Status: Hai Finito
Coffee Shop Soundtrack
Alive
In the past two months, Blair learnt to act like a kid again; she acted like she was in love. She was in love. The pair, Jack and Blair acted like the war had never even happened, they ran around the streets at night and screamed loudly everywhere they were, much to the discontent of the town inhabitants. Screaming meant an attack and every scream sent terror through the town.
“When do you get off?” Blair whined as she lifted herself up onto the counter.
“Half an hour, why?” Jack asked wiping down a dirty table.
“Because I wanna go to the beach, I haven’t been there since...in over a year.”
Jack nodded sympathetically “Yeah, haven’t been there since Zack got called up, he loved the beach, massive surfer, you would’ve liked him, more than me, he’s a lot like you.”
Jack had a habit of getting insecure; it was always, ‘are you going to leave me? Are you sure you like me? You’d like him more than me’. It was almost as if once he had the girl he became a different, gentler, unsure person.
“Shh, that’s not true when was he called up?” she asked.
“Six months ago” Jack said quickly “Out of all of us, the awesome foursome” he chuckled “I’m the only one left here”
It was like that for most men now, the one’s left in Maryland, or in the States in general. The guys left were in the minority; few and far between some of them were counting the days until they get called up because, ‘anything had to be better than this shit hole of a town.’
Jack wasn’t like that; he was not one to hack out a war, to fight through it, to kill someone. Every time a stray lanky arm even brushed against another person, he was practically on his knees begging them to forgive him. Jack was not cruel enough for war and both he and Blair knew it.
“Baltimore Maryland, it is the twentieth of April 1955 and, seeing as it is the twentieth of the month, it is conscription day.” The way the news reader had said those words, conscription day, he made it sound like a fun, joyous day, like Christmas, Mothers or Fathers Day. Again, to Blair, it was nothing but death day.
The sound of a rolling barrel full of dates came through the speakers, filling the cafe with a nervous anticipation; all that Blair wanted was it not to be Jack.
The barrel stopped and the reported paused for a second before reading out the date “June 18, 1926.”
No one said anything, they just waited, perhaps the year was wrong, was it nineteen twenty five? Had they even said the eighteenth, Blair could’ve sworn she heard the sixteenth. It had to be the sixteenth, it just had to be.
Jack was the first one to break the silence with a nervous laugh “Well that’s it isn’t it? Well Frank” he managed a grin as he walked over to his elderly boss “It’s been great working with you, but, here is my official three day notice” he joked.
Blair was still standing – just, her expression hadn’t changed since Jack’s name had been read out over the radio. She was losing another loved one to this damn war.
“C’mon babe” Jack poked her in her side to get her attention “we’ve still gotta get down to the beach before the tide comes in” he smiled.
“No” she replied icily.
“Come on Blair, there’s no use crying over spilt milk, its no-”
“This isn’t fucking spilt milk Jack” she shrieked “You’re going to die!”
“Gee” he laughed “thanks for your support”
“Shut up!” Blair cried again.
Jack sighed walking over to her and pulled the now shaking girl into a warm hug “We could hide you!” she suggested “In the woods somewhere, a-and when they come looking we’ll say you’ve been missing for ages” her voice sped up as the plan formed in her head “and you could stay here, you wouldn’t have to go-”
“Blair, I’d be a disgrace” Jack told her.
“You’d be alive!”
“And at what quality of life huh? I’d be to embarrassed of myself to leave the house!”
Two months all of a sudden had faded into nothing it felt like no more than a week. The knowledge of Jack leaving her had almost sent Blair off the edge. Once back at Jack’s home she screamed, kicked and threw everything in sight.
“You’re making this place look like a fucking war zone!” Jack yelled in an attempt to calm her down. Upon seeing her trembling bottom lip he immediately knew his choice of words had been all wrong. “Babe, shit, I didn’t mean it like that.” He approached her cautiously, but unlike earlier today, she didn’t have the energy to fight him off, she just cried and shook in his arms.
“If you don’t write-” Blair started, feeling a sense of déjà vu as she spoke.
