I hated coming to this guys house. He's either drunk or smoking, and it's been a lot worse this past month. I was kinda hoping I could convince him to apologize to Serah for his own fuck up but I knew it wouldn't be so easy. I stood in front of the apartment door, thinking about what I was going to do. I lifted my hand to knock but the door opened. Jason looked like shit, it was normal since he was at home but, today seemed worse. He opened the door to let me in and started walking to his kitchen.
"Hey so uh, how's it been? What's up?" I closed the door behind me after the sarcastic questions. I heard a couple cabinets open and close making me guess he was getting some whiskey or something. I was partially wrong, it was a drink but not whiskey, it was Bacardi. Typical. I don't get how someone this young can drink so much and not get poisoned or something. Him and Ivy would make great drinking buddies, but no way in hell was she meeting him any time some.
"What do you want." He poured himself a glass then drank it with a straight face. To be the strongest Scandinavian vodka he drank it like it was nothing. Guys a fucking monster.
"I wanted to talk to you about something... Well, more someone..." He started walking away from me toward his couch.
"If it's about Serah I don't want to hear it." Awe fuck you man, why do you have to be so difficult.
"Clever man aren't you? Yeah that's exactly what I came for."
"The door is behind you." He took another swig from his glass, already sitting on the couch.
"Cmon Jason, you know things have been different. You yourself have changed and so had Serah, for the worst."
"That's none of my business anymore and it shouldn't be yours either." I walked over to him and sat on the coffee table facing him.
"Admit it, things have been different since she broke up with you." He stayed quiet, looking at his glass for a bit then up at me.
"Why do you care so much? You have your own girlfriend to worry about." I leaned forward on the table to give a more serious look off.
"Yeah you're right, I do have a girlfriend to worry about, but her best friend is in the same ditch you are. Don't you wonder just a bit what she may be going through?"
"No..." He looked at his glass before bringing it up to his mouth. "No I don't." He took another drink for his glass and it was almost empty. When he brought his glass back down I grabbed it from his hands and placed it next to me. Fuck he was annoying when he drank.
"Listen, I'm being serious. You both haven't been the same since what happened at the warehouse, and it is your fault!"
"Stop sticking your nose in things that don't have anything to do with you Seth." He started to glare at me with the same darkness I saw in him when I first met him. Motherfucker better not go Rambo on me.
"Jason, you and I both know you still care about Serah."
"Fuck off." He sprung up from the couch and grabbed the glass before leaving. He walked over to the counter where he left the bottle of Bacardi are started pouring some more.
"You can't just fucking drink your problems away you drunk!" He hit the glass on the table roughly and it surprisingly didn't break. The alcohol in the glass definitely spilled though.
"Why don't you shut the fuck up already jackass!"
"Not until you tell me why you won't go apologize to Serah for your fuck up!" I stood up and made my way to the island just a little ways from him. I placed both hands on the island and Jason glared at me from the other counter.
"Jason, fucking listen to me man! I know you still care about her, why don't-"
"Leave my apartment." He was looking down at the area in front of him. The room went dead quiet.
"Wait, hold on." I lifted my hands off the island and walked over to stand in front of him at the same counter. A crossed my arms and leaned against the counter.
"You're kicking me out of your apartment? You've got-"
"Now." He pulled a pistol from beside himself and pointed it at me with his left hand. Left hand huh?
"Are you really trying to threaten me with that? Really? How fucking gone are you?" He pulled the hammer back and kept it pointed at me. I stood up in front of him and crossed my arms. I started shaking my head as I slowly made my way to the door. He followed me with the pistol as I went.
"Huh, maybe I was right to not trust you with Serah..." I opened the door and headed out. This fucking drunk just pointed a pistol at me. Not the first time it's happened but he actually threatened me if I didn't leave. The fucking balls on him. The thing that interested me the most was that he picked up the pistol with his left hand. Now you may think, Seth he's left handed what's the big deal. I've learned that Jason is one of the only people I know that is naturally ambidextrous, meaning he can use both his left and right hands with equal dexterity. What's so weird that he used his left hand is that one day when he was drunk, he told me he would only point a gun at someone with his left hand if he didn't want to kill them. I guess I'm one of the few honored. Thanks asshole.
❊
I quietly sat on my couch readings The Program. It was a book Ivy had recommended by Suzanne Young about this dystopian teen romance thingy. It was pretty cool. I had the lamp beside my couch turned on, Ours was laying down at my feet. He was pretty warm and it helped since my feet are always cold according to family and friends. I put down my book to survey my room. It looked exactly the same. Pizza box on the coffee table, gum ball machine beside my bed. I even bought curtains for my window, a nice purple color. Kinda fit in with the color in my room. I crossed my legs and laid the book on my lap. I read a little more until I heard the familiar noise.
Tick tick. I looked up with Ours and surveyed the room. The noise was too familiar.
Tick tick. There it was again. I slipped a guitar pick in my book so that I could remember where I was after I investigated the noise. I stood up and waited for it to make the noise again to confirm my suspicions.
Tick tick. I looked at the closed window blocked with curtains as Ours stood up beside me. He's here. I felt my heart dropped. I really hoped I wouldn't see him again but, he's showing up at my window again? I slowly walked over and pulled one of the curtains back to reveal the waiting face of the familiar fear-inducing man I was so familiarized with before. Fuck, he actually scared me for the first time.
I closed the curtain and stepped back. I felt like crying. Not because he brought back memories, but because I was actually scared of him for the first time. A million different people raced through my head. I wish anyone of them was standing at my window and not him.
Tick tick tick. It was even louder now, and Ours started growling. Fuck, fuck what do I do! Do I open the window, do I ignore him? I could feel myself slowly getting anxious at the thought of having him stand in front of me. When did I get so scared of him? Why am I so nervous? Why did I feel something bad would happen?
