Christmas Break

Coffee

Jack and Gabrielle sat at a table outside Starbucks with their drinks. Now that they were sitting face to face both were trying to figure out what to say. It had been nine or ten months since they had seen each other last and a lot had changed. Finally Gabrielle decided to start.

"Jack, thank you for saving me. I mean it. I never expected Mark to go that far, especially in public."

"I am glad I was here Gabrielle. It was dumb luck that I was coming for coffee right then. I guess picking up a coffee habit does have a good side"

"Still, after everything... Thank you... So how are you doing? How is Jaycee?"

"I am doing OK I guess... All things considered. Jaycee, well I assume she is OK."

Gabrielle gave Jack a curious look at his answer. She thought it was a weird way to talk about your girlfriend.

"Assume?"

"We are on a break... Well lets be honest, we are over. It happened a couple of weeks ago. Everyone will find out in two days. The last video from before is going up today."

Gabrielle was of two minds. A small part of her was cheering inside that the girl that replaced her was history. But the large part felt bad for Jack going through this again.

"I am sorry Jack. You guys seemed to really be good together."

"We were good together, just never great you know? There was something missing. Something that just never clicked to allow us to the next level."

Gabrielle was wondering if that was her fault. I mean she had broken his heart. Did she hurt him so much that he couldn't make that connection again?

"Oh... Well maybe there is a chance you could..."

"Nope, not going to happen. In a way it's your fault Gabrielle. I had great once. I can't settle for good after that. Besides it was for the best. It was mutual. OK well it was mainly me that initiated it, but she agreed when we talked about it. We both liked each other, but it was better to let it go before she moved to far into a space I wasn't going to be able to go to. That would have ended up hurting her more and probably made Olyvia kill me. At least now we can be friends, not close friends or hang out friends, but it won't be so awkward if I see her hanging out with my sister and stuff."

Gabrielle was a little surprise at Jack's reasoning. He really had change a bit this year.

"That was very mature of you Jack. I am impressed."

"Well that was your fault too in a way. When I lost you I was forced to grow up. Don't get me wrong, I still play games, I still like messing around, but I have developed an actual filter and sometimes I even think before I speak."

"Well I am glad something good came out of it for you Jack. At least one of us has..."

"Gabrielle, I have to ask. Was he always like that?"

Gabrielle feared that he was going to ask something like that. She wasn't sure what she wanted to tell him. Some of it wouldn't show her in the best light. She looked up at Jack and saw concern in his face. She decided that she couldn't lie to him.

"I found out Mark was using me to build clout and break into social media. He was going to use me until he was big enough to move on to someone bigger. I found that out about a month ago from some old emails he had with his friends before we had even met. Then I found out he was cheating on me. I disregarded the first message the girl sent. But after a while she became quite persistent about telling me things and where he was and what they had done. I could tell he was lying to me. Last week I finally confronted him and asked him straight out if he was cheating. He got so mad trying to make make me seem crazy he slapped me. He was very apologetic and everything. I bought that and didn't think he would do that again. Today I was proven wrong... We had a trip planned for after Christmas. I thought we could make it through the holiday and the trip before I would break up with him."