“You know I will”
“I know you’re very forgetful-”
“But you’re just so unforgettable”
Blair rolled her eyes and lent into his kiss “You’re an idiot, you do know that don’t you?”
“I love you” Jack smiled, it was the first time either of them had mentioned those words, Blair almost hated Jack for saying them now.
“I love you too” she said kissing him again, tears now pouring down her cheeks.
“Come on Blair” Jack sighed wiping the tears away with his thumb “You’re not gonna spend the whole time crying now are you?”
“Yes”
“Come on, I’ll be back in a few months” He told her reassuringly though they both knew it was a lie.
“Get moving son!” The driver of the jeep, packed full of other soon to be soldiers beeped the horn.
“Do you think I could still smuggle you out of here” Blair whispered as she hugged Jack one last time.
“Shh” Jack said quietly “I’ll see you soon okay?”
Blair nodded, sniffling quietly “I love you” it seemed that as if as soon as Jack had said those words, both of them couldn’t stop saying it to each other.
“I love you too okay” Jack held Blair for a few more moments until he left.
Jack kept his word, he wrote every day, all be it from the training ground in Nevada, but still, it was somewhat assuring for Blair.
Now, with Jack gone Blair had had some time to step back and think about them and about Nick. To put it quite simply, she felt guilty. She had gone ahead and fallen in love with another man, when Nick could quite possibly still be alive. But if he was alive, then why wasn’t he writing?
After two weeks spent moping around her once again empty house Blair went out to get a job, where Jack used to work, she continued to pay the upmost attention to the death notices and the news. There were still deaths, but not Jack, nor Nick’s names were ever read out.
“Umm excuse me Miss?” It was two days before Jack was to be sent overseas when Zack arrived at the cafe.
“Yes Sir” she smiled, he was dressed head to toe in his soldiers uniform.
“Umm, I’m here, well, I was told that, you might know him you might not. Do you know Jack Barakat? I thought he worked here.”
“He did” Blair said, her voice shaking slightly “He got called up”
“Oh, how long ago?”
“It’s two days until he leaves Nevada, you are?” she raised her eyes apprehensively at Zack.
“Oh, I-I’m Zack Merrick, an old friend” he extended a hand to her.
“Blair Huntston, his girlfriend” it was the first time Blair had used her maiden name in two years “You were the one who liked the beach weren’t you!”
“Yeah” Zack smiled awkwardly.
“Ladies and Gentlemen” a newsreaders voice burst through the radio speakers, interrupting whichever generic song was currently playing “It is just in, the war is over, Lybia has declared defeat, soldiers should be home by the end of the month.”
Screams of happiness erupted throughout the town and people flooded out onto the streets. Blair stayed inside, rested her head in her hands and cried.
“Are you okay?” Zack asked, jumping the counter and resting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Blair didn’t reply, she was shaking, crying and could not speak. She looked up at Zack who was looking quite concerned and jumped into his arms “He didn’t go” she shrieked, grabbing hold of Zacks hand and running out into the street with everyone else.
Jack returned home within the week and everything slowly returned back to some sort of normality. However, considering they had been living under war conditions for the past fifteen years, so really, no one knew what to call this new time period.
Two months passed and Nick didn’t return, Blair presumed him dead, she found it hard but she had Jack to help her out and two of Jack friends were yet to return, Alex and Ryan. However, due to the fact that Jack was never actually deployed, he was fortunate enough not to be affected by post was stress, shell shock or any other post war ailment.
Zack on the other hand, was not as lucky, every now and again, maybe twice a week he’d wake up, shouting. He’d shake, scream and fight off anyone who tried to calm him down, that was why he was sent home early.
It was almost six months since the war ended and things between Jack and Blair were better than ever. She had even begun to move some of her belongings there so she could help out on the nights that Zack had some problems.
Upon arriving home she noticed the front door slightly a jar. Cautiously, she walked inside.
“Hello? Jack!” she called out throughout the house.
“B-Blair?” the voice was all too familiar, it was one she never expected to hear again.
“Oh my god Nick” she screamed hugging him tightly “I honestly thought you weren’t coming back. Why did you stop writing?”
“I didn’t”
“Well I never got any” she almost demanded.
