The Good Life

*Jack*

I’m a horrible boyfriend. I told Alex I was going to David’s house to go over some ideas for my company, but that was a lie. I’m on my way to have lunch with Zack. Today was the first day he was going to be in town for his convention for work and he was leaving tomorrow night. I decided I was going to tell him we couldn’t be as close of friends as we were before, but that we could keep up with each other. Hopefully he would understand.

I was just walking in to a small café to meet Zack. I wanted us to meet somewhere small so we wouldn’t have the chance to run into anyone and run the risk of Alex finding out. Zack was sitting on one of the benches by the front door waiting on me. He looked kind of nervous, but he was probably afraid of how the evening would turn out.

“Zack!” I called out to get his attention and he looked up from his phone and smiled at me.

“Jack, it’s been too long.” He hugged me. “You look great.” He added. That doesn’t mean he still likes me, he was just being polite.

“Thanks, you look good too.” I said. We walked up to counter to order coffee and other snacks. Once we received our drinks I found a table near the back for us to sit at.

“When do you have to go to your convention?” I asked Zack.

“Not until seven pm, but let’s not talk about work. How’s parenthood?” He asked.

“It’s great! I love my little girl.” I exclaimed.

“And… Alex…how are you two doing?” I could tell he had to force himself to ask that question, and I appreciated he was trying.

“We’re doing well too. He makes me happy.” I said.

“That’s good. All I want is for you to be happy.” He smiled at me.

“What about you? Have you found any love interest yet?” I wanted to take the heat off of me.

“There’s this guy who I work with and we’ve hung out a few times, but I don’t know if he’s really my type.” He said. I felt bad because it was probably Zack’s feelings for me that was holding him back.

“I’m sure he’s great, you just have to give him a chance.” I tried.

We continued to talk for a few minutes until I saw Rian and Cassadee walk in. Of course this happens to me, I choose a random café and I still run into people I know. Cassadee looked over and waved at me. I waved back and tried to take deep breathes so I wouldn’t throw up from nervousness. They started walking over to my table.

“Hi I’m Cassadee and this is my boyfriend Rian.” Cass introduced herself to Zack. She had no idea who he was until he introduced himself.

“Nice to meet you both, I’m Zack.” Zack said politely and Rian and Cass’s looked shocked.

“Oh you’re Zack.” Rian said and I stared at him intensely trying to see what he was going to say next. “Where’s Alex and Izzy, Jack?” He asked.

“They’re at home spending father daughter time together.” I answered quickly.

“Well it’s nice that he let you take a break from Izzy to let you come hang out with Zack.” He said as if he knew I lied to Alex. Cass elbowed him in the side to shut him up.

“Um well it was nice to meet you Zack. We’re going to go eat on the other side of the restaurant and mind our own business.” Cass said as she dragged Rian away.

I looked over at Zack who look confused and annoyed. “What was that all about?” He asked me.

“Oh just two of me and Alex’s crazy friends.” I tried to laugh it off, but he Zack wouldn’t let it go.

“…Alex still doesn’t want you around me does he?” He asked.

“No. And actually part of the reason I came here with you was to tell you we can’t really talk anymore. It makes Alex uncomfortable to see me talk or hang out with you knowing that you have or had feelings for me. I just wanted us to hang out like old times, one last time.” I told him and I saw his jaw clenched.

“We’ve been friends since grade school Jack! I’ve been there for you for everything. When your father died you cried on my shoulder not Alex’s. When you first had sex I was there to tell you not to feel bad for doing it, not Alex. When you decided to pack all your shit up and move to California I was there helping you pack and to tell you that you were making a good decision and you’re willing to throw away our friendship over him?” He didn’t sound angry he sounded hurt.

“Zack I’m not just doing this for Alex, I’m doing this for my daughter. I have a family now and I can’t do anything to jeopardize it.” I tried to reason with him.

“Save it Jack. When that asshole decides to leave you alone with Izzy, for once, I won’t be there for you.” He picked up his coffee cup and stormed out of the café despite my protest. This isn’t how I wanted to happen, but it’s done. I looked over at Rian and Cass and they we’re staring at me sadly. I waved to them and left so that I could go home.

When I made it home I went straight to my room and laid out in the bed. I felt a hand running up and down my spine and I felt the bed dip next to me.

“What wrong?” Alex asked. I turned my head to look up at him and he gave me a sad smile. He was holding a very talkative Izzy with one arm and still stroking my back with the other.

“If I tell you, will you promise not to get mad?” I asked and he laughed.

“I’ll do my best.” He smiled.

“Well remember how I said I was going to Davi-“ Alex cut me off to talk to Izzy, who was making noises while I was talking.

“Izzy it’s not nice to babble while other people are talking.” He told her but she kept on going. It was annoying, but it was also very cute. “Okay Jack you’re just going to have to talk over her because she’s clearly not going to stop.” He said and we both laughed.

“Um so remember how I said I was going to David’s today? Well I was actually went to go meet up with Zack-“ Alex face dropped and he was about to say something, but I started talking faster so he wouldn’t have time to cut in. “Wait wait wait before you say anything! I went to meet up with him to tell him we couldn’t be friends anymore because saying it in a text message or over the phone seemed too insensitive. I wanted to tell you, but I knew you would try and stop me so I just wanted to go and to tell you about it later. I didn’t do it to make you angry I just really would not have felt right telling him any other way than in person. But I understand if you’re still angry.”

“I’m angrier that you lied about going to David’s house. But I appreciated that you told me about this. I rather you tell me than for me to have to find out from someone else.” He said. I exhaled happy I told him before Rian or Cass got the chance to.

“So you’re not mad at me?” I gave him puppy dog eyes.

“I guess not. Just as long as you don’t lie to me again.” He said.

“I won’t!!” I promised.

“And I want a blow job when Izzy goes to sleep tonight.” He threw in.

“I knew that was coming.” I said and he laughed.

“How did Zack take the news? Alex asked.

“Not so well. I don’t want to talk about it, I just want to take a hot bath and then take a nap.” I moped.

“Okay I’ll go run you some bath water and then I lay Izzy down so she can take her nap too.” Alex said.

“Thank you.” I mumbled. Although I was still upset I lost one of my closest friends today, Alex was making it a little bit easier for me.

***

I was in the bath tub and Alex was massaging shampoo through my hair. My bath water was so steaming hot that my skin was turning red, but I was too relaxed to care.

“I kind feel like an asshole for making you lose one of your closest friends. I was just jealous and afraid that part of you liked him too.” Alex said randomly. “…If you really want to you can still talk to him. I’ll try to get over it.”

“No I’ll be okay I have other friends and I have you and Izzy.” I said. I was going to miss Zack a lot, but this was for the best.

“Okay.” He smiled and leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. “Do you want me to turn on the cold water because it seems like you’re turning into soup.” He laughed.

“Nah I’m good. If I turn into soup you can eat me.”

“I can do that without you being soup.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

“I’m sure you could.”

Notes

I'm going to skip forward one year next chapter. And does anyone feel like Alex shouldn't have told Jack to stop talking to Zack. I feel like the whole Lisa situation was with a ex-girlfriend so that makes sense, but Zack was just a friend who liked Jack. Idk.