Boo! Yes, I'm alive, shocker right? And I also came with this brand new story! Party time! Here it is!
Midnight. On the bridge. Don't bring Pipes.
Jason stared at the message, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. Eventually the text came into focus and he groaned, leaning back in his bed. Why did Leo always want to meet during the dead of night? And why did he want to leave Piper out of this?
Jason tossed off the warm embrace of the comforter and shucked on a pair of pants along with a heavy coat, because it just had to be mid January in Michigan. Slipping open his window, Jason was forced awake by the icy breeze that invaded his room. Jason plucked a knitted hat off his desk and tugged it on. Leo may be his best friend, but he was not getting a cold for the kid.
Ten minutes past midnight, Jason ambled on to the forgotten stone bridge sat on a forgotten walking path in the middle of a forgotten town. Leo already sat on the railing, blowing smoke into the night air and both watched as it blew away.
"You're late." Leo mumbled, taking a deep drag of the cigarette he no doubt rolled himself. He hopped off the railing, giving Jason a crazed smile that could only mean he was drunk. "Wanna sip of heaven?" He asked, holding up a half-empty bottle.
"No thanks." Jason brushed away his offer, blowing on his hands to warm them up.
"Your loss." Leo told him, taking a large swig, wincing at the bite of the liquor before laughing too loud. "Wow, hurts like a bitch."
"Leo, you're drunk." Jason told him flatly. Leo nodded, tapping the ash off his cigarette, both boys watching it hit the ice below them.
"I like it, the world seems softer." He told Jason, wobbling slightly on his unsteady feet. He fumbles to catch his balance, stepping too close to Jason so that there is only a few inches separating them. Leo bares his teeth. "No foster kids screaming for attention no one's gonna give."
Jason sighs, stuffing his hands into his pockets and looks sadly down at Leo. Stepping back, Leo leans against the stone railing, taking a short puff of the cigarette.
"You know, it's less than a year and I'm outta here, gone like a shot." Leo informs him, laughing at the thought. He's not going anywhere and they both know it. He's going to get a minimum wage job and the fire inside him will burn out by age twenty, that's his future.
"Let's get you home, you must be freezing." Jason tells him, but Leo just shakes his head, glaring at Jason.
"Don't take this away from me, it's all I have." He twists around, leaning his torso over the edge and cackling at the frozen water below him. The cigarette slipped from between his fingers and flutters to the damp ice below, the red glow emitted by the cigarette went out immediately.
Jason watches his best friend, frowning at the boy who flirts with death at every chance. He doesn't care if he lives or dies and assumes no one else does. But he's so wrong, so very wrong.
"Leo, we're going. Now." Jason huffed, tugging insistently on the hood of the boys coat. Leo turned, eyes sparkling with something that wasn't there before.
"C'mon, Jase, don't be such a buzzkill. Hey, I bet you I can stand on the ice." Leo was halfway over the railing before Jason has time to speak. He dropped four feet onto the ice, whooping with joy and facing Jason so the moon is to his back. He looked like a silhouette. Like a ghost. Fitting, a ghost boy in a ghost park in a ghost town. All easily forgotten, all burning too bright too fast.
"Leo, I swear to God, if you don't get off that fucking ice in a minute I'm leaving your sorry ass and going home." Jason warned, his empty threat hanging in the air for a second before the wind carries it away.
"Go then, see if I care!" Leo taunted, sauntering closer to the middle of the river. He stopped, looking at Jason with a smug look before stomping onto the ice hard. His foot broke through and he slipped into the water up to his knee, standing lopsided in shock before pulling out the drenched denim from the water. He scurried toward the edge of the small river, hollering at Jason once he reaches land. "Did you see that!?"
Jason nodded, chewing on his lip as he makes his way toward his shivering friend.
"Yeah, now we have to go home, before you get hypothermia and die." Jason waited for Leo to start walking but Leo just blinked slowly at him.
"So what? Who's gonna care if I die?" Leo shrugged off his concern, pulling out another homemade cigarette and tried to light it.
"I'm gonna care, Piper will. Your foster parents, your math teacher, the lady at the grocery store is gonna care. Every fucking person you've ever met in your entire fucking life is gonna care if you die! Being broken isn't beautiful, being suicidal isn't beautiful. Being so fucking scared that your best friend will kill himself before he graduates isn't beautiful. So stop trying to make it, okay?" Jason yells at him, his voice sounding hollow at the end.
"Yeah, well, try living my life for a day and see how well you fare." Leo snapped, succeeding in lighting up. He puffs out the smoke, giving Jason a cold stare. A strangled laugh escaped Jason's throat and he has to turn away.
"Leo, pass me the cigarette." Jason locked eyes with the younger boy, who wearily passed him the drug. Jason took a large drag, choking on all the smoke filling up his lungs. The burn refuses to be soothed and Jason held out a hand for the liquor. Leo handed him the bottle without a word and Jason chugged a few mouthfuls before wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. "Where'd you get that?" His voice cracked.
"Mark doesn't keep his liquor locked up too well." Leo informed Jason with a wry grin.
"Mmm." Jason nodded, staring at the moon's reflection on the ice. "My dad, he gets so drunk some nights he passes out before he can get off his shoes. He just ends up face down on the landing until I manage to get him to the couch. My mom left when I was sfive, all I remember of her is the stench of rotten cigarettes. I didn't know how they poisoned you from the inside out, I just knew they smelled like too loud laughter and wild eyes and home. I would watch her smoke for hours, transfixed by how the smoke would dance in the air until it disappeared. I don't live your life, but I'm not crack free. You just gotta remember people care and that's it's okay to ask for help." Jason turned away from Leo, exhaling the last of the smoke.
"Let's go home." Leo mumbled, walking away from the river. Jason followed, his head ducked as he walked side by side with Leo, both leaving the ghost town for good.
That wasn't too bad, right? Tell me what you think in a review!
Tell me if I got anything wrong, with the whole liquor and smoking thing!
Have a lovely day! xx
-Writer432