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like_a_shot 2010-11-25 06:11 am UTC (link)

A woman let herself in, weighed down by two masculine leather suitcases. With her hip she bumped the door closed, turned around, and then needed about a minute to comprehend the mess she did not expect to come home to. Mess, and the smell. She walked through the living room - her living room, in the place she had paid half of the rent on in her absent two months - with all the gingerness of a zombie holocaust survivor navigating a decimated cityscape. But she did it in utter silence. Jay was never a girl who made a lot of noise, at least not until it mattered. She got herself on the other side of the kitchen island, her chin lifted as she watched him. "So," she announced, just as he got another mouthful of drank in his face. Jay crossed her arms, even with her bags still in hand. Her thoughts immediately went back to their last Twitter exchange. "This is what 'doing good' looks like, Jack?" (Reply to this) (Thread)

whiskey_jack 2010-11-25 06:39 am UTC (link)

Jack's reaction was nothing short of comedy gold. He simultaneously convulsed in surprise, inhaled his mimosa, snorted it back into the glass, and inhaled it again. Coughing violently, he set the glass on the counter and leaned against the wall, pounding his chest to help get the liquid out of his lungs. "WHAT THE FUCK," he half-sputtered, half-wheezed -- then he saw who it was. Oh shit... "Oh, hey, Jay!" he managed once he caught his breath. "I didn't know you'd be back today. I would have straightened the place up a bit..." Running a hand over his face and back through his hair, he shot her his most apologetic smile. Maybe she wouldn't kill him. Maybe. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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like_a_shot 2010-11-25 06:50 am UTC (link)

The unfortunate thing was that Jack's warmest smiles, the ones that broke apart glaciers, only produced the merest effect on Jay. She narrowed her eyes at him. "The room isn't the only thing needs a straightening out," she all but threatened. Jay lifted one of her suitcases and forcibly made space for it on the island, jostling a number of the bottles towards Jack. None of them made a crash to the floor, miraculously. Jay set her elbows on the case, tapped her knuckles on the surface. "You look like a major fuck-up." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whiskey_jack 2010-11-25 07:07 am UTC (link)

Jack met her gaze briefly. "Thanks. Good seeing you, too," he quipped, then sighed. "Yeah, you know, I know what I twitted at you made everything sound just rosy." He pushed both hands through his hair and looked at his feet. "And it has been, for the most part. Just... ghosts of old friends past," he said with a soft, wry snort. He finally looked back up at her and shrugged. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to go into more detail on Twitter. Couldn't. You know how I like to blab. 140 characters sometimes just isn't enough." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	like_a_shot 2010-12-02 05:43 am UTC (link)
	"Old ghosts have nothing against the devil herself." Yet something in Jay's eyes didn't seem as fierce as a minute ago. She leaned forward against the counter and set her chin on an upturned palm. "What is it? Is someone from your family giving you shit?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whiskey_jack 2010-12-02 08:55 pm UTC (link)

"My family?" Jack snorted. He went to the sink to clean the rest of the mimosa off his chest. "Last time I heard from any of them, it was my mom stoned-dialing me after seeing that damn jeans commercial," he sneered over the running water. "She was happy I finally got tattoos and surprised I was wearing underwear." Grabbing a towel, he turned back to Jay. "No, it's... more complicated," he sighed. "Long story short, that girl I got fired from Disney over lives here. We... talked, after she wished me dead, and things are better. I think. Or were." He rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. "When you're supposedly close friends with someone, you tell them when you're going out of town for the holiday, right? You don't just tell certain friends." His eyes met hers, the hurt plain in them. "Am I right?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	like_a_shot 2010-12-08 02:38 am UTC (link)
	"I don't think you are, girlfriend," Jay said. She tapped her fingers against the side of her jaw. "Do I have this right? After only two months, you think the girl you got fired is now close friends with you? You think she'd really trust you like that, want to be all loose and sharing again, after what happened?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whiskey_jack 2010-12-10 05:51 pm UTC (link)

Taken aback by the question, Jack's expression went from hurt to wounded. His first instinct was to snap back at her with something like You don't even know what happened or At least she still has a job there, even if she's not a princess any longer or It was a stupid fucking mistake, why does everyone think it's my fault. But as her words penetrated through the cotton-wool in his head, any possible retort died before it reached his tongue. "...No, you're... you're right." He scrubbed his face with his hands, then ran them back through his hair. "Shit. Dammit, I fucked up again. I'm an idiot. She's right, you're right, I'm a total fucking asshole." Throwing his hands down in disgust, he turned to the collection of liquor bottles on the counter and started pawing through them. "I need a drink." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

like_a_shot 2010-12-13 09:33 pm UTC (link)

