My Best Friend, Jack ✓

16. Three's a crowd

It was Saturday night and I was getting ready for my movie night with Jack. I had been looking forward to it all week and I was so psyched to spend an evening with my best friend, just me and him. No Olivia or Caleb, just the two of us. Although I ached to see Caleb again after he had kissed me out on the field. I distractedly touched my fingers to my lips and smiled, just thinking about it. I still couldn't believe I'd had my first kiss. 

Shaking the thought away, I tugged up my pair of black jeans and pulled the loose orange t-shirt over my head. I pulled on one of my flannel shirts over the top and quickly ran a comb through my somewhat unruly hair. Today was one of those days where it was just not co-operating with any thing I tried to do. I grabbed a hair tie from my desk and tied it up in to a loose bun, trying to tame the craziness. Tying my Converses, I grabbed my bag and trotted down the stairs, a grin plastered to my face. 

"Someone looks like the cat who got the cream," my dad said, leaning against the staircase as I went to pull open the front door. "Anything you want to tell me?"

I shook my head with a smile. "Nope. Things are going  well with Caleb and I'm going to go and hang out with Jack tonight, like old times."

"I see," he nodded. "Well, just make sure you're home by eleven thirty. And say hi to Jack for me. It feels like I haven't seen him for a while."

"I will. Bye dad."

Jack was waiting for me at the bottom of my front path so I bounded over to him and launched myself in to his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He let out a whoosh of air in surprise and grabbed hold of me, laughter escaping his lips as he wrapped his strong arms around my back, squeezing me hard. 

"What're you doing?" He asked, still not dropping me to the floor. 

"I've missed you," I mumbled in to his shirt, making no move to drop either. 

We stayed like that for another moment, before I shimmied down and dropped my feet to the floor. My flannel shirt was all crinkled and some of my hair had fallen out of my bun and now framed my face instead. I looked up at Jack to see an amused look on his face, his blue eyes twinkling with the familiar look of mischief I had missed so much these past few weeks. 

"Well that was some hello," he smiled. 

I shrugged, before falling in step with him as we made our way to the movie theatre. I asked him how basketball was going and he asked me if I was still doing my sketches. 

"I saw you with your sketch book while I was at basketball practise the other day, sat up high in the bleachers."

"Oh?" I stuttered. "I didn't think you saw me? You looked a little pre-occupied." Did I mean with basketball, or Olivia? 

"No, I saw you," he said, glancing down at me. "But you looked like you wanted to be on your own, so I didn't say anything."

I remembered sitting on the bleachers and relishing the silence of the gym when I had been the only one there. It was weird. Sometimes, I could've sworn that Jack knew me more than I knew myself. As we made our way towards the movie theatre, I stopped mid-walk, my back aching. I really needed to do more exercise. Looking up at Jack with my best puppy dog eyes, I grinned when he bent his knees and held out his arms. With a yelp of delight, I hopped on to his back and curled my legs around his waist. His strong grip curled around the bottom of my thighs and I leant in to the curve of his back, resting the bottom of my chin on his shoulder. My mouth was right next to his ear, so I blew gently. 

"Cut it out," he warned, squeezing my thighs. 

"Or what?"

He dropped me suddenly and I let out a yelp. I only fell for a split second before Jack tightened his grip and caught me, manoeuvring me back to where I was a moment ago. I laughed and poked his ribs, causing him to squirm underneath me.