Falling ➳ Hennig [4]

➳ 11

"It's so nice to see you again, Jack."

         Jack smiled at JJ as she lowered herself into the seat across from him, smoothing out her skirt as she did so. "It's nice to see you, too," he said, then leaned back. He looked around the quaint little café they'd met up in— the very one they used to frequent as love-struck kids, with their hands intertwined over the table and gazes that never moved from each other. JJ's Aunt Laura bought the place before JJ was even born, he remembered her saying once. She'd built the place up from nothing, painted every wall herself. She'd passed it on to her daughter, Abigail, when she got sick, and when she got better, decided to run it alongside her.

         The waitress — one of JJ's teenage cousins, Leila or Lara or something — approached. Jack ordered his coffee — with extra milk and extra cream, more that than coffee — and JJ ordered her milkshake — banana and strawberry, you should know that by now, Leila —. Their usuals, the drinks that used to have their names scribbled next to them on the menu board; writing that had nearly faded into nothingness now, when he tried to spy it out.

         When he looked back to Jasmine, he found that she was smiling at him, a soft kind of smile that he'd never seen on her before. Like she missed him, almost. "How've you been?" She asked, folding her arms on the wobbly table that they'd dubbed as their own at age seventeen. "You know, apart from the obvious. Modelling and a newfound career in acting? Who'd have thought?"

         "I've been good, JJ," he answered, brushing a hand through his hair. "I'm... really happy. How— how about you? You can't tell me you haven't accomplished great things."

         "I'm glad you're happy, Jack." She smiled, glancing at her cousin as she slid the drinks in front of them. "I've been good, too. I've got— I've got a daughter now, if you can believe it. Aniyah."

          "Really?" Jack used to imagine, back then, that he and JJ would have kids of their own by now— a couple, one boy and one girl. They'd have gotten married first, of course. Waited a year, maybe more, before deciding to have kids. "Who— who's the—?"

          "The Dad?" She finished for him. Jack nodded, resting his elbows on the table. "It's— ah, believe it or not, it's Eli. Not that he stuck around long enough to get used to the role." She looked away, to the street outside, where people ambled by— some Jack knew, like Goldie Blanche, who was nearing her hundredth birthday, and one of his younger cousins, who sped past on a skateboard that Jack had gifted him on his last birthday. People that he used to see all the time, but hardly did any more. His Mother had called it a necessary sacrifice; to let all this go and achieve his dreams. She was right, he supposed. He didn't know where he'd be without Cara, Paisley, Spencer, and even Shelley. Without Matt, Emeraude, or Kat, either. The people that had made the last five years the best years of his life.

          "Is it bad if I say I'm not surprised that Eli Nix didn't stick around to raise a child?" Jack questioned, looking down at his drink—still full, he hadn't even taken a single sip yet. He realised then that his taste in coffee had changed since he'd moved to New York, and then to California. Liked it strong in the mornings (often delivered to him by Spencer when he returned from his early morning runs, that he'd soon have to retrieve himself when Spencer moved out), and decaf in the evening (drank over muffins in the local café with Shelley). Hardly ever with too much milk or too much cream. Never like this.

           He lifted the mug to his lips, downed the contents, then beckoned the waitress over and asked for his strong coffee. JJ didn't respond at all in that time, continued to look out at the street beyond.

          "That's her, now." JJ nodded towards the window, and Jack looked sideways to see JJ's Mother walk past, a child spinning around her with a grin. "My girl. She stays with my Mom every Friday, and then every Saturday they'll walk through town and have breakfast, sometimes Mom will buy things Aniyah spies through the window. I'll spend the time cleaning, catching up with unfinished work, and my shows, and I'll sometimes have breakfast with friends— like now." She turned back to him, still smiling. "Then, I'll meet up with them at one for lunch. We'll go to the park for a little while, and then we'll go home." She tucked her hair behind her ear, sighing. "I bet you didn't think that JJ Jones would turn out like this now, did you?" She laughed, but it was half-hearted, like she couldn't believe this was how she ended up herself. "We were gonna move to New York together. We were going to rule the world. You with that pretty face and me with my guitar, and a dream that'd probably never be realised. Damn, Jack. What happened?"

          "You know what happened, JJ," he sighed. "It's all in the past. What do you do now, anyway?"

           "I'm a sales manager," she said, "For that office two blocks away. The one your Uncle G used to work for?"

           "I never pinned you as the office type."

           "Yeah, me neither."

*          *         *

"It's a nice photo, you have to admit," JJ laughed as she pulled away from Jack, showing him her phone screen, where the photo they'd just taken together was displayed. She stood up, brushing the dust from her skirt. "I have to get going— it's nearly one, and Aniyah doesn't like to be kept waiting."

           Jack stood with her, then wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "It was good seeing you, Jasmine."

           "It was good being called 'JJ' again," she said, her voice muffled by the fabric of his t-shirt. "Until next time."

           "Until next time."

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