Chapter 4
Jack was sitting at his desk at work, on the phone trying to sell car insurance to people. When he hung up the phone after being hung up on, he looked up at the clock. Three o'clock. He still had two more hours of this. He loathed working at a car insurance company. It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't have to try and sell insurance, and in the process of that get some rude person on the other side of the call hang up on him. Jack sighed. It was only Monday meaning he still had four more days until the weekend, and until he got his paycheck. He stared blankly at the computer screen in front of him. Bored out of his mind, just scrolling up and down on the mouse.
"Bored?" Michael, one of his co-workers, who sat in a desk beside him asked.
"Completely." Jack answered. "Ready to get out of here."
"Same here. At least next Thursday we all get the day off for the holidays."
"Great." Jack said. "I need a day off, not counting weekends. But then we all have to be back Friday." Jack rolled his eyes.
Michael just laughed slightly. "Yeah, but then it's the weekend again."
"And the whole thing starts all over again that Monday." Replied Jack.
"So you have any plans for the holidays?" Michael said typing on the computer.
"None. You?"
"I'm asking for Friday off then i'm going to Nebraska with my wife and son until Sunday, and renting a cabin for the 4th of July."
"Sounds like you have it all planned out." Jack said.
"Yeah." Michael replied.
Jack just nodded and turned back around to face the computer screen. He picked up the phone and called another number on the call list to try and sell insurance. He did this continuously for the next two hours until he had about fifteen minutes left of work. Then he just started to pack up to get ready to leave. When it got around to being five o'clock Jack couldn't have gotten out of there fast enough. He headed for the parking lot, threw his belongings in the passenger seat of his 2000 Nissan Altima and headed to his apartment. When he got there he unlocked the door and walked in laying his stuff down on the kitchen counter and shutting the door. Jack was too tired to care that his apartment was a mess. The dishes weren't done, most of his laundry was on his bedroom floor, and the living room had papers that had fallen off the side table and onto the floor.
Jack made his way over to the couch, turned on the tv to some game show, then shortly after he had fallen asleep.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Rose was watching a movie on tv when she heard a knock on the door. She got up from the chair she was sitting in and walked to the door and opened it.
"Rachael, hi. What are you doing here?" Rose asked.
Rachael was one of Rose's friends from work.
"A girl's night out, remember?"
Rose looked confused. "It's Monday night though?" Rose said in a confused tone.
"I know. We always do this though. I mean I know we usually don't hang out this late or on a Monday, but since I'm going to be out of town for a couple of weeks, I figured maybe you wouldn't mind hanging out?" She said in a persuasive voice.
Rose turned her head around to look at the clock. nine-twenty. She took a moment to think before answering.
"Alright. Come on in." Rose said opening the door further to allow Rachael to come in as she turned on the light. "Just let me get ready. I'll be back in ten minutes."
"Ok." Rachael nodded as she took a seat on the couch.
"Ready to go?" Rose asked as she walked out of the bedroom.
"Yeah." Rachael said standing up from the couch and heading towards the door.
Rose grabbed her coat and followed behind Rachael as she walked out the door, leaving Rose to shut and lock it.
"So where are we going?" Rose asked. "Who's car are we taking?"
"I was thinking going to watch the fireworks display a few miles from here or shopping. And I don't care which car we take." Rachael said.
"Okay. Well I don't have much money so if we shop, I'll be shopping cheap. How about we take my car?" Rose more or less stated rather than asked.
"Alright. Well whatever you want to do. Shop? Fireworks? Maybe both?" Asked Rachael.
"We can do both if you want. I don't really care. I wasn't really planning on going out tonight so, whatever you want to do is fine with me." Rose said trying not to sound rude or annoyed by the fact Rachael came by late and wanted to have a girl's night out on a Monday.
"Let's do both then. Fireworks don't start until eleven, so we can shop 'til then." Rachael said.
They walked to Rose's car and got in. "So where are we going to shop so late?" Rose asked.
"The mall's always open until midnight." Replied Rachael.
"Why do I get the feeling you had this planned before you came to my apartment?" Rose asked raising an eyebrow as she pulled out onto the road and headed towards the mall.
"Because I did." Rachael said laughing.
Rose just shook her head. "I hate you right now." Said Rose.
