"Fixing a Toilet for Dummies," I sigh audibly, shoulders slumped as I pull up the page on my laptop and glare at the wretched bathroom utensil with disdain. "Well," I mutter, wrench in hand as I start to read through the wall of text, "might as well get this over with."

Let me just say right off the bat that this is not – definitely not – how I pictured my Saturday evening would be spent. In fact, just for irony's sake alone, this actually was supposed to be one of the few times that I'd get out and actually… you know, interact with people for a change. Like, socially.

Definitely hadn't expected the toilet to start completely overflowing at seven forty-five this evening, abruptly cancelling my plans that I had so very carefully and responsibly made at the very last minute. It kind of puts a damper on things when a portion of your main floor, including the carpet, smells like toilet bowl water. No, I'm definitely not going out tonight. This has completely killed my mood.

I can't afford to hire a plumber for this kind of thing, not on my measly salary. Hell, I'm practically living from paycheck to paycheck as it is right now, and the landlord for the apartment I'm staying in basically threatened to kick me to the curb if I was late on my rent for another week. He's a real dick about cleanliness, too, that son of a bitch, and would no doubt tell me that it was somehow my fault for the damn thing busting out like a leaky faucet. Why can't he just act like a real human being and fix the stupid place instead of blackmailing anyone who lives here? God!

Sigh… I suppose it can't really be helped though, can it? This is one of the few areas in DC that's not terribly overpriced, and also doesn't have a reputation for being a downtrodden cesspool of gang violence, murders and sexual assaults. How fun. I'll take what I can get, at least until I can find somewhere else to move to.

So basically, Jane here is about to get her hands dirty… not in that way, you pervs.

Sticking my tongue to the inside of my cheek as I usually do when I'm concentrating, I try to follow along with what the guide's telling me as I peer into the back. Urgh… this doesn't look too good, and that's coming from someone without a professionally-trained eye for these sorts of things. The water's practically at the brim, and one wrong move might have it splurging back onto the floor.

"Come on there, fella," I coax it, feeling incredibly stupid as I try to reach in behind and adjust one of the bolts with my trusty wrench. "Easy does it now… easy does it…"

SPLASH!

"SHIT!"

Scrambling to fix my mistake proves to be useless as the damage is unleashed – nearly a gallon of water explodes from the apparent leak in one of the wall pipes as it soaks me to the skin with some of the dirtiest, most disgusting liquid I've ever come across, not to mention what it does to the drywall. Ditching the wrench entirely, I crawl on my knees and pounce onto my stomach over towards the door; flailing my limbs out like a starfish as I desperately try to keep it from pouring out into the main hall.

The only hope of salvation that I have comes about two or three minutes later, coincidentally being the very person I neglected to hang out with as I see her slowly walk through my front door.

"Jaime!" I holler, knowing that it's her based solely on the perfume she's wearing and the fact that she's the only person (other than the landlord, of course) that I had actually given a pair of keys to for my apartment. "Quick! Turn off the water valve! It's underneath the sink!"

"What the hell are you doing down there?"

"Just do it, for fuck's sakes!"

"Okay, okay! Not even bothering with a hello anymore…" she mutters under her breath, moving more slowly than I'd like into the kitchen as she sets down her purse on a chair and disappears from my sight; coming back a few seconds later after having turned off the valve I mentioned. Stifling back some laughs, my sister lets a few snorts pass through her lips as I gradually rise to my feet. "Umm… wow. I think I kind of get now why you weren't answering my calls."

Thankful now more than ever for my short hair, I walk over towards the linen closet and pull out a fresh towel; my feet making these disgusting squishy noises as I give my body a shake like a dog. "Yeah," I reply sourly before running the fabric over my head a few times. "Been dealing with more than my fair share of BS tonight. So… sorry, I guess."

"You? Apologizing? Who are you and what have you done with Jane?" she teases as I walk up beside her and abruptly give her a nice, big hug – one that she instantly despises as I make a point of it to get her drenched as well. "Bleh! Quit it! Jane, stop!" she whines as I chuckle, letting go and allowing her to punch my arm. Yeah, I probably deserved that one.

If anyone had caught me trying to go out and have fun with my sister back about five years ago or so, I probably would've died from embarrassment. I didn't wanna get caught dead with my stupid, younger sibling – I did have a bit of a reputation to maintain amongst the small crowd of idiots and posers that I had used to call friends, after all. I didn't want some little kid following me around, biting at my heels like a lost, little puppy. It was just so… uncool at the time.

