Chapter 7
Sighing, Kai followed Jack down into the basement. I really hope he’s okay…She prayed as she opened his bedroom door and leaned against the door way, crossing her arms.
"Go away, Kai." was what greeted her.
She shook her head and sat down on the edge of his black and red bed.
"What part of ‘go away’ was unclear?" Jack was lying down on his back with his arm covering his eyes, as if he was tired of seeing the world.
"All of it." Kai maturely replied. "Especially the part where you pushed me away to build up walls."
"You and your damn metaphors... Can’t you speak plain English?"
"Alright then. Stop lying to me and let me help you."
"Why do you want to help me?!" Jack jolted upright to stare down Kai with his tear-glistened eyes swirling with both rage and despair. "Ever since you showed up and dragged me on that STUPID ‘double-date-dance’ THING, my life has been pure HELL. And now you wanna help?! Where was that help last week when you told me about this ridiculous idea?! Huh?! Answer me, Kai!"
"I would answer if you stopped yelling at me for a second and let me speak." Surprisingly, Kai’s voice held no sarcasm or hint of irritation. She sounded less like a frustrated teen and more like a calm mother who is gently chiding her child. "I have always been helping you-"
"HOW?! This whole ordeal couldn’t suck less-"
"Quiet!" She didn’t yell, but the low force silenced Jack immediately. He knew he just crossed a line he shouldn’t have. "By the end of this ‘whole ordeal’, I guarantee that you will be thanking me. Now, what happened between you and Raimundo? If you don’t tell me, I can’t help you. And yes, I know you’re going to say you don’t want help, but it’s not a matter of want; it’s a matter of need. Something happened that is still clearly an issue and said issue isn’t going to solve itself while you are sulking like a little kid who just lost his blanket. Understood? Good." She paused, letting Jack process everything she said. "I’ll repeat again: what. happened?"
He really, really didn’t want to tell her. After all, he thought he could figure out everything on his own. That’s how he’s always gotten along in life. Any problem he had, he solved on his own, untrusting of anyone else to do better.
However, during her other plans, when there was something he didn’t like, she changed the plan to accommodate his opinions.
Maybe if I tell her, she’ll fix this and leave...
"I-I guess you’re right..." He gave in, losing the bravado and anger he held before. "It's just...I’m confused and tonight didn’t exactly go as you thought it would, so I had no plan..."
"How so?"
"Well, as soon as we were alone, I started feeling sick- What the heck are you doing?" While he was speaking, Kai had stood up and began pacing the floor at the end of his bed, her hand on her chin.
"It helps me think." She waved his comment away with her free hand which she promptly placed on her hip. "Continue."
"As I was saying… I started feeling sick. Like, my stomach started feeling queasy, my palms became cold and sweaty, I could feel my face getting really hot – like I had a fever – and I couldn’t stop stumbling over my words like an idiot. Oh, and for some reason, I felt like I couldn’t breathe." He less-than-gracefully lay back down, resuming his original position. "I thought was coming down with something, so I asked if he could take me back home. But once he left, I felt fine, and that’s when I realized that the entire night was wasted on nothing, so-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop."
"What?" He whined. One of the more annoying traits of Kai was that she has the tendency to cut him off in the middle of a story. And he HATES it when people interrupt him. Like now.
"If I re-phrase your symptoms, will they still make sense?"
"Liiiike..?"
"Like," Kai stopped pacing and put her hands on the bed-frame for balance. "For example, take your ‘queasy stomach’. Would you say it felt as if there were butterflies in your stomach or maybe like it was doing flips?"
Jack thought about it for a while then nodded his head.
"Riiight... and your face getting hot... less like a fever and more like – per say – a blush?" Another pause and nod. "Your lack of breath maybe... like your heart was caught in your throat?"
"EXACTLY!"
Kai couldn’t help but smile and laugh. Jack may be a genius, but a lot of times, he can be really dense to emotions. "Jack," she said as her laughter finally died down. "You’re not sick, I can tell you that. BUT! I can tell you what was going on with you." Seeing his perplexed and slightly excited expression, she smiled and laughed again before moving on. "You were nervous~ That’s all! Nothing to worry about!" She slapped his shoulder before heading out the door. "Man, I was overly worried about nothing!"
"HOLD IT KAI."
Slowly, she turned around to face a – was that a blush she saw?
"Yes?" She asked.
"Why on earth would I be nervous?" Simple question, complicated answer. He had a way of asking those things to her. Especially when she wasn’t on grounds to answer.
"I don't know." She flashed him another mysterious smile – one that made you think she knew something you didn’t. "That’s something you have to figure out." And with that, she left to go finish up her game.
That didn’t answer my question at all... Jack thought, her response still echoing in his mind.
