"A New Friend" I don't freaking own the characters. But that would be tight.
Jack went to the hall closet to get some blankets, seeing how he'd be on the couch for a while. "But the couch sucks."
"Well, she's not gettin' my room." Angel stood his ground, though there was a trace of bragging in his voice.
Alex chimed in. "Hey, man, give me the couch. God knows I've had worse to work with."
"No, no, you're our guest, and besides, Bobby will have my ass if I let you."
"Umm..OK...have fun on the couch, then. You had a chance." She then said quietly, "And thank you."
"No problem."
"I'm tired. Jetlag. Detroit's a long way from Las Vegas."
"Hell, no. You came here from Vegas?" Angel had a big smile.
"It was awesome. Didn't gamble, though. At least, not in the casinos. Not old enough. 'Night, boys."
"Goodnight." All the boys said simutaneously. They liked this girl. She had a certain charm to her. She was friendly, open, yet mysterious in a way. She never let on too much.
"So," Angel turned to Bobby,"How old is she?"
Bobby's eyes go from the staircase to Angel, never a change of expression. "Not old enough for you."
"Man, I got Sofi, I don't need a girl, I got me a woman."
"If that's what you wanna call La Vida Loca, sure, OK."
"Shut up."
"I'm goin' to bed anyway."
"Yeah, me too." Jack said, settling himself on the couch. "Now, get out of my room."
Jack wakes up the next morning, feeling stiff, but not as bad as he thought it'd be. At least he could move without pain.
"Hi." A soft voice from behind said.
"Huh?" His head jerked around, and he found that the couch hadn't been as nice to him as he thought. "Ow."
"Good morning, Jack."
"Oh, hi." Jack said to his new houseguest, now totally awake, but not 'refreshed' as they say. "What time is it?" He asked, sitting up.
"Not even 6 yet."
"Damn, we're up early."
"I know. It's kinda nice though. Quiet. Something about it, you know?"
"Yeah, I do know."
"That was nice of you. Giving me your room for the night."
"Yeah, well, like I said. I didn't really have a choice. But I would've offered it to you anyway."
"I know. That's why I thanked you."
"So..you lived with Bobby?"
"Yeah. Back in the day. He was cool to me, though. He was like my big brother. I mean, he was like a big brother, that's mine. Not like real brothers are. But, um..anyway...Yeah, which sounds kinda weird, some dude in his late 20's, keepin' a teenage girl around. But it wasn't like that. Not that we mattered to anybody. I was some runaway, and Bobby's not really a model citizen."
"That's true." Jack had to laugh at that, as did Alexis. "But he always seems to come through for family. Even if 3 minutes ago, he had you in a chokehold against the wall, and it was more than just sibling rivalry. But 3 minutes later, its as if none of it had ever happened. It's back to normal. He doesn't apologize, that's not Bobby. But he'll stand up for you, anybody ever got a problem,--"
"They gotta make it through Bobby first." They both say at the same time. She knew that, too. And they both smiled, satisfied that they had someone like Bobby.
"But he doesn't think that you can fight your own battles. He needs to figure that out. Sometimes we gotta face our own problems, sometimes."
"Yeah. You shoulda seen the way he was around my guy friends."
"Boyfriends?" Jack inquired, curiously.
"Not too many of those, really. So, pretty much just guy friends. Hey, don't get me wrong, I was the object of affection for many. For some, maybe not a-ffection." There was quite a pause there, kinda awkward. "So," Alex finally spoke, breaking this silence, "Cracker Jack? Really?"
Jack could only nod, with an expression saying, 'Yeah, it sucks as bad as it sounds.'
"Kinda cute. Cracker Jack. Clever. Fitting, I guess."
"Yeah, it's a frickin' joy."
Alex laughed. "I like you. You're cool. We're gonna make good friends, I can tell." Another awkward silence. "You know, I'm not usually this outgoing. I just make either a very good first impression, or a bad one. I was just so excited to see Bobby."
"I thought it was fantastic."
"What was?"
"Your first impression. I thought was amazing, personally."
"Are you flirting with me?"
Jack smiles slyly, looking as if he was about to say something charmingly witty, even though his panicking mind was drawing a blank. She thought the look he had was adorable, and was grinning, also looking charming, waiting to hear his next line, hoping it was gonna be sincere, ad not some cheesy pick-up line, which in her mind, made her smile a bit more, because she realized she was already at his place. But then the moment was broken, and they were both kinda bummed and relieved, when Angel entered the room, awake, enough, at least.
"Morning," He said, not stopping, or making eye contact, just walking straight into the kitchen, rubbing the back of his head as he walked, then realized, he had no idea what the hell he was looking for, so he walked back out, stopped in the living room.
"Mission objective completed?" Alex asked, quickly raising and dropping an eyebrow, maing herself and Jack grin.
Angel did nothing but "mmm.."and scratched the back of his bald head. Then he actually spoke, after a moment of waking up and regaining full consciousness. "So how was your night on the couch, Baby Brother?"
Jack did the same "mmm.." sound.
"And yours, kid?" He asked, turning to Alexis.
"Well, at first, I was full of guilt and sympathy, for Jack. But then I realized, 'Damn, this bed is comfy.' And," bringing hand up in air, then back down, "from then on, it was 'screw guilt and sympathy, I was having a hard enough time with consciousness. Not that I was complaining, jetlag's a bitch."
