Jacklyn Baker (called_jack) wrote in the_colony, @ 2009-12-05 19:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 01, jacklyn baker, jed bailey, john james searle, |* jed/jack/searle |
Week One, Monday
Characters: Jack Baker, John Searle and Jed Bailey
Location: The hotel they're all living in
Summary: Jack suggests to Searle that they sample from the minibar; Jed is not impressed
Rating: PG for very much underaged drinking and angry Texans
Hiding Searle had been easy, just as Jack had expected it to be. It was really big hotel. Sure, Jed had wondered what she was doing when she wandered the hotel alone but when she lied and said that she had picked a room for herself to hang out in when she wanted to be alone, he'd believed her. Something about not intruding on her privacy or whatever. Instead, she'd gotten Searle all set up. The same lie had even worked on him. Jack refused to tell him which room was hers because it would intrude on her girlie privacy. Boys were kind of dumb sometimes.
Especially Jed. Jed was really dumb. He'd managed to scavenger a pack of beer and when she asked to try a sip, he'd laughed at her. Like she was a little kid. Jack just wanted to see what it tasted like; she was betting it wasn't even that great anyways. But it wasn't like she even needed his permission. She could do what she wanted. If she wanted to see what the big deal about drinking was, she would. Jack knocked on Searle's door and inside the bag she was holding with her free hand, something clinked.
The hotel room Jack had assigned him was more than he could have ever imagined before seeing it, and it definitely beat out everywhere else he'd lurked around in Las Vegas - even if living in a mall was kind of fun.
Jack was refusing to tell him where she stayed, and at first that unsettled him because he thought about the girl in New York City and how she didn't want him in her room (which turned out to be for a very disturbing reason), but when Jack told him the room was for 'girlie privacy' he just didn't even think twice about it. Whatever girlie privacy was to a pre-teen could stay behind Jack's closed door without him knowing about it. Of course he believed her ... boys were dumb, or at least he was.
Lounging in the room was fun, and he was enjoying it at the moment he heard a knock on his door. Since Jack was the only living person he'd seen in quite some time he assumed (rightly) it was her, and rolled off of the couch without hesitation so he could answer the door less than a minute after she'd knocked. When he saw her, he smiled. "What's up?" Then his eyes found the bag she was holding. "What's that?"
Jack grinned up at him. "Drinks! Look!" She opened the bag, showing him the assortment of mini-bar bottles she'd raided from other rooms. "You ever had a drink before?" she asked, walking in to Searle's room.
Searle couldn't hide his surprise, because alcohol was one of the last things he expected from Jack. However, he wasn't disappointed. After Jack walked into the room he shut the door and followed her to wherever it was she wanted to settle down. "One time my dad let me have a sip of his beer, but that's it." Alcohol had interested him before the H1N1 catastrophe, but not enough for him to drink it with his peers since his group of friends wasn't really into that scene. The present held different circumstances, though, and he had nowhere to be. Besides, he told himself, he wouldn't drink to get drunk.
That wasn't fair for Searle to have gotten to try beer and she didn't, Jack though with a frown. She sat down on the couch, unloading little bottles out onto the coffee table. "I haven't. I'm too young," she said with a hint of bitterness. "But grownups do it all the time, how bad can it be? Not like there's anyone to get us in trouble." Well, there was Jed, but he didn't count. She picked up a bottle of what she guessed was rum. "Dare me?" she grinned.
"Maybe you were," he agreed, looking thoughtful for only a moment before he moved on to better things: i.e. looking at all of the alcohol Jack was placing on the tabletop. Searle pulled a bottle of vodka closer, tilting the bottle away from him so he could look into the clear liquid. Jack's logic was sound to him; there was no one who could do anything to them, and the bottles they had were small. They probably couldn't get into much trouble with just them.
"Double dare," he said, grinning broadly, removing the cap from his own bottle. "You think you can finish that bottle before I finish mine?"
**
Jack didn't exactly know why she wanted to stand up, she just felt like she should be moving. "You know," she told Searle, tottering to her feet, "I don't think I feel any different." Her speech, what she imagined to be slow and careful, ended with a giggle. She'd had two of the little minibar bottles and a swallow of a third and it was fine. "I don't see what the deal big - I mean what the big deal is. Except that the little bottles are fun. And cute! Aren't they sooo cute? Everything should come teeny-tiny. Like this." She held out her arm, measuring a distance between her thumb and index finger to show how small things should be. Jack titled her head, trying to look at Searle through the tiny space between her fingers.
