Secrets Don't Make Friends

Alex

I was thirty minutes late to class this morning and my teacher gave me detention. I made it to school on time but I stayed in my backseat smoking a joint I found in my pocket. I accidentally fell asleep after smoking but I only took like a twenty or thirty minute nap. My teacher should have been happy I made it into class at all.

Now I was on my way to detention so I can sit and waste thirty minutes of my life. This wasn't my first time getting detention though. Jack used to wait for me when we were dating if I got detention so I could take him home afterwards. He would get so pissed when I would tell him he had to wait on me.

I walked in and saw Mr. Lopez sitting at the front of the room. "Come in, sit where ever you want, and keep yourself busy." He repeated the same thing he said every time someone came in. I put the detention slip on his desk and turned around to find some where to sit. My stomach dropped as my eyes met with Jack. What was he doing here? Jack never got in trouble. And why did he have to be here while I was trying to avoid him. I sighed and closed my eyes as I went to take a seat two rows behind Jack. I didn't have to see his face to know that he was confused. Usually I would have jumped at the chance to talk to Jack alone.

I was avoiding Jack because of what happened on Saturday. I only remember the first hour at the party Rian and I went to and waking up in Rian's bed the next morning. I don't remember anything else, but Rian did. He told me that I went to the bathroom while we were at the party and I called Jack. My phone call log told me that Jack and I spoke on the phone for almost ten minutes. That means that we actually talked about something and I don't remember. I didn't want Jack thinking that I'm inconsiderate or for him be angry at the fact that I don't remember our conversation. Avoiding him probably wasn't the best idea, but it was the only thing I could think of. And now we're both in detention together.

I watched from behind as Jack picked his book up and attempting to read it before sitting it back down. He put the book back on his desk and turned back to face me. My heart began racing as I thought about what he was going to say to me.

"Hi Alex." He said quietly.

"Oh hi Jack." I said as if I did see him at first. He looked at me expectedly and I looked down at my desk. I didn't know what else to say. I couldn't bring myself to bring up Saturday night. Luckily for me, Jack turned back around. I sighed in relief and pulled out my phone. I wanted to talk to Jack, but not until I knew what we talked about on the phone that night.

I scrolled through my twitter feed hoping to keep my mind occupied for the next twenty-five minutes. I ended up mindlessly scrolling through tweets as I tried to think back to Saturday. What could Jack and I possibly have talked about? It was our anniversary...well supposed to be and Jack was supposed to go on a date with Zack like Rian said. Jack doesn't seem angry at me so it probably wasn't a bad conversation. Maybe I just called to check on him or maybe I apologized for being a dick and he accepted it. That's probably why he said "hi" to me. I smiled to myself and felt relief now. Everything between Jack and I had to be okay. Now all I needed to do was get him to break up with Zack, if they're dating, and take me back.

The next fifteen minutes went by quickly. There were only ten minutes left before we could leave. I contemplated making small talk with Jack but I didn't want to disrupt him while he was reading. It didn't matter though, a few seconds later I saw him sit the book down again. He took a deep breath before turning to me.

"Are you seriously not going to talk to me about Saturday night?" He asked. I was caught off guard by his question because he sounded annoyed. That means our talk probably didn't go as well as I thought it did.

"I um… yes we can talk about it." I panicked and said.

"Okay. Well did you really mean what you said?" He asked.

I opened my mouth to say yes but I stopped myself. What if what I said was something bad? I didn't just want to say yes to anything.

"Uh I um um I'm not su- can you remind what exactly I said." I stammered.

"You don't remember? Of course you don't because you were drunk. So you probably didn't even mean it." He said, mostly to himself.

"No Jack wait just tell me what I said and I'll let you know if it's my true feelings or not." I begged.

"It's not important." He said and turned back around.

"Yes it is!" I called out and Mr. Lopez looked up.

"Hey, keep the volume down." He scolded me and I apologized.

I looked at the back of Jack as he laid his head on his hands. He sat like that for the rest of our detention. I didn't like that he had so much time to think to himself without me explaining myself. As soon as Mr. Lopez released us I grabbed my backpack and went up to Jack.

"Please tell me what we talked about that night. I'm sorry I don't remember." I apologized.

"It's really not important, Alex." He shrugged and walked out of the room. I stayed right behind him trying my best to get him to tell me.

"You asked me if I meant what I said. I need to know what I said so I can tell you if I meant it or not." I said as I followed him towards the front doors of the school.

"You were drunk." He stated again.

"Did I say something bad? Did I say something about our anniversary? Did I say something about Zack? Did I tell you that I still love you?" The last question is the only one that got a reaction out of him. Jack stopped and looked at me before shaking his head and continuing out of the door.

"Was that it?" I asked.

"Please just leave me alone." He begged.

"Not until you tell me." I demanded.

"Alright fine! You said that you want us to get back together. That you want to be here for me and the baby." He rushed out. I stayed quiet for a few seconds and stared at him. I didn't remember saying any of that.

