Chapter 14 Jack
Jack
I glance over my shoulder to make sure no one has followed me as I step into my room.
“Sorry, Momma. I don’t want to talk about this in front of the others,” I say, trying to shake the look on Alondra’s face after I asked if she didn’t want to be set up with someone because she already has a boyfriend.
Fuck, I feel guilty for even having said it out loud.
It’s like I erased every bit of progress I’ve made with her over the past few weeks.
It’s not that I believed Bradley, but he got under my skin, and it just fucking slipped out. I should’ve been more careful.
“Talk about what?” Momma’s calm voice asks, and I drag a hand over my jaw, trying to sort through what I suspect with the tiny scraps of evidence that support it.
It feels like trying to put a piece of paper back together after it’s gone through the shredder, except there are a hundred other pieces to sort through to find the right ones before taping it together.
“It’s about Alondra. I just . . . I have a bad feeling,” I admit, sitting on the edge of my bed.
“What kind of bad feeling?” she prods gently, and I hope to God I’m wrong about this. I need to be wrong about this. “Jack?”
“I don’t want to be right, but I think someone is—or was—hurting her,” I say, and the thought of someone laying a hand on her makes my stomach turn. I care about Alondra—more than I ever expected to.
I hold my breath, waiting for her to say something. “Honey, that’s a very serious thing to suggest,” Momma says, but it’s the only thing that makes sense, as much as I don’t want it to.
“I know, and I thought maybe I was imagining it. I want to be wrong, but then we were skating earlier this week, and Al was avoiding a question I asked. She’s always running from me, and I caught her arm to stop her.
The way she looked at me . . .” I pause, recalling the awful moment when I just wanted Alondra to tell me what was going through her head.
“She was afraid of me. I didn’t mean to scare her, but Alondra looked at me like she expected me to hurt her. ”
“Jack,” Momma says, softly, and I know I’m running out of time before someone comes looking for me.
“I just wanted her to stop running from me,” I admit, reaching up to untuck the silver chain from where it always lies beneath my shirt to twist the small figure skate pendant between my fingertips.
“She said it had nothing to do with Coach—actually, she insisted it didn’t, and I believe her.
Alondra’s admitted she’s had a bad relationship before, but she wouldn’t say anything else about it. ”
“I don’t know. Has she explicitly said someone hurt her?”
“No, but Johnny Richards, the sophomore I’m helping, walked in on Alondra and me talking at the rink, and he asked some questions about her, which I played off.
Next thing I know, this football player who’s friends with Johnny tracked me down and threatened me to stay away from her because she’s his.
Momma, she’s a person, not a fucking toy.
Alondra doesn’t belong to anyone, but especially not that asshole,” I say, my temper slipping for a moment.
“Hey, take a breath. It sounds like you really care about her, but I can’t tell you what to do other than to do your best to be there for Alondra, and make sure she knows she can come to you for help if she needs it.”
I inhale a ragged breath, but this conversation has opened up old wounds I’ve never taken the time to deal with. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have swore,” I mumble, tucking the pendant back under my shirt, the weight a comfort.
“Jack, I’m so proud of you and the man you’re becoming, but please, don’t do anything rash,” Momma warns, and I feel a pang of homesickness so deep that it aches like a rattle in my bones.
“Yes, ma’am,” I agree quietly.
“She’s lucky to have a friend like you,” she says, and I swallow the acid forming in my mouth.
I’m the lucky one.
I probably should have called first, but it seems like the universe is determined to make it impossible for me to have a chance to talk to Alondra so I can apologize.
We definitely need to talk about the whole dating app thing, but first, I need to apologize for the way I asked if she was seeing anyone.
Unfortunately, Alondra left with Ellie a few minutes after I went back downstairs last night and I didn’t get a chance.
Then Sara called me, asking if I’d come get her from the bars, but she turned out to be way more messed up than I thought, so I spent the rest of the night playing babysitter to make sure she was okay.
To make matters worse, our professor cancelled our class today, taking away my guaranteed time with Al. My voice memo I sent earlier went unanswered, which is fine, but I want to check on her.
I knock on Alondra’s apartment door, stuffing my hands in my pockets to keep them warm while I wait for her to answer, but Macy answers instead. “What the hell is on your face?” I ask, confused by the green shit she has smeared everywhere.
