Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous

It had been a rough couple of days for both Barakats – Jack especially – so later that day I took them out to get May her ice cream. She bounced around excitedly as we walked to the park to sit, finishing her cone as quickly as possible so she could run around. Jack and I sat on a bench keeping one eye on her as she ran around on a sugar high.

Jack was unusually quiet, but I could tell he was just drained from the roller-coaster the last forty-eight hours had been. I put an arm around his shoulders and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “The ice cream help any?”

He shrugged, keeping his eyes on his lap.

“You wanna talk?”

He hesitated before shaking his head sharply.

“Are you sure? It might help?”

He shot a quick glare at me.

I sighed and settled for watching May while Jack drifted back into deep thought. I didn’t know what to do for him, but I figured that when he needed me he’d tell me and until then, I’d give him space.

Jack:
Things were happening too fast. My head was spinning. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, my world seemed to tear itself apart again. My parents were probably getting divorced, but then what? Who gets the house? Who gets custody of me and May? What if they separate us? What if they give her to him? What if we have to move? Would we move far? Would I have to leave my friends? Would I have to leave Alex?

I paused. Alex. My mind hung on him a moment. What if I have to leave him? My eyes stung a bit at the thought. Yeah sure, he was my boyfriend now, but he was my best friend first, and even if it wasn’t romantically yet, I knew I loved him. Why did he have to tell her? This would all be fine if he just kept his mouth shut!

“Jack? Hey, what’s up?”

I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said, far sharper than I’d intended to.

Alex scoffed. “Jack you’re shaking. Come on, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

Something snapped. I jumped to my feet. “WHAT’S WRONG?!” I bellowed. “YOU! YOU’RE WHAT’S WRONG!” He stared up at me in shock, but I had lost control of what was happening. I couldn’t stop myself. “IF YOU COULD JUST KEEP YOUR FUCKING MOUTH SHUT MAYBE MY LIFE WOULDN’T BE FALLING APART RIGHT NOW!”

The tears in his eyes tugged on my heart, but the feeling was quickly burned away by my anger. “Jay, I-I just w-wanted t-to help-“

“WELL YOU FUCKING DIDN’T ALRIGHT?” The sun was nearly set and the park had just about emptied, so no parents were there to give me angry stares or reprimand me for my language – not that it would have done anything, not even the fear in Alex’s eyes was stopping me, I was too far gone. “CHRIST, YOU SHOW UP AND I BARELY KNOW YOU WHEN YOU’RE FORCING YOURSELF INTO MY PROBLEMS! I HAD A PLAN, DAMNIT! I WAS GOING TO GET US OUT! NOW THAT’S FUCKED TOO! ALL BECAUSE YOU COULDN’T KEEP YOUR FUCKING MOUTH SHUT ABOUT SOMETHING THAT WAS NONE OF YOUR GODDAMNED BUSSINESS! NO ONE ASKED FOR YOUR HELP! I DIDN’T ASK FOR THIS! MY LIFE WOULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER IF YOU HAD JUST STAYED THE FUCK OUT OF IT!”

I saw him shaking. I saw the tear stains on his face. I saw the panic, the fear in his eyes. But I saw it from about three feet over my own head, because I wasn’t in control of anything anymore. At some point I had cornered him, and then there was a loud noise and Alex yelled something, but I couldn’t hear him over the blood pounding in my ears.

What brought me back down was the horrified, hurt look Alex gave me. He had a hand holding his cheek, spots of bright red poking out from underneath. NO!

“Oh god, Lex I-“ he flinched, backing further into the wall. My heart fractured. “I-I’m sorry, babe-“

He shoved roughly past me and left without a word.

“Jacky?”

No, no, no. I sank to the ground, tears already falling.

May jumped into my lap. “Jacky, you were being mean,” she said as sternly as a five-year-old could manage.

“Yeah,” I choked out.

“You shouldn't yell at people, it’s not nice.”

I nodded. “No, you s-shouldn’t. You’re right, kiddo.”

“You should go say sorry to Alex for yelling.”

I shook my head. “No, baby, I did a very, very bad thing. Alex is very mad at me.”

“Then you should go say that you’re sorry even more!”

“I know, I tried, but Alex needs some time before I can say sorry.”

“Jacky, what did you do? Why are you crying?”

I couldn’t help the sob that ripped through my chest. “I hurt Alex, it was a very, very bad thing to do and I shouldn’t have done it.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Hitting people isn’t nice, Jacky. You always tell me to be nice. You should be nicer to Alex.”

I nodded. “I k-know, Alex deserves m-much better.”

May hugged me, squeezing my neck. “It’s ok, Jacky, I know you can be better for Alex.”

There were only two people in the world with that much faith in me, and I had just backhanded one of them right out of my life.