Chapter 11
888 note: any opinions expressed in this chapter are not necessarily the actual opinions of the original Martha and Jack 888
Martha and Jack crept down to the beach, both in their pyjamas.
"Jack, I am so not doing this run! The deal is off… it is freezing outside and all my friends and family will see me!" Martha whined.
"Martha, don't be silly! It is midnight, no one will see you!" He stated back, wrapping his jumper around himself.
"Please, Jack, I really… really don't want to do this!" Martha whined and Jack pretended to be in deep concentration.
"Ok… but we have to make some sort of compromise. I won the drinking contest, not that either of us had any alcohol, but you were just so tired… so we need to make a deal." Jack scratched his chin for ideas.
"Be nice though, it is only fair!" Martha shivered in the cold and waited for Jack to respond.
"Oh! Why don't we play truth or dare?" Jack's face broke into smile and Martha hesitated, and then responded.
"You are serious?" She questioned him and he eagerly nodded. "Ok… if you are sure… that is it?" Jack smiled.
"I think we should get to know each other, before we do anything crazy like a naked run together. If we ever do a naked run, we should know each other enough to be able to share the experience." He smiled at her and she smiled back, and then laughed.
"Oh… I guess you are right," She giggled at Jack and continued. "When do you want to start?" She smiled at him and he quickly replied.
"Now." Martha laughed and then stopped when she realised Jack was serious.
"You mean… right now? In the dark and cold night? In our pyjamas?" Jack laughed and nodded.
"Oh, you have nothing to be ashamed of… I mean look at those hot pyjamas!" He smiled and Martha blushed as she looked down at her spotted cow pyjamas.
"Thank you… Grandad bought them for me. Yours are very, very hot too." She smiled at him and laughed as he looked down at his racing car pyjamas.
"Let's just say we are even?" Jack replied and she nodded. "Ok, your question first." She smiled and pretended to be deep in thought.
"Chocolate chip or chocolate flavour?" Martha questioned Jack and he concentrated.
"I would have to say a chocolate chip muffin, but chocolate flavour milkshake. What kind of question is that anyway?" He smiled at Martha and thought of his first question. "Sunset or sunrise?"
"Sunset… I love the romance of watching the end of the day with someone else by your side, and it is always just so magical seeing all the colours of the day come together." Jack laughed and Martha frowned. "What is so funny?"
"I love the sunset too, for those reasons." He responded and she smiled back. They both briefly paused, but then Martha coughed and thought of her next question.
"Ok… my question… Cinema or Drive-In-Movies?" Jack smiled at Martha's questions and flicked his eyebrows.
"Drive-in-movies, definitely!" She laughed at Jack and nodded for him to ask the next question. "Falling in love with a friend or a stranger?" Martha pondered deep in thought.
"I don't know… what about you?" She replied and waited Jack's answer.
"A friend… the connection is much stronger and you don't have any expectations to live up to, because you didn't always know each other as 'boyfriend-girlfriend'." Martha smiled at Jack's response, not believing just how sensitive this side of Jack was. He noticed Martha looking at him and he glanced back at her. "What?" She smiled.
"Nothing, nothing. Ok, pizza or pot roast?" He smiled.
"Is it ok to have pot roast on a pizza?" Martha laughed and shook her head. "Ok… probably a pot roast. Back when I lived with my Mum and Dad, my Mum would spend the entire day cooking a pot roast… generally roast lamb… and cleaning the whole house. She would wait eagerly for my Dad to come home and then we would spend hours laughing and talking about the day we had and what tomorrow would be like." Martha smiled.
"My Mum used to cook pot roasts too, only ours was roast beef. Dad would always cut it up for her and Macca and I would make the sauce. "Jack smiled at Martha.
"Sounds like our families weren't as different as we were?" Jack stared out onto the waves and thought of his next question. "Monopoly or cards?"
Martha laughed. "Great question Jack," He smiled. "Ummm…. Probably monopoly, although it depends who you are playing with… I find cards bore me after the first hand." Jack nodded.
"Me too, my brother Lucas always loves playing cards… every day when I was a teenager and he was still young, he would make me play cards. I guess I have learnt to be patient that way." Martha smiled at him.
"You? Patient?" She started laughing and Jack frowned.
"I can be patient!" Jack retorted and Martha giggled.
"I will believe it when I see it." She smiled at Jack and he was, again, quick to respond.
"I have spent the whole night playing truth or dare in the freezing cold, haven't I?" He smiled and Martha replied.
"It was your idea! Anyway, my question… single or in a relationship?" Martha smiled and Jack responded.
"Single… that way I can see any girl I want and there is no commitment." He paused for a second. "But when I find the right girl, I don't ever want to be single again." She smiled at his response and he began his next question. "Love or trust?"
"I am not sure… both are imperative in a relationship. I think love with family, trust with friends and both with a partner…" Jack smiled.
"Well, you are my friend… and I certainly trust you." Martha smiled.
"I am glad you do… to be out here at…" She paused and looked at her watch. "1:30 in the morning, you have got to at least trust me a little bit."
Jack nodded and replied. "True, true; your question."
"Marriage or life long relationship?" She curiously watched Jack and waited for his response.
"Marriage… when I meet the girl of my dreams, I want to show her how much I love her and promise to her that I will spend the rest of her life getting her to love me just as much." Jack stopped talking and Martha stood directly in front of him on the beach. The wind blew her fringe across her face and she watched the man in front of her finish his sentence. Martha felt a wave of emotion rush through her body and she stepped back from Jack. Suddenly she was confused about how she felt, she just realised that these feelings that she had for Jack weren't like any other man she had known… they were something much, much stronger and she couldn't work it out.
"Let's go home Jack." She smiled at him."It is freezing out here, and its way past my bed time." Jack laughed and so did Martha as she realised that a bed time sounded like a really lame excuse. "Would you care to walk me home?" Jack nodded and Martha smiled.
Maybe the walk along the beach would help her sort of out some of what she was feeling for Jack.
NEXT CHAPTER: Martha and Jack finally get together
