Big
Fat Happy Sunshine Day
Overcrowded Room
--Chapter Six--
.:Jake's Bar:.
"Welcome to the seventeenth century," Elizabeth grumbled to herself as the lights flickered in her little club before going out completely. "Population: me."
A storm had moved in through the area, and it was a bad one. The power was out all over the area, and fallen trees and roadside debris only added to the mess. It was a good thing that Jake's was closed for minor repairs, because the entire bar was plunged into darkness.
Fortunately, she wasn't a stranger to this sort of occurrence. Not being very punctual herself, there had been a couple of times when she had forgotten to pay her electricity bill and the power had been cut. And at any rate, the massive storm system afforded her the opportunity to check the roof for leaks.
She hummed to herself as she moved through the darkness, knowing the beaten path by heart and only colliding with a chair once, and only then because it was misplaced. Lightning illuminated the sky and she spotted a small puddle of water on the floor. Quickly, Elizabeth moved toward it with her handy bucket, adjusting its position until she heard the satisfying smack of water at the bottom.
"It's raining, it's pouring," she sang to herself, making sure the windows were locked and bolted. It would be a good time to go upstairs and check the tiny little offices she kept up there; with her luck, there would be a gaping hole in the ceiling or something.
"The old man is snoring." Her flip-flops made smacking sounds against the clean floor as she moved toward the main entrance on her way to the stairs, hearing a peculiar racket outside over the thunder but not stopping to pay it any mind.
"He went to bed…"
But as she neared the staircase, the noises grew louder. Someone was rapping on the door and trying the knob, attempting to get in. Elizabeth frowned to herself, wondering who would stop by this late at night when Jake's had been closed all weekend.
"…and bumped his head…"
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the main foyer and Elizabeth jumped back, knowing that whoever was trying to get in finally achieved that goal. She waited, hearing footsteps, and then took a deep breath. Since the lightning hadn't flashed for the past few minutes, she couldn't see a thing in the windowless entrance.
Slowly, she crept forward, sticking close to the wall as the intruder grunted and shuffled forward. Her small hands curled into fists and she waited, counting to three before making her move.
"Eliz-"
The brunette leapt into view before the sound of her name registered, her fists poised, and clocked the intruder a good one across the jaw. Her knee caught his stomach on the recoil and she cracked an arm over his back, sending him down for the count.
She was breathing hard, her arms still raised at the ready, and when the lightning flashed again Elizabeth saw a tall, broad shouldered man knocked down to the floor. She frowned, stepping back when he grunted and shook his head, still prostrate at her feet.
His hand lifted, the palm slicing downward to smack hard against the wooden floor. "God damn it, Elizabeth! It's me!"
Her jaw dropped. "…Jason?"
The intruder huffed in response, still trying to clear his head and chase away the stars that clouded his vision. "What the hell did you hit me with?"
In a flash, she was on her knees beside him and helping him sit up. "My fists," the young woman responded meekly, biting her lip and hoping that the lightning would flash soon so that she could see how badly she hurt him.
He grunted in response and held a hand up to his jaw, wincing. Elizabeth cursed under her breath and eased closer, trying to get a good look as the room flooded with light for a few seconds before once again plunging into darkness.
"Here, lemme just get a look-"
Jason tried to swat her hands away, but the little brunette simply pinched his arm in reply – hard. Momentarily distracted, the businessman guarded his forearm, allowing her the opportunity to cradle his face with her soft hands. "What the hell was that for?"
"You were being a noodleloaf," she replied simply, scanning his face for injuries. She felt him pull away but held firm and before long, Jason sullenly acquiesced.
Her hands were cool and soft against his rough skin, and the young man soon found himself obliging her by turning his cheek the other way to allow her a better look.
"I think you're gonna have a shiner," she informed him with a sigh, her thumb skimming a tender path under his eyebrow. "Sorry about that."
