The Apartment

Flirting and Breakdowns

The concert isn't over yet, and Annie and Sarah whine and beg and plead and finally convince Jackie to let them stay another half hour.

I walk to a corner next to a bright blacklight and pull out my phone, not feeling like dancing anymore. My heart pounds still and I try to control my breathing, which I'm pretty sure stopped altogether when Jackie was so close. I'm not sure what just happened or what it might have become had Annie not interrupted us, but I am definitely wish I had found out. Even though we are roommates, even though it might have ruined this meaningful friendship, I wished that moment wouldn't have ended so quickly.

"Hey," Jackie's smooth voice says, and I glance up from my phone to see him lean against the wall next to me. I can hear him more clearly with less people around, and I am instantly reminded of the moment we just had. I desperately hope it's not awkward between us, and that I don't make it awkward by being too tense around him.

"Hi," I say tightly. Way to go. I put my phone in my pocket, fingers tapping nervously against my thigh.

I glance in his direction right as his hand flickers in the edge of my vision, and I feel something slimy smear onto my cheek.

I jerk back with a gasp, squinting at a laughing Jackie who holds a big cup filled with green paint in his hands.

"Tell me you didn't just do that," I say darkly.

He tips his head back and laughs even louder as I wipe at my cheek, and I snatch the cup from him in retaliation. He holds his hands up in surrender, shrinking away when I raise it high in warning.

"Have mercy!" He pleads with an adorable smile.

I pretend to sigh, putting my arms dow. "Fine."

Jackie surveys me suspiciously until relaxing, which is his fatal mistake. I spring forward after dumping some of the paint onto my hand, then wipe it all over the side of his face, leaving a glowing green handprint on his sharp cheekbone. He gasps in betrayal, and I reach high up to poor the rest of it in his hair. Only a little spills onto his messy, silky black head before he grabs my wrist with one hand and fumbles for the cup with the other, then throws the final bit all over the front of my newly acquired tank top. Green droplets splatter everywhere, and I slap at his chest in outrage, streaking green there, too.

Jackie throws away the cup, still laughing, and runs his hands through his hair. Green highlights glow through the black and some flecks rest on his forehead, but viewing my handprint on his cheek is what makes me start to laugh with him. I laugh and laugh until my face is warm and my stomach hurts and we are leaning on each other. I laugh part out of relief that it's not awkward between us, relief that Jackie is so good at making me feel comfortable.

I guess there wasn't much to worry about after all.

#####

We get back to Jackie's home around eleven, and after changing into my clothes from before I am currently standing on the front porch with Monica, waiting for Jackie to finish saying goodbye to Annie.

"You're good for him, you know. Good for Jackie," Monica says abruptly, breaking our peaceful conversation about book preferences. "He's never brought home a girl before. Well since starting college and we stopped keeping an eye on him, anyway. I know there's been plenty, but he always kept private about it, insisting he would bring home the person that really mattered. All this rambling to say I'm glad he found you. You seem to really matter to him."

I blink several times. "Thank you, but... we're just friends."

Monica gives me a secret smile. "Oh honey, you and I both know it's more than that. And it's not just Jackie. I have a feeling you're just as enamored with him as he is with you. Falling in love is one of life's greatest gifts, whether it leads to pain or a lifetime of the sensation. Enjoy it."