“What does it matter” Nick said simply “I’m alive now”
“I know” she smiled hugging him again.
“So who’s Jack?”
“Nobody.”
“When do you get off?” Blair whined as she lifted herself up onto the counter.
“Half an hour, why?” Jack asked wiping down a dirty table.
“Because I wanna go to the beach, I haven’t been there since...in over a year.”
Jack nodded sympathetically “Yeah, haven’t been there since Zack got called up, he loved the beach, massive surfer, you would’ve liked him, more than me, he’s a lot like you.”
Jack had a habit of getting insecure; it was always, ‘are you going to leave me? Are you sure you like me? You’d like him more than me’. It was almost as if once he had the girl he became a different, gentler, unsure person.
“Shh, that’s not true when was he called up?” she asked.
“Six months ago” Jack said quickly “Out of all of us, the awesome foursome” he chuckled “I’m the only one left here”
It was like that for most men now, the one’s left in Maryland, or in the States in general. The guys left were in the minority; few and far between some of them were counting the days until they get called up because, ‘anything had to be better than this shit hole of a town.’
Jack wasn’t like that; he was not one to hack out a war, to fight through it, to kill someone. Every time a stray lanky arm even brushed against another person, he was practically on his knees begging them to forgive him. Jack was not cruel enough for war and both he and Blair knew it.
“Baltimore Maryland, it is the twentieth of April 1955 and, seeing as it is the twentieth of the month, it is conscription day.” The way the news reader had said those words, conscription day, he made it sound like a fun, joyous day, like Christmas, Mothers or Fathers Day. Again, to Blair, it was nothing but death day.
The sound of a rolling barrel full of dates came through the speakers, filling the cafe with a nervous anticipation; all that Blair wanted was it not to be Jack.
The barrel stopped and the reported paused for a second before reading out the date “June 18, 1926.”
No one said anything, they just waited, perhaps the year was wrong, was it nineteen twenty five? Had they even said the eighteenth, Blair could’ve sworn she heard the sixteenth. It had to be the sixteenth, it just had to be.
Jack was the first one to break the silence with a nervous laugh “Well that’s it isn’t it? Well Frank” he managed a grin as he walked over to his elderly boss “It’s been great working with you, but, here is my official three day notice” he joked.
Blair was still standing – just, her expression hadn’t changed since Jack’s name had been read out over the radio. She was losing another loved one to this damn war.
“C’mon babe” Jack poked her in her side to get her attention “we’ve still gotta get down to the beach before the tide comes in” he smiled.
“No” she replied icily.
“Come on Blair, there’s no use crying over spilt milk, its no-”
“This isn’t fucking spilt milk Jack” she shrieked “You’re going to die!”
“Gee” he laughed “thanks for your support”
“Shut up!” Blair cried again.
Jack sighed walking over to her and pulled the now shaking girl into a warm hug “We could hide you!” she suggested “In the woods somewhere, a-and when they come looking we’ll say you’ve been missing for ages” her voice sped up as the plan formed in her head “and you could stay here, you wouldn’t have to go-”
“Blair, I’d be a disgrace” Jack told her.
“You’d be alive!”
“And at what quality of life huh? I’d be to embarrassed of myself to leave the house!”
Two months all of a sudden had faded into nothing it felt like no more than a week. The knowledge of Jack leaving her had almost sent Blair off the edge. Once back at Jack’s home she screamed, kicked and threw everything in sight.
“You’re making this place look like a fucking war zone!” Jack yelled in an attempt to calm her down. Upon seeing her trembling bottom lip he immediately knew his choice of words had been all wrong. “Babe, shit, I didn’t mean it like that.” He approached her cautiously, but unlike earlier today, she didn’t have the energy to fight him off, she just cried and shook in his arms.
“If you don’t write-” Blair started, feeling a sense of déjà vu as she spoke.
“You know I will”
“I know you’re very forgetful-”
“But you’re just so unforgettable”
Blair rolled her eyes and lent into his kiss “You’re an idiot, you do know that don’t you?”
“I love you” Jack smiled, it was the first time either of them had mentioned those words, Blair almost hated Jack for saying them now.
