I Am Jack
God, had work ever sucked tonight. The restaurant was packed and everytime a table cleared, it seemed like a bigger one replaced it. But such is the life of a Friday night line cook for the best place in town.
I'm looking forward to my brisk walk home at the dark time of 10:30 pm. I could have a car, but that money is going towards my college tuition to beat out student loans.
The roads are oddly dead, I notice on my walk. I get that I live in a small town, but this is ghostly. The thick, blinding fog doesn't help much either.
It seems like the usual dead night to me until I come upon a nearly deserted parking lot of a gas station. There's two cars. A really nice black jeep and a not so great red Ford P.o.S. The Ford has to be the gas station attendant.
I keep walking, having just noticed the set up in my travels. Something catches my eye though, and I'm drawn back to the black Jeep, the one that looks like it cost more than $2,000.
Sure as hell, I see it again. That was s boot kicking the back windshield. Without even thinking, I bolt across the street, shedding my backpack on the other side. This situation could be Forrest Gump, could be full on assault. Apologizing is a lot better than hearing about rape on the news.
I can hear her yelling for someone to stop and leave her alone. Without knocking, I throw the door open and pull the guy off of the poor girl. It's none other than the gas station attendant. He must have followed her out to her car and attacked her.
I don't even think to check on the girl trying to make herself decent again. I'm focused on wrecking this little son of a bitch in front of me. I don't talk. I don't need to. I just straddle his chest and you know, hit him a few times till he stops moving.
I wipe my bloodied hand on his shirt before I leave him without a word.
"Are you alright, miss?" I ask as I get back to the back seat. She's laying there, fully spread eagle. She's decent, she's just in shock. I can't make out the face. I can just tell that she's a fit young blonde. "Miss?" I ask again.
A single hand slowly raises and runs through her hair. She slowly sits up and I have to actively hide my surprise. "Thank you so much." Kim Crawford says quietly.
"Are you okay?" I ask nervously. How okay can she be after almost being raped?
"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks to you." Her face is red and she's still trying to calm her nerves.
"He won't bother you again." I take my eyes from her long enough to make sure the douche bag is still down. Yup, he is.
Kim nods and doesn't speak.
"You have a good night now." I say as I turn to recollect my backpack.
"Wait, where are you going?" she asks, sounding rushed like there's more danger.
"To get my stuff and go home?" I ask as if there's somewhere else I should be going.
"You just rescued me from that jerk. You could at least let me give you a ride." she offers earnestly, like she wants too.
"I don't want to put you out of your way, Kim. I'm sure you're a busy girl. Have a good night." I turn to leave again. She doesn't need to waste her time on me.
"Can I at least get a name?"
"Jack." I answer with a bit of a chuckle, trying to figure out why she cares.
"Thank you again, Jack. Thank you so much." She smiles brightly. I want to walk away again, to keep playing the cold, indifferent hard ass. Those eyes and that smile make it SO hard to do.
She gets out of the Jeep and walks toward me, hand outstretched.
I take her hand and shake it with a small smirk. "I'll be seeing you on the media." I tell her, knowing I won't see her again.
My eyes slowly trail down her body, taking in her tasteful and not slutty clothing. Hmm. Kim Crawford is actually a good girl. Her black leather jacket and form fitting jeans say she's not a saint, but she doesn't seem like a whole lot of trouble.
"So how about that ride home now, Jack?" Kim smiles again and I can't say no. What can it hurt?
"Alright, fine." I shrug and give in. I run back for my back pack and then I hop in the passenger seat and she in the driver's. I see she has an iPod plugged in through an aux cord. I had to see what she had cued up.
Much to my surprise, there was a lot of classic soul. "This is unexpected." I say as I play the first song on the list. Gotta love the Queen of Soul!
"Hey!" Kim takes her iPod back and sets it down. "You can't just go through a girl's iPod." she says through laughter.
"Come on Kim, you have good stuff on there. I was expecting a bunch of teen pop crap." I tell her honestly.
"I listen to soul because I think it's good influence. I don't want to sound like every other girl out there. I have the voice, so I want to use it the way I want to." Kim shrugs as she fires up the Jeep.
"Well I like your music because it's different, because it has that touch of soul."
