Friday
The lights dancing past outside the car attract Jamie's wandering gaze as Joe weaves through Brooklyn. His eyes can't decide where to look and they flit around the inside of the car from the lights to the back of Joe's head to the plastic leftover container wedged in the middle of the backseat between his and Eddie's thighs.
Right now she's acting a little too interested in Joe's life as a student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Jamie is even more annoyed at Mary Margaret for refusing to let him and his three months of licensed driving experience on the road at 2:30am on New Years. That should be Jamie on the receiving end of Eddie's impressed curiosity - but what does he have that's as interesting as police college? It's not that he's jealous of his brother in a competitive way, but with Joe in the car Jamie has hardly had a chance to get a word in edgewise.
"And did you know that they use the same concept for designing prisons and malls?" Joe says as he follows Eddie's directions for another turn.
"What? So every store in the mall is, like, a prison cell?" Eddie asks.
"No - but they want to be able to see everything from everywhere, you know? Open lines of sight in case something goes wrong."
"Oh, that makes sense -" Eddie starts, leaning forward around the headrest of the passenger seat and shoving the cupcakes container more firmly against Jamie's leg. "Um - it's a right at the light up here but…"
"Yeah," Joe sighs, slowing down as they approach the rolling flashes of red and blue that block the intersection ahead of them.
"Are they letting anyone through?" Jamie asks. At this point he just wants to hear his own voice, remind Eddie that he's still in the car.
"Doesn't look like it…"
"Drunk driver," Jamie theorizes.
"Probably. Let's see if I can pull a U-turn and go around."
"It's okay," Eddie says. "It's just two blocks from here so I can walk." Her hand fumbles for the door latch as Joe stops at the end of the short line of cars trapped by the accident in the center of the intersection.
Joe begins to protest but Jamie jumps in before he gets any words out. "I'll walk you," he offers. "Joe, you just turn around and wait and I'll meet you in a minute."
Jamie scrambles out of the backseat before anybody can argue, and he crosses over to the sidewalk on Eddie's side as she steps out with her school backpack and her cupcakes. She has all that are left because while a newly eliminated Theresa ranted about Eddie's refusal to trade her for that last yellow property - as if that's the sole reason she lost - Eddie brought the entire tray of cupcakes in front of herself and nonchalantly took a bite out of each remaining one. Jamie thought it was hilarious and he was still laughing as a furious Theresa stalked out of his house to go home.
"You think your brother's over there?" Eddie asks with a nod at the NYPD cars that have responded to the accident.
Jamie blinks heavily to regain some clarity after the sight of the lights reflecting in Eddie's shining eyes fogged up his brain. "Um, no, we're not near his precinct," he answers.
"Oh. Your dad?"
"Same thing, he's in Manhattan. And detectives wouldn't have to go to a regular car crash unless there's something else going on."
"Ah." She squints and cautiously walks toward the makeshift police blockade so they can turn the corner.
As they get closer Jamie can see the two mangled cars in the middle of the intersection. "Wow, that looks bad."
"Mhmm," Eddie agrees. She can't tear her eyes away and she bumps into Jamie as she walks, muttering "Sorry" before she straightens herself out.
"We can't get in their way," Jamie says softly. He wraps one hand around her elbow and steers her into a wider path on the sidewalk around the scene. She turns her head to watch over her shoulder for as long as she can before they round the corner and she turns back to the front.
"So your dad and both your brothers," she says. "And you? Do you wanna be a cop?"
"Nah," Jamie offers. "I don't think I'm really cop material."
"Cop material?"
"Yeah, you know." Jamie pauses to think - he's not sure how to explain what he means, since cop material is a concept he's implicitly understood all his life but never really put words to. "My dad, my brother Danny…they're good with people, they make people respect them, I guess. They're the right amount of tough, scary, when they need to be, and I'm - not."
"Joe's going to be a cop and he's not scary," Eddie points out.
Jamie lets out a soft laugh. "You've never seen him angry."
"I'm just saying - not all police officers have to be scary. Maybe it's a good thing to have some cops that aren't always scary."
Hunching forward against the bitterly cold wind, Jamie glances sideways at the way Eddie hugs the flat food container upright against her chest. "What about you?" he asks. "You thinking about John Jay or something?"
"Like, being a cop? No," she replies.
"Then why were you -?"
"I can still think it's cool to solve crimes and arrest bad guys even if I don't wanna be a cop. I can still like the stories."
"Then what do you want to be?"
"I dunno," she shrugs, an unsteadiness in her voice thanks to the cold. "I like math, so maybe that's what I'll do in college."
"To be a teacher or something?"
"Dunno," she says again. "I don't really know all the jobs you can do with math but Ms. Chapple says there's a lot. Just nothing with money - that's not the cool math."
"You could invent an actual flying ferry," Jamie suggests.
Eddie giggles and bounces as she walks, inching closer to Jamie to let a group of college girls stumble past them going the other way. "And I'll be a millionaire!" she exclaims. "Everybody's traffic problems solved! Maybe if you're lucky I'll give you a few thousand dollars when I'm rich, you know, since you're my partner."
"Just a few thousand? Well I'm gonna be a lawyer so I'll sue you for half. See you in court, Janko."
"Hey, a few hours ago you thought it was the stupidest idea you ever heard," Eddie reminds him.
"Nothing's stupid if it makes money."
"If you're a lawyer you could be rich anyway. You don't need my flying ferry money."
"Can never have too much," Jamie laughs. He keeps walking a couple steps before he realizes that Eddie has slowed down next to him, and he turns to look at her to see why.
"This - this is me," she says.
Jamie raises his eyebrows at the tan brick apartment building that looms above them but he doesn't really get to look before Eddie's magnetic grin lures his attention back in. He coughs out an awkward laugh, unsure of what else to do as she just stands there watching him for a long moment.
"Thanks for inviting me to stay for your party," she finally says. "It was fun."
"You're welcome." He doesn't add that technically it was his mother who invited her - and he's certainly not complaining that she did. "I know the debate kids are weird but…"
"You say that like you're not one of them," Eddie teases.
"I mean -"
"You're weird, I'm weird, we're all weird," she giggles. "Anyone who plays Monopoly that long is weird, Jamie."
"I guess that's true," he chuckles.
She's visibly shivering now, straining her quivering jaw to keep her teeth from chattering. "I'm - I'm gonna go in now," she announces. "I'll see you...on Monday, I guess."
"Yeah, Monday."
Jamie shoves his hands deeper in his pockets and another moment passes silently as neither one moves. Then Eddie shifts her cupcakes to one side of her body and reaches up to hook her free arm around Jamie's neck. He didn't expect the hug but he tugs his hands loose from his pants to reciprocate, holding her close to him around the awkward protrusion of her backpack and the stupid cupcakes. The yellow hat she wears smells like chlorine and flowers and the feeling of her warm breath against the exposed skin of his neck sends shivers down his spine and he's almost glad when she loosens her grip because she's had him on edge all day and now he's about to fling himself over it.
But even as he drops his arms she lingers against him for a second, retracting her elbow just enough to rest her gloved hand on the back of his head. She rises on her toes and plants a gentle kiss on his cheek. And just as quickly as it happens it's over and she's floating away into her building, leaving Jamie rooted on the sidewalk slack-jawed and stunned as he tries to remember what it feels like to breathe.