Hey, guys! I'm trying to update as soon as possible because of my long absence (once again, please forgive me for that). I'm going to try and get one chapter up every week, and I know I've said that a million times, but now that I actually have time during the summer, I should be more able to keep that promise. I hope you like the new chapter!

PS: If you didn't reread the first chapter, then you need to go back and read it because it's a little different than before. I'm rewriting it because I wasn't satisfied the first time around. Thank you!

On the Rocks

Chapter 2

Nagihiko finally, finally plopped down onto his couch at 4:30 in the morning. He should have been home an hour ago, since the bar closed at three and closing up took about thirty minutes. But, as usual, some guests had a hard time leaving.

It felt so nice to finally be lying down. Normally the bar's patrons knew better than to start a fight when Nagihiko was behind the counter-he had no problem whatsoever with interrupting and punishing all participants very harshly-but apparently four men had forgotten that. He was exhausted from having to whip them back in line.

He wondered if he'd ever see them back at the bar, or if they would be too scared to return?

After five minutes of doing nothing but breathing deeply, Nagihiko finally stood and went to his nearly empty refrigerator. Orange juice, leeks that were a few days old, a single apple, and milk.

Ramen sounded like a good idea.

As he waited for the water to boil, Nagihiko glanced around his bare apartment. A long couch, glass table, and television in the spacious living room. Connected kitchen with only a stove, microwave and sink. A bedroom hidden away beyond his vision.

It was, in one word, empty.

But that was okay. He didn't do much but sleep here anyways. Nagihiko finished cooking his sub-par dinner before settling on the couch and letting the hot food cool. As he waited, he couldn't help but pull the silver necklace out of his pocket and stare at it, a neutral expression on his face. What was the story behind this necklace that the pinkette would abandon it at a bar like that?

After staring at it for a moment, he delicately placed it on the glass table before digging into his mediocre dinner.

Whatever. It didn't really matter.

When Amu woke up that morning, she nearly vomited from the strength of her hangover.

The pang in her skull was easily the worst she'd ever felt in her life, and she swore her mouth was drier than the Sahara. Not even her college-party hangovers compared to this. All she wanted to do was crawl under her blanket and sleep for the rest of eternity, since that's probably how long it would take for this hangover to go away.

"Our strongest drink would be the Joker."

"There are several different hard liquors."

"Most people with even a high tolerance can't-"

She was an idiot.

Somehow, Amu managed to drag herself out of bed and stumble to her kitchen without hurling. Though she had to stop four times to dry heave a bit. She grabbed a large glass and filled it to the brim with water before drinking the whole thing in five seconds, which did little to help her condition. Now she just felt hungover with water sloshing around in her stomach. This time when she filled her glass, she carefully sipped at it, as if it would bite.

Amu pulled a box of Cheerios out of the cabinet above her head, eating one Cheerio at a time from the box. She took both the box and the water back to her bedroom.

As Amu sat down on her fluffy bed, she reached for her phone, wincing at the bright light it emitted. But after seeing the screen, she cringed for an entirely different reason.

Utau, 48 Missed Calls
Rima, 31 Missed Calls
Utau, 18 Messages
Rima, 21 Messages

As much as Amu wanted to not call back so as to avoid the impending yelling that would certainly ensue, she knew that the longer she waited, the worse it would be.

Amu took one large breath before pressing the "Call" button next to Utau's name.

The call was answered on the first ring.

"Where the HELL have you been?!" Utau's yells were even louder than Amu expected. "Rima and I have been calling people all night, trying to find you, since we found out about Tadase, that stupid sonofa-"

"Can you chew me out while talking, Utau? I have the worst hangover right now, and your screaming is making my head split open." The line crackled for a few moments before Utau answered, voice full of concern.

"Are you okay?" she asked Amu. "I heard about Tadase. I swear, I'm gonna hunt that little pretty boy down and-" Utau stopped again, noticing her increase in volume and speed. "We can talk about that later, when you're feeling better. Would it be okay if I came over?"

Amu bit her lip, trying to keep from crying. "Normally you just bust my door down without warning."

"I thought that today may not be the best day for that." Utau paused again. "So is it okay?"

Amu bit her lip again, but couldn't hold back the choked tone of her voice. "Thank you, but not today. I'd really rather be alone today."

"Okay," Utau agreed, not putting up a fuss. "I'll yell at you and kill Tadase another day. And don't worry about Rima, if you haven't called her yet. I'll update her on the situation."

All Amu could choke out was, "Okay."

"I'll see you later. Rest well." As soon as the line cut off, Amu broke. Her body racked with sobs as she let out all of the pain and anger and grief in her chest. Her pounding head hurt even more as she did, but she didn't care. What was a little more pain with all that she already had?

It was two hours later, when she finally cried out all her tears, that Amu noticed the absence of her necklace.

Nagihiko couldn't believe how slow the bar was that night.

Normally the place was bursting at the seams with criminals of all kinds. Assailants, thieves, you name it, this bar had it. But on this night, there were only a handful of minor criminals. Perhaps the police were out in full force tonight, so they couldn't come?

Which made it that much louder when Amu slammed the double doors open and stormed over to Nagihiko. Her golden eyes were filled with fire as she shoved her hand out at him. "Give it back."

Nagihiko blinked a few times, stunned at the suddenness of the whole thing. He had expected Amu to return for the necklace, but not this quickly. Or this loudly, for that matter. "What?"