"Aww, thank you." she smiles before she stops at the road. "So uh, where am I bringing you?"
I totally forgot why I was in the car of this great girl. "Two blocks left, one up, one right." I tell her with eyes closed in concentration. I open my eyes again to see her looking at me with an adorable smile. "What?" I ask through a chuckle.
"Nothing." Kim replied with a giggle and a shake of her head.
The drive is just a few short blocks with a pleasant silence between us. There isn't enough time to strike up a new conversation.
We get to my place and she turns the car off. Why did she turn it off? "Well, this is me, I guess." I say with my hand on the door handle. We're looking at each other, and I can't seem to find the strength to move my own hand.
"Looks like it." she agrees. "Jack." Her voice stops me, the door open with one foot out. "You rescued me tonight, and you're a really nice guy..." She pauses and I wait. "Can I, can I at least buy you coffee or something?" Kim Crawford is nervous about asking me to coffee?
"Tell you what. We'll get coffee, but I'm buying. I don't do well with handouts, even celebrity handouts."
"Alright, fine." Kim gives in to my stubbornness. "Tomorrow?"
"I'll see you tomorrow." I agree with a small smile.
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I hear a gentle knocking on my door, causing me to get up. "Who the FUCK would knock on my door before 10:30?!" I shout to myself before pulling on a pair of jeans from my floor and storming down stairs.
"Ya." I say throwing the door open, none too happy to be up before noon.
"Hey." Kim's smile falters. Oh shit. She thinks I'm pissed.
"Oh, sorry about the rude hello." I run a hand through my thick brown hair.
"Just wake up?" she asks with a smile and a raised eyebrow. "You're not wearing a shirt and your pants are open." She can't hide her giggle and a blush.
"Crap!" I turn around and close up. "Sorry about that. I did just wake up." I admit.
"Did I wake you?"
"Yeah, but it's fine." I shrug it off. "So what's up?" I scratch my unshaved chin. Three or four days of scruff always feels a little itchy first thing in the morning.
"We never exchanged numbers last night, and I wasn't sure if you worked tonight or not. I thought I'd come by to see what time we wanted to meet..." she finished awkwardly, realizing we were meeting. Right now.
"If you want to hangout in the living room for a minute, I'll go make myself presentable." I offer as I step away from the door so she can come in.
I jog upstairs and quickly brush my teeth and deodorize. I'm back downstairs in record time.
"Forget something?" Kim giggles and smiles.
"I forgot a shirt, didn't I?" I look down. "Yup. I'll be right back. Again." I sigh and run upstairs again to grab a t-shirt. I find one that's not too big, I don't want to look tiny. I don't want one that makes it look like I'm trying to look huge. She's already seen me without a shirt, no reason to try to impress now.
"Okay, NOW I'm ready." I say with an easy chuckle.
"I think I liked you better before." Kim quips with a smirk. God is she a great tease. I'm trying to keep friendly thoughts about this perfect girl. I know that this is a very limited thing between us. It's not worth getting my mind and heart wrapped around.
"Let's go." I shake off her flirt and head outside, leaving the door unlocked. I don't know if my two housemates are home or not.
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We get to the little coffee shop downtown to find that it's only us and a couple that look to be in their fifties. We shouldn't be bothered then.
"Hey, George." I say happily to the man behind the counter.
"Hey Jack! Always good to see you!" George said happily. "What can I do for you and your girlfriend?"
"She's just a friend, George." I chuckle. I don't get that lucky. "Anyway, can I have a medium mocha, please?" It's my go to fall and winter drink.
"I think I'll do the same." Kim smiles politely.
It doesn't take long for George to get our drinks. I pay the man for both, causing Kim to scowl.
"You weren't supposed to get mine, too." she tells me, playfully hitting my arm.
"You never said that." I defend myself as we pick out a table in the back corner. I thought she was going to sit across from me, but she pulls out the chair next to me instead.
"I think you know a lot more about me than I know about you, so spill." Kim demands with a smile. "What's your story? Where are you from, what do you do, are you single, are you in college?" She barrages me with questions.
