Panic Over; Party Off, Party On

“So how was your night last night?” Jack asked, his voice playful, and it sounded like he was hinting at something. Obviously I knew what it was – it had been the one thing I had been thinking about all day. It gave me butterflies in my stomach and made me just a little bit happier with each passing minute.

I grinned. “It was good.”

“Care to give up any details?” He pressed. It was only him and me today at lunch. Alex had his math class, Lisa was in chemisty, and Kara and Rian were who knows where doing who knows what. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but Jack had convinced me to buy a ham sandwich from the cafeteria and share it with him. I watched him pick a piece of soggy lettuce and out of the sandwich, and I wondered why I was eating it in the first place. Oh, right. I forgot to pack my own lunch today. I shrugged, hoping to keep Jack in suspense for a few more seconds. He flung the piece of lettuce at my face, prompting a laugh from both of us. “I don’t care if you don’t tell me. Zack texted me about it at like, eleven at night.”

“Did he now?” I asked, looking up and trying to feign interest. “And what did he say?”

Jack shrugged, dangling a piece of turkey over his mouth before dropping it in. “Just that he had a lot of fun with you,” he said, wiping his mouth with the inside of his arm, “and he can’t wait to see you again tonight.”

I smiled softly, holding my head up on my hand. “Well if he texts you again, you can tell him that I can’t wait to see him again, either.”

Jack chuckled. “Zack and Remy, kissing in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” He sang, causing a few girls sitting at another table to look our way.

“If you must know, Zack and I didn’t kiss last night.” I corrected, pushing my half eaten portion of the sandwich towards him, which he proceeded to pick apart like he had done to his half. “We’re just friends.”

“Friends with benefits, at least?” Jack asked, throwing the lettuce from my half of the sandwich under the table when no one was looking.

I shook my head. “Nope. Just friends.”

“Do you want more?” He asked, wiggling his eyebrows in a way that caused me to laugh.

“That was funny Jack, do it again.” I hoped he wouldn’t realize that I had blatantly avoided the question, and lucky for me it seemed he didn’t.

Wiggling his eyebrows yet again, he suddenly stopped short and pursed his lips. “Hey, wait, answer the question first!”

I sighed and adjusted my legs so that I was sitting on top of them, giving me another inch or so. “I don’t know what I want, Jack. I’ve only spent one day with him.”

“Did you know that it only takes seven seconds to tell if you’re attracted to a person? True fact. I looked it up during my computer class last year.” He stated proudly.

“That was productive.” I said, sarcasm dripping from my smile.

“The point is,” he began, waving away my comment with his hand, “that by now, you know if or if not you’re attracted to him – and don’t even think about denying that – so you might as well plan your next move.”

I opened my mouth to retaliate, something sarcastic forming on my lips, perhaps about his lack of a life love, but I stopped short. There was merit to what Jack was saying; there was no doubt about that. I was attracted to Zack, no questions asked. But what to do next? I wondered if it would be too early to make a move tonight, but I stopped myself before I could put too much thought into it. I’d rather have a friendship with Zack before even considering something else. Besides, what if there was another girl at his school? I couldn’t just expect him to ignore the girls there in favor of some new kid at Dulaney, could I? “What would you do?” I asked meekly to Jack, unable to make eye contact with him.

“Easy,” Jack said, and he suddenly pounded his fists on the table. “I’d bang the brains out of him!” He exclaimed, and the girls a few tables over began to giggle. I couldn’t help but laugh, too.

“No, seriously Jack, what would you do if you were me?”

Jack shrugged yet again. “I don’t know. Flirt with him.”

“That was specific.” I teased, and he rolled his eyes.

“Look, here’s what you’re going to do: when he comes over to your house tonight and you’re in your room, let your knee touch his knee. Or let your hand touch his hand. Something like that.”

I paused, thinking it over. When Zack’s fingers touched my skin yesterday, would it be the same if I touched him? “Who’ve you been trying this out on?” I joked, rolling down the sleeves of my sweater.

Jack picked a piece of non-existent lint off of his shoulder. “Julia Philips.” He replied nonchalantly, and my mind instantly switched to the girl I sat next to in AP Physics.

“She’s smart,” I replied, “she always gets good grades on the quizzes.”

“You know me, I could care less about that. But between you and me, Zack thinks intelligence is sexy.” I blushed profusely, but Jack just laughed. “It’s true. I don’t really know why. Who cares what a girl says, so long as she can make good food?” I rolled my eyes, trying to keep the smile from appearing on my face. “I’m joking Remy, you know I am. But I’m serious about Zack – he thinks being smart is being sexy, so to him, you must be like a fucking sex kitten or something.”

Sex Kitten Remy. It had a ring to it.

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“If I ever have to solve one more logic proof, it’ll be too soon.” Zack said, leaning against the wall as we both sat on my bed. His legs were sprawled out in front of him, hanging off the edge of my bed, and I sat with my back against the headboard. My legs were cross over each other, and when he handed me the sheet of proofs I pushed them out and rested them on his. The contact of my jean-clad calves on top of his jean-clad shins was nothing close to romantic, yet it had taken more than a daily dose of courage from my part.

