Invisible (A Jean Hobbs fic)

Chapter 9

Jack was walking back to his house, the dark clouds above him pouring out heavy rain. The icy water of the numerous raindrops chilled his body, but Jack didn't even register the cold. He was too busy fuming over what had transpired at his former girlfriend's house. Carrie had just broken up with him and the reason for it upset him more than the breakup itself.

*****

Jack walked into the living room and Carrie turned off the TV before turning to face her boyfriend.

"Jack, I heard most of what you said to Dean. I opened the window in my bedroom when I heard the yelling. And quite frankly, I wish you would've just told me how you felt about him instead of letting me think you wanted to be with me."

Jack furrowed his brows in confusion. "What are you talking about? I do want to be with you. And what does Dean have to do with us? What do you mean by how I feel about him?"

"You told me that the flirting you do with Dean is all just a joke, done in fun and for a long time I believed that, but after what I just heard, I think a part of you means the things you say when you flirt with him. To be blunt, I think you're in love with him."

Jack's confusion was now mixed with shock. "How in the hell did you get the idea that I'm in love with Dean from me yelling at him about not being truthful with me?"

"Think about what you said during that diatribe. You were angry that Dean didn't come to you first about his problems and you repeatedly emphasized the history you shared with him, always being there whenever he needed someone to lean on. You said you wanted to be the first one to know when something was wrong with him, you said it broke your heart that he was shutting you out and you proclaimed that no one cares about him more than you. Do you know what all that says to me?"

"What?" Jack asked.

"It says that you want to be first in his life and in my mind, that only happens when someone is in love. The only conclusion I can come to after hearing that speech is that you love Dean, in more than a platonic way."

"Carrie, what I said can just as easily be applied to best friends as it can with significant others."

"Yes, but I look at what you said in light of other things I've seen from you when it comes to your relationship with Dean. I've seen you flirt with him and pretty convincingly at that; I've seen you look at him lovingly and I've seen him give you those same looks. That you seem to almost be jealous of the fact that Dean told someone other than you about whatever's plaguing him first, just confirms what I'd been suspecting for a while. You even said it yourself. It wasn't the fact that Dean told someone else about his problems that bothered you, it was the fact that he told someone else first, instead of you."

"Carrie-"

"You can say whatever you want Jack, but nothing is going to convince me otherwise. I'm sorry, but we're over as far as being a couple is concerned. You clearly don't feel as strongly for me as you do for him and honestly, I don't blame you. I don't know when these feelings for him surfaced, but I wish you had let me know so that we could've ended things then."

"Carrie, please listen-"

"I don't have anything more to say to you. Please just leave."

"Carrie, will you please just-"

"Leave!" Her eyes were narrowed in anger.

Jack's shoulders slumped. She wasn't going to listen, no matter what he said.

"Can we at least still be friends? I do care about you."

Carrie sighed, but her expression softened. "Yes, we can still be friends. I care about you too. But right now, I just want to be alone to deal with this."