PRECIPICE [h.s.]

Chapter Twenty

☼☼☼

Oh, we're fading fast

I miss missing you, now and then

☼☼☼

Jaime's P.O.V.

June 28th 1997

Harry disappeared again this weekend. But this time, a weekend became almost a week. Don't know where or why, but he didn't come into Lon's or stop by my house for days. Not that I was obsessively counting or anything, I was just shocked and also slightly concerned.

I'm brought out of my foggy trip down memory lane to Jess stacking chairs on the tables. It's 2:56am, and I want to go home, but I'm not supposed to lock everything up until 3am in case anyone comes in. "I swear, my eyes are trying to glue themselves shut. Do you think I could tape them open?" I ask, grateful that she's the last one here with me.

"Relax. We already got everyone out for last call, so unless someone walks in, in the next thirty seconds, you're free to go."

Like a fucking jinx the bell on the front door rings. Not giving a shit who just walked in, I press my hands to my face and try to keep my scream as quiet as possible.

One hand moves to my hip to support myself while the other keeps my eyes hidden. I believe that if I even lay eyes on whoever just walked in, I might scream in their face. I vaguely register the person walking further in the bar, but I'm still too tired and pissed to open my eyes. "Look dude, we close in like two minutes, and everything is cleaned up for the night. Last call was half an hour ago, I'm gonna ask you nicely to leave."

"You won't stay open even for me?"

We're going to blame the following events on the lack of sleep and the long shift I had just worked, because between you and me, I think something possessed my body. There's no way Jaime Jackson would have dropped her arms, opened her eyes to see Harry standing in front of her, and ran toward him. Jaime Jackson would never run and jump on a friend she hadn't seen in a few days like he was a long lost lover returning from war. I know for a definite fact that if I had slept at all this past week and had not just worked for eight hours straight on my feet, that I would not fling myself into his arms and wrap my long limbs around him.

But I did. And like I said, I refuse to take responsibility for those actions. Thank you very much.

Harry barely moved an inch when he caught me, fully prepared to bear all my weight. He started laughing really hard but I just hung on to him. I didn't care. He made me want to crumble.

Tightening his arms around my ribs in a hug I didn't know I needed, I feel my body relax. "Hi, Stranger," I mumble into his long hair that smells of his favorite generic male shampoo.

"Hi, Sunshine. Thanks for the warm welcome." His arms loosen and I take it as my cue to get down. Before my feet hit the ground he whispers, "I missed you too," in my ear.

"So much for being tired." Oh. Right. Jess is still here.

He walked over and gave Jess a big hug too. "Sorry, I don't mean to make you guys stay longer than you have to. I saw J's car here, and I wanted to make sure you guys were okay because it's so late."

"We were just about to close out and head home," Jess says, sweeping the dirt from all the tables into one larger pile. "You guys can go if you want. There's not much left to do."

"Absolutely not," I protested. In no world am I leaving my friend to clean up after me. Especially so I can ditch her to hang out with someone else. I'm not the best person, but I'm not that terrible. And I'd never leave her alone this late at night.