. Jack and I are just friends," I say.

"Okay, good, lets get back to the party before I say anything else," Lisa laughs. We make it back to the party and we find a slightly drunker group of boys. Jack offers me a drink, but I tell him I'm driving and he doesn't bother me about it again. The rest of the night I hung out with Jack, watching him get drunker and drunker by the hour.