A Spotlight Summer (Jack Gilinsky)

Chapter Seventeen

Kelsey POV

I didn’t want to come to this stupid bonfire. I would have been perfectly content breaking into another football field or going fishing or doing whatever other brilliant date Jack came up with. But somehow I found myself being blindsided by a girl I never met while Jack did nothing.

He just sat there.

I waited a couple of seconds for Jack to deny what Janelle had just said. I mean, she was clearly just being a bitch, so I assumed she made up the whole ‘picture’ thing. But one look at Jack from the corner of my eye told me otherwise.

I’m sure that even in the darkness of night the horror on my face was visible. Did I really even know Jack? Is that his thing? Is this what he does? Is he expecting me to do that? Why didn’t he tell me? And why the hell isn’t he saying anything right now?

Somehow, I found myself stand from my chair and heading toward the gate of Sam’s backyard.

What is the point of all of this? What is the point of all this drama and fighting and heartache?

I had begun to think the point was Jack. I mean, since summer began, Jack has been my point.

And now I realized how stupid that is.

How stupid I have been, falling for some random boy who batted his eyelashes at me and told me nice things.

I suddenly felt very angry at myself for letting this happen again.

This is just like Davis. You didn’t think when you were with him either and look what happened, my subconscious mocked.

The memory of him sent a shudder through me and all I wanted in that moment was to go home. Go back to New York and be with Jessa and be in my apartment and not have to be in freaking Omaha anymore.

“Kelsey!” Jack screamed from behind me.

 I ignored his voice and kept walking away from Sam’s house.

“Kels, please stop. Just hold on ok, it isn’t as bad as it sounds.”

Jack caught up with me and gently pulled my arm, trying to turn me toward him. I forcefully pulled my wrist free and kept walking to god knows where.

“Seriously? This is how you’re gonna be? You're not even gonna let me explain something that you know nothing about?” Jack said harshly from behind me.

I abruptly turned around and locked eyes with him. I stood waiting, but nothing came from his mouth. I held my arms up and brought them back down, slapping my sides in a frustrated manner.

“What do you want to say Jack? What.”

“What Janelle said, that was a long time ago. With someone who means nothing to me now.” Jack explained.

I raised my eyebrows at him, making it clear that I wanted to hear more than that.

With a sigh, Jack continued, “My ex, Sara… we didn’t tell the fans that we were dating. We did everything in secret for a very long time. One day, we were in my car and someone took pictures of us and uploaded them to twitter. It was a huge blowup and created chaos for about two weeks.”

“Don’t forget the fact that you were naked.” I added, angrily.

“No, Jesus, we were not naked.” Jack ran his fingers through his hair.

“Oh, ok so both of you having no clothes on means what exactly?”

“You haven’t even seen the pictures Kelsey.” Jack stated, calmly.

“Janelle JUST said—”

“Janelle is Sara’s best friend who is a psychotic bitch.”

“If she’s such a ‘psychotic bitch’ then why is Sam with her?” I countered.

“I don’t know, probably because he gets laid!” Jack replied, frustration seeping into his tone.

I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster. “Oh brilliant. God, all boys are the same. Is that what you think is going to happen here? Because I can promise you it won’t. Sorry to crush your hormonal dreams Jack Gilinsky. Maybe if you are looking for someone to bang, you can tweet one of your groupies.”

“You’re being fucking irrational.” Jack’s eyes had fire in them.

“Oh am I?” I challenged.

“Yes! You're fucking flipping out about something that I did before I met you! AND you’re trying to put words in my mouth! Just because Sam has his own reasons for staying with his girlfriend doesn’t mean those are my reasons for being with you.”

“But you’re not with me! We’re not together!”

I regretted my words as soon as they came out of my mouth. I didn’t want Jack to know that it annoyed me that he hadn’t asked me to be his girlfriend yet. I didn’t want to be some needy girl who is desperate for a title. But every day for the past two weeks, I’ve been secretly hoping that after one of our numerous dates, Jack would finally ask me.

And he hasn’t.

“So that’s what this is about?” Jack asked.

“No! Don’t change the subject! This is about your porno pictures with your ex-girlfriend!”

“Fucking hell Kelsey! Both Sara and I have no shirts on. That’s it! They’re not 50 Shades of Grey pictures!” Jack yelled.

His comment shut me up. I admit, when I heard Janelle say ‘practically naked,’ my mind concocted various images that are XXX rated.

Jack, noticing my silence, took a step closer to me.

“When are you going to get it through your head that I am not in this to have sex with you or make a fool of you or whatever else your brain has been telling you.” Jack began to rant.

“Jack—” I tried to stop him because I know he isn’t. I know that Jack is the perfect guy and would never try to take advantage of me. I know he truly likes me. In the middle of my blind jealousy, I started saying stupid shit that I didn’t think.

“Let me finish. Since it seems like these speeches are becoming a regular occurrence, you should probably take this one seriously and finally believe that I’m telling you the truth.”

I said nothing, waiting for him to continue. “You’re my girl, Kelsey. Even when I fucking broke up with you in a supermarket, you were still my girl. And even after you continuously tell me that I’m nothing but an asshole man-whore, I still want you to be my girl. Because your brown eyes fucking drive me insane and your laugh takes over my entire being and I swear when I kiss you, I have not one thing to worry about. Yes, there are pictures of me online with my ex-girlfriend in the backseat of my car. But I promise— you will never just be a girl I take to the backseat of my car. You’re the girl that’s in the passenger seat of my jeep who puts on ridiculous pop music and who puts her feet on my dashboard.” Jack ended his speech and I had absolutely nothing to say.

“SO, in summation, you’re my girl. And I would like you to officially be my girlfriend.” Jack smiled.

I shook my head in disbelief and rushed forward to crush my lips onto his. I felt Jack break into a huge smile and I couldn’t help but match it with one of my own. The kiss was my way of apologizing for going completely crazy before. It was my way of saying yes to the proposal he just asked.

All too soon, Jack pulled away and smirked, “You really love my big declarations don’t you?”

I buried my face in his chest, trying to conceal the ridiculous shade of red my cheeks had turned.

“Let’s not try to make them a habit. There’s only so much I have up my sleeve.” Jack joked.

I playfully slapped his chest and he looked down at me with utter amusement.

“I’m just kidding. I could talk about you all day.” Jack whispered as he pressed a delicate kiss to my forehead.

A/N: Happy 5k!! In celebration, Jack and Kelsey are finally girlfriend and boyfriend. Make sure to comment and vote! I love you all so much