Hi all, sorry for the delay (but I stayed up really late to make sure I got this one done today.). Matthew mention, but no Matthew yet. He's off healing. I really hope you enjoy. Thanks again for the replies. -K
The Plan – Chapter 10
Jack ducked around the kitchen corner when he heard Tea on the telephone with Matthew's mother. He knew he shouldn't be listening, but Matthew was still his biggest potential competition when it came to winning Destiny's heart. While Jack had the advantage because Matthew was away recuperating, Matthew had the bigger advantage because he was Destiny's first love.
From what Jack was able to understand, Matthew was doing slightly better than when he went into the hospital, but he wasn't close to being 100 percent. Then he heard the worst news, Matthew could recover in as little as three months. Jack heard enough. Although it was only Tuesday and Jack promised that he would wait until Wednesday to ask Destiny out, he now felt as though he didn't have a minute to spare.
When he arrived at school, he lingered by his locker as he waited for Destiny to make it to arrive at her first class. Unfortunately, Destiny was running late. By the time Destiny arrived, Jack had no more than 60 seconds to make his plea. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her around the corner.
"Hey," he took a quick deep breath before he released what could only be described as verbal diarrhea, "I know I promised to wait until Wednesday and this is only Tuesday. But I figured if you were going to say yes on Wednesday, you might actually say yes on Tuesday. So, I thought I might as well ask you today."
Destiny smiled at Jack. Though he typically walked around with grand bravado, oozing confidence, now he seemed almost shy. Something about this new shyness brought out her inner flirt. "Jack, in about 30 seconds, I'm going to be late for class. So, in the interest of time, yes, I'll go out with you." The look of surprise on Jack's face made Destiny smile more. "Can we decide where and when after Spanish class?"
Jack nodded slowly. He wasn't exactly sure what just happened.
When Jack remained silent for more than a couple seconds, Destiny began to worry. "Wait. You were going to ask me out, right?" She relaxed when he nodded again. "Ok." She began to walk back toward the classroom. "See you later, JJ."
JJ. Jack remembered it was the name Destiny called him when he was younger. It was short for Jumping Jack because he used to dive off the arms of sofas and the backs of chairs. He thought she'd forgotten.
For most of first period, Destiny was completely unable to focus. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so happy. The joy stayed with her through all of second period and almost made it to third period. However, it disappeared when she ran into Taylor in the hallway.
"Hi, um, Destiny," Taylor's voice was soft. "Do you have a minute?"
"I guess so."
"I wanted to ask you about Matthew."
Destiny tilted her head to the side as she sized Taylor up. Part of her wondered if the girl was being nosey or whether she was really concerned. If she was concerned, why was she? In any case, Destiny had made up mind to move on from Matthew and the drama and she was determined to do so. "Matthew and I are no longer together, so I doubt I'm the right person to ask about him."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know. Matthew didn't mention it."
Destiny raised an eyebrow as she looked at Taylor. She wondered what Taylor's interest in Matthew was. "You and Matthew talk about things?"
"Sometimes." Taylor looked at her feet. "But I've only heard from him once since he's been gone."
"Oh, you only talked to my boyfriend once since he's been gone? And what did you and my boyfriend talk about?"
Taylor's back straightened a bit as if she had the nerve to be irritated with Destiny. "What we didn't talk about is how I see you holding hands with Jack Manning after football practice when you guys don't think anyone is watching. Besides, I thought you said you and Matthew broke up."
"I did." Destiny recognized the look on Taylor's face. It was the same look Destiny had when she learned that Dani had been cheating on Matthew by kissing Nate. Destiny needed to set Taylor straight. "Look, Jack and I are only hanging out, which we didn't start to do until Matthew made it clear that he didn't want to be with me."
Taylor twisted her mouth into a half frown. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine." Destiny pushed her hair behind an ear. "You still didn't say what you and Matthew were talking about."
"Matthew wanted to know how you were doing. He asked me if you seemed okay. I told him I thought you were fine."
"And he never mentioned he broke up with me?"
"No."
Taylor touched Destiny's arm. "Look, I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I was just wondering how Matthew was doing. I won't bother you anymore."
Destiny felt like she'd entered the twilight zone. Matthew asked Taylor to check on her. Yet, Matthew refused to talk to her himself.