“Yeah, but aren’t you glad I made you do them?” I asked, turning the page when I had finished reading over the front. So far, so good; everything looked correct. “Great job, Zack,” I finally said, “You got everything right.” He grinned, and I grinned as well. I truly was proud of him; in just two days he had gone from not understanding how to do a proof, to being able to do incredibly difficult ones. I was proud of myself, too, for teaching him, but he was the one doing the actual proofs, so he definitely deserved the most credit.

“Now what?” He asked, shifting his position a little, but still allowing me to keep my legs on top of his.

I shrugged, saying, “We don’t have to do any more math if you don’t want to.” Zack chuckled quietly.

“Yeah, I’m pretty much done with math for the night.” I smirked, feeling my stomach grumble a bit. I hadn’t eaten since I had gotten home, and I wasn’t sure if Zack had, either.

“I’m starving.” I stated. “You want to get something to eat?”

“Definitely.” He replied, a smile gracing his lips. I got off of my bed, followed by Zack, and we headed downstairs to the kitchen.

“My mom went food shopping for the first time yesterday, so I’m sure we have something.” I muttered, looking in the fridge. Zack opened the pantry and began to shuffle through cereal and cookies and other boxed food.

“What are you even in the mood for?” Zack asked, closing the pantry when he hadn’t found anything that was worth eating.

“Not sure.” I replied, and the two of us switched places, me going to the pantry and Zack heading to the fridge. “Have you ever had Shreddies?” I asked, pulling out my favorite cereal. My mom only let me bring one box from Canada, and because you couldn’t buy them in the states, I had yet to even open them.

“No, what are they?” Zack asked, closing the fridge.

“Only the best cereal ever.” I responded with a grin, and I began to open the box and then the plastic shell inside. I popped a few into my mouth, relishing in the taste and how they reminded me of home. Zack stuck his hand in and pulled a few out for himself.

“Not bad.” He said as he chewed. We both stuck our hands back into the box at the same time, looking away quickly.

“C’mon,” I said, not wanting the conversation to take a turn for the worst, “lets go sit down.”

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“Do you miss Montreal?” Zack asked, reaching over to take another handful of cereal. We had sat down on the sofa in the living room in front of the unplugged TV. Neither my dad nor my brother could figure out how to make it work, so until the cable worker came we were stuck watching a blank screen.

I shrugged, putting a few pieces in my mouth. The cereal box sat in the middle of Zack and I, like some kind of barrier between the two of us. Not an intention barrier, I just soon realized after we sat down that, had the cereal box not been there, our sides would have probably been touching. I put my feet up on the coffee table in front of us, and Zack did the same. “Sometimes.” I responded. “But I like it here, too.” I know I had only been in Maryland for a week now, but that was the honest truth – Maryland was starting to feel like home.

“You like Dulaney?” Zack asked.

I nodded. “I like all of my classes, and I like Jack and Kara, Rian, Alex and Lisa.” I paused slightly. “And I like you.” Zack grinned, and I laughed. “So what’s your school like?” I asked, trying to change the topic.

“It’s not as big as Dulaney. And there aren’t as many students.” He responded, grabbing a few more cereal pieces. “I have more friends there, but Jack, Rian and Alex are my best friends. So I guess there are good and bad things to it.” I nodded, conceptually understanding what he was talking about but having no experience with it in my life. In St-Agathe, the only school around my town was the one I went to. People didn’t really have a lot of good friends outside of school. I, for one, certainly didn’t. “So did you have a boyfriend when you left Montreal?” Zack asked, his tone light.

“Nope.” I replied. “I broke up with my last boyfriend about a year ago.”

“What happened?” Zack pressed, though he seemed more curious than judgmental.

“Nothing.” I said. He eyed me suspiciously, and I laughed. “I’m serious, Zack. We dated for a few months, and then we just decided to end things and see other people.” I paused, and he seemed satisfied. “Kara said you just broke up with your girlfriend.” Zack nodded and took some more cereal. “Why?” I asked quietly.

Zack shrugged. “I saw her making out with another guy at a party.” My eyes widened slightly. That was awful! For starters, I didn’t know how any girl could ever think to cheat on Zack – he was gorgeous and sweet and intelligent and everything one could seemingly want.

“I’m sorry.” I muttered, looking down at my hands. Zack laughed, and I felt his elbow poke my arm.

“Don’t worry about it. I was going to break up with her anyway. She was always kind of trashy and high maintenance, you know? Like, really, really short skirts and high heels.” Zack blushed for a second, and I could feel myself grinning. Perhaps it was just him being adorable, or maybe a part of me realizing that I wasn’t like that, and Zack didn’t hate it. “Anyways, it just gave me an excuse to break up with her.”

“Any other girls at school catch your eye lately?” I teased, and Zack chuckled.

“Nah. A lot of the girls at my school are all the same. I think I need something different.”

“Different is good.” I responded quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly. Zack just laughed, though.

“Yeah, different is really good.”