Just Have Fun

And as the blood dripped down Jack's sinister visage, Alex looked on in disappointment. He knew that he'd lost control.


Jack was let loose on the town and nothing would be the same.

Or so Jack had thought.

"What the hell happened to you," asked Alex as Jack stumbled through the door. "You look like shit."

Jack glared at him. He removed his tie, tossing it on the floor. Lifting his shoe, he tried to take it off, wobbled and fell on his face.

"What did you do last night?"

Jack took a moment to compose himself. He sat up without a word, touched his nose with a hand to make sure it wasn't bleeding, and continued to removed his shoes. Tossing them aside he leaned back on his hands. Bleary eyed, he looked up at Alex.

"I have no idea."

"That good, huh," said Alex with a smile.

Jack did not smile. He continued to stare at Alex for a bit before closing his eyes. He took a deep breath, held it for four seconds, then exhaled as his meditation practices had taught him. It was supposed to help calm him and cleanse his spirit.

Alex cocked an eyebrow at this. It didn't look to him like it was working.

"I woke up in my car this morning."

He couldn't help himself. Alex burst out laughing. "You mean this afternoon?"

Jack was not amused. "Yeah. This afternoon."

"And you have no clue what went on last night?"

"No, but there is one thing," said Jack. He hesitated.

"And what's that," asked Alex, suddenly intrigued. He had thought that something was being held back.

"There's a girl in my car."

This was a turn of events. Whether it was a good or bad turn required a few more questions.

"Is said girl still alive?"

Jack looked shocked. "Of course she is!"

Alex laughed. "Just making sure. So...did you use protection?" The grin on his face told Jack that he was being messed with. He was in no mood for being messed with.

His glare would have melted an iceberg. It only made Alex laugh harder.

"Well what are you doing in here? Did you at least talk to her?"

"Yeah, I talked to her," said Jack with a sigh. "I told her I'd come in here, change and get her home."

"Well who is she," asked Alex.

"Her name is Kathryn," Jack replied. "She seems nice enough. Said nothing went on last night and that I shouldn't be worried about anything."

"But you left her out in the car? And here I always thought you were a gentleman."

Annoyed, Jack replied, "I invited her in, but she said she'd wait. God man, stop messing with me."

"Alright, alright. Well," Alex wondered, "is she a looker?"

Jack's sudden grin said plenty. "Yeah, she is. She's the bartender at the place I was at last night."

"No kidding? Another bartender?"

Jack didn't like the implication. "Come on dude. I told you nothing happened. Plus, she's like twice my age."

Now Alex burst out laughing. "Like that would ever stop you!"

"Yeah, yeah."

After letting his laughter die down a bit, Alex could tell that something was on his friend's mind. He knew commenting on her occupation would dig up old wounds. In hindsight, it probably wasn't one of his better ideas.

"Look," said Alex. "I'm sorry that I mentioned the bartender thing. You guys must have had fun, though, right?"

Jack smiled. "Yeah. She said that when her ride didn't show up I offered to take her home. I thought I needed to sober up a bit first, so we just sat and talked. I guess we both fell asleep."

He blushed a bit at this. Jack knew he wasn't much of a talker, but once he got going he worried that was a bit boring. Still, she'd stayed with him the whole night. He must have been somewhat engaging.

"Do you like her?"

The question hung in the air. It had been a pretty long time, so shouldn't he be ready to move on? He just wasn't sure.

"Listen," said Alex, taking his silence for what he knew it meant. "Don't pursue anything right now. That's probably a terrible idea. But it couldn't hurt to hang out with her."

He let the thought sink in for a moment. He didn't want Jack to rush anything, and he could see that while he wasn't over everything, he was doing much better most of the time. The instances of  complete breakdown were growing few and farther between.

"Besides," Alex continued. "You need to talk to someone other than me. I have a life too, ya know."

He said it with a smile, which brought a grin to Jack's face. He stood up and starting walking toward his bedroom to change.

"I suppose you're right," he said. "It couldn't hurt to have someone else to talk to."

He shut the bedroom door, stripped off his shirt, pants, and socks. He donned clean clothes, put on some deodorant, then heading back out to the living room.

Once again, Alex was gone already. He smiled and went to put on his shoes. When he sat down to put them on, he spotted a note that Alex must have left for him.

Take your time. I'll be here for you. For now, just have fun and make some friends (other than me for God's sake!)

- Alex

Jack smiled after finishing the note. He slipped on his shoes and stepped out the door.