"I never said you were an asshole," Jay forcefully said. "You're just not right." Jay left all of her stuff and marched over to where Jack was mauling through empty booze bottless. She reached over and planted her hand on the counter near Jack's left hip, her arm diagonally cutting him off from the bottles. She wasn't at the right angle to totally stop him, but it'd have to do. "Now ease up, Jackrabbit. You said you're sorry to her, right?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whiskey_jack 2010-12-14 09:36 pm UTC (link)

Jay's one-woman barricade might not have been physically adequate, but it was psychologically more than enough to keep Jack from grabbing the first available bottle, even though he could easily reach around/over her. "About a million times and in every possible way I could think of," he answered, blinking down at her. Her familiar nickname for him reminded him just how much he depended on his friend's stability. It was good to have her home. With a sigh, he leaned back against the other counter, looking completely miserable. "I really don't know what more Kami wants from me, Jay. I really don't." He shrugged pathetically. "Flowers?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

like_a_shot 2010-12-15 05:48 am UTC (link)

Her face screwed up like she just ate one of his tequila limes. It gave her answer to Jack's question better than any words could. "Might not be anything you can give her, Jack, not exactly. She might just need some time." She turned around, putting her back to the bottles as a more solid barricade between them and her friend. "If she wants something from you, she'll come and get it. And she might. You're a good guy, fuck-ups and all." "Now, tell me something." Jay leaned back, now mirroring Jack's slouch against his counter. The difference was, Jay let a rare smile creep over her lips. "What makes you so hot about this girl?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whiskey_jack 2010-12-17 09:30 pm UTC (link)

"I... I don't know," Jack shrugged. Of course he actually did know, or at least suspected what it was: that Kami made him FEEL. The intensity of emotion he felt when he was around her was better than anything he'd ever managed to get from booze or drugs or any of the other excesses he subjected himself to in order to get that sense of passion he couldn't manage on his own. It was so intense that he was now drinking to numb it down, and he gave a small chuckle at that. Oh, the irony. He wasn't quite prepared to share all of that with Jay, though. Not yet. He hoped he was a good enough actor that she would believe his untruth, at least for the time being. "I really don't know," he repeated. "She's... I just like her a lot. She's a really good friend, and we have a lot in common. We were pretty close when I was at Disney." He shrugged again. "I guess I'm just really fond of her. Not girlfriend fond," he added, with a wide-eyed shake of his head. "Just... she's special. You'll get it when you meet her." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	like_a_shot 2011-01-07 06:34 am UTC (link)
	"She so special that you'd trash the place, but she's still not girlfriend fond?" Jay seemed to roll along with Jack's explanations easily enough, though there was a sly shine in her eye yet. She cast her look over the whirlwind mess of their kitchen. "She must be a firecracker. Good to know she is on the market." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whiskey_jack 2011-01-11 09:07 pm UTC (link)

Jack nodded with a small smile, happy that the pressure was off him a bit. "She is. And... yeah, she's on the market." Couldn't let Shae have all the fun, now, could he? For all he knew, Kami might swing that way too. He shook his head; there was a lot he didn't know about her after all. He caught Jay's gaze and his smile widened, warm and genuine. "God dammit, Jaybird, I'm glad you're back," he said, spreading his arms wide. He needed a hug from a friend. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

like_a_shot 2011-01-16 02:32 am UTC (link)

Her smile went crooked then, the suggestion in his open arms throwing her far out of her ordinary comfort zone. But she looked at his face, and Jay rallied herself and gave him a man-hug, one arm around him, until her fist thumped against his back. "Now, if you tell anyone this I'll kill you and ruin your name publicly," she said, "but it's Thanksgiving, and all I can think about is fried chicken." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whiskey_jack 2011-01-17 02:01 am UTC (link)

Laughing, Jack returned the brotherly back-thumping. "Your secret is safe with me. We'll hit Porky's -- you want fried chicken, we'll get the best." He disengaged himself from Jay and plucked at his stained and smelly wife-beater. "Guess I should go change, huh? And maybe shower." He caught the passing look of revulsion on her face and laughed again. Yeah, a shower was definitely in order. It wouldn't do to put Jay off her fried chicken with a funk that would make a hobo's eyes burn. She put up with a lot of shit from him over the years -- as much as Shae had, if not more. She was also harder on him than Shae ever was. Not that he minded. He needed it sometimes, didn't he? "I'll even shave for you, how's that?" he teased as he headed for the bathroom. He could just imagine the look on her face at that remark. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	like_a_shot 2011-01-17 04:05 am UTC (link)
	"Luckiest girl in the world," she called back, her voice steely with sarcasm, "I even get to clean your monkey hair out of the drain now." There was the sound of her picking up her bags and huffing out other remarks, but it all meant the same thing. All was right again between them. (Reply to this) (Parent)