You Were Fake, I Was Great -22

The sun was high in the sky, the heat warmed up my nervous body. Jack and I had walked to the park a couple of blocks down from Zack's house. There were a few children playing on the plastic, brightly-colored play equipment that was fenced in. The ground was sprinkled with different sized wood chips. My lips pulled up into a crooked grin as I watched the kids run around, screaming things to their friends.

"Hey. I want to swing!" Jack announced and ran off to the tireswing in the center of the playground and hopped on, spinning around. I laughed and approached the swing where he sat, looking up at me with sadness in his eyes.

"What?" I sighed.

"Push me?" he asked and I nodded, grabbing one of the chains that supported the swing and spun it around, pushing it as well. Jack let out a few giggles and I stepped back so wouldn't get hit by it.

"While you swing, I'm going to call my mom." I said. I didn't really want to call my mom. I found it kind of annoying that parents always wanted you to call them and tell them who you were with, where you were, and what you were doing at the exact moment. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my mom's number. It rang four times before she picked up.

"Alexander. I haven't heard from for almost [i]two days[/i]." she spat on the other line.

"I know. Sorry. I went to Zack's. And now I'm at the park." I held up my hands for emphasis with most of my words even though my mother couldn't see it.

"Zack? Who's Zack? And you're at the park? Are you alone?"

"Zack went to camp with me a couple years ago. And I'm at the park with Jack." I answered, lookin over at Jack with a half-smile as I finished saying his name.

"Oh. So everything is good between you two now?" [i]Insert mood change here[/i].

"Yeah. I guess. But we're just friends. For now."

"That's good. Taking it slow is good. Well I'm going to go make lunch, would you and Jack like to come home for lunch?" she asked. I was hesitant with my answer because my mom likes to--just like everybody else's mom--embarrass me in front of my friends. Or best friends. Or future boyfriends. Cough.

"Sure." I stated. I wasn't really happy with the answer but I coulnt say 'no' to my mom. Because she would then wonder why. And I don't need to get into that.

"Good. Because I haven't met your new friend yet. Be home by 2 if that's okay?" I pulled my phone away from my ear to check the time. [i]1:28[/i].

"Sure. Bye." I rushed my words and hung up. I walked back over to the swing and Jack was looking aimlessly at the ground, holding two of the chains in his hands to keep him upright, and he dug the toe of his converse into the woodchips.

"My mom invited us to lunch. That okay with you?" I asked him. He looked up at me with a smile and nodded.

"We can leave now, if you want?" he suggested. I didn't really want to let my mom meet Jack yet, but I was also anxious for food. I was hungry, even though I had eaten pancakes only about 4 hours before.

"Okay." I said and we walked to my house. Jack's arm was loosely around my shoulder and we made small jokes about Zack and people at school.

~~~

Jack sat in the hammock on the front porch--that I don't rememer being there when I left for school on Friday--as I curled my hand into a fist and reached to knock on the front door.

"You don't have a key?" he asked me, messing with one of the frayed roped on the hammock.

"No." the door opened and pulled away from my fist and my mother smiled at me.

"Come in." she cooed in her mother-like tone with an extra large and wide smile as she welcomed us into the house. Jack hopped off the hammock and followed us inside and my mother lead us to the table.

"So, Alex. Are you going to intorduce me to your friend?" she asked as we sat down at the table. She retreated to the kitchen to get us food.

"Jack. This is my mom. Mom. This is Jack." I said in one breath and leaned back in my chair.

"Well, nice to meet you, Jack." my mother smiled at him, bringing in a pot of food, setting it on a pot holder in the middle of the table.

"Nice to meet you too." Jack returned the smile and I glared at him. My mom handed us plates and she placed noodles onto them. We ate in silence. The only sounds throughout the house were the air conditioner, us chewing, and metal forks scraping against glass plates.

"Mom, we're going up to my room." I said quickly, not giving my mom any time to reply, and grabbed Jack by the arm and pulled him toward the stairs.

"Okay boys." she called after us. Her voice was slightly muffled because of how far up the stairs we already were.

We reached my room and I pushed Jack inside, closing the door with my heel, pushing him back onto the bed. He looked at me, wide-eyed, and a smirk grew on his face. He supported himself by his elbows. I didn't move any closer to him. I was moving too fast. Oops.

"What was that all about?" he asked, one of his eyebrows pulling up, a grin still wiped across his face. I shooke my head, shrugged, then realized I looked like an idiot for doing it.

"No reason. Just got a little excited there." I stated casually, but that didn't fool anybody. Jack knew, right away, where I was planning on going with this.

"Bull[i]shit[/i]." he got back off of the bed, using his elbows to push him upward, and he walked toward me. I didn't back away. He grabbed my shoulders, curling his fingers around my blades, and walked me back toward the wall. He pushed me against it, sliding his hands down from my shoulders to my upper arms and gripped them so I wasn't able to move my arms. I didn't try to move. I didn't want to. He placed one of his knees up against the wall, between my legs, and pressed my arms to the wall with more force. There wasn't enough to hurt though. He inched his knee up so it was only inches away from touching my crotch and a smirked played on my lips. He leaned in close to my face, our lips were centimeters apart, and I closed my eyes. But he did not kiss me. Instead he whispered a quick sentence to me, his warm breat ghosting over my face. My lips twitched.

"I want to kiss you." was what he said. I didn't nod my head or speak. I just kept mt eyes closed and waited for his next move. I wasn't scared. I wasn't nervous. I was just impatient, you could say. I decided to speak.

"Then why don't you?" I asked him, my voice at the same volume as the whisper he had used. I waited. But nothing happened. His grip on my upper arms released and his knee left from between my legs and I could hear his footsteps on the carpet. I opened my eyes.

"Because. I'm waiting for you to tell me I can."