Set during early season 4, between "Fallout" and "Survivors". Happy reading! Reviews are always appreciated!
Jennifer didn't have much of a life after her mother passed away. Her day was basically working the whole day, being the first one to get to the office and being the last one to leave it, go home and finish whatever work Jennifer wasn't able to get done during the day and then, then she'd start to get ready for the next day. It was easier and simpler than dealing with her own problems.
Sure, Jennifer had a few friends when she was in high school and dated a few guys here and there, even. The thing was, her relationships never seemed to work the way they were supposed to and it seemed like as she and her friends grew up, they also grew apart. She never blamed anyone for that; Jennifer learned that that was how life was like and she was pretty okay with that.
Jennifer had a few friends on the Globe too, but as soon as her Trouble kicked in and she started hearing voices, all of them left her. Probably because they thought she was crazy and as soon as someone heard the word "schizophrenia", they thought about the word "dangerous" and no one wanted to deal with that. It got to the point where Jennifer started believing she was crazy too. They weren't that good of friends, Jennifer realized when she finally stopped to think about it.
It had been two weeks since she got to Haven and learned whole new things, it was still hard to accept that she wasn't crazy and that Jennifer was, in fact, Troubled and Haven being Haven, that was completely normal. It was a little hard to believe she wasn't crazy, but she was getting there.
The Gull was busier and more crowded than Jennifer expected it to be. According to Duke, the place was always like during the night, specially if it was a Taco Tuesday. When Duke invited her to go downstairs and do something other than trying to be a Barn radio and helping them to find Audrey, she didn't hesitate. Socializing with some of the locals and hearing some of Haven's stories about the Troubles turned out to be the funniest thing Jennifer did in months. Jennifer barely even realized it had been a few hours since she saw or talked to Duke and in the meantime, she ended up drinking more than she should have.
Six months or so without alcohol made her resistance to it fly out of the window and it didn't take Jennifer long to get tipsy, let alone get drunk enough to regret the next morning.
Jennifer hadn't noticed Duke approaching her and as soon as Jennifer saw him in the middle of crowded restaurant, her whole face lit up. When he was close to her, she pulled him into her arms and laid her head on his chest and after what it felt like ages, Duke finally gave in and wrapped his arms around her and Jennifer finally looked up at him, staring into his eyes with one of those smiles that reached her beautiful brown eyes. He hadn't seen many of those and it really suited her and Duke wished he'd get to see Jennifer smile like that more often, specially if she was directing that smile at him.
"You're, like, my best friend." Jennifer slurred. It was evident she took more than a few drinks and that she was going to need a little bit of help to get upstairs. Duke wasn't surprised that she drank that much- since Jennifer moved to Haven all she did was try to remember what she heard as much as possible. They desperately needed Audrey and there was too much pressure on her, be it from Nathan or be it from the Guard. Duke could see it was starting to stress her out and maybe he'd have to have a talk with Vince and Nathan; Jennifer was, in fact, a great person and she didn't need that.
Duke chuckled after the words left her mouth. He sure as hell wouldn't be his best friend and seeing Jennifer getting attached to him so quickly surprised and amused him. "I'm your best friend? Are you sure about that?"
She giggled and shook her head before starting to ramble, "You are! I mean- you're so sweet and you're always taking care of those you care about and I really like the idea of someone watching for me and that person happens to be you. I really like you and you- you're my best friend, Duke!"
Jennifer just sort of dropped that bomb and he didn't know what to tell her. She couldn't just say something that like it was nothing. It had been two weeks and he was getting attached to her pretty quickly, too. And then he had to remind himself that they were in Haven and that they didn't have time for any kind of friendships or relationships. Every time he tried, something bad happened. However, he hadn't felt that appreciated in a while and he was willing to try this time. Duke promised he wouldn't let anything happen to her since day one and now he was more than willing to keep that promise.
Duke shook his head and bit his lip, trying to not laugh at her, at the whole situation.
"I think you've had enough for tonight." He wrapped his arm around Jennifer and started walking her towards the exit. "What about we get you upstairs and get you settled, huh?"
"Sounds good."
They could talk about Duke being her best friend later, once she was sober.