Now though? Well, I can't say that it's still not a little weird, due to the significant age gap between us, but I actually consider Jaime to be one of my closest if not the closest friend I have, aside from a few exceptions who I don't see very often anymore. To her, it didn't matter that I would get into trouble in school, or occasionally find the time to shoplift when the store owners weren't looking, or just generally would end up becoming an introverted, annoyed young woman who had left the family far too soon. She, despite all my faults, has stuck by me through thick and thin, and I'm more grateful for that than I care to admit.

It's probably best that keep that information silent. Wouldn't want her ego to inflate now would we?

"I can't believe you're living like this," Jaime comments after a prolonged silence settles in between us, causing me to frown slightly in indignation. She thinks I'm a total slob! "When's the last time you've even seen the sunlight, Jane? I mean, look at this place! I could barely even get through to that sink from all the stuff you've got in there!"

"Hey, come on, cut me some slack here! It's not that… bad…" I cut myself off, sheepishly turning around to examine the total destruction that's befallen my one bedroom apartment. It literally looks like a hurricane swept in and tore this place apart, what with the chairs, clothes, boxes and all sorts of dishes scattered along in a messy fashion. And now with the huge puddle (more like a lake) sitting there on the bathroom floor as well, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody ended up sending in a rescue party to search for survivors trapped in here. "I'm still trying to unpack things," I tell her hastily, hoping that that'll somehow win her over.

And of course, it doesn't. Not even by a tiny margin. Jaime just stares at me as if I've lost my mind before rolling her eyes and beckoning for me to follow her out the door.

"Come on, we've already wasted enough time just sitting here," she mentions, turning her head back when she notices that I'm not following along. "Well? What are you waiting for? C'mon, let's go have some fun!"

"Jaime, my apartment's underwater! I can't just leave it drenched like this!" I argue, groaning when she simply chucks one of the paper towel rolls I had left near the front door over towards me. "Besides," I continue, sniffing my shirt and crinkling my nose up in disgust, "I smell like ass right now – literally! I'm covered in toilet water! I need a shower first!"

"Just hurry up and change into something else then! I'll spray you with some of my perfume, too, don't worry," she mentions, with me finding it weird how this time she's the one being bossy this time around. I don't think it really suits her.

"Where were you even planning on going anyways?" I ask from around the corner before tossing the roll back to her, begrudgingly going along with her plan as I pull out the first outfit that I see – a black t-shirt with some blue jeans and a pair of worn, leather boots. Oh, and I probably shouldn't forget the jacket this time around… God knows my sister'll be pestering me about not keeping warm late at night.

"…"

"Huh?" I holler out into the hallway, unable to hear her mumbling.

"…the Lucky Leprechaun…"

"Jaime," I sigh, sliding my jacket over my shoulders and meeting her back out in the hallway, "no."

"But Jane I – "

"What would Mom and Dad say if they found out you tried to sneak into a club somewhere downtown? And with me, no less?"

Feigning annoyance as she sees me glancing at the hasty paper towel-job that she's put on display, Jaime folds her arms across her chest and sticks her tongue out at me. "Since when have you ever cared what they think?" she probes, immediately regretting her choice of words as I stare back at her with a vacant expression. "Hey… look, I'm sorry… I didn't mean…"

I know that I'm going to have to mop this all up later, and that my apartment's probably going to smell horribly if I don't air it out, so I don't really acknowledge her comment before turning back around and heading for the nearest open window. Opening it up to let the cool breeze flow through, I grab my set of keys off the kitchen table and open the front door.

"Let's just go," I murmur, suddenly feeling the urge to be anywhere but here. "I have no idea why you like these places so much… Nothing but crappy music and overpriced beer."

Zipping up my jacket and shutting the door behind me, I nearly gag at the overbearing scent of Jaime's perfume as she sprays me with it several times in a row. Ugh… worst Saturday ever.

…

Walking along the streets of downtown DC at night with just the two of us, heading towards a night club that even I'm just barely old enough to enter… I've got to be either the worst role model in the world, or have possibly just won the award for being the most fun sister of all time. I'm thinking it's the former, though, but it'd be a waste to just turn back now without at least getting a few drinks in me. After nearly having a heart attack trying to fix that stupid toilet, a little (or a lot, depending on how I'm feeling) of alcohol wouldn't be uncalled for, I think. I can at least take solace in knowing that my laptop didn't get fried from being up on the bathroom counter.

The only problem I've got in the immediate foreseeable future tonight, would be Jaime.

