Unnamed

Jack had promised to pick me up from outside of my apartment, so I made my way outside and waited for him on the curb. I was a fairly punctual person. Like, very rarely was I late to places but I wasn’t early either. I had half expected to see Jack waiting for me but to my surprise I had to wait a few minutes before he pulled in.

He stopped the car in front of me with the passenger’s side door towards me. When I opened it to get in he said: “Wait. You’re not even giving me an opportunity to be a gentleman and get your door for you.”

I looked at him while stepping up to his car. He had abandoned the flannel he wore the day before and now he had on blue jeans and a basic black hoodie. There was a white pearl necklace hanging above the collar of his shirt. Not exactly what I would have expected from him based on his clothes the night before but it wasn't like I would have gotten a complete image of Jack’s style the day before anyway. The more I looked at him the more I realized I really liked it. “Well, you didn’t seem to make too much of an effort.” I nodded towards his unbuckled seat belt.

Jack gave a laugh. “I was going to.”

“Yeah”, I mumbled. “How’s it going?”

“Good. How are you?” Jack opened his right arm for me and I leaned in to give him the most awkward car hug with barely being able to wrap my arms around him.

“Good”, I say. “Got some work done before you came.”

Jack stepped on the gas and veered back on to the street. He raised his eyebrows. “On a Saturday?”

“Yes. We don’t all get the luxury of just vacationing every two weeks.”

Jack huffed. “Okay. For your information, we work between the fishing trips. There’s a lot of work that goes into maintaining a fishing boat.” He glanced at me. “Plus, you’re my side hustle so technically I’m working as we speak.”

I didn’t answer, clinging onto his words. Something about what he said gave me butterflies.

“So, what goes into maintaining a fishing boat?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Cleaning, mostly. Repairing any problems and checking the condition of the engine. Restocking the supplies.”

I nodded. “Well, you might earn more doing that. With a teacher’s salary I don’t think I’ll be able to pay you more from today than the cost of gas, if even that.”

“Didn’t we settle on an alternative form of payment?”

“And what is that? I’ll be in debt to you for the rest of my life?”

He smiled at me. “I hope so.”

I laughed. “Better be a good tour for it to be worth selling my soul over.”

It didn’t take us more than five minutes to arrive to the gardens and I was pleased. Maybe I could manage to pay for the gas after all. Once Jack parked the car I stepped outside. We seemed to be in the middle of nowhere with nothing but bushes around us. If there weren’t two other cars, on what seemed to serve as a parking lot, I probably would have run for it.

“It’s this way”, Jack said pointing to a little opening in the bushes.

“Okay”, I said with a weary voice and followed him. “Since I am in a foreign country with a foreign man and being escorted into a forest in the middle of nowhere, I’d just like to note that my ex taught me self-defense. So, I wouldn’t try anything if I were you.”

Jack threw his head back in an open laugh. “Are you sure you could take me? I mean, who was your ex anyway? Was he a professional?”

Jack chuckled, probably at the mental image of me trying to take him down but my mind was caught on something else. I hoped it wouldn’t bother me anymore but still there was always that one fleeting moment my heart would jump. I swallowed. “Yeah”, I answered Jack’s question. “She was.” Jack stopped but I didn’t want to give the conversation more noteworthiness than it deserved and kept walking.

“Oh.” Jack stretched the few steps between us to catch up with me. “Sorry, I just didn’t think you were gay.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, come on Jack”, I huffed. “It’s the twenty-first century. Could we just except the fact that there are more than two sexualities?”

When I had stopped, Jack did too, and he turned to look at me. “Okay”, he said. “So, what are you?”

What am I? “I’m a vampire, Jack”, I joked with no humor in my voice and continued on stepping through the last branches and entered a little opening where a small, red, wooden hut stood under the trees. It had a sign attached to the wall that said “entry”.

Jack followed me. He didn’t say anything but his expression said he was waiting for my response.

I shrugged. “I don’t label myself too much. Somewhere along the lines of a bi or pan. I fall for personalities, I don’t really care about anything else.”

Jack seemed to think about my answer for a few seconds and then smiled. “So, looks don’t matter to you?”

I would have rolled my eyes had I wanted to take my eyes off of Jack’s wide grin. “Are you asking me to admit being shallow?”

“No. I’m just trying to figure out what I’m working with.”

Jack walked past me towards the entrance of the garden while he said it and as soon as he was past my shoulder I let my reaction show on my face. Jack had been flirty with me but he hadn’t been this obvious until now.

I turned on my heels to walk next to him into the garden. “Well, I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you.”

Jack hadn’t been wrong when he suspected the peak of the blooming season was over but the place was still pretty. There weren’t only bushes and flowerbeds but various different kinds of statues. It was like an art gallery in the nature and I could only imagine how breathtaking it would look like during the peak season with all the flowers framing the artwork. Even the weather favored us today. Occasional rays of the sun peaked through the clouds and there was no wind. An ideal weather for photos.

So, we strolled around slowly taking our time viewing each statue. I was mainly the only one with my phone in my hand taking photos to immortalize the moment but soon Jack joined in and I saw him snapping a few photos of me too. I put my phone in my purse and turned to him to pose in front of a red, abstract looking sculpture made out of driftwood that reminded me of a person running. I tried to mimic the pose and Jack laughed snapping a few pictures.

“Your turn”, I said and stepped closer to take his phone from him.

He immediately wrapped his arms behind his back, hiding his phone, and shook his head. “No way.”

“Come on”, I whined trying to reach behind his back.

“No.” Jack squirmed twisting himself away from me. He reached his arm up lifting his phone and laid his other hand on my stomach to push me away. I nearly gasped at the sensation. His hand was huge, almost the size of my whole abdomen. The touch made my skin tinkle, nervous energy gathering above my belly button under his touch.

“Just give it up, kid”, he said with a smirk. “There’s no way you’ll be able to convince me to do that.”

I huffed. His arm was long, so he could have pushed me a lot further than he had. A mistake from his part, I thought. Who was he calling a kid? With his other arm still up, he left his left side completely open, free for me to twist my upper body and jam my elbow into his ribs. He flinched automatically pulling his arm down as if he could still cover himself from the blow even though it had already happened. He whimpered and I took an advantage of the moment and snatched the phone out of his hand.

“Ha!” I exclaimed triumphantly and danced a few steps back so he couldn’t reach me to revenge my actions.

Jack bent over holding his side. His brows had furrowed and he looked at me with an expression that said 'What the hell?' He blew out a breath. “Ouch”, he said but it sounded more like a question.

I immediately regretted hitting him. I didn’t think I hit that hard. “Sorry”, I hurried. “I told you my ex was a professional.”

Jack stood up stretching his side and massaging it lightly. “Clearly”, he said with a wince.

I stepped closer and laid my hand on his side, over the spot I had just hit, not really knowing why. It wasn’t like my touch could magically erase pain as easily as it caused it. “I’m sorry”, I said again.

“It’s nothing”, Jack replied sweeping with his hand like he was swiping what had happened away.

Jack was slightly taller than me and standing so close to him my eyes were directly at the same level with his lips making it really difficult trying to act like he didn’t make me feel the way he did. A corner of his lips curved upwards in a smirk and I took a deep breath in an attempt to draw myself back into reality.

My fingers had curled around the fabric on his hoodie gripping on to it, so I nudged it lightly. “Be careful who you call a kid.”

Jack’s smirk grew wider. “I’ll keep that in mind.”