"I know." Rachael said with a slight smile. "But what else would you have done?"
"Watch tv. Sleep." Rose said.
"See. This will be more fun than tv or sleep." Rachael said.
"Yeah until I wake up late for work tomorrow morning." Rose said with the sound of annoyance in her voice.
Rachel just kept quiet and looked out the passenger side window.
-x-x-x-x-x-
After Rose and Rachael went shopping they went to the fireworks display. The place was packed. More than likely because it was so close to the 4th of July. They found a place by the fence and leaned against it.
"This should be fun!" Rachael yelled loudly so Rose could hear her amongst all the talking and fireworks going off.
"Yes it should!" Rose yelled back. "But it won't be. I'd rather be back home sleeping. But no, you drag me out here in the middle of the night." Rose mumbled under her breath so Rachel couldn't hear her.
They stood there watching the fireworks for a several minutes until Rose noticed someone in the crowd of people. She stood there a moment hoping they would turn around so she could see a face. When they didn't Rose decided to go over to see if it was who she thought it was.
"I'll be right back!" Rose yelled to Rachael.
"Okay, where are you going?"
"Just over there!" Rose pointed forward.
"Okay!"
Rose walked past many of the people until she caught sight of who it was she saw before.
"Jack?" Rose asked loudly tapping him on the shoulder.
Turning around he smiled. "Rose? What are you doing here?" Jack asked.
"My friend drug me out tonight." Rose said.
Jack couldn't help but laugh. "Wow were you that hard to get to come out here tonight that she had to drag you?"
Rose just laughed. "Oh, yeah."
"Sorry that was a bad joke." Jack said with a smile.
"No, that's alright. It was actually quite funny. So what are you doing here?" Rose asked.
"Just hanging around I guess." Jack laughed slightly.
Rose just smiled.
"That's pretty cool, huh?" Jack asked pointing to the firework that lit up in the sky as the American Flag.
"Yeah it is. It amazes me how people can be so creative as to make a firework in shapes like that." Rose said with a smile.
"Same here." Jack returned the smile.
Rose had been gone for more than twenty minutes ,and Rachael was starting to worry that she may have left her there since she didn't come back. So she decided to try and find her. After walking past many people she finally caught sight of Rose. She wasn't hard to miss when it came to her curly red hair.
"Rose?" Rachael called out getting no answer. "Rose!"
Rose finally heard Rachael's voice the second time and turned around. "Oh, hey Rachael."
"I was starting to think you left here without me!" Rachel laughed.
"Oh no I wouldn't do that!" Rose rolled her eyes. "Rachel, this is Jack. He's a good friend of mine."
"Hi, Jack." Rachael said reaching her hand out for Jack to shake.
"Hi, Rachael." Jack shook her hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." Rachael smiled kindly.
All three of them stood there together for a while until Rose spoke up.
"Well it's like two in the morning so I guess we should get going."
"Alright. Goodnight Rose. Nice to meet you Rachel." Jack said with a smile.
"Goodnight to you, too, Jack." Rose said smiling back.
"It was nice to meet you too." Said Rachel.
"Would you like me to walk you two out to your car? I'm only asking because I have to head out of here, too." Jack said.
"Sure." Said Rose.
Jack just smiled and the three of them started to walk towards the exit gate. When they got to Rose's car they said their goodbyes.
"Well I'll see you tomorrow in the coffee shop. Or at least I hope I will?" Jack asked.
"Yes you will. Have a good night Jack. Thank you for walking us out." Rose smiled.
"Yes thank you. It was nice to meet you." Rachael said.
"It was no problem at all. Rose, I'll see you tomorrow. And Rachel it was nice meeting you too." Jack smiled kindly towards Rose.
Rose and Rachel got in the car and backed out of the parking space waving goodbye. Jack waved back to them before they headed down the road.
"What was that about?" Rachael asked.
"What was what?"
"You and Jack. You were all googly eyed and smiling at him a lot." Rachael said.
"He's just a friend that's all." Rose stated.
"Okay whatever you say." Said Rachael as she stared out the window.
*So I hope everyone liked this chapter. Thank you for the reviews on the other chapters and I hope to get more on this chapter. So please review and tell me what you think. :)*