After Searle rolled his third empty bottle across the table, he lifted his hands to touch his lips gingerly, even puckering them as he poked at them. "My lips feel numb," he said slowly, very much off in his own little world as Jack got up from her seat. Only when Jack mentioned the cuteness of the bottles did Searle look up, and he pulled a face as if he thought she was crazy a moment later.
"How could stuff come that small? Everything? Then no one could ride on anything." The last sentence was said matter-of-factly, with Searle tilting his head back at Jack like come on, you know better, and he was completely serious. "That's dumb," he added, just for good measure.
"Your hair is dumb!" Jack shot back. It seemed like a good insult at the time. "Not stuff you ride on, obsivally. Not like my skateboard. I read a book once about mouse who rode a motorcycle. Then it would be okay to be small. His name was Ralph. Ralph. But you could have like teeny tiny little boxes. Like mini juice boxes only better. And stuff like that! Juss shows how much you know, Sil. A Ralph mouse isn't dumb."
"No," was all Searle said to Jack saying his hair was dumb, and he frowned.
But when Jack began to tell him about Ralph the mouse, Searle suddenly became interested. "Doesn't Ralph live in a hotel like us?" He didn't know how many mouses named Ralph who rode motorcycles there were out there, but the one he knew definitely lived in a hotel. "Fine," he amended, "but these bottles are way, way ... too big ... for a mouse." Searle spoke with pauses between his words as he tried to find the right things to say, his eyes wider than normal because he was making a point.
Jack scrunched her nose up while Searle was talking. It felt weird. Her face felt weird. She wondered why that was. It was like she could feel her whole face move. Searle was making a funny face and she giggled again. "But not for a cat!" she laughed. Eager to move again, Jack tried to back away from where Searle was sitting. She was holding up her hand in the gesture for tiny again, trying to see how far back she had to go towards the door until it looked like she could squish his head between her fingers. Jack had seen that on TV once.
"Got you!" she cried, Searle's head vanishing beneath her fingers as she took another step back. But her foot caught on the carpet and she stumbled, falling back onto the floor and roaring with laughter.
"How would a cat even pick it up?" he mused, distracted for just enough time for Jack to back away from the table unnoticed by him. Just when Searle was about to reach for one of the couple remaining bottles containing liquid, Jack yelled that she got him. Had Jack actually been ready to pounce him he would have been captured easily, because his reaction was delayed. He tensed up and ducked his head a little, but nothing descended on him after all. Instead, he heard Jack falling over across the room.
When he saw her on the ground laughing, Searle couldn't help but laugh as well. Abandoning the bottle, he pushed his hands against the top of the table and helped himself get up, feeling suddenly unsteady. It surprised him, but he was able to stumble over to Jack without incident, still laughing. "You got yourself," he chuckled, reaching down so she could take his hands.
Jack did take Searle's hands but instead of letting him help pull her to her feet, she yanked on his arms to try and send him to the ground. "Payback for the pool!" she crowed.
Searle was doomed the moment Jack put any weight on his hands. For some reason, even though he was aiming to pick her up, he wasn't prepared for her to be the least bit heavy - and of course since she yanked him he was a goner. He fell, using his elbow to catch him (which didn't hurt since he was drunk, but it would later), and rolled onto his back beside her. "At least I'm not a slime monster like you were!" he half-yelled, laughing at the same time.
It was the laughter that made it easy for Jed to find Jack's room. While he'd taken to Alice's advice to let Jack go out on her own plenty, night had fallen and for the first time, Jack wasn't back at the room for dinner. So he had to check the floor she went to, just to be sure; as long as she was inside and safe, no problem, though he'd probably set a rule that she had to check in with him whenever she got back. The moment he heard her laughter, he set to turn back to the stairwell and leave her be to do whatever the hell she was doing. But then there was another laugh. A laugh that didn't sound so young. A laugh that didn't sound like a girl.
The door was slightly ajar, so when Jed shoved it, it flew open, smacking into the wall. He didn't notice. What he saw instead was Jack, on the floor, with a strange boy. He didn't even pause to digest this fact, storming over, grabbing the kid by the front of his shirt and yanking him to his feet, away from Jack.
"What the hell is going on?! Who are you?!"
One moment he was in a state that was somewhat blissful, drunk and lying comfortably, having fun, and what felt like the next he was being yanked upward very roughly. Searle had heard the door bang open, and he had reacted, but belatedly and not until the strange man (a man older than he was, he noticed) was closer to him than he would have liked. His first instinct was to up and run, but he couldn't escape.