"How exactly are you even going to get into this place, anyways?" I wonder aloud as we start to approach the club. Just a few blocks away now. "You're only seventeen, and I know for a fact that they're strict around here about who gets to go inside."

Lifting up a finger before diving her hand into her purse, Jaime grins mischievously as she proudly presents her crowning jewel: a fake ID, probably given to her in return for some kind of favour. "I never leave home without it anymore," she acknowledges as I curiously snatch the card away from her. "Give me some credit – if I had planned out how to get to your place with the crazy bus system that you guys have all the way out here, then I'd have no problem figuring out how to get inside a nightclub."

"Jaime," I laugh, shaking my head as I study the driver's license, "first off, you don't look like you're twenty-five. Second, you're not Hispanic, and you definitely don't have boobs like this person does."

Ow… definitely earned the smack in the back of the head on that one.

"Just so you know, my self-esteem is going down the tubes as we speak," she mocks, faking tears as she leans her head on my shoulder; with me having to lead the two of us down some more narrow paths until we can finally see our destination just a little ways away. I'll admit – as irritating as she might be sometimes, she does have a pretty decent sense of humour about most things. Jaime's pretty easy-going, and doesn't tend to let many things get under her skin. Which is probably a good thing, now that I think about it… I've been lacking in the sister department over the years, despite my recent efforts to mend that.

If you haven't noticed by now, I kind of suck at the whole "bonding" thing. I'm not the kind of girl that you can just randomly walk up to on the street and strike up a conversation with – I'd probably try to avoid those unnecessary confrontations altogether, honestly. I especially don't like it when people try to get too close to me when I want to distance myself from them, which has also been occurring more frequently than I care to admit. Basically, I'm not much of a people person, and Jaime's been on the brunt end of that more than once.

Why won't you play with me?

Jane, can you teach me how to ride a bike? Pretty please? You're so good at it!

Let's make up a band, Jane! We can be super-famous rock stars!

But… but I don't want you to be alone…

"Jane?" she waves her hand in front of me as I'm snapped out of my reverie. "Look alive, would ya? We've gotta wait in line."

Sure enough, we've nearly hit the brick wall of the building as I give my head a quick shake and turn to see what we're dealing with here. Jesus, it's as if everyone and their mother had the same idea! At this rate, it'll take us ages to get inside. As much as I'd like to just scrap the idea of a club altogether and just try to find a store around that sells cheap beer by the box, I know that Jaime's been looking forward to spending some time with me for a few weeks now, and judging by the dismayed look on her face, it also looks as though she'd had this venture on her mind for quite some time, too.

Who am I to try and take that first experience away from her? It'd be kind of hypocritical of me to do so, with all the shit that I used to get into at her age. Maybe Jaime really is trying to take after me in some ways after all… that longing for independence…

"Just follow my lead," I tell her as we approach the front of the line; no doubt pissing off most of the crowd as I approach the bouncer. "Listen, my sister really has to use the bathroom right now… would you mind letting us pass?"

"Sorry, no can do. You're gonna have to wait in line like everyone else."

"But the nearest washroom is like six blocks away! I really don't think she can hold it in for much – "

"Cough-cough! Cough-cough-cough-cough!" Jaime interrupts, finding it hard to breathe as the bouncer widens his eyes. She's got him right where we want as he begrudgingly lets us inside, pointing in the direction of the nearest washroom so that she can… ahem… take care of that cough before heading back outside. You know, as if we were actually gonna do something like that.

"Quick thinking there," I praise, surprised at her behaviour even though she insists that she's actually got a pretty bad cough going on right now.

Waiting for her outside the washroom, I chuckle as I hear some of the other patrons outside trying to come up with the same excuse as I did. Sometimes it pays to have a silver tongue like me.

"This is a breaking news story," raves the television hung high in the corner of the lobby, having to use subtitles because of the blaring music coming from inside the dance hall. "Los Angeles police are struggling to contain the riots going on throughout the city, which officials have reported to have cost the lives of dozens thus far. Some have even claimed that a deadly virus strain is to blame for the deaths, but many are left unconvinced…"

"They need to get their shit together," I mutter, sighing as Jaime returns a few minutes later after freshening up. "Well… let's get this over with, then."

"Just try not to embarrass me or anything," she jokes, winking at me and taking me by the hand as we head deeper inside. "This is gonna be awesome!"

I can already tell just by taking two steps inside that it won't be.

….