He shook his head, his headache now down to a dull throb. "Where the hell did you learn to do that?"
Her shrug went unseen in the darkness. "AJ taught me how to fight when he found out that I was gonna open this place up and live above it. He said there were a few moves I needed to know…just in case."
"Just in case someone gets a phone call from your hysterical sister asking him to make sure you're still alive?" Jason groused, pushing himself up onto his heels. "Remind me to thank Junior."
She frowned at him – or what she perceived to be his outline, at any rate. "Well, how was I supposed to know that you were you instead of…of…an axe murderer or something?"
"An axe murderer wouldn't waste his time on you," Jason made the mistake of muttering. It was an innocuous remark; he simply meant that he didn't think many criminals would be willing to risk felony charges over a small club right on the side of a main road. Elizabeth, however, didn't take it as such.
"Oh – oh! Fine! You know what? Fine. I'm glad I hit you – hopefully, I at least made some headway knocking your giant head out of your ass!"
Jason was up on his feet at the same minute she was, and his eyes were blazing when lightning once again lit up the main room. "Hey-"
"And what the hell did you think you were doing, anyway, Dudley Do Right? It's three fucking o'clock in the morning – the only people up now are the creeps and weirdos!"
"-And axe murderers," he retorted with no intention of being helpful.
She pursed her lips into a thin line, her alabaster skin glowing under the lightning. "I'm a grown woman and I can take care of myself! I don't need everyone and God checking up on me to make sure I haven't knocked my head on the counter and fallen over dead! I've been running this place for almost three years now and so far, the only thing that's happened is that I've been forced to stand around arguing with a baboon because I didn't spring for the more expensive locks!"
"Speaking of the locks," Jason spit back, not bothering to dignify the rest of what she had said, "you're right: they're the cheapest ones I've seen. A two year-old with a plastic screwdriver could break into this place!"
"At least that two year-old would be smart enough not to stomp in here and get his ass kicked!"
"Don't flatter yourself – you did not kick my ass." He had absolutely no idea why he was standing around arguing with her like they were two children on a playground, but he just couldn't walk away. "You couldn't make a kitten flinch."
Elizabeth was positively seething. "Get back in that goddamn Rolls of yours and get lost, Morgan. The next time I need a knight in shining armor, I'll take an ad out in the Classifieds! You did nothing here but totally waste my time and yours!"
"I'm beginning to see that," he growled, feeling the heat radiating off of her body. "I won't make the same mistake again."
"Good," she huffed, stomping her foot as he turned on his heel. "Glad to hear it."
The rain pelted him square in the face as soon as he shoved the door open, and Jason glanced over his shoulder at her. "Fine."
"Right back atcha!" Elizabeth snarled, waiting until he had slammed the door shut behind himself before she stomped upstairs to finish her work. Just when she thought Jason Morgan was an almost-okay sort of guy, he just had to revert right back to the arrogant jerk he was on the first big fat happy sunshine day that they met.
.:Kelly's, Front Courtyard:.
"Okay, so, technically, it was my fault," Carly sighed, following her sister up the cobbled walkway to Kelly's diner. "The power went out everywhere and I tried calling you a million times but couldn't get in touch with you. Then I went all glass-half-empty on my butt and imagined a million different ways for you to be lying dead in a ditch. I tried getting a hold of Nikolas and Junior but they weren't picking up and Jason was the only one that did so I asked him to check up on you and…are you mad?"
Elizabeth turned slowly on her heel and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "No – not at you."
"Okay, good," Carly beamed, kicking up the heel of her new Marc Jacobs pumps. "You can be mad at Jason – that suits my agenda just fine."
"He's such a Neanderthal," her stepsister seethed, having needed only the slightest opportunity to vent. "I expected him to grab my hair and drag me around Jake's or something! And the way he went on about me not being safe there and – oh! Did I tell you what he said about the locks?"
