I Volunteer | Jack Schlossberg | Friends to lovers

BFFs

As promised, Jack pulled up in his pickup truck right at 6. He was still wearing the same white button-down, and she wondered where he'd been all day.

"How was the rest of your day?" he asked, looking over his shoulder as he backed out of the parking spot. She could see the muscles flexing in his neck, and almost bit down on her lower lip without thinking. "Boring as usual, I'm sure," he said with a smile.

"Oh, sooooo boring. I pretty much just stare at my phone all day," she said sarcastically with a shrug.

"Is my mother working you too hard?"

"Okay wait, I actually wanted to ask you about that," she said, frantically turning to face him. "Does she know we're friends? Like, does she know you were at the library visiting me today? I've only seen her once since I started, and we were mostly going over branding and previous strategies, so you didn't come up."

"She knows we're friends," he said. "But I didn't tell her until after you got the job. I just didn't want it to affect anything either way—not that I think it would have." This calmed her nerves. "It's funny, she actually told me she hopes you'll rub off on me," he said with a smirk. I hope so too, winky face, she thought. "I think she likes you more than me." He playfully nudged her with his elbow. "And, yes, she knew I was at the library today. I actually had a meeting with her about this year's awards, so I was already around when I dropped by your office. But I did tell her I brought you an office-warming gift."

"Oh, so this special office visit to see me wasn't so special after all. Hmmmm, I see." She dramatically turned to look out her window, pretending to be offended. 

"So that's what you took away from all of that?" He shook his head, laughing. After a brief 30-second pause, he said, "By the way, I can assure you, everything about seeing you is special."

At that moment, her internal monologue was something like this: fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK. 

Forcing herself to snap back to reality, she responded by glancing back over at him with a real smile—the kind that reached her eyes. "So where are you taking me, Mr. Schlossberg?"

"I figured you'd want something low-key after a busy day, so I wanted to take you to my favorite deli that I went to all the time in law school. Whenever I was feeling stressed, I went there to decompress. It was a comfort, of sorts."

"Well, that's awfully thoughtful. I could definitely use some decompression," she said. In more ways than one, she silently thought to herself.

At the deli counter, Jack told her he'd order for her if she trusted him. She did. They found a small table in a corner and sat down for a few seconds before they heard the bell at the counter ding. He hopped up and skipped over to the counter—he literally just skipped, she laughed internally—and when he returned he was holding two red plastic trays, each carrying the largest subs she'd ever seen in her life.

"Good lord Jack, you didn't tell me they were this big!"

"Because then I wouldn't have been able to see your reaction," he laughed as he sat down. "Take your first bite. I want to watch." 

She gave him a skeptical, low-browed look. "Okay weirdo," she said as she bit into the sandwich. Seconds later, just as every flavor from the meat and sauce met her tongue, all of the muscles in her face relaxed and her jaw fell slightly open. "Oh... my god."

"What did I tell ya?" he said with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk across his face. "Never doubt me, Annie."

For the next five minutes, Annie enjoyed every single heavenly bite of the sandwich, while Jack talked to her about his latest dilemma—the pressures and expectations that had been put on him his whole life were finally starting to weigh him down. While his heart was in journalism, a part of him worried he was wasting his education by not transitioning into law. But deep down, he said, he knew that he could have the most influence with his voice through his writing.