Locked in

So math, huh?

"Are you ready for a ride home?" Jack says with his deep voice and
startles Natalie
"Oh yeah sure" She says collecting the rest of her things from her locker
They head to his car which is a silver truck with 4 seats. She gets in the front seats with him.
"So how was your day?" Natalie breaks the silence looking at him
He smiles at her "It was pretty good, I got some physics homework and math homework I need to do so that's not too good" He says as they pull out of the school parking lot "oh yeah I didn't get a lot of the homework in math class yesterday" Natalie says remembering the scene Garret made because he didn't get the assignments
"Hey I could show you how to do it, I think it's pretty easy but it took me a minute to get it" They chat the whole way home about school and places to go and family until they arrived to Natalie's house
"Your destination is ahead on the
left" he does a cheeky smile at her waiting for a reaction to his joke
"Uh do you want to come in? You can show me how to do that math thing if you have time" she asks but is confused why her face is all red
He smirks "sure yeah I'd love to"
They walk inside and unsurprisingly her mom greets her at the door
"Natalie you're home! Who's this?" She hugs Natalie and looks at jack up and down puzzled
"This is Jack, he drove me home. He's gonna show me how to do the math homework" He waves at her and smiles "Hi Mrs Katsburry" They all stand there for a few awkward seconds until Natalie brings him upstairs to her room
He looks around looking genuinely curious, he finds some baby photos of Natalie with her dad "Cute photos, is that your dad?" He turns back around to face her

2 years ago Natalie's dad went to work at his advertising office just like a normal day, but when he was coming home he noticed there was a car acting strange so he focused on them but didn't realize another car flying towards him until it was too late it was a fatal accident and he died upon impact before they could get him to the hospital

Natalie remembers that story "Yeah that was him" her eyebrows furrow thinking about it
"Was?" Jack looking puzzled
She sighs "he died in a car accident 2 years ago" she bites her cheek saying that to someone she met a week ago, the smile disappears from his face
"Oh I'm so sorry" Her pulls her into a strong embrace, it makes Natalie feel so safe and made the sadness go away instantly. This felt natural to be in his arms, it was a tight hug and she wrapped her arms around his back while his arms were around her shoulders and in her hair. She could feel his heartbeat, and she was certain they were not just friends
They could've stayed in that hug forever but he pulled away with a big smile and face beet red saying
"So math huh?"

She was starting to get what he was talking about with math, every once in awhile she would catch him staring into her eyes, then looking away quick when she notices. The sun had set and so it was becoming late on the Wednesday night, the time was 8:45
"Hey I should start getting home pretty soon" Jack said with a flash of disappointment in his eyes
"That's alright, I know how to finish the math homework" she says smiling like an idiot
She walks him out to his car and as he's about to hop in he looks back at her abs pulls her into another hug, but this time he kisses her on the forehead and he knew he was super red but it was too dark to tell. She smiles real big at him until he drives off in his truck. Then she runs back upstairs and to text Lacy

Natalie Katsburry : You'll never believe who drove me home, came inside, did homework with, and kissed me on the forehead

Lacy Yang : Is it your night and shining armor?

Natalie Katsburry : I mean he could be called that but he prefers to be called Jack Thompson generally

Lacy Yang : Nat no way

Lacy Yang : You like Jack Thompson

Natalie Katsburry : Maaaaaaybe

Lacy Yang : So tell me all about it. Is he a good kisser? Is he secretly shy?

Natalie tells Lacy all about it, and Lacy freaks out. Natalie decided she didn't want to give her best friend a heart attack so she started getting ready for bed.
She was still stunned that a boy she had been in school with sense 4th grade could grow up to be so charming. She thought that Jack was just one of those douche football players who sleep with people like Stacy William for fun. But no he respects boundaries and seems like a really good guy

She lays in bed thinking about what had happened and smiled until she fell asleep hoping it would never end

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ok I visualized that whole thing in my head and I think it's so sweet and cute
I imagine that Jack is a lot taller than Natalie so it's perfect for the cliche hugs

- Nåd