New to New York

“What have I missed?” Hatter asked the table, grinning like crazy. Unlike Anabelle he loved new people. “Addi, is this the friend you’ve been going on and on about?” Then he turned his 100 watt smile up a bit and turned to Will.

Blushing and looking down, Will laughed nervously. She hadn’t known Addi had talked about her. What had she said about her in front of this god of sex and shadows? That thought scared her a little. She was a little spazztastic back in high school. Not always her finest moments.

Looking up at Addi and feigning the picture of calmness, she asked, “You’ve been talking about me?” Adding just enough smile on the end to mask the panic.

And Addi, being Addi, who knew Will’s faces and emotions like they were her own caught on to that. “Don’t listen to him. He’s full of it. Anyway, this is Hatter/Jason, which you’ve probably already figured out,” then turning her attention to Hatter/Jason, “And the only thing you’ve missed is the fact that Anabelle is talking to the Harry fairy. Again. Reasons unknown.”

“‘Harry fairy’ really? What happens if I get back with him and I wanna bring him around you guys? Do I have to worry about his feelings?” she asked eyebrows raised, pointing looks at everyone but Willow.

“Yes,” Jake spoke up. “’Cause he’s a freakin’ wuss. And a worse boyfriend. He should have to hand in his Man Card. I mean, seriously? Who leaves a girl alone in the middle of the East Village?”

“Hey now. I live in the East Village, as ya know,” said Jason in mock outrage. Then, turning his attention to the quiet latte colored brunette, asked, “Where did you come from exactly? All I got from Addi was the east coast.”

Grateful to the ginger girl across the table for moving everyone else on in a different conversation, Willow leaned closer to him content to have his full attention. “I moved here from Rhode Island. That’s where Addi and I went to school. This is my first move, ya know? I’m fresh outta my parents’ house.”

“How old are you?” he asked. He, too, was vying for attention. Not that Will could have ever guessed. Jason’s poker face was like no other.

“Um, same age as Addi. 21. We were in the same class. Why, do I look younger?” This is something Will got a lot. No one ever believed her.

Surprised flashed behind his eyes and his face brightened into a grin. “And with that, I say, who wants drinks?” this time addressing the table as a whole.

"Beer,” Anabelle ordered.

“Me too,” chimed Jake, who had Addi practically on his lap laughing.

“Apple-tini please,” she said between giggles.

“A Jack and coke,” Jimmy ordered winking at Willow. “That’s a man’s drink.”

“Shut up, Jim Bob,” Anabelle said kicking him under the table. “Last time, you had a Manhattan and a Sex on the Beach.”

Glaring daggers at her for embarrassing him, he said, “That was for Addi. She was slurring too much to order for herself. I was helping. Unlike you who was crying in the corner over The Fairy.”

Anabelle rolled her eyes. “Addi was drinking whisky outta the bottle that night, Jimmy-”

“Oh, shut up,” Jake said over them. Will wondered if that was the night before she flew back home. “You’re both annoying as hell and need to loosen up a bit.”

“Shots it is!” Jason yelled cheerfully. “You wanna come with?” he asked Will, her heart giving a weird little flutter. She nodded happily.

Couple rounds and many songs later, the group had more or less dispersed in to their usual positions. Jimmy was trying to pick up any girl who’d talk to him, Anabelle talking to a group of guys who’d do anything to get with her, and Addi and Jake on the dance floor getting ever closer but never too close. Yes, everyone was doing the norm, except Jason. He and Willow were getting very cozy at the bar, talking about when he’d first read Lewis Carol’s “Alice and Wonderland” when he was younger and he’d wanted to be the Hatter so bad to her short writing career and the few pieces she had published.

What they had found was that they had a connection. Something they were both surprised by.

“…and then he was surprised when it exploded! Can you believe that?” Jason said wrapping up a story about Jimmy which had Willow doubled over laughing.

Jimmy is like the little brother of everyone, thought Will. Then she wondered what she’d become. It seemed like Addi and Jason were kinda in charge, and Jake was like Addi’s right hand man, and Jimmy was the funny guy everyone loved. She didn’t know what Anabelle was, probably the bodyguard type. Was there even room for her here? She just knew she wanted to reconnect with her friend. And maybe Jason too. But that was for later contemplation.

Interrupting her inner babble was Anabelle walking up on the arm of a guy with a dark, fuzzy beard and big brown eyes. He looked about 28. “Harry,” Jason greeted him a nod.
“Hatter,” he nodded back. The air got thick and Willow thought Jason was gonna jump up and punch the guy. “Who’s this?”

“None of your business,” he said at the same time that Will said her name. He looked her like she’d just betrayed him then turned his attention back to Harry who was smiling and looking amused.

