Jar of Hearts

♡ 11 ♡

"Hey," Emily says as casually as she possibly can whilst also freaking out on the inside.

Jack is leaning against the hood of his car with his hands tucked into the pockets of his dark jeans. He looks effortlessly amazing in just a flannel over a white t-shirt and jeans. "Hey yourself," He chuckles and walks around the car to open the passenger door for her.

Emily tries to hide her grin as well as her horrible blush by lowering her head and looking at the ground while walking around him to get into his car. As soon as she sits down, Jack gently closes the door and jogs around to the driver's side.

He hops into the car and grins brightly at the girl next to him, "Thanks for agreeing to go out with tonight. I know I just broke up with Jaclyn, but, honestly, we were hardly together if you can even call it that at all." He laughs lightly at the end.

"Oh," she shrugs and tucks a strand of her curled brunette hair behind her ear. "Thanks for asking me."

Jack nods and bites the corner of his lip. He pauses like he's debating something, but he quickly recovers and instead starts his car and buckles his seat belt.

Emily does the same except with an added deep breath in there to collect herself for a second. I'm actually doing this, she thinks to herself in disbelief. If someone had told her that she would be in Jack Tatum's car a month ago, she would have laughed in their face.

"So, where are we going?" She asks casually, breaking the silence.

Jack glances over at her for a second and then back at the road, smiling. He licks his lips before replying, "Well, last night, I was trying to think about all the interactions we've ever had, and we haven't really had very many I realized." He laughs before continuing. "However, one of those few included Mr. Hanson's psychology class in the ninth grade."

"Oh, he was a creep!" Emily suddenly interrupted him, laughing at the memories she had from that particular class.

Jack laughs along with her, "He was! But that's not the point."

"I hope not," she says quickly. They laugh together, and for the first time, she wasn't nervous in his presence.

"Anyway." He drags out the word. "The point is, you had to do a presentation on outside forces that could affect human behavior, and you chose astrology. Which by the way, I don't buy it, but it was still a pretty cool presentation. You were really passionate and knowledgeable about it. So, I did some research and found the best stargazing spot near us."

"Oh, wow," Emily breathes out. She was expecting like dinner or something, or a coffee shop, not stargazing.

Jack glances over at her surprised expression and his smile dims a little, "Is that okay?"

Emily turns her head and meets his eyes, "Yes! Yeah, I'm just surprised. I love it." She gives him a reassuring smile.

"Great," His smile returns and he turns his gaze back to the road.

If Emily's heart wasn't beating rapidly before, it certainly is now.

They drive into a field that was mostly dirt with a few patches of grass peeking up here and there. "A shopping mall was supposed to be built here ten years ago but they never started building it, so now it serves as the perfect stargazing spot," Jack says as he parks in the middle of the field.

Emily looks out the window and looks at the sky that's almost completely dark now. "It's perfect." She opens the door after Jack opens his own and they both get out.

He rounds the car in order to pop his trunk. Emily follows him and watches him pull out a red and black blanket.

They set out the blanket a couple of yards from his car and lay down.

Jack begins to ask Emily about different constellations and she explains them to him while occasionally just asking random questions.

"So, that's the... little dipper?" He asks hesitantly.

She laughs and says, "No, big."

"Ah, okay, and so where's the little one?" He asks her while turning his head to look at her.

Without facing him she points up at the sky. "That one."

"Okay, I'm just going to pretend that I know where you're pointing to," he chuckles next to her.

Emily laughs and lays her arm down on the ground next to her. "Favorite genre of music?" She finally turns to look at him, only to find him already staring at her. "Were you even trying to find the little dipper?" She quirks an eyebrow.

He smiles sheepishly and shrugs, "Contemporary R and B stuff, like The Weeknd. You?"

She rolls her eyes at his avoidance of her second question. Nevertheless, a smile found its way onto her lips, "Probably Classic Rock, like Kansas or Queen."

Jack grins at her answer. "A woman with good taste I see."

Emily just shrugs her shoulders in response and both of them become silent.

His eyes flicker between her eyes and her lips, which she does not fail to see, causing her heartbeat to skyrocket.

He props up slightly on his elbow and starts to lean closer to her, but before he can come any closer, Emily scoots away and sits up like she was just bitten by a fire ant.

However, she was not bitten by a thing.

There were two reasons why Emily evaded Jack's kiss, being:

1. They had only hung out a total of two hours together in their entire lives and she isn't sure if he's actually over Jaclyn. Sure, she isn't sure if she's totally into him like that, but she also isn't interested in being a rebound.

2. She's never kissed anyone before and she's terrified that she could be horrible at it.

Jack clears his throat and sits up next to her, but before he can say anything, Emily's phone rings.

Saved by the bell, she silently thanks whoever's calling her and picks it up only to see that it's her mom. Her eyes gaze up to the time and she sees that it's already ten p.m, aka, her curfew.

"Emily?" Her mother gasps on the other side of the line.

"Yes Mom, I'm okay, I'll be home soon," she says calmly.

Her mother sighs in relief, "Oh thank God. Okay, sorry. I'm sorry. You haven't been drinking right?"

"No Mom, we're both completely sober. I'm fine. I'll be home soon, okay?"

"Okay, okay. Love you, dear."

"Love you too, Mom," Emily says before hanging up the phone.

"Is everything okay?" Jack asks and she turns to look at him. His hazel eyes almost seem to glow in the moonlight, giving him a faux aura of mystery.

She nods and gives him a small smile. "It's still difficult for her. Even though it's been two years, she still gets worried sometimes. She hasn't done this in months, but I think since his... anniversary is soon," she breaks eye contact and looks down at the patterned flannel blanket.

He reaches out his hand and places it on her shoulder, rubbing it softly. "Yeah, that makes sense. Let's get you home so that she doesn't worry anymore." He offers her a warm smile which she returns.

Jack stands up and offers her a hand, which she takes. They take the blanket back to the car and get in silently.

"I really enjoyed tonight, it was perfect, still is," Emily tells him after he starts the engine. Her cheeks are tinted pink and she bites on her bottom lip nervously.

He turns towards her and grins, causing her heart to melt for the one-hundredth time that night, "Me too. Let's do it again sometime."

Emily's heart stops at his response and she's suddenly feeling like she might need CPR in order to breathe properly again. "Yeah," she says in the coolest, calmest voice she can possibly muster.

A/N

QOTD: Is Emily just a rebound, or is the chemistry between them endgame??

AOTD: ......