WHO: Jack and Izzy WHAT: Izzy propositions Jack, scandal! WHEN: 2016 WHERE: the pool WARNINGS: none really
Isabella took another snapchat of the frat boys from her table over breakfast to send home to her sister. She thought the food was just barely passable. Her chef at home was much more talented. Then again, they could afford to keep great talent. It was apparently not so for the Grand Paradise Hotel. What it did have, however, was a whole group of guys looking for trouble.
“Ugh,” she mumbled toward her phone. “If only she were here,” she told the table, “V would so talk me out of my terrible ideas.”
Those ideas apparently included that puppy faced boy with the feigned innocence and a very clear indication that he was 100% trouble. She had sent her sister several pictures because there were several guys, but she just kept coming back to him. Puppy bro. With his stupid smirk. His dark eyes. That mop of hair.
Then again, her twin very well might have told her to go after what she wanted. It was almost her birthday. She left the table and went the long way around the room, brushing past the group of boys, making decidedly intentional eye contact as she headed for the door. She backtracked after a moment, taking steps closer until she was across from him and resting a hand on the back of one of the other brother’s chairs. “We’re having a party later. I’m sure you’re all very busy doing .. whatever it is that you do, but if you’re interested, I’m Izzy.”
Jack couldn’t help but watch the group of girls at the table across from theirs. They were likely all spoiled rich girls who knew nothing about the world, but then, spoiled rich girls threw the best parties and wasn’t that what they were here for? Fine, they were theoretically here for brotherhood, but this wasn’t the fucking boy scouts, and Jack was not going to sit around a hotel room doing bonding activities with a bunch of guys the whole time. They were supposed to have fun, and those girls looked like they understood just how to do that.
Case in point: the brunette who calculatedly walked past them, practically begging for him to notice her. His eyes followed her, and when she stopped across from him, he leaned forward, elbows resting on the table. “Oh, we always make time for a party. I think I speak for everyone when I say we- myself in particular- are very interested.” The grin he offered was wolfish. “Jack.”
Izzy offered him a smirk. “I know who you are.”
She patted the shoulder of the nearest boy before she began to leave the table. “Well! This conversation has been just lovely. As a reminder,” she pointed toward herself. “Izzy. Party,” she pointed toward the table where her friends were sitting, “tonight. Now,” she offered a half shrug, “I’ll be by the pool. Have a good day, boys.”
She was gone before he could reply, but still, his grin had widened. Direct and to the point. He could respect that. Besides, she knew who he was, which was quite intriguing; she must have asked about him. It was a promising start, and as far as he was concerned, her seemingly casual mention of being by the pool was an invitation, one he was going to accept.
After he finished breakfast, of course. Pretty girl or not, he was never one to turn down delicious food.
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Jack wasn’t exactly a lounge by the pool type. They had come all this way to an island so he wanted to swim in the ocean, not hang out by a pool that was no doubt filled with annoying children and their barely less annoying parents. But that’s where Izzy said she would be, and Jack was curious (and, truthfully, he didn’t have anything better going on). She wasn’t hard to spot, and, by a stroke of luck, the chair next to hers was vacant. He strode over, casual as could be, as if he wasn’t making a beeline straight towards her (as if she wouldn’t immediately know that he was simply mimicking her behavior earlier). “Well well well, fancy meeting you here.” His smirk was knowing and ironic, and without waiting for an invitation, he claimed the lounge chair beside hers and stretched out. “Enjoying the pool?”
The morning sun usually provided the best coverage for tanning. She’d already stripped down to her bathing suit, though she had no intention of actually swimming. If she had her way, the pool would’ve been emptied at her arrival, but the kids didn’t actually seem to be hurting anything. Yet. She watched Jack as he made his way over and when he settled next to her, she pulled down her sunglasses just enough to acknowledge him. She glanced away from him and back toward the trees off in the distance.
“I’m pretty sure I invited you here,” she said. “That’s why you’re sitting in that chair.” She wiped a hand along her leg, rubbing in a streak of sunblock that she’d missed. “Why’d you come to Hamnet? Or, really, what are you hoping to get out of the trip?”
