Jacklyn Baker (called_jack) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-08-08 13:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 18, jacklyn baker, jed bailey, | jack and jed |
Week 18 - Friday
Characters: Jack Baker and Jed Bailey
Location: Jack and Molly's room
Summary: Jed tells Jack about his relationship with Alice.
Rating: G
Surreptitiously following a teenage girl around to try to get her alone was definitely on Jed’s list of “things I never thought I’d do after high school.” Waiting for her outside the bathroom definitely upped the creep factor to 11 but Jed didn’t have much choice. Jack was like an energizer bunny and seemed to always be hanging out with Searle or Molly or just in the general vicinity of anybody (except Alice). The bathroom was the only time she’d been alone all day, and Jed had to talk to her. While he still had his nerve up.
Things with him and Alice were...going somewhere. At least it seemed like it. And it was getting more and more ridiculous hiding it from a thirteen-year-old. She’d find out eventually, and Jed wanted it to be on his terms.
Jack really didn’t care for having to share a bathroom with ten other people. No matter when you went in there, somebody always was waiting, usually impatiently. So of course when she walked out, there was Jed waiting. “All yours.”
“What? Ah, no, I wasn’t--” Jed took a breath the rerail his thoughts. “You got time to talk? Alone?”
“Um, yeah okay. But,” she added, looking nervous, “whatever it is, I didn’t do it, I swear.”
That pulled a shocked laugh from him. “Naw, naw, it’s nothin’ bad,” he said. Hopefully she’d agree. “Juss need to talk.”
In Jack’s experience, whenever a grownup said they had something to talk about, it was usually bad. Most of the time it meant that she was in trouble. “Okay.”
Alright then. Easy part over. “Yer room okay? Or’s Molly in there?” The land itself might be wide but finding privacy was tricky, especially during the day.
“I don’t think she is. She wasn’t before.” It was easy enough to check and when Jack opened her bedroom door, the room was empty. Messy the way all of Jack’s room had been, but empty. “So, what’s up?”
Jed pursed his lips. Alright. How to start. “Y’know you mean a lot to me, right?” he finally said, looking at her. “We’re buddies, and we can talk about anything.”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed slowly. Yes, she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to like whatever was going to come after this. She reached for her rabbit, nervously toying with his ears.
He watched her and realized that drawing it out was just making it worse for both of them. “So Alice and me have been hangin’ out a lot, and I...” God, what was the kid way of saying it? “I really like her. More’n friends, you know?”
Jack scowled as soon as she realized what Jed meant. How could he? With her? “But why? She’s so mean.”
Jed’s heart sank, though he expected as much. “She ain’t, Jack. She really ain’t. I know you two butt heads and all, but you and me butt heads, too. Don’t mean we’re mean.”
Jack clung to her rabbit just a little bit tighter. “That’s different. She is too mean; you’ve never hit me.” All she could think about was Alice and Jed. Jed would like Alice more than her. Alice was going to ruin everything.
His face scrunching slightly, Jed said, “Look. That was a rough time fer ev’ryone. Alice doesn’t go ‘round hittin’ people no more’n you do. And yer not mean.”
Jack huffed and turned away. “She’ll make you hate me.”
“Ain’t no way,” he said firmly, grabbing a seat on Molly’s bed. “Besides, she wouldn’t try. She don’t hate you.”
How long would Jed keep saying that when Jack knew it wasn’t true. “Yes, she does. Alice’s hated me ever since me and Searle had that stuff to drink that one time. She doesn’t hate Searle for it, just me. And she’ll make you hate me too and then you won’t talk to me anymore and I’ll be alone.” That was how all of Jack’s fears ended - everything came back to being alone.
Jed scowled, but not at her. He’d been trying to convince her `on the Alice thing for a while with no luck. Couldn’t really blame her with the friction between her and Alice. But she had to take his word on one thing. “I ain’t never gonna leave you alone. C’mere,” he said, gesturing her over. “Look in my eyes and tell me I’m lyin’.”
She left her rabbit on her bed, walking across the room like he said. Jed did look like he meant it, but he’d broken promises before. “You might change your mind.”
He set his hands on her shoulders. “Not gonna happen. Yer stuck with me, kid,” he said with a smile. “Hell, yer the closest thing I’ve had to family in a long while. You think I’m gonna juss let you go?”
Jack swallowed hard. She and Jed had problems before with him being her father so to hear him talk about her being family was a shock. Jed wasn’t her dad but he’d been an important part of her life for awhile. She nodded once and bent to throw her arms around his neck.
Jed jumped, not expecting that, but embraced her back. Guess that was the right thing to say. “So, you gonna be okay with this?”
She couldn’t say no now, could she? “I still think she’s mean,” Jack said, pulling away. “But yeah, I guess. If she hurts you I’ll sick Bosie on her.”
That got a laugh. “Don’t think that’s gonna happen, but fine,” he said, giving her a smile. The whole thing had gone incredibly smooth. Maybe the kid really was growing up.