Ever since I had heard Jack’s voice, any real worry I had had completely dissolved. I felt completely at ease with him, and that fact should’ve been somewhat concerning, but I just couldn’t seem to muster any.
“This is a really nice car,” Jane said randomly, and her voice had fully regained that sickeningly sweet tone that made me want to vomit all over her pair of stilettos I had on my lap. Leaning even farther forward between the seats, she gingerly brushed her fingers along Jack’s bicep, and he responded by letting his arm fall lax, so it was further out of her reach. None of this made any sense to me. In all my many irritating years of being friends with Jane, I had never seen her fawning over anyone so badly, or being just as blatantly rebuffed.
“Is this Weezer?” I asked, mostly to fill up the awkward tension that was developing.
“Yeah,” Jack nodded.
“I like that song ‘Pork ‘n Beans,’” I commented. It seemed like a rather trivial thing to say, but at least it kept Jane from adding something in her overly flirtatious manner. As soon as I mentioned the song, Jack quickly flipped it to the track, and Jane opened her mouth to say something more, but he cut her off.
“I saw them when they were on tour with The Matches.”
“Really?” I ignored the annoyed glare Jane was giving me and continued on. “I really like them. How are they live?”
“Pretty good, I guess,” Jack shrugged, and then turned sharply into the parking lot outside an all night diner. The trip felt ridiculously short, and I realized that we had to have been going well over the speed limit to get there so quickly.
When we got out of the car, Jane scampered over to him, looping her arm through his. He didn’t look pleased by it, but he didn’t pull away either. Outside in the bright glow of the streetlights, I looked him over again, trying to understand what had possessed her so much. He had on pair of Dickies shorts, skater socks, and light blue Converse, along with the pink tee shirt. He more closely resembled cotton candy than he did a love interest for Jane.