"My necklace. Give it back. I know you have it."

Nagihiko couldn't help himself; he was concerned. She'd had half a Joker the night before, and not much water. He was shocked she was even able to get out of bed, let alone come all the way to the bar. "Are you okay? You drank a lot of alcohol last night. Here, let me get you a hangover-"

"That's not important right now! Just give me my necklace!"

"I don't have it on me. I thought you'd be bedridden today so I left it at home."

"You what?!" Nagihiko cringed at the volume and pitch Amu had somehow managed to reach. "That's my necklace! And you brought it home with you?!"

"There's a lot of people with quick hands around here, so I couldn't leave it here. I was going to bring it tomorrow because that's when I thought you'd be back."

Amu couldn't believe what was happening. Eight years, she'd had that necklace, and because she was mad and drunk she left it in a sleazy bar and let it fall into this bartender's hands?!

"I need that necklace back, as soon as possible," Amu said, trying her best to stay calm. "It's very important to me. I don't know why I even left it here."

Nagihiko simply smiled. "Don't worry too much. We all do stupid things while intoxicated."

For some unknown reason, those simple words calmed her down just a little bit. "So? When can I get my necklace back?"

Nagihiko smiled gently at Amu. "If you come back tomorrow at eight, I'll bring your necklace. Now that that's settled, take a seat. I can see on your face how hungover you are."

Amu's cheeks flamed red in embarrassment. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Nagihiko's gentle smile didn't falter. "Of course. Even though you definitely aren't hungover, would you humor me and have a seat?"

Amu should have left. She had every intention of leaving and never looking back. No matter how nice this guy was acting, he was still the bartender of the shadiest bar she had ever seen. But something about him... Something about him made Amu trust him, no matter how much she knew she shouldn't.

So she couldn't help it when she sat down on the stool right in front of him.

As he rummaged around under the bar, clearly looking for something, Nagihiko spoke. "I don't think I ever introduced myself to you yesterday. My name is Nagihiko Fujisaki."

Amu shifted slightly in her seat. She may trust him, but she wasn't sure she wanted to tell him her name just yet. Sensing this, Nagihiko added, "Don't worry, I won't bite. I would just like to have something to call you besides 'that girl' or 'pinkette'."

Amu tried-and failed miserably-to hide her smile. "Amu Hinamori."

Nagihiko pulled out various things from underneath the bar. Some sort of grayish powder, milk, two unknown liquids in large bottles, and various other things Amu couldn't name. She began to wonder if it was really a good idea to accept this... concoction from a man she'd only met twice, and only once while sober.

"That's a nice name," Nagihiko said, ignorant of Amu's trepidation. "I've been wondering since last night. How did you know about this place? Not many people... like you come by here."

Amu shrugged. "It was really just a coincidence. I had been wandering for the past three hours and I just so happened to come across the bar. In my state of mind, I just wanted a drink. It really didn't matter what or where."

Nagihiko's eyes flicked up to meet Amu's golden ones. "After having the Joker, do you wish you had cared more about what you had to drink?"

Amu didn't even have to answer; her face said it all.

Nagihiko smiled at Amu again as he shook the hangover drink in a shaker. "Well, don't worry too much about it. This drink helps get you through your hangover a lot faster. And now you know to be a lot more careful from now on, right?"

After a moment of silence, Nagihiko poured the green potion into a large glass. It had a smoothie-like texture and a grayish-green color. Suddenly, Amu's hangover didn't seem so bad. "You know, on second thought, I'm feeling a lot better now..."

Nagihiko chuckled. "Trust me. It may not taste great, but it'll make you feel a lot better."

Amu looked back and forth between Nagihiko and the drink, then again, again. Curse his kind eyes, making her feel so safe. With a sigh, she took the glass from his hands and tentatively took a sip of the drink.

He certainly hadn't been joking about the taste; how on earth did he manage to make a drink taste like iron, grass, and strawberries all at once? But by the same token, she could feel the pain in her head lessen, even if only a little. Despite the foul taste, she kept drinking.

"I take it that it's helping," Nagihiko said. "I barely drink, but on the days after I do accidentally drink too much, I always make this."

Amu cocked her head to the side. "You don't like to drink?" Nagihiko shook his head in response while cleaning off the counter. "Then why did you become a bartender?"

Nagihiko tensed, freezing in place, before relaxing a few seconds later. "That's a long story." It wasn't difficult to see that what he meant was "Don't ask."

Neither of them spoke for a moment before Nagihiko smiled and said, "I recommend drinking that all at once. It makes it a bit easier to stomach."

Amu nodded slowly, eyes never leaving Nagihiko. Taking a deep breath, Amu drank the concoction as quickly as possible. The awful taste built stronger and stronger, but just before it became too much to bear, the last of the drink slid down her throat.

Amu noticed that the genuine kindness had slipped out of his eyes, replaced by impersonal politeness. For some reason, the change made her feel a bit sad.

"Um... I should probably go..." Amu's tone was clearly awkward. Nagihiko didn't answer, only smiling in a way that Amu knew was fake. She wondered just what she said to shut Nagihiko off so quickly. "I'll see you tomorrow, I guess. For my necklace."

Nagihiko only nodded.

And with that, Amu left the bar, hangover gone but stomach unsettled for an entirely different reason.

Done with chapter 2! How was it? Was it good, bad? Awful, amazing? Please review, fave, and follow!