Mind Over You're the Only Thing That Matters.

After ten minutes of waiting for the cab to show up, fifteen minutes of Jack screwing up the directions plus the twenty minute ride, we arrived at a small house on the off skirts of town, and Jack sighed in relief as he crawled out of the car, me in tow.

“Well, here it is. My humble abode. My parents are off at my aunt’s for the rest of the week. Can’t say I blame them, the party was pretty hardcore,” Jack said with a smirk, digging around in his pocket for his house key, pulling it out with a flourish of triumph.

I rolled my eyes, he was such a boy. “I can tell. Alright, do you think you can handle it from here?” I smirked as he poked his tongue at me childishly. The cab driver began to eye me furiously, obviously wanting to get on with his day and not wait for a short nineteen year old girl with an attitude problem.

“Very funny. You’re leaving so soon?” He question cautiously, taking me off guard.

“Well... yeah. The cab driver is looking pretty pissed and I don’t want to hold him up any longer.”

“Let him leave. If you don’t have anything to do today, you could always hang out for a bit? I could at least show you a little hospitality after all the kind things you have done for me. Please?” As the lower lip began to stick out, I could feel myself softening.

I sighed loudly. “Well, only because you twisted my arm so much, I guess I could.” On the inside, I was thrilled, hanging out with Jack beats sitting at home watching soap opera re-runs, which I had already seen, so it was more like... re-re-runs.

Jack clapped happily, face painted with pure glee before a sudden cloud of terror washed away any trace of joy. He started laughing nervously, before shuffling into the space between me and the door. I could only give him a weird look; his actions had no reasoning behind them.

“Why don’t you get to know... my garden gnomes for a bit? I’ll just go clean up!” And with that, the door slammed and he was gone. Of course, his ‘hardcore’ party must have left a hardcore mess. With a content smile, I began humming under my breath and rocking on my heels, glancing around the neatly trimmed hedges that held the odd item of clothing, and the small garden that was filled with empty bottles and plastic cups.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a kid appeared with a head covered in tousled brown hair, nodding at me as he strolled down the path toward Jack’s front door. He walked another two steps before standing completely still and glancing over his shoulder to give me another once over, then turning right around and walking back over to me.

“Uh, hi? Are you lost?” The kid asked, still staring at me as if I had grown a third head. I wasn’t quite sure how to comprehend this, was it a trick question? People never ceased to amaze me at how strange they got.

“No, I’m waiting for Jack?” The pressure of his stare burning down at me forced the statement to come out more as a question, and without warning, a rupture of laughter emerged from the kid.

“Seriously? A girl, as gorgeous as you, is actually hanging around for Barakat?” The kid asked, finding his voice in between pants as the odd giggle escaped from his amused lips. As I studied the kid further, I realized he sort of had the image of something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

“Uh, I actually, wait, what?” I was finding the kid slightly obnoxious. The kid looked at me as if I was crazy, and suddenly the door opened, and Jack appeared, dressed in a fresh outfit fixed with that perfect lopsided grin.

“Well, I tried my best, but my bed isn’t large enough to hide all the evidence – Oh, hey Alex, I see you have met Tia.” Jack smiled and gestured at me, and ‘Alex’ seemed to look dumbfounded, as if the idea that an actual girl hanging out with Jack on her own freewill was unfathomable.

“Not formally, no. I thought she was lost,” He muttered, and I resisted the urge to poke my tongue out at him. I loved to be right.

“Nah dude, Tia is the one that looked after me last night,” Jack explained and Alex suddenly looked completely scandalized.

“Oh I see, fate is playing favorites. Jack gets a beautiful girl to take care of him for the night, while I get a wakeup call from a very noisy bum with a long stick? Well this just sucks, swallows and digests ass, don’t it?” Alex pouted, and I almost laughed at his antics.

“Wait, you think I couldn’t get a girl to hang out with me, without having to pay her in sexual favors?” Jack seethed, advancing toward Alex as he made taunting faces. I was at a loss to if this was real or they were just play fighting and putting on a show.

“It’s nothing personal Jack, you just suck dick,” Alex shot back, wagging his tongue at Jack, and in response, Jack jumped into the air and tackled Alex to the ground, both of them still spewing out insults as they wrestled on the grass.

“You couldn’t charm an empty tuna can!”

“That’s because it’s an inanimate object, you douche nozzle!”

“The only action you’ll ever get is from an inanimate object, ass-face!”

“So, uh, what are they fighting about?” A third voice, gentle and quiet, sounded from beside me, and I jumped lightly when I realized I wasn’t the only one watching the humorous brawl going on in front of me. His hair was similar to Jack’s, dyed black, yet instead of blonde streaks, they were more like sporadic blonde patches, and he had the kind of smile that could tell you more about him than words ever could.

“Something about tuna cans and shower nozzles, I think,” I replied, shooting him a confused smile as he laughed lightly.

“Oh, so the usual then.”

“This is usual?” I shook my head, I had to give it to these boys, they were definitely different.

“Yeah, pretty much. I’m Zack, by the way.” He stuck his hand out politely, which I took with a smile. Despite the fact his outside exterior was all muscles, and if he was caught in the wrong light, he could look quite intimidating; it was obvious he was one of those gentle souls.

“I’m Tia, but I go by Ace,” I offered, and the two boys on the ground suddenly stood up and dusted themselves off, both wearing large, goofy smiles.

“Zack Attack! What happened to you last night, brah?” Jack asked, attempting to pull Zack into one of those bro hugs, which failed as they both bumped each other awkwardly.

“I woke up in some old lady's hedge, and she insisted I stayed for the cookies she was baking,” Zack supplied, looking amused as Alex’s face changed to distorted shock, before crossing his arms with a pout.

“You two got cookies and girls, and I got fucking two week old milkshake in my hair! Un-fucking-believable!”

“Rian stayed at his girlfriends, but he’s at work right now with the mother of all hangovers, apparently,” Zack continued, as if Alex’s outburst had fallen on deaf ears.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! I know what we are going to do today! Pick me! Pick me!” Jack waved his hand in the air, wiggling and jumping as if his small body couldn’t contain the excitement of whatever idea just flashed up in front of his eyes.

“Oh, oh, oh! I pick Jack!” I mirrored his actions with a laugh, pointing a finger at Jack.

“Let’s go visit Rian at work and fuck him off!”