Hey, I know in the show Jay only has the one tattoo on his arm, but I added a few cuz I like them :D

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!


"Hey, Manny!" Emma was relieved to find her. She wanted to talk things over, regarding earlier, but Manny just bolted straight past her. "Manny! Can I talk to you?" She called after her friend.

"Please don't try and talk to me!" Manny pleaded under her breath, wanting to get the hell out of there.

Emma stood rooted to the spot with a look of confusion on her face.

"Sean, do you know what's wrong with Manny?" Sean was standing in the doorway of the dorm with an unreadable look on his face. It crossed Emma's mind for a quick second that it was weird Sean was standing in the doorway looking so stricken, the same place Manny had just emerged so dramatically, but she never put two and two together or anything logical like that.

"Nope." Sean replied instantly, a little too calmly. He already felt guilty.

"Argh, I knew I should never have agreed to this stupid road trip! Such a bad idea..."

"Huh?"Sea wanted to know what Emma was talking about.

Alarm bells chimed in Emma's head as she mentally warned herself not to say anything, for her crappy lying skills would certainly give her away.

"It doesn't matter. Just me being stupid." Emma dismissed it for now.


"Well, I think it's time for sleep. There is nothing else to do here but sleep." Spinner sighed loudly as he lumbered up from his spot on the bench and began to amble awkwardly to the dorm.

He was followed by Sean and Jay. Manny had gone to bed a long time ago, and Emma was sitting in front of the fire hugging her arms around her tiny body, despite the huge hoodie she had donned, and the roaring fire, she was still cold.

"Hey, Em, come to bed." Sean called.

Spinner guffawed crudely and then hooted even more crudely.

"Not like that, Spin!" Sean sighed too. "I don't want her out here by herself, it's not safe at night."

Emma couldn't help but feel touched by Sean's thoughtfulness. But then she saw Jay stand behind him and her mind began scrambling again. She screwed up her eyes and shook her head to try and diminish the thoughts.

- - - - -

Jay stood around looking extremely uncomfortable. He emerged from the bathroom in black track pants and a black wife beater. Emma could see his tattoos, decorating his undeniably muscular and eye catching arms.

"I think I'm gonna sleep on the backseat of the Civic tonight." Jay announced. Spinner was in the 'bathroom' and Sean was perched on the edge of his bed like he was planning a quick get away.

"What's up with Jay, man? Seriously!" Sean was pacing now, he looked ready to blow a fuse.

Emma was on the spot, she panicked and she lied.

"It's Alex. The whole lesbian thing has really thrown him!" Emma exclaimed, sounding all together too breezy, nonchalant and dramatic. Utterly unconvincing. But somehow, Sean bought it.

"Still? How the hell... he's been broken up with Alex for, what, two years now? And he was cheating on her in the first place! Let's not forget what lead them to break up!"

"Sean, it's not as if you were here. Who are you to comment?" Spinner butted in, speaking painfully slowly.

Sean spun around and looked menacingly at Spinner, but thought better of it. Must have been something to do with the warning look in Emma's eye.

"Sean, don't." Manny's voice spoke up in warning tones, surprising everyone.

Sean spun around in the other direction to face her, looking bewildered. "What is up with you guys, walking on egg shells?" Sean bellowed, the vein in the side of his neck bulging.

His request was greeted by stunned silence. Each of them looked around at each other, wondering who, if anyone at all, was going to field this question.

"OK, I get it. This is 'everyone-ignore-Sean-and-keep-stupid-secrets' day, right? Fuck this, I'm outta here!" Sean stormed out of the dorm, slamming the rickety door behind him, making the whole construction shake worryingly.

"Well, we handled that one well!" Emma exclaimed shakily, throwing her hands up in the air dramatically.

"What the hell were we supposed to do, Em? Everyone here knows about... you know what, except him! It's like walking a tightrope!"

"Or egg shells, even?" Spinner joined in.

"Manny! Why the hell did I ever let you talk me into this!"

"You could have said no, Emma." Many pointed out, rightfully portraying her fraction of innocence in this horrible situation.

"This is awful!" Emma added, perhaps scrimping for attention a bit too much.

"I believe the phrase is cuckoo bananas!" Manny said dryly.

"Manny, this isn't helping!"

"You're not helping yourself, Emma!" Manny shot back finally, before she shot up off the bed and dived into the bathroom, bolting the door behind her.

Spinner looked worried.

