Flesh & Bone

Jocelyn spent the rest of that night at her house, busying herself with homework. She did not want to think about working with Alex or even be around him at all. But, her mind always somehow wondered back to the thought though.

Throwing her books on her desk, she got up off the chair and ventured downstairs. Her dad was sitting on the recliner, snoring, and the TV was blaring some sitcom. This is how nights usually went. She'd come home and her dad would make dinner. Then they'd go their separate ways, he goes to the living room and watches TV all night, while she locks herself in her room.

Jocelyn sighed and decided to get herself a snack, but once she got to the kitchen, she ended up finding nothing that interested her. She didn't know what to do, but she had to distract herself.

Her mind clicked and she ran up the stairs and into her room, closing the door behind her. Grabbing her phone from the desk, she scrolled down to a familiar number. The line rang a few times before an excited voice came from the other end.

“Joce, what up?!” Jack's voice sang. She smiled at his excitement.

“I really need to distract myself, want to go do something?” Jocelyn could feel the wide grin that was on Jack's face on the other end.

“Yeah! Sure,” he replied. “I'll be there in a few,” he added. Jocelyn hung up the phone, then waited anxiously on her bed.

Suddenly, a few minutes later, there came a tap at her window. Jocelyn walked to the window and looked down at the ground to see Jack standing there, a few stones in his hand. Opening the window, she laughed.

“How cliché,” Jocelyn whispered just loudly enough for Jack to hear her. “You could have just come to the front door.”

“I wanted to be romantic,” Jack responded, giving her one of his goofy smiles. She shook her head.

“Just come to the front door.”

Jack nodded, still with a grin on his face and then he disappeared. Jocelyn ran down the steps, trying to be quiet. Once Jack arrived at the front door, Jocelyn opened it up for him and telling him to be quiet as they ran back up the stairs. When they got into her bedroom, she fell face first onto her bed.

Jocelyn sat up after not hearing a peep out of Jack for the past five minutes. She saw he was nowhere to be found. “Jack, what the hell?”

Then she saw it. In the corner of her eye, she saw a tint of blond and brown hair underneath her bed. Gently grabbing some of the hair, she tugged on it lightly. She heard a bang as Jack's head hit her bed frame.

“OW, FUCK.” Jack cussed as he shimmied his way out of under the bed. Jocelyn laughed lightly and got up to help him get to his feet. “So what do you wanna do then?” He asked her, his face full of excitement, smiling. “No, wait! I got a good idea. But we gotta take the bus.” His smile grew now from ear to ear, looking like a 5-year-old.

Jocelyn looked at him in both confusion and curiousness. What was he planning now? He grabbed her arm and lead her down the stairs.

“Wait, I should leave a note for my dad.” Jocelyn whispered quietly. She quickly ran into the kitchen, grabbing a notepad and a pencil, she jotted something down. Then came back into the living room where Jack was waiting anxiously by the door. They walked out the door and started walking toward the public bus stop.

The bus arrived shortly after, Jack paid for the both of them and found seats in the back of the bus. Jocelyn sat down next to him, near the window. The bus started to move and the fields passed by as they did this morning, albeit it was now dark.

Fields turned into buildings and bright lights as they entered into the small city of Towson. Jocelyn turned to Jack as his face swelled with happiness as he looked back at her. She raised her eyebrows at him, still very curious. Shaking her head, she turned back to look out the window.

Towson wasn't that big but it was still busy, even for a Monday night. The stores and shops had loads of people inside and the streets were crowded with cars. The bus stopped suddenly and Jack grabbed her arm.

“Come on,” he whispered in her ear, giving her shivers. She smiled up at him as he took her hand and they jumped out of the bus.

“Okay, where are we going?” She asked him again for the 4th time that night. Jack just looked at her, said you'll see, and kept walking.

They walked a good mile until Jack stopped suddenly, sending Jocelyn to crash into his back. She looked up and saw they were standing outside a building called The Coliseum. The Coliseum was an arcade that took up 35,000 square feet.

Jocelyn's face lit up and she looked back to Jack but he was already running for the entrance. She ran closely behind him and leapt onto his back. He grabbed under her legs for support. He slightly turned his head as she did so and smiled up at her. They walked into the building just like that.

Soon after they entered, Jocelyn jumped down from his back and walked beside him into the vast arcade. Her smile was as wide as it could go. This was her favorite place in the whole city.

“How did you know this was my favorite place?” Jocelyn asked Jack as he was getting tokens from the machine.

“It's my favorite place too,” shrugged Jack, giving her a smirk. She bit down on her lower lip and tried hiding her smile. Why was she feeling as if she was melting? Every time Jack smiled or even looked at her, her heart skipped. It was just like how she used to get around Alex...She shook her head and tried to erase that thought and feeling. She felt the sense of being watched and snapped back to reality.

