Jack lay in bed, her mind far away from the glowing TV screen across from her bed. Her thoughts were focused on Darren and why he hadn’t come out of his room for the last few hours. She had been sitting with her ear pressed against the wall trying to hear what was going on, but with the noise from the TV downstairs, she couldn’t pick up anything. She had finally given up when Dan walked into her room.
“Come downstairs. We’re watching the festivities on the big screen,” he said.
“Is he down there?” Jack cautiously asked.
“No, he is not downstairs. He won’t come out of his room,” Dan replied. “Now come on, I don’t want you to be alone at midnight.”
“Why doesn’t Darren want to come out of his room?” she continued her interrogation.
“I don’t know. Why are you so intent on finding out?” he retorted.
“I am not!” Jack protested.
“Then come downstairs with me.”
“Fine.” Jack rolled off her bed and slowly made her way towards Dan on wobbly legs. As she and Dan passed Darren’s door, Jack paused then continued walking. ‘Why am I so worried about him?’ she asked herself. They arrived at the living room a few minutes later as she still pondered her question.
“Jackie!” Nadia called to her when she entered the room.
“Hey,” Jack barely expressed as she sat down on the couch in front of the TV.
“What’s wrong?” Nadia asked.
“I’m just a little stressed, that’s all,” Jack replied, laying back and becoming comfortable. She looked to her right to find four tall glasses and bottle of Champaign on the coffee table. “Pass me one of those.”
“No yet, hon. Those are for after the new year,” Dan said.
“You suck!” she screeched.
“Oh, come on. It’s only ten minutes away!”
“Whatever.”
For the next ten minutes, the three of them sat on the couch waiting in silence for the ten-second countdown to begin. Jack used her time to think about Darren and how he had been hiding for the last few days. ‘Of all people, I should be the one hiding. I screwed up,’ Jack thought. ‘But he feels responsible, so I should go up there and let him explain. If I do that, I’m giving in to him and setting myself up for more pain. This is so fucked up. What am I supposed to do?’
“Jack,” Nadia asked when she realized that her friend wasn’t paying attention to a word anyone was saying.
“What?” Jack hopped off the couch, startled.
“Countdown’s beginning,” Nadia calmly replied.
“Oh,” Jack said as her heart slowed to a more regular beat.
“10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1… Happy new year!” the three of them shouted together. Dan grabbed a hold of Nadia and kissed her as Jack watched, her mind wandering back to Darren. She barely felt Dan kiss her cheek. All she heard was the quark pop off the top of the Champaign bottle and the pouring of the glasses. Nadia handed her one and quickly toasted to the New Year, but Jack was too caught up in her own thought to listen. She quietly excused herself and walked towards the steps with her glass in one hand and Darren’s in the other. It took her about half an hour to climb the staircase, but she finally reached the top floor.
Jack slowly walked down the hall, her shoulder pressed up against the wall keeping her upright in case she fell. When she reached Darren’s room, she politely knocked before entering. He didn’t answer making her worry and open the door. Jack looked into his room to find him face down on the bed with his wet clothes still on his body.
“Oh, God!” Jack hollered. She put the Champaign glasses down and slowly walked to Darren’s bed. She flopped down beside him and began pulling off his soaking clothes. “Dan!” she shouted, feeling his burning forehead. “Nadia!”
Dan and Nadia were still downstairs when they heard Jack’s frantic shouts. They ran upstairs to see what was wrong.
“Jack!” Dan hollered, reaching the top step first in the fastest time he could remember.
“I’m in Darren’s room,” she shouted back.
Dan and Nadia ran inside to find Jack pulling off Darren’s clothes as he shivered in his unconscious state. “I think he might be hypothermic,” Nadia said as she ran to his side. “Dan, get some thick blankets and a thermometer. Jack, you continue what you were doing.” Dan ran out of the room and down the hall as Jack turned to Nadia.
“Please don’t tell Darren I found him,” she begged.
