With A Full Heart

x || chapter twelve

x || chapter twelve

         School the following week was horrific. It was mixed with paranoia about the naked incident, and stress from being paranoid about anyone getting the wrong idea. Maya was preoccupied with the return of her older brother from college, and her boyfriend was training for track. Once again, leaving me to deal with it on my own. Jack was nowhere to be seen, and it was rare that I saw his mom out of the house anymore. So when the weekend rolled around, I was surprised to see everyone out in the front yard, washing the car. Of course, minus one body.

Marissa waved a soapy hand in my direction, the twins wet and clinging onto her legs. I dog-eared the page of my book and made my way up the driveway. The twins ran at the sight of me and Ethan laughed, dipping his sponge into the soapy water.

"Are you free tonight to babysit?" Marissa asks, doing her best to wipe her hands dry on a damp towel.

"Yeah, but—"

"Great!" She exclaims. "Jack should be there this time, it'll be time for you to catch up for lost time."

"Perfect," I mumble.

Ethan extends a soapy sponge in my direction, "help us out? We're down four tiny hands."

I grab the sponge and begin scrubbing, keeping my head low and attempting to keep my clothes dry. After a few minuets of scrubbing, a jeep pulls up, crunching the gravel beneath its wheels. Out pops Jack and a few boys I recognize from the football team.

"Jack, nice of you to join us," Ethan says, tossing him a faulty smile.

Jack ignores his comment and focuses his attention on me.

"They wrap you into this?" He asks, pointing to his guilty parents.

I roll my eyes and turn away from him, continuing to wipe down the car. It was clearly time to rinse, but I didn't want to have a reason to talk to him or his goons. I wanted to focus on the car and I wanted to imagine him tripping over the hose or accidentally spraying himself with water. But of all things that had to happen, his parents rendering the rest of the car-cleaning duties to Jack and his friends was the last thing on my mind.

"I think you guys got it." I grin, handing over the sponge to one of his friends.

"Wait for a second," Jack calls. "Are you babysitting?"

I nod, cross my arms over my chest and hold the most intimidating look I can muster up.

"Good, see you tonight." He smiles, grabbing the hose and beginning to clean the suds off.

I wave bye to his friends and retreat back to my perch on my porch. I silently watch him spray off the car, laughing with his friends. There was something about this that felt wrong, but I told him to stay away. It was me who didn't want anything to do with him. But here I was, having feelings that I pushed away long ago return ever so slowly.

Karma, you're definitely something.