Flat 64

Chapter 9

After paying the bill, everyone is gathering their things to leave the restaurant. I stand up, but immediately I feel my dress sticking to me. I can't help but take in a breath, eyeing Jackson wearily. He looks at me confused, so I quickly turn around to show him what I'm worried about. While looking over my shoulder, I see him sat there, eyes wide. Jack fixes his shocked expression and stands, casually shrugging off his suit jacket, then placing it over my shoulders. As he does so, he leans in slightly to whisper at me, "f**k baby, your so wet you've left a patch on your dress." before quickly moving away from me, to chat to Marley. All I can do is stand there in shock, pulling his jacket around me tighter, feeling behind me to check it's long enough to cover it. By the time everyone exits the restaurant, a chill rushes through the air and I'm extra glad I have his jacket to warm me. Lily and Drew walk up to me holding hands, causing my eyebrows to raise beyond belief. "Lottie, we are gonna go out for a drink, Are you coming?" eyeing their hands, I look back up at her smiling. "No, I think I'll go back home. Thanks for forcing me out tonight though, I had fun." she nods at me happily, and I can tell she doesn't mind me not joining them anymore. Marley and a drunk Danny saunter over to us, inviting themselves to drinks. Jack follows them over, but doesn't say anything. "Are you coming jack?" Drew questions. Jack yawns slightly before replying, "um, no mate, think i'm gonna get home too. It's already quite late anyway." he shrugs at my brother. Drew nods slowly before looking between us with slightly narrowed eyes. It must be a compromising sight, me standing here in Jacks jacket, him turning down a night out after I say I want to go home... I shuffle on my feet uncomfortably, once again feeling like an awful sister.

Drew gets pulled away from staring at us when Lily drags him and the guys to the bar. She shouts over to me, "Bye babes! let me know when you get back, okay?" and before I can reply, they are all through the door.

We turn to walk home, but neither of us have made a move to talk. The air suddenly feels suffocating, and being away from the others has created a tension between us. I try and wait for him to say something, but eventually, I force myself to break the silence. "Jack, we should really talk about, you know, everything." He turns to look at me slightly, before facing the direction we are walking in again. When he doesn't say anything, I carry on. "What happened at home that time, and now at the restaurant, we can't do that again..." Now this makes him stop walking. He looks at me, intensely, but I can't tell what he is thinking at all.

"Do you like Danny?" He says accusingly. That was the thing I least expected to come out of his mouth. "What? No." I say, shocked. Jackson rolls his eyes at my quick dismissal. "I heard you guys speaking about him that night. You obviously said something to Lily that made her think you like him. Is he why you've been avoiding me?" he says, accusingly. I watch as his face falls slightly, but then he quickly covers it up, looking away from me. "Okay, yes, I did say to her a while ago that I had a thing for Danny but nothing ever came of it and it was never serious, just a silly girl crush. It's just that when I first moved in with you guys, it was really lonely. I mean you were all Drews friends, not mine. I was the odd one out. Danny was the only one who actually made an effort to talk to me, and he was nice, easy to talk too. I liked spending time with him, but I know now that it really is only in a friendly way." I rant away, saying more than I mean too.

He scoffs at me, "Just friendly? yeah right, I see how he is with you. You're telling me it's not reciprocated?" he argues, making no move to continue our walk back home.

"Jack, he has nothing to do with it, I promise." He looks at me, almost as if he is trying to figure out if I do in fact like his friend or not. "If it's not Danny, then why, because I can feel how much you enjoy it. You can't lie to me about that." he says with a cocky smirk, leaving me with no room to deny it. "That...I, it doesn't matter how I feel about it. I can't do this behind my brother's back. You must have heard how much he freaked out over the idea, can you imagine how he would react if he finds out what we did ?! the guilt is eating me up. I feel like such a horrible sister and after everything he's done for me, It just isn't right." I don't realise I have started to tear up, until his hand gently wipes a tear away from my face, I can't help but lean in to his touch.

"Lottie, you are not a bad sister. To be honest I don't see what the big deal is over it, I used to tease him about how protective over you he was when we were kids. He never cared though, only said that it was his job to be like that." Jack says calmly, gently stroking my cheek. He opens his mouth as if to say more, but hesitantly closes it and pulls away from me, a strange look on his face. My curiosity at his sudden change forces me to find out what has him so conflicted. "What is it ?" I ask him, but he shakes his head and looks away from me. I place a hand on his shoulder, urging him to turn around. "Jackson..." Hearing me, he sighs and faces me.

"He was right." He says in a matter of fact tone. A firm and displeased expression haunting his face.

"Um, who was... about what ?" I confusingly reply, having no idea what he is going on about. Jack bites his lip, a deep frown becoming a permanent feature for him. I can practically feel the conflict rolling off of him, but I have no idea why.

"Drew. I heard when he said about how shitty I've treated people, well... girls. I don't know why I did, I just wasn't really interested in any of them more then a quick lay you know? I just always thought I knew nothing serious would ever come from it so I didn't care enough to try with them..." he pauses mid ramble, shrugging his shoulders and avoiding eye contact. "Look Lottie, he was right to warn you off me. I'm not an i***t, I know I haven't been the best kind of guy recently but..." Jack huffs out, seemingly struggling to talk about this. While he rambled away about his past conquests, all I can think about is am I the same as those girls? My chest feels tight with the thought that he was just entertaining me because of boredom and that he didn't have someone else to turn to. Before he can say anything else, I interrupt him, my thoughts accidentally spilling through me.

"What are you getting at Jackson. That my brother was right about you being bad for me because all you wanted from me was a 'quick lay' ?" I harshly spit out.