The Program

Chapter Eight

For the most part, Reid did nothing wrong the entire night. Don't ask me why, but he actually seemed......normal? I expected some kind of glare or threat or something, anything. Maybe even a childish trip like what we all do in kindergarten to get back at someone, causing me to maybe spill my food all over myself as I fell, but even that didn't happen. 

In fact, he even smiled at me once, no, twice. And I don't know why, but the whole freaking night bugged the crap out of me.

I guess I was just expecting him to go full blown evil Reid right in front of his son, he did it enough in the test. I know, there was at the beginning where Reid acted all nice and stuff in the test but it just seemed weird now, now that I saw that evil side, that was technically there all along but still. And the creepy thing, when Reid smiled at me, I smiled back. But it was for one reason only, his smile was just as contagious as Jack's. Seriously, and that wasn't the only similarity I saw between them. 

You know that weird thing that people in movies do where if they're trying to prove that they're related and what not with the whole we eat food the same way and all that? That's what they were doing, and it didn't stop there. The facial expressions and everything, they were clearly related and I was super stupid for not putting it together sooner.

"Turn left here." I told Jack. You see, I was having to give him directions to my house because after the whole dinner and then Reid went home, it was time for me to leave so that my mom wouldn't blow a gasket. And somehow John got out of it, leaving Jack as the only alternative. Not that he was complaining. No, he was having a ball irritating me with numerous questions.

"Got it." He said, turning the wheel. "Okay, so far I know that your favorite color is red, you don't very much like cats, Mary is annoying, my brother is an irritating prick, and you prefer books over people. But time for the really important question. What is your favorite ship, Serenity or Enterprise?"

"Ooh, that's so important." I teased, laughing. "At first, I thought you were asking me what my favorite fandom ship was, and then you hit me with that and i'm just like, whoa, he's talking about sci-fi space ships. God, I need to get out more, maybe laying in a meadow contemplating life instead of wasting time on the internet."

"As much as I would like to ask why you have to lay in a meadow to think about your life, you never answered my important question." He said at the same time I told him to turn right up ahead.

"Uh, okay, I pick both. You should never make someone who is a Trekkie and a Browncoat pick between them."

"And now we're back to fandoms." He let out a chuckle. "Fine, i'll take that answer, Lexi."

"Good, you've been hitting me with questions since we left your house, it's my turn." I stated.

"Well, to get a few out of the way. My favorite color is green. I happen to love cats, hence the reason why I now have one." That would be true. That cat they had that day I hugged him stayed around and I saw it at dinner. Turns out he named it Milo. "I too think Mary is more annoying than a barking duck that tries to steal my candy bar."

"Ducks don't bark." I corrected him. He slightly turned to me.

"You just had to interrupt, didn't you?" I rolled my eyes and let him finish. "And i'll have you know, I think John is more than a prick, you haven't lived in the same house with him. And yes, books are great but I don't spend most of my time reading but might consider it while pondering life in a meadow." It was his turn to tease me.

"Ha ha, very amusing. But the question I really wanted answered is why you were asking me questions to begin with."

"Tell me, Lexi. How do you become friends with someone if you don't make an effort to know them?"

"You want to be my friend?"

"I might as well right? You've been to my house a lot recently." 

"I suppose I have been." I said. "But that's not my fault, John feels the need to drag people places without asking first, and it's ticking off both me and my mother." I paused. "But not my brother so much, for some reason Marcus seems to like the guy and just like Mary, he ships us."

"And now we're back to ships. You really do need to stay off the internet." The rest of the conversation went mostly like this, some questions here and there, a little laughing at times and of course there was teasing. We couldn't really be us without teasing right, even if he didn't know there was ever an us, kinda.

Thanks to my marvelous guidance, which consisted of me forgetting to tell him to turn once or twice, make that four times, we finally made it to my house. But it didn't stop there, Jack followed me in. Minutes later and somehow my mom and Jack were talking as if they've known each other for years and me and Marcus were just standing in the hallway watching the whole thing with odd faces.

"Sounds great, Jack." I heard suddenly, my mom calling me over for a minute, causing Marcus to abandon me and flee to his room. Looks like neither of us really wanted to know what they were talking about.

"Um, yeah, Mom?" I asked, looking at the smile on her face, one that no doubt came from Jack's wide, contagious one.

"This young man just asked to take you on a date tomorrow. I think you should go." And that's when my eyes got as wide as their smiles.

"Huh?" I questioned, my eyebrow already raised and some sass was leaking from my mouth. 

"You heard her." Jack replied.

"You, you want to go on a, uh, a date with me?" I asked, blubbering a bit because, well, it was kind of unexpected. It was also unexpected to see him nod. "And you're okay with that?" I turned to my mom again. She had to realize Jack was John's brother, right? And she pretty much despised John. Again, I just got a nod.

"Oh, come on, Lexi. It'll be fun." Jack grinned.

"And what makes you think I would even say yes?" I wondered aloud, trying not to sound to rude considering my mother was near. Even though, you know, I definitely wanted to say yes. But I was trying to think ahead. Reid was Jack's dad, anything could happen because of this fact, saying yes could be the worst mistake ever. But Jack and mom didn't know any of this. My life would be so much easier if I didn't have to keep secrets. 

Jack dismissed my question and said, "I'll pick you up at seven, Lexi." And at that, he made his way to the door. And I would have stopped him, given him a piece of my mind. But my mom stopped me from stopping him and told me it would be fun.

"Weren't you the one who wanted me to stay home more?" I fumed at my mom. Of all the times to go against her own rules, she just had to pick now. She didn't respond, simply giving me a smirk and walking down the hallway.

