"You in a rush?" Boone asked, raising an eyebrow.
Jack looked up at him. "What?" he asked.
"You might wanna consider chewing that," Boone stated.
"I'm chewing," Jack replied, though Boone noticed a slight decline in his food intake.
"So, work's going okay?" Boone asked.
"Yeah, great," Jack replied. "Well, I mean, it's hard work and all but it's nice to get back in the saddle if you know what I mean?"
"Yeah," Boone replied, looking back down at his plate. He had no idea what that meant. He had no idea what it was like to have a calling. To have a choice in what you wanted from life. Sure, Jack had talked about how his parents figured it was pretty much a given that he would follow his father into medicine but Boone could tell that Jack really did love his job, however he got into it, so it wasn't really the same thing.
"You okay?" Jack asked him.
Boone looked back up and attempted a smile. "Yeah," he said, trying to sound breezy. Apparently he failed.
"Boone, what's wrong?" Jack asked, concern all over his face.
Boone didn't like that. Sure, it was great that Jack was concerned about him but now he felt bad for making Jack feel bad. He hated making Jack feel bad.
"Nothing," he replied with a shrug, looking back down, pretending he was concentrating on his food, even though he couldn't really stomach it right now.
Jack leaned forward slightly and Boone could tell he was trying to catch his eye. "What are you thinking?" Jack asked gently. It was his 'no pressure' tone of voice. God Boone hated that, it worked every time.
He looked back up to meet Jack's eyes. "I'm thinking, I'm gonna have to go back to work soon. I mean, I can't keep putting Sabrina off much longer," Boone replied.
"You don't want to go back?" Jack asked him.
Boone let out a small laugh. "You know, I don't think I've wanted to go into that office a single day since I started working there," he explained, a little amused at the concept.
Jack looked at him. "Then why did you go?" he asked.
"What option did I have? You think my mom seriously sat me down and 'offered' the job to me? No. She sat me down and said 'Hey kid, here's the rest of your life, have fun with that.'" Boone responded, a little agitated. God, he'd wanted to say that for a long time.
"Boone, you don't have to go back there. I've talked to Sabrina, she seems like she'd be okay with it," Jack responded, earning him a sarcastic look from Boone. "She's just happy to have you back, I think she'll be open to negotiating a little leeway."
"Sabrina Carlyle does not negotiate," Boone stated matter-of-factly. End of story.
"I think she wants you to be happy," Jack responded. "I mean, she didn't freak out about us, did she?"
"That's only because she's so scared of being alone cos everyone always leaves her," Boone replied, thinking back to his father.
"Exactly. You're much more likely to stick around if she let's you be your own person and do what you want to do," Jack explained to him.
"Maybe," Boone conceded. It did make sense. Well, between normal people anyway. He still wasn't sure it would make sense in Sabrina Carlyle's world.
"Boone, you can do anything you want," Jack stated.
And therein lies the problem, Boone thought, looking back down again.
"What?" Jack asked in that stupid concerned voice again.
"I just... I have no idea. I don't know what I want to do, no one ever gave me the option of thinking about it before," Boone replied, realising how lame that sounded.
"So, take some time, think about it. There's no rush to get your life back on track here. You're doing fine. And if it makes you feel any better, it's been pointed out that I'm insane for wanting to go back to full-time work so soon," Jack said light-heartedly.
Boone looked back up at him and smiled. "You're not insane," he said.
"Really?" Jack asked. "I'm not so sure. I mean, the people on the 'Jack lost his marbles on the island' bandwagon totally outweigh me on that one."
"You're not insane," Boone insisted, and then suddenly started worrying that maybe Jack was insane and that's the only reason he was ever interested in Boone in the first place.
"Maria's the only one who seems to think I might be slightly capable still," Jack said. "Not that she has anything to compare my current state with."
"She seems nice," Boone said.
"Yeah, she's nice. But don't you be getting any ideas," Jack joked.
Boone smiled a little coyly. "She wants me," he stated, trying to look serious. Jack raised an eyebrow at him. "She does," Boone shrugged.
"Well she's not having you," Jack replied.
Boone smiled and shook his head.