A Chance Meeting

Chapter 2

"Jack?"

The red-haired teen looked at Ralph more closely, the scowl gone. Instead it had been replaced by a look of curiosity.

"What?"

Ralph felt a little uncertain. What if he was mistaken and this wasn't Jack?

"You are Jack Merridew aren't you?"

"Well, yeah. But who the hell are you?"

Ralph paused a little at this point. What would happen when he did tell Jack who he was? Something told him that Jack wasn't exactly going to shriek loudly and hug him tightly, proclaiming that he'd missed Ralph (or at least, Ralph hoped he wouldn't, it might earn them some strange looks from people). But then again, Jack might growl at Ralph, launch at him and proceed to rip him limb from limb (Ralph hoped he wouldn't do that either, as he knew the people would just point, stare and watch whilst Jack brutally murdered him instead of coming to his rescue). Ralph decided that there must be an 'indifferent' option, a happy medium between the two extremities (was that even possible with Jack?)

"I'm Ralph," Something seemed to click in Jack's brain, "You do remember me right?"

"You? You're Ralph?" Jack sounded shocked.

"Well, I wouldn't tell you I was if I wasn't, now would I?" Ralph replied, already sounding exasperated.

"I know that," Jack blushed a little, "I just didn't expect to see you here."

"Well, I didn't expect to see you here either," Ralph was surprised to find that he was the one becoming angry, "What are you doing here anyway?"

Jack looked about ready to reply with a sarcastic remark but thought better of it, instead saying "My sister's in a pantomime at the theatre. We came with her." Ralph presumed the 'we' that Jack referred to was the rest of his family. "So why are you here?"

"Visiting my aunt with my dad."

"What about your mum?"

"She's dead."

"Oh… I …uhm," Jack shifted uncomfortably and looked away, "Sorry."

"Why's it any of your business what I'm doing here anyway?" Ralph snapped.

"Hey! You were the one who asked me first!" Jack looked angry, the scowl back on his face, "And what's with you? You're acting as if you've got PMS or something!"

"I've got PMS? If I remember rightly, you were the one with the bad temper and mood swings, not me!" Ralph shouted.

Jack couldn't seem to find a reply to that, so instead glared at Ralph, so Ralph glared back. Jack seemed to have lost his touch over the four years, because he looked away first, blushing furiously. Ralph glared at him some more, before walking past Jack in the direction he had been going in before he had walked into Jack. It was silly of him, Ralph thought, to think that he and Jack could get along with each other instead of fighting.

"Hey, where are you going?" Came Jack's voice from behind him and Ralph noticed that it lacked any sort of threatening edge.

Ralph stopped and looked over his shoulder at Jack. "I'm going for a walk along the beach." He continued walking.

"Can I come with you?" Jack called out to him.

Ralph stopped again, this time turning round completely to face Jack, a faint frown on his face, sure that Jack was up to something. He was silent for a moment longer, watching Jack, who was biting his lip whilst waiting for the reply.

"Sure." Ralph turned and started walking, hearing Jack's footsteps catch up with him

The walked in silence for some time, their feet knowing where they were going though their minds did not. Ralph soon noticed that Jack kept sneaking glances at him when he thought Ralph wasn't looking. Ralph smiled to himself, deciding that two could play at that game. Once or twice they caught each other looking, which resulted in one of them looking away (and blushing in Jack's case). So they continued walking, glancing, catching and blushing until…

"What?" It was Ralph who had spoken.

"What 'what'?" Jack seemed perplexed.

"You!"

"Me?"

Ralph cursed and Jack grinned.

"What about me?" He asked.

"You keep looking at me then looking away!" Ralph complained.

"And? So are you." Jack retorted.

"That's not the point! Why are you looking at me?"

"You really want an answer?"

"Yes!"

Jack stopped walking and looked at Ralph with that same unreadable look that Ralph had seen only once before.

"Because you haven't asked me about the island yet."

Ralph stopped walking and gave Jack a serious look. He had the impression that this wasn't really what Jack had been looking at him for.

"What about the island?" He asked.

"I'm sorry." Jack said bluntly

"Sorry about what?" Ralph hadn't been expecting the apology, and he knew he was pushing his luck asking Jack what he was sorry for. Yet Jack still replied.

"I'm sorry about what happened on the island. It was out of hand."

Ralph knew that was the understatement of the year, but didn't say anything about it.

"And I – I'm sorry about how I acted. I was out of order too."

At any other point in Ralph's strange relationship with Jack, Ralph wouldn't have believed him, but Jack had an expression of sadness on his face that made Ralph believe him.

"You really hated me back then didn't you?" He said.

Jack looked at his feet and gave a mumbled "Yes".

"Do you hate me now?"

Jack looked back at Ralph, smirking, and replied "Not yet."

Ralph knew that this translated as "No".

"Good, because you know, I don't hate you either."

Jack's smirk became a smile, "So I'm forgiven?" There was an air of confidence in the question, as if Jack already knew the answer.

