Title: Before Taylor Bounced In
Author: edwardandelion
Pairing: Jacanna Jack/Brianna
Rating: K (for everyone)
Genre: romance, a little crack supposedly
Disclaimer: Own NO-THING!
Summary: From the book Lies by Michael Grant. During the fire of Perdido Beach if you had ever wondered why Jack shot Taylor a dirty look, here it is! The whole explanation. SPOILER ALERT.
A/N: Uhmmmmm… well, meh first time herez so, erms, take care of meh! ZANK YA! :]]
Jack cuddled to himself on the cot he made in the corner of Brianna's room. Although he was somewhat cured of his "flu" he was still feeling the coughing pains deep down in his throat.
He really needed his computers. The screens, the tapping keys, the blinking lights he longed for them more than he longed for his parents. Ever since he toke out the electricity, he couldn't spend one day without having his electronics barging into his thoughts, violating his privacy. Use us! Use us! Begging him to press a key, to click the mouse, to escape the hellhole called the FAYZ. And as much as Jack would love to, he couldn't.
He never got around to finding the serious router, the one spending most of its time in his imagination. Not like he would find one anyway. But he needed the phones on. He willed the phones to be on. Zil stopped tormenting him about his supposed failure in his telephonic quest, mostly because he was preoccupied with the Human Crew, though to Jack it wasn't an excuse. He needed the electricity on to power up his computer. When that's done he could finally fix the problem. Sure, he would be forced to start from scratch but he needed and wanted to finish what was started.
Brianna.
Jack didn't how Brianna did it, but she managed to pop into his thoughts more and more often. Instead of saying he was sick of it, he actually quite liked it. Thinking about Brianna temporarily distracted him of his failure. Brianna, able to run up to three hundred miles per hour, she amazed him. She was stubborn and never refused to accept a challenge. A little nutty, but that was one of her many charms. Even in one of the oddest, most serious moments she can whack out one of her famous smart-ass sass that defines her personality.
There was the superhero herself, sitting on her now broken bed, doubled up, coughing her bright life out. She was pale and scrawny, and now instead of running very fast, she did everything fast. Her super speed coughing sounded jacked. She had a salt-covered thin blanket wrapped around her body. She stilled looked as cute as she was since the beginning of the FAYZ, despite her toothpick limbs, hallow cheeks, and beyond skinny waist, to Jack.
"How are you doing, Breeze?" Jack croaked.
After some hacking and wheezing she spat, "Great, I'm having the time of my life here."
She glared at him, her eyes yelling at him, No duh.
Jack slowly got up from the handmade cot, careful not to break any item, as he did so much damage already, and wobbled over to the miniature kitchen. He opened the cupboard and grabbed a glass lightly with hesitant, slightly shaking hands. Then he took the gallon filled with saved warm tap-water and poured half a glass, returned to Brianna's room, and handed it to her. He sat down next to the pale sick girl and coughed a little.
"Cover your mouth. You're gonna get more germs on me, Computer Jack," she nagged. She gratefully accepted the water though and chugged it down, finishing with a heavy sigh. Then with some leftover fight she added, "I bring you into my house, nursed you 'til you're kinda okay, and this is what I get: hell."
Jack blushed, fixed his cracked glasses only to have it to lean on a side again, and looked down at his feet. "Um, well, you know, you're already kind of covered in germs."
"And whose fault is that?" Brianna accusingly stared at him.
Then pedantically, "Well, it's actually quite natural to have germs covering-"
"No," Brianna scolded. Then she cough repetitively. "No nerdy, geeky crap while I'm sick. I'll get a headache."
"But-"
"No, plus-"
"Actually-"
"Shut-"
"It's-"
"I know-"
"I need a router," That ended the confusing cross talk.
Brianna sighed and threw up her hands exaggeratedly. "Are we seriously doing this again? Plus, what would you do with it? We don't have any electricity." Then under her breath she muttered, "What the heck is that anyway?"
Jack flushed red. "I just need it to fix the phones. I never really finished it. I mean, I did! I did. Just, I need to change something."
After sneezing, she eyed him. Then she stuck out her index finger and motioned for him to come closer.
Jack leaned in.
Closer, Brianna mouthed.
Soon enough, Jack was only an inch away and blushing a new shade of red.
"What do you think about me, Computer Jack?" she whispered, tilting her head a little, trying her best to look attractive.
"Huh?"
"I mean," she was so close now that Jack was technically breathing in her excess air, "tell me what you like."
"Uh-uh-uhm," Jack blushed harder. He found it increasingly hard to bring up words. He liked the closeness. A lot. "You're amazing?"
Brianna leaned closer. Their lips were barely touching. An eerie orange glow seeped into the dark room. "And?"
Just a little more, Jack moaned in his head. "You're really cute."
They were about to do the thing Jack has been wanting ever since the McClub when suddenly and silently Taylor blinked in. She was covered in soot from head to toe.
"Oh, my god!" Taylor squealed. "OMG! OMG! No way!"
Surprised, Jack jerked away harshly, red all over and Brianna broke into a fit of coughs. Jack repositioned his glasses, looking down.
"Taylor?"
"Oh, my gosh, tell me you did not do what you were about to do!"
"Taylor!"
"Wait," she held out her hand, emphasizing. Then she squealed again but even louder. "Oh, you guys are just so cute together!"
"Taylor, what the heck do you want?" Jack asked, his face red from embarrassment and annoyance.
Snapping out of her fan-girling, she cleared her throat and her facial expression was now stone faced. "Edilio sent me. We have some serious trouble."
Brianna and Jack's eyes were bulging, both waiting for the bad news. The mood was now intense.
"What's the chiz?" Brianna asked, then coughed madly.
"There's a fire,"
They both stared and no one stirred.
"A huge one. Zil related,"
Both of them immediately scrambled for the window.
"So that was the orange glow?" Jack asked surprised, suddenly now realizing.
"What'd you-" a cough "-think it was?" Brianna asked.
Jack blushed. "I just thought, you know, the mood, or somethin',"
Taylor snorted. "You're gonna be knockin' over some buildings-"
"Wha-"
"You'll be needing a scarf soaked with water. Trust me, you will need it."
"I'll come-" hacking "-too!" Brianna demanded but leaned more to the side of pleading.
She turned away from the window, took two steps, but doubled over coughing.
"Sorry, no can do," Taylor said. Then to Jack, "Hurry up, strong dude. Children waiting."
She disappeared.
The sound of Brianna coughing echoed throughout the one story house.
Brianna asked, "What'd she just call you?"
When Jack arrived at the meeting place the first thing he did was give Taylor a dirty look. Edilio had a questioning face for a second but decided against it and started on with the current situation.
A/N: plz give mehz some constructive criticism and hugs! *winks* Jack and Brianna are meh favs in the gone series. And if you have read this before you even started on the series… well…. READY. GET SET. START! Trust meh, it's big, but you won't be disappointed. :}