little talks [ sweet pea ]

━ tHiRtEeN

( 013 ) living next door to alice

SWEET PEA SWITCHED ON THE radio behind the bar and scrolled through the small ipod connected to it. Jackson beamed as the song 'living next door to Alice' started to play. the broom in his hands turned into his microphone as he sung, horribly, along to the words.

"oh, i dont know why she's leaving or where she's gunna go!" Jackson danced around with the broom, a large smile on his face as did a poor job at sweeping, "i guess she's got her reasons but i just don't want to know!"

"cause for twenty four years i've been living next door to Alice!" Sweet Pea joined in, using his own broom as a microphone, too.

"twenty four years, just waitin' for a chance, to tell her how I'm feeling, maybe get a second glance. now I've gotta get used to not living next door to Alice!"

Sweet Pea felt himself loosen up whilst he jumped around like a madman with Jackson. they'd only been friends for not even a month, but Sweet Pea already felt like he could be himself around Jackson.

by time the song ended, Jackson and Sweet Pea had made more of a mess. having had accidentally knocked it down with the broom stick, Sweet Pea shattered a glass and Jackson had knocked the pool cue rack, causing them all to fall. thankfully, none broke.

Jackson quickly spun around with his broom stick held out, not realising how close Sweet Pea was and suddenly, Sweet Pea was hunched over with his hand to his nose and loudly cursing.

eyes widening, the Doherty dropped his broom and hastily stepped forward. he guided Sweet Pea over to a chair and at seeing the blood dripping from the boys nose, told him to keep his head down despite Sweet Peas protests of getting blood everywhere.

"just keep your fucking head down," Jackson snapped and reached over the bar to grab a roll of paper towels. ripping off three or four squares, Jackson handed the paper towels to Sweet Pea before asking, "wheres the ice?"

"don't worry about ice, i'm fine," Sweet Pea just shook his head and he looked up at Jackson with a half smile. his right hand was still holding the paper towel under his nostrils, his left gripping onto the chair he'd been forced onto.

"Pea, it's going to swell," Jackson crossed his arms, almost glaring at Sweet Pea. the Serpent stared right back, amusement in his eyes unlike the annoyance in Jacksons. it was almost two minutes later when Jackson sighed in defeat, "can i at least look and see if its broken?"

"Jacko, its not going to be broken," Sweet Pea still pulled the paper towel away so Jackson could look at it. Jackson winced at the dark purple starting to form around the sides of his nose. the bleeding seemed to stop, though, and his nose didn't look crooked so it definitely wasn't broken.

guilt hit Jackson at the realisation that this was his fault.

"i'm sorry, Pea. i didn't mean to hit you," he apologised and Sweet Pea just shook his head before standing up and walking past Jackson. Jacksons eyes watched as Sweet Pea walked over to the broom that he had dropped earlier.