"I'm from this little town, can't say I've gotten out of it much, unfortunately. I'm a line cook at a local restaurant. I am single, in fact. And yes, I am a college student. There's a little university here, so I lucked out." I answer her questions as quickly as she asked them. "What about you? What brings you to the backwaters? And don't say you're just passing through. People don't even stop here."
Kim giggles and I have to look down, because I think I feel her hand on my knee. Yup, that's Kim Crawford's hand on my knee. "I need a break from reality, so I opened a road map to a random page, closed my eyes and dropped a finger. I landed here. It's in the middle of nowhere, so it seemed like a good escape. Except for the almost getting raped part." She frowns, but that's understandable.
"I'm just happy I didn't get there any later than I did."
"Me too." She smiles at me. "Not only did you rescue me, but I also got to meet you. I'm glad for that. I have a friend who can show me around and keep me company while I'm here." I ignore her hand on my knee. She's probably just happy to find an average guy that's not trying to cop a feel or take advantage of her fame.
"You know, I really didn't expect to run into you. It's kind of nice now that you're not in trouble or anything." Last night isn't how I wanted to meet Kim. I never knew I actually wanted to meet her till know. She's always just been a celebrity crush.
Kim smiles and I can tell she's actually happy to be here. I don't think this is an obligatory thing to her. I forgot that she's still a nineteen year old girl. "Now that nobody's in trouble, what is there to do around here?"
"Not a thing. This is pretty much the best you're going to get. There's nothing during the day, there's a decent bar where I work that has karaoke tonight." I shrug. I don't much around here except work, go to school and the dojo. I don't have any idea what Kim Crawford would call fun.
"So... Karaoke tonight?" Kim asked from under her eyelashes, the rim of her cup just touching her bottom lip. She's playing me like a God damn fiddle.
I roll my eyes and give in. "I know all the guys, so as long as we don't try to touch alcohol, we're good." I tell her, and she knows my answer is yes.
"I can't wait. I'm a great singer, I promise." Kim beams at me and I can't help but chuckle.
"I know Kim. I've heard you on YouTube." I chuckle. I look at her quizzically but with a smile. "I make you feel like a normal girl, don't I?"
Kim smiles and locks eyes with me. "Yeah, you do." She pauses. "That's why I like you. You're not all up in my wealth. You haven't asked for anything."
"It kind of makes me happy nobody knows Jack Brewer."
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10:00 rolled around and Kim's here to pick me up for karaoke. Kim waves and smiles from the Jeep before I even close the door.
As I get in, I can't help but notice she looks gorgeous with black leggings, a graphic tee and jean jacket. Her black leather biker boots make her legs look so much longer, even from her seat in the Jeep.
"Hey." she says, her voice light and bubbly. "You ready to do this?" Kim's voice drops and she looks serious, like we're going to war.
"Ah no no no. I DO NOT sing. It's horrible. I'll come hang with you and you can have a ball, but I'm not going up there." I'm very firm on this. My voice is horrible. I can play guitar and a mean blues harmonica, but I don't sing.
"Tonight you do." Kim argues. "You're singing at least one duet. That's all I require as payment for my presence." Kim says in a stuck up voice with her chin up. She glances at me out of the corner of her eye and she smiles, as if she knows I'll say yes.
"We'll see." Is all I give her. She's used to getting her own way, I can tell. It hasn't been a problem yet, but I'm too stubborn and small town to just give in to whining. I could be completely wrong, though. I know next to nothing about this girl.
As I'm in my own mind, Kim cues her iPod and the sounds of Of Monsters and Men's Little Talks fixes her Jeep. I don't listen to a lot of modern pop, but I can tolerate it. Kim knows every word, and she was right. She is good. So much better in person. Before I know it, I'm mumbling along.
"Oh come on, Jack!" Kim glances at me quickly. "Let it out. Let me here it."
I'm not going to put her through that, and I'm too full of stubborn pride to look like an idiot in front of this unbelievable girl.
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Kim and I walked up to the door but Mikie stops us. "ID please." Mikie says in his deep voice. If you don't know the guy, he's scary as shit.
"Come on Mikie, do we really need to play this game?" I roll my eyes at the brick wall of a man.
"Nah Jack, I'm just messing around. Who's the dime piece?" Mikie asks in curiosity. Mikie's a happily engaged man, so I don't think he's going to try anything with Kim.