This club smells like a mixture of body odour, sweat and booze. All this close contact and rubbing up against each other… ugh. Anybody else feel grossly uncomfortable, or is it just me? This whole thing feels off, and I don't like it at all. This really isn't my scene. I'd so much rather we'd have done something else… anything at all, as opposed to this.

But I really don't know what's more surprising – the fact that it's been two hours and I have yet to come barreling over to Jaime to drag the both of us out of here, or that I haven't fallen asleep from the four beers that I've ingested over the course of my stay. You can probably take a guess at how much fun I'm having right now.

I have no idea where Jaime wandered off to. Normally, I probably wouldn't really be bothered by it, as she's almost always the chattier of the two of us and would probably end up trying to chase after some boy her age. But here? Out in a beer-crazed club with a bunch of sleazeballs? Yeah, I'm feeling a little paranoid right now, but there's nothing I can really do. I had told her that I'd just be chilling over here by the tables while she went out and did her thing, which kind of disappointed her, but that's not the point. If I were to leave to go find her now, and she were to come back and not see me around, then we'd both be in trouble.

Resorting instead to just scoping out for her from my seat, I frown as I end up spotting the little vixen not too far away; not really liking the crowd she's gotten herself mixed up in, but not really wanting to intrude on her space. Jaime's smart enough to know when to get out of tight spots… I hope.

In the meantime, I call on the bartender to hand me another round of Budweiser as I pay the man in exchange for the cold bottle. Even he seems to share my pain of wanting to be anywhere else, as the music and overall atmosphere is just the both of us inside and (at least for me) wrecking the eardrums.

"Thanks," I curtly nod as I take a swig, thinking briefly back to that one night when I still lived with my parents. I had been so stupid to try it, and even dumber to continue drinking that fucking bottle of Earthquake, but I was young – naturally, I wanted to try my hand at all the things my parents had warned me against. And the rum had been so tasty, too…

Was it worth getting kicked out of the house over? No, of course not, but I'm still bitter over the whole thing, even after nearly ten years. That's the one thing I've never forgotten, and probably never will. That nagging at the back of my mind reminding me that I'll never truly live with my sister again makes these nights with Jaime that much more difficult to deal with.

Furrowing my brow at an alarming sight on the dancefloor, I quickly chug the rest of the beer and let its contents swirl down through my system before marching out towards Jaime. Some fucking pig and his buddies apparently have decided it'd be a good idea to try and grope an unsuspecting teenager, and even though Jaime's kind of annoyed as I quickly get her out of there, I try to explain things to her in terms that she'll actually understand.

"Just be thankful that I got you out of there when I did," I tell her as I hold the door open for her; huffing as she storms outside. "Jaime, those guys didn't want to dance with you. Quit being so naïve about it!"

"Oh yeah?" she retorts, her words starting to slur after I had bought her just a few drinks. She's always been a lightweight, which I'd probably consider to be a good thing at this point. "You're just jealous! I actually went out there and had fun, while you… you just sat there all night and did nothing! Why… why do you have to be such an angry loner all the time?!"

"You're too young to get how these things go…" I say, muttering a profanity under my breath as Jaime simply charges on ahead, with me having to point her in the right direction as she abruptly yells at me to shut up.

I don't think she realizes just how much that loner comment really stings.

….

"So… when are you getting picked up?" I ask, breaking the awkward silence that's been looming between us over the past half hour as we head out of the elevator and walk towards my room. Thankfully, in such a short period of time, Jaime's seemingly forgotten in her buzzed state what it was she was mad at me for, but still she doesn't answer my question.

Puzzled, I turn my stern gaze towards her to try and get a straight answer out of her, but all I see is my little sister clutching her arm and staring down at her shoes.

"You didn't tell them you were coming to see me, did you?"

"I knew they'd just say no, anyways…"

"Jaime, come on…"

"I really wanted to see you again!" she pleads, practically begging me with her eyes not to call our parents even though I haven't heard from Mom or Dad in almost a year and a half now. "It's not fair that they won't let me come out here that often… You're my sister… they shouldn't be keeping us apart like that…"

Unable to supress the small grin that graces my lips, I sigh and open up the front door to my musty apartment; not even caring right now that the room is already starting to smell moldy and gross. I'm too tired to really pay attention to it – all that I want and need right now is the soft embrace of my bed.

I'm thinking that sleeping in tomorrow morning might just be a given.

"You can have the couch, then – I wasn't expecting visitors," I tell her as I open up the closet and pull out the closest thing I can find to a blanket and pillow with such short notice. "It's either that or the ground, so pick your poison. Either way, I'm heading to bed."

