Broken Locks

The Call

Time slowly passed-- My training got increasingly harder, but I always managed to surprise Jack. I've been able to block blows steadily and we've moved on to technique. Alex and I have become close over the mystery of Mari's accident, he brought me my laptop as promised and luckily Jack hasn't said much about it. 

The whispers at school have died down now-- it only took a week or two, but everyone has moved on to something new. I still have girls challenging me for Jack, but in reality, I could care less if they 'take him'. 

I pause looking and my hands on my keyboard, a strange feeling coming over me.

'Will I really be okay if Jack leaves me...?'

The teeny voice in the back of my head whispers.

'Well yeah, I mean it's not like we've gotten closer over the past two weeks or anything-- we aren't really a thing, and I'm not looking to get attached to someone- especially not the people of this team.'

I shake my head and turn my focus back to the police reports on my computer, all the information about her accident was at my fingertips. I've read the reports over and over, all the details memorized, every... little... thing. From the dings in her car to the position of her limp, pale, unresponsive body. 

From what I could tell-- the car she got hit by wasn't found on the scene, but the car was clearly white. The contrast of white paint against her blue Jeep Renegade made it too hard to miss. The dents almost looked like someone purposely hit her in a failed attempt to run her off the road. Her car had rolled instead, her brakes had been tampered with and her airbags failed to deploy. a sharp piece of the barbwire fence had shattered the window and inflicted a deep wound on her chest-- impaled is too strong a word for it--after all, the pole from the fence didn't run her through.

I rub my eyes and sigh. "What am I even doing?! I've gone through this a million times and I can't find anything different!" My frustrated voice a low growl.

I chew on my lip and think about a possible different approach. 

'Trust No One... TrUsT No OnE... TRUST NO ONE!' 

The three words become increasingly urgent as they pop into my mind.

'Check into the boys... they could be your enemy... they could be the ones who hurt Mari...'

My fingers start tapping speedily across the keyboard as I come up with my own personal evaluation of each of my team members and Tyler.  I don't dare hack into the school's database again- last time got me into the situation I'm currently in.

I contemplate hacking into the FBI's resources when Jack walks into the room. I yawn with a stretch before closing my tabs and closing my computer.

"Lunch is ready if you want a decent-non-burned meal." He smirks with his arms crossed. His deep blue shirt wrinkling. 

"I burn our food once and I won't ever live it down?!" I blush and roll my eyes. "I did agree to stay here with you cause you could cook-- that should've been a red flag, so consider it your fault."

He shakes his head and proudly saunters into the kitchen- me in tow. "So what'd yah make?" I ask as I lean over the top of the island with a child-like curiosity. 

"A simple last-minute pasta recipe I've wanted to try." He sets a plate of the food down in front of me along with a fork. I take my first bit and my eyes go wide, as the flavors of the pasta begin to flood my senses. "Oh my lanta Jack-- this is amazing..."

Awestruck I look at him as he casually puts another bite of food from his own plate into his mouth, a simple nonchalant shrug is the only form of a response he gives. But I still saw the small things; his eyes cast to the side and a light blush dusts his face. When I complimented the food his eyes had widened for only a fraction of a second. 

I smirk and call him out on my observation. "What's this- is the Jack Howster blushing because someone complimented his food?"

My comment only makes him blush a little more, the color spreading from his cheeks to his ears. "It's not like that..." he murmurs.

"Then please elaborate so that simple-minded me can understand." It was fun watching him squirm.

"There's nothing to explain," he groans. "Hurry up and eat your pasta before it either goes cold of I eat it." He reaches for my plate and I pull it out of his reach.

"You have your own plate greedy!" I take a bite and swallow quickly before continuing. "Anyway, don't you know that stealing is an atrocious crime?"

He raises an eyebrow, "Since when has that stopped me-- or you for that matter little miss hacker?"

"Oh shut up Mr. Pretentious Jerk wh--" My voice is cut off by the iconic riff of ACDC's 'Back in Black' starts to play. I pick up my phone and look at Jack. "It's Mari's mom..." My sentence hangs heavy in the air.

Jack nods his head and I answer my phone. "Hello, Mrs. Colliner- Is everything okay?" My heart shatters and my stomach drops- my blood drains from my face as I hear crying coming from Mrs. Colliner. "Are you okay- is Mari okay I-"

She exhales heavily- I can see her expression in my mind as she begins to speak- a look of relief, joy- her eyes lifted upwards as she tries to stop her tears. "Everything is just fine hun, in fact, everything is better than fine. Mari woke up! She woke up - thank God she woke up." She lets out an overjoyed childish giggle. "She had us all going crazy there for a while- but she just woke up hun, and everything seems to be fine! If she'd been asleep for only 3 days more the doctors would've pushed for us to unplug her- I don't know if I'd have been able to make that kind of a decision."

I sigh and smile, lifting my eyes to meet Jack's. "That's good to hear, me and Jack will be there soon! Be sure to tell the nurse's that you'll be expecting two family members this time, I don't really wanna be kicked out." I joke.

Mrs. Colliner laughs. "I'll see you soon Vivianna, be safe sweetie, I love you so very much."

"I love you too, mom..." I hang up the phone and bury my face in my hands- a huge smile making its way onto my face. The weight on my shoulders lifted, Mari made it through, I knew she would because she's such a fighter.

"I assume Mari has made good progress in her recovery?" Jack pipes up, as he gently lays his hand on my back. I look up to see him giving me a gentle look, waiting patiently for my answer.

"Yeah," I whisper, eyes flooding with unsheddable tears of relief. "She made it through Jack, she woke up!" I throw my arms around him and hug him tight, Jack tenses up slightly and hesitantly returns the hug. His embrace warm and safe, the smell of his cologne filling my nose.

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I know, I know. I've been gone forever and you were probably wondering if I had dropped off the face of the earth... well good news!! I'm still alive! 

I wanted to go farther with this chapter but didn't really know how I wanted to do so... then I decided I'd have a separate chapter all together and end it here for now. Now, I know what your next question is... to be honest I have no idea, as a Senior in high school and the school year coming to an end -- along with this huge move and crappy internet in an RV Park... I don't really have the means to get much done, and after school is over? I won't have a laptop since it's school property. So if anyone has any bright ideas for programs to back my work up on and use for drafts -- feel free to suggest (I've been using Google Docs.). I own a tablet with a rather small screen and a phone, so maybe I'll invest in a Bluetooth keyboard ... with my non-existent money.

Either way-- I'll figure something out to continue writing over the summer, of course I'll have a job, so I may buy a laptop at some point. Anyway enough of the boring blabbering!

Let's all hit that little golden star, let's type something into the comments section, hit the share button, and let's all hit that winning follow button!!

(Email: jcoopwatty@gmail.com) Feel free to shoot me an email!

Hopefully will update soon,

Julia Cooper ~2018~