On the last night with Mira staying over, Jack woke up around nine thirty in the morning, rubbing his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling of his bedroom. He was lying in his bed completely nude with an equally naked young woman snuggled up beside him resting her head against his shoulder and her arm across his chest. He looked down at her peacefully face, gently squeezing her shoulders using his right arm hugging comfortably around her. Beneath the duvet her legs were in twined with his, their bodies from the waist up the only thing on display. He lay there for a moment watching the blue sky out of the window, the curtains wide open letting in the warm sunlight illuminating the bedroom. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. After giving it a few more minutes and checking his watch on the shelf above his head, he decided now would be a good time to get up and start the day. But when he tried to climb out of bed his sleeping companion tightened her hold on his chest whining. “We’re going to need to get up at some point” he chuckled as Mira pulled him back beside her. “Not yet” she complained, snuggling closer against him keeping her eyes closed refusing to wake up. “I don’t want to get up. If I get up then it’s all over.” “It’s not like we’re breaking up” he laughed. “But I don’t know when we’ll get to do this again” she said, finally opening her eyes to gaze up at him. “Can’t we just stay in bed a little longer?” “We can’t” he replied sadly, kissing her on the forehead. “I need to get back to work and you need to get a train home.” “That’s not until this afternoon. I made sure of it. We can have a lie in, one last morning together.” She leant up and kissed him on the cheek, hugging him tight compelling him to stay. While he did relax and drop lower to kiss her on the lips, he pointed out one problem with that plan. “The manager is starting to enforce new room inspections to stop overnight guests, and I promised him you’d be gone by the time he started. He could be here any minute.” He heard her mewl excitedly at the idea, but he shot her down saying “no, we do not want to risk been caught by him. Not if I want to keep living here. So we can’t sleep in.” Mira pouted in disappointment, running her hands over his broad shoulders as he softly kissed her in apology. She didn’t want this weekend to end, their time together was always special. But she supposed it was time she went back home and made plans to visit her fiancé. “Can we at least stay for one more hour?” She asked. Jack sighed, double checking his watch. “Half an hour” he decided, wrapping his arms around her so they could make the most of it. Mira rolled onto his stomach, passionately making out with the boy intending to make the most of the next thirty minutes. And she intended to spend most of it straddling his waist riding him like a kangaroo. Forty five minutes later, Jackson was helping Mira carry her suitcase out of the flat and into the lift, riding with her down to the ground floor before carrying it out the front. The doors swung open to reveal Lucy on her way in, passing by them in the entryway. “So you’re off home then” she said pausing to bid their guest farewell. “Home, and then away again” Mira nodded. “I think I’ll go visit my fiancé now that my calendar has freed up.” “I’m sure Charlie would love that” Jack smiled. Lucy gave her a warm smile too, telling her “well, we were happy to have you for the weekend. Some of us more than others” she winked. The two of them shared a blushing glance as they stood in the doorway. Mira gave Lucy a hug goodbye, quietly asking her to look out for Jack for her. She promised she would. Jack waited by the wall for the girls to say their goodbyes before having a private word with his flatmate about the inspections. “Kyle’s still not happy, still thinks you turned Steve in” Lucy warned him. “I can handle him” he assured her. When she was bold enough to ask him what his relationship with Mira really was like, Jack replied in a hushed whisper “I’ll explain when I get back this evening.” “You’d better” she grinned with a chuckle, promising to get a drink to go with it. They waved each other farewell and Jack re-joined Mira who was waiting with her suitcase. “Right, shall we?” He asked her, taking her suitcase from her grasp and offering his arm. She took it politely as they walked side by side down the street in the direction of the train station. But before they could pass through the city centre she told him “I don’t have to go just so soon. I’ve got another few hours. We could do something together.” “I think we’ve done quite enough over this weekend” he replied. “And this morning.” “Not that” she clarified slapping his arm playfully. Though