My Best Friend, Jack ✓

31. Jack

The hours seemed to tick by and at some point, I fell asleep. When I woke up eventually, my phone was on the floor and I reached down and picked it up eagerly and hoped to see a message from Jack. My heart sank when nothing appeared on the screen. I rubbed my eyes, before climbing out of bed clumsily and walking over to my bedroom window. 

I hoped I'd see Jack on the driveway, but no such luck. The basketball stood still at the side, unmoving. Where the hell was he? As I continued to stare out the window, I heard my bedroom door creak open behind me. I turned around and saw my mum stood there, a small smile on her face. She looked me up and down with concern. 

"It's almost six, honey," she said. "You've been up here for a while. Are you okay?"

"I wish everybody would stop asking me that," I mumbled, looking down at my feet. 

She held her hands up. "I'm sorry, I won't ask again."

"Thanks."

She opened the door wider and stepped in to my room, her look of concern still evident on her pretty features. "Come on, let's go for a drive."

"A drive?" I repeated. "I don't really feel like it."

"Come on," she said, walking over to me and putting her hands on my shoulders. She steered me out of my room, despite my protests. "You've been cooped up in this room all afternoon, it's not doing you any good."

"But - "

"No buts, we're going."

I grumbled under my breath as she marched me down the stairs. She practically stood over me like a prison guard, watching me as I slipped on my Converses and then ushered me out the front door. I glanced over at Jack's driveway but was disappointed to see the basketball still lying in the same position it was earlier. Feeling dejected, I didn't say a word as I climbed in the front seat of mum's Toyota and rested my chin on my hand, looking out the window. Mum didn't say a word either as she turned on the engine and pulled out in to traffic. 

Well, there was only one other car on the road, but that still counted as busy down our street. The silence was deafening and I could feel her looking over at me, despite the fact that she should be concentrating on the road. Sighing loudly, I reached over and turned the radio on. Some heavy, metal music burst through the speakers and I returned my attention to the window.

She didn't even try to change the station which I found odd. She always changed the station. I peeked over at her from the corner of my eye. Her hair was pulled back in bun and she was smiling softly, tapping the steering wheel with her hand. 

"Why are we doing this?" I asked, turning around and staring straight ahead. 

"Why not?" she smiled. "It's better than being cooped up in your room, am I right?"

"I guess."

"Your dad told me what happened," she said glancing over at me, her eyes understanding.

"Mm," I nodded, not wanting to talk about it. 

"You know, your father and I almost didn't make it when we were young," she said suddenly. 

"What happened?"

She smiled sadly. "I didn't know if I wanted to risk our friendship. But as it turned out, we ended up having so much more than friendship. It blossomed in to real love, like the kind you get in the movies and we ended up having two wonderful children. And we've never looked back since."

"But what if it hadn't worked out?" I asked, picking at my nail and looking down at my legs. "You could've lost everything."

"I guess when it comes down to it, you have to ask yourself if it's worth the risk."