"Only twenty times," the blonde replied, frowning slightly at the petite brunette. "Dude, Elle, chill for a minute. Yeah, Jason has the people skills of Boo Radley, but…he just wanted to make sure you were okay. He sounded a bit worried himself when I told him that you were tinkering around at Jake's all by yourself during a monsoon. Cut the guy some slack."
"Since when are you his cheerleader?"
Her older sister gasped, holding a hand over her heart as Elizabeth tugged the door open. "Blasphemy! I've been maligned!"
The brunette rolled her eyes as she stepped into Kelly's, knowing at once that she had gone too far. "Okay, maybe 'cheerleader' wasn't the right word-"
"I will not tolerate this unacceptable behavior! There will be dire consequences! And-"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it – dire consequences," Elizabeth laughed, tugging her stepsister along. "All I meant was, when did you start playing Devil's advocate?"
"Don't get me wrong," Carly started, setting her purse down on their customary table. "It's not like I want to marry him and have his babies. I know he can be arrogant and terse – boy, do I know – but he's not…he's never been…malicious. You know?"
"Not really."
"Oh, come on. You know him enough to know what I'm talking about." Carly flipped her hair over her shoulder as Elizabeth sat down and scooted her chair closer to her older sister and best friend.
"Jason's very focused and single-minded when it comes to something he wants. That's a good quality, actually. He doesn't let himself get sidetracked; not by things or people. Sometimes, that labels him as arrogant and I don't think he's entirely blameless there."
Their normal waitress waved at them, signaling that she was already on her way to get their order. It was always the same, anyway: two orders of eggs, chocolate chip pancakes, a little fruit cup to satisfy Noah and Bobbie, and a glass of milk.
"He comes off like he doesn't really care about anything, but that's only to people who haven't been around him very long. Jason does care – he just has a hard time showing it. And he has a hard time talking to people – I mean, really talking to people."
Elizabeth wrinkled her nose at the blonde, confused. "So you're saying he's just shy?"
Carly shrugged. "To be honest, I don't know. I don't pretend to know all about him. I'm just saying that when I called him up and told him that you were fooling around at Jake's all by yourself – probably cleaning gutters or redoing the roof – and the power was knocked out, he sounded…I don't know, like he was actually worried. He said he was just heading back to the hotel but he'd drive over to Jake's first to see if you were stranded or if you wanted to come over to my place or something."
Elizabeth frowned slightly at her breakfast as the waitress placed it on the table, and Carly let out a sigh. "Look, I'm just saying that when he showed up, he didn't do it because he thinks you're some dim-witted little girl that has no clue about anything. He did it because I asked – because I wanted to know that you were okay. He didn't have to; I mean, he doesn't really know you that well, and hell, he doesn't even like me, but he did it anyway because he knew I was worried. Try to remember that – that he did it without actually having to."
"Yeah, I guess," the brunette sighed, playing with her fruit. "But then how do you explain all the crap he said?"
Her stepsister just quirked a brow at her, amused. "Elle, do you honestly expect me to believe that you didn't goad him? Not even a little?"
That got a cheeky grin out of her, and Elizabeth ducked her head as she picked up a piece of bacon. "…Maybe my normally sunny disposition cracked just a little…But Jason's still a jerk."
"No argument there," Carly shrugged. "I've definitely seen that side of him. But, damn, if he doesn't just run all hot and cold on us, huh?"
Elizabeth chuckled and was about to reply when the chimes above the front door rang out, and her sapphire eyes connected directly with the newest customer's cerulean ones. Jason stopped when he saw her and Carly sitting so close to the door and it looked to her as if he was almost about to walk over.
But quick as a flash, the mask of granite descended and the businessman looked away, quickly walking over to the counter and ordering a coffee to go. Elizabeth remained silent until he stepped out the back door, ignoring Carly's inquiring gaze.
She let out a sigh when she heard the chimes ring again, signaling his departure. "Oh, yeah."