Tick tick tick. Fuck! Again! Ugh, I have to face it. I'm not scared of him. Why would I now, after a year, be afraid of Jason? I walked up to the window again, filling myself with false confidence and pulled both curtains back and crossing my arms. My heart was racing more than ever seeing him again. What if I'm dreaming? If I pinch myself I'll wake up? Why was he my nightmare?
I opened the locks on the window and pulled it open. He jumped up and pulled himself through the window. Ours was still growling but a lot lower now. I looked down at my bare feet as I heard a thud. I saw his black combat boots land in front of me. I heard the ruffling of his jacket as he fixed something on himself. I was too scared to look at him. Why am I so hesitant to look at him? Cmon, where's that false confidence I have myself at?
I quietly unraveled my arms and started look up at him. His face was serious and he stood completely still. Why did that face, that I was so attracted to before, fill me with so much fear. His jet black hair was messy as always and he had the same leather jacket on. His eyes were the darkest shade of brown I've ever seen them in. Why'd he look so threatening?
I looked back down at my feet.
"What do you want?..." I could feel his evil smirk on me already as I finally broke the silence.
"Haven't seen me for a month, and that's the first thing you tell me?" He chuckled to his own comment and readjusted how he was standing. I could slowly feel myself go red without reason why. When his short chuckle stopped and I hadn't answered I felt him go back to serious. Fuck he smelled, of... Alcohol? Is he drunk? I looked up a bit, trying to figure out if it really was alcohol or not.
"Are-are you drunk?" He stayed quiet and just continued looking at me. He crossed his arms and took a deep breath.
"Are you fucking drunk Jason?" He stayed quiet. I can't fucking believe him.
"Huh, haven't changed much have you." I looked up at him, just to give him my disgusted face. For a guy that can so easily scare me after a month, he was quick to shut down.
"I came to talk to you about something." Wait, is he really going to talk about this. Is he going to talk about the warehouse? I felt Ours move closer to me while comforted me a bit. Jason towered over me and it just added to the scary factor.
"A month ago, at the warehouse..."
"Heh, fucking knew it." I turned around and started heading back to the couch and grabbed my book.
"Might as well leave now if that's what you came here for." He stayed still, not turning to look at me.
"Let me explain this one time what happened." He paused and unraveled his arms, still not turning to look at me.
"Please." He's being serious? The garter he is away from me the more comfortable I am so, talk away I guess.
"At the warehouse, yes I got very drunk. Yes I barely knew what I was doing. But, you got up and ran off. I came to the conclusion that you went to get more beer or something." Typical.
"I got up, to replace my drink and at the same time to look for you since, you just left without telling me anything."
"Wait, is it my fault you made out with another girl? Is this-" he turned around and finally faced me. I heart skipped a beat for the first time in a while.
"Let me finish." A small silence came between us two before he started talking again.
"I looked around for you with no luck. I thought I found you but it turned out to be the blonde you saw. She was the same height as you but yeah, I was mistaken because I forgot if you still had pink hair or if the dye came off." He paused and crossed his arms again, looking down at his feet.
"I thought that blonde was you so, I kissed her. Or I guess, made out with her by accident. I don't know how you saw, I don't know where you were when you did but the entire time I just kept thinking to myself that something was wrong with that girl."
"I was by the bouncer." He looked up again.
"What?" I placed the book on the couch again and stood up.
"When you kissed that girl, I was by the bouncer trying to get back in when I saw you." He stayed quiet for a second. Then he started to nod.
"Anyway, after I kissed her, it was then that I noticed she wasn't you." He looked up at me before confining.
"All that went through my drunk ass head was, I need to find Serah before someone hurts her." He paused for a second then crouched down to Ours level. He started petting him and Ours quietly obeyed him.
"The place was full of perverts and I just wanted to find you before anything bad happened. I was-" he paused and looked up at me for a second before diverting his attention back to Ours.
"I was scared the worst would happen to you and I would be the one to blame. I am technically the one to blame over the reason you broke up with me and, I'm sorry about it." He stood up and the darkness I saw in him slowly started going away.
"I'm sorry you had to see me kiss that girl. I'm sorry I was so drunk that night that I couldn't watch you and make sure nothing happened... In pretty much apologizing for hurting you that day. It was the complete opposite of what my original aim was." He stepped closer to me. The smell of cologne and alcohol mixing, bringing back the familiar smell I enjoyed so much. I looked up at the towering giant that was Jason himself.
"Will you forgive me for being a complete asshole to you that night?" I looked down at my feet, thinking. Did he really mean all that he said? It sounded like he did, he's never this nice. I looked up at him and nodded, at the same time giving him a little smile to go along.
"Wait, really? You forgive me?" I nodded again.
"Yeah, I do. Just... give me some time to get used to you being around me again. I partially blocked you off for an entire month... Heh." I gave him a cheeky smile and he just laughed at me.
"Fine I'll take that. Uh, quick question. Can I, hug you?" The hesitation and question in general with his last sentence was almost shocking. He's never asked me if he could do something and he's definitely never hesitated when asking a question. I smiled at him.
"Yeah sure you weirdo." He smiled from ear to ear and picked me up off the ground to hug me. Not what I was expecting but the fact he seemed happy shocked me. He hugged me tightly as I just giggled at how happy he was. This was a change I'm not sure I enjoyed or not, especially since I was just towering in fear over the same person just a few minutes ago. I don't know why I was so scared of him. If it was in the heat of the moment or something in me just turned on telling me danger when I saw him. I don't know where that came from, but I'm kinda glad it's gone. I hugged him back happily. It's nice having you back Gatling.
