The Best Part of Me -Jack Avery Fanfic.

Chapter 6

I've gotta meet up with my parole officer this morning. It's been a few days since Jack slept over and I really did enjoy it.

She wants to meet at a park not too far. There's a dog-park there that I take Cortez to to socialize with other dogs and often that's where we go.

She waits for me patiently as I make the long walk down to the park. She has my cell number and she left early, but my phone wasn't on to recieve her texts.

"Hey there, miss Jaques." The strawberry blond greets, turning with me to walk inside the park.

We get settle down on a bench where she asks me about how I've been feeling and what I've been doing. She's basically a therapist in that sense. Her job is to make sure I'm on the right path to fitting in with society and to keep me out of trouble. So she gives me the "tools" I need to try to use to cope in certain situations if ever they arrive.

"Well, I can tell you right now something seems to have changed." She remarks as we watch Cortez sprints off across the field, playing with a Great Dane.

I nod softly. "I've been spending time with an old friend of mine." 

"Oh? How long have you known them?"

I shrug. "A long time. Since school." I answer.

"Are they into anything that might cause trouble for you?" She asks, her voice soft.

I shake my head. "No. Not at all. Jack's practically got his whole life figured out."

"Oh? Does he now?" She asks, looking both proud and intrigued.

"Mmhmm." I hum. "He's got a little girl now and he's got a career doing what he loves."

"Sounds like it's doing you some good to be around him."

I can't disagree.

We wrap everything up and I take Cortez out for some me and him time to unwind. That consists of walking to the closes pet suply shop and letting him pick out something. Be it a toy, or a treat, or something else.

I order him his own food here. He gets both raw/whole food and kibble. I have to keep a good handle on his food because his breed is easily prone to obesity.

He sniffs the shelves and I take a look at the accessories section. There's all sorts of stuff. Collars, harnesses, leashes, beds, bowls, sweaters and costumes.

"What do you think, baby boy? Should we get you some casual wear for when we're out and about with friends?"

He wags his tail excitedly at my tone. I know he doesn't exactly know what I'm saying, but when you're basically alone for months at a time without anyone else you can to talk to, sometimes it's nice to think maybe he does understand. Plus, he's a good listener.

I pick out a couple collars just for the sake of fashion and some cute little hoodies. Cortez translates from Spanish to corteous in english, so I pick a little tuxedo up and bow out too. With that I get him a flashy green reflective harness.

Tezzy chooses himself a new chew-bone and carries it himself to the cash. The employees here know Tez well and this guy bends down and trades a treat for the toy so he can scan it before giving it back.

I walk out with a bag of food and the new stuff for my dog, who's walking contently with his toy in his mouth.

"Hey!" Jack jogs over from across the street, pocketing his keys. "I came to visit but Jonah said you were out. Here, want some help?"

Jack takes the dog food from me before I even answer and I'm taken aback by how thoughtful he is. He just does things that I've never noticed until now. Probably because of everything I've gone through. It's all little things I took for granted and never had with Kyle.

"Thank you." I say with a warm blush.

Kyle made me do everything. If I couldn't do something his way, he'd tell me how dumb I was or how I was weak and worthless. He never offered his help. I never expected his help. That's just how it was.

"Oh. No problem." He says as if it's nothing.

My mum's supposed to be coming home tonight, so it's just easier to take the stuff right to our apartment.

I'm not sure when my sisters are supposed to be coming home, but I hope it's later rather than sooner.

I unlock the door and Jack helps me take the stuff downstairs to my room.

"Holy crap..." Jack whispers, taking in my room.

It's a fair size. Not big per se, bit it's far from being cramped. I've got what I need. A double-bed, a dresser, a closet, a desk.

I walk over beside my desk and start putting stuff away. I keep Cortez's things inside his cabnet. Well, besides his toys which are kept in his toy-bin. He's got his own bed on the other side where he can stay while I'm either reading or writting.

"What um... what happened to all the pictures you used to have up?" Jack asks as he sets the bag of food down.

"In the closet."

"How come you took them down?"

I shrug a bit awkwardly. "I donno. I didn't really wanna see them when I got back."

I used to have a polaroid camera that I had on me 24/7. I'd always take pictures of my friends and I having fun, of new places, of things I thought were interesting or beautiful. I'd seperate them by colour and string them up across the walls. I had so many that I had nearly covered all four walls of my room.

Now there's nothing hung on my walls. They've been repainted white and left that way. Cold and bare.

He sits down on the end of my bed and looks around, then down at his feet. I sit with him, keeping a bit of space between us. "I wanted a fresh start, but I didn't know how. So I took everything down and painted the walls white and they kinda just stayed that way."

He listens quietly as I speak, his attention falling to my knees.

"Maybe it's because it remindes me of the prison. Don't get me wrong, my stay there wasn't pleasant, but I felt safe there. I knew I couldn't hurt anybody because I was being constantly supervised. I knew if something did happen and I snapped, someone would be there to stop me."

Jack and I's gazes connect for a moment. Jack's the first person I feel comfortable enough to tell these things. It's hard not to with him. He's just always had that affect on me and I've always been able to confide in him.

Jack's hand inches towards mine on the bed and I watch as he laces his fingers with mine.

The heat of his hand sends a fizz of warm tingles up my arm.

"I missed this..."

I look up into his dark eyes bashfully and he does the same to me. I can see my hazel ones reflected in his. "I missed this too."

We just sit there for a while, holding each other's hand. Trying to hold on to the moment for as long as we can cause we know that it'll be over soon and we'll have to let go.

And indeed, Jack gets a message from Ava asking if he could go pick her up. So I have to go back to Jonah's. There, I get a call from my mum saying her flights been delayed by another two days.

Jonah's caught between a rock and a hard place because of it. He made plans for the next two days. I don't want him to have to cancel them cause he more then deserves to go out and do what he wants.

"Hang on, I'll call Jack and see if maybe he'd come stay with you."

"I don't want to bother him." I say, Cortez curled up on my lap. He's a bit big for it, but he manages.

"We're not bothering him." Jo rolls his eyes at me like an older sibling would. Like I've done countless times to my siblings before they both got out of hand. "I'm sending him a message and he'll call when he gets the chance."

In the mean-time I pull over Jonah's lyric book and doodle on the pages sneakily. I don't think he minds too much cause he smiles every time I see him open it and find one of them.

"He said he's on his way back." Jonah says. "You guys are welcome to stay here, but just make sure to lock the doors if you leave and let me know so if my parents get back I can let them know."

"Okay, J. Thank you."