In My Head

Jude's pencil touched the paper and his body fell back against the windowsill. Millions of stars above him, millions of people in the streets below him. The air outside was balmy, and a thin layer of sweat rested on his forehead. A dot on the paper, a line drawn, and he stopped.

"Do we have anything to drink?" Max's voice cut through the apartment as he walked through the front door, throwing his jacket down on their couch. If Jude squinted really hard, Max started to look like his sister. A slightly more masculine version, but when his eyes were halfway closed he could barely even notice the stubble anyway. Or maybe it was the other way around; maybe Lucy was starting to look like her brother.

Jude shrugged, pressing his lips together. "I think there's some beer in the fridge. Prudence was over earlier with some friends, so it might be gone."

Max disappeared into the kitchen, and Jude stared back at his sketch. All inspiration had left his mind a few days ago, and he felt lost without an idea in his mind.

"I don't see anything," Max rasped, and Jude could hear him ruffling through the mess of takeout boxes and empty pop cans. "Oh, wait. There's some brown stuff in this bottle."

He emerged from the kitchen, holding a clear plastic jug and shaking the contents to get Jude's attention. "What is it?"

"I think that was orange juice."

Max wrinkled his nose and said nothing as he tossed it into the garbage. "Well."

He walked over to the windowsill, plopping down on the ground before Jude's feet. "I am entirely too sober tonight."

"My sympathies," Jude replied, fighting a smirk. "We don't have enough money to go out."

"There's always enough money for booze, Jude."

"No tonight. Unless you want to eat this week."

"And that's where you are wrong, my Limey friend," the American had a smile on his lips, a crazy look in his eye. "I can scavenge for food. A fucked-up mind isn't the only thing I got from 'Nam. I'm extremely resourceful."

Jude raised his eyebrows. "Your mind was already fucked up to begin with, Max."

"This is true."

There was silence for a few moments, Max just staring at the sketchbook in Jude's hands. "How did it go?"

"How did what go?" Jude asked, biting the inside of his mouth. He knew exactly what Max was talking about.

"When you went over to Lucy's a couple of days ago," Max said. "She called me this morning, but she wouldn't talk about you."

Jude looked at his shoes. They were starting to unravel, and he found this to fitting, given his current situation. "She ended things."

"You don't feel like talking about it, do you?" Max had a slightly disgusted look on his face. "Because I don't really feel like hearing about it, to be honest."

"No," Jude shook his head. "It's fine, I don't...I kind of knew it was coming, you know? She wasn't acting the same."

"You're talking about it."

"I'm sorry." The smile he'd been fighting escaped. "I'll stop."

Max nodded, maybe a sign of gratefulness. "So, are you sure you don't want to go out and get wasted? I think we can convince the guy behind the counter to give us a Ladies' Night Discount, with that mullet you have going."

Jude laughed. "Yeah. We can go."

"Yeah?" The blonde sounded surprised. "And what about not eating for the rest of the week?"

"Starvation isn't that bad."

A/N: and there it is. kind of doesn't have a point, but i'm working on another story at the moment and i felt like posting this. i hope you liked it! and reviews are amazing. constructive criticism is always welcome as well. thanks for reading.