"I'm Kim." Kim smiles and shakes his hand. She doesn't need me to speak for her. I think she appreciates that I didn't try to.
"How'd you end up meeting this loser?" Mikie chuckles and crosses his arms.
"It's a long story. Let's just say I owe him one." Kim says vaguely. I'm going to get a lot of questions at work tomorrow.
"You two have a good night. And you watch this one's back, alright?"
"I will Mikie." I said with a chuckle, holding the door open for Kim. Mikie was a bouncer, not a doorman.
"I was talking to Kim."
"I won't let anyone hurt him." Kim winks at me and she takes my hand and pulls me in behind her.
The place is pretty crowded, and I automatically stiffen in defense. I'm not sure if it's in my defense or Kim's. There's some pretty sleezy clientele and I've been called in from the kitchen to break up more than one fight.
"Relax, Jack." Kim's wearing a frown. Apparently I look tense, too. "Let's have some fun and blow off some steam."
"Alright, but stay close to me. This place isn't exactly family friendly. I don't want our night ending in a fight." I tell her honestly.
"I saw you this morning. You look like you can handle yourself." Kim's smiles small and her eyes are playful.
"I'm no stranger to fights, but I don't like them." I shrug. Because I can fight doesn't mean I'm going to just throw it around.
Kim and I find a seat at the end of the bar where we can see the dance floor and the karaoke microphone stand. I can see the entrance, too. I feel oddly protective of this girl. I feel like she's put herself in my care and I need to watch her, not just have a good time.
"Yo Phil!" I call to the bartender that I've worked with for three years now.
"Jack! Can't find anything better to do on your day off?" Phil's accent is heavy and I catch that Kim's smiling at it. I don't think she's racist. I think it's just a 'small town oddity' that she doesn't get in the big cities she's used to frequenting.
"I missed you, buddy." I joke. "My friend Kim is a karaoke fan, so we came to hang out for a while.
"I assume you are the Kims, no?" Phil asks with a goofy smile.
"I am. Hi Phil." Kim smiles back.
"You are not from around here. I can tell. You are much more ugly than local girls." Phil comments with a sickened face.
Kim is completely taken aback by Phil's comment, which is understandable.
Kim launches herself and almost grabs Phil's collar. I barely have enough time to haul her back. I didn't see that kind of temper coming! "Kim, Kim it's okay. Phil's from a country where their take on beauty is kind of opposite from ours." I tell her, trying to defuse the little blonde bomb she turned into.
"So I'm prettier than most of the girls around here?" She smiles and looks at me expectantly.
Oh, she's good. "That's what Phil's implying, yup." I nod, keeping Phil in there. There's my stubborn pride in there again. And what does Kim Crawford care if little Jack thinks she's a temptress?
"Okay, I'll jump behind the counter to get us something to drink. Feel free to sign up for a song whenever you like." That's just what I do. I put a hand on the counter and jump over the bar. "What can I get you?"
Kim throws her head back and my eyes are glued to her throat. Everything about this girl is unbelievably sexy. Her hair, her style, her laugh and her voice. "All access, huh? I'm fine with anything diet."
"I assumed as much." I roll my head around and grab two glasses.
"What?" Kim's giggle sounds a little forced. I don't think she likes me making assumptions about her.
"You take care of yourself. You watch what you eat at all times. I know how it is. I'm the same way." I tell her as I fill both our glasses with diet Coke. "Keeping fit takes work, and abs start in the kitchen." I hop back to our side and I hand her the glass.
"Thank you." She takes a small sip from the straw, never breaking eye contact. She puts her cup down and turns back to me. "I'm going to go pick a song." Kim smiles and disappears into the crowd.
I crane my neck to keep eyes on her, but I can't see her anymore. I might be paranoid, but I don't trust these people around her.
I give up and turn back to the bar in time to see the guy next to me recoiling his hand from Kim's drink like he was burned. I look at the glass to see small bubbles rising from only the center of the glass. "Hey man!" I call to get his attention. "What the fuck did you just do?"
"I didn't do anything." This guy had to be the worst actor on planet earth.
