2:1

Chapter 21 - I don't rely on women

Jess

It wasn't until Jack drove right past the fight car park that Jess realised he obviously had other plans.

She had been sat in her room full of nerves leading up to tonight due to everything that had happened however, eventually she just forced herself to go for it. She wanted answers from him about the past week and this seemed like the only way to get them.

Jess knew she could have been jumping to conclusions but she couldn't help it. Jack's reputation was so difficult to look past and he didn't make much effort to show how he was feeling.

"What are we doing?" Jess asked the moment they finally stopped driving and pulled over by the uni.

"I thought we could go and get something to eat instead. My favourite food place is down this road." Jack glimpsed over at her with a cheeky grin; still acting like none of this was strange.

"But we were going to the fight." Jess' statement was more of a confused question.

"I just said that to get you to come. I thought we could do something just us two."

There was silence for a moment while Jess just studied Jack. She couldn't figure out what was happening here and it was messing with her head.

Reading through the lines it seemed as though this was his way of showing he cared. He didn't want to be surrounded by a crowd of drunk strangers and feel like they could barely talk, he wanted to be somewhere with just her.

Jess wanted to be spending time with him more than anything that she had pushed past her nerves to come out with him again tonight. However, she couldn't carry on like she was okay until she knew where she stood.

She wasn't usually one to be so forward and abrupt as she'd much rather stay quiet. However, that had begun to change and she was finally building up the confidence to stand up for herself more. She had a right to ask questions and figure out what was going on, especially after what she had overheard Jack and his friends saying.

"Or not..." Jack laughed when he didn't get a reply. "What's up? You look grumpy as fuck."

Jess' heart sunk as the nerves crept back. His words were just making her angry but she couldn't force herself to say what she wanted to.

"I'm not." She shook her head.

"Yeah you are."

"I'm fine."

"You're grumpy."

It was clear this could go back and forth for a while with them both acting like kids if Jess didn't say something. Jack would continue to push and push her until she burst and that was not the way she wanted this to go.

"Why do you have such a big frown across that beautiful face?" He teased, as he undid his seatbelt and turned to look at her.

Briefly giving him the same attention back, Jess shrugged her shoulders before finally speaking up.

"I'm just confused."

"About what?"

"About us, about you, about what we're doing and what you want."

Jack now replicated her frown as though everything she had just said was crazy.

"I don't understand why you are confused about me?"

Although she knew it would likely make her look stupid, Jess couldn't hold it back anymore. She had to come right out and say what she had been thinking. Up until now she had tried to pretend that there wasn't a chance Jack just wanted to sleep with her but she had to direct it now. If that was all he wanted, she couldn't do this. She couldn't let herself be dragged into his games just so him and his friends could talk about it later.