Jack looked over at the other side of the pew he was sitting on. His eyes were met by that of his best friend, Christine, who returned the smile. Seated between them were Christine’s daughter and Jack’s god-daughter, Alyssa, as well as two other friends of the young teenager. The look shared between the two friends was one of familiar comfort and his “what have you gotten me into now” look.
It was the type of silent statement made by two people who had been friends since they were eight years old. That was twenty years of running in the trenches together, not always the best of times but times in which the other always had their back. Even with the fury of hell knocking down a door.
It wasn’t that long ago, mere months actually, that Christine found herself in a hell that wasn’t of her making. Well, not entirely. Many years prior, both Jack and Christine lost a very close friend under tragic circumstances. Their friend, Elisabeth, could have been considered the Dr. McCoy of the inseparable trio. Jack was the more pragmatic of the three, Christine was always governed by her passions, and Beth displayed a cool demeanor that bridged the two. To weave the web even tighter, Christine had loved Beth in a way that could only be described as romantic love.
Sadly, the events of Beth’s life meant that the two could never have been together, even if she had felt the same way about Christine. The day that Beth died, Christine was there on Beth’s bed holding her hand, as the virus which had left her weakened and drained had finally brought her the peace she had been so longing for since she was diagnosed some seven years earlier.
Jack had been absent, as he had left to get lunch for the three of them. He had hopes that maybe Elisabeth would feel up to eating, something she hadn’t been for several days. In a time before cell phones were prevalent, Jack discovered what had happened when he returned to Beth’s house as her parents were outside and the ambulance had arrived. The paramedics had gotten out of their vehicle at the same time he did and in his heart, he knew what had happened.
Leaving the food in his car, he ran inside to see Christine embracing the lifeless body of their closest friend for the last time. “I loved her,” was all Christine could mutter to say, feeling Jack’s presence.
“I know,” he had responded, walking to the other side of the bed and taking Beth’s hand in his, and reciting the inscription she had left in her gift to him that previous Christmas.
Always remember how precious friendships are -Bethie
Flashing back to the present, Jack wasn’t sure why those thoughts came to his head now. Perhaps it was because it was the beginning of a dark time for Christine. She responded to Beth’s death by living a life of excess fueled by drugs, alcohol, and sex. He remembered the phone call from her when she told him that she was pregnant. Jack had dropped everything in his life to be by her side.
With his help, she sobered up and while she didn’t finish college, Christine did marry the child’s father. While there were signs early on in the marriage that something wasn’t exactly right about him, it came to light towards the end of the marriage that there was a history of mental and physical abuse. Christine had admitted it to her parents and to Jack. They had their suspicions and had tried to talk to her about it but as her husband was a very dominating presence, much remained hidden.
At that time, Jack had married and finished college. While everything was good in his life, things weren’t perfect. His marriage, by and large, was one devoid of passion. It wasn’t for his lack of trying. The marriage had hit a very rough patch when he received a call from Christine asking him for his help.
Together, they concocted a plan to help Christine leave her husband. The plan took several weeks to put together and was months long in execution. All the dominoes had fallen as they should until the last night in January when Christine was going to leave. Her husband came home from work early.
Confronting her as she was leaving the house with a travel bag, they got into another fight. Finally, she fought back, which took him by surprise. As she began to get into her car, he had already gotten into his truck and pulled out his gun. Pointing it at her, he had told her that she was worthless and nothing but he would be more than that if she left him. Christine frightened, froze as she was closing the car door.
She would tell the police that time froze for her as she realized that he wasn’t pointing the gun at her but at his own head. In the blink of an eye, he had shot himself. Pointblank. She watched his body fall to the ground and knew he was dead instantly.
Jack would find out about the suicide and take time off of work a day later to bring Christine “home” to her parents and to her daughter. To say Christine was in shock was the understatement of the century. She had gone on another binge, the likes of which she hadn’t done since Beth died. Believing herself to blame for what happened, it would lead to many months of therapy and counseling to which she initially refused until Jack stepped in and went to each meeting with her.
Slowly, Christine became more sociable. She would even appear “normal” to strangers but those that knew her understood the battle waging within her at all times. Jack helped her find a job when she was ready and the two were almost as inseparable as when they were kids. In their most light-hearted of moments, the joking and playful banter they shared even became flirtatious in nature.
It was all done in jest, to lighten the mood, while the chaos of life surrounded them. It had always been the two of them it seemed. What could be the harm in that?
Snapping back to the service, Jack was aware that the three teenage girls next to him were laughing. When he refocused on the moment it was because Christine was sticking her tongue at him and making a silly face. The older members of the congregation, taking their Sunday morning seriously, did not abide by that foolishness.
When one older couple turned to look at Christine, she stuck her tongue at them, before Alyssa said hysterically, “MOM.” Jack couldn’t help but stifle a massive chuckle in which he coughed on. It made the two friends bust out in uncontrollable laughter as Christine stood up, and Jack did as well. Together, the friends went outside of the church and sat on the steps to talk and calm themselves down.
“Remember when we did that type of stuff in school?” Jack asked as he broke through the doors just ahead of her, “I recall us being quite the handful.”
