It must have been about two in the morning when Boone woke up. He was jerked awake by the cell phone which was laying on the table by his bed. Groaning, he made a grab for it and, almost dropping it, raised it to his ear.
"Hello?" He muttered groggily, and was greeted with a loud squeal he recognised to be from his sister, Shannon. Great to have someone squealing in your ear at two in the morning. Yeah. Wonderful.
"Ohmigod! Boone!" Shannon said cheerily, loud enough to deafen him. Or atleast that it felt that way. Hey, it was pretty early in the morning, afterall.
Boone grunted, his eyelids drooping as he fought hard to stay awake. "Hey, sis," He said dully, and the small lump at his side moved slightly. Boone groaned. Great, she was waking up to give him an earful. Honestly, he really didn't need this at two in the morning.
"How have you been?" Shannon went on, clearly oblivious to the fact that she had just woken him. Has she ever heard of time differences? Boone wondered as Shannon began to gabber on about things he didn't care about.
He said, "Er, yeah.." To make it seem like he was actually listening. Beside him, Holly was now wide awake and looking at him in a way that told him that if he didn't hang up soon, certain death would await him. "Listen, Shannon.."
"So anyway," Shannon continued after a pause, "Jack and Ana are holding this reunion thing. Interested?"
Boone couldn't actually believe that she was calling him up at this time of the morning to ask if he wanted to attend some 'reunion'. He looked at Holly, who was now mouthing 'Hang up right now!' to him. He shrugged his shoulders at her helplessly and went on talking to Shannon.
"That so? Look, Shannon, it's two in the morning here. Think you could let me call you back later?"
"Oh," Shannon said, giggling, "Sorry, I didn't realise.."
"That's fine," Boone said impatiently, and Holly groaned loudly. "Okay, Shannon.."
Unfortunately, Shannon had apparently heard her. "Is she with you?" She asked, emphasising on the word 'she'.
Boone cast a furious look at Holly. "Yes, Shannon. I'll call you back later, okay?" He hissed, hoping to God that she would get the message.
"All right, I'm going!" Shannon said crossly, "You'd better call me back." She added, and hung up. Boone slammed down the phone without a nother word to Holly, who muttered something inaudible before falling silent.
For a couple of seconds Boone considered this reunion idea, but only for a couple of seconds, because then he was unconcious.
--
Ana-Lucia found herself watching television, one of those 'I Love Lucy' re-runs maybe, as she wolfed down a chicken sandwich. It was around eleven o'clock at night, Rain thudded against the windows as she glanced sightlessly at the screen, barely comprehending what was going on. Her eyes swivelled across to the phone, and she gazed at it longingly, as if she thought it would suddenly start ringing if she looked at it hard enough. She had expected Charlie to have called her back by now. She grinned a little to herself, for she knew exactly how Charlie felt about her, but..
She hadn't even seen Jack that day. He had left early that morning, but was due back any moment now. Ana, being bored and unemployed, had allowed Shannon to drag her around the town square all day long, shopping for things she didn't even want or need. Needless to say, Ana had come home empty handed, while her friend had ended up with four or five backs full to the brim of pants, mini-skirts and boots and such. Ana just wasn't interested in any of that. Just give her a dozen pairs of jeans, a couple of tank tops and a pair of sneakers and she was fine.
Her thoughts turned away from that and moved to Shannon, who after being coaxed and sweet talked by Sayid had gone running back to him. Ana sighed impatiently, not being able to understand how Shannon could be such a push over. Sayid had been in the wrong, had blamed it all on Shannon, and yet she had given into his demands and had trotted off back to him. Well, it was her choice. Ana knew that Shannon and Sayid would split again soon, they always seemed to, it was part of their relationship. However, something in Shannon's voice when she had confessed to Ana that she thought, or hoped, that the relationship was over, had told Ana that they would break up permanently very soon. Things hadn't been right between the two of them for months, the relationship had been spiralling out of control for too long.
Her thoughts dwelled on Shannon and Sayid for a while longer before she jumped, hearing someone trying to get in through the front door. Then a key rattled in the lock and the door swung open, revealing Jack, dripping wet from the storm.
Ana sat up quickly, smiling at him. "Hey." She said cheerily as he closed the door.
To her dismay, Jack simply nodded vaguely at her as she shrugged off his leather jacket. "Why'd you lock the door?" He pressed on without properly greeting her.
"Oh, you know.." Ana muttered, suddenly feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
Jack said, "Right. Well, I'm pretty tired, so.." And he was walking towards the bedroom as he said it.
This time Ana couldn't stop herself. She had held it in, had bottled it all up inside her. But she knew that something was wrong, and was determined to find out what. "What is it with you?" She blurted out suddenly, making him stop to look at her, questioning.
"I don't get it." He said, staring blankly at her.
"Oh, yes, you do."
There was a sudden strange, unearthly tension between them. Ana shivered as it swept over them, and she watched as his empty gaze turned to one of slightly impatience.
"I know I might have been a little.. you know," Jack began slowly, not looking at her, "But it's just, work, the stress.." His voice trailed off. He was stuck it seemed, couldn't think up a decent excuse that would explain the cold way he had been acting towards her as of late.
Ana snorted. "Yeah, work, stress, of course." She muttered sarcastically as he took a step towards her.
"Don't," Jack said grimly, shaking his head warily.
