No Strings Attached ; j.g

t w e n t y - t h r e e

I stand up and face Jack. "He didn't text you, I did," I smiled and shrugged. "Welcome to camp," I moved aside. Jack's eyes widened as he frowned at the hippies. "Ziggy, Koi, Hash Pants, Cotton, and Misty," I said pointing to all of them as I said their names. I heard a bark and I saw Doobie run up to me. "How could I forget? This is Doobie," I crouched down and kissed his nose.

"Is this Jack?" Misty asked.

"Yes it is," I replied.

"Awwww," I heard Koi coo. "This is the one you talked about for six weeks straight," he smiled goofily and then winked at me. My eyes widened and I looked at Jack. He was staring off in the distance. I looked at his sparkling eyes, I couldn't help but fall for him all over again.

"Go work it out already!" Ziggy said and threw a marshmallow at us. He threw a second one but I caught it in my mouth. I chewed it up and smirked at him.

"Ha."

Jack and I walked back towards the van and sat against it in the sand. There was a good two feet between us.

"How was Hawaii?" he asked without making eye contact.

"It was okay," I said trying not to make him mad.

"You don't have to lie, Alexis." He slightly laughed, "I know you had fun with Sam."

"Okayyyy," I sighed. "It was really fun, but there wasn't a day that I-" I stopped myself. No, not yet. "It was fun," I corrected.

"That's good," he said bluntly.

"So, Sam told me you had a girlfriend," I pulled my knees up and rested my elbows on them.

"Yeah," he nods and looks at me. "He told me you and him hooked up," he quickly looks away and I could see the anger in his eyes.

"He said WHAT?" I turned to face him. "I did not! When did he tell you that?" I demanded.

"When he got back, he said he didn't mean to tell me, but I could see he wanted me to know," he still didn't look at me.

"Jack, I did not! We did not! I mean, I-I let him kiss me, and we kissed a few times, but that's it!" I admitted. "The first time he tried, I got mad and that's how I found the hippies, I ran off and happened to come across them."

"So you did kiss?" he asks. "That's still cheating," he shook his head.

"I-I know, and I'm terribly sorry. I just thought you hated me already and I guess it was a rebound."

Why am I even trying to apologize? We didn't break up, and he has a girlfriend.

He laughed, "I'm just playin, Alexis. I mean, Ive had a girlfriend for the past two months, I can't blame you, I did the same."

I let out a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry I left, Jack." He looked me in the eyes. "Yanno, Sam and I got to talkin earlier. Maybe we just weren't compatible. You know how to stay in one place, I don't."

"Alexis, believe me, if I would've had the money, I would've taken you anywhere. I would've been right by your side," he said softly. I could see the stars in his eyes, I was just falling for him, and that wasn't any good. There was a long silence. "I should get going now," he said. "It was nice seeing you."

"Nice to see you too," I looked at him awkwardly until he was gone.

I walked back to the camp slowly. They were all dancing to some Grateful Dead song. "We were born in the wrong generation, damn it!" Hash yells. I joined their crazy dancing until I realized that Sam was gone.

I looked around and saw him way out by the water. I watched him kick at the wet sand and the rushing waves. He eventually sat down and let the water run up onto his legs.

"THERE'S SAND IN MY UNDERWEAR!" he screamed and we all laughed hysterically.