The Bet//roadtrip bxb

9//the ice cream shop

Once Andy and Jack got back to the table, Sonny was already there. The only seats open were about as far as they could be from each other. One by Rye, and the other, on the opposite side of the table, next to Brooklyn.

Andy took the one by Rye, and Jack had the one by Brook. Jack stayed silent through the whole conversation. He listened, this time, and knew what was happening, but he didn't really care at all about what was being said.

No one questioned why they'd both gone to the bathroom at different times, but had come out together, and holding hands. They hadn't even really noticed, to be honest. They hadn't realized it'd been close to 10 minutes.  They thought it had been more like 2. Oh well. That just meant they weren't questioning Jack, and no one knew about his anxiety.

He wasn't quite sure how he'd managed to keep it a secret from Sonny and Rye this long. I mean, he'd known them for years and they hadn't found out, but he'd known Andy for a few weeks, and he had caught him in the middle of an attack.

Andy had said he got them, too. Maybe that was it. Maybe people with anxiety could sense when other people had attacks better. Or maybe it was just Andy.

Either way, he was both grateful for and weary of it. He was glad Andy helped him calm down. If he hadn't, Jack would probably still be panicking on the bathroom floor. But this meant that Andy had a hold on him somehow. That he could pretty easily hurt him. This was Andy, though. He'd never do that. He was too nice of a person.

Jack was starting to go into his thought spiral again. He caught himself, and forced himself to get a grip on reality, again. Deep, breathes, Jack. In, and out. In, and out. He refocused on the conversation, and realized they were talking about ice cream flavors.

"I like strawberry," Brook said.

"I'm a chocolate kind of guy," Rye stated.

"Same," Sonny agreed.

"Vanilla. All the way," Jack said.

"I'm with Jack," Andy told everyone.

"Okay, now that we know everyone's flavor, can we go get the damn ice cream?" Brook asked, impatiently.

"Yes, Brook, you go get it," Andy told him.

"By myself?" Brook whined.

"I'll help," Jack offered.

"Okay, let's go!"

"2 vanilla, 2 chocolate, and 1 strawberry, please?" Jack asked nicely.

"Why are you so nice to people?" Brook asked him while they waited.

"I dunno, I guess I'm just a nice person."

Brook snorted at that. "Really?"

"Well nice people are nice to people, right?" Jack asked, leaving Brook dumbfounded and trying to wrap his head around the statement.

"You're an idiot," Jack laughed.

"See? I knew you weren't a nice person," Brook said.

"I'm nice to strangers, and pretty much everyone besides my friends."

"Wait, you think of me as your friend?" Brook asked, shocked. He really had never had anyone besides Andy and comic book characters to consider a friend.

"I don't offer rides home to just anyone," Jack laughed, regaining his charm after the whole bathroom incident.

"Oh, yeah, thanks for that, by the way," Brook said.

"Anytime."

By now, the 5 ice creams were ready. Brook payed, using money he'd borrowed from Andy, obviously, and the two boys took the ice creams back to their friends.

They continued having pretty random conversations for a few minutes, until Brooklyn piped up with something Jack was hoping wouldn't come up.

"Didn't you guys have news, or something?"

"Oh, yeah! I almost forgot about that!" Sonny agreed. He had come to the same conclusion as Jack. Rye and Andy were obviously about to tell the group that they were dating.

"Rye, you wanna tell them?" Andy asked.

"Sure," Rye agreed. "I went through all the materials for Stanley's class, no mistakes. And I understood it all, too. It wasn't just memorizing."

"Oh my god, Rye! That's amazing!" Sonny gave him a huge hug from around the side of the table, knowing how hard school, in general, was for him, but especially that class.

"Yeah, man, that's incredible," Jack agreed, giving Rye a high five, usually opting to be less touchy than the other two.

"It's not that big of a deal," Rye grinned, obviously loving the attention, but trying not to show it.

"Yes it is, Rye. It's amazing," Andy told him.

"I honestly couldn't have done it without you, Andy," Rye gushed.

"I'm sure you could've. I just talked you through a few simple things," Andy told him.

"But it helped a lot. You think you could help me out with a few other subjects?" Rye asked timidly.

"Sure, anytime!" Andy agreed. The group continued on, eating their ice cream, and arguing over the most random things.

Jack was actually pretty happy. Of course he was proud of his best friend. He knew how much a good grade would mean to Rye, and how hard he must've worked to get all of it down.

Mostly, though, as selfish as it may sound, he was happy that Rye and Andy weren't dating. At least, not yet. Jack knew that if they did start dating, that it would be his own fault . He was the one who made the bet with Rye. He brought it upon himself.

But, his feelings had only grown since then. He now liked Andy a lot more than before. Seeing him with someone else wouldn't help him get over his feelings, now. It would only end up hurting him.

Not to mention the fact that he didn't want Andy to get hurt. If he started dating Rye because he genuinely liked him, and Rye was only doing it for the bet, Andy could get his feelings seriously hurt. Plus, if he found out it was all Jack's idea, he would probably hate him.

The bet was Jack's stupidest idea yet, but now he had to live with whatever consequences came of it.

1010 words
~Soph