“Maybe I really like pools. This is allegedly the place to be so maybe I decided to come here even before you mentioned your plans,” Jack countered but they both knew exactly why he was here; there was no point in actually trying to deny it. He truthfully couldn’t even remember the last time he had sat by the pool. When he was 13, maybe, and babysitting his younger sister though this pool was certainly far nicer than the community pool back home; he couldn’t really blame her for wanting to relax out here. “Surely you can do better than that,” he teased though there was no real bite to Jack’s words. “That’s an incredibly boring question.” One he had an incredibly boring answer for. ‘My friend backed out and here I am’ wasn’t exactly a compelling narrative.
Izzy rolled her eyes behind the sunglasses and glanced away from him, tilting her head back up toward the sun. The heat was nice, not too hot that she felt uncomfortable, though she’d have to even out and flip soon. “I have a better question, but I wanted to know..” she trailed off for a moment, deciding how, exactly, to frame her question. “How many other girls have you been [...] affiliating with on Hamnet?” He was hot, but she wasn’t stupid. She hoped he wasn’t either.
Jack snorted with laughter. Of all the things she could have asked him, he certainly never saw that one coming. Laughing likely wasn’t the most polite response in the world, but he couldn’t help it. “Affiliating? Is that what they call it where you’re from?” Affiliate! Like he was a corporation, like it was a business relationship. He managed not to laugh again, but he couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “Why, babe, you jealous?”
“Oh, I’d hardly call it jealousy,” she returned with a scathing snap and a dangerous smile. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t overzealous with the island population.” Izzy took the opportunity to flip on the chair then, settling back down with her face rested away from him. “A dog’s a dog, after all.”
Jack recognized that he was being insulted, but he wasn’t even remotely offended; he had been called far worse than a dog, after all, and it would take more than barbed flirting to faze him. “Mhmmm,” he drawled, unconvinced. He stretched before he leaned back, fingers laced behind his head. It was too hot out and he was itching to get into the water though Izzy did not strike him as the type of girl who swam. Pity. “Why does it matter to you if I’m overzealous or not then? A concern for my well being? Or yours.” She struck him as someone who expected to have whatever she wanted and to be able to claim it as hers and hers alone; she seemed like the type of girl whose pride wouldn’t allow her to settle for someone’s sloppy seconds. Rich girls. They were more trouble than they were worth sometimes, but she was pretty and he was bored so why not tease her.
“Because I don’t want to catch something,” she replied from the depths of the chair, where her face was hidden from view. “Who knows where these people have been?” Or where he had been. Or with whom.
Jack smirked, slow and smug. “So where’s the line? Do you need to be the first and only girl I’ve ever been with? Or just the first here? What if you were the third? Or what if you were, say, the 6th, but I had been very very careful? How many boys have you been affiliating with? It’s only fair that I can ask too.” Teasing aside, he couldn’t help but be delighted by her relative openness. Fine, she was being snarky about it, but she had essentially admitted to having some interest in him, and that was certainly a nice change of pace from the girls who forever played coy.
Izzy sat up then, matching his smirk. “You’d be woefully inexperienced if I were your first.” She propped herself up on one arm and judged herself again for this ridiculous situation she’d gotten herself into. “You’d be the only vaguely interesting person outside of my group, so I think you’re safe.”
“Hey, I don’t know what you’re into.” Well. Technically, now he did. He couldn’t quite wipe the smug look off his face. Despite her earlier attempts to be scathing, all she really was doing was boosting his ego. “I can assure you though, you won’t be disappointed. And you can relax, I haven’t been affiliating with anyone on the island.” His smirk cracked into a smile; it was hard to stay serious when using affiliate as a euphemism.
“That remains to be seen, doesn’t it?” She settled back onto the towel to finish her tanning time. She probably only had a few minutes left anyway. No sense in burning. The timer on her phone went off and she wrapped herself in the towel. “Let’s go.”
In all honesty, there was a very large part of him that wanted to continue to mock her and suggest they go find somewhere private to affiliate. He wasn’t sure he would ever get over that- or let her forget it. But he also wasn’t a complete idiot. So instead, he grinned, stood and offered a hand. “Lead the way.”