A Spotlight Summer (Jack Gilinsky)

Chapter Three

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading!!!

Kelsey POV

"Please tell me you didn't sit in here all day!" The voice of my annoying mother flooded through my ears.

"Mom, where the hell else would I go? We are in the middle of nowhere!" I screamed.

"Baby, the reason we are here is because we need to be one with nature again! We need to get away from the hustle of New York and just be content with the simple life again." my mother preached. When I did not respond, she continued, "You seriously stayed inside all day?"

"Of course." I replied. Ok, so I neglected to mention that I did accidentally end up in a bar, but that's not important. If my mom found that out, I would never be allowed out of her sight again.

"Well then, let's get you out of this room. I passed a diner about four miles up the road. Let's go get something to eat. While we're there, we can totally start planning our summer together!" she squealed.

        My life is over.

Ten minutes later, we pulled up to a diner that looked like it had seen its better days. The light up sign on the front of the establishment was missing three letters, so instead of saying 'Betty's', the sign read, 'By's'. Lovely.

Despite the diner being rundown on the outside, the inside was packed. It seemed just like the bar, this was where everyone came to hang out. I really started to question how I was going to survive a whole summer here. It was simply impossible.

The food was halfway decent, but nothing compared to a New York diner. But who was I kidding? Nothing in this place even came close to New York. My mother tried to get me to talk to her about going to the beach and looking at old historical buildings and maybe even fishing, but I tuned her out. I made it very clear that I was still furious at her for dragging me here. Finally, we both finished our food and we got up to leave.

"Sweetie, I'll meet you at the car, I just have to go to the bathroom really quick." She scurried to the back of the diner and I headed outside. With the sun now down, the heat in Omaha was almost nonexistent. I leaned against the passenger side of our rented car and tried to wrap my head around everything I was going to be missing out on while I was here. My friends, my city, my summer. It was all gone. All gone thanks to my crazy mother who really needs a boyfriend to occupy her time with because I was getting fed up with her ridiculous antics.

"Hey! Kelsey right?" I turned when I heard my name. The blonde boy from earlier today was smiling at me. As I went to smile back, my eyes fell on the boy he was with. It was the guy from the shadows who apparently hated me. Brilliant.

Like today at the bar, he was staring at me again. And not in the way Nash and the other boys had been—he was unreadable as his eyes stayed on me.

Remembering the blonde boy had spoken to me, I broke eye contact with his mysterious friend and replied, "Yeah. Hi."

"I don't think I introduced myself earlier. I'm Jack." He was a sweet boy. The kind of boy who most certainly was the object of lust for all the girls in their high school. This time I actually smiled at him, but once again it faltered when I saw him nudge his friend. Seriously? This kid is acting like he's five years old.

"And I'm Jack." My mind seemed to cloud when I finally heard his voice. I have no idea why—I'm sure it's just like any other voice.

                But it wasn't.

"We realize it can get confusing. Just call me Johnson."

"What are you doing here?" Jack looked at me. I was taken aback by his sudden question. Before, he had to be forced to tell me his name, and now he was asking me questions?

"That was rude." Johnson said under his breath, thinking only Jack could hear.

"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing." I agreed.

"SO what brings you to Omaha Kelsey? We didn't get to talk to you much earlier." Johnson asked, trying his best to salvage this already broken situation.

"Probably because she was foundling with Nash in a corner." Jack said.

Excuse me? "Wow, you know on the Omaha brochure, they didn't mention that its main inhabitants are pretentious pricks," I snapped at him. My life was falling apart, ok, and the last thing I need is some hot guy judging me about things he knows nothing about.

"Kelsey he's just—" Johnson tried to step in and save whatever conversation had been happening but I was not going to have any of it. Thankfully I saw my mom heading out of the diner and with one last look at Jack I said, "And by the way, I would never hook up with a creep like Nash."

"Kelsey. Who are these boys?" my mom inquired excitedly. My mom loathed my ex-boyfriend so she was always very happy with new prospects for me.

"That's Johnson." I said pointing at the blonde. I then made eye contact with Jack for what I'm sure would be the last time and said, "That is no one."