A/N: Just a random oneshot. It's kind of short and probably not the best thing I've written. ; ) Reviews are always appreciated.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Maria.
Jack woke from the bright light shining through his window in his small apartment. He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed so his feet were resting on the hard floor. His head was pounding. He had no idea what happened last night. He couldn't remember. He hoped he didn't do anything completely stupid. All he remembered was doing a few lines of whatever drug his friends had brought over last night. Everything after that was pretty much a blur.
Stepping over several people that had decided to crash on the floor in his room, Jack headed to the kitchen.
"Hey Maria." He said in a tired voice as he saw her slim figure rummaging around in the refrigerator.
Maria was his best friend. He met her at one of the small shows he performed in with his band. She was wild at times, but most of the time she was pretty reserved. She always follows the rules and it was strange how they were such good friends seeming they were complete opposites. Even with their differences, she was always there for him and they could tell each other everything.
"Well you look like hell." She said turning around with a jug of milk in her hand.
"I feel like hell." Jack responded as he sat down at the table. Resting his head in hands he rubbed his temples. He wished his head would stop pounding. He felt like a complete junkie. Hell, he was a junkie, but he didn't care anymore. No one expected him to do shit anyway.
"What did you do last night?" She poured some milk into a bowl of cereal and placed the jug back into the refrigerator.
"Don't remember."
"Oh." She said, a little disappointed. She wished Jack would stop doing that shit. She had tried several times to convince him to stop doing drugs but it was no use. He didn't care about himself anymore. There was so much pain and anger inside of him and he didn't know how to deal with it. So he chose to get high to forget about it instead.
"You need to start taking care of yourself."
"Don't start with that shit, Maria." He wasn't in the mood.
"I'm just worried that—"
"So don't be." Jack snapped. "I can take care of myself."
"Well you're doing a really great job." She said sarcastically as she sat down across from Jack to eat her cereal.
"Bobby called last night. It sounded important."
She saw Jack immediately tense up. He hadn't talked to his brothers or his mom in God knows how long. Each day he wanted to call them, but he had no idea what to say to them. When he left home, it hadn't exactly been on good terms.
"Did he say what he wanted?"
"No. Just that he'd call back later."
As if on cue the phone rang. Jack had a feeling that something wasn't right. "Can you get that Maria?"
She fixed him with a reluctant stare, but stood to answer the phone anyway. After talking to the person on the other end of the phone for a quick moment she handed the phone to Jack. "It's for you."
"Who is it?"
"Bobby."
"Well tell him I don't want to talk to him."
"How about you do it yourself? Maybe its time you guys pull together and be a family again." She said in a tired voice as she shoved the phone in his hand and sat back down to finish her breakfast.
Jack sighed. He knew she was right. She never did put up with his shit. He smiled inwardly at the thought.
"Yeah." Jack said into the phone, his voice rough.
"Jackie? Um... It's me... Bobby..." He sounded unsure of what to say.
"Yeah, I know..." Jack said as worry began to grow thick in the pit of his stomach. Bobby always knew exactly what to say and when to say it.
"Right... I, um, have some bad news..."
Fuck.
"No... Whatever it is I don't want to hear it."
"I know Jackie..." Bobby said softly. His heart was breaking at the sound of Jack's scared voice. "I'm sorry... Ma's dead, Jack..." He trailed off. This was the one call Bobby was dreading to make. It was somehow easier to tell his other brothers the news. Probably because he knew Jack would take it the hardest.
Jack's whole body began to shake.
"No no no no no no. Don't come at me with that shit, Bobby." Jack said. This couldn't be happening.
Maria looked up from her breakfast. Jack's face was suddenly extremely pale.
"You gotta come home, man..."
"I can't." Jack said, his voice thick with tears. "Fuck, I can't deal with this Bobby!" Jack shouted into the phone. "I gotta go." He said suddenly quiet before abruptly hanging up the phone.
"Jack..." Maria said softly. He was shaking uncontrollably and he was really starting to scare her. "Jack what's wrong?" He didn't answer. His eyes dull, and it seemed like whatever small life that was left in him was suddenly gone. "Jack, talk to me."
He looked up at her.
"My mom... She's dead..."
"Jack, I'm so sorry..." Maria said, searching for the right words to say to him.
He buried his face in his hands as tears began to fall freely down his cheeks. Maria walked over to him and wrapped him into a warm hug.
"I have to go back." He said softly into her shoulder.
"I know..." She said sadly as they pulled apart. She looked at his face and something in his eyes told her that part of him had died with her...
Jack packed his things and left later that night. He never called or wrote to Maria, to tell her how he was doing. She never heard from him again until she too got a call from Bobby, telling her that Jack was dead. And with his death a large part of her died with him, and she regretted everyday not telling him how much she was in love with him.