CLASS OF 2000
Chapter Thirteen
The next afternoon,
after school was out, Jack went to the fast food place where his friends hung
out. He saw Ryan, Cole, Emily, and Shanleigh sitting in a booth near the back,
and walked over.
"Hey,
Jack," Shanleigh said, scooting over. "Have a seat."
Jack sat down next
to her, and then looked at Ryan. Ryan ignored him.
"Hey,
Ryan," Jack said. "I heard you stopped by yesterday."
"Stopped by
where?"
Jack rolled his
eyes. "Me and Rose’s house."
"Who told you
that?"
"Rose."
"So that’s
where you were," Emily commented. "We wondered where you’d
gone."
"Yeah, well, I
decided to stop and visit. We don’t see much of Rose and Jack anymore."
"I wasn’t home
yesterday, you know. I was recording a couple of new songs."
"Yeah, that’s
what Rose said."
Jack looked at
Ryan, not wanting to confront him in front of the others. "Can I talk to
you for a minute? Outside, I mean?"
"Why?"
Ryan knew why Jack wanted to talk to him, but wasn’t about to admit it.
"Because."
"Because
why?"
"Oh, go talk
to him, Ryan," Shanleigh said. "You’re both acting weird."
"Fine."
Ryan slid out of the booth and followed Jack outside.
Once outside, Jack
confronted him. "Why do you keep following Rose around?"
Ryan looked taken
aback. "I don’t."
"Yes, you do.
You followed her around at the mall, saying that you wanted her back. I thought
you were just teasing her, even though she said you were freaking her out. Then
you showed up yesterday, when I wasn’t home, and told her you wanted her back.
She isn’t interested. What part of she’s married don’t you understand?"
"You stole her
from me."
"I stole her
from you? You two broke up when she went to be a pop star. You started going
out with Emily. You’re the one who introduced us in the first place and tried
to hook us up!"
"I didn’t
think it would work!"
"You’re a
moron," Jack told him. "If you wanted to keep her, you shouldn’t have
tried to fix her up with other guys, and you shouldn’t have broken up with
her."
"You were my
best friend, and you stole her from me. Rose belongs with me!"
"Try telling
her that. She was upset when I came home yesterday. She told me all about how
you’d shown up and refused to leave, and how you tried to convince her to get
back together with you." Ryan turned to stalk back inside, but Jack
grabbed him by the collar. "You’d better stay away from her, or we’ll have
you slapped with a restraining order so fast you won’t know what hit you!"
He let go of Ryan’s
collar. Ryan glared at him.
"If you hadn’t
shown up and taken her away from me--"
"You weren’t
even an item when I moved to Santa Monica! She was annoyed with you for setting
her up with me!"
"Then why did
you keep chasing her?"
"I
didn’t--until we both became stars. Then it was only natural that we get
together. We were working together, we had the chemistry, and neither of us was
attached. It was normal that we fell in love!"
"You really
love her?"
Jack gave him a
look that spoke volumes. "Why do you even need to ask?"
"Well, if you
didn’t really love her, then it would be okay for me to try to take her away.
She doesn’t deserve to be with a man who doesn’t love her."
"Well, I do
love her, and she loves me--not you. You’d better remember that. Rose and I are
married, and we’re not going to split up just because her ex-boyfriend wants
her back."
"That should
be up to Rose, shouldn’t it?"
"She’s already
made it clear that she doesn’t want to get back together with you, but you’re
too dense to see it!"
"I want to
hear it from Rose."
"She’s
threatened you with a restraining order! Besides, I don’t think you really want
her back. You’re just jealous because your best friend married your
ex-girlfriend. What would you do if you did win her back? Are you ready to take
care of babies? Because she’s having twins in July!"
"It has
nothing to do with being jealous."
"Then you’re
ready to help her take care of two babies?" Jack turned on his heel,
stalking toward the parking lot. He turned around and gave Ryan a threatening
look. "Stay away from her, Ryan. I mean it. We might have been friends,
but that doesn’t mean you can chase my wife. Leave her alone, or we will get a
restraining order put on you. And with Rose being a celebrity, the whole world
will know about it."
Ryan turned back
toward the restaurant to see that his friends were all gathered at the door,
listening to the argument. Not wanting to lose face, he extended a stiff middle
finger toward Jack. Jack glared at him and made the gesture back before getting
into his car, slamming the door, and speeding away.
Cole stared at
Ryan. "Dude, you’re chasing Rose? She’s married!"
"Shut up. I
know that, but she’s my ex-girlfriend. Jack didn’t have the right to take her
away from me."
"You and Rose
broke up when she left," Emily reminded him. She gave him an angry look.
"I thought you liked me."
"I do, but
you’re not Rose."
"Well, you’d
better make up your God damned mind who you do want, because I don’t want to
see you until you do. And if you choose Rose, I’ll bet you’ll be very disappointed.
She doesn’t want you. I talked to her on the phone last week, and all she could
talk about was how wonderful Jack is. Besides, she’s married. You don’t stand a
chance." Emily looked at him with contempt.
"Fine."
Ryan turned and walked away, heading for his car. "See ya."
He slammed the car
door and drove away, furious over the way things had turned out. Rose obviously
wanted nothing to do with him, and now Emily was pushing him away, too.