"OK, Em, I've seen what you can get like when confronted, so I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut, and unlike the rest of you crazy cats, I'm gonna get some sleep." Spinner edged toward the bed, holding out his hands as some sort of defense all the way, until he sank onto the soft mattress in relief.


Jay was thankful of the alcoholic substances he had stashed in his locked glove compartment. He rattled the key in the lock, slammed it with his fist twice and shook it on its rockers, and finally it fell open. A bottle of vodka was sitting there, ready to relieve him.

The radio was blaring out some tinny punk song, some unknown band that he didn't care to learn the name of. He turned the volume down to see if the sound quality improved any, but alas, it didn't. He turned it off temporarily, but the deafening silence was too much to bare, so he flicked it back on. He screwed the lid off the bottle and gratefully took a swig. The first necking of Vodka was always the worst for him. He was a beer drinker really, vodka was usually a last resort when there was no other sustenance available (I.e.: now) or when he was already so fuck-faced he'd drink pond water if he was told it was alcoholic.

He was wondering the same thing as Emma. Why the hell he ever agreed to come on this trip, he'd never know. He and Spinner were barely friends anymore after the drama of which no-one speaks, Sean – well, that was a no-go area. Emma was constantly tense – he pardoned his own pun there – with having both of her 'boys' in the same room together, and Manny, well... who knew what was going on in that tiny head of hers?

For someone who didn't drink vodka, he devoured the bottle pretty damn quick. The bitter, chemical taste of the clear drink was gone and it was now just like drinking water. He supposed to himself that it had burned his taste buds off and singed his throat, now he could eat or drink anything and have no idea on the taste. Now he could look into a career as a fire eater at the circus...

He hoped they'd be moving on tomorrow, and hopefully find a place that wasn't so Cavemen-esque. He didn't mind piling everyone into the car, sugary drinks and all, if it meant getting out of this hell hole.

His original plan to sleep on the back seat faded away as he fell asleep in the drivers seat, clutching the empty bottle of vodka.


"Jay?" He thought he could hear his name. It was a bit distant though. He shook it off as his imagination. "Jay! Jay!" He could hear it nearer now, right in his ear. His eyes shot open and he could see a beautiful blonde girl leaning in the window, her face looking solemn.

He rubbed his eyes sleepily and smiled crudely at Emma. He could see down her top when she leaned that far forward. But he didn't say anything.

"We wanna go."

"Go where, breakfast?"

"No, to a new place. Can we leave in like ten minutes?"

Jay's heart sank. What time was it? His clock in the Civic told him it was 10.45am. He'd slept in much later than he had the day they left for this fucking trip. "Ten minutes?"

"Yeah. I see you've had your fun. Now you gotta pay for it." Emma said with a wicked glint in her eyes.

"What do you mean? Has Sean..." Jay's blue eyes opened wide in panic.

"No!" Emma exclaimed, also nervously. "I was talking about the drink. I take it you're not hungover?"

"No, I can handle one small bottle of vodka, Emma 'Light-weight' Nelson."

"Hey, how do you know I can't handle drink?"

"Cuz you just admitted it!" He said, playfully touching her arm slightly.

Emma's wide smile faltered and her eyes dropped to his hand on her arm, then she looked at him, and for a brief second Jay thought he saw something, but then she shifted her arm and started smiling again.

"Fifteen minutes max, Jason!" She called casually as she headed back to the dorm.

Jay shifted awkwardly in his seat. He didn't realize until then how uncomfortable it was. He stretched out his fingers, wondering if they'd tense up during the night and he'd be crippled. He opened the door and stuck one leg out wearily. He did the same with the other leg and climbed face first out of his cramped car. He stood up to his full height, stood on his tip-toes and stretched his arms high above his head, so he was scraping seven or eight feet tall.

He didn't need to go inside for anything, so he used this to have his breakfast. A cigarette and half a Reese's bar he found in his pocket.

He leaned against the drivers side door of the Civic and shut his eyes again, relishing in the forty more winks he could catch before the girls and Spinner and Sean would arrive demanding transportation away from the uncivilized wilderness. City folk these days...


"Let's get the hell outta this dump!" Spinner shook Jay out of his weary slumber with a 'friendly' punch in the stomach.

Jay's head flew up and his eyes shot open, obviously startled. "Woah Spin, remember early morning etiquette!" Jay groaned as he had to get back into the car and begin the next leg of this horrendous journey.


What did you think? Please review, let me know what is good and bad with this. And thank you KagSanlover for beta'ing!

Brook's-Babey :D