Because he was so uncoordinated, the fabric of his shirt stretched taut as his weight pulled on it. He actually had to steady himself by grabbing hold of Jed's wrist with both of his hands, and only then was he able to find proper balance on the floor. The quick movement made it hard for him to get his bearings, but soon he was blinking up at Jed's face in confusion and, promptly, fear.
"Hold on, hold on!" was all he could say because in his fright he actually had forgotten his own name. Being drunk and terrified wasn't a good combination - Jed had definitely caught him off his guard.
Jed didn't so much hear Searle's words as smell the alcohol thick on his breath. A look towards Jack, who was struggling just to stand up, made a growl rise in his throat. In two quick steps, he shoved the kid against the wall, holding him so his toes barely touched the ground.
"You little shit, if you so much as touched her, you ain't walkin' out of here!" Jed snapped, the pressure of his grip ensuring the truth behind his threat.
Jack was mumbling to herself, trying to encourage herself that she could stand up. On her third try, she managed it. "No!" she yelled at Jed, voice echoing over-loud in her ears. She tottered over to where Jed was holding Searle as fast as she could manage without falling again, hands splayed wide for balance. "He's my friend!" Jack tried to tug on Jed's arm, more hanging on him than actually pulling.
It would have been easy for Jed to push Searle, and he gripped Jed's wrist more tightly as he ended up being lifted so far off the ground he couldn't really hold his own weight on the tippy-toes of his boots. Jed was accusing him of something he didn't understand after the few drinks he had, and when he heard Jack's voice that's what he focused on long enough to hear her protest and call him her friend.
"Yeah! We're friends!" he yelled back at Jed, clearly panicked. Searle would look back on this and feel embarrassed, but for the moment he wasn't thinking too much about anything other than surviving. "We're sorry about drinking, we didn't think it was against the law anymore!"
It was Jack's weight that caught Jed's attention, and her words ebbed the rise of his anger. He eased off of Searle enough that he could get his feet on the ground, releasing the shirt with one hand so he could hold the unsteady Jack. Still, he didn't let go just yet.
"That what you told her, you're her friend?" Jed said lowly, leaning in close. "When you brought her booze and got her so drunk she can't even stand, that was 'cause you're friends? Jesus, Jack!" His focus turned to the girl, his arm tightening the hug he had her in. "You know better'n to trust any damn stranger that comes by."
Jack clung to Jed; not only was his support making standing it easier but it just felt good to be hugged. "It's not Sur's fault," she confessed guiltily. "It was my idea."
When Searle's feet touched the ground he was suddenly able to think a little more clearly. The first thing he realized was that Jed wasn't some random stranger, he knew Jack. That knowledge calmed him just a little. Not in a physical sense since his eyes were still wide and his heart beat faster than it probably ever had before (which made him feel dizzied), but he knew that this guy wasn't crazy - he was concerned, and Searle would rather deal with someone who was sane and angry than insane and angry.
"We didn't drink a lot," he said, his voice quieter than before, and he didn't think he was lying. Three small bottles didn't seem like very much. "I'm from Vermont." How abrupt that subject change was Searle didn't realize. "I came all the way here to see the dam - the Hoover - and Jack is my friend, and there's no police, and Jack was going like this...." Searle removed his hands from Jed's wrist in order to show Jed how Jack was spreading her fingers to see if she could squish his head before. "So we fell down."
Jed's scowl turned confused at Jack's words, though Searle helped clear things up a little bit. Jed spoke drunk, so he could follow the small thread of logic behind the story, at least well enough that he finally let go of Searle's shirt.
"How long have you been friends?" he said to Jack, a little sharper than he meant to. "How long's he been here?"
Jack frowned a little and looked up at Jed, wide-eyed. "I don't know." That was true; time was hard to keep track of now. First her mom had died and then her dad had died and then Jed came and then Searle came. "Weeks?" That sounded about right. "We were at the mall and Rocky found him and he had a motorcyle but he sucks skateboarding," Jack explained, slurring her s's.
"Weeks?" Jed snapped. He pulled back from Jack, grabbing her shoulders. "You had this kid in our hotel for weeks? Why the hell didn't you tell me?"
"I don't know!" Her lip trembled. Jed was mad at her and she was upset now and starting to not feel good. "And he hasn't been here here for weeks, that's new."