“I love you too” she said kissing him again, tears now pouring down her cheeks.
“Come on Blair” Jack sighed wiping the tears away with his thumb “You’re not gonna spend the whole time crying now are you?”
“Yes”
“Come on, I’ll be back in a few months” He told her reassuringly though they both knew it was a lie.
“Get moving son!” The driver of the jeep, packed full of other soon to be soldiers beeped the horn.
“Do you think I could still smuggle you out of here” Blair whispered as she hugged Jack one last time.
“Shh” Jack said quietly “I’ll see you soon okay?”
Blair nodded, sniffling quietly “I love you” it seemed that as if as soon as Jack had said those words, both of them couldn’t stop saying it to each other.
“I love you too okay” Jack held Blair for a few more moments until he left.
Jack kept his word, he wrote every day, all be it from the training ground in Nevada, but still, it was somewhat assuring for Blair.
Now, with Jack gone Blair had had some time to step back and think about them and about Nick. To put it quite simply, she felt guilty. She had gone ahead and fallen in love with another man, when Nick could quite possibly still be alive. But if he was alive, then why wasn’t he writing?
After two weeks spent moping around her once again empty house Blair went out to get a job, where Jack used to work, she continued to pay the upmost attention to the death notices and the news. There were still deaths, but not Jack, nor Nick’s names were ever read out.
“Umm excuse me Miss?” It was two days before Jack was to be sent overseas when Zack arrived at the cafe.
“Yes Sir” she smiled, he was dressed head to toe in his soldiers uniform.
“Umm, I’m here, well, I was told that, you might know him you might not. Do you know Jack Barakat? I thought he worked here.”
“He did” Blair said, her voice shaking slightly “He got called up”
“Oh, how long ago?”
“It’s two days until he leaves Nevada, you are?” she raised her eyes apprehensively at Zack.
“Oh, I-I’m Zack Merrick, an old friend” he extended a hand to her.
“Blair Huntston, his girlfriend” it was the first time Blair had used her maiden name in two years “You were the one who liked the beach weren’t you!”
“Yeah” Zack smiled awkwardly.
“Ladies and Gentlemen” a newsreaders voice burst through the radio speakers, interrupting whichever generic song was currently playing “It is just in, the war is over, Lybia has declared defeat, soldiers should be home by the end of the month.”
Screams of happiness erupted throughout the town and people flooded out onto the streets. Blair stayed inside, rested her head in her hands and cried.
“Are you okay?” Zack asked, jumping the counter and resting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Blair didn’t reply, she was shaking, crying and could not speak. She looked up at Zack who was looking quite concerned and jumped into his arms “He didn’t go” she shrieked, grabbing hold of Zacks hand and running out into the street with everyone else.
Jack returned home within the week and everything slowly returned back to some sort of normality. However, considering they had been living under war conditions for the past fifteen years, so really, no one knew what to call this new time period.
Two months passed and Nick didn’t return, Blair presumed him dead, she found it hard but she had Jack to help her out and two of Jack friends were yet to return, Alex and Ryan. However, due to the fact that Jack was never actually deployed, he was fortunate enough not to be affected by post was stress, shell shock or any other post war ailment.
Zack on the other hand, was not as lucky, every now and again, maybe twice a week he’d wake up, shouting. He’d shake, scream and fight off anyone who tried to calm him down, that was why he was sent home early.
It was almost six months since the war ended and things between Jack and Blair were better than ever. She had even begun to move some of her belongings there so she could help out on the nights that Zack had some problems.
Upon arriving home she noticed the front door slightly a jar. Cautiously, she walked inside.
“Hello? Jack!” she called out throughout the house.
“B-Blair?” the voice was all too familiar, it was one she never expected to hear again.
“Oh my god Nick” she screamed hugging him tightly “I honestly thought you weren’t coming back. Why did you stop writing?”
“I didn’t”
“Well I never got any” she almost demanded.
“What does it matter” Nick said simply “I’m alive now”
“I know” she smiled hugging him again.
“So who’s Jack?”
“Nobody.”
♠ ♠ ♠
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