He see's Iona rushing over to the window. He's bracing for the yelling that he's sure is going to come, but all he can think is, 'Dammit! She looks so cute when she's angry. It's so worth getting yelled at.'
Things don't play out quite the way he thinks will. Much to his surprise. One minute he's watching her coming closer, the next he's left looking at closed curtains. Not a word. Not an utterance of a sound. Nothing at all. She just closed them again as if he hadn't even said anything.
This is something that's never happened to him before. No girl has ever just pretended that he's not here. He's never been ignored before. Any other girl would have blown her top at him for not looking away. What poor Jack doesn't know is that Iona wasn't brushing like it was nothing. She was just too embarrassed to do anything else. The only thing she could think to do was to close the curtains as quickly as possible while her brain threw her a little shame party in her head. This mostly consisted of her telling herself off for wearing the Wonder Woman bra. Which she only did because she had hoped that it would give her confidence. She had hoped that it would give her some Wonder-Woman-like strength to face the day. 'Look how far that got you.'
"I am so so sorry." She doesn't even hear her friends trying to console her. "He's just some guy who lives next door. I bet you won't even see him again."
"She's right. I never see my neighbors."
"See. Besides I'm sure he didn't even see anything. We were standing in front of the window anyway."
Iona pulls a hoodie on, and gets changed into a pair of shorts. After a few more minutes of Nicole and Liz trying to make her feel better the girls are laughing the whole thing off. 'They're right he probably didn't even see anything.'
Awe, we both know that her friends are very wrong about that. He did see her, but for now she needs to believe that he didn't. It's the only way she's going to be able to walk into Math first thing tomorrow morning.
Across the way Jack is still sitting at his desk. He hasn't been able to move. Something just isn't right about it all. Something about her just closing the curtains again like he wasn't even there bothers him. It's nagging at him to think of something to do to get her attention. To get her to acknowledge him. This is all very new for him. Usually all he has to do is flash a smile, and the girls do the rest. They'll flirt, and act cute trying to get his attention. He's never been ignored like this before.
He hasn't really dated either. Yes there was a girl or two that he'd gone out with, but it never lasted longer than a few months at most. He tends to say things like, "I don't have time for a girlfriend.", "It was never going to last anyway.", or "I'm just not that type of guy".
Which isn't all that far from the truth. However the fact that he's never tried to seriously date anyone is part to do with the fact that they could have to move again at any time. It's not exactly an ideal situation to have a relationship in. The other side to it is that he's never really met someone that he wants to spend his time with.
Now however he's sitting in his room feeling bad about seeing a girl he's only just met in her underwear when he doesn't even know her name. 'Should I apologize? I should, shouldn't I. I know that I have Math with her. Maybe I can talk to her then.'
He then stops himself. 'Wait what's happening to me. It's her friends that opened the curtains. It wasn't my fault....no it wasn't. What's wrong with me? Am I coming down with something? Maybe it's just the lack of sleep or something.'
He dismisses the strange tightening in his chest. He can't however shake the image of her angrily rushing to close the curtains, or the feeling that living here just got a whole lot better. Especially since she's living right next door, and her bedroom is just across the way from his. Then again it could be one of the other girls that were there, but hey a guy can hope.
Just then he hears the front door open. "Hello, I'm home"
"Hi Mom." he calls as he comes down the stairs to greet her. She looks small and tired, and he gets an idea. "How about I make dinner tonight?"
Maybe it's the guilt he's feeling for seeing the New Girl in her underwear, or it's just how tiered his mom looks but he suddenly feels like he should.
'Besides, Mom needs to rest. She's been working later and later these past few days.' He masks a sigh with a smile as he gives her a hug before heading to the kitchen to find something to turn into dinner.
"That sounds great. Thank you, Jack." She moves to sit down. she looks lost in thought. Her eyes turned to the window, looking through rather than at anything out there.
Rummaging through the fridge he finds some chicken and a loose pepper amongst leftover styrofoam boxes. He takes them out the fridge and moves to the cupboard. 'Ah there it is.'
His mom then looks around before asking," Where's David?"
Jack takes out a packet of pasta and gets to work turning it into something they can eat. As he cooks he tells her that David is still at school. He then starts telling her about school and his day, feeling that she might need to get her mind off of whatever is troubling her. He then tells her that they have new neighbors. She seems happy that there's another mom that she could be friends with. She's always wanted to have a friend close by...even if it's a friend that she can't share everything with. What's odd though is that she doesn't react very much to the news that there is a new family. She seems happy, yes, but not surprised.
They eat at the table talking about nothing at all. Doing their best to have dinner like a normal family. They finish eating. Jack gets up to put some food aside for David before putting the rest away for tomorrow night's dinner. His mom's tried, and needing to get up early again for an early shift she's already gone to bed.
Once the kitchen is clean, leaving no traces of Jack's rather messy method to make anything food related, Jack heads up stairs with every intention of getting some work done. Needing to stay up until David gets back so that he can let him in, Jack puts on some music while he starts reading over what he'll need to do for the term's English assignment.
Across the way Iona sits on the couch with her mom drinking a now lukewarm cup of tea. Lizzy, and Nicole left a little while ago. Since her dad had phoned to say that they'll be late, the girls decided that pizza comes before love. Their evening filled with more laughter and mirth than the house across the way. Her mom and her friends mercilessly teasing her about the irony that she's the one to find herself surrounded by the possibility of finding high school love. Joking about her resolve to only date after she leaves high school. This all rooted in stereotypes and ideas that she's built up in her mind. Some aided by the romcoms she'll never admit to watching.
You need to understand that Iona can be very narrow minded when it comes to certain things. Love just happens to be one of those things. She's also a very driven girl who's planned her whole life around the idea that she'll study, work hard, get into a top university, get a good a good job, be independent, then once everything else is in place she can allow herself to try find love. The problem with this isn't that it's a bad plan. You see I'm not the one to say if it is or isn't a good plan. No, the problem with this is that life doesn't follow your life plan. It has it's own plan, and that's not to mention that the heart doesn't always listen to the plan you've set out for it either.
This is something that her mom's been trying to tell her for years, but being the young stubborn, spirited girl that she is she's done her best to ignore. Now sitting, just the two of them, her mom brings this up again. "You know you, it wouldn't be the worst thing if do end up liking someone."
"Maybe."
"Not maybe. There are worse things in life than being a little distracted." Her mom tries to explain, "I'm not saying that you have to try to fall in love with anyone now. If you really don't like anyone, and you don't want to go out that's also okay. I just don't want you to miss out on any of the fun...any of the good experiences that come with being young right now. I don't want to miss out on any of those things."
She hugs her daughter, "But it's still your choice, and you shouldn't let anyone make you feel like you have to do anything that you don't want to do."
"Thanks, Mom." She hugs her back. "Would it be okay if I go out for a ride before it gets too dark? Please."
She hesitates for a moment, "Okay"
"Thank you, Mommy!" She says jumping up to get her things.
"Just be safe." She calls after her.
"I will be."
Iona dashes up to her room to get her things.