By the time Spanish class rolled around Destiny was in a bit of a daze. Jack noticed right away, but he waited until after class to mention it.
"You okay, Desi? Did you change your mind about our date?"
"No," she hesitated, "I heard something about Matthew today that has me a little confused."
"Confused about me?"
Destiny pondered Jack's question for a minute. He had been the one bright spot throughout the whole mess with Matthew. If Jack hadn't become more present in her life when he had, Destiny wasn't sure what she would have done. "No…not even a little."
"Good, 'cause I like you."
Jack's straightforwardness sent a chill up her spine and brought a smile to her face. She was immediately grateful for the dark hue of her chocolate-colored skin because without it, she was certain that the heat that she felt at her cheeks would have resulted in a rather obvious blush. "Then don't leave now. Come eat lunch with me."
Although Jack could care less about Shane's feelings, he suspected that Matthew kept Destiny emotionally twisted enough that she didn't need the extra drama of alienating her friends because of him. "What about Shane?"
"Something tells me Shane is going to have to get used to seeing us together."
"Yeah?" Jack pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. Then he allowed his hand to trail down her cheek before returning it to his side. Destiny surprised him by slipping her hand into his own.
"Yeah."
"Oh my gosh!" Dani yelled, seemingly out of nowhere causing both Jack and Destiny to jump. "Are my best friend and my brother holding hands even though neither of them has told me they have something going on?"
"Um…" Destiny started to speak but she couldn't quite find the words. Instead, she fought back a smile. "I should get to lunch before Shane and Neela wonder where I am."
"No, I'll go." Jack smirked. Dani would have plenty of time to grill him at their dad's house. "You have fun with the third degree."
"You brat." Destiny laughed. "I can't believe you're going to leave me here with your sister."
"She's your best friend." Jack laughed. "I'll see you Saturday." He tapped her nose before he left.
Destiny watched as Jack walked away. Dani watched Destiny watch Jack. When he was out of earshot, Dani poked Destiny in the arm.
"Okay Missy, you're standing Shane and Neela up. We are going to the Buenos Dias for lunch."
Destiny sent a text to Shane then headed to the Buenos Dias with Dani. For the first five minutes that they were there, Dani could only manage to stare at Destiny and grin. Finally, she chuckled to herself.
"What?" Destiny asked.
"I knew something was up with the two of you. Jack has been nice to everyone for the last couple of weeks. He's actually been walking around the house humming."
"Really?" Destiny smiled. She liked knowing that she was having a similar effect on Jack as he was having on her.
"Yeah. And don't think you had me fooled either. I've totally seen you checking him out and I've heard rumors about the two of you holding hands at various locations." Dani shoved a fry in her mouth. "Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend."
"And he's your younger brother. I was kind of having trouble wrapping my mind around. Plus, how do you tell your best friend you're into her little brother?"
"Oh my gosh, Des!" Dani threw her hands in the air in mock exasperation. "It's Jack, not Sam, he's a year younger than us, not to mention 6 feet tall...hardly my little brother. And although you would think it might totally weird me out, I actually think you guys are adorable. I mean he's had a crush on you forever, though he would never admit it."
"He has?" Destiny leaned in closer to Dani. "Are you kidding?"
"Of course not." Dani said matter-of-factly. "But I have to tell you that you can't go out with Jack on Saturday."
"I thought you were cool with me seeing Jack."
"I am, totally cool with it. But Blair is throwing Jack a surprise family birthday party. She says she wanted to do it because he's turned around his attitude and behavior since all of the Shane stuff. So, she told him that she needs him to babysit Sam at 8 on Saturday night. When he comes over, we're all going to be there." Dani tapped her finger against her lip. "Unless, you tell Jack that you'll help babysit Sam."
"I can do that. Jack knows I love Sam." Destiny liked the idea of doing something to make Jack smile. He'd made her smile plenty of times in the last few weeks.
Though Matthew crossed Destiny's mind a few times throughout the week, Destiny anxiously looked forward to her date with Jack. When Saturday arrived Destiny was calm and relaxed as she got ready. Jack on the other hand was quite nervous. He looked down at his hands and he was surprised to see they were sweating.
"Big date?" Todd asked as he watched Jack straighten his tie.
Jack wasn't in the mood for any words of wisdom, so he tried to downplay the importance of the night. "Uh yeah…I guess."