Jack was giving her a look. “Are you okay?”

“Fine! Let's go play,” beamed Jocelyn as she linked her arm into his.

The night passed by fairly quickly, as she was having fun with Jack. The pair was having so much fun, that they didn't want to leave. The thing with Jack is that he can be a such a kid and still know when to be serious and she liked that. They were playing another round of basketball and Jocelyn had Jack beat by 30 to 12.

“Oh, don't be such a sore loser,” Jocelyn joked as the game ended. She pushed on his shoulder lightly. Jack kept pouting and widening his chocolate brown eyes. Sighing, Jocelyn rolled her eyes and started putting more tokens into the machine.

“2 out of 3, okay?” Jack's pout turned into a beaming smile as he put more tokens into his machine.

“If you win, I'll get you that teddy bear you've been wanting all night. And if I win, you...” Jack started looking around, pretending to think of something, “You give me a kiss...” he finished in a small whisper.

Jocelyn's heart wanted to beat out of her chest, but she relaxed herself just to breath out a “fine.” The game was a close one, the score kept fluctuating. She wanted that bear really bad, but she felt like maybe she wanted to kiss him more than getting the bear. So, she did what anyone would do in this situation, let him win.

“Fuck,” Jocelyn exclaimed, hiding the fact she let him win.

“So... About that, uh, deal we made,” Jack started, moving closer to her with a smile playing on his lips.

Jocelyn's heart was racing as she moved in closer to him. She swallowed down the nervousness and let her lips crash onto his. He deepened the kiss and she felt as if her heart was going to explode as his hand lightly touched her cheek. They pulled away from each other and she felt a little sad that the kiss didn't last forever.

Jack face broke into a wide grin and Jocelyn couldn't help but smile back at him herself. He grabbed her hand and lead her to the counter. He threw all the tickets they had won onto the counter. The employee behind it, ran the tickets through a machine to count them.

“You have 3500 tickets, what would you like?” she said to them. Jack's face turned into yet another smile and he looked at Jocelyn.

“I'll take that bear please,” replied Jack, pointing to the large brown teddy bear that sat behind the counter.

“But, I didn't win,” Jocelyn stated, looking confused. The employee handed the bear over to Jack and he put it under his arm.

“Yeah, I know. It's for me!” he laughed. Jocelyn pushed her bottom lip out and looked up at him. He shook his head.

“It's for you,” he admitted and pushed the huge bear towards her. Her lips curled into a smile and she hugged the bear tightly against herself.

“Thank you,” she grinned, then leaned in to place a kiss on his cheek. She saw him bit his lip and the pink starting to form on his cheeks. Giggling, she placed her hand in his. His smile was to die for.

“Let's go,” he suggested, as they started to walk outside the building.

The bus ride home wasn't as exciting as the bus ride there. The city wasn't as busy and crowded as it was earlier in the night. Jocelyn, however, received a lot of looks with the bear that was placed on her lap. The large buildings and bright lights transformed into fields and trees once again. The bus had stopped and they got off the bus.

On the walk back to her house, Jocelyn couldn't help but steal glances as Jack once in a while. Her heart beating faster every time. He would just smile at her and squeeze her hand slightly. The two arrived at the front door of her house.

“So, was this some kind of date or something, then?” Jocelyn asked curiously as she shifted the bear from one arm to the other.

“I guess you could say that,” Jack responded. But before she could say anything else, Jack's lips were on hers. The kiss took her by surprise at first but, she melted into it after a few seconds. She dropped the bear from her arms and locked them around his neck. His hands moved to her waist as he deepen the kiss. After a few seconds, she pulled away and bit her lip. The heat rising from cheeks. He smirked at her, but still didn't let go of her waist.

“Um, I should go now,” he spoke sadly. Jocelyn nodded and loosened her arms from around his neck. He picked up the bear and handed back to her, a smile now on his face. He opened the door for her and let her inside the house.

“It was a nice date, thanks, Jack,” smiled Jocelyn.

“Anytime, my darlin'.”

“Bye,” she waved then pulled him in for a hug. He embraced her tightly and she was surrounded by his scent. Her mouth formed into a small grin. They let go of each other and Jocelyn waved once again then Jack waved back with a huge smile.

Jocelyn silently closed the door. Her dad wasn't in the living room anymore so, she figured he went to bed. She climbed the stairs and slid into her room, then closed the door behind her. Placing the bear on her bed, she stripped off her clothes and put on her night clothes then pulled her light red hair up into a bun. She laid down on her bed, pulling the covers over herself. She pulled the bear close to her and she went to sleep that night with a smile on her face.