runaway

TEN | NOTHING TO LOSE

The doors slam closed behind him, alerting the few people, mainly workers, in the 40 Watt this early day of his presence, one such worker being the bartender diligently drying glass with a rag behind the counter. Although, once sight is caught of the newest intruder, all tasks are immediately abandoned.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Heitor says, moving around the counter and walking to meet him. "What can i help you with, Hughes?"

"Hey, harrison. Is Jett around?" Emmett does not bother being discreet in his blatant searching of the area for her familiar figure.

"No. She's not supposed to come in for another couple of hours." He notices the way the young man's demeanor falls at the realization of her lacking presence. Quirking an eyebrow, Heitor says, "You've been spending a lot of time with her lately."

Emmett hesitates, wondering why exactly the observation sounds as such a negative accusation. "Yeah, so?"

The bartender sighs. "Just be careful, okay?"

Confused as to why he, a seemingly friend of hers, nonetheless, would offer such a warning, Emmett's "um, okay?" sounds more as a question than an assurance.

"Look," Heitor pauses, searching for the right words to properly describe the young woman and caution the young man. "Women like Jett are dangerous."

"Dangerous how?" His befuddlement only grows, waiting for the other to offer some sort of explanation. Jett may be a lot of things, but she does not seem dangerous to him, not yet at least.

"She doesn't have anything to lose," Heitor says, as though that is explanation enough. And in truth, it should be, but Emmett fails to realize how much meaning lies behind the words.

Rather than accepting the warning, Emmett rolls his eyes, arguing, "And what makes you think I have something to lose?"

"I don't, but I know how much you have already lost."

His eyes widen in a mixture of shock and slight fear, that which he kept most sacred suddenly coming to light terrifying him greatly.

"H-how?" Emmett stutters, failing to understand how such has been revealed after every painstaking attempt to keep it hidden.

"We grew up in a small town," Heitor says.

His breathing grows ragged while he fidgets with the cigarette resting behind his ear and fixes the strand of fringe falling into his eyes. His voice shakes when asking, "Does Jett know?"

Heitor shakes his head. "it's not my story to share."

The words calm him, though only slightly, his heartbeat still echoing in his ears and mind still swirling in shock and fear. Desperate to escape the venue, Emmett says, "I've actually got to run, but I'll see you later."

Emmett only faintly hears Heitor's response, already through the door and proceeding down the sidewalk. Smoke encircles the blue-eyed Brit who walks down the street with pieces of his broken heart in hand. He immediately retrieved a cigarette once outside in attempt to calm his already spinning mind, but the only thing that ever truly calms him is the one about whom he was warned.

In an absolute daze, he shuffles back towards his flat, barely processing anything he passes on the way. He is too lost in his own thoughts, too lost in how Heitor knows and Jett is dangerous and everything burdening him crashing and colliding and cascading down on him at once.

James, the older gentleman sat on the sidewalk whose only home is himself, pleads for a few extra coins from those who walk passed, hoping, praying for just a little something to help provide him some sort of dinner. When the young man passes, he is ignored, unaddressed. Then, he notices the look in his eyes, and James swallows his offence because he recognizes the look. It is the same one he has seen in the mirror many times over.