You Always Thought That I Was Stronger...

Jack tightened her eyes, squinting so hard that it hurt, trying to keep the hot tears from rolling down her face as he said that he was not like other people... "If you haven’t already learned so, I’m afraid there is something wrong with your head." She bit her lip hard, because it was true...there had to be something wrong with her, because she still hoped to think that somehow, Vito was capable of something other than hate and cruelty...

Her eyes opened to meet his, but his darted away. “Yes, Jack, I really do hate you, but it is just too much fun." She snapped her head to look forward again, closing her eyes once again, as though to prevent herself from seeing a horrific sight. Her heart pounded against her ribs, her head throbbed, her eyes stung... Her heart felt as though it were being torn in two...

She had tried so hard...and it was never, NEVER enough. She could never do good! She tried to be a good, friendly person...but she was always the b!tch, the hermit... She would never get it right...

The alcohol was taken from her but she did not care. Even that could not erase her pain. It could not fix her... She was...broken.

Suddenly he began to speak to her and the name Chase made her eyes snap open and her head turn to him, a threatening look on her face. She was ready to tell him to back off when she realized that was not what he was talking about. Her palms got sweaty, her heartbeat quickened to a flutter, her mouth opened slightly, her face softened...

He was not lying. She knew that much... Sure, he was saying he did not want her dead... but from Vito that was... it was the nicest thing he had ever said to her. She stared at him, eyes darting across his face earnestly, hoping he would not suddenly yell "syke" or something and bring her heart crashing down...

She had gotten through to him...

“You know what Jack? Your so afraid that you’ll make nothing of yourself, but here I am, with everything I’ve ever wanted and I’m gonna loose it any day now. You’ve got it good, your just too ignorant to see so for yourself.” She stared at him, surprised at his honesty and the truth in what he had said. He was right...what was she doing? She bowed her head in shame.

“So drink up darling, because pretty soon you’ll get your way; you wont be seeing much of me anymore.”

She jerked her head to look up at Vito. He was taking a drink now, looking as blank and stony-faced as ever...but...

She felt her stomach shrivel and her heart implode in shame and pain and empathy for the poltergeist. Suddenly, she felt the urge to hug him...but even under the influence, she could hold herself from that. Her eyes met his earnestly and she shook her head. Slowly, she scooted over until she was right next to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder, placing a hand softly on his arm. In a quiet voice, she said, "I've never wanted that Vito."

She was too close, much too close. Vito looked down at her as she rested her head against his shoulder, and opened his mouth to complain, but when he could think of no cruel words to hiss or witty insults, he closed his mouth shut and listened to that annoying voice of hers when she spoke again, only to frown at the words that fell from her lips. No no, she couldn’t say that; that complicated things, made it harder for him to rip her to pieces with his words. That’s where honesty got you, obviously. What had compelled Vito to tell Jack something like that anyway- and it certainly wasn’t the wine, because he hadn’t had nearly enough for it to effect him in such a way.

Perhaps it had been the fact that he had wanted to keep things the same between the two of them- but whatever the cause, he still had to deal with the effect, which was having a drunken rival snuggled up to him. “Jack…” he started, but rubbed his face instead and nodded, “We should get you home.” So much for a clever insult…

Vito shifted so that his arm was wrapped around her waist and nudged her, “Come on,” he told her again, grabbing his own bottle of alcohol in the other hand; it really was some wonderful wine, and he wasn’t about to leave it sitting there on the table half-full because Jack had decided that going crazy would be heaps of fun. He smirked; he sure judged her a lot for someone who had been in the same situation as she just a few weeks before.

What an odd situation to be in. Why? Vito honestly couldn’t remember a time in his life when he had heard such genuinely affectionate words spoken to him, and it had thrown him off balance. The problem was, he was having trouble steadying himself again. He glanced back down at Jack and exhaled slowly.

She sat in silence, her eyes closing painfully, her head feeling like it was going to explode. Too much alcohol, too much to process in just one night...too much of everything. She felt jumbled and confused and she was not sure what exactly she was supposed to do next. She just knew that she was feeling worse by the minute.

