Dude, I love you

Chapter Eleven

Jack Johnson’s POV

Fall is in full swing now. It’s beautiful, orange, yellow and auburn above, rouge and brown below. The leaves fall to the ground when the wind blows and will soon decay so that new life can grow following the spring. It’s funny how that works. Something that ran its course begins to fade so something new can take it’s place. No that’s not right, it doesn’t fade because it’s ever present in the new life that rises from the old, it feeds it so the new can continue on long after it’s time has passed.

Three weeks have passed by since I sent that text answering Jack’s question, well not answering, not really I just evaded it. The following Monday Jack had made eye contact with me but turned and walked away with Justin when we were walking passed one another in the hallway. Justin on the other hand was staring me down. At lunch I caught Jack staring at me for a long time when I sat with Rochelle, Daniel and a few of their friends, but I pretended like I didn’t notice him.

I will not be the one to apologise for his mistakes. Not this time and maybe not ever, because he hasn’t acknowledged me for two weeks now, except for the following weekend.

His parent’s made a surprise visit and he and Laura had been in the car when it happened. I thought he would walk home from my house but he stayed. He came down to the basement and sat with me while I watched TV down there but made no move to talk or even look at me. He kept his eyes glued to his phone and only looked up when something funny was going on. Laura got tired of listening to our parents and came to join us. She noticed the silence between me and Jack because she had tried to get a few conversations going but they all crashed and burned so she stopped trying and just sat there watching TV.

Our dads eventually came downstairs to watch a game my dad recorded on the PVR because our moms had taken over the TV upstairs to watch some talk show. I’m not a huge fan of sports games but I do enjoy them sometimes and I’ve begun to enjoy them more and more. I went upstairs to my room and Laura thought Jack would follow me so she did too. It was slightly awkward when she noticed Jack wasn’t going to come up but she stayed anyways to use the computer. I played online with my Xbox and we sat there for a while before she decided to ask what was up between me and Jack. I was reluctant to tell her but she had practically begged me to spill the beans.

I told her about how me and Jack had been placed in different home rooms and how Jack had no problem making friends and how we stuck together in the beginning but I noticed those very people had intentionally ignored me whenever I tried to add to or join in the conversations. I told her that I eventually stopped meeting Jack for lunch to avoid being around them and that I didn’t want to stand in the way of him and his new friends. Feeling somewhat bad I also defended Jack and told her that he had tried to include me with them but Justin was a douchebag that told me to pretty much get lost and how Jack was blind and defended Justin and his crew instead.

It felt like a giant weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Laura was the only person I’ve ever told about what was going on. I felt almost free and it was invigorating.

She listened and only interjected to clarify some things she didn’t quite get. She asked if Jack had any idea what was going on. I couldn’t answer that because if he did, he was just letting it happen and if he didn’t he’s an idiot. Jack isn’t an idiot when it comes to people skills. She said she was going to ask him but I freaked out on her and made her swear she wasn’t going to repeat anything I said to him. She promised she wouldn’t and I calmed down. I think I would die of embarrassment (and a broken heart) if Jack did know what was going on and wanted to break it off between us from the beginning.

They all went home later that evening and Jack had effectively ignored me since then. Even now sitting in the cafeteria only a table away from them he doesn’t look anywhere in my direction. Justin and Rochelle are throwing disses back and forth, effectively grabbing the attention of both our tables but Jack is talking to Chris and only retaining half of Chris’s attention because he too is listening to Justin and Rochelle go at it.