Drops of Jupiter
Anna and Jack had grown up together. Their parents met when both of them were young, when Jack’s family had moved into the house behind. Anna’s parents had been married for a few years (Anna had come along only six months after the marriage) and Jack’s mother was just married to her new partner.
The couples hit it off and spent many nights eating at each other’s houses, drinking and laughing whilst their toddlers played with trucks and trains and babbled with each other.
They went to different primary schools, but they still saw each other most evenings and spent their nights swimming in Anna’s pool or watching movies at Jack’s house while their parents continued to drink and laugh together.
It wasn’t until both of them hit puberty that they’d even considered each other as anything more than friends. But for Anna, nothing much changed, except for the fact that she’d notice Jack watching her legs when she wore skirts.
They went off to separate high schools- Anna to a religious, private school, and Jack to one of the biggest state schools in the country. They saw less of each other, partially because Anna had developed shyness as she grew older. Jack took her lack of conversation to be disinterest and rudeness, and went off with his less savoury male friends. Anna met more people too, many who had led lives much more sheltered than Jack’s and Anna’s.
One night Anna had gotten defensive when she and Jack had been playing Crash Bandicoot.
“Your Dad’s a stoner,” he blurted out of nowhere as the tiger and bandicoot on the screen leapt over a gap in the Great Wall of China.
Anna’s neck snapped in the direction of Jack. They were only twelve at the time, but Anna knew what he was talking about.
“No he’s not.” She replied simply and quietly as her character fell off the wall.
Jack didn’t reply and just changed the subject to what they’d be doing for Guy Fawkes the next week.
When Anna had asked her mother later, she’d simply replied, “I think Jack’s just a bit upset because he knows his parents do some things a little less savoury than drinking from time to time.”
When Anna was older she would question whether or not these things were really less savoury at all.
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When Anna was fourteen she’d been walking down the hill with her mother and their dog when her mother had told her that Jack had been kicked out of home and had left school. Anna felt her stomach tighten and just looked at the stones lining the side of the road.
Jack was a year older than Anna and he had been out flatting and working for a while when they met again when he was seventeen. She’d been running around the bays not far from where he used to live when she bumped into him and he’d asked if they could catch up. She’d agreed and after she finished school one afternoon they met in a hipster café where he worked in town, where he’d paid for her green tea and they’d just chatted about everything that they’d been doing.
“I don’t think you should hang out with Jack,” Anna’s best friend had told her that evening while she was around cooking at his house.
Jordan’s mother didn’t live with him most of the time, so he’d either spend half the week at Anna’s or she would go and visit with her dog and cook and study with him. Anna had looked up from the French toast she was turning- they were sixteen after all, and Jordan couldn’t care less about balanced meals.
“Why?” she’d asked incredulously, frowning at her friend.
“He pulled a knife on some of us at the playground when we were younger.” He’d replied. Anna didn’t believe that Jordan would lie to her, but neither did she believe that Jack would ever have done something so out of character.
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When Anna was seventeen, Jack disappeared somewhere up North for a little while.
This was not long after she’d come home and her mother had quizzed her about Jack after they’d all gone to a party of Jack’s parents.
“Did you kiss Jack on the weekend?”
Anna’s jaw dropped, “What? What on earth makes you think that?”
Anna’s mother shook her head, “I knew you hadn’t. Jack’s mother was convinced there was something going on between you two and said Jack hadn’t denied kissing you when she’d asked him.” Anna’s mother rolled her eyes, then as an afterthought added, “Just be careful about spending too much time with Jack. I’ve heard… rumours that he might be” - she lowered her voice for this- “dealing drugs.”
Suddenly a lot of the conversation with Jack’s mother on the weekend made sense.
“He’s a lovely boy really, Anna, and he really likes you.” Jack’s mother had slurred at the picnic table in their backyard, “You and I should plan something for his birthday next month.” Anna had agreed, and she’d meant it, but of course, she got too busy.
Anna always got too busy.
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Anna felt sick as she read the text on her phone. She rang her mother straight away, walking to the kitchen to make herself a green tea as she did so. Her hands shook a little as she picked up the jug and she heard her mother pick up the phone at the other end.
“Mum,” she spilled water onto the bench, “Apparently Jack’s just stabbed someone down the road.”
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Anna’s car was searched as she drove into the grounds. She wasn’t even allowed to bring her cellphone inside, and had to walk through a scanner before entering.
Anna knew people who had been to prison before. She’d always meant to visit them, always meant to be there for them, but she’d been too busy. Once she’d seen a letter her grandmother had been sending to a cousin in prison. She’d memorised the address on the envelope so she too could write a letter, but by the time she remembered, he was out again.
