He wasn't sure how he got there, but Jesse found himself inside of Burger not ten minutes later. His heavy breathing suggested he'd ran, but how long he didn't know. He could barely remember having met up with Mandy. All he knew is that when he tried to call up the memory, it made him real sad. Best to leave it.
Looking around, his gaze settled on two familiar girls. One prim and proper, a girl he'd been more or less friends with in his opinion since he met her, the cousin of that loser Harrington kid. Piper, and across from her was the blonde chick from the first day of school, but she looked like she'd just gotten out of a fight. Knowing that she ran with Johnny Vincent's crowd, Jesse wasn't surprised.
Without hesitation, he strode over and sat down, instantly feeling a little bit better by the company. He could sense the girl beside him, Alexis, tense up the moment he did.
"'Scuse me, ladies," he said, minding his manners, "I've just had a real bad night and I'm just lookin' for some company that ain't superficial."
"That's alright, Jesse," Piper mumbled, and Jesse almost shivered at the warmness of her voice, "I believe all three of us have had unpleasant nights."
He looked up and smiled at her, unable to help a small, borderline hysterical laugh from escaping his lips. Hell, if Piper was being this nice to him right off the bat, she must've had a pretty bad night, too. Automatically, he leaned back and set his arm around Alexis' shoulder, a habit he'd formed when he felt himself losing it a little and Casey was around. Helped to remind him he wasn't alone.
"I'm guessin' yours mighta had somethin' to do with a boy?" he asked, remembering her engagement to Parker, the little snot who'd once asked him for girl advice, "'Cause my situation sure had somethin' to do with a lady, and it didn't turn out none too well."
Alexis surprised him by speaking up, something he'd begun to think she wasn't quite capable of.
"Well, mine did," she mumbled, getting Jesse's attention. He turned his gaze to look at her, but she was looking away.
"Miss Monroe, is it?" he asked, not wanting to be calling her by the wrong name when she was in a low spot. When she nodded, he continued. "Well, if you don't mind my askin', just what is it that happened to make you upset?"
He watched her think for a moment, and when she spoke he could've sworn she was trying not to cry. "One of my best friends, Johnny Vincent? He broke up with his dame, and decided to try and tell me it's me he loves, but I know that isn't true. He's just lonely; he's done it before." She stopped for a moment, studying him, so Jesse did his best to look serious and understanding. "His old girl, Patti? He was real into her, too. Then when they broke up, same thing happened, not as much, though. He wasn't as broken up about it as he was 'bout this one. I don't know, I didn't wanna fall for it no more."
Jesse took a sharp intake of breath, the stupid grease monkey's actions reminding him of Mandy, and suddenly his anger towards her was directed towards the Vincent kid.
"Sounds like a real rat," he growled, his heartbeat escalating, "you just say the word and I'll get the entire football team and we'll teach that greaseball a lesson."
At least he could get the guys to beat up that guy without too much protest or confusion.
He gave Alexis a light hug as she politely turned down his offer, before turning to Piper, a desire to help both girls feel better overtaking him. He felt pretty bad himself, he didn't want them to be this upset, too. "What about you, lil' miss Harrington? Who hurt you on this fine night?"
Jesse watched as she frowned suddenly, trying to deny the fact that she was upset.
"We-Well... he didn't quite hurt me to say the truth..."
He interrupted her, not feeling like watching her try and hide it. "Now if you don't mind my language," he said, "that's some real bullshit, miss. I can see right in your eyes, you're hurtin' bad,"
She started again, this time willing to be honest. "Well, you see, it's Bif. You know, Bif Taylor, the boxer? He's been quite apprehensive on how he feels for me, lately, and just today he's decided that he loves me. I suspect he simply isn't quite ready to lose me to Parker, however..."
"He's a dick," Alexis shot out from beside Jesse, "he's an absolute jerk."
"That sure don't sound too nice," Jesse agreed, deciding to be a little more tactful than just straight up calling the guy names. Still, the familiar pang of anger struck him in the chest, though he did his best to hide it this time. Wouldn't be too useful to fly into a rage at this moment, without Casey around.
"What about you, Tyler?" Alexis suddenly growled at him. "Who's tugging at your heartstrings?"
He stopped for a moment, thinking it over. "Why, I'll have to swear both you ladies to secrecy. This kinda thing will tear the football team right to shreds, yeah?"
Stifling the chuckle that came as the girls leaned in, interested by the promise of some sort of juicy piece of gossip, he decided to just go ahead and tell them. "You see," he admitted, staring down at a smudge on the table, "I think I made the mistake of fallin' in love with the head cheerleader, Mandy Wiles."
The silence lay over them like a constricting blanket, and he could tell they were shocked by his honesty.
"That... that certainly is a predicament..." Piper mumbled after a bit. He nodded, agreeing with her.
"She says she don't know what she wants, though. I reckon she just wants to stir up drama, and it's workin'. I ain't ever felt this mixed up about a lady yet... here I am, wanderin' the streets and pilin' my problems on top of two already stressed out ladies."
"It's fine, man," Alexis said from beside him, "guess we're all fucked on Christmas. Dandy."
They sat in silence for what felt like a while, until Piper suddenly rushed out after getting some text on her phone, and then it was just Jesse and Alexis. That is, until that shady kid Jason Griffith came in to get her.
"Sorry Jess," Alexis told him as she watched the kid, and Jesse could tell she didn't know him. "I gotta go."
"All good," he replied, distrusting of Griffith but knowing Alexis wouldn't allow him to tell her what to do, "just gimme a ring if you need me."
And then he was alone. He sat like that for a while, alone in the booth, growing tired at every minute that ticked by. He ate the burger Alexis never touched, and it sat in his stomach like a rock. He wondered for a brief moment if he'd die there, in that booth, heartbroken and alone.
The bells of the burger joint chimed as someone entered, and for a wild second Jesse wondered if it was Alexis coming to complain about the burger he'd eaten. Turning, ready to be chided, he was surprised to find himself looking at some kid in a big black hoodie.
"You," the kid said, and Jesse struggled to look away from that weird mohawk of his, dyed black and green. He'd seen this kid around school.
"Me?" he asked dumbly.
"Yeah, you. Football player, right? You look like you could use a pick-me-up."
The boy walked over to Jesse's booth, taking a seat in the vacant side facing Jesse. "My name's Duncan, and that's all you need to know right now. I've got some stuff that can help you out in more ways than one. Get you to the top of the team, that kind of thing. You get it?"
"I ain't into no steroid shit," Jesse replied automatically, angry. Maybe he was still mad about the Mandy thing. He didn't know.
"Shut the fuck up and listen, dumbass," Duncan snapped, clearly not taking no for answer. "Don't talk so fucking loud. It's not just steroids, you stupid hillbilly. Come on, get the fuck up and take a look before you tell me to go to hell."
Good judgement be damned, Jesse shrugged and stood, ready to follow this Duncan kid wherever it was he wanted to go. He was too damn hurt right now to think it through.