days.
“What?” Her quick forgiveness stunned me, and I didn’t really know what she was trying to get at. Was I supposed to thank her or something?
“Have you talked to him?” she asked plaintively, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I should’ve known. All she really cared about was Jack, otherwise I doubt she even would’ve known that I hadn’t talked to her in two days.
“Him who?” Milo visibly puffed up at the mention of a guy, preparing himself to defend my honor or whatever would need defending. That was completely ludicrous since Milo was the kid at school that got shoved into lockers, and he was younger than me. I don’t know who exactly he could protect me from, but it would be a pretty sorry excuse for a guy.
“Jack!” Jane answered him like it should be completely obvious. What else in the world could she possibly be talking about? Then when she realized by Milo’s expression that he had no idea who she was talking about, she looked completely stunned. Her mouth literally fell open. “Oh my god, Alice! You didn’t tell him about Jack?”
“I have not, no,” I shook my head. In fact, I hadn’t planned on telling Milo about Jack until I had things sorted out better, but thanks to Jane, that would no longer be an option.
“How could you not tell him?” This fact just completely flabbergasted her.
She couldn’t grasp a world where one didn’t incessantly talk about Jack.
“I don’t know, Jane,” I sighed. “It just didn’t come up.”
To be honest, her instant obsession with Jack was the first thing about him that truly made me nervous. If he had this affect on her, what was he doing to other people? And why wasn’t I the same way? And why would he even want to bother being around me when girls like Jane would do anything just to be near him?
“Wait.” Realization flashed across Milo’s face, and I would’ve cut off my leg to keep him from completing his thought. “Is Jack the guy you went out with last night?”
“You went out with him?!” Jane gasped. Her eyes got so big, it was almost cartoonish.
“We just went out to a concert. It was no big deal.” I used every fiber of my being to keep my tone casual and nonchalant, but I heard her sharp intake of breath.
“Who is this guy?” Milo demanded. Jane’s expressions were making him nervous, and he was really doing his best to look as threatening as he possibly could.
“Jack is just like the most amazing guy ever,” Jane explained eloquently.
“He’s just a guy,” I countered, once again using my ultra-casual voice, and even adding a shoulder shrug for good measure.
“How can you even say that?” She was offended that I’d referred to him as “just as a guy.” In her mind, he’d been stacked up with the gods and should only be gushed about in revered tones normally reserved for shoes and hand bags.
“You know what, I just don’t get it.” I decided that I’d been going about things the wrong way. I’d been asking Jack why other people liked him when I should’ve been asking the people why they liked him. “What is it about him that you like so much?”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I’m not.” By then, I was already beyond irritated, but I tried not to let on.
“But you’ve met him!” Jane insisted.
“I know that!” I gritted my teeth and plowed on. “And I still don’t get it.
You’re like crazy about him. You’ve got to be able to articulate what it is that you’re attracted to.”
“He’s just…” Jane fumbled for words, which I didn’t get. He’d obviously been the only thing on her mind, so why couldn’t she explain him? “It’s like…
There’s just something about him. It’s completely indescribable. I just want him.
More than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
“Huh.” That was all I could think to say.
“You’re telling me that you don’t want him?” Jane asked me in total disbelief.
“No, I don’t,” I said honestly. I liked Jack in a really weird, insistent kind of way, but not like Jane. It was much simpler and less carnal. Or at least that’s what I gathered from the way she talked and acted.
“Then why are you sneaking around with him?” Milo asked.
“I don’t know.” There was no way that I could explain it to him since I didn’t fully understand it myself. Something about Jack made me want to keep him a secret. “I guess cause he’s older. I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry if you weren’t sneaking around,” Milo replied gruffly. Sometimes, he was way too parental to be my younger brother.
“Did he say anything about me?” Jane returned to the only topic that truly mattered to her; herself.
“Nope.” I stood up and started going through my dresser drawers for clothes. The whole conversation had run its course with me, and I was moving on to take a shower and start my day.
“Not a thing?” Her voice sounded so small and sad, but I ignored it. It was easy to do when I remembered the way she’d woken me up.
“Nope,” I repeated. “But, look, I’m gonna hop in the shower. And you’ve probably got better things to do than wait around for me.”
“I guess,” Jane mumbled. She looked totally dejected, but I figured that in a few short hours, she’d probably be drunk and dancing topless on some poor guy’s table. It was kind of hard to feel sorry for her.
After she finally pulled herself together and left, Milo gave me a brief interrogation on Jack. It took a little while, but I managed to convince him that I wasn’t having sex with him and had no intention of it. Reluctantly, he dropped the subject and allowed me to take a shower. The hot water felt good on my skin, and I let my thoughts wander to where I had left off last night. Then I got to thinking about what Jane said, and how in love she was with Jack even though she couldn’t think of a single reason why.
That’s when it hit me. Jack, the way I saw Jack — attractive with a boyish charm — that’s who he really was. What everyone else saw, like Jane and the waitress at the diner, they were just responding to something that wasn’t real.
The pheromones or whatever were creating some kind of illusion. But maybe I wasn’t completely immune. Maybe there was nothing spectacular about Jack at all, but I was just responding to it on a smaller scale. His familiarity was all part of the illusion, and I was falling for the same trap Jane was.
Chapter 3
The television channel TNT, in its infinite wisdom, had a John Hughes marathon running on all day. Milo, who never had particularly understood the appeal of Molly Ringwald, had grudgingly sat on the couch and watched them with me. He tried to convince me to watch something else, but I was stronger than him and manhandled the remote. We had just started onto our second viewing of Pretty in Pink when my cell phone started to jingle. It was going on midnight and I assumed it was Jane calling for some kind of sober cab service (even though I did not possess a car), but I picked up my phone off the coffee table anyway. I’d probably been too hard on her earlier. Much to my surprise, I found a text message from Jack.
So. You haven’t texted me.
You’re very observant. I responded. My plan was to try and be indifferent.
I didn’t appreciate the idea that I had probably fallen victim to some kind of spell or hormonal manipulation. Sure, I liked him, but I couldn’t tell if I actually did or if my brain had found some chemicals that told me I liked him.
Does that mean you don’t want to be friends? He actually typed that, like a note I’d get in the first grade. Something about that completely endeared him to me, and since I couldn’t smell or see him, I decided that must mean that I actually liked him.
No. I do. Definitely.
“Who is that?” Milo asked with an edge to his voice. He was sitting at the other end of the couch from me, and he leaned over so he could look at my phone, but I turned it away from him. “It’s that Jack guy, right?”