Searle could have asked Jack a similar question: why hadn't she told him about Jed? But that would probably come later. For the time being, he merely leaned against the wall Jed had pushed him into and watched the other two interact until he felt he had something to say.
"We're the only ones here. Right? We shouldn't fight, it's bad." Normally Searle wasn't confrontational, and that didn't change much even after drinking.
"Stay out of this, kid," Jed said, only looking away from Jack long enough to shook Searle a glare. It didn't matter that Jack was upset; this was more important than a few tears. "Jack, you don't ever keep somethin' like this from me, alright? That's not how this works; you tell me when you find someone, always, so I can take care of it. This guy could've been some real punkass kid, still could be! You ain't allowed to be alone with no one I don't know, you hear?"
"Okay." Jack's eyes burned and she blinked back tears. It had been a long time since she'd been yelled at or made to feel like she was in trouble and she didn't like it. Besides, it wasn't fair. She could take care of herself and Searle was okay. Jed was definitely scarier than Searle was.
Maybe had Searle still felt threatened, or he felt Jack was being threatened, he wouldn't have given up. However, Jack was ready to obey Jed and it was clear Jed was only looking out for Jack's best interests, even if Searle felt he wasn't a threat. His head felt too cloudy to puzzle through it even more, so he just let Jed have his way.
"I'm not bad," was what he said, at length, in order to attempt to make Jed like him. "I'm Searle."
Jed raised his eyebrows at the kid. "Alright then, Searle. You an' me are gonna stay here an' have a talk. Jack, you go on upstairs, eat some spam or somethin', alright?"
Once Jack left the area, Searle averted his eyes from where Jack had been and looked up at Jed. Nerves made him stomach feel unhappy, but it was easy to stand against the wall in preparation to talk. Part of him thought about running, exactly as he had in New York (although those circumstances had been a bit more unsettling and dire), but his legs felt heavy so he stayed put.
The kid didn't look quite as bad as Jack, but he still was clearly drunk. "Go on and sit on the couch," Jed said, waving him on. "I'm gonna grab you some water."
Jed's sudden (to Searle anyway) kindness surprised him, but once Jed gave him permission to go sit down without fear of angering him he wasn't about to refuse. During such circumstances were he sober he likely would have felt more secure standing up, but for now all he wanted to do was take a load off. So he did, going over to sit on the couch and wait for water. To be honest he didn't really want any water at that exact moment, but he wasn't about to say so.
Bringing the glasses over, Jed set one in front of Searle before sitting on the armchair across from him. "Drink it, and get talkin'," he said bluntly. "What you doin' hangin' out with a twelve-year-old girl?"
Searle brought the glass to his lips as soon as it was delivered to him, but then he pulled it away before drinking to say "Thanks." Then he looked into the clear water for a few moments in thought.
"I thought she was the only one here. I haven't seen anyone in, like ... a million years - or more," he added, just for good measure. "It's fun, she's fun; we have fun."
Jed leaned forward on his elbows, studying Searle. He sounded innocent enough, looked pretty young, but when it came to teenage boys, that could be deceiving. "What kind of fun?"
Call him dense, but Searle hadn't caught on to Jed's suspicions yet. Searle had the feeling Jed was concerned about them doing illegal things, and well, they had. Feeling guilty, he kept his eyes down. "... I let Jack ride my dirt bike," he admitted, not one to lie. "And we skateboarded." Being the latter wasn't illegal, Searle said that with more confidence. "I...." Again, he became reluctant to speak. "I ... pushed her in a pool." At this point, Searle's head was hanging. Before Jed, he hadn't felt bad about any of it, but to him, at least at the moment, Jed symbolized what was adult, mature and right. Searle didn't feel any of those things.
Jed tensed up at Searle's guilty body language, but at his admission, he nearly laughed. Outwardly, his mouth twitched, but he kept his expression serious. "Alright. That's not too bad. But you guys gotta be careful. We don't got any doctors around to patch you up." Taking a sip, Jed asked, "So why the drinking?"
When Jed didn't become angry at him, Searle met his eyes briefly, then drank some water. "We just wanted to know. The bottles are so small, like for a cat," he said, referencing something he and Jack had spoken about, "so I didn't think I'd get drunk. I guess I'm kinda drunk. A little. I feel weird.
"'Cause it's like, boring here. Jack's the only person I got, and ... there's no one." Searle's eyebrows drew together.
