"Okay," Jack said.
"So we met in high school. Senior year. Her mom was some new age crazy who actually believed in birthstones and had this whole healing crystal thing going on and she ran what had just become a chain of alternative therapy centres. So Sapphire and her mom move to LA on the money Jill, that's Sapphire's mom, had got out of Sapphire's dad in the divorce. And I met her that first day of school. She was in my European history class and she walked in and she just kind of shined. I know that sounds lame as hell but there was something about her. She was just... I don't know." Boone realised that if Jack were talking about Sarah in this way he'd probably be having a breakdown right about now, epiphany or not. He glanced at Jack who seemed to be listening intently, no jealousy on his face. Still, Boone thought it was probably best to drop the poetry and stick to the facts.
"Anyway, long story short, we hung out and we liked each other and we ended up getting together. And we were in love. We really were. And I'd never been in love before. I mean, I was only eighteen I guess, but it just really hit me. It was intoxicating, I just wanted to be with her all the time, night and day, forever." He stopped. That was the easy part. That was the fun part. But the whole point was to tell Jack what went wrong with Sapphire, and that wasn't such a happy story.
"We were supposed to get married. Not that we ever got engaged or anything. I mean in the social sense, in the sense that it would look good for our parents to marry us off," Boone continued, realising how ridiculous his life was. "And we wanted to, I guess. We talked about it sometimes. But by the end of our first year at college we didn't talk about so much anymore. We went to different colleges but we were still pretty close by, we'd still see each other and stuff. But it wasn't until that summer that we got to spend a whole lot of time together."
The summer. That summer after their freshman years at college. A lot happened in that first year, the first year's always the hardest. You're forced to grow up so fast, fend for yourself, it was bound to change things. But it wasn't supposed to change him and Sapphire, that was supposed to be solid, that was supposed to last. Boone took a deep breath and tried to finish the story.
"I don't really know what happened, and I guess that's the worst part. If I knew what I did then I could fix it but I really can't work it out. And I've been trying. I've been thinking about it for the last seven years but I don't know what it was that made everything change," Boone explained. He was talking around the point, he knew he was. "I didn't even notice, either. That anything had changed. We hung out at my house, always my house cos her house smelled like incense and stuff, and we went to lunch and we went to the movies and we went shopping and we did all that stuff that people do. And we said 'I love you' cos that's what people say when their in love. But sometime that year, sometime before we got to that summer, she stopped meaning it. And I didn't notice that either."
Boone stopped. He wasn't sure what else to add. Not that that was the end of the story he supposed but nothing after that point seemed to matter to him.
"She told you she loved you when she didn't love you?" Jack asked after a long silence. He was probably making sure that Boone had finished.
"Yeah, that's the short version," Boone said with a slightly ironic smile.
"Boone, I wouldn't do that," Jack assured him.
"I don't think you'd do it on purpose. Not to hurt me or whatever," Boone replied. "And I don't blame her for what she did," he continued. "I mean, hell, she barely did anything. I just don't think people should say it if they don't mean it. Cos if people just going around saying it when it's not true then how the hell are you supposed to know when it is true? And how are you supposed to know if it stops being true?" he asked, getting a little heated.
"I don't know," Jack admitted. "I guess you don't. But that's where the trust comes in."
"Yeah. Trust. I'm gonna try doing that more often," Boone said. "I know you've never given me any reason to doubt you but Sapphire never gave me any reason to doubt her either."
"I know," Jack said, nodding.
"But I'm trying this new thing where I have faith in people so just bear with me," Boone asserted.
Jack smiled at him. "So, I thought you were gonna do my back."
Boone turned to fully face him finally and returned his smile.
"You know," Jack began, "It would probably be easier if you just got in here with me."
"No arguments from me," Boone shrugged, standing up. He pulled his T-shirt over his head. Yep, he'd definitely make sure Jack slept very well tonight.
The next morning, Boone was sat in the kitchen when he heard the front door open.
"Boone, you here?"
Shannon. So apparently she hadn't given her key back to Sabrina when she moved out. She came through to the kitchen where she saw Boone.
"Oh, good, you're in," she said. "Right, where else would you be?" she asked, more to herself than to him.
"Hey, Shan, what's up?" he asked, not looking away from his newspaper.
"Well, Sayid's at work and I'm heavily pregnant so I thought I'd enlist your help," Shannon stated.
"Help with what?" Boone asked, not sure he wanted to know.
"I thought you could help me decorate Zara's nursery," she suggested.
Boone looked up at her. "Who the hell's Zara?" he asked. Shannon fixed him with a stare and put a hand on her stomach. Boone looked at the bump. "Oh, the baby," he realised. He looked up at her again. "So you named it Zara?"
"Her," Shannon corrected. "I named her Zara." Boone nodded a little. "It's Arabic for princess so I figured it fit me and Sayid pretty well," she explained.
"You got a point there," Boone conceded. "Cool name."
"So, you in?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure, why not?" Boone replied. "Just let me get my keys."
Shannon showed him the blank nursery, the teddy wallpaper that Boone found a little contrived and the general fittings and fixtures she planned to finish the room with. She then mysteriously disappeared which was so typical of Shannon. Right, Boone, give her a hand. He was clearly decorating on his own.
But he had nothing better to do so he got on with it. Once he got the hang of the wallpaper paste and found a system to hang it properly he found he got through it pretty quickly. He surveyed his work and felt pretty damn proud. It'd been a while since he'd actually achieved anything, he noted.
Then he figured, seeing as Shannon showed no signs of returning anytime soon, that he may as well put the room together so he got to work making the crib. Which, to be honest, he didn't see going well, but if there's one thing Boone was unerringly good at it was following instructions. So, before he knew it, he had constructed a lovely crib for baby Zara. He then dressed it with some bedding that Shannon had bought and sat a teddy at the foot of the bed. He moved the changing table into position and took a look around. It looked great, even if he did say so himself. He was sticky with paste and a little sweaty and he probably smelt but the room was awesome and that outweighed anything else.
"Oh my God, you finished it all!" Shannon exclaimed.
Boone turned around to see her stood in the doorway.
"Oh, you decided to come back then?" he asked sarcastically.
"Boone, this is beautiful. You did a great job," Shannon smiled, looking really pleased and making Boone a little more proud in the process.
"Well, y'know," Boone replied modestly, though he wanted to get all excited and gush over the whole thing. In fact, part of him wanted to claim the room as his own. It was pretty hard work and to see your hard work in solid form like this everyday must be pretty nice.
Shannon came over to him, huge smile on her face. "Thank you so much, Boone. She's gonna love it," she told him.
"I don't think baby's really care that much," Boone began. "I mean, look at Aaron on the island, he had none of this and he got on just fine."
Shannon looked him in the eye. "She'll love it," she insisted. Boone smiled and she put her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. "Thanks big bro," she said.
Boone looked around the room. He was good at something after all. And he wanted his own reminder of that fact.