“I won’t. I promise,” Nadia replied.
Dan ran into the room holding three thick blankets under his arms and the thermometer in his hand. “Here,” he said, dropping the blankets on the bed and handing Nadia the thermometer. She placed the blankets over Darren’s still shivering body.
“Jack, stay here tonight. Holler if you need me or if he wakes up,” Nadia said, taking his temperature. Jack glared at her until she whispered, “Don’t worry, he’s out cold. He definitely not gonna wake up any time in the morning.”
“Fine,” Jack grumbled.
Nadia looked down at the thermometer and said, “97.8, not too bad, but he still needs to be look after.” She stood up and headed out the door with Dan swung around her arm. She closed the door behind them and walked down the hall to her room.
“Why did you leave her with Darren?” Dan asked from behind her.
“Take a good look at them and tell me you don’t see that she’s head over heels in love with him. Even after all that’s happened between them, Jack still goes back to him. She needs to figure out that she really loves him and needs to talk to him,” Nadia answered. “She needs him and he needs her, plain and simple.”
“I know that,” he replied. “I’m just afraid of Darren’s hurting her again.”
“I understand why you feel that way, and I’m not gonna say anything else, just try to get them back together,” she pleaded, going into her room and closing her door.
Dan shook his head and walked into his room.
Jack, still trying to figure out how she got stuck with Darren that night, lay at the foot of his bed and stared at him. He continued to shiver even under the thick blankets. Jack’s big heart couldn’t take looking at him that way, so she snuggled up beside him, her arms tightly wrapping around his body. She fell asleep before she had time to ponder what she was doing.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Jack,” Nadia whispered into her ear the next morning.
“Huh?” Jack replied as she rubbed her eyes open and focused on her surroundings. She was still lying beside Darren, but the sun was peeking through the window and illuminating the room. Jack got up and slowly hobbled over to Nadia. “Never tell him I was here,” she warned her as she left the room.
‘Too late,’ Nadia thought to herself as she brushed her fingers though Darren’s hair. He already knew Jack had been with him all night. He had awoken around three in a cold sweat only to realize she was sleeping beside him. He had quietly gone to Nadia’s room to ask her why Jack was in his room. She told him what happened and sent him back to bed.
“Hmm…” Darren groaned as he turned over into the light. His arm instantly went over his eyes as he grunted. His other arm hit the empty space where Jack had slept and he sat up to see only Nadia in his room. “Where’s Jack?” he asked.
“She left,” Nadia replied.
“Why?” Darren kept questioning.
“She’s not ready to talk to you yet, I guess,” she answered.
“Then I’m going to talk to her.” Darren got out of bed and left the room to find Jack in hers reading a book. She looked up when she heard him approach. “I wanted to talk to you,” Darren said.
“I don’t,” Jack retorted, her nose going back behind her book.
“Do you always have to be this stubborn?” he sharply asked.
Jack put down her book and angrily replied, “Do you always have to hurt every single woman you come into contact with?”
“Look, what happened at the party last week was a misunderstanding,” Darren began to explain.
“I’m not talking about the party,” she interrupted. “I’m talking about the things that happened before and after the party. How could you propose to me when you knew I wasn’t ready? How could you not tell Dan? Why don’t you bother to coma and apologize to me earlier? You know what? You had your chance, Darren. Unfortunately, you didn’t take it in time and now the moment has passed. It’s over between us! Leave me alone, okay? I don’t wanna discuss this anymore! It’s over! The end of the line! Get out of my room and get out of my life!”
Jack’s words cut through Darren like a knife through butter. He walked from her room, his heart shattered into a thousand pieces. Nadia was still in his room when he walked in and lay on the bed. He pulled the covers over his head as tears dripped down his face.
“I take it that didn’t go so well,” Nadia observed.
“Go away,” Darren growled as he tightened his grip on the blankets around him. All he wanted to do at the moment was curl up and die.