The smile that had been slowly pushing its way to the surface died away, Jed's stomach sinking. This kid had been out there, all on his own, and just wanted a friend. And the first thing Jed had done was threaten him.
"There's me," he said, for the first time actually sounding kind. "An' there's my...there's Alice. She kinda sticks to herself, but she's nice. And there's gonna be more people, Searle. If we made it, someone else did, too."
Once Jed mentioned Alice, another person he didn't know, Searle looked surprised. In that moment, Searle believed whole-heartedly that there would be more, if already there were four people in Las Vegas. Later it would make him wonder if there were more people in New York who had just been in hiding, but for now he was filled with optimism.
Searle smiled at Jed easily, despite how Jed had approached him before, then laughed as he flopped back so his head could rest against the back of the couch. "Wow, I'm glad I came out here."
As he relaxed, his hands did also around his glass of water, and it tipped over enough to spill on him. "Shit," he said, sitting upright, perhaps more calmly than he would have had he been sober. Not all of the water escaped the glass, but he still had a sizable wet spot on his shirt and jeans. As he examined it, he said "That was water," just in case Jed didn't know that somehow, "I'm not that drunk."
Jed smiled this time, shaking his head. "I believe you. C'mon, we should get you upstairs, get some food in you." He stood up, offering Searle his hand.
Slowly, Searle nodded, and held the glass of water in one hand as he took Jed's with the other. He used Jed's grip to help him up, but let go of it after he was on his feet in order to brush his hand against the wet spot on his shirt. "I'm dying for steak," he said, as if that would be enough for Jed to magically have that cooking upstairs.
"Yeah, haven't found any steak in a can yet," Jed said with a grin. "Got spam, though."
When they got to the room, Jed had expected to smell something cooking or at least see some bread out on the table. Instead, Jack was just sitting on the couch, Rocky lying down at her feet. Rocky got up to greet them, but Jack didn't move. Jed felt a twinge of irritation, particularly since Rocky greeted Searle as enthusiastically as him. Apparently the dog knew him plenty well.
"Jack, what are you doin'? I told you to eat somethin'."
It had taken Jack longer than usual to get back up to her and Jed's room. Walking hadn't gotten easier in the time it had taken Jed to be mean to Searle. She didn't know why Jed had told her to eat. She felt awful and eating was the last thing she wanted to do. Jack had only managed to get to the couch without being knocked over by Rocky and there she stayed.
"I don't want to. I don't feel good."
Jed's information was, while expected, nonetheless disappointing. And unlike Jack, though he didn't know it, he decidedly did want some food.
When Rocky came up to him, Searle pet him on the head with his free hand, just then realizing he'd carried the half-full glass of water Jed had given him all the way upstairs. Without noticing Jed's irritation, Searle looked past Rocky to see Jack lying on the couch. Since Jed had nearly pummeled him before over being close to Jack, if he'd been sober he would have been more careful, but not thinking about it he left Jed's side and went over to Jack.
"Maybe water would help," he offered, holding out the glass.
"Water would help, and so would food," Jed said pointedly as he headed for the kitchen area. "I'm gonna cook somethin' up, and yer gonna have to eat it whether you want to or not. That's what you get for bein' dumb enough to drink on yer own."
"I don't wanna," Jack protested, angry at Jed for thinking he could make her. He couldn't make her do anything. Especially not eat when she felt so suddenly sick. Standing up, she brushed past Searle to make it to the bathroom as fast as she could without feeling like she was going to fall over.
Jed was after her like a shot, his stomach twisting with guilt. Alright, apparently Jack was even worse off than he thought. Now was not the time for chiding her. "Bring the water, Searle," he said, trying his best to hold the hair out of Jack's face, though it was hard since it was so short.
At first Searle had no idea why Jack got up and ran away from him, but when he realized what she needed to in the bathroom he understood. As Jed requested, Searle followed the pair into the bathroom with his water, making a face at the scene. "Urgh," he quietly said, not stepping in to help because Jed had it covered, though he would hand over the water whenever it was needed.
"I guess this is why you're too young to drink," he told Jack ... even though she was a little too busy to answer him back at the moment.
Jack sipped the water, if only to get the bad taste out of her mouth. "Can I go to bed now?" she asked, looking up at Jed miserably.
"Yeah, darlin'," he said, patting down her hair. "You gotta get some water in you, though, alright? Let's take it to yer room." He took the glass from her, his other hand grabbing gently under her arm to pull her to her feet.