Big
Fat Happy Sunshine Day
Overcrowded Room
--Chapter Two--
.:Outside Kelly's:.
"Call me if you need anything else," Jason directed into his cell phone. "I can have it faxed or delivered by special courier overnight. And let me know if we get another government account – I trained Stan the best I could, but he might still need some pointers. Okay. Thanks."
With that, he snapped his phone shut and slipped it back into his pocket. The past few days had been chaotic at best. He should have known when he first stepped into that boardroom only to be enveloped in one of Edward Quartermaine's signature bear-hugs that the next few weeks would be pure Hell. The old man had been badgering him forever to return to ELQ and take up his father's old seat once more, but his setup in New York had been so perfect that Jason hadn't been able to walk away.
Finally, the tide seemed to change. There were some uncomfortable rumors floating around at the firm in which he was one of the senior executives, and a little undercover sleuthing on his part had confirmed them. The firm had entered into dangerous waters by doing business with the wrong people and though it was only in the preliminary stages, Jason still didn't like it. At the same time, Edward Quartermaine had sent him yet another offer for a position at ELQ, and the salary and benefits finally seemed right. An additional nudge from Nikolas and his sister Chloe had sealed the deal, and Jason soon found himself graciously leaving his firm and making tracks back to his old hometown.
It was just as sleepy as he remembered it, but things were looking good. The ELQ board had been infused with some young blood – Carly, Nikolas, Junior, and now himself – and seemed to be the better for it, if Edward's grumbling was ignored. The youth scene had greatly improved, and Port Charles seemed to be bustling with adolescents and young adults once again.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he looked around the small courtyard. For the first time in almost a week, he'd actually be able to have his breakfast on time while reading the morning paper. Edward had paged him right after he had left the first ELQ meeting, which was why he had to turn down Carly's reluctant invitation to go out. The old man had then grilled and interrogated him about his issues with the company, and also added a sufficient layer of guilt to the package in an attempt to once again obtain Jason for his own team.
Jason had played along, nodding to whatever it was the old man warbled on about. Edward Quartermaine was all bluster, and he knew how to foil him easily enough. Still, the ordeal was time-consuming in itself, and Edward had immediately handed him several smaller accounts so that he could familiarize himself once more with the workings of the company. On top of that, his old firm was experiencing some difficulty in their transition without him, so he had been called on to troubleshoot and bail his replacement out of some potential trouble. He hoped to be able to wipe his hands of that corporation in the very near future.
But now, things were finally calming down a bit. He had set up Stanford with all of the appropriate files and connections, and the man would most likely be able to handle the remaining government accounts without much fuss. He had supervised the completion of the smaller accounts Edward had pawned off on him – they were mostly in their final stages, anyway – and the old man was satisfied.
Finally, he'd be able to get some rest and get back in touch with the people he had left behind in Port Charles. Nikolas was first on his list. The two of them had been very close friends and allies once, but had fallen out of touch when he left for New York City. The Prince was gracious enough not to take it to heart, and allowed Jason to settle comfortably back into place upon his return.
Carly, though troublesome, also merited his attention. She had been taking it easy during the past three years with him downstate. Now, she'd have to get back into top shape if she wanted to keep up, and he didn't intend to make it easy on her. He and Carly had always done their best work for the company when they were at odds personally but in agreement professionally. If he didn't know better, he'd have to call the abrasive but obnoxiously professional blonde one of his closest friends after Nikolas.
Her sister, also, had proved to be of interest. In all his work inside mega-corporations, filled to capacity with robotically functioning drones and peons, he had never once met someone like her. The woman talked a mile a minute, a characteristic he thought to be rather…troublesome, and it didn't seem as though she cared one bit what others thought of her. She couldn't – not if she was dressed like that in public. And from what Nikolas had said, she owned a bar in town and lived above it. Yes, Elizabeth Drake was certainly a far cry from her sister, and he would be lying through his teeth if he didn't admit to finding her just the slightest bit intriguing.