"Not really" Jack's smile fell from his face. "Well, not completely at least."

The smile returned, though it was fainter.

They continued walking along the beach, but this time they talked and laughed as they went. But it was as they were laughing that a few drops of water fell from the sky, followed by many more. They stopped walking and talking so that all they could hear was the patter of the rain. The sky lit up with lightning and the sound of the rain was drowned out by a rumble of thunder.

Ralph felt something touching his hand and looked down to find another hand lightly holding his. Jack's hand. Ralph looked up sharply to see Jack watching him closely.

"We run?" was the only thing the red-head said, and Ralph nodded in agreement.

Jack tightened his hold on Ralph's hand, and ran back across the beach, pulling Ralph along behind him. Ralph was having trouble to match Jack's speed, and so he stumbled along behind him, his footfalls heavy and loud, whereas Jack's were silent and he moved gracefully, despite the speed he was running at, as if it came naturally to him.

Jack led him along the beach, and up the cobbled slope that Ralph had walked down and along the pavement and across the roads, all the while the rain beat down around them, causing the ground to become speckled, light here and dark there, though it was not long before all the ground was dark.

Ralph was pulled sharply to the side, and the running stopped. He bent double trying to catch his breath. Once caught, he righted himself and noticed that Jack had pulled him into a sheltered side of the pavement, the graffitied wall of a building behind him and in front, the rest of the pavement, unsheltered, and the roads. Beyond that there was the beach and the sea, stretching out as far as he could see.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ralph saw red standing out against the grey, and when he turned to look, he saw that it was Jack sat on a stone bench against the wall, a small smile on his face as he watched Ralph. His eyes looked at the empty space next to him on the bench and back to Ralph, indicating that Ralph should sit down.

So Ralph did so, and he and Jack watched the people going along the pavement. Some of them held umbrellas or had hoods on their coats, and so walked at a more leisurely pace, as opposed to those without coats, who dashed along, looking for somewhere to go to wait for the storm to pass.

And Jack and Ralph waited for the storm to pass also. At times they chatted idly, but the conversation drifted off. This did not bother Ralph much as it gave him a good opportunity to think things over. The 'things' mainly being about Jack. Like how Jack had held his hand as they had run for shelter, and how he had snuck glances at Ralph as they were walking along the beach.

Ralph subtly turned his head towards Jack, to find him watching Ralph intently, a fierce yet distant look in his eyes. Ralph turned away, a little unnerved by the attention Jack was giving him. The last time Jack had given him such attention was when he had been set on killing Ralph.

Ralph shuddered, wondering what Jack was up to.

The storm cleared, and surprisingly enough, when the clouds parted sunshine streamed through. It seemed as if the rest of the day was going to be sunny. However, Jack and Ralph did not move from where they were sat.

"Ralph…" Jack said softly.

"Hmm?" Ralph kept his sight on a spot on the ground, afraid that if he looked at Jack he would find that unnerving, intense look in Jack's eyes.

"Ralph look at me."

But Ralph wouldn't.

Jack sighed quietly and Ralph felt Jack's fingers clasp his chin and turn his head so he was forced to look at Jack.

Ralph's eyes locked with Jack's, and they sat gazing at each other, held in the moment, with no escape. But Ralph noticed that Jack seemed to be getting closer. Was Jack leaning towards Ralph? Or was Ralph leaning towards Jack? It didn't matter though as they found their lips pressed together in a chaste kiss. The kiss ended soon after, and they returned to gazing into each others eyes, once again held in the moment.

The moment broke though, as Jack blinked and looked away, a blush rising in his cheeks. Ralph turned away too, an awful feeling of dread and embarrassment tinged with a secret happiness flowing through his body. His eyes flickered back to Jack, who this time refused to meet them with his own piercing blue eyes.

It was just a chance meeting really, a coincidence. One of those 'same place, same time' incidents. It wasn't one of those 'it's your destiny' stories. It was just a chance meeting between Ralph and Jack.

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And so, it is finished! I hope you liked it, as it caused me much pain to write this (I wrote it first by hand whilst laid on the floor. I ended up getting back ache for the whole of the day and the day after.) I sort of left it on a cliffhanger for you to decide what happens next to Ralph and Jack. Do they get together? Or do they not see each other again? It's all for you to decide for yourself! As for the whole 'a chance meeting' thing. I figured that some chance meetings can lead to a big change, yet some are left as a 'one-off' meeting.

But anyway, like always, flames, praise, and any other relevant kind of review are welcome, and if you spot something wrong, or I've spelt something wrong or whatever, just say what it is in a review and I'll clear it up. And thanks to marth-sama, Simon'sBabe and fairy-wannabe for reviewing the previous chapter and encouraging me to keep writing this! Your reviews made me smile and cheered me up lots

Disclaimer: I do not own Jack or Ralph or Lord of the Flies.

Oh, and Merry Christmas to you all!

EDIT: I've gone through it again and checked for misplaced words etc. Should be fine now