"You guess? You're wearing a tie and too much cologne. Not to mention your hands are bright red."
"Thanks dad."
"Look let me give you some words of advice. Open doors for her, tell her she looks nice and remember that no means no."
"So you've reminded me since I was 10." Jack hated when his dad acted like rape was genetic. He knew his dad's past and that his dad was ashamed of it. Jack had no intention of ever hurting Destiny. "I'm not going to hurt her."
"Okay, okay…" Todd reached into his wallet and pulled out several hundred-dollar bills.
"What's this for?"
"For stealing Nora's kid's girlfriend." Todd chuckled. "You know, I like her. She's fierce. Reminds me of your stepmother and your mom."
"Dad, we're not getting married…tonight. It's our first date. Take it down a notch."
"Okay, whatever." Todd shrugged and disappeared into another room of the house.
Though Jack played it cool with his dad, he took and released a deep breath as soon as he got into his car. A million questions ran through his mind. He forgot them all as soon as Destiny opened her front door. She wore a blue v-neck dress that stopped above her knees. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail, exposing her neck.
"You look amazing." For a second he was afraid he would be unable to catch his breath. He handed her a bouquet of flowers.
"Thanks." Destiny smiled at the compliment. "You went all out, flowers and a tie. But you didn't need to do all that. Spending time with you is enough."
Jack wondered how she knew his innermost fear that he wasn't enough for anyone. It was part of the reason for his bravado most days. Her words should have calmed him; instead, they made him more nervous.
Everything changed at dinner. They went to a small Italian restaurant, not owned by anyone they knew and they talked. They sat on the same side of their booth. They talked about what she wanted to study in college: law or journalism. She tried to get him to admit he loved football; he came close to an admission but stopped short.
Near the end of dinner, Jack grew very serious. "Desi, I know you aren't completely over Matthew, but I want you to know that I understand. We can take things as slowly as you want…as long as I get to be around you. I want to hear you laugh and see you smile and get some of that attitude you like to give off sometimes."
"Right, and you're sugar and spice all the time?"
He laughed and grew serious once more. "All I'm saying is that over the last couple of weeks, you've become a better friend than I've had in my entire life. I don't want to lose that."
Destiny sighed as she remembered Matthew's frequent use of the friend card. She hoped she hadn't misread Jack as she had done with Matthew so many times. "So, you want to be friends?"
"Among other things." Jack felt the fire rage beneath his cheeks. He looked down before he realized she was still looking at him. "I mean, don't all your girlie magazines say your boyfriend should be your best friend?"
Destiny smiled widely. "So, you want to be my boyfriend?" She poked him in the arm. "It's a little soon don't you think? We should at least wait until our second date to talk about something so serious."
"Ha, ha. I wasn't asking you to be my girlfriend…tonight. But, I can see the way you're looking at me. You've got that "he's sexy" look in your eyes."
Destiny opened her mouth in shock, partly due to Jack's words and partly due to him reading her mind. She laughed. "Oh, is that right? You're pretty sure of yourself."
"I'm pretty sure that you're the best thing that's happened to me in a long time and so, I'm not going to do anything to mess up what we have between us."
Destiny thought about the ways she had been hurt by Matthew, even though she believed he might have loved her in his own way. "Promise?"
Jack nodded. "Promise."
Destiny stared at Jack feeling in that moment that she could trust him with her life. As he focused on her mouth, she readied herself for their first kiss. Unfortunately, their waiter interrupted with a question about dessert. Finding that the mood was completely broken, Jack paid the bill and drove them to his house.
It was Destiny's turn to be nervous. She'd known every member of Jack's family for years…except for his mom. After a perfect dinner, she really wanted Ms. Kramer to like her. When they arrived at LaBoule, Jack pulled into the driveway, but they didn't get out of the car right away. She planned to confess her nervousness to Jack, but she was surprised when Jack had a confession of his own.
"So, when we get inside, my family is going to jump out and wish me a happy birthday."
"Jack! Who did you eavesdrop on this time?"
"My mom." He looked at the way Destiny stared at him. "What? It's a bad habit. I'll work on it."
"What am I going to do with you?" She smiled.
"Well, I have an idea…" He ran his finger across her bottom lip. Once more he began to lean in toward her mouth. He stopped when he was only a couple of inches away to make sure Destiny was okay. When she offered a smile, he placed a tender kiss on her lips.