.:Inside Kelly's:.
Elizabeth slid the pastry dish open and pulled out a cinnamon bun, breaking off a piece and cramming it into her mouth before she even bothered to close the plastic device. She leaned back and licked the cinnamon icing off her finger, not bothering to turn when she heard the bell above the diner's front door chime, signaling the entrance of another patron. The spiked black leather belt that held up her black and white plaid knee-length skirt clinked against the edge of the counter as she slid down from stool and waited for her friend to finish up at the register and pour her a cup of coffee to go.
"So, anyway, I wasn't watching where I was going, and it turned out that he had already seen me tailing him for three blocks and had stopped," she was saying to Penny behind the counter as she took another bite out of the pastry. "And I totally smacked into him, right?"
The Taiwanese waitress was laughing as she emptied another roll of quarters into the cash machine. "Oh, jeez, Elle."
"And he's staring down at me like, what the fuck? So I kinda just look at him, tilt my head to the side and blurt out, did you know that you look exactly like a very young and very Canadian Lorne Michaels?"
Her friend shook her head, grinning back. "Only you, girlie. What did he say? Did he even know who Lorne Michaels was?"
The brunette nodded emphatically as the waitress reached for a coffee cup, and she absently picked a thread off of her bright red Rock The Arts t-shirt. "Yeah – it turned out he was a huge Saturday Night Live fan. In fact, he was a waiter at one of the restaurants down there, and it was his dream to be one of the writers for the show at 30 Rock."
"You're kidding. Was he any good?"
She nodded, gratefully accepting the steaming coffee and still yammering on as she took her time stirring five sugar packets into it. "Yeah. He bounced a couple jokes off of me, plus this one idea he has for a sketch. It's supposed to be a Sesame Street spoof, like a True Hollywood Story feature on Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch doing weed and ordering hookers, and Grover trying to slit his wrists and Elmo getting into a huge brawl with Jim Henson over salary and string issues – it was hilarious! I swear, I met the coolest people on the planet in Manhattan."
"It's like you've got some sort of Weird Magnet," her friend agreed, smirking as she rung up her total. "All the freaks and geeks manage to find you, no matter where you go."
"Like recognizes like," Elizabeth agreed, scrounging around in her hemp purse for her wallet. "And did I tell you about the other guy I totally smacked into? He was this college kid that detached a bush from the roots up and taped it around himself, then sat on street corners and followed people around and scared the pants off of them. You know, like in the old cartoons, where Wile E. Coyote would hide behind a bush and try to sneak up on the Road Runner, and all you'd see was this bush with little feet and devilish eyes? It was totally like that and – damn it!"
"What's wrong?"
Elizabeth frowned and began to dump out the contents of her purse, not noticing that another patron had approached the counter to pay the breakfast bill. "I can't find it!"
"Can't find what? –Your wallet?"
"Yes," she huffed, taking out seven tubes of sparkly lipgloss, a container of hand sanitizer, eight charcoal pencils, a gum eraser, a Davy Jones sticker, and a single Gumby ankle sock. "It's got to be in here somewhere."
Penny waited patiently as the brunette continued to pull her various possessions out of her hemp purse – her cell phone, a fuzzy pencil head, a plush monkey keychain, a More Cowbell iron-on, a small hairbrush, and a Fraggle Rock compact along with a single Hello Kitty hair curler. "…Nothing?"
"Damn it," Elizabeth cursed again, stomping one of her bright red retro pumps on the floor. "I must have left it at L&B. Shoot! Penny, can I-"
"Add her total to mine," came a deep voice from behind her, and Elizabeth whirled around to see Jason "Big Fat Happy Sunshine Day" Morgan standing at the counter looking rather bored. He glanced over at her, took in her appearance and then met her gaze with a quick nod. "Elizabeth."
