“Two years really isn’t that long,” Jack said quickly.
“Jack! You know that’s not the only thing!” I leaned my head back on the seat.
“Alice…” He breathed deeply. When he spoke, his voice was barely a whisper. “When I called, it was because something felt off. I knew something was going on with you. And by the time I got to the exit, I knew exactly where you were at. I could feel you, scared and alone. I can’t just turn that off. You can’t just throw this away.”
“What am I supposed to do?” I asked.
He looked at me desperately, and a longing radiated from him. The alcohol was either wearing off or he was overpowering it. A panicked need overtook him because he thought he was losing me.
I leaned over and pressed my lips against his, and he gave into it. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me as close to him as he could without hurting me, and his mouth worked ferociously against mine. He tasted amazing, and his skin burned hot.
We’d only been kissing for a few seconds when abruptly, he stopped, and pushed me back from him. Gently but firmly, he held me at arm’s length and struggled to catch his breath.
“Alice, that’s way too dangerous,” he panted.
“You’re really not helping the case, you know?” I pulled away from his arms and slunk down in the seat.
“The only reason I have any restraint is because I just ate,” Jack said, leaning back. “Otherwise, that could’ve been very bad.”
“Thanks for reminding me about that,” I grimaced.
“You can’t really talk. At least what I did, I did because it’s how I survive and it was to help your little brother. You just did that… for fun. And you can’t use being drunk as an excuse because you wore a purple thong. That was premeditated.”
“It was not! I wore the panties cause I wanted to feel fun and dangerous!”
“You’re dangerous alright,” Jack muttered.
“Whatever.” I slammed the car door shut. “Just take me home.”
“Can do.”
Neither of us spoke the rest of the way home, because that seemed like the safest bet. I was hurt, angry, and disappointed in both of us, and he felt pretty much the same. When he finally pulled up in front of my apartment, he sighed and turned to me.
“Look, Alice, I don’t want you to go home mad.”
“Neither do I,” I said. “So. Fix it.”
“Okay,” Jack laughed. “Since you can’t turn right away anyway, I can stop rushing Milo. That means that I can put less time into getting him ready, and I can make more time for you. You won’t feel so shut out.”
“Thank you.” I bit my lip and looked at him gratefully.
“I don’t know if this helps any, but I really, really wanna kiss you right now,” Jack said with a sad smile. “And yeah, I did wanna see your purple thong.”
“I don’t know how that helps,” I smiled. It stung a little, because I knew it couldn’t happen, but it made me feel better knowing that he still wanted it to.
“Yeah, I guess it doesn’t really.” He pushed a hair off my forehead, and he looked at me intently. When he breathed in deeply, his eyes went wistful. “Go. Before I give in.”
“Okay,” I nodded and opened the car door.
“I’ll call you. Tomorrow. I promise.”
Jack waited outside until I was safely in the apartment. When I went into my bedroom, I looked out the window, and he was still waiting outside. I watched him for a few minutes, but then he finally pulled away.
After sleeping fitfully, “Time Warp,” Jack’s ringtone, woke me up first thing in the afternoon. When I rolled over and picked up my phone, I found a text message that sent a nervous shiver through me.
Text me as soon as you get this. That was all it said.
- 12 -