No Matter What ~ Jackxpenn

Chapter 20 - Second Thoughts

Author's note: Thank you so much, AngelaLucero1 for the idea for this chapter! Also, thank you all so much for 1K reads! The votes and comments mean so much to me :) Anyways, onto the story.

Jack POV

It has been a couple of days since I've last seen Jenn and traveled back home to Connecticut. I just wish I could be done school so I could move out to LA already, it feels like the whole process is taking forever. Plus, I miss Jenn a lot.

I opened up my phone to see a new text message. I hoped it was Jenn, telling me she missed me and that she couldn't wait to see me, or something cute like that, but to my dismay, it was Claudia.

Claudia: Hey Jack! What are you doing this afternoon? Maybe we could hang out and grab lunch or something? :)

Ugh. As much as I liked Claudia, she could be a bit annoying. She always wants to hang out with me. But she is my friend afterall, and it's not like I have anything to do anyways, so I respond.

Jack: Sure that sounds good! Had nothing planned

Almost immediately I got a text back.

Claudia: Oh yay! We can meet at Panera at 1! Sound good?

I rolled my eyes. It was almost like she knew I would say yes; like she already had it planned. But that was the way Claudia was.

TIME SKIP

I sat down at Panera, waiting for Claudia to get there. I scrolled through instagram, until I got a text from Jenn. The thought made me smile. God, I missed her.

Jenn Jenn: I miss you like crazy Jack, can't you be done school now? :(

I blushed a bit. Why does she do this to me? I smiled, then responded.

Jack: I know Jenn Jenn, one more month. Then, I can see you whenever I want :)

Just then, I heard Claudia's voice. I groaned slightly, and put down my phone.

"Jack! I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" she screamed excitedly, pulling me into a hug.

"Yeah I know!" I said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

We both sat down at the table, and looked through the menus.

"So Jack," she said, behind her large menu, "How've you been?" Then, she dropped the menu and closed it, and looked at me.

"Um, good," I said ackwardly, "I just came back from LA," I closed my menu aswell.

Shit. Why did I say that? Now I would have to tell her about Jenn. I immediately regretted it, and hoped she didn't catch it. But, of course, she did.

"Oh," she said, "Why were you in LA so soon? I didn't think you moved until after the end of May?"

I thought about lying, but then remembered I was a terrible liar. And frankly, I didn't like lying anyways.

"I just went out for a couple of days to see Jenn," I said, getting quieter as I said Jenn's name. Her expression changed from interested to shocked.

She went to open her mouth again to speak, but a waiter was coming over and she stopped herself. Thank god. We both order her food, and I took a deep breath, already guessing what Claudia would say next.

"Why were you visiting Jenn?" she asked, raising her eyesbrows.

Why was she so god damn curious? Did it really matter to her? I groaned to myself.

"Just for a visit," I lied. Well I didn't exactly lie, but I didn't tell the whole truth.

Claudia narrowed her eyes at me. She knew I wasn't telling the truth, and that scared me.

Eventually, she broke her stare, and relaxed her shoulders, mumbling, "Fine, Jack. I'll find out later"

I gulped. I couldn't imagine what would come "later"

TIME SKIP

We shopped around for a while, and eventually I ended up letting myself relax and forget about what Claudia had said. She was actually acting somewhat normal; well normal for Claudia anyway.

Claudia suggested that we go back to her apartment and hang out for a bit. Honestly, I didn't want to, but I couldn't make myself say no.

Finally, we made it back to Claudia's apartment, and we both sat down on the couch, watching tv. After we sat in silence for what seemed like ages, she evently spoke up.

"I wanted to apoligize for being so nosy today," she said, turning towards me. I knew that her apology was a bunch of crap, but I decided to forgive her, so it wasn't akward between us.

"It's okay Claudia, I understand," I said.

"It must be hard, living that far away from the person you love," she said, getting closer to me. I really didn't want to talk about Jenn right now, especially with Claudia acting so weird.

"Well, yeah, it is. But we make it work," I said, trying to get her to drop the subject.

Unfortunately for me, she didn't get the hint, and kept talking about Jenn.

"Don't you get worried, though? She lives in California, and there's lots of guys out there," she said. By now she was cuddled up to me, laying her head on my shoulder.

I lowered my eyebrows in confusion. Why was she like this? Was she trying to make me not trust Jenn?

"Well I-" I started to speak, then stopped myself, feeling lost for words. I honestly didn't know what to say to that. I thought about what she said; about Jenn having the easy opportunity to cheat on me. I clenched my fists. Jenn would never do that to me, right? No Jack, she wouldn't!

"You've never thought about that, have you?" she said, looking up at me, "I've seen the way Jc acts around her Jack. Doesn't that make you nervous?"

By now I had enough, "Claudia, seriously?" I exclaimed, pushing her off me, and standing up, "I trust Jenn more than anything. Why are you doing this anyways?"

I walked towards the door, thoughts swirling around in my head. In a way, Claudia was right. Wait what was I saying? I loved Jenn, and she loved me. She would never cheat on me, especially with Jc. But then I remembered what he said in the kitchen. You two don't belong together.

His words kept repeating in my hea, no matter how many times I tried to shake them out. I left Claudia's apartment without even saying goodbye, and got into my car.

Author's note: School starts back up tomorrow :( So, as I told you before, my new updating schedule will be one or two chapters every Friday, plus any surprise chapters I may add in if I have free time. Thanks for everything :)

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