She opened her mouth then snapped it shut, looking up at him quizzically. "I- Jason, you don't have to do that. It's nice of you, but I can't-"
"It's not a big deal," he replied blandly, accepting his credit card and scrawling his name on the receipt Penny slid forward. Handing the pen back to the suspiciously silent waitress, he looked down at the mountain of odds and ends that Elizabeth had accumulated on the counter and then back up at her. "But I'm thinking that next time, a wallet might come in handy more than that Richard Nixon chew toy."
Elizabeth's eyes narrowed at the flippant remark as Jason slipped his own wallet back into the pocket of his dress pants – which she begrudgingly noticed fit him very well, by the way – and deigned to glance at her once more as he walked toward the door.
"I'll see you around."
With that, he pushed the door open and stepped out into the courtyard. Elizabeth was still staring at the closed door when Penny chuckled behind her, then looked down at the half-eaten sticky bun that she had just been tearing into so ravenously. Suddenly, she wasn't that hungry.
.:Port Charles Hotel, Fourth floor, Room 431:.
"Caaaaaarly!" Elizabeth Drake unceremoniously pounded on the door to her sister's temporary place of residence before turning the doorknob and stepping in. "Come on, let's go, I'm starv-Oh."
She snapped her mouth shut the instant she saw that her sister was not alone. "Um…hi."
Alan James Quartermaine, Jr. smiled warmly back at her. "Hello, Elle. I'm sorry; I didn't know Carly was expecting you, otherwise we wouldn't have dropped by."
The brunette's dark sapphire orbs were already connected with Jason Morgan's cerulean ones, and she forced herself to maintain a chipper tone. "No prob, AJ. I'm a bit early – for the first time this century."
The dark-haired man laughed, lifting his hand up to gesture to his friend. "Elle, have you two met? This is Jason Morgan, one of our board members at EL-"
"We've met," Elizabeth replied with a terse smile, her eyes still connected with Jason's. "Hello, Jason."
"Elizabeth," he nodded, slipping his hands into his pockets as Carly emerged from the kitchen.
"Okay, so here's the number of my favorite dealer," she was saying, flipping through her address book. "He'll take good care of you, Junior. Be sure to show me once you drive it out of the showroom, okay? Oh- Elle! Hey! You're early."
"Yeah," her sister grinned sheepishly. "We were just about to throw a party. Elvis and Jimmy Hoffa were gonna come."
"And Bigfoot?" Carly responded seriously, not noticing that Jason was looking at the two of them as if they'd lost their minds. "A party's not a party if Sasquatch isn't around."
"He had previous plans," her sister snipped, shrugging. "So you're stuck with me."
"Bummer," the blonde pretended to sigh, handing AJ a small slip of paper. "Okay, guys, we good to go?"
The men nodded as Elizabeth bit her lip uneasily. "You know, you don't have to rush them out the door. If you guys were discussing business, it's no big deal. I can wait."
"It wasn't anything, really, Elle," AJ dismissed, waving his hand. "The Old Man called an emergency meeting tomorrow morning and Jason and I dropped by unannounced to quickly go over battle plans."
"We're finished," Jason supplied, tilting his head to the side as he studied the petite brunette with affectedly distant fascination. Her outfits usually surprised him, but he could barely remove his eyes from her slight form this afternoon. Elizabeth Drake was dressed in a pair of straight-legged, slim-fitting black tuxedo pants atop dark green stilettos with a matching jacket. However, she wore no camisole underneath her delicate pinstripe blazer and left much creamy skin exposed to his gaze. She held a small green leather clutch in her hands and wore only a large amulet around her neck. Her hair, which would have looked better arranged in some professional twist, was pulled into a high ponytail that she had partially spiked backward, and her bangs hung low over her eyes.
"You don't have to go," he finished, clearing his throat and remembering to look at her eyes when he spoke lest he gave himself away. "We should be heading out, anyway."
Elizabeth nodded jerkily, looking at her sister who was absently picking lint off her designer blouse. "Okay, so you wanna head out now, Carly?"
"Where are you two headed?" AJ asked, scratching the stubble that was taking over his jaw. Normally clean-cut, the businessman had decided it was time to be daring and try for some 'scruff'.
