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but either Jack had ADD or he had being evasive
down to an art form.
    Deciding to make the best of the situation,
I followed suit and watched the movie. Jack was a borderline
fanatic. He hadn’t dressed up in a black corset or anything like
that, but he shouted right along with all the lines.
    When “Time Warp” came on, I thought he might
get up and dance, and he probably would’ve if there'd been enough
room in the aisle.
    Towards the end of the movie, I had settled
back in my seat, and even his enthusiasm had faded a bit. My arm
casually brushed against his, and I felt struck by his odd skin
temperature again. His skin was soft and warm, but it felt more
like touching fabric than it did like touching a person.
    It was such an odd sensation that I felt
like I had to get more of it. I pushed my arm over on the shared
arm rest, very deliberately pressing my bare skin against his. The
back of his hand felt impossibly soft.
    He hadn’t pulled his arm away, but I felt
his gaze so I looked up at him, finding a very perplexed expression
on his face.
    “ Are you trying to hold my
hand?” Jack asked, as if the idea were completely alien.
    I was not trying to hold his hand, but I
didn’t appreciate the way it seemed so offensive to him. What would
be wrong with that?
    “ What if I am?” I stuck out
my chin, ready to hold my ground and find out what would be so bad
about hitting on me.
    Without hesitation, Jack called my bluff and
took my hand in his. It definitely felt like I was holding hands
with doll or something other than another person, but then it
started to warm up, his skin heating up unnaturally, and I pulled
my hand from his.
    “ Okay. That’s just weird,”
I whispered.
    In response, he just shrugged, apparently
deciding against explaining his abrupt temperature change.
    We watched the rest of the movie in silence
(or at least I did – he continued shouting lines and singing). By
the time it ended, I had started yawning, and I knew that I’d have
to call it a night pretty soon.
    Not that I wanted to. Bizarre handholding
and classified information aside, I really enjoyed spending time
with Jack and I didn’t want it to stop. Not ever.
    “ I hope you had fun
tonight,” Jack said when he pulled up in front of my
place.
    “ I did,” I nodded. Only he
could make frustration so much fun. “So… we’ll hang out
again?”
    “ Of course,” he smiled,
holding his hand towards me. “Let me see your phone.”
    “ Why?” I asked, but I was
already pulling it out of my pocket and handing it to
him.
    “ One second.” Taking my
phone, he started scrolling through it and doing things that I
couldn’t see from my angle. A minute later, he handed my phone back
to me, looking rather mischievous.
    “ What’d you do?” I flipped
it open and started looking through it, trying to see what he
could’ve done.
    “ You’ll see,” he
smiled.
    “ Oh, you are trouble.”
Shaking my head, I shoved my phone back in my pocket, and he
laughed.
    “ You have no
idea.”
    When I got out of the car, he was still
laughing. Being with him was strangely exhilarating, but it also
ended up a little tiring. Even when he wasn’t moving, he had so
much energy about him, and it seemed to take so much energy just
being around him.
    I’d barely made it inside the apartment when
I saw Milo looking sheepishly at me, and I knew there was trouble
afoot. He leaned against the kitchen counter, all decked out in
pajamas since it was past his bedtime.
    I was about to ask what was going on when I
heard the rather shrill voice of my mother, and looked over to see
her sitting in the tattered easy chair in the living room.
    “ Glad to see you finally
made it home,” Mom said.
    Her graying hair was a frayed mess spreading
out from her bun. Her eyes were unusually large, a feature that
both Milo and I had inherited, making us appear much younger than
we were. She lit another cigarette as she cast a cold glance at
me.
    “ Why aren’t you at