"Horse shit." I call him out. I step up to him and grab a fist full of his shirt. "What. Dif you put. In the glass." I saw with clenched jaws. We just got here and I already have to put up with this!
"Just a... I didn't... What?"
I shake the guy and see Kim approaching out of my peripheral. "Jack..." The poor girl probably thinks I'm a monster right now.
"Go ahead jackass. Tell the pretty lady what you put in her drink." The guy looks from me to Kim, then back to me. He pushes me, trying to create space. I don't budge. I tense my gut and as I figured her would, he punched me in the stomach. It barely registered, this guy is so weak. It's probably why he resorts to drugging.
I push him back just enough to give me space. I knock his ass out cold with a side snap kick to the jaw.
Phil must have told Mikie, because here he comes. "What happened here, Jack?" Mikie asks with that stupidly deep voice of his.
"He spiked Kim's drink." I quickly motion in her direction where she stands looking frightened. "I confronted him and he hit me. Now he's here." I point to his crumpled body on the floor.
"I'll call the cops. They'll check the drink and take this bastard off our hands. Nice catch, Jack." Mikie bends over and picks the asshole off the floor with one hand.
"You okay, Kim?" I ask, finally turning to her.
"Jesus Christ!" Kim sighs, her eyes are huge and her hands are in her hair. "Did he just... did he just try to drug me?!" Kim asks, probably still in shock.
"Yup. Yeah he did." I confirm.
Kim sags her shoulders and takes her seat back, her eyes locked in on the glass. Without looking at me, she says "Thank you. For last night and now this. I hate the damsel in distress card, but you do have a way of saving me." She finally looks up and her smile takes my breath away.
"Wanna get out of here? I think that guy kinda killed the evening." I offer.
Kim perks up. "Are you kidding me? He's gone. Why should we leave? We're going to get your jam out." Kim tells me, sounding all business.
"Alright." I say with controlled amusement. I wouldn't say it aloud, but I'm really happy she didn't let the night end here. Selfish, I know, but I haven't done anything like this with a girl in three years. I've been in a draught, okay?
Kim's name is called first, to start out karaoke night. It's not fair to everyone else that they have to follow up Kim Crawford, but the fact that they do makes me laugh.
Kim runs up and grabs the mic with a beaming smile. "How y'all doing tonight?" A bit of her southern drawl slips out. It's adorable, let's be honest. "Y'all mind if I sing you a little song?" All of the patrons, even me, are sucked into her natural aptitude for entertaining. "There's some not so great people out there, but there are some good boys still out there." Kim settles into Daya's Hide Away, and I'm even mesmerized.
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Kim actually managed to widdle away at me enough to get me up there twice to sing with her. You believe that? Twice! To get me comfortable, she started us with Little Talks again, because it's familiar to us both. I was pretty stiff until the end, but I did feel a little looser. Maybe she spiked my drink...
For the second song, she chose Short Change Hero by the Heavy. I can't believe I'm saying this, but we nailed it. Kim had a way of making me sound not terrible somehow. Don't even ask me how.
"Well, I guess this is good night again." I say as she stops in front of my house.
"Yeah, I guess so." She agrees. We stare at each other. Neither of us move. Those brown eyes are like a freaking tractor beam. "I had a lot of fun tonight, Jack. Even though some guy tried to spike me, I still had fun. After that, of course."
"I couldn't help but laugh at her. God, she's so perfect! "Look me up next time you're in No Man's Land, okay?" That's not the town name, but it might as well be.
I reach for the door handle. "Jack." But her voice stops me.
"Yeah?" I say, turning to face her again. I'm locked on her eyes again, God damn it. She's nervously biting her lip and looking right at me. Now I can't look away from her lips. Somebody get me out of here before I do something stupid!
"I'm in town for a few more days..." I know where she's going with this.
"I have to work 4:00 to 10:00 tomorrow. Lunch?" I ask casually.
She smiles without releasing her bottom lip. Fuck! "I'd like that." She grins softly and I find myself grinning like an idiot.
"It's a..." Woah. "Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Kim."
"Night, Jack." Now I have to go to bed for the second night in a row with nothing but Kim Crawford in my head.
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So just a little intro chapter there. We good, do we have problems, should I go crawl in a hole somewhere and be ashamed of this? Let me know!