Saving Elliot ©2015 Sydney Wray

Chapter 19-Jaxx Revealed

"I can't go out." I moaned into my pillow.

I heard Jaxx sigh and pick up Hailey's letter on the ground. "Prim, come on."

"No."

"Prim."

"No."

She sighed again. "Did Hailey give you this?"

"The letter?" I asked.

She mumbled a yes, so I guessed she was busy reading the bullots.

It was quiet for a moment.

"Elliot?" She asked, a growing smile in her voice.

"Mm?"

"Come with me."

The lunatic had brought me to a bar. A bar. Like, one with alcohol. And beer. Well I suppose beer and alcohol were the same thing.

"We're going to have fun tonight." She grinned, putting her hands on her hips and surveying our surroundings.

In the corner, there was a karaoke stage set up with drunk singers who were currently belting out a song from Britney Spears.

I winced as their high note nearly pieced my eardrums.

Guys my age played beer pong in the corner, hooting whenever the stupid ping pong ball would land in the cup.

Eveything seemed stupid recently. The palm trees seemed stupid. The sand seemed stupid. Even beer seemed stupid as I cringed at the drunks around me.

I leaned close to Jaxx's ear so she could hear me over the belted kareoke. "There's no way I'm drinking."

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Give me another one, Junky." I yelled to the blonde bartender, who huffed at me for nearly the fourth time tonight. Or maybe it was the fifth. I just couldn't seem to remember how to count. But one thing was sure; a certain blonde was out of my mind and the beer left it clear of any worries. I felt amazing; I felt elated; I felt like I was floating on clouds without a worry in the world.

"My name's Jenny." She rolled her green eyes outlined in black eyeliner, taking my glass and filling it up again.

Jaxx giggled beside me. "Junky. That's a funny name."

"Hey," I waved a finger at her, "So is Jaxx."

My words came out slurred, but I only found it funnier.

Jaxx gulped down the last bit, looking at me with lazy eyes. "You know, my real name isn't Jaxx."

"Oh yeah?" I slurred, and started to laugh as I gulped down my refill. "What is it?'

She puckered her lips. "You'll make fun of me."

I crossed my heart with one finger. "Scouts honor."

"You were a Boy Scout?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

We burst into laughter.

"What's your real name?" I demanded

She leaned closer. "Promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Yes, sir." I saluted, then frowned. "I mean ma'am."

We laughed together again.

She was serious now. "Okay. I'll tell you."

I waited. And waited. And waited.

"Ready?" She asked.

I nodded furiously.

"Are you ready?" She repeated.

"Yes, dammit!"

"Okay, okay." She laughed. "It's Delores."

I stared at her.

"Well?"

"That's a nice name." I solemnly said.

"Are you lying?"

I nodded. "Completely."

We burst into another fit of laughter, until her eyes lit up. "Karaoke?"

I frowned, turning my head a fraction and trying to concentrate on the mini stage. I realized that when I was drunk, my attention span shortened considerably.

I nodded.

Jaxx hopped off, swayed a bit after losing her footing, then skipped to the unoccupied stage.

"What song?" She squealed when I reached her.

"Something with funk!" I yelled back, grabbing a mic and receiving yells from the growing crowd of fellow-drunken strangers.

I watched her tap a screen, and Up Town Funk by Bruno Mars began to blast through the speaker.

We grinned at eachother, and I threw my arm around Jaxx as we started to belt out the words.

After the song ended, I was heaving from laughing uncontrollably while trying to sing the lyrics.

"Nice song, man!" A guy my height clapped me on the shoulder when I stepped off the stage. He handed me a slip of paper with a wink, "Call me.

Wow! A friend! My first guy-friend!

Jaxx stepped off the stage and peered at the slip of paper with a scrawled phone number.

"Jaxx, look." I slurred.

"Oo, who's the girl?" She asked loudly, looking around.

"No, that guy handed it to me," I said, pointing to him in the corner, "Think he wants to be friends?"

She squinted her eyes. "I think he wants to be more than a friend."

"What do you mean?"

Jaxx shook her head, clapping me on the shoulder. "I think it's time for another beer."

I nodded, and let her lead me to the bar where more people were gathering. My watch read one twenty three. In the morning! I wonder if my father would notice. Probably not.

After three more beers, officially equaling it to a total of five beers, I was more drunk than Jaxx.

"Oh!" She suddenly jumped, fumbling with some sort of paper in her pack pocket.

Jaxx asked Junky-or Jenny, whatever her name was, for a pen and clicked the top of it.

She crossed a line through one and folded it back up.

"What was that fawr." I was starting to pronounce things weirdly. My tongue didn't feel like mine.

She took a gulp of her beer. "One said get drunk. I think we got drunk, wouldn't you think?"

She clinked bottles with me.