"Of course I meant that." I said sincerely and he looked at me with watery eyes and back down at the ground.

"Okay, good for you." He said and wiped at his eyes.

"Look, Jack I-"

"- I don't want to talk about it." He cut me off and I nodded.

"How are you getting home?" I asked quietly.

"I'm waiting on my mom." He sniffled, still looking down. It was hard for me not to wrap my arms around him, kiss his forehead, and tell him everything was going to be alright. I looked down at my phone and saw that it was almost three-twenty. Jack's mom didn't get off until three-thirty and he was going to have to wait for her to drive here.

"I can take you home." I offered.

"No thanks. I'll wait."

"I don't want to leave you by yourself."

"It wouldn't be the first time." He stated.

Hearing that made me feel like shit. I couldn't blame Jack for shutting me out and not believing that I wanted to actually be there for him and the baby. I was a horrible person for flipping out the way I did when he told me he was pregnant.

"Just let me take you home. You'll be there in five minutes instead of waiting for twenty." I told him, but he didn't say anything. "We can also stop by Sonic on the way there and get ice cream." I bribed. Pregnant people always craved ice cream right?

Jack nodded his head without saying anything and I smiled to myself. He waited for me to start walking before following right behind me. We walked to my car and Jack went to the passenger side and got in. I got in on the driver side and started the car up. I glanced at Jack as I reversed out of my spot but he was looking to the right, out of the passenger window. I wanted to say something but it was probably best I stayed quiet.

I drove us to Sonic first and went to the drive through. I remembered Jack's favorite so he didn't have to say anything when the lady asked to take my order.

"Can I get a large Reece's ice cream blast." I ordered.

"Yes sir, anything else?" She asked.

"Are you hungry?" I turned to ask Jack and he shook his head no while still staring out of the window. "And a medium order of tater tots." I added. Jack always wanted tater tots when we came here and he probably wanted them now.

I pulled up to the window and paid the cashier. Then we waited a few minutes for her to bring the food to the window. I thanked her as she handed me Jack's ice cream and tater tots. I sat the ice cream in the cup holder and then placed bag with the tater tots in his lap.

"Thanks." I heard him mumble.

"Mhmm." I hummed and drove in the direction of his house.

I pulled into Jack's driveway five minutes later. I put the car in park and he unbuckled his seatbelt. He grabbed his backpack, ice cream, and tater tots. I figured I should try talking to him one last time while we were together.

"Jack-"

I was cut off by him getting out of the car and shutting the door. I sighed and watched him walk to his door, unlock it, and go inside. I switched my car into reverse and began driving in the direction of Rian's house for band practice. I texted him while I was in detention telling him I would be late.
The entire ride to Rian's house I thought about Jack. I didn't regret telling him that I wanted to be there for him and the baby because I did. I was happy that drunk Alex actually did something okay for once. I don't think I would have ever had enough courage to tell Jack that sober. I just needed to find a way to get him to believe and forgive me.

*****

Jack

I practically ran out of Alex's car and into my house. I couldn't bring myself to talk to him right now. My hormones were all messed up and I would have cried the entire time. It was nice for him to take me home and buy me food, but I wasn't going to let that influence my feelings for him. I appreciated that he was trying to create some sort of relationship between us now. It was just going to take a lot to make up for him leaving me.

I was halfway finished with my ice cream when my mom made it home. She stepped through the door and kicked off her heels, sighing in relief.

"Hi mom." I said with a full mouth.

"Hey Preggers, how was your day today?" She asked.

"Okay. I got detention today."

"Really? For what?" She sounded surprised. I knew I wouldn't get in trouble for it though.

"I got into a fight." I joked.

"You would have definitely had bruises if you were in a fight. You have the reflexes of a sloth." She joked and I laughed.

"I was two minutes late to class and Mrs. Wright gave me detention." I complained.

"She could have cut you some slack." She said and rolled her eyes.

"I know, but she's really strict. I only had to stay thirty minutes so I just did my homework." I left out the part about me talking to Alex so I wouldn't be lectured or interrogated.

"Zack didn't mind waiting for you after school?"

"Hmm? Oh no he didn't mind." I lied. I told Zack my mom was going to pick me up because I didn't want to bother him.

"He's too nice. I feel so bad that you have to break his heart."

"Me too." I sighed. "Oh um Zack's parents want us to come over Saturday night for dinner." I told her.

"What? Why? Did he tell them that you're pregnant?" She questioned.

"Yeah, he said they weren't too happy. So I guess they want to meet with us to talk about it."

"Ugh I hate meeting parents. It's so awkward." She complained.

"All you have to do is pretend to be an adult for two hours then we can come back home." I joked and she playfully glared at me.

"Shut up." She chuckled. "Do you think they know there's a fifty-fifty chance Zack might be the dad?"

"I hope so. I don't want to have to be the one to tell them." I whined.

I reluctantly picked up my phone and texted Zack that we were coming over for dinner on Saturday.

Notes

Alex is going to have try a little bit harder to win over Jack lol

Title Credit: Take Cover by ATL