Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

On Thursday, Alex figured out why Jack had looked so familiar. The other boy was in his math class, and sat on the opposite side of the room, at the back. He was a row behind Alex, so it made it painfully awkward for Alex whenever he turned around and accidentally made eye contact with Jack. As usual, he paid no attention whatsoever to the actual lesson, and instead thought of why exactly he was so intrigued by Jack. Of course, right when Sam had noticed Alex looking at Jack, she had mentioned that he was generally a good person. There was that, but Alex knew that was not the reason he was interesting in the first place. Jack looked fun, from the messy blond patches in his hair, to the cute way his nose scrunched up when he laughed. He seemed exactly like a kid in a small American town from a television show, always with adventurous things to do. Back home, everyone was so serious. Alex had only known the way of getting by, but something about Jack made him want to join him. He wanted to be part of Jack’s fun, whatever it was. Alex also thought he was fairly attractive, but that was besides the point.

Silence from the front of the room pulled Alex from his thoughts, and he watched as the teacher walked out of the room. He figured something must have been mentioned about the class being left alone for a small while, as everyone got up as soon as the door was shut. Alex lay his head down on his desk as he tried not to focus on the scraping of desks and chairs, until someone was kneeling beside him.

“Hey.” It was Jack, and at first Alex was a bit surprised, but he soon realized none of Jack’s close friends were in this class, either.

“Um, hi,” Alex responded, his arm hiding the grin he was fighting. Jack made talking to him rather easy, and Alex could only hope one day he would be as comfortable around almost-strangers as Jack was.

“It doesn’t seem like you’re a huge fan of this class, so I suppose you won’t mind me distracting you from the work that was assigned?” Jack asked, chuckling when Alex gave him a confused expression. “You can give me your number later, and I’ll text you the questions.”

“Alright,” Alex mumbled, “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Jack stood up and pulled a seat in front of Alex’s desk, “So, how did you meet Sam?”

“I met Marissa in my first period class on Monday, and she introduced us at lunch. She’s cool. Uh, both of them, I mean.”

“I don’t really know Marissa that much, but she seems pretty nice. Sam’s great, though.”

“Yeah,” Alex nodded. “You played soccer with her, right?”

Nodding, Jack said, “Yeah, but not anymore. We don’t talk much either, but she’s a great friend.”

“Y’know, I have absolutely no idea what else to say,” Alex shrugged, sitting up. “This conversation is the most boring thing ever, I’m so sorry.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jack laughed, putting his elbows up on the desk, and resting his head on his hands.

“I don’t know,” Alex said. “Talking to you is nice, but I feel like I have nothing in common with you to speak about. I don’t really have anything to talk to anyone about, it’s kind of worrisome.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. This is just the process of getting to know people. My mom said something to me when I was younger, though, and I haven’t forgotten about it yet. She told me if I ever have trouble making conversation with people, then maybe that’s not how I’m supposed to get to know them.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sometimes talking just doesn’t work. Sometimes experiences with only laughing or smiling or whatever make deeper connections than conversations with thousands of words.”

“Hmm,” Alex thought, “I like that.”

The bell rang at that moment, and Jack stood up once again.

“I’ve got to go see my coach now, but I’ll come find you near the end of lunch to talk to you about that some more, okay? Plus, the homework, too.”

With that, Jack was off, and Alex was left to pack up his stuff slowly and make his way through the halls at a sluggish pace. He was impressed with what Jack had said, and he was over the moon that Jack even saw him as a potential friend.

Later on in the cafeteria, Alex was sitting quietly as Marissa, Sam, and Natasha were discussing the substitute teacher that Sam had
for first period P.E.. Since the rest of them had the same teacher last period, they were wondering if they would get her, too. Alex was only half listening, as his mind was elsewhere.

About halfway through lunch, Jack came jogging up to their table. The girls were not that surprised, but when he tapped Alex on the shoulder from behind, they did become a bit curious.

"Hey," Alex greeted, spinning around.