Vito quietly said in her name and said that it was time to get her home. She felt his arm move to around her waist and she slumped over onto him slightly, before righting herself. She curled an arm inward and it went up to her head, pushing it up as she tried to gather her bearings. Vito was right in that she really did not need to spend any more time in this bar. She needed what he had needed that night in Satin's... Aspirin and sleep. A comfy bed and a glass of water sounded brilliant... She doubted she could Apparate anywhere herself, but perhaps Vito would help her home...

She felt a trickle of dread in the pit of her stomach. She could not go home. Her parents would go ballistic and she would never escape the house again. She may be of age in the wizarding world, but not in the world of muggles... And Riley...he would be so upset. She could not bear to face her uncle or her cousin...

She closed her eyes and sighed, running a hand through her hair. There was the tree fort, but that did not help her much. She needed comfort if she wanted to sleep this thing off. She lolled her head up and looked at Vito, feeling pathetic. "I don't have anywhere to go." She shook her head and groaned, touching her forehead as her eyes had hit the lights of the bar... They were dim, and yet they burned.

She was so stupid.

“Yes you do, I own a club, remember? Your paying a fee of seven Galleons tomorrow,” Vito corrected her and did his best to heave her up out of the booth and onto the actual floor, but it proved to be quite a difficult task, being a little tipsy himself. “Oh f*ck, this could be challenging,” he muttered under his breath and ran a hand through his hair to move a loose strand of hair out of his face. Vito was curious how Jack had managed on her own if she really didn’t have a place to go like she said, but figured that was a question for when she wasn’t intoxicated. “Just- uh- don’t vomit on me or anything,” he ordered with an expression of disgust on his face. Yeah, he wasn’t the best at helping people… but at least he was attempting to assist Jack.

She had helped him, he just wanted to make sure they were even so that he didn’t owe her anything, and she couldn’t hold anything against him. Right. That worked perfectly- and he would speak those very words to her when she asked him later why he had helped her, because he himself didn’t know the honest reason, and pondering over such things took too much effort at that moment.

“Hey- don’t I get a tip!?” the bartender called after Vito as he slowly walked towards the door, dragging Jack along with him. Vito rolled his dark eyes and growled, “Yeah, here’s one; don’t piss me off,” sure, it was an overused reply to such a question, but Vito was much to focused on getting Jack out of the door and not falling over in the process to really give a damn.

“OK, I don’t exactly know how to operate, so you’re going to have to stay awake now, because I’ll just leave you on the side of the road if you pass out,” Vito told Jack as he scanned the area, trying to think of some sort of solution, but the only thing that came to mind was walking, and that would take quite some time. Vito slipped his free hand in his pocket absentmindedly, and as almost miraculously, Vito felt his cell phone in his pocket with his fingertips. He grinned - “There we go!”- and pulled it out of his pocket, flipping the sleek device open; he could call one of the employees at Satin’s at have them pick the two of them up.

A laugh escaped his lips; such luck was a rare thing for him, and it amused him greatly that the one time he chose to help Jack, he actually got lucky. Karma really was a b!tch.

Jack stumbled to her feet and nodded, muttering a thank you, though it was lost in the scuffles of the pair of them attempting to stand. Hmmm...this was going to be pretty difficult. She smiled at what he said and she grinned up at him. "Pinkie promise." This may have been Jack's first time drinking, but she had a pretty strong stomach. Her vice was headaches...

And speaking of...her head thumped like a bass drum, making her wince. She let out a sigh. She probably had some painkillers in her knapsack that was on her back, but that would have to wait. She noticed that Vito was having trouble dragging her and she worked to steady herself, planting her feet and then focusing on walking. It reminded her of walking after her first long flight on a broomstick. And then again when she had plummeted off her broom that one summer... She winced but began to manage to walk, even though she was leaning heavily on Vito.

They made their way outside of the bar and stumbled to a halt. She swayed but then quickly righted herself, determined to not be useless. That was probably the worst feeling in the whole wide world... well, right now, it seemed like it was. At Vito's words she closed her eyes and nodded quickly before opening them.

It was dark now and it was still cold from the days earlier rain and she shivered slightly, reaching a hand up to rub her other arm. She glanced at the cell phone in Vito's hand and nodded. "Good idea," she said faintly, shivering again.