the idea of finding a secluded spot in the area to have a farewell romp did occur to her. “No, I meant something else. Like see a movie, or have dinner.” “You mean go on a date?” He quipped. But Mira was serious. “An unofficial date. A friends date. Thought I guess we are more than friends, but it’s not… would you say we’re friends-with-benefits or a platonic couple?” “At this point, I don’t think I know what we are” he sighed, his brain starting to hurt the more he thought about it. “Let’s just say we’re…us. We know what connection we have, maybe it doesn’t need explaining.” “Just us. I like that” she smiled. “So Jackson, will you go on a date with me?” “With you, of course” he agreed, redirecting their walk towards the city centre. “And I know just the place to go.” Mira took his lead, excitement in her every step. *** “Okay Jack, I love you, but I was expecting something a bit more…enclosed?” Mira said trying not to sound mean and disapproving. “I’m on a students budget, which is stretched thin as is” he said carrying over the tray of food from the two different fast food kiosks in the open food court in the top floor of the shopping centre. “If I ever get enough save to go for a proper meal, I promise you pick the restaurant.” “It’s fine” she said, picking up her bowl of noodles from his tray. “It’s been a while since I’ve had takeaway. It’ll be nice.” She looked around at the dozens of tables lining the seating area with the kiosks placed along the back wall. Behind her in the opposite direction were two floors of shops with hundreds of people walking and chattering about. After a whole weekend in private with Jack the crowds seemed unbelievably noisy. “I thought you preferred peace and quiet?” She asked him curiously. “The background noise gets surprisingly soothing after a while” he explained sipping his drink. “Why, do you want to going somewhere quieter?” “No, this is fine” she said, reaching out to place her hand on his. “As long as I’m with you, I could eat anywhere.” “Careful, I think you’re nicking my lines” he smiled. They laughed as they quietly began eating. Jack didn’t want to say it in case it sounded sappy, but he was really glad Mira had paid him the visit this weekend. He liked having her around. And this was a pretty awesome date. “So, where do you go if you want peace and quiet?” Mira asked him after a couple of minutes. Jack hoped this wouldn’t turn into a request to show her so they could get another private moment together. Fortunately, he only got as far as the first syllable before they were interrupted by a friendly voice calling out his name. “Hey Jack! We didn’t see you there!” He looked up startled, only to find a smiling young man wearing a red and white cap over jet black spiky hair and a white/blue jacket over jeans with a red top and white trainers. Every time Jack saw Kadin dressed like this he had the Pokémon theme tune ringing in his head. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t annoyed to see one of his university friends, nor the shorter brown haired girl walking beside him in a black and grey top and skirt and black tights with polished shoes. But it was their third companion that made him nearly choke on his food as he sprung up to meat them. “Kassie?” He gasped in surprise as the stunningly beautiful blonde haired young woman in white smiled back at him, her sparkling grey eyes glinting in the lights of the room. His breathing seemed to stop long with his heart as he came face to face with her, everything around him seemingly becoming so much more brighter. “Hi” he whispered. “Hi” she replied, her eyebrows dipping in a mix of amusement and confusion. “Sorry, did we interrupt your, um…” she asked looking to his table where Mira was watching dumbfounded at Jack’s sudden shyness. He looked down at his “date” and gulped, pulling his head back into gear. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting… what are you guys doing here on a Sunday?” “I was in the neighbourhood, so I’m treating the girls for lunch” Kadin explained. “We wouldn’t stop texting until we agreed” Dani added with a sigh. Jack nodded. They all had work to do and some of them liked to take it more serious than the rest of them. Then Mira let out a subtle cough, prompting Jack to spin around and remember his manners. “I’m sorry. This is Mira, and old friend from Ilkeston” he said, inviting the girl to stand and meet them. “Mira, these are my friends from the illustration course. This is Kadin, Danielle, and…and Kassie.” Mira’s attention quickly fell to the blonde girl, her eyes analysing the young woman thoroughly. “So you’re Kassie” she said, reaching out to shake her hand. “Hi. Jack’s told me so much about you.” “Really?” She replied, looking