Something Came Up
“Jack, why are you being so unreasonable?” Daniel questioned as he stood in Jack’s driveway, car keys jingling madly in his hand.
“I’m being unreasonable, after what you just asked me?” Jack stopped watering his lawn just as the neighborhood street lights automatically came on.
Daniel bit his bottom lip, taking a minute to calm his building frustration. “Jack,” he said, deliberately softening his tone, “it would be a favor, a great favor. It really wouldn’t be that bad. I mean, it could be a bit… awkward, but it could still be fun.”
Jack leaned back against his truck, crossed his arms, and waited.
Daniel stared at Jack, expectantly. Upon reading the stubbornness written across Jack’s face, Daniel sighed inwardly and continued to try to persuade his friend. Unaware he was pacing.
“Look, Jack, it’s wouldn’t take that long. One night tops. Not even a whole night.”
“And the planning? That takes time, ya know.” Jack interjected.
Daniel’s puffed up his cheeks, then he blew out a held breath. “Yes, okay, so maybe more than just a one night commitment is involved here, but it would be really appreciated. Not only by me.”
Jack waited, simply smiling, but said nothing, which was beyond aggravating to Daniel.
“Y-you’ve got the time. You said so already.” Daniel added, emphasizing his words with lots of hand movements and nodding. “And you wouldn’t have to go through this alone.
Jack cocked his head, raising his eyebrows at that statement. He then lifted a hand and inspected his nails, working on getting a bit of dirt from under one of them.
Okay, thought Daniel, time to bottom line it.
“You know you’d have more fun than me and… I’ll handle getting all the um…necessary stuff.”
Jack leaned forward. “Necessary stuff?” he queried.
“You know… transportation and…”
Jack watched as Daniel picked at his shirt then wrapped his hands around his waist, ” stuff.”
Jack nodded. “How very cryptic of you.”
Daniel frowned in annoyance. “Jack!” he snapped. “Look, just say you’ll do it so I don’t have to keep—keep coming up with reasons why you should.”
Daniel began pacing again. “Unfortunately, something’s come up and I can’t do it, even though I said I would, and Teal’c can’t, so that leaves you.”
“You asked Teal’c before me? I think I’m insulted.”
Daniel shrugged as he nudged some mulch with his shoe. “I figured Teal’c wouldn’t make me do stuff…” He jerked his head up looking impatiently at Jack, “like this! And so… you’ll do it then?”
“Um…”
Daniel waited on Jack’s reply, trying hard to be patient while he watched as Jack cleaned his sunglasses, huffing on each lens. Jack then raised them above his head in the light of the dwindling sunlight to check for any smudges. Frowning, he rubbed one of the lenses against the bottom of his shirt before putting them on. Daniel rolled his eyes as Jack looked around squinting and, after deciding it was too dark to wear them, put them back in his breast pocket. Jack then reached into his pants pocket for something. He then switched hands to rummage in the other pocket…
“Jack! Just answer already. I don’t know what else I can offer to get you to do this for me? I need your help or else… well, I really don’t want to think about how disappointing it would be for—Look, enough! Yes or no? Don’t say no, please. Please.”
“You know, I like seeing you flounder and beg like this,” Jack said, smirking. “Your eyes get really big and sad puppy-doggish.”
Daniel glared at Jack. “My eyes aren’t—I am not floundering!” he shouted, flapping his arms in annoyance as he continued. “Sad puppy-doggish, Jack? That’s just wrong and puppy-doggish? Not even a word.” Then Daniel stopped. His head shot up. Eyes narrowing, he moved closer to Jack.
“You’re doing this to avoid answering my question, aren’t you?”
“You’re cute when you do that.”
Daniel’s eyebrows flew up. “What!? What did you—”
“‘Least that’s what Cass says. By the way, Cass knew about your dilemma and asked me as well. I already told Cass I’d take her to the dance in your stead.”
“She what? You what? You did? Then-then why’d you make me go through all this when you’d already agreed?”
“Because, Daniel, I had to see for myself.”
Daniel furrowed his brows then immediately lifted them, questioningly. “See? See what?”
“Oh, just how desperate you were to get out of taking Cass to her high school dance.”
“What? I’m not. I will—would have… something came up.”
“Uh huh, sure,” Jack replied, sarcastically. “Daniel, just admit it. The reason you asked me was because you knew you’d feel way out of place and extremely uncomfortable being there with Cass as her *date* and decided to try to pawn the idea on me to go through it instead of you.”
“What!? That’s not—” Daniel stopped, reconsidering what Jack had just accused him of and also noting that Jack was now smugly waiting on his response.
Daniel closed his eyes and then shook his head. Looking back at Jack, he said. “Jack, look, granted that could be true about the feeling out of place at the dance part, but something really did come up.”
Jack raised his brows, a look of disbelief on his face.
“It does happen.” Daniel added defensively.
Jack stared at him and then dropped his arms, slapping them against the car hood as he pushed off. “Okay, Daniel. I’m just saying it’s quite a coincidence that it just happened to be that night that this something” Jack said, using quotation marks in the air, “came up.”
He then started walking back toward his house with Daniel close behind him. “You pay for it, ALL of it, and I’ll do it… this time. But I’ll remember this.” Jack, reaching his door, turned back around to face Daniel, smiling sarcastically. “Count on it!”
The door closed abruptly just as Daniel reached Jack’s top step. Daniel stared flabbergasted at the closed door in his face.
Jack didn’t believe him. Why didn’t Jack believe him? He asked himself bewildered as he stepped slowly backward down the steps.
“He would have more fun than me anyway.” Daniel mumbled, needing to hear it to further convince himself of his decision. A few more steps back found him in the middle of Jack’s lawn. He looked back toward the house.
Jack’s face peeked out behind a curtained window. “It’s true,” Daniel exclaimed, nodding sincerely to add to his point.
He watched as Jack mimicked the words ‘I believe you,’ except his face said anything but. Daniel frowned and then huffed as he interpreted what else Jack said.
“Now… go… home,” which Jack emphasized by pointing over at Daniel’s car.
Daniel huffed again as the curtain slapped back in place. Waving his arms in frustration, he grudgingly trudged back toward his car. He stopped before reaching it though. Jack’s reaction perplexed him, if not entirely irked him and no way could he just leave it like that.
He shouted back at the house. “Something DID come up!”
The lights turned off leaving Daniel in the dark… in more ways than one.
The End