"Don't I know it."
"Good to know you enjoyed yourself in my bed."
"How many guys have said that to you, Jack? I can't imagine many." Bobby, obviously, had said that.
"Yeah, I guess I just can't live up to the reputation of my big brother."
"Haha. Comeback." Angel was looking amused, as he sat down next to Alex.
"What's Bobby's next move?" She asked. "Can't wait to see." She, of course, was also amused.
"Bobby's gettin' something to eat next." Bobby announced, Angel and Alex disappointed, somewhat, to see that the battle of insults was at an end.
"So," Angel asked, he had obviously been wondering. "You said you hadn't gambled, you're underage. How old are you?"
"Nineteen."
"Wow. You're young."
"Thanks, I guess. I'm more mature than I sound, though. Well, sometimes I am. Nineteen is an awesome age. You're old enough to be grown up, but still young enough to justify when you're acting like a teenager. So you can get away with it. So, Jack," she said, turning to him. "You're a musician? Obviously. You've got guitars in your room."
"Yeah." Jack said, nodding.
"I play bass. I've kinda got the basics of guitar own, though."
"Yeah," Bobby said, "Jack's like, the second coming of Freddie Mercury."
"Shut up, man."
"Hah. I'll stop when you're straight." As if saying, 'When pigs fly.'
"I am straight. But I haven't seen you with a girl for a while."
The rest Alex didn't hear, she already put on headphones, and was listening to her mp3 player. Foreigner blocked out the immature bickering of Jack and Bobby, even though it was somewhat humorous. "Jukebox Hero" was blaring and in her headphones. Her favorite song by a band she had listened to pretty much all her life. Soon it ended and Eminem's "Lose Yourself" started. Another favorite song.
"Whatcha listening to?" She read Angel's lips. She removed the headphones, and placed them on his head for a few moments, before setting them down and stopping the music. "Eminem. Nice."
"Yeah. My own personal compilation. All my favorite songs. I know every word to that one."
"I can't really see you rapping."
"You don't wanna. It's not pretty." She laughed. "Actually, people find it amusing when I rap. I've got just assorted shit on here. Some Eminem, Linkin Park, Creed, Foreigner, Green Day..."
"So you kinda covered the entire field there." Jeremiah asked.
"Yeah, I guess. Wait, Dude, where did you come from?" She laughed again. "Are they still..?"
"Bobby? Yeah. Damn immature Bobby. I love my brother, but I can't stand livin' with him for too long, you know?"
"Yeah. I know." Alex agreed, not hesitating, nodding. "Actually, don't know if you know this, but I knew your mom."
"No shit?" Angel said.
"No shit. Bobby wanted me to meet her. Thought maybe I should stay with her, she could help. But, I don't know, I always stuck with Bobby. I guess she thought it'd be good for both of us. She was cool like that."
"Yeah, she was."
There's an angry knock at the door. Like always, everyone looks around at everyone else, until someone gets up the nerve. This time it was Jerry.
"Can I help you?"
"Alex here?" said the aggravated voice of a man, maybe early 20's.
"Who wants to know?" Angel showed up behind Jeremiah.
"Oh, God." Alex said as she started for the stairs as best she could without being seen by the all-too familiar stranger, with Jack and Bobby behind her.
"Who the HELL is that, Alexis?"
But it was too late. He had already seen her. "ALEX! Girl, we gotta talk!"
"WHAT WAS THAT! TALK!" Alexis yelled as she went downstairs and outside, angered. "We never TALKED, Chris, YOU talked, I was just your bitch, remember!"
"And I'm gonna talk again. Why you run off like that, baby? Didn't we have a good thing?" He touched her face, she cringed, and pulled away quickly, disgusted. She turned and started to walk away, but he grabbed her arm, turned her around, and punched her.
"Bitch!"
The guys ran out, and, of course, ganged up on the dude, Alex soon regaining her ground and going back. But before the others could get to Chris, Jack already had, and got in the way, making it difficult for the guys to get in on it. But Jackie-Boy needed no help. He was pissed. He just kept on punching the guy, kicking him, letting out a little inner rage.
"Go Jackie-O!" cheered Angel.
"You're not gonna touch her! You so much as look at her again I swear to God I'll kill you. Leave her, my family, all of us alone or I swear we'll hunt you down! You wanna know somethin' else?" He pulled the guy closer by the collar. "I'm the nice one!" And with that he let go of the guy, and went over to Alex. "You OK?"
"I coulda took him. I was just..thrown off guard." She then laughed, despite the pain in her jaw. "Thank you, again."
"No problem." Jack said, helping her up and taking her inside. "He was an asshole."
"Oh my God, Jack, what the fuck got into you! That was amazing!" Jerry, along with his other brothers, had never seen Jack let go like that. Bobby, though he hated it, felt a little unneeded. She was like his little sister, and this was the first time he wasn't there to protect her. Yet, Jack was. Jack, the fairy. He was like the black sheep of the Mercer family bizarro-world, if that made any sense whatsoever.
I guess getting shot made a man out of him, Bobby thought.
They all went inside, except Angel, who was last. He looked at the unconscious dude on the ground.
"Hey? Hey! What the hell do we do with him!"