Disclaimer: Twilight, all associated characters, and everything in this universe are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I make no claim to it, and have no financial interest at stake.
Jacob was getting drunk. Well, more accurately, he was trying to get drunk. He was trying very hard.
He had started off drinking beer, but he found that it just wasn't physically possible for him to drink enough to even get a buzz. After a couple nights of drinking until he was ready to be sick from just the sheer quantity of fluid in him, he had decided to switch to something harder, and since he was in Canada (he almost never got ID'd, but occasionally some over zealous bouncer would demand to see something, so he figured he might as well run up north where he was legal and they were used to 19 year old Americans), he figured he'd try rye.
Initially he thought it was disgusting, but after a few bottles he started appreciating it more. It helped that he was ordering the good stuff. Having his universe revolve around a fantastically rich half vampire had some perks. Although he was loathe to take money from them normally, he figured that since they were a large part of the reason he wanted to get drunk, it served them right to foot the bill.
As he thought about Nessie, he relaxed and smiled. Then he groaned. That was the problem, he could never think reasonably whenever she was involved. It made his relationship with Leah that much more difficult to figure out.
They had had another fight last week. Not a big one, not an important one, just another one. The two of them had been working a lot, and they had been looking forward to some quality time together, the plan had been to meet up after work and go on a hunt.
It wasn't his fault that he had managed to finish the day's work before noon (one of the benefits of being strong enough to take an engine block out of a car without a lift), and so had the whole day free.
It may have been a mistake to go and visit Nessie, but it was so hard to stay away, and at the time he couldn't see a reason not to go.
It was definitely a mistake to go hunting with her. She had suggested it, but she would probably have been just as happy playing checker with him, especially if she knew that he was planning on going with Leah in just a few hours.
It was most assuredly a mistake to not tell Leah about the whole thing when she had met up with him after she had finished work. He had just been trying to avoid a fight, but hiding things doesn't work in a relationship, especially not one where both people can read each others minds.
When she had found out what he had been doing (and who with), she was angry. When she realized that he had been hiding it from her, she was furious.
They had transformed back, startling the herd of deer they had been stalking, and the shouting match they had had, had probably scared every living thing within 5 kilometers.
She had called him all sorts of things: unfaithful, unthinking, insensitive, cowardly. And he had responded in kind: shrew, harpy, insecure, a bitch (although that one was literal, and usually wasn't hurtful).
The worst part wasn't the fighting though; it was afterwards. They simply ignored each other, only acknowledging each other when they absolutely had to while on patrol. It had been too much for Jake, and he had put her in charge of the pack for the weekend, while he ran up to British Columbia to try to drink himself into a new perspective.
Which brought him back to where he was now. A bar with low lighting, and quiet music, where the bartenders served him rye after rye, and didn't bother him so long as he tipped well and didn't look too drunk. There were only a few other people in the bar tonight. An old man who had been almost been matching Jake drink for drink at the other end of the bar, a trio of teenagers who looked like they had just turned of age a week ago, a couple sitting in a booth quietly arguing about something or other. The teenagers had sized him up as soon as he had gotten in there, and they had looked like they might have wanted to start something, but they seemed to have thought better of it.
Jake was glad they had, he wouldn't say no to a good fight about now, but he wanted something that would at least give him a workout. The three kids would have been as outmatched as Chihuahua pups against a timber wolf.
He heard the voices in the booth start to rise, and suddenly he heard a shrill voice shout,
"...and you can screw off!" and he saw the women grab her coat and storm out.
The guy started after her, but then seemed to think better of it and slunk to the bar and collapsed onto the stool next to Jake.
"CC" he ordered.
Jake looked at him, he had his elbow resting on the bar, with his head in his hands, his back was bowed, and when the bartender brought him his drink he gazed into it as if it might hold the answer to a very important question. He slugged it back, and ordered another one.
Something about him seemed familiar. With a start Jake realized it was how the guy was sitting. It was the exact same position he himself was in.
"I'm Jake," he heard himself say. The other man looked up.
"Dom," the other man offered. "What are you drinking for?"
"Probably the same thing you are. How about you let me get this round?" Dom sized him up, and gave a noncommittal shrug, which Jake took for a yes. "So who was that?"
"That was Vanessa, my girlfriend. She just got a job offer out east."
"And that's bad?"
