Six Feet Under The Stars

When I climbed into Alex’s car the first thing that became apparent to me was Jack’s lanky body squished into the back seats, a frown plastered onto his face. I had a feeling it was due to his cramped confines and the fact that it had taken me almost twenty minutes to get ready, and he had been in the car the whole time.

I greeted him with a happy smile and small wave to which he only grunted and crossed his arms over his chest.

“No fair Alex, why does she get to sit in the front?” he questioned seriously the second his friend had taken the driver’s seat. I shook my head when he continued to speak, not even allowing Alex to answer, “Bro’s before hoe’s dude remember that.”

I opened my mouth in protest before spluttering out an insult, “...oh and call me a hoe again Jack and I’ll render you unable to father children.”

He scrunched his face up in mock pain before raising his arms up in defence. I nodded once affirmatively before laughing quietly to myself. I realised this probably made me seem a little crazy but it had reminded me of my friends back across the pond, and the fact that they were in fact crazy. They were always threatening each other and on some occasions even going as far as trying to carry out the said threat, usually unsuccessfully.

There was one time however that Elliot, who was more so Colby’s friend than mine, had stolen some of Kendra’s skittles and in retaliation she had threatened to kick him so hard in the bollocks that they would make their way back up into his body. Elliot had laughed at her and told her to try it so she did, wearing steel toe cap boots and Elliot proceeded to fall to the floor in tears.

Needless to say he never stole anything from Kendra again.

“What’s that stupid smile for?” Jack asked snapping me from my reminiscent daze. I shrugged looking over my shoulder at him before answering.

“I’m just happy I guess.”

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“So where to next?” I questioned as we wandered past a parade of shops. Alex shrugged with a shake of the head, continuing with his apparent quietness so I turned to Jack and posed the question upon him.

He looked like he was thinking for a few seconds before he grinned and spoke up, “Well I am kind of hungry.”

I rolled my eyes before nodding. Jack had only been talking about getting some lunch since ten thirty, and it was only now just past twelve but I was too getting a little bit peckish.

“Okay, so let’s get some lunch,” I suggested and Jack threw his arm across my shoulders with a massive grin plastered on his face.

“I knew there was a reason I liked you Bracken, now what would you like for lunch?”

I shrugged and shook my head, “I don’t care whatever you want is fine.”

“Great,” Jack grinned before steering me by the shoulders towards a dirty looking diner, his smile still as big as it was before. Alex had still not muttered a word and I was beginning to wonder if I had done anything to upset him. I couldn’t think of anything but then again I was the sort of person to say something stupid without even realising it.

I looked over at him closely with a raised eyebrow before he caught me looking and I blinked, looking away far too quickly.

Silently cursing myself I followed an eager Jack into the restaurant and coughed. The smell was pretty much what I expected for a greasy burger joint but that didn’t mean that it didn’t cling to the back of my throat and make me feel a tad bit nauseous.

The pink and white decor was what really threw me, the apparent sixties theme reminded me of Grease and the four hundred million times I had watched the damn musical with my mother. I actually couldn’t stand the stupid thing but it was my mother’s favourite and I liked spending time with her. I also stupidly always let her pick out our Saturday afternoon movie.

I climbed into the booth Jack had claimed as our own and watched as he smirked at Alex before sliding into the side opposite me. I took no notice of it and stared down at the drinks menu, reflexively gagging when I read through the contents of a banana smoothie.
Banana’s and I had a love hate relationship in that I absolutely loved to hate them. They made me sick and the mere smell of them made me gag, causing the contents of my stomach to attempt its ascent back up my oesophagus.

Shaking my head I quickly resumed my scan of the menu and looked up at the expectant faces of Jack and Alex. I had been far too busy thinking about banana’s to even realise that they had been speaking to me.

“I’m sorry what?”

Alex laughed quietly and I smiled, “Jack asked if you knew what you wanted.”

I was thankful for his clarification but had absolutely no idea what I wanted to eat, so I answered the best I could, “Um, food?”

I smiled when Jack rolled his eyes and disappeared muttering about ordering something for me. I make my okay face and slouched down into the plastic seating beside Alex. He seemed far more relaxed now than he had earlier and I was rather thankful for it because I wasn’t very good in awkward situations.

“What were your brother’s plans for today then?” he asked and I shrugged.

“Colby will probably sleep all day, waking only to use the bathroom and eat,” I answered remembering how he acted every time we ever got back from a holiday abroad. He always claimed it was due to jetlag but I always thought it was down to his laziness.

Alex exhaled with a slight laugh and I smiled once again Jack made his way back over to the table. A waitress who had appeared to ask us what we would like suddenly became animated and started to chat with him. I decided that Jack came in here far too often and stayed quiet along with Alex as the conversation moved from the last week to myself.

“Who’s your new friend?” the waitress asked Jack and he grinned at me before answering her with my name. “Oh she’s a pretty one Jack, better than all those boys,” she continued barely a millisecond after he had finished speaking. I had managed to hold back a rather embarrassed blush as Alex began to laugh silently. I only knew he was laughing because of his shaking shoulders.

Jack finished the conversation by ordering and bidding farewell to Maria. “Sorry about that, she’s an old family friend,” he apologised and I nodded.

I knew how the older generation could be; an old friend of my grandmothers was always chatting to me if she saw me in the street or bumped into me in a shop. It was generally embarrassing if I were with friends, especially if they were male; she always used to assume they were my boyfriends.

Besides I thought it was kind of sweet. It wasn’t often you found a guy who gave old ladies the time of day conversation wise, especially guys like Jack.

“She’s right though, you are way better looking than any of my other friends,” he grinned as Alex feigned hurt.

I laughed awkwardly hardly considering us friends before uttering out, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

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By the time Alex dropped me off at nine fifteen I had had more than enough of both him and Alex for a whole week. I waved slightly as I swung the door shut before leaning my forehead against the solid wood with a sigh. It wasn’t that they weren’t nice people nor that they weren’t fun to be around, it was just that Jack could be so annoying and Alex’s seemingly awkward behaviour was just confusing.

Quite frankly, I had had enough of confusing.