“Hello Jar,” Clover spoke in her soft soprano tone, an obvious attempt at being cordial. Her voice used to be a soothing balm on his soul, and in that moment, it felt like salt in his wounds…. three-month-old wounds that he had thought he’d long since treated with the help of his therapist.
'Relationships turn sour sometimes, that is a part of the dating culture. It is not always one person’s fault, or the other’s, often times it’s nobody’s fault. Some things aren’t meant to be, and we can’t internalize it when they aren’t, it isn’t good for us.' Wendy was always so careful with her words, and sometimes her shrink-talk actually helped. In the first few weeks after the breakup Jar was a mess, but now that 3 months had passed, he thought he had started to move on.
“I’m here with a couple of friends,” she broke the awkward silence since Jareth was still stunned speechless. Meanwhile, Jar fought the urge to move that adorable lock of hair behind her ear like he used to, and let his thumb linger on the freckled skin of her cheek. He remembered how soft her skin had felt, and his fingers thirsted to drink in every curve of her once again.
“Well, this was lovely, Jar, but I have a couple of chapters left on the roaming habits of the jaguarundi,” Clo said as she ran her hands down her shirt, obviously trying to brush him away just as much as the non-existent dust.
“So, I guess I’ll see you around?”Jareth looked down, his eyelashes brushing the crests of his cheekbones as he did his best not to look to hurt. Did she have to go there, really?
“You always were more interested in your books than me anyway.” his tone held an icy edge when he looked back up to make eye contact with her. He wasn’t intentionally being a dick, but hurting people hurt people. Translating pain into bad behavior was a defensive mechanism Jar picked up at a very young age, and his mouth had often landed him into trouble.
“Let’s try not to see each other around, yeah? I’d like to try to enjoy the rest of my break.” And that was all he said before brushing past her. No ‘you try to enjoy it too’, nope, nothing even
close to cordial. Jar put his earbuds back in and took a sip from his umbrella drink. His mood made the tropical punch taste sour in his mouth, so he chucked it in the nearest trash can before stalking off to the guys' suite.
After taking a shower that was so hot that it threatened to melt off some of his tattoos, Jar felt
mildly better. Julius and Hunter had both woken up and left since his early departure, so he unabashedly walked around the suite in nothing but the plush white towel wrapped around his waist. In his room, he stared at his luggage, grappling with the idea of getting high. But what would that solve?
"And then I found out how hard it is to really change.
Even hell can get comfy once you've settled in.
I just wanted the lonely inside me to leave.
No matter how fucked you get, there's always hell when you come back down.
The funny thing is, all I ever wanted, I already had.
There's glimpses of heaven in every day.
In the friends I have, the music I make, the love that I feel.
I just had to start again."
No, he was trying to get better. Getting high wouldn’t erase his feelings, and it wouldn’t erase
her. Clover was his past, not his future. What he needed to do was start again. With that in mind, he lit up a cigarette and poured himself a glass of dutch courage back in the kitchen. What? He settled to not get high right now, not that he was joining the priesthood, he had to keep some vices.
Jar scanned the events pamphlet housekeeping had left on the counter sometime this morning and found the perfect opportunity for a fresh start. There was a deck party tonight with drink specials AND karaoke. Jar never could resist the call of the stage, or a good party. He looked at the clock - only six hours until the party started. His stomach grumbled and he realized that the only thing in their right now was whiskey and whatever was left of last night’s dinner. At that, Jar headed to get dressed so he could head out.