"Give me your phone?" Jack asked, and then realizing that he sounded a bit rushed and rude, added, "I have to get to my next class early to talk to the teacher, sorry."

"It's fine," Alex mentioned, pulling his phone out of his pocket and handing it to the other boy.

"Great," Jack said as he typed, "I'll text you when I get home."

"Alright."

Jack handed the phone bag quickly and jogged away once more, throwing a wave and a smile over his shoulder on the way out.

"What was that?" Sam asked as Alex turned around, punctuated by a hum from Marissa.

"Oh, nothing," Alex shrugged his shoulders, "He's going to text me about homework, and I think we might hang out."

"See!" Sam raised her hands in excitement, "I told you!"

"I don't know what you mean, we just talked during math since we were bored. I don't even know if I can consider us friends, yet."

"Jack becomes everyone's friend quite quick," Marissa considered, and Alex was glad she was on his side, not jumping to conclusions. "It's good. Don't push Alex, Sam."

"Yeah, you're right. He end up not even liking Alex at all, anyway." Sam responded, gasping once she noticed Alex's glare. "Oops! You know what I meant."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I do. He's nice, I'm fine with being friends with him." Alex ended the conversation with, "So, how are your guy's days going?"

Natasha shrugged in response, while Marissa replied with, "Fine, I guess," and Sam said, "As good as being at school can get." Alex nodded along, accepting an invitation from Marissa for him to join her after school at the bakery, since both Natasha and Sam were busy again. Alex accepted, glad when the bell finally rang so he would not have to answer any more questions about Jack. He barely knew the boy, and he did not want his new friends trying anything else. They had done more than enough for him, all good, but he wanted to deal with the rest of their friendship on his own. Alex was almost positive he was the only one out of the four of them that realized he was not looking to hop into a relationship, especially with someone as charismatic as Jack. He was lucky to even be somewhat of his friend, at this point.

Hours later, Jack was just finishing up soccer practice, when Zack and Rian walked up to him. They were going to go get dinner together at the mall, since all of their practices ran late that day. They began their walk there, and thought the entire journey, Jack's eyes are glued to his phone. Even when they had arrived, and began to eat, Jack was still staring at it.

"What's up with you?" Rian asked.

"Nothing. Waiting for a response," Jack mumbled in reply, rolling his eyes at the curious glances he was given in response.

"From who? Is it that Alex kid?" Zack questioned, and Jack nodded his head yes.

"Are you into him, or are you just trying to get back with Sam, or something?" Rian chimed in.

"Dude, that was two years ago. We're friends now. Besides, she's the one that introduced me to Alex. Not that those are my intentions with him, either. We're friends, he's cool. That's it."

Rian hummed in response, while Zack just nodded his head. Jack was glad they understood, because at least someone did. He finally received a response from Alex moments later, an enthusiastic agreement to his suggestion of hanging out on Saturday. Alex had also sent him a sad face, obviously unhappy about the math questions that Jack had sent him after school, and he chuckled at that. The way Alex's short, "Yes!" made him smile so much, though, was something Jack did not understand. He did not have any idea of what they would do on Saturday, but he figured he could plan it out with Alex the next day over the phone. It had to include something they were both interesting in, something they could bond over. He decided not to just chat Alex over text, as that would defeat the point he was trying to make, even though calling him would, too. Whatever. Jack was trying to keep up with the idea he had presented to Alex, the one that implied they could have a great time together, where conversation would eventually become more than easy. He did not know why he cared so much, but he decided to push it to the back of his mind, concluding that he was just excited because he had not made a new friend in a while. His schedule barely lined up with Zack and Rian's anymore, and he was just glad he could get out and do the things he had been craving to do for the longest time, with someone who seemed like they could be good company.

Notes

here's this week's chapter!! please leave a comment letting me know what you thought, and thank you so much for reading <3

also... i've just begun the third insgtallment to my Lady and the Tramp series, Lady and the Tramp 1 1/2, so please go check that out! :-)