rather nervous suddenly as she glanced to the boy, who slipped slightly behind his date to sneakily kick her heel with a grunt. Mira got the message, spinning her statement to say “of all of you. He talks about all of you a lot. I’ve really been looking forward to meeting you all.” She looked around a the others shaking their hands, hoping they would buy her reprisal while Jack prayed for this all to disappear. Dani gave Mira a suspicious look, like she was making her own analysis. “Hmm” was all she said after a few moments of staring, and Mira got the impression she’d had her full measurements taken. “So what brings you down here then Mira?” “Oh, you know, visiting and old friend” she replied nervously. This felt like a big moment, meeting Jack’s new friends. She wanted to make a good impression, even if it appeared to to be an uphill battle. “Would you like to join us?” She asked spontaneously. Jack’s eyes widened at the statement. “Oh, I’m sure they wouldn’t want us to intrude on their lunch.” “No, actually I was going to ask the same thing” Kadin answered. “Unless you don’t want us to. I wouldn’t want to intrude either.” “No, we don’t mind, don’t we Jack?” Mira replied. “Give us a chance to get to know each other.” “Great” he smiled, signalling they’ll get their food first and meet them in a few minutes. “See you soon” he said as he led the girls into the food court. Dani and Kassie gave them and apologetic but happy wave as they followed, leaving Jack to reluctantly help Mira pull another table to theirs so they could fit more people. “Mira, I love you, but did you have to invite them to join us?” Jack whispered to her when they sat back down next to each other. “Relax” she said calmly, looking over her shoulder to spot them waiting in line at one of the kiosks. “It’ll be fine. I’ve been dying to meet your friends since I got here.” She turned back to see him looking even more anxious. “Are you embarrassed about me?” She asked him. “What? No, of course not. It’s just… what am I supposed to tell them about us?” “The truth” she suggested. “We’ve known each other from childhood and I stayed over for a few nights. We don’t need to mention how we’ve been spending our weekend.” She looked at him again, making sure it wasn’t her he was embarrassed about. But she put her logical mind to task and made a speculation. “Are you worried about them finding out about us, or are you worried I might tell Kassie about your feelings for her?” “After that close call just now, would you blame me” he muttered under his breath. “Still think you shoulder just tell yourself” she mumbled back. “I will” he assured her. “But at my own pace. Not yet, okay. So please…” “I won’t tell” she promised, crossing her heart. He smiled, able to breathe a little easier as they waited for his friends to come back with their own lunches. The girls sat opposite then as Kadin took a seat on Jack’s right between him and Danielle, leaving Kassie sitting opposite Mira. “So, how long have you known Jack’s then?” She asked breaking the ice. “Little over two years, I guess” Kassie answered. “We all met in a team building workshop that mixed up the courses. Then we all just sort of fell into a group.” “What about you?” Dani asked her. “How did you meet Jack?” “We were neighbour's as kids” Jack answered for her. “Just sort of grew up together.” “Went to mostly the same schools and everything” she continued. “Then he went to sixth form and I went into care work, I moved away, but we stayed in touch. We only really reconnected properly last summer.” “So that’s not his engagement ring on your finger then” Kadin deduced pointing to the silver stone on Mira finger. She looked down at it and laughed, confirming it wasn’t from Jack. “Congratulations. If I my hazard a guess, it’s from a girl right?” She looked at him shocked and baffled. “How’d you know?” “I’m bi, so I’ve got a sixth sense for these things” he told her. Jack, Dani and Kassie all looked at each other, this completely new information to them. “You have working gaydar?” Jack said, unable to told the words coming out and making everyone spit out their drinks and start laughing. He took it seriously for a second and asked “does that mean you can confirm or deny Ajay for us?” “I’m not saying anything on that front” he objected, causing his mates to complain. Mira, who wasn’t in on the joke, just sat back and listened happy to see the fresh dynamic between Jack and his friends for the first time. They talked for over an hour, the lunch going surprisingly well. Jack’s fears about secrets coming out proved unfounded and Mira got on like a house on fire with the others. Dani, who was at first dubious about her, warmed to the girl after about half a dozen questions. Mira