Note:
Jason and Elizabeth aren't friends. The last time they saw each other was when he dropped her home the night he saved her at Jake's. Everything else will be explained as the story goes.

*Disclaim anything you recognize*
song: Avril Lavigne: My Happy Ending

So much for my happy ending
Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh...

There's a darkness looming over her, a cloud of heartache and sadness. If it weren't her life, she'd find the entire situation laughable. She'd call a girls' night out with her best friend and they'd joke about how pathetic that person's life was - falling for the age old trick of a faux beau. Of course, the situation was more complicated than that, but still - her love life right now can very well be turned into a sappy country love song.

Let's talk this over
It's not like we're dead
Was it something I did?
Was it something You said?

Stupid Avril Lavigne and her stupid lyrics that match up perfectly to her own life. Stupid car radio that is pathetically broken and stuck on one channel - forbidding her from changing it to a different station or song. And stupid her for cursing at a song that has no control over her life and still hating it for inadvertently mocking her. Because, believe it or not, the song was indeed mocking her.

Don't leave me hanging
In a city so dead
Held up so high
On such a breakable thread

If she was being honest with herself, she'd admit that she brought this upon herself. She knew there was something wrong with him the moment he returned, but everyone else had convinced her he was fine. Then the wretched witch Cassadine took away his love for her and everything had gotten that much worse.

Yet again they convinced her that they could get past it. That - if she stuck with him - they'd find their way back to the love they shared. And stupid her, she listened, she allowed those around her to plague her mind. To ignore her instincts and to stay in love with a man that clearly didn't love her anymore.

You were all the things I thought I knew
And I thought we could be

She should have seen the signs, she should have listened to her gut instincts, maybe then she wouldn't be married to a man that didn't love her. Unbreakable lock, HA!, more like imaginary lock. She hates him for making her believe in him. She hates him for making a fool out of her by sleeping with her sister. But mostly, she hates him for making her fall in love with him, knowing that he didn't feel the same - not even close.

You were everything, everything that I wanted
We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it
And all of the memories, so close to me, just fade away
All this time you were pretending
So much for my happy ending
Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh...

Stupid Avril Lavigne song, how she wishes she could just shut it off, but for some godforsaken reason she couldn't bring herself to do it. She drives through the darkness in search of the one place that will help her drown away all the pain and sorrow she felt. Sure, she's not twenty-one, but no one needs to know that. If she was old enough to be married, she's old enough to drink a damn shot of tequila - or twenty - hell, even the damn bottle.

You've got your dumb friends
I know what they say
They tell you I'm difficult
But so are they
But they don't know me
Do they even know you?
All the things you hide from me
All the shit that you do

Parking in the musky, filthy parking lot of the local bar, she gets out of her car and saunters into the ratty establishment. The universe must hate her because Avirl Lavigne's stupid song is playing on the jukebox when she walks into the establishment - right where she cut it off in the car when she shut off the engine. Stupid music. Stupid marriage vows. Stupid permanent lock.

"Shot glass and a bottle of tequila." she pretty much demands from the bartender, thankful that the owner was nowhere to be seen. "I'm not getting any younger."

The bartender eyes her for a moment before handing her the items she demanded for. With a mocking smirk, she takes the items before tossing the amount he requests for onto the bar and walking to sit at the end of the bar. She wanted to drown herself in alcohol, retire to one of the apartments upstairs and forget about her broken marriage and pathetic life.

It's nice to know that you were there
Thanks for acting like you cared
And making me feel like I was the only one
It's nice to know we had it all
Thanks for watching as I fall
And letting me know we were done

She curses his name as she downs shot after shot. The higher the count of shots she's taken gets, the less she thinks of that pathetic husband of hers that's waiting at her house. As if she would forgive him for committing adultry. For voicing vows full of lies. He's as delusional as she had been on their wedding day.

Just then the door to the bar opens up and in walks the perfect distraction from her pathetically tattered life. She has seen him somewhere before, but she couldn't particularly place it - of course the alcohol could factor into that. She probably wouldn't recognize her face if she looked in the mirror by now.

She watches him as he walks over to the vacant pool table, racking the balls up with ease. It was obvious that he has played the game before - she'd bet he has even perfected it. His form is impeccable and she finds herself drawn into his allure. Standing six feet tall, muscles bulging out in all the right places, completely in control of his every movement, flowing almost gracefully so. The leather jacket, solid grey t-shirt and blue denim jeans lend mystery to his enticement.

Looking at him, she can tell he lived by no one's rules. Just the way he carries himself, the way people gave him a wide berth when walking to the bathroom, not even coming near the pool table in any way. That kind of had her wanting to be the one to cross that barrier. To see just what shade of blue fills his eyes and the sound of her name moaned from his lips.

"Ah, hell." she mutters, turning back to face the bar - she blinked once and he was no longer there. Stupid need to blink.

Just as she downs another shot, a warm presence is felt taking a seat on the stool beside her. She chances a sideways glance, daring to hope that it would be him beside her, smirking inwardly when she sees him there. He signals for the bartender, taking the bottle of beer from him and downing it swiftly. Once he does, he turns in his seat, eyeing her intently before he finally speaks.

"I didn't think I'd see you here again." he voices, looking at her intently, making her realize she must know him from somewhere. "Last I heard you were married."

"Still am." she says, deciding that she'd figure it out sooner or later. "But not for long."

"So you came here to not feel again?" his voice implies a memory she should know about, but still she draws a blank. "It didn't work last time, why do it again?"

"I don't know." she answers honestly, a foggy memory whispering to her from the back of her mind. "Maybe I had nowhere else to go."

"Just like last time." he says, eyeing her in a way that makes her wish she could remember him through her buzzed haze. "Would you like to go for a ride?"

She looks at him curiously, wondering if she'd remember by going with him for whatever ride he was referring to. After pondering it, she takes hold of the hand he's holding out to her and just like that she's leaving the bar with him. A familiar stranger, but still a stranger - making her feel like an idiot on top of everything else she's feeling. Yet regardless of all that, Elizabeth follows him out of the bar and into the parking lot.

"I want to show you how I get away." a voice echoes in her mind as he guides her to a motorcycle in the back alley - a blurry version of his face in her mind.

"Why do I have a strange feeling we've done this before?" she asks, taking the helmet from his hands.

"Because we have." he says simply, straddling the bike. "You sober enough to hang on?"

"Yeah." she assures, straddling the bike once she strapped on the helmet. "Where are we going?"

"Nowhere."

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