"There's this really, really, really amazing place that just opened up on Perry Boulevard," she gushed, her discomfort bleeding away. She had always liked AJ ever since Carly had introduced the two of them, and he was always asking her to clue him in to the 'hip' spots around the area, not that she minded at all.
"It's called East of the Orient and it's got a total Zen garden feel to it. It's an outdoorsy-greenhouse type place," she added, blowing her bangs out of her face, "so it's seasonal."
"Of course," AJ agreed immediately. "What kind of food do they serve?"
"They're kind of rocking two cuisines there," the brunette responded after thinking for a moment. "They've got the seafood and vegetarian deal from Far Asia – a mix of Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese cooking – and they've also got a menu that's influenced more by Spanish style and tastes."
"So…tapas, paellas, that sort of thing?"
She nodded immediately. "Yeah, exactly. It's supposed to be really incredible, so Carly and I thought we'd check it out for lunch today and then, I don't know, maybe head back to my place for early drinks tonight."
"I was just at Jake's the other night," AJ informed her, his brown eyes twinkling as he altogether ignored Jason who looked on uneasily. "I asked around for you, but they said you went to Manhattan? Is that right?"
The brunette nodded. "Yup – and man, do I have stories for you. I also found a really hip men's designer boutique when I was down there – the most incredible suits you've ever seen, AJ – and I brought back their contact info in case you were interested."
"Sure," he shrugged, "I'm getting tired of my current look, anyway. So you'll be at Jake's tonight, then?"
Carly nodded. "Definitely. Tonight's gonna be huge – Battle of the Bands always draws them in. And guess what? Elle's band is going to be playing, too!"
"I can't miss that, then," AJ grinned, winking at Elizabeth when she blushed and rolled her eyes. "I'll do my best to clear off my schedule and be there, okay? The last time I heard you guys was at the Nurse's Ball last year."
"They've improved since then," the blonde informed him seriously, "if that's even possible. Of course, I might be just a little biased."
"Just a little?" Elizabeth teased, elbowing her sister. "You've already got plans for us to tour with Bon Jovi."
"And don't forget – you have to introduce me to Keith Richards," Carly added, wagging her finger at the little brunette. "I mean, sure, he's old and just scrambled his brains by falling out of that coconut tree…but I'd still hit it."
Elizabeth and AJ burst out laughing as Jason rolled his eyes. "Seriously, though, Jason," the dark-haired man got out, looking at his friend. "You should come tonight, check it out. Elle runs a great little joint."
The brunette quirked a brow when the man at her side appeared less than interested. "I don't know," she feigned, deciding to have a little fun at his expense. "Jason probably wouldn't like it – it's not really your scene."
That got his attention, and the businessman turned to face her. "Not my scene?" he asked humorlessly, quirking a brow back at the young woman. "And what do you think my scene is, Elizabeth?"
She had no idea why he insisted on calling her Elizabeth and not Elle like everyone else did, but that was a battle for another time. Plastering on a sweet smile, she batted her lashes up at him. "Well, Jason, I'm just saying that you might not like Jake's because it caters to a slightly younger audience."
He frowned at her, wondering if she was calling him old and out of touch. "A younger audience? Do you deal in milkshakes and safety scissors, Elizabeth?"
Her dark blue eyes narrowed, but she refused to allow her demeanor to be anything but pleasant – coldly so. "Nope. I deal mainly with the college crowd. The main room at Jake's serves mainly as a lounge with overstuffed sofas and desks out the wazoo. There's a coffee bar along there with a mini bakery-kiosk arrangement."
"And then there's an entertainment room," AJ cut in, "with videogames and the like. That's what really draws them in."
"The last room is a bar and club setup," Carly finished. "She's got hostesses that serve drinks and a stage with pretty good acoustics, all things considered, and plenty of little tables and a great dance floor that she just had redone…last year? Was it last year?"