“What’s on yours?” she retorts without skipping a beat.
“Who is it?” I hear Alondra ask from inside, and Macy opens the door wider, motioning for me to come in.
I spot Al instantly on the couch, wrapped up in my favorite purple blanket, and her face is identical to Macy’s.
She sits up, tilting her head. “Oh, hey, Jack. Are you looking for Ellie? She’s not here,” Al says, and I smile, unable to take her seriously right now.
“Sorry, just wanted to see if you were busy. I should have texted first before coming over,” I say, noting the movie paused on the television and the array of snacks in front of them.
“We’re kind of having a spa night,” she says, reaching up to play with one of the twin braids her curls are trapped in, bouncing her gaze between me and Macy.
“You’re welcome to stay if you want, but you have to put some of this shit on your face too,” Macy says, offering me a smile.
“No, it’s okay. You guys are busy,” I say, but honestly, I do want to stay.
I like being her friend, even if it means getting whatever the fuck is on their faces smeared on mine.
Fuck, Al has me wrapped around her finger, and she doesn’t even realize it.
There’s something about her that draws me in, trapping me in her orbit, but I can never act on my physical attraction to her.
Alondra deserves better than a one-night stand from me, and that’s all I have to offer.
“Sorry, you’re stuck now, so take your shoes off.
We have enough for a third because Ellie ditched us to study at the library for a test tomorrow.
” Macy hooks her arm with mine, giving me just enough time to kick off my sneakers, before pulling me toward the couch next to Alondra.
I look in her direction, expecting her to tell me to leave, but instead, she’s smiling at me. I guess that means I’m staying.
“Just don’t put too much of whatever that is on my face, okay?”
“You might want to take your sweatshirt off,” Al suggests, and I’m just happy she isn’t telling me to leave. Unlike Alondra, I’m capable of following directions without arguing, and I pull it over my head. “Macy, can you grab a headband?”
“What do you need that for?” I ask, staying still as Al uses it to carefully push all of my hair out of my face, and I can only imagine what I look like right now.
“Do you want avocado and cucumber in your hair?”
“I’m not sure I really want it on my face,” I tease, hoping it makes her laugh.
“You’ll thank us after,” Macy says.
When she leans in to smooth the cold paste on my cheeks, I take full advantage of the opportunity to memorize the finer details of her face.
Alondra’s eyes are a deceiving shade of gold that appears brown in most lighting, but looking closely, I can see the green ring inside the iris, made more prominent by the green mixture on her face.
Her dark eyebrows are knit in concentration, and her touch is gentle.
Alondra’s pink lips quirk upward into a hint of a smile, and I can’t look away, remembering how it felt to have them pressed against mine.
I wonder if she ever thinks about our kiss?
It took everything in me not to steal a second one from her that night, and I think Alondra would have let me.
“I know I’m pretty, but you’re staring,” she says, her voice soft as she traces the slope of my nose.
“You’re beautiful. Of course I’m staring,” I say, distracted when she sinks her white teeth into her lower lip in an attempt to hide her smile.
“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m developing an immunity to your charm.”
My smile grows wider. “So you admit you find me charming?”
A pillow hits my arm, and I turn to find Macy frowning at me. “Stop flirting with Alondra,” she scolds, and even if I were flirting, Macy and Ellie could be awarded with trophies for being the world’s best cock block a guy could ask for.
I shouldn’t be thinking about kissing Alondra.
“I’m not flirting. If I was, you’d know.” I smirk at Macy, and she sticks her tongue out at me.
“You know you’re not as hot with avocado on your face.”
I press a hand to my chest, groaning. “You just broke my fragile ego. I think my heart is failing. Quick! Give me CPR,” I joke, causing Alondra’s hazel eyes to sparkle as a laugh slips from her.
“Shut up,” Alondra says.
“Make me.”
This time, her eyes land on my mouth, and I really need to stop thinking about how her fingers curled into my shirt, pulling me closer.
I wink at her, leaning back to rest against the couch cushions, hoping to can calm the racing of my heart. “So what happens at spa night? Karaoke? Naked pillow fights? The saddest romance movies ever made?” I ask, trying not to think about how her leg is pressed up against mine.
“You and Dylan do know we wouldn’t get naked to have a pillow fight, right? Nor do we actually have pillow fights.”
Obviously, but can’t a guy dream a little?