Cold Hearted (Jack Gilinsky)

Fifteen

Jack, Jack, and I were sitting in LAX waiting for our flight. A few people had recognized Jack and Jack and asked for pictures, giving me dirty looks when they saw Jack holding my hand. I hadn't realized that people actually knew who I was until just now. Jack and I had never really gone out like this before and no one ever recognized him, or at least no one said anything.

"What's your problem?" Jack Johnson asked, looking over at me. I didn't hear him the first time he said it because I was too busy watching these girls walk past us for about the fourth time in 10 minutes. I narrowed my eyes and heard Jack repeat himself. I jumped and looked over at him.

"What?"

"What's your problem?" he asked again.

"Nothing. What's your problem?"

"You keep staring at people and getting angry looks," Jack Johnson explained.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, sticking nose in the air.

The girls walked by again and this time we stared at each other with looks of anger.

"What was that?" Jack Gilinsky asked, noticing my strange behavior too.

I let out a sigh. "Those girls keep walking by and staring over here. And they also give me angry looks."

"Just ignore them. Who cares what they think," Jack Johnson said. I sat back and thought about this for a second. Jack was right, I didn't care if they were mad that I was with Jack. They looked like they were 13 and had no chance with him.

***

"Welcome to Nebraska," Jack Johnson said, draping an arm around my shoulder and smiled. "It's boring. But it's our home."

"It looks just like every other state in the Midwest," I informed them.

"Indeed it does," Jack Gilinsky confirmed.

 ***

Jack and I sat in the back of a car on the way to his house. Jack was on his phone and I was staring out the window, panic growing inside of me.

"Babe," Jack said grabbing my hand, "you're fine."

I looked over at him and nodded, even though I didn't feel fine.

The car stopped and Jack and I got out. I stared at Jack's old house. Jack grabbed my hand, intertwining our finger, and started pulling me towards the house. Jack unlocked the door,  opened it, and pulled us inside.

There was barking and the sound of paws against the floor almost immediately. A dog ran up to Jack, he let go of my hand, knelt down, and started petting it.

"Is anyone here?" I asked Jack. Other than the dog, it was silent.

"Nah. My parents are at work, I don't know where Molly is, and Laura isn't coming until tonight," Jack answered. I nodded in response.

"This way very anti-climactic," I laughed. My heartbeat was now back to normal. I knelt down and started petting his dog too. Dogs were my favorite. "When will your parents get here?"

Jack looked at his watch. "In a couple hours."

"What are we going to do for two hours? Pet your dog?"

Jack smirked at me and I knew what he was thinking.

"I have an idea," Jack stood up, grabbed my hands, and pulled me up with him.

"Do you, Gilinsky? What would that be?" I smiled.

He put a hand on my ass and leaned down, kissing me. "Get the idea?"

***

"What if someone comes home?" I asked, pulling away from Jack, the realization flooding over me. We had moved from the foyer to his bedroom.

"No one's going to come," Jack reassured me.

"You don't know that. You said yourself, you don't know where your sister is, she could come home."

"Odds are, she wont be home for a while."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Brooklyn, we're fine," Jack said, kissing me again before I could say anything else.

***

Just as Jack had assured me, no one came home. Jack and I were laying in his bed when we heard the door open and the dog run to the door. We both stood up and started walking towards the person. I ran my finger through my hair, combing it as best I could. Jack led me to the kitchen where an older woman, his mother I'm guess, was standing with her back turned to us.

Jack cleared his throat and she jumped a little bit before turning around. She smiled at Jack and pulled him into a hug. "You scared me."

"Sorry," he apologized.

She looked over at me and her eyes lit up. "And you must be Brooklyn. I've heard so much about you."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Finnegan," I smiled at her.

"He wasn't wrong. You're beautiful," she told me and I could feel my face turn red.

"Thank you," I muttered.

***

An hour later and the rest of Jack's family was here. It was going 100x better than I had expected it be in my head. So far everyone seemed to like me. They weren't trying to get me back on a plane to L.A as soon as possible, anyway.

I listened to Laura, Molly, and Jack talk about their lives and what they've been doing. We were sitting in his living room with TV turned on but no one was paying attention to whatever was on. Jack was sitting in a chair and I was on the floor inbetween his legs.

"Where are you from Brooklyn?" Jack's dad asked and I looked up at him.

"Maine," I told him.

"Why'd you move to LA?"

The true reason I moved to LA was because I wanted to get as far away from Danny as I could but no one really knew that other than Jack.

"I just don't like cold," I lied and hoped it sounded convincing. It must have because everyone nodded, everyone except Jack, since he knew the truth.

***

"That wasn't bad was it?" Jack asked from his bed as I changed my clothes that night.

"No," I said simply. I threw a shirt over my head and laid down next to Jack.

"I told you that they'd love you." Jack threw an arm over me and pulled me close to him.

"This was only day 1 out of 5 though."

"Just stop thinking like that and you'll be fine. I love you, Brooklyn."

"I love you, too, Jack."