The brunette nodded. "Yup. So, you see, Jason, I have Jake's set up mostly for the younger crowd in Port Charles – and a couple of the neighboring suburbs. My targeted demographic is the 18 to 25 group, and that's where most of my actual customers fall. I just didn't think you like it. I mean, I don't really see you as the night-clubbing, GRE-cramming, Dance-Dance-Revolution-ing type."
"I'm not," he confirmed blandly. "To be honest, I don't really go to clubs. I didn't do any of that downstate, either. I generally find one place that I like and stay there."
"He also eats his dinner at six and cuts up Nerf balls that fly into his yard," Carly joked, trying to ease the hard lines that creased her little sister's face. Knowing Elizabeth, she had probably taken Jason's response as a personal slight against her club. "Okay, so, are we going or what? Ooh – lemme grab my purse from the kitchen. I'll be right out. Thanks for stopping by, Jason, Junior. We'll really get Edward's goat tomorrow."
AJ laughed and excused himself, easily slipping out into the hallway. Jason moved to follow him and tipped his head politely at Elizabeth, but was soon stopped by her voice.
"Jason. Wait – I have something for you."
He looked back, surprised, and wondered what on earth she could have for him though he certainly wasn't about to complain. He watched as she opened her clutch and easily located her wallet, and the next thing he knew, Elizabeth was shoving the forty-three dollars that comprised her monthly tab at Kelly's into his palm.
His eyes widened as he stared down at the rumpled bills. "Elizabeth, you don't have to-"
"I always repay my debts, Jason," she replied smoothly, slipping her wallet back into her purse and hoping that Carly would soon emerge from the kitchen so that she could make her escape. "Thank you for helping me out; I appreciate it."
Saying the words left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she tried not to grimace in front of him. "And by the way? That Richard Nixon squeaky toy once saved me from being torn to shreds by a junkyard Doberman. Never underestimate the lingering power of our nation's first impeached president."
She turned over her shoulder, not noticing the way Jason stared at her. "Carly, I'm in the hall. Hurry it up!" Jason had managed to slip back into his stoic mask by the time she turned to face him once more. "It was good to see you, Jason. Goodbye."
Carly came out just in time to see the last of the forced exchange, and her brows furrowed when her sister quickly stomped into the hall. Turning back to Jason, she noticed the bills that he slipped into his pocket. "What was that about? Did she just give you-"
"It's nothing," he dodged, looking surprisingly sheepish. Carly crossed her arms over her chest and Jason sighed, knowing he wouldn't be left alone until she got a full explanation. "I met her at Kelly's the other morning and she had misplaced her wallet. I told the waitress to add her total to mine."
The blonde quirked a brow, using Jason's own discomfort to her advantage. Her colleague surprised her by falling for it, and actually tugged on his earlobe. "…And I think I insulted her somehow."
She smirked despite herself and picked her purse up from the desk, making sure she had her keys. "You do have a talent for that, you know."
Taking his arm, she half-led, half-pulled him to the door before turning and locking it. "Look, I'm sure she appreciates what you did, and it was really nice of you. But Elle's a little…"
"Strange?"
"…different," she finished witheringly. "She's really stubborn and she hates talking about money, so that's why whatever just happened was probably awkward. She also takes things personally sometimes – harmless things. It's just how she is, you know?"
Carly tucked her hair behind her ears and looked up at her confused colleague. "Look, thanks for what you did for her – and yeah, that's actually me saying that, not Elle – but I can't help but notice that whenever you're around her, you two end up snipping at each other."
Jason frowned instantly. "I'm not trying-"
"I just think that maybe it would be best if you two stayed clear of each other for a while," Carly interrupted. "Because my kid sister bruises easily, Jason, and I'm sure I don't have to tell you that I'm insanely protective of her. So let's just take it easy, okay?"
She looked down the hall, not noticing that Jason's jaw had practically dropped, and absently gripped his arm. "Okay, now, come on, hotshot – I've got to go get some grub and Old Man Quartermaine probably has some dry-cleaning for you to fetch."