"No, that's great! She's been trying to get out of here for years. I guess she just didn't like how enthusiastic I seemed about her going away."
"How long have you two been together for?" Jake asked, genuinely curious now. Other people's problems were a good distraction from his own. Those simple questions were all it took to get Dom to spill the whole story; he had clearly been a few drinks in before he came to sit down beside Jake. It turned out that Dom and Vanessa had been dating for just over 3 years, that Dom had a job a helicopters flight away at a logging camp, 'two weeks on, two weeks off', and that Vanessa had been a teacher at the local high school.
"And I love her, but we just wouldn't work out!" Dom shouted that last bit, slamming his again empty glass into the table. Jake signaled for another round.
"This will be your last for the night, I'd make it last if I were you," the bartender warned them gravely, although the twenty that Jake slipped to him softened his look slightly, "I suppose I can make it a double."
"Thanks man," Dom mumbled, clearly embarrassed about being cut off.
"No problem, it's about time the leeches gave something back," Jake said.
"Tax rebate?" Dom guessed.
"Something like that," Jake replied, and then trying to get his thoughts back away from that family, "why don't you go east with her?
"I have too much here," Dom sighed, "my little sister is going to UNBC, and I don't want her to have to worry about money while she's there. Besides, I don't think it would last, Nessie always wanted to go out and see the world, I'm a more stay at home kind of guy." Jake gave a start at the mention of Nessie, but quickly realised that Dom meant his own girlfriend. Not Jake's imprint. "I suppose it's all for the best, but that doesn't mean it don't hurt."
"Yea," Jake mused, "I guess even the right decision hurts, eh?" Now that he thought about it, he wouldn't have been happy with Nessie, nor her with him. Sure, he would have been complete, and never begrudged her a second of their time together, but all Jake wanted was to stay and protect La Push, and Nessie needed to go off and see the world. "So what are you going to do?" Jake asked Dom.
"I head back out to camp in three days. I figure I'll see how much of my savings I can drink before that, and when I get back, maybe I can help Ness pack up and move on." With that, he slammed the rest of his drink back, and laid his head down on the bar, dead to the world.
Jake blinked. He hadn't thought Dom would have been that drunk yet. Thinking back though, they had drunk a lot. Even with his werewolf constitution, he was feeling slightly buzzed. The bartender looked over at the two of them and walked over.
"Are you alright to get your friend home, or do I need to call a cab… or the cops?"
"No, it's fine," Jake said, as he got up and lifted Dom up over his shoulder, "I got him." Jake carried Dom out of the bar, and fished Dom's wallet out of his back pocket, looking for an address. He found the wallet, and saw that Dom lived on the same street of the bar, just a couple of block south. A short hike later, he arrived at the address on the license and knocked on the door. The door opened after only a short wait, and Jake saw that it was the same girl who had been in the booth with Dom at the bar.
"Is he alright?" The girl had obviously been crying, and had probably had a few drinks herself since Jake had last seen her.
"He's fine, just needs to sleep it off."
"Thank you so much, I knew I shouldn't have left him, I just… I mean, I was…"
"It's fine, you don't owe me an explanation, just let him know I said 'thanks' when he wakes up. The two of you helped me see a lot." Vanessa looked confused, but she just nodded her head, and put her arm around Dom, leading him back into the house.
Jake smiled, and started walking towards the mountains, he couldn't phase until he was well and truly in the bush. He may not know exactly how to solve his issues with Leah, but he was sure they would figure it out. He knew that he loved her, and he knew that they would be all right. Nessie and him were too different to work, and while he would always be drawn to her, if her being halfway around the world from him was what she needed, then god damnit, that was what she was going to get.
He went deeper into the bush, and started running, phasing as he did so. One more benefit of imprinting into a family with a net wealth greater than some small countries, he didn't need to worry about affording clothes anymore.
"You're back," Leah's thoughts echoed in his head.
"Damn right I am, and I love you," Jake thought back as he ran, and he opened up his entire night to her, letting her see that no matter what happened she would always be first for him.
"Damn you, you needed a drunk Canadian to make you see what everyone has been telling you for weeks?" Leah thought, but she laughed as she thought it, and Jake could see that she was now running to meet him half way, (although to be honest, it would be a lot closer to him than half way, damn if she wasn't fast). "I love you, and you love me. The rest is just commentary."