St. Mary's

22

Jay was laughing.

He laughed hard as he watched Adam leave with Blue. Everyone in the room looked at Jay in shock, he hardly ever laughed, hell, he hardly ever smiled. Even if he did, you could tell it was a little forced. But this, this was hearty and throaty laughter. The reason he even invited Adam was because he was cute and thought that maybe he would think about something other than... well Si. Of course, that wouldn't work. Adam got completely, entirely drunk and hardly spoke to Jay. That's not what was funny, it was that he didn't care. All he cared about was the fact that Si had kissed a psycho that wanted to frame him for arson. It was hilarious, because he cared. He hadn't realised when it happened but it did, and he should have known better. Like his father said, "caring for anyone but yourself is weakness".

So, he laughed.

"Jay?" Eli asked quietly, he was a little tipsy but everyone else was thoroughly wasted.

Jordan and Caleb, quickly went back to discussing their cars after giving an amused chuckle Jay's way, Jordan with very little drunken modesty admitted he had over 25 cars, well last time he checked anyway. Caleb awed, he had money but still only had 2 cars, a Range Rover and an Audi. Rory and Si were conducting something in the kitchen that was most likely borderline poisonous. Little old Eli, was the only one that had the state of mind to see Jay was clearly mid-crisis.

"Eli, why I do believe this is the first time you've engaged in conversation with me. I mean, without it being a group discussion, that is."

"Oh, I-I suppose you're right." Eli replied.

"Is it because my therapy is court ordered? Are you scared?"

Jay sighed, he liked Eli, sure he was a little quiet for his taste but he was a sweet kid, he could tell Eli didn't like him.

"N-no, I'm not entirely sure. I suppose I thought that we didn't have a lot in common."

"And you do with Caleb?" Jay raised a challenging brow.

"Oh, no not at all." Eli said with a soft smile "But that's different, I couldn't get away with neglecting his existence, even if I moved to France, I'm sure he'd follow."

Jay glanced up at Caleb, he caught him throwing curious glances, and maybe even giving a small warning glare. He chuckled, the kid was right, he'd follow him to France, that's for sure.

"I-I like him, for all the reasons h-he's not like me." Eli spoke softly, fondly.

"That odd, I think I like him for all the reasons he is like me."

Eli gave him a small knowing smile, it was sweet and surprisingly comforting to Jay's drunken mind.

"Well, maybe we should figure out if we do have things in common?" Eli wisely changed the subject.

Jay grunted, then agreed.

"Football?" Jay asked, which Eli promptly shook his head 'no' at.

"Literature?" Eli asks, which Jay promptly shook his head 'no' at.

Eli laughed quietly.

"Music?" Jay tries.

"The Cure, Pink Floyd, The Smiths, The Clash, Stone Roses, Oasis, Nirvana, well pretty much any angsty boy band from the 80's or 90's." Eli laughed.

"Not bad, I'm partial to the odd Smiths or Cure song, " Jay smirked, "Do you play any instruments?"

"The cello and guitar." Eli replied.

Jay laughed, "So not only 'angsty' boy bands, but Classical music as well?"

"Well I mean I was forced to do cello lessons until I was 13, my mother insisted."

"But the guitar? That was for you."

Eli smiled softly, "Yeah. What about you?"

"Ah piano, though instigated by my father, which was probably solely for bragging rights and entertainment during his business dinners, it was something I really loved as a child."

"Not anymore?" Eli probed.

He didn't get to answer as a rather drunk Rory, burst through the kitchen door. Jay was beyond relieved he didn't have to answer Eli's question, he sighed gratefully. Rory, as always is smiling. Even in his drunk state, Rory seems to only express happiness or curiosity. It sickens Jay a little, how someone can be so overwhelmingly unscathed by the universe. Though he supposed, he doesn't really know all that much about Rory either.

It suddenly hit Jay, it wasn't that Eli was avoiding him, I mean Eli doesn't speak unless spoken to, he knew that. It's just Jay hasn't really bothered enough to try. For some reason, this discovery promptly confused and slightly upset him. He's never cared about anyone before? Now he cares that he didn't spark enough conversation? Jay began twitching, not only did he care about Si, he cared about the friends he'd met here. That unsettled him. There it was again, his father's voice, "friends get you absolutely no where, they're worthless".

Jay looked around at the boys he'd spent almost four weeks with, they were far from worthless. Not to him.