"So," Rae said to me as we sauntered down the side of the road. "Be honest... do you remember a single thing from when we were friends in preschool?"

"No?" I said. I was still wondering if lying would be better — since she seemed to remember me clearly.

"Ha! It's okay — I don't ether. My parents spoke so highly of our friendship with you and your mum. I want to remember, but I just don't."

"With ten years past, how could we recall but smidgens?" I said, proud of my loquacity.

"Spend a lot of time on Thesaurus?" Rae asked. It made me smile. What? It's more judgmental when my mom says it...

"Doesn't really matter now, though," I said. I only realized what I had gotten myself into half-way through the sentence. "Because... we're... you know... like, uh, friends... now?"

"Of course! We're totally friends," Rae said. I smiled wider.

We were silent for a while. A car came up behind us, and she moved closer to me, as there was no sidewalk to begin with. I tucked my hair behind my ear.

I didn't notice at the time, but so did she.

"My mum says it's fun to play this game with your friends when you run out of things to talk about," Rae said. "Not that we have run out of stuff to talk about..."

"Yeah, totally," I said, nodding. "What's the game?"

"My mum calls it 'three questions' — you can't lie, so it's basically like Truth or Dare without the dares. And it can be however many questions one wishes," she explains "The rules are pretty loose. It's stupid. She just made it up for first dates or whatever. Wanna play?"

FUCK.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

Did she just say this was a date?!

No, she said the game could also be played on a first date, among other things; like, say, a platonic walks to houses with people you have no interest in and never will! Get a grip!

I don't wanna get a grip! She said date! She likes me! We're gonna get married! Oh, my god, I can't wait to rub it in Phil's face!

Shut the hell up and answer her goddamn question! You've been monologging too long!

Oh, right!

"Su-re," I said. I cured whatever malevolent god made my voice crack at that moment — and cleared my throat. "Me or you first?"

"I can go," Rae said. "Um... Have you ever walked into a wall?"

I felt my cheeks get hot. "Um, kind of, it was a long time ago, and it was a screen door and it snapped and I fell right through. Moral of the story, I spilled my ice tea...and I can no longer drink ice tea."

Rae tried not to giggle.

"You're laughing."

She folded her lips into her mouth. "Uh-uh..."

"Okay, my turn... if you could kill someone, and never be caught, would you do it and who would you kill?

"Well, obviously, I would. Um, but I can't decide between POTUS, Kim Jong Un, or this guy who used to live downstairs from me. He always smelled, wore short-shorts, sprayed people with hoses for fun, and had..." She hesitated to continue speaking, and I leaned closer. "Had very loud intercourse."

I couldn't decide whether to be amused or disgusted.

"On that disturbing note, my turn," she said. "Do you currently have a crush on anyone?"

If I had been drinking of water, I would have spit it out.

"Uh, I..." I stuttered, looking into her pretty brown eyes. If Charlie was here, he would have said something like, "This is your chance, Jack, take it! Kiss her!"

"I've always liked Taye Diggs," I chickened out. "He has a nice smile. My turn I guess... Do you currently have a crush on anyone?" I knew the answer could crush me, but I was taking a leap.

"Well, I recently saw Justice League with a friend," she said, "and Ezra Miller may be the cutest man I've ever seen, so I guess, him." She sounded not quite sure, which led me to believe that she could be gay...

"That movie was very queer." Until that. Prior she had said that her schoolmates regarded her as the 'queer American girl', and I had hoped that was a coming-out drive-by — but now that she had used it in the stead of a word like 'weird.' I was doubting I ever had any evidence in the first place.

"Agreed. On everything," I said to my shoes.

"Um, I've been wondering for a while," Rae said. "How did you get your name?"

"Uh, well, my grandpa died the day I was born, so they named me after him."

"I don't mean any offence, but why didn't they choose something like Jacqueline?"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you hate my name."

"No! Your name is awesome, it's just it's not a typical girls' name."

"I hate to break it to you but your named after a shitty president." I forgot who I was talking to for a second. Luckily, she found it hysterical and laughed a loud, snorty, unladylike laugh.

"Look," she said a little while later. "We're here."

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Oh, hi, Mark...

Sorry that basically nothing happened in this chapter, but, at least for me, it's nice to see Jack winning at life for a fleeting second. 

Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter! 

See ya next time!