So, so far I could see one similarity between Mary and my mother. They both basically set me up with someone and didn't very much care that I didn't feel like going. And they both seemed to think one of the Evans boys held the key to my heart.

Well, get this, mother. One of those Evans actually is a Harrow and is the son to a psycho who might kill me at any moment.

And guess which one you picked.

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Sadly, my first date ever was with John. But all of you know that that date ended horribly. And if you don't here is the gist of the story: He took me out to eat and then for some reason decided to take me for a walk on the beach. Later on in the night, he pushed me in the water and I arrived home about an hour later with sand and other things tangled in a big mess in my hair. 

I haven't dated since.

But when comparing that date to this one, or any other I might add, it is clear which one was better. And that's kinda sad considering Jack didn't even take me to eat dinner. And something you should know about me, i'm very fond of eating. So, Jack took out one of my favorite hobbies and he still did better. I'm pretty much regretting not telling the guy yes yesterday.

But then again, he did make up for not taking me to dinner by bringing me to this awesome little ice cream place that I actually used to go to when I was a kid. Anyway, right now i'm waiting outside, sitting on the beach. Looks like both him and John have a thing with taking their dates to beaches. Not that I was complaining, I love the beach. 

Every now and then, I would running my hands through the sand and try to take my mind off the fact that there would most definitely be sand all in my shorts later, when Jack exited the building with two cones. Both vanilla.

"Didn't I say something about, I don't know, chocolate ice cream?" I asked. He laughed a bit and sat down next to me, handing me one.

"Maybe. But I accidentally ordered vanilla, sue me." He said.

"I really had my heart set on chocolate." I responded, fake whining. "Oh well, you better be glad i'm a nice person." And I swear, he just had to pick then to make a choking noise. "What, you think i'm not nice or something?"

"No, it''s not that. I've just never seen someone act so passionately about ice cream before."

"Oh please, it's not like I fell to the ground, ready to die because my one request was not fulfilled. I'm not some freaking drama queen." And he started laughing, just a tiny bit but it was there none the less. "Why are you laughing now?"

"No reason." He answered. "So, you regretting not actually saying yes yet?"

"I've had fun but that means nothing. What I want to know is why you asked me out?" I licked my ice cream before it could drip all over the place.

"Wow, you're not just cute but also oblivious to everything, aren't you? For the love of god, we almost kissed the other day, after we hugged, twice. You're not going to question that, not at all?" And he just kinda stared at me for a moment before I replied.

"Don't call me cute." Here comes the blush.

"That's what you got from that?" He wondered. "You know what, just tell me this, why did you hug me that day, huh? I get it, i'm an awesome guy and all but when i'm left to wonder how I got you to do something like that and how to do it again, I resort to just asking."

"If you want to hug me, just say so, Harrow. But be warned, I might smear this on you." I said, pointing to my snack.

"One, don't call me Harrow. I've learned that last names are sometimes used when someone is irritated with that person and I don't want you thinking that about me, even though I will admit i'm somewhat irritating."

"Somewhat?"

"Two," He continued, not missing a beat. "I would like for you to quit joking for a minute. I seriously want to know why you hugged me."

"I don't know, okay? Why did you follow me up the stairs to begin with, Jack?"

"You looked sad, and we all know John wasn't going to do anything for that."

"And what, you were?" At this point, I may have yelled a bit.

"What do you want me to tell you, Lexi? That I like you? Fine. Lexi, I like you and it killed me to see you almost cry in front of me and that you thought you had to hide it by running. I don't know what has been going on lately, okay?" I couldn't say anything back if I wanted to. "I just, ever since I woke up from that stupid coma, everyone has been lying to me. Or at least that's what it seems like, that they're hiding something." 

"Why would you think th-"

"I'm not finished." He cut in but somehow it still didn't seem rude. "And I don't know what it is about you but I just, I feel like I know you. And not just through John, it's something else. I can't describe it, Lexi. I just know, I know you. And I feel like you would be the only person who wouldn't be hiding something from me and just to think that you are....." 

"Jack, everyone has their secrets. Just because-"

"You cried in front of me, and hugged me, and we almost kissed." He finished, and I had to duck my face a bit while eating my ice cream so I wouldn't have to look at his eyes. "And I wish we actually had." He said softly.

"God, Jack, why can't you just remember? It would make this conversation much easier."

"What am I supposed to remember, Lexi? What did I forget? Tell me." He seemed to beg. I could never handle this. In the test, I told Jack everything. I couldn't do it, I just couldn't. Every time I ever thought about keeping something from him, it never worked out. How would it this time?

"You're an idiot, you know that?" I told him, in one swift moment getting closer to him and letting my arms fall around his neck, and causing both of us to drop our food on the ground with a splat.

I couldn't do this. I shouldn't do this.

"Um, what's going on?" He asked but didn't push me away, instead putting a tight grip around my waist and forced me toward him. I couldn't help the spark of brilliance that came to me in that moment. 

While lightly running my fingers over some of the strands of his mess of black hair, staring into those green eyes that I knew I couldn't lie to, I said, "Just shut up, Jack."

And then I kissed him.

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Hi, i'm Gracie and I like good books *waves like Olaf*

Okay, so like, as my name thingy on my account says, I am obsessed with books, literally. I read all the time, both real, published books and stories here on Wattpad. And every now and then I find a book that is not only super amazing, but is a book that I think needs way more readers because of it's awesomeness. Which is why I am dedicating this chapter to snickersneebee because of her super duper awesome book called The Duplicate. Seriously guys, check it out if you know what's good for you. I can't get over how amazing it is. You can find it by clicking the external link or by going to snickersneebee's account and finding the story there. Until next time, bye peoples :)