Of Rage And Love

Three days later the boys had done little more than drink, smoke and sit in the smoky depths of the Ruby Room with Twitch and the others. They'd been accepted by Trev - who had got over letting a fifteen year old into his bar pretty quickly - and had been befriended by Rosie-May, the barmaid - who had no problems with serving a fifteen year old at the bar once the Rev had used his self-professed 'powers of persuasion' on her.

That night though, Jimmy wasn't in the mood for that. He was sitting in the booth, away from the others but watching them. Tunny was in the middle of a rather heated discussion with Ronnie and the Rev while Christian was flirting, badly, with Rosie-May.

"Chris, baby, you're a real sweetheart but I'm already letting you drink so don't push your luck." Jimmy heard her laugh.

"The lady giveth and she taketh away..." Twitch teased her, shortly before she snatched his bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon from him.

"Literally, Twitch, so just you watch it!"

"Aww c'mon Rosie!" He protested weakly. "You're so mean, you're as bad as Blue!"

"I'll tell her you said that." Rosie raised an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't dare..." He glared at her.

"You wanna bet?"

"...Not really. Can I have my beer back now?"

Rosie sighed and handed it back to him. "One of these days you're gonna annoy the wrong girl, Twitch."

"Doesn't he do that almost every time he speaks to Blue?" Trev interjected, and the Rev glared at him.

Jimmy zoned out at that point, staring blankly at the half-empty bottle on the table in front of him. He was loving it here in the City... Or at least, he thought he was. Today he felt... Out of it. Like the rest of the world was carrying on and he was standing still. It wasn't a nice feeling, but it was one that he was used to. It was the kind of feeling that he'd been trying to escape by coming here. He was snapped out of his trance when someone slid into the seat opposite him.

"You're not fed up of it here already, are you?"

Jimmy looked up to see the girl from his first night here, the one who the Rev had called Ser, sitting in front of him.

"What can I say? It's a post-escape comedown." He half-smiled at her.

She snorted softly. "Happens to the best of us." She paused, looking around them. "And a bar is not the best place to get over that."

"I'd never have guessed."

"Wanna come for a walk? I'm fed up of this place too."

Five minutes later, Jimmy was walking away from the Ruby Room with this mysterious girl. When he got outside, he realised just how much he'd drunk since getting to the club. She saw him stumble and laughed.

"Maybe walking wasn't the best plan?"

"I'll sober up soon enough." He shrugged with a slightly embarassed grin.

They fell into step beside each other, walking down the almost empty street together.

"Jimmy, right?" She looked over at him.

"Yeah. Is it... Ser?"

"Yeah." She laughed. "That'll do. How come you came to the City anyway? You came from Jingletown right?"

"Right. Yeah, I just kind of... I'd wanted to leave for ages, and I had a bad couple of days with my mom and my step-dad and stuff and just kind of... Roped Tunny into coming with me. And Chris tagged along. It's Ronnie's car so he decided to come because he couldn't trust us with it." Jimmy sort of explained. "What about you?"

"Moved out here a couple of months ago - I've got a room in the house that Twitch's girl Blue owns. I went back home just a few days ago and brought my sister back with me."

"Your sister?"

"Yeah, she's kinda shy so she's in with Blue. I'll coax her out at some point. I think - Christian is fifteen, right?" She asked, and Jimmy nodded. "Yeah, Gloria is the same age as him. I'm sure Trev is gonna love it when another fifteen year old arrives in his bar."

Jimmy laughed. looking over at her as he did so. She was shorter than him - not by much, but still - and had bleached blonde hair. She was wearing Docs and a long coat, which was fastened because it was oddly cold outside that night. He thought that her eyes were brown, but it was so dark out that he couldn't really tell. She seemed friendly enough, and he had to admire her for the way she'd dealt with the Rev the other night.

They walked on in a companionable silence for a while. Jimmy was glad - more than glad - of the distraction that she'd provided him with. Walking through the quiet streets with her felt comfortable. The only noises apart from the two of them came from the clubs and bars and occasionally a car that would drive past. It was getting late and places were going to close soon. Jimmy knew that once he was heading back to the dive of a hotel that they were staying in he'd probably get that melancholic feeling back again.

Right now though, that didn't matter. He hadn't felt so comfortable with someone who wasn't one of his three best friends in a long time. And it felt good.