thirty
Jack printed out the copy of my writing, his eyes scanned over each and every word of the newest ten pages. He had his chin rested in his hand, his eyebrows furrowed together.
I recognized his city loft, I could see his wife walking around with a cat in her arms in the distance. I focused back on Jack, we were in matching white teeshirts and sweats (both probably from Target). I wanted to point out that we were currently aesthetic goals, but from the look on his face I don't think it was the right time.
"Mike," he trailed my name slowly as he put down the 30 pages. He licked over his lips, "Little dude, it looks great, but are you sure you can write about this?"
"Yes, of course! This all happened, it's all real."
He scratched at his overgrown scruff along his jawline, "I trust you, obviously, but there are some things Luke's press team will not want out there." Jack has to deal with high-strung press teams far more than he'd like to, I trust everything he says.
I shrugged, "It's getting really hard to tell the difference between life and job."
He nodded, "I get that, really. Do you wanna confess your sins to Daddy?"
I twisted my face into disgust, "You fucking wish, Mate."
Jack laughed, leaning back into the couch. "Seriously, though. Everything you and I talk about can be off record."
"No, I want it to be on record that my boss was saying sexual implications at me."
He rolled his eyes, knowing I was joking. "Come on! Get me in on the gossip."
I bit on my bottom lip as I tried to hide the smile rising up my lips, "So, like, I'm sleeping with him."
I watched his mouth part and eyebrow quirk, "No way? Like sleeping, or sleeping?"
"Like, I'm the biggest fucking submissive in the entire world."
"Holy shit!" He yelled, covering up his mouth. "Oh, my god, you slut."
I laughed, "Your slut-shaming is unnecessary."
He smiled and leant in, closer to the camera on his computer. "I seriously want every detail now, like, don't skip out on everything."
"Well, as you can tell, Luke is the biggest brat I've ever met. But, he's also a big softie sometimes. Like, I genuinely want to punch him in the face but then I want to cuddle him a few minutes later."
"I feel like everyone wants to do that to Luke, though."
I nodded, knowing it was true. "He has a shitload of family problems back home and that's why he never talks, you know? And, he never sleeps, ever. He's always awake, always emo."
Jack let out a laugh.
I knew I could trust Jack with my life and then some. He's more than my boss, he's one of my closest friends. There's not one thing he doesn't know about me. "He had this breakdown the other day that I kind of wrote about last."
My boss nodded, remembering it from the papers he just read.
"It was really emotional, like, even Alex was crying. I didn't think that Alex even had the capability of crying but he was silently bawling out those tears."
"Shit."
"Yeah! And Alex was just kind of holding Luke like some movie scene and it made me want to cry. Like, you know I cried in Titanic and Marley & Me, I'm a very emotional boy."
"You cried in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."
"It was emotional!" I defended. I took a breath and continued, "Anyways, Alex was promising Luke that after his contract was up, he could break it and never perform again. Like, Luke hates performing and writing and recording and everything."
"Really?"
"Yeah, right?! This isn't what he wants to be doing and that makes me so sad. He's stuck with this forever, he'll always be known." I ran a hand through my greasy hair, glad Jack couldn't smell me.
"That's awful," he said, "that's making me want to cry." Jack's expression truly changed, he went from intrigued to a little sad. He was getting emotional over the thought of being stuck like Luke. "That must be awful for him, I kind of pity him."
"Me too," I responded. "I never hated him, but I thought he was a bit of an asshole. He is an asshole, but he's got a few pretty good excuses."
Jack pouted out his lower lip, "I hope you cuddle him good."
"He won't let me."
"What a bitch."
I let out a quick laugh before going back to a somber expression, "I want to love him forever and ever and ever, kind of."
"Then do it, he needs that."
Hiii.
In case any of you are Twenty One Pilots fans.....I photographed them last night and you can see some previews on sophiesandmusic on insta and twitter ;~)
