Heart As Cold As Ice

28: jack

So...not my best moment telling Al that I jerk off to the thought of her. Jack high off the adrenaline from a win didn't give a fuck, but Jack who has to see Al every day didn't really get a say in the matter.

"So guess what?" I ask her, turning my head slightly as we walk out of our lecture hall.

She raises an eyebrow questioningly, "What?"

"We were at Twin City last night and this girl comes up to me, sprouting some shit about me telling her that I thought she was stunning and some angel from heaven. I was confused as hell and then I look at Ruby who is busting out into laughter. Then I connected the dots that she was some poor girl from your brilliant idea to put me on Tinder."

Al covers her mouth to try and hide her laughter, but there's a twinkle in her eyes that captures my attention. "You never did go on any dates. We picked out some really nice girls." She says in between fits of giggles.

"I'm sure you did, but I won rock paper scissors which is why I never went on any. You deleted it, right?" I ask and she nods.

"Unfortunately. Your girls were blowing up my phone once I stopped responding."

I shake my head, chuckling softly as I wrap an arm over Al's shoulder. "They're not my girls." What I want to say is you're my girl, but I don't. Why can I say stupid shit so easily, but the meaningful stuff is so hard?

She rolls her eyes, "Right. How could I forget that you don't want any girls?" Alondra drawls sarcastically. "So what happened with the girl?"

"I told her she had me mistaken for someone else until she showed me screenshots of my profile. Pretty hard to explain that one of my friends thought I needed a girlfriend so she signed me up and pretended to be me." I say, nudging her with my hip.

Alondra looks up at me, "Must be a pretty great friend you have."

"Oh the best." I reply, smiling at her. She really is the best. I know that Al did the whole Tinder thing because she wanted me to be happy, but I'm already happy.

"Well that best friend has another class to get to so she can get her degree." She says, slipping out from under my arm, but I catch her hand, pulling her back into me. Al smiles and a short laugh escapes her mouth, "Jack, I really do have to go."

I tug at her hat, pulling it further down onto her head. "I know you do, I just wanted to get another look at you before you go."

Her hazel eyes soften before she smiles at me, "There. You got another look. I really do have to go."

I don't want her to go. I like seeing Al smile, especially when it's at me. I like making her laugh. I like being with her. She tries to push away from me, but I hold her fast, "Wait, just...wait."

Her nose scrunches upwards in confusion, "What?"

"Thanksgiving. What are you doing that week?"

"Huh?"

I lick my lips quickly, trying to decide if this is the right decision. I've already been going back and forth about asking her all week. But if I think about it anymore then I'll chicken out. Truthfully, I don't think I can make it a week without seeing her. Alondra's quickly become a very important person to me. She makes me happy.

"Come to Texas with me."

And then I see the wall start to go up between us based on the uncertainty on her face. "What?"

"For Thanksgiving. It's usually just me and my momma. Sometimes my uncle comes, but its just a small thing. Dylan's staying to spend it with Ruby so I'd be flying by myself unless you come with. I could show you around to show you what you were missing anyways and..." I trail off my long rambling speech that I'm coming up with on the fly because I'm so fucking nervous. I can't believe I actually said it.