A Story to Tell Your Friends

Seventeen.

Single and ready to drink copious amounts of alcohol while performing ball sports.
I glared at the phone in my hand, feeling the dig at me from Jack’s Twitter feed. So, that was why he was pissed. I’d logged on to check my mentions and laugh at my drunken updates from the night before, and had instead been faced with this. This most certainly was Jack rubbing something in my face. So what if I’d made it clear we were both single, that doesn’t mean I want it all over social media. Nor does it mean he gets to rub it in my face. I scowled at my phone again, opening a new tweet.
When you wake up hungover and suddenly remember Billie Joe Armstrong is the only band boy for you.
Okay, so maybe I was making a dig back, but I wasn’t going to take Jack’s comments lying down. If he wanted to act like a teenager, two could play at that game. I shoved my phone into the pocket of my shorts, standing up and going to make myself a coffee. At least very few people would understand the digs we were making at each other, which made me feel a little better. There’d be a few friends from back home who would respond to my tweet gushing over our teenage crush on the front man of Green Day, and there may also be a text or two from Lisa trying to make sure the two of us were okay, but I could live with that. I’d convinced myself that there wasn’t anything to be too annoyed about yesterday, but now I was sure there was.
My phone buzzed on the coffee table in front of me as I was halfway through my coffee. Like clockwork, it was Lisa. I rolled my eyes a little. I was still annoyed at Jack, and that feeling extended to his friends a little.
“Hey,” I grumbled as I finally decided to pick up.
“Clara? What’s going on?” Lisa asked, concern evident in her voice. I sighed, feeling guilty for being annoyed. She had become my friend too and was clearly only looking out for Jack and I.
“I have no idea what you mean, Lisa.”
“Well, Jack is posting things about being single and you’re posting things swearing off any band members under the age of forty. Forgive me if I’m concerned.”
“Jack’s being an ass, so I’m being an ass back.”
“That’s healthy,” she laughed uncertainly. “What did he do?”
“Nothing. Literally nothing. We were talking last night and I made a joke about one of his tweets. He took it the wrong way and I just told him he was single and he owed me nothing. Next thing I know, he’s hanging up sounding pissed. This morning, I wake up and he’s making sly comments on social media.”
“You’re both idiots,” she stated. “He doesn’t want to be single, Clara. He wants you to tell him he’s not allowed to see anyone else while he’s gone and act like you’re his girlfriend. You basically are already, he’s just too much of a coward to make it official.”
“Then all he had to say last night was ‘I’m not going to do anything with anyone else’ and life would have gone on just fine. But, no, he took my comments to heart and now here we are.”
“Just talk to him, Clara. Call him now and see what’s going on before this gets any worse.”
“Fine. I’ll call him, but he’d better be sorry.” Lisa laughed at me, assuring me he would be and saying goodbye. I gritted my teeth as I pulled the phone away from my ear and pressed dial on Jack’s number. The more the phone rang, the more annoyed I was feeling. He was clearly awake, I was aware of that, and he always had his phone on him. He’d never missed a call yet.
“Hey, this is Jack, leave a messa-“ I hung up, scowling and adamant he was now ignoring me too.
@claraparapie hey! I know that guy! Want me to set you up? He’s married, but that might be your deal after all. ;)
I laughed at Alex’s absurd comments, thinking back on the first day we had met, though not sure where he knew Billie Joe from.
@alexalltimelow why not? Gotta have a bit of maturity in a fella these days. ;)
I knew Jack would see it and either continue to ignore me or make his own digs back, but I’d been sat around waiting for him to call back for over an hour now, while receiving updates to his Snapchat story. I was pissed, and I didn’t care anymore. Give me another hour or so and I’d be upset, but at this moment in time, I was just angry that he was cutting me out so quickly over something so little. It was becoming clear that Lisa had been wrong; that Jack had just wanted his out and taken it. I gave him free reign, and that was what he was going for.
“Hello?” I asked uncertainly, as I answered to an unknown number.
“Clara?” A voice asked. I sighed, it was Alex.
“Alex, hey! I didn’t know you had my number.”
“I stole it from Jack’s phone when he wasn’t looking,” he laughed. My heart pounded at the sound of his name, but I chose to ignore it.
“So, what’s up?”
“Lisa called me after she spoke to you.”
“Oh.”
“He’s just butt hurt right now.” I snorted. “He is. He expected you to be pissy with him and tell him you didn’t want him seeing anyone else, but you didn’t. And, if he’s to be believed, you also said you would be seeing other people. Now he’s even more butt hurt because you’re tweeting shit about him.”
“Yeah, like you’re not egging that on.” I heard Alex laugh lightly.
“Okay, yeah, I am. But that’s for his own good.”
“How is that for his own good?”
“Because if he thinks the only guy on your mind is Billie Joe fucking Armstrong, he’ll calm down, because we all know that’s a joke.”
