He Doesn't Look A Thing Like Jesus; But He Talks Like A Gentleman

“Hey.” Chase said lowering her head embarrassed. She knew who it was, and after their last exchange she wasn’t completely sure why she was even responding to him.
“Well, I know I am good, but you don’t have to cry. You can have another round.” Chase scoffed at the idiotic, arrogant boy’s comments and went to get up.
“Wait,” Jack stopped her.
Chase could tell by the way he stood by in a position that was half standing half going to sit down he was unsure what to do, but she made no attempt to tell him, waiting for him to make the first move in the conversation, if there was going to be a conversation.
“Can I-Uh-Are you-What are you doing here?” It was clear the boy was flustered.
“What are you doing here?” she answered his question with a question.
“Next question.” Jack replied sitting down on the bench across from Chase on the same picnic table.
Wiping her eyes and looking up for the first time Chase said very matter-of-factly,
“That’s not how this game works.”
“Its how this game works,” he offered a small smile.
Jack’s eyes sparkled in the sun, and Chase hated herself for noticing. She hated him for being nice to her. She hated him for sleeping with her. She hated him, she hated him, she hated him…Right?
Chase sighed, “Why are we doing this?”
“Doing what,” Jack countered.
“This,” she placed her hands up motioning her hands with her palms upward and open, “Talking.”
“Because,” he said frankly, “I showed up here and you were crying so hard that I wasn’t sure you were getting oxygen.”
“Which leads us back to why you’re here.” She argued with an involuntary eyebrow raise. When Jack didn’t say anything, Chase continued. “Or why you care about the oxygen I am or am not receiving,” She pressed.
“I don’t-,”
“Obviously you do if you-,”
“I don’t,” Jack started again, “even know why our families have hated each other for so long,” he said looking up at her for the first time since she had started to interrogate him. “It’s been going on for like a hundred years, and no one can give me a damn reason why.” He laughed spitefully.
Chase sat running through everything that she had heard about the Barakat’s as far back as she could remember. Everything negative of course, but she could not ever remember hearing why the feud had started.
“See,” Jack said taking Chase’s silence as a lack of opposition. “And now with your cousin it’s different. He’s a raging Dick. I wouldn’t like him anyway. But you…,”
Chase looked up
“I am just not getting why I am supposed to hate you because of your last name. And it’s getting harder to justify every time I talk to you.”
Chase was struck speechless. “…Is that some kind of line,” she asked narrowing her almond shaped eyes.
Jack rolled his eyes but then started again; “If things were different…” he let it hang in the air.
“See,” Chase said in a frustrated tone, startling Jack, and sitting up straighter. “You say it yourself right there that you can’t justify hating me because of who what lineage I was born into. And even though you know it’s wrong to be prejudice on that fact, you still are going to live by it.” She referred to the implication his last statement had left.
“And you? You’re so willing to go against everything that you’ve ever known, the people who have loved you your whole life, your parents? Alex? Are you going to run off and tell Alex that we had sex?” Jack challenged also raising his voice. “I’m sure he’ll totally understand right? Once you tell him you were drunk. You have no fears that he will look at you differently.” Chase nearly flinched at Jack’s harsh sarcasm directed at her.
Why am I enduring this? Chase asked herself. With a rush of air through her mouth in irritation, she attempted to get up away from this conversation for a second time. This time she succeeded and had begun to walk to her car when the boy had called out to her.
“I’m here because I followed you. I wanted to apologize. For Friday night, Saturday morning…all of it.” Jack called out to her. No inflection of any type of emotion in his voice.
Chase turned and faced Jack. “Why?”
“Why, what…?”
“’Why,” she clarified sitting beside him once again, “Are you apologizing?”
Jack blanched. “Because…I get that that was a…big…deal for you. And it was a kind of shitty way to…hav-…expi-….lose…it. With a guy you don’t even know, and not even remember it in the morning.” he struggled with the words.
“Your sister, she told me to stay away from you today.” Chase stated unable to formulate a response to Jack’s apology.
Jack got a confused look on his face and looked up as if he was thinking. “Did you tell her-,”
“No, no, god no.” Chase shook her head.
“Then how did she-,”
“She saw us in the study, before things…escalated.”
“She didn’t say anything to me,” Jack looked sincerely distraught.
“Lucky you,” Chase mumbled under her breath.
“So are you going to?” Jack had a cocky smile appear across his face.
“Am I going to what?” she asked tiredly.
“Stay away from me.”
“If I had the choice yes. But I don’t think that’s an option is it?”
“I think we should be friends.”
Chase laughed, loudly. A real laugh.
“Oh yeah! That would be great. You can come with me to our weekly family dinners. Alex would love that. So would Grandpa. In fact why don’t you bring Jasyn along too? She can sit RIGHT next to me; then we can sit you next to Alex so you two can discuss sports or whatever it is that you boys discuss.” Her voice seemed to have an upbeat, sarcastic tone to it.
“I’m serious,” Jack retorted in a feigned offended tone.
“What like secret friends?” Chase asked in obvious doubt.
“Exactly. Admit it, it’s intriguing. And kind of sexy.” Jack wiggled his eyebrows.
“Secret friends, huh?”
Well my mom does think I should expand my group of friends.
“What exactly would that entail?” Chase asked a smile threatening to appear.
“Secret stuff,” Jack had the bravado of a ten year old boy.
“Ok. Secret friends.” Chase emphasized the friends part.