020

It took a little bit to get to the park that was located around the area where the campus was but it was really no big deal in the end.

Jack luckily remembered the location of it from his previous running through the town.

When he arrived he could hear loud music playing from the middle of the park. Getting closer to the source he could see 3 guys standing near an old-fashioned boombox.

From the vulgar speech in the lyrics, it was clear that it was rap music playing.

Shaking his head slightly from seeing what Tyrone meant with practice, he could only support his previous decision more.

They were clearly just chilling in the park and drinking beer, from wherever they actually got it and rapping along some lyrics like some crows from time to time.

But he was not here for the group anyway and his own gaze went straight to Eve that sat on the ground with her back leaning on the fountain straight behind her.

She seemed to be sketching something on her pad.

Looking around further, Jack soon saw a vending machine nearby. Thinking for a short moment he went there and looked at the things he could get.

After swiftly picking two drinks that basically everyone would drink he went ahead and stood in front of the girl.

Kneeling down he slowly pushed both drinks into her direction until she finally noticed something and looked up from underneath her hoodie that softly protected her from the weather that was getting colder.

When Eve saw Jack squatting there in front of her, she widened her eyes. Then her eyes went towards the bottle of water and the green bottle of spirit dew.

She then proceeded to lay her sketchbook and pen away and shifted her headset that she had been hiding under her hoody as well down from her ears.

'Oh, I see why those decorative cat ears were so perky this time around.' Eve literally had a headset with cat-ear speakers that fit snuggly with her cat-themed hoodie.

One thing was for sure. It was rather easy to guess her favorite pet with her choice of motives.

"Hey..." Her word seemed a little bit confused and also surprised to see him here.

"Pick one. Would have preferred to get us some coffee to warm up a little but gotta make do with these." Jack slightly raised both bottles a little to indicate for her to take one.

Eve seemed to still be a little bit hesitant but picked the spirit dew bottle. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Jack sat down near her on the opposite side where her bag was not placed and also unscrewed his water to take a few sips.

The atmosphere became a little bit silent. That is if you filtered out the drumming boombox.

Jack glanced back at her and saw how she was still watching him. So he sighed.

"I wanted to apologize to you so I tried to find out where you spent some of your time. I hope it doesn't bother you too much or comes overly creepy." When he said those words he kinda felt a little bit weirded out and took another sip from his bottle.

Eve this time around lowered her head. "No, the one that should apologize is me. I just went and ran off so suddenly."

"Then we are in the same boat, huh. You know, you sure can run like the wind." Jack said trying to defuse the atmosphere a little bit more.

Now he could hear a soft short laugh from her. "And bulldozing people over while at it."

"You mean Kevin? Yeah, he nearly dropped all those stuff for the kitchen. Would have been a mess for sure."

"..."

"..."

"Did he tell you?" She asked now after a short silence.

"Yeah..." Jack answered while taking another sip from his bottle.

"Gossip Queen..." Eve sighed in defeat and had to smile a little bit even while knowing that she was sold out by Kevin.

And that brought Jack to a light chuckle.

"That's about right..." He completely agreed there since he did also get some information about his own supposed fast-spreading rumors. "It's good to see you feeling better."

"..." Eve looked at him again for a moment before she also started to enjoy her drink. The smile still didn't leave her face though.

"So, what are you doing here? Stargazing maybe? Creating a star map?" Jack looked up for a short moment to look at the night sky that was already clear enough to see some stars. "Or are you listening to those wannabe rappers over there?"

Eve made a cute thinking face while also following his look upward. But her little scrunch became a scowl. Especially so when mentioning Tyrone's group.

"God, no. Those guys are a freaking pest." She even raised her voice this time to shout when she looked over at them. "Damn noise box ain't stopping with the shit music!"

She then looked back at Jack and went back to a lower voice. "I'm just sketching along and trying to drown that annoying box with my own. Just getting my head a little bit free." She was referring to her headset with a small tap on them with her finger.

"Psh, don't play girl! You know you love it!" Not even a few seconds passed after her answer to him and you could hear Tyrone's voice reacting to the previous words thrown at them.

"Assholes..." Eve felt annoyed again after hearing Tyrone.

