Re: [Bar: Jack & Patrick]
[Wilful blindness. It was undoubtedly necessary if you wanted to go on surviving a small town you'd grown up in where they had a view on your every move and poor decision. But it was beside the point. Patrick looked at him and Jack saw the concern - which he would have taken entirely as it was, a young man severally fucked over by various circumstances drawing together, had he not also the remark on how much his brother was like a deplorable reprobate that appeared to trouble Newt more than whatever had happened the previous evening - and he laughed when Patrick said he'd respect his opinion.]
Christ, you'd be the first. Mine is rarely solicited, Patrick. I don't think it's anything that can be handled. Newt's a grown man. [Thirty, actually. Which was grown compared to the boy who'd downed two shots of whiskey faster than Jack had but Jack had been drunk in bars often enough to know the benefit of the doubt might go some way here.] He'll come to me if he wants my help and he'll ask for yours, I imagine.
[But Destiny. Jack listened and he liked her less for what it was worth. It was a lot to put onto the shoulders of any man and this one looked so utterly miserable at this point in time, he wondered what in god's name had got into her. If she couldn't work, he had a vague idea social security stepped in and he rubbed his temples with his fingers and sighed at the notion Newt had already begun on something.]
It seems rather ridiculous to do it the day after a party. If she can't work, she hasn't worked for however long she hasn't worked for, why the bloody hell you need to sort it out hungover and looking like something one of those parties scraped on the side of the plate, I don't know. But if he's gone, then he's gone. Can he not handle it solo? Or at least, put it off in person as opposed to be bound and determined to go on and deal with something that sounds horribly difficult when you're least equipped to deal with it?
[Adrian. Yes, Jack presumed the man was. He had some sympathy with Adrian. Not a terribly large amount but some.] Yes, he probably is. And it'll probably hurt for some time that he isn't returned in affections, but unfortunately it's simply not the case that love is reciprocated every time you feel it. But that's another thing.
[He turned on the bar-stool.] Patrick, don't take this the wrong bloody way. But if you're going to talk to your brother, to your ex-girlfriend, do it when you've got the mental fortitude to do it well, or you'll wind up putting the other fist into a wall. They're both going to feel what they feel, whether you do it now or you do it after some sleep.