“It’s not a joke. I was willing to have that man’s babies for like five years.” Alex laughed again and I grinned meekly. I was feeling a little better having this conversation with Jack’s best friend. It was the next best thing to hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth. Alex knew Jack better than anyone else, so I believed everything he was telling me.
“Okay, so maybe it’s not a joke, but it’s definitely not a reality.”
“Why isn’t Jack telling me this himself?” I asked after a short pause.
“Because he’s being a pussy.” It was my turn to laugh now. He was a little blunter than Lisa had been and I loved it. “Just let him calm down and I’m sure he’ll be calling you drunk at 3am before you know it.”
“Thanks, Alex,” I sighed. “I kind of needed this to calm down myself. I didn’t mean I’d be seeing anyone else, just that he didn’t owe me an explanation if he wanted to see someone else. I was trying to be nice and calm and reasonable about me and Jack and I was just annoyed with how wrongly he’d taken it.”
“Yeah, you and me both. I’ve gotta go anyway. Jack’ll be back any second and it’ll just annoy him more if he knows I’m talking to you. Just keep calm, don’t tweet anymore shit, and he’ll be pining over you before you know it. And I’ll get Billie Joe to call you too.” I laughed out loud again, knowing Alex was joking but thankful he hadn’t chosen to cut me out like Jack had. I said my goodbyes and hung up the phone, putting it back on the coffee table once again.
“How are you feeling?” I asked as Tammy finally appeared from her bedroom. She grunted in response, making her way toward the pot of coffee still warming in the kitchen.
“I hate alcohol. I hate you. I hate everyone,” she told me, sitting down next to me with her coffee.
“Well, gee, thanks. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear right now.”
“I don’t want to hear anything right now. Kill me.”
“Stop being a drama queen,” I laughed, elbowing her slightly. “Take some painkillers, drink your coffee, and stop complaining.”
“You’re far too chipper,” she stated, glaring at me. “Did you speak to Jack already?” My smile dropped and I glanced over to my phone, half expecting it to be flashing with some sort of notification from him.
“No,” I admitted. “I did speak to Alex and Lisa though, who both insisted he was being a drama queen and he would call.”
“I tried telling you that all night.”
“I know, I know. I went out, didn’t I? And I had fun, too!”
“And bought me drinks. Again: I hate you.” I laughed again, this time loudly, causing her to hit me on the arm and wince.
“Drink your coffee and shut up.” I bit my lip, grabbing my phone and making my way into the kitchen, pressing dial on Jack’s name again as I poured another cup of coffee.
“Hey, this is Jack.” I scowled, ending the call. The phone had only rung twice this time before going to voicemail and now it was clear that Jack definitely was ignoring me. I tried to convince myself that he was busy and he would call me back later, but I knew that was a lie. If Jack had ever been too busy to take my call before, he always text me to let me know. I had moved past my anger, as anticipated, and while I was still annoyed, I was beginning to feel lost and upset at the thought of having done something that made him want to cut me out. I sighed, hopping onto the bench with my coffee and staring at my phone, hoping he’d rejected my call by accident and would call me back any second.
I thought back to all the times I’d let my stupid anxiety get the better of me in our relationship previously and how Jack had always rolled his eyes and made me remember that I was being a moron; that he chose me and no one else. What had been so different this time? Had I said it one too many times? Had he finally realised I was an insecure mess who didn’t deserve his time? I grabbed my cup, slowly making my way back to my bedroom. I didn’t need to freak out over this in front of Tammy. She loved these guys and I didn’t want her to begin to hate them because of Jack, especially not for my sake.
I was being dramatic. I’d only known the man a month. It wasn’t going to be the end of the world if he suddenly realised that I wasn’t worth all the bother, right? We’d run into each other on the street months from now and smile awkwardly at each other with nothing to say, and that would be fine. I sighed, beginning to feel sick at my own thoughts. No, it wouldn’t be okay. The thought of acting like I didn’t know Jack made my chest ache. I still wanted to run up to him and laugh and joke and cuddle and gross everyone out with how cute we were. If he was ignoring me, I had no way of making things right. While he may have pissed me off this morning, I still felt to blame for the night before.
The phone rang, three, four, five times.
“Hey, this is Jack. Leave a message.”
I felt pathetic. I’d called him more times than my pride would normally have allowed already and I still knew it wouldn’t be the last. I knew I would never leave a message; I didn’t know what to say. But I’d continue to call, and continue to hit his voicemail. He would continue to ignore me. My stomach churned and I felt like I was going to be sick. I didn’t know if it was my hangover or the thought of Jack ignoring me for the long haul. I wanted to call Alex, to get him to force Jack to call me, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. Jack would call when he was ready and it was just unfortunate that he would probably never be ready to call me.
I sighed, putting my head in my hands. Why had I let him get so close to me? I missed him constantly and I couldn’t bear the thought of him ignoring me, and yet here I was, in the situation I’d least anticipated all those weeks ago when I agreed to go out with him and his friends. My eyes began to burn and I felt my hands getting wet. I didn’t care.
And so, there I sat, head in my hands, chest aching and crying over Jack Barakat.