It Was Always You

At work the following Monday, Jack has just finished writing up a report on all his sales last week to give in to his boss and now he’s leaning back in his chair, trying to prolong the time before he has to go back out and “work the floor”. It’s pretty busy today but Jack has been perfectly content letting Caleb Turman and the new girl Jess Bowen handle most of it. They’re perfectly capable and besides, it’s probably a good thing that Jess is getting more experience. She’s nice and all, but she really doesn’t know what she’s doing yet.

He’s leaning as far back as he can in his chair, keeping his eyes glued to the framed photo of Joey that’s on his desk. Zack framed it for him for their six month anniversary gift and it’s definitely one of the best gifts Jack’s gotten in a while. He sighs then, leaning forward again and picking the frame up. He smiles at the photo, remembering the day it was taken. Joey was five years old, and for his birthday Alex and Jack decided to take him to the aquarium. In the picture, he’s smiling and standing in front of the dolphin exhibit and Jack wishes he could go back to that day. He and Alex weren’t fighting yet and everything was fine.

“Hey Jack? There’s a call for you on line one.”

Jack looks up, finding his boss, Alex Marshall, standing in the doorway. He nods towards Jack’s phone, holding up five fingers to tell him that he’s only got five minutes take this before he needs to get back outside. Jack sighs again and puts the photo down. He wasn’t expecting a phone call from anyone; his mom only calls every Thursday and his dad calls every couple of Friday’s. He’s going to put his money on Zack. That’s the only other person it could really be.

“Baltimore Ford Auto, Jack Barakat speaking. Can I help you?” He says automatically, knowing Marshall is probably listening in somehow and making sure that Jack is answering the phones the correct way. Even if it is just Zack, Jack has to be professional still.

“…Hey.”

It’s one word. One simple little word that barely means anything more than ‘hello’. But from that one word, Jack’s heart skips a beat and he drops the phone onto the desk. It makes a loud, obnoxious noise and it nearly falls over the edge and onto the floor, but Jack manages to make his brain respond and he grabs it before it can drop. His hands are shaking, though, as he puts the phone back up to his ear. He’s not really sure what to say next because shit. It’s been a whole fucking year.

“Um. H-hi. I…are you…I don’t-”

Alex lets out a loud sigh and Jack can picture him sitting at a table, running one hand through his hair. He’s probably drinking coffee, too, Jack decides.

“I’m sorry to bother you at work. It took me forever to track you down and I could only find your work number.”

Jack’s heart is hammering against his chest, almost too loud for him to really hear Alex. But he can hear him enough to notice that Alex’s voice doesn’t sound right. He sounds worn out and tired and scared. And that’s not right. Alex was always happy and upbeat, all the time.

“Anyway… I have to talk to you, Jack. But not while you’re at work. Can you give me your home number and I can call you later?”

“Y-yeah, sure. What’s going on?”

He can hear Alex moving around wherever he is, pushing aside papers and mumbling things that Jack can’t hear. Jack wants to ask him where Joey is; he wants to ask if he can talk to him. But he can tell that Alex isn’t exactly in the best mood and he’s in a rush to get off the phone. So he refrains, instead biting on his bottom lip and waiting for Alex to speak again.

“I can’t tell you right now, Jack. Give me your number. I’ll call you at eight. Will you be home?”

“My hours haven’t changed so…yeah.”

He gives Alex the ten digit number, speaking slowly so Alex catches each one. He doesn’t want Alex to write it down wrong and risk him not being able to call him later. This has to go right.

“Okay.” Alex says when he finishes writing down the number. “Well, talk to you later then. Bye.”

He hangs up quickly, not letting Jack put another word in. It’s not until after Jack puts his phone down that it all hits him at once. Alex just called him for the first time in a year. He sounded upset and tired and nervous. He has to talk to Jack about something, but not while he’s at work. There’s something going on and now it’s making Jack really nervous. Is it something bad? What if something happened to Alex? Or Joey? Or both of them? Something bad?

“Jack.”

Marshall’s voice interrupts his panicked thoughts, and Jack finds him standing in his door again, thumb motioning towards the show room.

“Get back out there. It’s getting crazy and I think Jess is going to have a mental break down.”

Marshall is gone a second later, leaving Jack to stare at the spot he was standing in with wide eyes. His hands are shaking and his mind is racing. One year later and he might just be getting what he wanted.

-&-

Jack worries the rest of the day. He doesn’t know what to expect when Alex calls him and that scares him. He used to know Alex like the back of his hand; used to be able to see what he was going to throw at him next. But not now, after so long apart and absolutely no contact. His brain comes up with so many different scenarios, not all of them good, and he’s making himself sick from thinking so much. But luckily Zack is able to provide him with a good distraction.

He doesn’t tell Zack about the phone call. It’s not that he doesn’t want to or anything like that. Because he totally would have. It’s just that maybe when Jack got home from work at six, Zack was just getting out of the shower and okay, that proved to be a really good distraction for Jack. Now they’re on their bed, Jack leaning over Zack’s body with one curled around his hip and the other gripping into his hair. Zack’s skin is still damp from the shower and his hair is wet and everything about this right now is turning Jack on and the phone call from Alex? Way at the back of his mind.

Zack squirms underneath him, pulling out of the kiss and pushing at Jack’s shoulder. “You’re squishing me,” he whines childishly, pouting as he tries to get more comfortable. He moves around until final Jack just decides to flip them over, Zack straddling him and Jack lying on his back.

“Okay?” he asks, reaching up pulling the younger boy closer.

“Yeah,” Zack breathes before moving back in to connect their lips again.

Jack quickly gets them back into it, letting his fingers trace the waistband of Zack’s boxers and then slightly slipping underneath, causing the twenty three year old to inhale sharply and tighten his grip on Jack’s shoulder. His hand slips up Jack’s shirt, leaving gentle touches as he pushes the shirt up.

They get to the point where the only thing completely separating them is Jack’s boxers and just when Zack is about to assist Jack in getting them off, the house phone rings, breaking the silence and causing Jack’s heart to leap into his throat.