"Yeah, charming guys...I already met Tyrone in music class. Looks like they grind your patience. Why not just spray some water on that box? The fountain is right close by after all." Jack chuckled with a small evil smile.

Eve widened her eyes at that suggestion.

"Oi, bro. Don't be going and killing our equipment. Not cool at all." Another guy close to Tyrone that looked like a Latino said now after hearing what Jack had said. Apparently, it was loud enough for them to hear.

"Relax, I was just joking." Jack waved him away like some fly.

"I would love to get rid of them but they just won't budge..." added Eve now. "I even got furious enough last time when one of my drawings was missing." Her demeanor seemed to be frosting and another glare went at the trio.

"Whoa, she mad again." Said the Latino again.

"Right you are, Chad. She getting serious. Why don't you move your sweet ass over here and we share a dobbie.", suggested Tyrone now.

Now Jack raised both his brows after hearing that name. Chad, huh? At least he ain't worthy to his namesake. But he was better off not to comment on it. Not that he had it any better.

Though Jack Frost didn't seem to exist in this world. Neither was Jack o' Lantern. Anyway, he was drifting off to useless stuff.

He was more curious about something else. What was this about weed? Were they actually smoking pod? Got to be shit stuff from the weak smell.

"Fuck you!" Eve clearly was provoked and angry at his blatant words. She even glimpsed at Jack to find out how he reacted to them offering pod.

"Calm down, Eve. They are trying to rile you up. It's a game for them and the more you react the more they have fun at it." Jack told her.

Also, he still remembered how Tyrone mentioned her having a small ass, and now it was the opposite. Somehow he knows Eve well enough that he can poke her nerves.

"I know..." she grumbled.

Though what Tyrone mentioned after that got even Jack a little bit mad.

"Yeah, you would like that, huh? We would run a train on you all night long.", added Tyrone with a short laugh.

"Eugh, disgusting pig." Eve just got the shivers from that low-level brain fart.

"Oi, street cowboy, dim it down with your pep talk. If you shoot all your bullets to every girl like that you ain't scoring anything ever, not to mention one night." Jack said back to him.

Tyrone laughed at that and nodded as if to acknowledge something. Seems like he stayed quiet as well after that.

"Really?" Eve asked him now with a little bit of an amused smile.

"What?" Jack raised a brow at her. "Okay, I may not exactly follow my own advice." He smiled at her now.

"But on another note...Since we are not alone, it's hardly the best place to continue our previous conversation. Might as well make this annoyance tolerable? So, do you have some?" Jack asked now with a raised brow.

Eve just sighed again, but then a smile reappeared on her face. Somehow she knew what he was talking about now. "I'm sharing but you better don't think this will be a normal occasion."

"Not in my wildest dreams." Jack grinned and started to share the joint with Eve that she pulled out from her pocket. "Wooo~ Good stuff. Even the smell is worlds apart from the crap those three are smoking, haha."

"Those three don't know crap about the good stuff. But hey, thanks for coming by."

"Don't mention it." Jack exhaled some smoke and just relaxed together with her for the rest of the time until they would part ways. Eve even shared her songs with him to drown out the boombox again.

"Hey, I got another good one." After hearing some beats from the songs she had and with his rather euphoric chilling state Jack went straight into singing mode again. Maybe it wasn't that good of an idea to smoke after all.

It could also very well be the sudden change of beats from the Boombox. It had somewhat changed tracks to a rather jazzy beat sound.

--

"Reeds drifting on by~"

"It's a new dawn, it's a new day, It's a new life for me~"

"And I'm feeling good~~"

--

Eve just listened at first and was amazed at how clear he sang and how fast he changed tones with his voice without messing up the rhythm.

The song itself was also something she found interesting. She even tried to sing along but didn't know the lyrics. Sadly this classic was not present in this world so it was basically a song she had to learn while he performed.

But just the refrain was something she actually could get behind after it was repeated and she sang along with him when she noticed it approaching.

Jack even made small gestures to her while singing to include her in the said refrain. Just from those small parts when she did so, he could hear something interesting.

Eve didn't have a bad voice. She had talent in it, definitely.

At that moment Jack made a note to get her somehow to sing complete songs. But for now, he kept on being the lead.