The Thing About Flip Flops

Chapter Twenty Nine: Thank God I'm A Country Boyyyyy

I wake to the chirping of birds and soft classical music. My eyes open drearily, taking in the morning light that pours through the window and illuminates most of the room.

I yawn contentedly, noting that the music is coming from somewhere behind me. I shift my body slightly to see over my shoulder and meet warm brown eyes.

"Hey," His raspy morning voice says behind me, and I become instantly aware of Jack's warm body pressed up against my back.

"Hey," I reply, lips quirking up into a smile. He has one earphone in, the other one dangling down the cord. I guess that's where the music was coming from.

As if somehow following my train of thought, Jack glances at the other earphone, and then puts it against my ear so I can hear. I readjust it and then turn back on my side, happy to get a few more minutes of sleep.

I can feel Jack watching me but I close my eyes anyway, snuggling into his warmth. The soft piano music drags me down into sleep once again...

...and I wake up suddenly when an intense and super loud rock song starts blasting through my earphone.

I jerk upright and yank the cord out of my ear with a yelp. When I turn towards Jack, I see that the idiot is sitting up in the bed and holding his phone in his hand.

"I hate you!" I groan, smacking his shoulder.

He smirks and says, "You were on my arm and it fell asleep. I had to wake you up somehow."

With a stretch of my arms, I complain, "And you decided that the best way to do that was through whatever that was?"

Jack pulls himself out of the bed, standing up with his phone and earphones still in his hand. "If you can guess the song, you get to-" he says with a smirk.

"Don't finish that sentence!" I reach over to cover his mouth with my hand, blushing slightly.

I wasn't going to let him win by telling him that I knew the exact name of the song, it was "Dog Eat Dog" by AC/DC.

"Listening to music like that might have been cool in the early 2000s, you punk-rock wannabe." I tease him, my annoyance fading.

"Ugh, it's not just a phase, mom," Jack jokes, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at me. Then, in his normal voice, he says, "And I'm not a punk-rock wannabe, I listen to a mix of every genre. I, for one, don't see a problem with listening to all types of music."

"So you, Jack Golden, even listen to show-tunes? Oh my god, and country? Am I going to start having to put up with rants about country music now?" I pry, hiding my smile. I may tease him, but in all honestly, I think his music rants are kind of cute.

Wait... did I just call him cute?

Crap. Oh god. I'm a mess.

He scoffs. "You can't just say all country songs are bad! Obviously there are some good and some shitty ones in every genre. You know what, I'm going to make you a playlist of awesome country songs to prove it. And only half of them will be 2005 Taylor Swift."

I laugh. "Okay, okay, sorry." I put my hands up in surrender but then add the last part in a southern accent under my breath, "I didn't realize y'all'd get so riled up about some ol' yeehaw nonsense."

I think he hears me though because he gasps in mock offense. "How dare you?"

I hide my grin, pretending to twirl a lasso around in the air with my arm as I lay in the bed. "You know it's true."

He rolls his eyes, pointing his finger at me accusingly. "Playlist. Remind me."

I yawn again and get up from the bed as well, looking at the clock on my phone to see that it's 8:07 in the morning. "It's early!" I say, surprised.

"Yeah, well we're going rafting today, remember?" Jack reminds me.

At that exact moment, Jenna barges into our room and says loudly, "You'd better be dressed, you two."

I roll my eyes at her and avoid Jack's smirking glance in my direction.

"Why'd you open the door if you didn't think we were dressed?" I ask her with an embarrassed laugh, speaking just to make sure Jack can't get a word in about what Jen said.

Jenna snorts and says, "Because you're both too stubborn and oblivious to... never mind. Just get ready, we're leaving in like fifteen minutes."

She pops out before I can demand to know what the hell she meant. Instead I just grab some clothes and pop into the bathroom to shower, get ready, and change.

Jack isn't in the room anymore when I come out and so, a bit disappointed, I head towards the kitchen where I hear voices.

Henry and Jen are near the fridge while Nat and Melissa sit at the kitchen table, both on their phones. I don't spot Jack and feel a slight twinge of disappointment in my stomach.

"Hey, dude, you ever wanted a snorkel?"

"Dude, no, obviously I already have one."

"Fuck dude, I should've known. But here, I bought one for you anyway."

I cut into Henry and Jen's conversation with an amused, "Uh, whatcha talking about?"

Henry looks at me dead in the eyes and says, "Snorkels." He holds up his neon pink snorkels and I can't help but wonder where he got it.

Jen holds up a matching neon pink snorkel and aims a pointedly sarcastic look in my direction before saying, "Just perfect for going rafting."

I snicker, "You want to bring your snorkel...for going whitewater rafting...?"

Henry looks outraged. "They're for seeing the fish! Why does no one get that?" He grumbles while everyone else holds in a laugh.

Melissa stands up and smacks him upside the head, slapping some sense into him as she says, "Dumbass, the river's too fast for most fish, so even if it was deep enough to snorkel in, you'd only see rocks."

"Buzzkill," Henry says and flicks the top of her head in annoyance.

"Hey," says a deep, familiar voice from behind me.

I turn around and my heart does a slow flip in my chest at the sight of Jack. He must have just come in from a morning run, because he looks sweaty and breathless in running shorts and a sleeveless red t-shirt. He runs a hand through his hair, smoothing it down, which only draws my eyes to his tanned, muscular arms.

I'm definitely blushing because I have been staring for way too long, and I think Jack takes notice of this judging by the way he smirks at me.

"What did I miss?" He asks everyone with a yawn, thankfully not commenting on my staring.

"I bought us all matching snorkels." Henry hold up another four hot-pink snorkels, which I hadn't seen before.

"I'm embarrassed that I'm related to you," I tell him honestly.

"I'm embarrassed for you that you're related to him," Jack says to me in an undertone.

Henry, hearing this, rolls his eyes and chucks Jack's snorkel over the table. "Man up and put on the pink snorkel, bro."

Jack shakes his head in annoyance and instead tries to put the snorkel goggles on me, playfully wrestling it around my head.

I laugh and smack his arm, wriggling out of his grip. In doing so, I brush his sweaty arm and accidentally smell him at the same time, which doesn't do much good for the butterflies in my stomach.

Shut up! I tell them. Calm down, you idiots!

But they don't listen to me, the stupid goddamn butterflies. You know what, fuck butterflies. They suck.