“Looks like your girl here got her own mind this time.”

“She’s not his girl. She’s Addi’s friend. Just moved here,” Ana said to him, her sharp blue eyes staring her down.

“Oh,” his smile grew. “Well, Will. If you ever need anything, anything at all, look me up. I can always help.” Anabelle whipped her head around back and forth between Will and Harry. If looks could kill, we’d all be dead thought Willow distantly. Then Harry was gone with a wave and Anabelle was in his wake.

“That won’t be good in the morning.” Willow and Jason both jumped when Jimmy came up behind them. “I can just see it now. She will be so bitchy…” he let his words fade and shivered like he was afraid.

“Should I go talk to her?” Willow asked feeling guilty and just a little scared. No doubt all that bitchy-ness will be pointed at her. “I mean it was kinda my fault.” She gets up to follow, but Jason gets up too.

“No. It wasn’t.” Jason growled. “Harry is a problem. I can’t believe Anabelle hangs with that. Don’t go.” He reaches for her hand and holds her in place, foot mid step. Tingles and warmth run up and down her arm, shoulder to fingertips. A smile spread across her face and she felt her cheeks heat with a blush.

Something happened to Jason too. The minute he touches her, his anger toward Harry had ebbed to a subtle white noise in the back of his head. Everything was kinda at a distance; everything but her and him, which is at an alarming definition.

They stand there in suspended time for a minute, in total awe.

That is, till Jimmy clears his throat and reality comes crashing back down. “Anyways. Kate and I will be going now,” he says and they notice the small blonde beside him. “I’ll see you in the morning Hatter. Will, I’ve no doubt I will be seeing you again.” Jim winks at her and turns toward the door, Kate following.

“Well, I – ” Jason starts to say, wanting to explain the unusual moment as something, anything, but is interrupted by a drunken Addi with Jake by her side holding her up.

“Alls I knows iz that I cannot wait to just crawl into my comfy bed. So Ima need you, Willow Harrington, to comes with meh. To ours house. You know the place, right? Ima little trashed,” then she laughs like it’s the funniest thing ever. Willow looks at Jake pleading with her eyes, but he looks completely at ease with a stumbling Addi.

“Don’t look so worried. I know how to get there, you’ll be fine,” he smiles that heart warming, sunshine smile of his and heads to the door. “Addi, honey, you have to work with me. This way to your ‘comfy bed’.” He holds the door open for her to walk thru.

“You wanna share my comfy bed, surfer boy? Promise, there’s enough room,” smiling up at him with unfocused eyes, Addi made an offer that if she was sober, he wouldn’t have refused. But not with her like this.

Thankfully Jake didn’t have to answer the girl he’s been after for a year. “Addi, let’s go. It’s getting late and me and Jake still have to go back to the Village,” he pushed her gently out the door and caught her before she fell. “You’re a really bad drunk, you know that right?”

She glared up him. “Didn’t know you could be a good one.”

Willow and Jake fell back a little ways, not wanting to distract Addi from walking, when Will finally got the nerve to ask the question that had been gnawing at her brain. “So, are you and Addi, like, together? Or what?”

He surprised her by laughing, “What? No! I mean, I don’t know.” When he sobered a little he got a distant look. “Well, I mean, she knows I’d do anything for her. I’d walk over glass if it’d make her smile, but she…she has her own demons. Her own battles that she needs to win before I get involved. Ya, know?”

“Yeah, I get it.” And she did. Addi demons, her battles, they were Danny. Danny and her memories of him.

“Plus,” he said again, seeming to not hear her. “Plus, she’s not interested. I mean, what can a fantastic girl like her want with a surfer bum from Cali like me?”

That’s the first thing anyone has said that night that actually shocked Will. “You’re kidding right? She so wants you. More than you know, way more than you can even guess.” He turned to her, confusion plain on his face. “You did hear what she said back there, right? About her ‘comfy bed’?”

“Yeah, but she’s drunk.”

Will rolled her eyes. Guys could be so dense. “People say what they really mean when they’re like this. That’s why there are mean drunks and happy ones and so on and so forth. They’re able to because their guard is down and everything. Believe me, in her mind, she’s thinking about you. No doubt about it.”

When she was done he looked at her, then up the sidewalk at Addi, then back at Will. He made that trip two more times before a slow steady smile spread across his face, brightening his eyes and showing off super white teeth. Will felt her heart warm, she felt really good about what she said. Jake would be good for Addi, even if she never wanted to admit it.

“She wants me,” he said this so low Will wasn’t sure if she was supposed to hear it or not. “She wants me,” he said again and his smile grew.

By the time they met up with Jason and Addi, Willow was feeling really good.
New York, she thought, might not be so bad.