The Shadows

A laugh came from Jamey at Jack’s comment. “Yeah, we sure will. I ain’t too worried about it now.” The male watched as the other male received their tickets and Jack handed him one. Jamey took it from him with a smile on his face. The two males walked towards the person taking tickets for entrance into the ranch. “I’m kinda relieved to hear ya don’t hate me. I er…” He took a breath and looked away from Jack’s face for a moment. “I honestly was jealous of ya…” He finally admitted, frowning a bit. Jamey shook his head a little and forced a familiar goofy grin onto his face. “Seriously, don’t worry about it anymore. I was an idiot kid then.” He said to him. When they approached the female at the gate, Jamey handed her his ticket and waited on Jack. “So, what should we go see first?”

Jack tilted his head to the side “Jealous? Of me?” He repeated back to the other. “Why would you be jealous of me?” Jack asked, confused. It wasn’t like he had a lot happening back then that Jamey could have been jealous about, right? He frowned at the others next statement, but nodded slowly. “Hm, alright. Don’t think we’re done with this conversation though” Jack added with a small smile. He really was interested in continuing that topic, but he also didn’t want to pressure Jamey into talking about something that he might not be ready to do. Jack handed his own ticket to the women, thanking her before following Jamey through the gate. He grabbed a map on his way through. “Well, we could start with the horses maybe? I feel like they are probably gonna be the busiest, so if we get that over with now then we don’t have to feel like we are rushing later”

Jamey found a grin come onto his face at Jack’s words and made a face as he nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah. That’s true. Guess being lost together won’t be too bad.” He said. The pair maneuvered to the small line of people to pick up their tickets. Jamey’s eyes roamed the beautiful scenery around them. At Jack’s questions, Jamey’s gaze came back to his face and he saw some worry on it. Jamey knew then that this hatred he thought Jack had for him was untrue. “No, I mean yes. We are friends, Jack. I’m sorry, I just like assumed..” He trailed off and took a deep breath before admitting his dumb thoughts aloud. “I thought ya like hated me for some reason. Cause like I never talked to you after you left..” Jamey cleared his throat and shook his head, a small nervous chuckle coming from him. “Seriously, let’s pretend I’m not a dumbass and have a good time today.”

“I’d like to think so! We’d just make our own tour” Jack joked as he took their tickets from the smiling teller. Jack slipped his own into his pocket and handed Jamey the other. He felt himself relax ever so slightly when the other said they were indeed friends. Jack raised an eyebrow as Jamey continued talking. “J, I could never hate you” Jack explained, smiling softly. “So we didn’t talk much after I left? That’s not like, super unusual. I just figured we both got busy and stuff, did you stop talking to me for...other reasons?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck. Jack had always assumed that part of it had to do with them being ex’s. Even if they had ended on good terms, there was always a bit of an adjustment period when people broke up, and maybe they had just missed their window to go back to normal. “You’re not a dumbass” Jack said quickly, shaking his head before sighing “But, yeah, I’m down to have a good time” He grinned

Jamey chuckled along with the other man. “Poor piggies.” He mumbled, shaking his head slightly at their conversation. When Jack talked about it being self guided, Jamey lifted his eyebrows in wonder and shrugged at the words. “Oh, shit, really? I think I’ll end up getting lost…” He trailed off, laughing a little at his own words. Jamey watched his ex look a little confused at his suggestion to call the “date” off. He felt a little more at ease when Jack nudged his shoulder, a smile coming onto his face. “Alright, no, yeah, I’m game. I just thought…” He swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat and glanced away for a moment before meeting Jack’s gaze. “I figured ya didn’t wanna hang out with me honestly.”

“Well if we stick together, then at least we’ll be lost together right?” Jack asked with a grin as they moved into the line to get their tickets. “Great! I was worried for a second there that I’d be on my own” He joked, although the smile faltered when Jamey kept talking. “Why wouldn’t I want to hang out with you?” Jack prodded slightly, eyebrows furrowed. Maybe because they were ex’s? But that wasn’t that big of a thing, especially because as far as Jack was concerned, it was an amicable one. “Aren’t we friends?” He wondered aloud, a tinge of concern emitting through his voice. Jack could feel his own mind start to race as it started to go over previous interactions to see if he had someone missed a moment, or a fight or anything that could help explain things. Nothing was coming to mind though, which just led to confusion. 

