Opposites Distract

Someone gently shook me awake, making one of my headphones fall out of my ear. “What?” I whined groggily, rubbing my eyes with a yawn and feeling around for my fallen headphone.

“We’re home, Jack,” May laughed softly as she unbuckled.

I reached over to throw up the shade on the window. We were home, alright. I was so happy to find that the Baltimore city lights still managed to make me smile even after that whole fiasco with Warren and Taylor. I was ready to put those assholes out of my mind, and I’m pretty sure May was, too. Even if she wasn’t, she really fucking needed to.

We all grabbed our bags and got off the plane, making our way to baggage claim. Joe and I got May’s bags for her. Mom and dad came to pick us up. May almost broke down in the airport when they started questioning her about the marriage, so Joe cut the conversation short and we all went home first.

May spent the night sobbing on mom’s lap. It was still really strange for me to see May, to see my older sister, so vulnerable like this. ‘Cause, you know, it’s not like I went bawling to my dad about Taylor. Ha! No, I was definitely over her!

…I can’t even lie to anyone and keep a straight face, what more with lying to myself? Needless to say, it was a terrible night in the Barakat household. Joe explained everything to dad over some beers on the back porch. Mom and May were in the living room with loads of ice cream and all of May’s favorite eighties movies. I didn’t really belong with either parent at the moment, so I went out. Not for a drink, not for a drive, just for a walk.

I found myself walking to all the places that I wanted to bring Taylor – the park close to my house, the Waffle House right by Dulaney, the TCBY I used to work at… I chilled at the Waffle House for a while and got some coffee. I got my coffee free because my waitress was such a huge fan, but I got it to go since I really wasn’t up for conversation. I walked to the park after that, sitting in one of the swings. I guess normal people would be creeped out to be at a park all alone in the dark of the night, but it was kind of calming to me – just being alone with my thoughts.

Then I got a text message from a number that wasn’t already in my contacts. But I would know that number anywhere, just like the address “42 Wallaby Way, Sydney” was forever burned into my memory. I may have deleted Taylor from my contacts, but I hadn’t quite figured out how to delete her from my heart... Ewww, that was like a corndog covered in cheese right there.

Girls. They fuck with your brain.

I was just going to delete the text message, just like I deleted her from my contacts, but my curiosity got the best of me. I viewed the message.



Aw, she still cares about me…wait, what?! I had quite the mental struggle for a while after that. I was so tempted to text Taylor back, but I staved off the urge for a few minutes…for ten…for thirty…and, it was gone…for now. She probably thought I would call her, begging her to take me back or something. I would never fall for that girl’s tricks again.

I sat around on the playground – the slide, the monkey bars, the roundabout – just thinking about everything, about nothing, about Taylor, about other girls. It wasn’t fair to other girls now, because I always compared them to Taylor, and none of them could compare to Taylor…

Thankfully, my wallowing in misery was interrupted by a call from Alex. “Jack, bro, where are you? May and Joe have been calling me and asking for you because they think you’re with me.”

“Oh, I’m just out and about. Tell them I’m spending the night at…a friend’s house,” I sighed, getting up from the roundabout. “I just…need some space, you know?”

“You wanna crash at my place? We can play Black Ops all night,” Alex added to the end of his offer as if my decision depended on it.

“You live with Maddie…I think I’ll pass…”

“Well, Maddie’s down with you coming over, and she doesn’t mind going over to Bailey’s for-“

“Alex, don’t worry about me. You and Maddie just have some…uh, fun,” I snickered.

“Fuck you, Jack,” Alex laughed. “Seriously, though…are you gonna be ok?” I swallowed hard because I didn’t even have a response for that. “Jack…what would you do…if Taylor lied to you?”

I grimaced at the very sound of her name. “Alex, she did lie to me. And we’re over. End of story. I don’t want to talk about her with you.”

“No, I meant, what if she-“

“See you at the party this weekend, Alex,” I quickly cut him off, hanging up on him to call Jordan. What is with me and being into girls with unisexual names? “Jordan?”

“Well, hello there, Jack Sparrow,” Jordan giggled, her words slurred. Typical. “What’s up?”

“Just flew back in from Indiana. What about you? You sound like you’re having a good time…” I trailed off, starting to walk home for my car. “Mind if I join you?”

“Oh my god, I thought you’d never ask! I haven’t seen you in a while! We should really catch up! You should spend the night!” And I let Jordan continue her drunken ramblings all the way to my house. This always happened when we were younger. Old habits die hard, I guess. “…so, are you gonna come over or what? Because if you are, let me just tell you, my one friend - no, i have more than one friend! Anyways, my friend Holly came over and my place is still kinda messy and-“

“Jordan? I’m coming to pick you up. Wait for me, alright?” I told her slowly, making sure to enunciate.

“Cool beans,” Jordan sighed, and she hung up on me. I knew just where to find her, though – she always went to the same bar, ever since the days when she technically couldn’t even drink. It took me about fifteen minutes to get there. Jordan was sitting on the curb, a bottle in her hand and her phone in the other. “Jack Sparrow!” she said loudly when she saw me get out of my car, getting the attention of quite a few people. Jordan hugged me tightly, the bottle dropping and shattering on the concrete.

“Jesus Christ, Jordan. Get in my car,” I laughed, opening the door for her. It’s always like this. Jordan was out like a light in a matter of minutes, but I knew where she lived. Jordan is probably my only best female friend. I had to carry her to her apartment, though…and we weren’t the only ones there.

“Oh, god, is that Jordan?” this blonde girl laughed when she opened the door for us.

“Y-Yeah…Holly, right?” I asked as I put Jordan down on the couch. “I’m Jack…”

“Oh, nice to meet you, Jack! Are you crashing here, too?”

…We ended up talking all night. Holly was actually pretty nice, I guess, even though I was dying to tell Jordan all the fuckery that happened to me in Indiana. We all just fell asleep in Jordan’s living room…

And, you know, I just kept having dreams of Taylor. Fuck. My. Life.