Anna had got Jack to send her an application to visit, and she was allowed to meet him in a security room today. Anna didn’t know if this was because of the crime Jack had committed, or if it was because of how he’d behaved recently within the grounds. She didn’t yet know that booth visits were allotted to prisoners involved in substance related incidents while jailed.
She walked down a corridor past the main visitor room. Inmates sat on plastic chairs drilled into the ground around a coffee table so small it would only hold two mugs at most, but all the visitors and inmates seemed to not be drinking anything today.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was strange not being able to hug Jack as soon as she saw him. Even though their contact had diminished over the years, they’d always greeted each other with an embrace. The familiarity that comes from having known someone since you were a toddler never seems to really fade.
What struck Anna most, was that Jack still seemed exactly the same. He asked her how she was, what she had been doing, how university was going- all behind a glass window. Anna had never wanted to believe any of the rumours spread about Jack, and this was exactly why. He laughed with her, he held a normal conversation with her, and he was generally a lovely guy.
“Do you know how long you’re here for?” she asked finally, looking Jack in the eye as she spoke.
He shrugged and leaned back in his chair, “Apparently it could be around six years. But I doubt it.”
Anna nodded and they spoke a little more before the officers supervising their visit told her she had to leave.
There could be no goodbye hug.
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Anna and Jordan ate ice cream on the couch at Anna’s flat while they half watched television. Anna hated television. It was chewing gum for the mind and she could no longer understand half the shows that were on.
“What really got me,” she continued, scraping the last of the Hokey Pokey out of the bowl, “was that he didn’t seem sorry.”
Jordan wasn’t surprised. He’d never liked Jack, and he’d warned Anna about him many times. Especially after he’d heard from someone else that Jack was interested in Anna. Still, a mate has to be supportive, so he just listened instead of speaking his mind.
“He killed a man, Jordan. A man we all grew up around. And he thinks he’s done nothing wrong. He thinks he’s invincible.”
Jordan’s lip curled slightly, “maybe you’ll know he’s changed when you see a teardrop tattoo on his cheek,” he replied as he took both of their bowls to the kitchen.
Anna hugged her knees up to her chest and when Jordan returned he realised he had to be more sympathetic.
Jack might be an asshole, but he loved Anna like a sister, and he couldn’t bear to see her sad.
He hugged her, “I don’t know, why don’t you, pray for him or something? Isn’t that what you do?”
Anna nodded as she rested her head on his arm.
“He used to be so nice, Jordan,” she whispered,
“He’s really so nice.”
The couples hit it off and spent many nights eating at each other’s houses, drinking and laughing whilst their toddlers played with trucks and trains and babbled with each other.
They went to different primary schools, but they still saw each other most evenings and spent their nights swimming in Anna’s pool or watching movies at Jack’s house while their parents continued to drink and laugh together.
It wasn’t until both of them hit puberty that they’d even considered each other as anything more than friends. But for Anna, nothing much changed, except for the fact that she’d notice Jack watching her legs when she wore skirts.
They went off to separate high schools- Anna to a religious, private school, and Jack to one of the biggest state schools in the country. They saw less of each other, partially because Anna had developed shyness as she grew older. Jack took her lack of conversation to be disinterest and rudeness, and went off with his less savoury male friends. Anna met more people too, many who had led lives much more sheltered than Jack’s and Anna’s.
One night Anna had gotten defensive when she and Jack had been playing Crash Bandicoot.
“Your Dad’s a stoner,” he blurted out of nowhere as the tiger and bandicoot on the screen leapt over a gap in the Great Wall of China.
Anna’s neck snapped in the direction of Jack. They were only twelve at the time, but Anna knew what he was talking about.
“No he’s not.” She replied simply and quietly as her character fell off the wall.
Jack didn’t reply and just changed the subject to what they’d be doing for Guy Fawkes the next week.
When Anna had asked her mother later, she’d simply replied, “I think Jack’s just a bit upset because he knows his parents do some things a little less savoury than drinking from time to time.”
When Anna was older she would question whether or not these things were really less savoury at all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Anna was fourteen she’d been walking down the hill with her mother and their dog when her mother had told her that Jack had been kicked out of home and had left school. Anna felt her stomach tighten and just looked at the stones lining the side of the road.
Jack was a year older than Anna and he had been out flatting and working for a while when they met again when he was seventeen. She’d been running around the bays not far from where he used to live when she bumped into him and he’d asked if they could catch up. She’d agreed and after she finished school one afternoon they met in a hipster café where he worked in town, where he’d paid for her green tea and they’d just chatted about everything that they’d been doing.
“I don’t think you should hang out with Jack,” Anna’s best friend had told her that evening while she was around cooking at his house.