fortunately had a few of her own. Though she’d promised not to reveal Jack’s true feelings for Kassie, she couldn’t help but test the waters a little bit. “So, out of curiosity, what are your relationship status? Since you already know mine” she queried, looking to the table. Kadin told her about his boyfriend, who he’s very happy with. Dani reported she was happily single. Kassie, however, proved surprisingly resistant to talk about her boyfriend. Mira picked up on that and ran with it. “It’s still very new” Kassie told her. “We’re still trying to figure out how serious this could be.” “Well, what attracted you to him in the first place?” She asked, probing for details she might be able to exploit in Jack favour. “What drew you two together?” “Mira” Jack hissed, once more kicking her foot trying to derail her. But she kicked him back telling his to shush. She was working. Kassie took a moment to respond, fiddling with the cross around her neck. “He’s a nice guy. I always liked him, and we’ve been friends for a while. We got together after…” she paused, and her friends all reminded her she didn’t need to talk about it. Mira suddenly realized she might’ve pushed something she shouldn’t have, which was why Jack was kicking her under the table. But Kassie managed to open up. “I assume you know about Jack’s accident?” She asked. Mira glanced over to him and nodded. “He was attacked, in an alley.” “The man who attacked him was after me” she told her. “It was me he wanted to hurt. But then he went on this…this rampage through the university. He tried to kill me again. Daniel got hurt, so did Kadin. So many people died, people he killed. It was terrifying.” Mira looked around at the despondent faces of the others, seeing the trauma in their eyes. She didn’t realize her question would’ve lead to them reliving that. She looked to Jack, took her hand and quietly told her it was fine. “A lot happened last summer” he whispered. She squeezed his hand. She could imagine. After a brief pause to wipe a tear Kassie got to the point. “Afterwards I went home to Abu Dhabi to stay with my parents, try to get away from it all. They wanted me to stay over there, but I had one last year to do so I came back. But Kane, he got in touch via email. Then we got to talking on the phone. He helped me through it, we helped each other. So when I came back he continued to help, and we just… things just happened. We started dating, made it official a week ago… that’s it really.” Mira finally understood now. “You got together because you were helping each other cope…” she nodded. She couldn’t help but wonder why it was this boy who reached out. “He can’t have been the only one who wanted to help though” she wondered, casting her eye along the table but directing her gaze to Jack. She knew Jack would’ve dropped everything to be there for his friends, especially someone he loved. He’d done it for her plenty of times. “We tried, but… we had our own issues to work through” Kadin said sadly. Dani nodded, and so did Jack. “I got check ups” Kassie smiled. “Everyone called me at least once.” “Even Jack?” Mira asked. “Yeah. He left me messages” she confirmed. “I told him not to worry. I thought he needed more help than I did.” “We all made sure each of us was okay” Jack nodded. He looked back at Mira, his eyes begging her not to press this nerve any longer. “We’ve all been through a lot. We all coped in our own way.” He turned his attention to Kassie, looking at her in the eye and saying “as long as you’re happy, and you feel safe, that’s what matters.” Kassie smiled back at him, her eyes twinkling a little brighter. Mira’s heart melted when she saw the way he looked back at her, and then broke when she realized he was never going to tell her the truth. He was going to let her go and suffer in silence as long as she was happy with her boyfriend. She caught the eye of Dani from across the table, averting her gaze a little in response. She didn’t know why she was looking at her like that. A short while later, everyone had finished their lunch and was on their way out of the food court when half the group decided to use the toilet. “Won’t be a minute” Jack said, disappearing first followed by Kassie and Kadin. This left Mira with Dani alone. Dani looked at Mira more closely now that their friends weren’t there, inspecting her with narrow eyes. “Can I ask you a question?” She asked the nervous auburn haired girl. “Sure” Mira replied cautiously. “Were you and Jack in a relationship?” She asked out of the blue. Mira was shocked at the boldness of the girl, answering “we never dated. We thought about it, but…I’m gay” she laughed, showing the ring again. The girl nodded. Then asked her “he trusts you though?” Mira