Being kind, especially with kids or pets

“Don’t we all,” she nodded her head as she lined herself up to play against him, “Oh you are playing a show?” Pia hadn’t heard that, “When and where? I will make sure I am there.” The woman was a grand supporter of Jack and she wouldn’t miss when he was playing if she could help it. “There is just something about the festival food,” she said as she grabbed her own bean bags and set them to the side of her board, “it’s just infrequent enough to look forward too and is always delicious.”

“I’m in the parade” Jack said, tossing one of the bags and pursing his lips as it landed just off the side of the hole. He knew he wouldn’t be awful at this since he had played baseball at one point, but he was a little out of practice. “I’m gonna be a prince on Becky’s float” He explained with a small smile. He hummed quietly at her comment about fair food “Oh yeah for sure. It helps that it’s just starting to get warm out too, means more people are likely to stop by”

“I think its because there’s so many of us, it’d be weird to everyone if they didn’t.” Oliver laughed. “That’s true. Give us other poor siblings a chance.” The man laughed and before nodding. “Right. The hater of all things fun.” He teased. “You’re doing great, though. If it gets to be too much, try waving me down and I’ll make a scene so you can jump off the float and make a run for it.”

Jack sighed “True, we are one of the favorites I guess” He said with a light smile. Sometimes it was a bit crushing to know that everyone in the town looked at the Valentines in a certain way, but Jack tried not to let that linger too much on him. He mocked offense at the others comment “The last thing I am is a hater. Maybe I’m a little jealous that Milo was able to get out of this, but that’s as far as my thoughts go” Jack joked. “I feel like that would be even worse” He laughed at the others suggestion “I’ll just find something to focus on and try not to pay attention to anything else”

Jamey was grateful his lame attempt at a joke still made the other man smile. Despite their break up being pretty friendly, Jamey felt jealous Jack had left the small town they had lived in and experienced bigger and better things in life. Of course, he’d never admit that to his ex. Nor would he say that’s why he never replied back to him after breaking up. “Yeah, especially any piggys. They’d probably be traumatized.” Jamey mumbled then chuckled in a nervous manner. “Uh, anyways, are we supposed to be meeting a guide or something? I didn’t get many details on my invite thing.” His eyes fell onto his ex, taking in how handsome the male still was. “I uh, understand if ya don’t wanna do this either. Like no pressure. I just wanted to pet a llama…”

“Oh yes, I think they would have hated it the most” Jack laughed quietly before humming quietly to himself. “Mm, I think this is more of like a self guided thing? They just paid for our tickets which are at the front I think” He pointed to the welcome desk where there was a small line of people. He was pretty sure that’s what they were supposed to do, he had the invite crinkled somewhere in his car, but he didn’t feel like going back and getting it. At the others question, Jack raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t I want to do this? We get to see cute animals” Jack said, nudging the others shoulder lightly with a smile. “Plus, I feel like we haven’t really hung out in awhile and this seems fun so...” He trailed off.

“It really can. I have a lot of carrots to see to.” He laughed softly. “Thanks. And it does. Makes me think they always have to pick one of us as some kind of royalty for these things or it’s not a Fallbrook event, right?” He teased. “Surprise Emmi isn’t queen or princess of something.” He smoothed out his jacket and fixed the crown as it tilted to the side a little. “Yeah? Why would you say no?”

“We certainly are a favorite family for them to have us do things” Jack said, nodding knowingly. “Oh, I’m sure they thought about it, but if they had her do something then literally everyone else would be forgotten and I’m pretty sure they want everyone to feel at least a little bit cool” He suggested, knowing that Emmi was basically the town’s darling at this point. Jack shrugged at the others question “Because things like this aren’t really my thing? You know I hate the spotlight and stuff”

Sera pointed at him and grinned as he took his words back. “That’s right! Hear that, caffeine gods, we’re all good here.” She jokingly said while looked towards the ceiling for a moment. The female chuckled and watched him place the few bills into the jar. “Well, you aren’t the worst patron, Jack, that’s for sure.” She teased, giving him another grin. Sera grabbed a rag and wiped the counter while Jack spoke about his work. “Oh yeah? Who’s your new partner?” She asked and glanced up at him.

Jack gasped and feigned shock, placing a hand to his heart. “So you’re saying I’m not a good patron? How dare you” He said, turning his head away from her and sticking his nose in the air. He held that for about 10 seconds before he dissolved into giggles. It felt good to laugh in company of friends. At her question, he tilted his head to the right slightly. “You remember Trevor? Trevor Wise? He was in our graduating class” Jack explained. “We’ve worked in the same company for awhile, but we had different partners up until recently. But now we’re paired together apparently so-” He shrugged “We’ll see how it is”