Jordan’s mother didn’t live with him most of the time, so he’d either spend half the week at Anna’s or she would go and visit with her dog and cook and study with him. Anna had looked up from the French toast she was turning- they were sixteen after all, and Jordan couldn’t care less about balanced meals.
“Why?” she’d asked incredulously, frowning at her friend.
“He pulled a knife on some of us at the playground when we were younger.” He’d replied. Anna didn’t believe that Jordan would lie to her, but neither did she believe that Jack would ever have done something so out of character.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Anna was seventeen, Jack disappeared somewhere up North for a little while.
This was not long after she’d come home and her mother had quizzed her about Jack after they’d all gone to a party of Jack’s parents.
“Did you kiss Jack on the weekend?”
Anna’s jaw dropped, “What? What on earth makes you think that?”
Anna’s mother shook her head, “I knew you hadn’t. Jack’s mother was convinced there was something going on between you two and said Jack hadn’t denied kissing you when she’d asked him.” Anna’s mother rolled her eyes, then as an afterthought added, “Just be careful about spending too much time with Jack. I’ve heard… rumours that he might be” - she lowered her voice for this- “dealing drugs.”
Suddenly a lot of the conversation with Jack’s mother on the weekend made sense.
“He’s a lovely boy really, Anna, and he really likes you.” Jack’s mother had slurred at the picnic table in their backyard, “You and I should plan something for his birthday next month.” Anna had agreed, and she’d meant it, but of course, she got too busy.
Anna always got too busy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anna felt sick as she read the text on her phone. She rang her mother straight away, walking to the kitchen to make herself a green tea as she did so. Her hands shook a little as she picked up the jug and she heard her mother pick up the phone at the other end.
“Mum,” she spilled water onto the bench, “Apparently Jack’s just stabbed someone down the road.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anna’s car was searched as she drove into the grounds. She wasn’t even allowed to bring her cellphone inside, and had to walk through a scanner before entering.
Anna knew people who had been to prison before. She’d always meant to visit them, always meant to be there for them, but she’d been too busy. Once she’d seen a letter her grandmother had been sending to a cousin in prison. She’d memorised the address on the envelope so she too could write a letter, but by the time she remembered, he was out again.
Anna had got Jack to send her an application to visit, and she was allowed to meet him in a security room today. Anna didn’t know if this was because of the crime Jack had committed, or if it was because of how he’d behaved recently within the grounds. She didn’t yet know that booth visits were allotted to prisoners involved in substance related incidents while jailed.
She walked down a corridor past the main visitor room. Inmates sat on plastic chairs drilled into the ground around a coffee table so small it would only hold two mugs at most, but all the visitors and inmates seemed to not be drinking anything today.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was strange not being able to hug Jack as soon as she saw him. Even though their contact had diminished over the years, they’d always greeted each other with an embrace. The familiarity that comes from having known someone since you were a toddler never seems to really fade.
What struck Anna most, was that Jack still seemed exactly the same. He asked her how she was, what she had been doing, how university was going- all behind a glass window. Anna had never wanted to believe any of the rumours spread about Jack, and this was exactly why. He laughed with her, he held a normal conversation with her, and he was generally a lovely guy.
“Do you know how long you’re here for?” she asked finally, looking Jack in the eye as she spoke.
He shrugged and leaned back in his chair, “Apparently it could be around six years. But I doubt it.”
Anna nodded and they spoke a little more before the officers supervising their visit told her she had to leave.
There could be no goodbye hug.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anna and Jordan ate ice cream on the couch at Anna’s flat while they half watched television. Anna hated television. It was chewing gum for the mind and she could no longer understand half the shows that were on.
“What really got me,” she continued, scraping the last of the Hokey Pokey out of the bowl, “was that he didn’t seem sorry.”
Jordan wasn’t surprised. He’d never liked Jack, and he’d warned Anna about him many times. Especially after he’d heard from someone else that Jack was interested in Anna. Still, a mate has to be supportive, so he just listened instead of speaking his mind.
“He killed a man, Jordan. A man we all grew up around. And he thinks he’s done nothing wrong. He thinks he’s invincible.”
Jordan’s lip curled slightly, “maybe you’ll know he’s changed when you see a teardrop tattoo on his cheek,” he replied as he took both of their bowls to the kitchen.
Anna hugged her knees up to her chest and when Jordan returned he realised he had to be more sympathetic.
Jack might be an asshole, but he loved Anna like a sister, and he couldn’t bear to see her sad.
He hugged her, “I don’t know, why don’t you, pray for him or something? Isn’t that what you do?”
Anna nodded as she rested her head on his arm.
“He used to be so nice, Jordan,” she whispered,
“He’s really so nice.”
Comments
Edits, you. And lets work on your variety of sentence structure, yeah?
You understand your characters extremely well. The challenge is to get US to understand their story.