nodded. “So he’d tell you if he had feelings for Kassie or not?” Now Mira was speechless, looking at the Greek Brainiac unable to speak. She couldn’t confirm it without breaking her promise to Jack. And she got the feeling this girl wouldn’t believe a lie either. And that was the point of her question, she realized. “You already know the answer, don’t you?” She asked in turn. Dani didn’t say anything, but she didn’t deny it either. She leant against the bannister and sighed, waiting patiently for her friend to return. After a moment of silence she asked Mira “do you think Jack would ever plunk up the nerve to tell her about his feelings?” Mira cautiously walked over to the banister beside the girl and asked her “hypothetically, if he did, what do you think Kassie would do?” “Hypothetically? I’m not sure. But I know that before the accident she was always turning down dates from boys. Like she was waiting for the right person to ask. She never said as much, it was just a feeling” she clarified as Mira listened. They locked eyes for a moment as Dani told her “Jack has been in love with her from day. We all see it, except her. It’s why we’ve all been waiting for him to do something about it.” “He won’t do anything now she’s with someone else” Mira confessed, forgoing the hypothetical now that they were on the same page. “But he still might” Dani theorized. Mira agreed, “maybe.” She looked at Dani, glancing over her shoulder to see the three of them making their way back. “He just needs help now and then” Mira whispered to the Greek girl. “I’ll keep an eye on him” Dani promised. “If he needs the hand.” Mira thanked her, shaking her hand once more. “What are you too talking about?” Kadin asked re-joining the pair of them. Mira shrugged. “Comparing notes” she answered, winking to Dani as they said their farewells so Jack could take her to the train station. As they walked onto the platform She finally turned to Jack and said “I get it now.” “Get what?” He asked. “Why you like Kassie so much. She’s beautiful, of course. Not my type, but definitely yours. And she’s kind, smart, funny, just like you.” “And here I thought opposites attract” he quipped. “Yeah, but I saw the way you looked at her” Mira said softly. “The same way I look at Charlie. The way she looks at me.” She took Jack’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “Don’t give up on her yet Jack. You deserve to be happy too.” “Thanks” he replied, kissing the back of her hand. “And thanks for coming to stay.” “Anytime” she smiled, taking a seat with him to wait for her train. After a short while she asked him “so what’s the deal with Danielle?” “Dani? She’s the smartest of all of us. Smarter than all of us. Why? Did she say something to you?” “Just the third degree” she smiled. “She’s quite hot though. Out of interest, because I thinks she up your street, did you ever ask her out?” “No, never considered it” he replied bluntly. “For multiple reasons that shouldn’t need explaining. Why the sudden interest?” “Just killing the breeze. I like her” she added. She looked at Jack and played with the idea of him and Dani together. Or more accurately, him and Dani together with her in the bedroom. She couldn’t help but admit she found the Greek girl attractive. And her boldness left much to imagine. Eventually, after several heated fantasies in her head, Mira’s train arrived and she stood up ready to board. “Well, safe travels on your journeys” Jack said. “Give Charlie my best.” “Promise you visit us both soon” Mira replied, making sure he promised. As a final goodbye he kissed her on the cheek. But she didn’t want to half-arse it, reaching up on her toes to kiss the boy back on the lips in front of the whole station. Nobody paid them any heed, just another couple on the platform. “Until next time” she promised, pecking him on the nose. “Until next time” he replied, watching her board the train and waved her goodbye. He waited for the carriage to pull away before leaving the platform as Mira sat back to enjoy the ride home. Jack walked all the way to the overpass, the bridge overlooking the dual carriage way where he liked to stop and think. It wasn’t quiet or peaceful, but he liked this spot. He came here many times to reminisce on things. Today he replayed the last few days and how exciting, crazy and comforting they were. He added the memories to the file of treasured moments and savoured the feeling. Moments later real life interrupted when he was contacted by his partners. “Let me guess, can’t wait?” He asked them. “Afraid not” Freya replied. “How soon can you get here?” “I’m on my way” he sighed, pushing himself from the bridge to get back to work. The weekend was over.
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