"Can't I just sleep with you?"

"What'd I just tell you?" I groan, glaring at the little moocher over here as she practically belly-flops onto my bed. "Off. Now. You're not five years old here – get going."

"But – "

"Out, Jaime."

Pouting, she seemingly admits defeat as she slumps off the bed and heads for the exit. Feeling confident (if not slightly guilty) that my victory is ensured, I wait until she's out of sight before shutting the window closed and hopping into my own sleeping quarters.

It really shouldn't take me long to fall asleep tonight, not with the hell of a long day that I've had. I'm surprised that I don't get knocked out right away as soon as I close my eyes and my head hits the pillow.

But maybe that's because I feel the left side of the bed sag downwards slightly as Jaime tries to stealthily climb back in with me.

"God damn it…"

"It smells like sewage out in the hall," she remarks, playing the guilt trip on me as she knows that it was me who had made the rest of the place so uncomfortable in the first place. I suppose the least I can do is indulge her for the short time that she's going to be here, since she'll undoubtedly have to head back home to Virginia sometime tomorrow. What a fun conversation it's gonna be for her – I've got no doubt that she'll be grounded for at least two weeks for pulling this stunt.

I'm trying to make it seem like this is all bothering me more than it actually is, but when it really gets down to it… I'm actually glad that she came this weekend. Even though I was probably a total party pooper tonight at the club, it was still pretty cool to be able to see my baby sister again. I hadn't realized when I had first gotten kicked out just how much I'd miss her company, even though we drive each other bonkers.

"…Jane?" she whispers into the darkness, catching my attention briefly as I yawn.

"Hmm?"

Hearing nothing for a moment, I almost think that I had just imagined her calling my name, when she speaks again.

"Do you… do you think you can come back home with me? Please?"

This girl's gonna be the death of me with all of this guilt she's shoving inside. Damn… this is the kind of stuff that really hits me hard. I mean, how am I supposed to say this without breaking her heart again? Sometimes I forget that even though she's growing up way too quickly for my liking, deep down Jaime's still got the heart of a kid – so innocent and just… pure. It's almost as if we're yin and yang, Jaime and I. She's light, I'm dark. She's full of life, I'm cold and calculating. She trusts everyone she meets and never turns a blind eye to those she meets, and I'm much more wary of people unknown. How the two of us ended up as sisters with such stark personality differences is anyone's guess, but I suppose you could say that we kind of balance each other out. I really don't know where I'd be without Jaime in my life, at least partially.

Which is why it makes this confession so much harder for me to swallow.

"I…" I cut myself off, abruptly rolling over onto my side so that I'm facing away from the teen. "I don't think so, Jaime. I doubt that they'd even let me back if I asked."

"…you never know though, right?"

Breathing deeply out through my nose and slowly closing my eyes once again, I slowly shake my head even though it's too dark for her to see. "Just… get some rest, kiddo. We'll talk again in the morning."

I know that she's definitely deflated with that answer, but even though I can be brutally honest with people (which is partly one of the reasons that people often find me so unapproachable in the first place), I'm ninety-nine percent certain that that's what Jaime NEEDED to hear. I can't have her leaving this place with a false sense of hope about this – I won't let her feel that way.

Sometimes I even think that it might be better for her to just forget about me altogether, for her sake. No need to have a dropout like me dragging her down and forcing her to come all the way to fucking Washington DC just for a pop-in visit on a Saturday night. Jaime's got her own life to lead, and I don't want to get in the way of that.

But is it greedy of me to at least want a little part of her for myself? Is that too much of me to ask?

"Ok…" she remarks quietly, rustling the blanket as she too turns onto her side. "Goodnight, Jane."

"…yeah…" I awkwardly reply, not really having been used to such open affection in a very long time. It's still kind of weird to me – foreign, even. I don't think my comfort zone's even come close to that yet, but hopefully, with time… that might be able to change one day.

Baby steps here, people. I know that I'm a work in progress.

…

AN: Hey there, guys! This is just a little side project I want to work on, just to get me out of this rut that I've been having. I'm not sure how long it's going to end up being, but I wanted to try and give some backstory to the whole Jane-Jaime sister thing, since we had never actually seen this in the game.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter here, and there are gonna be more to come! Also, just wanted to give a big thanks to Paradoxilla for giving me the much-needed advice on getting back in the writing game! Much appreciated, brother!

Leafs Nation