The Sun's Too Bright

Seven

🎵Kiss Somebody: Morgan Evans

The next few days go by terribly slow. Jack and have been distant due to our argument after his baseball game. Jenna and Claire have asked me what's wrong between us, but I just brush it off and change the subject. The truth is, I have no idea what's wrong. Everything was perfect until lately. Hopefully, when school ends in a week, we'll be able to catch our breath and figure this whole college thing out.

As for now, Jenna and Claire are the leaders of the prom committee, meaning that I've gotten roped into helping out.

Jenna sits down at our lunch table, stressing about something about the flower arrangements. I take my seat next to Jack, who greets me with a small smile.

Luca sits down right as Jenna starts going into full panic mode. He puts his hand on her shoulder and tells her to calm down and breathe. She seems to relax with the words of her ex boyfriend. Their exchange is similar to those that they had when they were dating. Jenna's known for being a bit overdramatic, but Luca always knew how to calm her down.

I turn my attention away from the two and look at Jack. "You up for studying after school?"

He nods, eating his sandwich. "My place?" He asks.

After school, Jack drives us to his house. I love going here because Jack has a huge family. He has an older brother, an older sister, and three younger brothers. His family is extremely religious so they always eat dinner and pray together.

We go upstairs to his bedroom. Since his older brother moved out last year, Jack has his own room. We pick up on where we left off last week, sitting on the floor with our backs pressed against the wall.

I glance over at Jack, who's biting the end of his pen. He does that whenever he's trying to concentrate. I swat the pen away, like I always do when I see him doing that.

"Don't eat your pen little Jackie, you gotta save room for your dinner." I chid.

He smiles, rolling his eyes and scoops me up, making me let out a squeal. He sets me down on my back on the bed and places his hands and knees on either side of me. "Have I ever told you that you're very annoying when you do that?" He asks, a grin playing on his lips. He brings his face down and kisses me on the tip of my nose. "But you're also like super hot so I'll allow it." And then he kisses me deeply on the lips. He brings his face down to my neck, his hot breath hitting my skin. He starts pecking a trail of kisses on my collar bone, giving me goosebumps. When his head dips lower, moving my shirt down, my breath hitches. My eyes are clouded with lust as he sucks on my skin, the feeling of his tongue tasting my flesh. It's enough to drive me wild.

Suddenly, a knock on the door causes Jack to jump and end up falling on the floor with a loud thump. In comes little Matthew, Jack's youngest brother. Matthew's seven and has yet to master the art of privacy. The one negative of studying at Jack's house.

"He-Hey, what's up?" Jack asks, stuttering.

Matthew pushes his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. He's honestly one of the cutest kids. Minus the glasses, he's a mini Jack with his blonde hair, bright green eyes and light freckles dotting his nose and cheeks..  "Mom says it's time for dinner."

I sit up and that's when Matthew notices me. "Oh hi, Diane. What were you two doing in here?" Coming from any other seven year old, this would be an innocent question, but judging by the smirk on the kid's face, he knows exactly what we were doing. He's too smart with having several older siblings to look up to.

"Okay buddy, that's your cue to leave, we'll be down in a minute." Jack says as he shows Matthew out the door. "Kids have wide imaginations these days."

"It's reality," I hear Matthew tell from outside the door.

Jack rolls his eyes, laughing. My face heats up with embarrassment, but I'm relieved that Jack and I are back to normal.

"Don't worry, he has no clue what's going on."

I bite my lip, shaking my head and follow him downstairs.

Jack has six siblings. The oldest, Trent is in college along with Mary Kate, the only sister in the family. Then it's Jack and after him is Eddie. Eddie is a junior this year, a year younger than Jack. After Eddie is Johnny, who is eleven then Matthew. All of them sit at the dinner table, excluding the two that are in college.

Jack's mom is still perfecting her chicken parmesan while Jack's dad comes inside from doing yard work.

They both sit down and I take my seat next to Jack. Before we eat, we hold hands around the table and say grace.

The typical dinner conversation follows. Jack's dad tells us about work. He teaches paleontology at the local university. And the conversation flows from that. Sometimes, when I eat dinner here, I like to look around at Jack's family, all together, all laughing and conversing. I can barely remember a time when all four of my family members were together at once. It was probably Nathan's graduation from high school, which was three years ago.

"What's your take on it Diane?" Jack's Mom is looking right at me, waiting for my response to the unknown question.

"Pardon me?" I ask. It's not like I'm scared of being around Jack's family, when we first started dating I was, but I tend to space out a lot and they all know it.

Jack's mom chuckles knowingly. "I asked what your take was on how prom is going to be this year because Eddie is telling me that it's going to be bad, but I know how lovely it was last year."

"Oh," yet again I can feel my cheeks heat up, "My two best friends are actually leaders of the prom committee this year and as of right now, I've heard their ideas and they sound awesome."

Eddie nods, taking the information in. Jack told me the other day that Eddie was debating going to prom because he was too scared to ask the girl he likes. I can't see why because even though Eddie and Jack look nothing alike, he's still quite attractive. While Jack has blonde hair and green eyes, Eddie has red hair and brown eyes. The brothers are both built and play football. Eddie, being a middle child, is just a lot quieter than the rest of his siblings.

When we finish dinner, I help Johnny with the dishes. Every time I come over, Mrs. Morrison insists that I don't have to help, but I don't mind.

When we finish, I decide to go home. Before I leave, though, Jack and I sit on his front porch. His house has a large front porch with a porch swing and a table. We sit on the steps, my head on Jack's shoulder and his arm around me. I love Jack's neighborhood because even when it's almost dark, there are still kids playing street hockey or basketball in their driveway. His neighborhood is near the downtown area of our town while mine is more secluded.

"Can we just have fun like this during the summer? We don't have to worry about all of this future crap until later. We should just put it aside until it needs to be dealt with."

I can feel Jack nodding his head in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."