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From then on, I was physically aware of Jack in a way I hadn’t been before. I started acting nervous when we were together, jumping back from his touch.
He’d make the odd comment about my strange behavior, but luckily didn’t question it.
I tried keeping things as normal as I possibly could, like us going to Barb’s on grad night. It was totally normal behavior.
As we walked into the restaurant, I caught Barb removing the tiny red “reserved” sign she used to stake our usual table. She said that, and a free piece of our favorite pie, would be her graduation gift to Jack and me.
We took our seats, as if on autopilot, grinning as we sat across from each other, devouring our respective slices of pie.
We ate in peaceful silence, but I disrupted that peace with my own insecurities. I wavered, wondering if I should share my true feelings with Jack.
Telling him I was in love with him could ruin our friendship. It could put the kibosh on future midnight outings to Barb’s to get pie and cherry cokes. This could disrupt the perfect balance of our relationship.
Sure, that balance included what might be unrequited romantic feelings on my part, but still, I lived in that comfortable balance for so long. Telling Jack the truth threatened that. It threatened the entire future of our relationship. And for what? The off chance he felt the same way back.
As my feet grew cold, I attempted to pay attention to our conversation, constantly sipping my cherry coke to keep focused.
I nodded in all the right places and chimed in when appropriate. But still, the butterflies swarmed my stomach, making me wish I hadn’t had so much to eat and drink. Just like my feelings, my stomach contents threatened to come out tonight.
“I can drive us,” Jack offered, as we finished up at Barb’s making sure to tip well since she wouldn’t let us pay. I tried to trail behind Jack, but he was having none of it, so he swept my hand and placed it in the crook of his bent elbow. Another time I might have laughed and leaned into him playfully, but now I was just hyperaware of all the points where he and I touched.
Heat enveloped me like a warm, sweaty blanket. The humidity made summers in Haver’s Creek nearly unbearable. People spent time in the creek and driving up to Lake Erie to get any reprieve.
As we approached the car, Jack escorted me to the passenger side, opening the door and bracing his hand on my lower back as I climbed into the truck.
An electric shock coursed through my body. I honestly couldn’t remember if he always was this touchy and attentive and I just never noticed it before, or if this was something new. My feelings for him made other things, like memories, a little fuzzy.
Jack jogged to the other side of the truck and jumped in.
“Are you warm?” he asked, swiveling the vents so that air started blowing in my direction.
“I’ll be okay.” I reached over and adjusted the vents further to make sure they hit me straight on.
My rapidly beating heart didn’t help matters. And the last thing I needed was to sweat through the somewhat revealing dress I chose to show off my figure.
We chatted about our summer plans, Jack had conditioning every day to prepare himself for college ball, while I had shifts at Barb’s to look forward to. I planned to save every last penny possible to help pay for both my college expenses and for my sister’s groceries.
Just because I’d be across the country didn’t mean I stopped taking care of my sister. And Savannah, who just turned sixteen, already started her training at Barb’s, which would get her out of the house and keep her a healthy distance from Mother. Luckily, Mom seemed to be doing a little better lately. She’d been clean since her last stint in rehab a year ago. It made me feel slightly less guilty for leaving my little sister.
It took all of ten minutes to get to Ian’s house. I looked through the passenger side window in awe as I took in the grandeur of the McMansion.
Situated in the nice part of town on a lake that fed into the actual Haver’s Creek itself, the house could easily fit five of mine.
Scantily dressed classmates walked towards the front door in droves as guys clapped each other’s backs in greeting.
I loathed these kinds of parties. Jack knew not to push me too much when he invited me to similar events over the years. I almost always declined. I’d rather be baking or reading. Or sleeping. Sleeping was always a solid choice.
Jack parked the car next to a line of other vehicles in a makeshift parking lot in the grass of the massive front yard.
We walked together down the long sidewalk, Jack waving to our classmates as we did. I knew everyone at the party, but I wouldn’t go as far to call them all friends.
Growing up poor hadn’t endeared me to a lot of people. Kids were kinda mean like that. My clothes were always a season or two behind the trends, I never participated in soccer, or gymnastics, you know the requisite sports normal parents put their normal kids in to make friends. I vividly recalled a pair of plaid pants I wore for years but then was teased relentlessly for when they became too short, exposing my socks.
I hated those damn pants.
Fortunately, I knew how to be pleasant anyway. I managed to snag a pretty awesome best friend despite the popular opinion that I was uncool.
Jack Montgomery, on the other hand, oozed cool. Being a star athlete helped but being a genuinely nice guy didn’t hurt either.