"Don't what? Don't ask about why the hell you've been ignoring me?" Ana retorted angrily, standing up.
"I haven't been ignoring you," Jack insisted restlessly, "Where are you getting this from Ana?"
She stared at him in disbelief. The other day he had been quite charming, taking her out for dinner and treating her like, for once, his wife. That had been the first time he had shown anything other than indifference towards her in weeks. Then he had sunk back into this strange mood, and she didn't know what to do.
Jack began to pace around the room, looking ready to break. Ana just wanted to know what was going on.
"Going to tell me?" She asked finally, when she thought he might have calmed down a bit.
He said, "What?" As if nothing was wrong.
"Well, if that's how you wanna be.." Ana said hotly, stalking past him to grab her jacket.
Jack grabbed her arm. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He asked, looking baffled. "Do I have to tell you everything?"
"If you don't tell me what's going on," Ana said as calmly as she could, though she was shaking, "I'm going.
Jack held on to her and suddenly she was in tears. She felt him pull her into a hug and let him, not knowing what else to do. She didn't want to leave him. But the way he was acting was so childish, she just couldn't stand it anymore.
"So.." She said finally, wiping away the tears that had been rolling down her cheeks and glancing at him. When he looked down blankly at her, she sighed and pulled away from him. "Okay." She said plainly, backing away from him.
"Ana.." Jack started towards her, but she wouldn't hear of it. He drew back, looking embarressed.
"Okay." Ana repeated, her voice cracking as she opened the front door and backed out of their appartment.
--
The street was deserted. Rain spattered down, soaking her through before she had even crossed the road. She looked around desperatedly for a cab, trying to cover her head with her handbag. Typical, she thought bitterly as she ran through the rain, he was always trying to play it like he was the innocent victim. She just didn't understand him at all. But what was it that some guy had said a long time ago? 'Opposites attract'. Yeah, that was it. However, in this case Ana would be happy to tell this guy that he had been dead wrong.
Ana-Lucia had no idea why she had picked Jack. Of all the nice guys, tolerable guys out there, why him? There was no denying that Jack was a nice guy, but at times he acted 'too nice' which could get really frustrating. There had just been something special about him. Something that had attracted her from that first meeting at the airport bar. He had caught her eye. They had talked. Or she had talked, rather. Yeah, that had been before the crash. She had been planning to hav a drink with him on the plane. And if they had, if they'd had the drink, she had a feeling that a long visit to the toilet would have ensued.
Wow, what a dirty thought. Well, it was true. She had been down. He had looked down, especially when she had first spotted him argueing over his father's funeral cascet or whatever..
She had been so delighted to see him again, had spent so much time walking 'round the island with him even though she had had other things to do. But he had liked it, she had been able to tell. Every now and then they had caught eachother's eye, and she had known that he had wanted her, too.
"Hey."
He had glanced round sharply as she spoke. She could remember smirking as he blushed. "You scared me." He had said quietly, approaching her.
"Sorry," She had replied with a seductive smile, not the least bit sorry. "Say, we never had that drink."
A look of shock had flashed across his face but he had taken up her invite to have a drink with him. They had grabbed some booze from the hatch (not much, if she remembered rightly, just a couple of tiny bottles of vodka for him and a couple of tequila and tonic's for her) and had sought out a secluded spot. He had allowed her to choose where.
"Here," She had said casually, tossing a couple of bottles his way. He had caught them, but only just. She couldn't help but laugh.
He had frowned and said nothing. "So.. how have you been holding up?" He had asked, meeting her eyes properly for the first time since they had met up again on the island, long after their little encounter in the airport bar.
"Pretty good," She remembered saying, "It's tough out here, but I've managed so far." He had laughed and she had grinned. "So, how's life for you, Doc?" She'd asked, pulling a face at him, attempting to imitate Bugs Bunny.
"Well, good too, I guess," He had replied, offering her a small smile. "Aaron, you know, Claire's baby.. well, he had a fever, but it's gone now, so.."
Ana nodded solemnly. "Good. Can't have people getting sick around here." She remembered saying. He had silently agreed with her by vaguely nodding his head.
"Sawyer's been challenging me to games of poker. Needless to say, I've been kicking his ass," Jack had said after a short pause.
Ana had looked up sharply. Sawyer.. the most ignorant, idiotic man she had ever known. They had, well, had 'relations' in the jungle the other week, for what reasons she would never disclose, even now, to anyone. All she could do was laugh weakly at this.
Jack had drawn breath, leaning back. She had looked into his eyes again, and somehow her hand had found his. Thus, they had shared their very first kiss together.
Jumping back to the present, Ana now felt miserable and alone. That had happened three long years ago, and now it felt like a mere distant memory. The truth was, that kiss, that happy moment they had shared together in the jungle had been the high point of their relationship. Ever since that day, things had begun to go steadily downhill, and now here she was, standing alone on the sidewalk, totally drenched.
She saw a cab and her arm shot out. It drew up beside her and she hopped in, wringing her long ponytail of the rain outside. Ana knew exactly where to go. Or, to be exact, it was the only place she knew of where she would be welcomed with open arms. Shannon would surely put her up for the night. And as for Sayid, well, Ana didn't care what the hell he thought.
Yes, she would go to Shannon's. But first, a drink was inorder. Or several, that worked too.
Ana thought of Jack again, but then decided to close her mind of him alltogether. When the time came she would think about him, but for now, she would forget that he even existed.