Christine stood on her tiptoes, her 5’6” frame not completely able to reach over her six-foot friend and wrap her arms around his neck. “Handful? We had our own chairs in the office.”
They continued to chuckle as Jack reached back and swung Christine around to his side, she peered at him through her square-framed glasses, the same style that he wore because she had liked them so much. Her brown eyes were wide and full of mischief as she caught herself lingering staring at his deep ocean-blue eyes but she didn’t take her gaze away.
“You know, I had a dream about you last night,” she winked as she took his hand and led him to the steps and sat down, pulling him with her, “it was a rather enjoyable one.”
“Did you now?” he chuckled, shaking his head. There was no telling where this was going to go, he inquired for more details as he took a seat beside her.
“Yep,” was all she revealed.
The suspense was killing him, Jack joked. He nudged her slightly and the sundress she wore betrayed some of her body above the knee. Having played soccer in school, she always had very toned legs. To this day, he wasn’t sure if it was due to a workout regimen or if they were due to genetics. He’d always admired that.
“We fucked, dumb ass.”
Jack wrapped his arm around her. “You can’t say dumb ass. This is holy ground.” He grew silent for a moment then asked, “Was I any good?”
“Mother fucker,” she cackled in her sarcastic way, “This isn’t fucking Highlander. You aren’t a MacLeod and there is not only one.”
Without missing a beat, she leaned into him, playfully bit his chin and whispered, “Beyond good. I woke up and had to play with myself.”
Arching an eye at her, Jack realized that there was definitely something different about her in that moment. There was a certain… tension and friction between them as well. It made his heart quicken.
She seemed to be aware of the energy between them as well, because her left hand came to rest on his chest right above his heart. Their heads tilted and regarded one another for a moment. Christine already felt a heaviness within her and the playful admission of the dream hung between them and it began to put her on edge.
There it was.
A not-so-uncomfortable silence now hung between them. The feeling within Jack was both sudden and warming. Instinctively, he moved his free hand to cover hers and hold it still against him. Christine was leaning closer to him. Oh my God, he thought, we are going to kiss. He wondered in that moment what her lips tasted like. “What?” he thought to himself, “where did that come from?”
In the next moment, her lips brushed his cheek as she had done countless times before. Christine, she asked herself, “Were you really going to kiss Jack on the lips?” What was wrong with her? This was Jack. Her best friend, the guy she had known forever.
Christine lingered there for a moment, holding the back of his head with her free hand as if she was struggling to not take more. That was the truth of the matter. She loved him. Always had but never in “that” way. Yet, in these last few months, no one had made her feel anything close to alive as he did. When she was with him, she felt.
Felt.
It seemed an eternity since she had allowed herself the chance to feel. Still, the fact remained that this was her best friend. Her married, albeit unhappily, best friend. She had no right to feel lust or desire for him.
“Um,” Jack spoke to break the silence, “I think service is almost over with.”
“Yeah,” she retorted weakly as she pulled away from him. Their hands were no longer on his chest but between them and still entwined.
“I wish I could say it was a lovely service. We missed most of it.”
She smiled, almost glowingly, “Couldn’t have spent it with better with anyone else”. What the hell, she pondered, one dream of her best friend pleasuring her in ways she didn’t know possible by a man, and she was turning into a gushy schoolgirl.
Jack peered into her eyes. “Hey, you want to do something later after lunch?” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alyssa and her friends coming.
Before she could answer him, Alyssa called out, “MOM!” and asked if it were ok if she and her friends went to the movies and the mall. Christine nodded yes, and then was asked by her daughter if she could use the car.
“Sure thing,” Jack replied with a wink at his god-daughter as he stood up, “I can drive your mom home.”
Jack soon found himself with his god-daughter hugging him and thanking him. He smirked as the hug was quick and Alyssa turned to grab the keys from her mother’s outstretched hand.
“You know,” Christine chuckled, as she stood up and brushed her sun dress down, “That kid loves you.”
“I know,” he smiled with a bragging tone, “I love her too. Her mom is a piece of work though.”
“Hey!” Christine responded with a quick slap to his stomach.
The best friends began to walk towards his Honda. The moment that could have been lingering between them, was foremost in both of their minds.
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
“Well,” Jack pondered for a moment as he opened her door for her, “I’m free all day. No one needs saving, nobody needs me at home.”
She got on her tippy toes again and shook her head before giving him a kiss on the forehead, wondering how this incredible man was been taken for granted by his wife and made to feel like he had nothing left to give anyone. “I need you. I’d be a fucked up mess without you, Jackie.”
He palmed her down and chuckled at her as he pushed her into the car seat. “You know I have always hated being called Jackie.”
“I know.” she teased through slitted lips and a dart of her tongue.
Closing her door, he went to the driver’s side and sat down to turn the car on.
“How about beer, pizza, and movies at my place?” Christine shrugged. She had just moved out of her parents’ house and was renting one of her own, “I mean you helped me get the joint and you haven’t been there since you helped me move in.”
Jack regarded her offer and smiled, almost lovingly into her eyes, “Now that sounds like something I want to be a part of.”
