Sober. Anyone Else?

[Jade Hayes]

Jade sat at the bar, a small glass of water closed tightly in her hand. Water was the only thing she drank at bars anymore. She had tried the whole drinking bit with some friends once and it didn't end well. Not unless you considered winding up with a hangover, laying face down on your lawn and later discovering that your friends were too careless to even bring you to your own front door.

Not that they were friends anymore.

Jade continued surveying the crowd at the bar. There was the bartender, cool and collected. The group of underage drinkers, talking a bit too loud with the one obnoxiously lovey dovey couple in the middle of their huddle. And then there were the adults, over sitting in booths looking calm. Jade sighed, pushing her hair off of her face. Every bar was the same. Everyone else was off in groups. Jade was alone.

[potter_fan122]

Andy sauntered into the Three Broomsticks, hand stuffed in his pocket digging for a few coins. Smiling and approaching the bar he adjusted his leather jacket. Did he feel great tonight. It was Friday, and he had snuck out of the school for a drink. They were going to Hogsmead tomorrow anyway, why not just go a little early?

-Besides, there shouldn`t be any little annoying people here tonight.- Even as he thought that he saw the gaggle of younger teenagers clinging together in front of the bar. -Darn. Well, it looks like there might be one other person her not intent on getting drunk.- He watched the brunette girl from the corner of his eye as he handed the bartender the coins and ordered a root beer. He loved the Muggle drink and had been quite happy the day he found out they had it.

"Nice night, isn`t it?" Andy asked the girl, sitting down on a barstool and turnign towards her. She was pretty and seemed friendly enough. She was definately more interesting than the group behind him.

[Jade Hayes]

Jade turned her head towards the voice that had addressed her. In front of her she saw an attractive and obviously athletic boy with wavy blonde hair. "I suppose." Jade answered, sipping her water tentatively. She looked down at the glass in front of the boy and smiled apreciatively. She could tell it wasn't beer, for which she was greatful. What she needed least right now was a drunkard.

"So..." She said, glancing back up to meet his eyes. "What's your name? I'm Jade."

[potter_fan122]

He smiled and ran his fingers through his hair. The bartender gave him his drink and he took a quick sip; he noticed how she looked at his glass-- maybe she wasn`t one for alcohol. Who cared right now? At least she was talking to him, that was always a good sign.

"I`m Andy, nice to meet you." He offered her his hand to shake, which he usually did. His handshake was firm and people seemed to like that about him, at least his father did. "I had hoped there wouldn`t be any of them in here," he added, nodding towards the other teenagers on the other side of the bar, "They tend to get out a hand."

[Jade Hayes]

Jade took his hand, noticing the firmness in his shake. It exuded confidence, which was a good quality to have, Jade noted to herself. Then she sighed aloud. "They're always here." She shook her head sadly. "They may not be the same kids, but drunk teens all act the same. And I predict that a fight will break out between the guys over some girl, too drunk to care within the next five minutes."

Jade sipped her water again, finishing it off. "That's why I don't drink." She added softly. "You sort of lose yourself."

[potter_fan122]

Andy nodded knowingly, shaking her hand then resting his on his thigh. -Jade. Hm.- She seemed sort of sad or something, but she didn`t come here to get drunk and forget something.

"Yeah, that`s true. I don`t drink myself. Alcohol`s just plain icky." He made a face and shook his head. If he was lucky, she`s laugh. Maybe at least smile. He liked it when he made people smile.

[Jade Hayes]

Jade laughed, lighting up her entire face in a smile. Her eyes danced with amusement. "Icky?" She smiled even wider. She liked this Andy. "How old are we exactly?" She questioned, arching an eyebrow.

She took her own hands and grasped her empty glass, running her finger over the rim of the glass. She was still smiling as she looked back up, waiting for a response from Andy.

[potter_fan122]

"Fifteen. Well, fifteen and a half, if I were being honest," Andy replied with a shy smile. He leaned to the side and rested his elbow on the bar, taking another drink of his soda.

"What about you? You have to be, what, sixteen?" He asked, looking back up at Jade. His blue-grey eyes seemed to glimmer in the dim lighting and popped from the rest of his face. His lips were slightly parted and he was leaning forward slightly. Body language, it was all about the body language and he knew all there was to know about it. He`d be d@mned if he couldn`t read someone.

[Jade Hayes]

"Yeah." Jade smiled, resting her arm on the bar and swiveling back and forth on her bar stool. "Well, 16 and a half, to be honest." She added after a moment, somewhat quoting him.

As Jade looked at Andy again, she couldn't help but notice that everything he did somewhat exuded confidence. She was about to say something when off to her left a loud 'HEY!' sounded off. She abruptly turned her chair to see what was going on, even though she was afraid she already knew.

Two obviously drunken teenage boys were facing off, a timid looking girl standing off to the side. Jade sighed, moving out of her seat and towards the crowd slowly. She looked at the girl on the sidelines. "Go on. Do something!" She hissed at the teen who looked to maybe be a year older than her. But no one acted their age when they were drunk so how old you were didn't matter. "Come on! You have to do something to stop them." She insisted quietly.

The girl nodded quickly and walked slowly towards the boys and started to say something. After a few tense seconds the boys lowered their fists and one stormed out of the bar. Jade returned to her seat after the bartender gave her a greatful smile. She returned the smile and looked at Andy. "I come here too often." She explained lightly, pushing her brown hair back from her face. "Stuff like that happens here often enough, that I guess you just get used to it."

[Jade Hayes]

(( Do you want to keep this going? ))

[potter_fan122]

((Yeah, sorry.))

Andrew raised an eyebrow and watched the little confrontation and smiled at Jade as she came back to her seat.

"Wow, you really took care of that quickly. We could have had us a barfight on our hands if you hadn`t stepped in." He nodded to the girl, taking a large drink of his soda. She really took care of that. If Andy had been here alone, he would have just watched with skilled eyes and stayed out of it, maybe even smile as punches were taken. Oh well.

((Sorry for the shortness. Writer`s block. >.<))

[Jade Hayes]

(( Oh it's fine XD. And I swear writers block is contagious, now I have it! ))

Jade returned the smile out of courtesy more than out of sincerity. She hated bar fights because they were stupid, and a lot of the time, you had no idea why you were fighting the next day.

"Well, it didn't look as if anyone else was going to do anything." She sighed, watching the group of teens leave the bar.

"I like to think of life like it was one of those shows. You know the kind where they set up situations and video tape what people do. I want to be the kind of person that makes everyone go, 'Oh I wish I did that'. You know?" Jade paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts before she continued. "I want to be able to say that I did everything I could. I mean, even though it scared me out of my wits, walking over there, I did it."

Jade met Andy's gaze directly now, seriousness showing in her wide eyes. "I mean, what if they had started fighting, and someone got hurt? Or worse, someone died? Could you walk away from this bar, content, knowing there was something you could have done?"

[potter_fan122]

"I mean, what if they had started fighting, and someone got hurt? Or worse, someone died? Could you walk away from this bar, content, knowing there was something you could have done?"

This comment made Andy jerk his head up and look right into her eyes. Was she saying that just because it could happen, or was she saying that because it did happen? Just a couple weeks ago a boy was killed in the Hog`s Head a block or so away. By his brother, or cousin or something like that. People had been shook up about it, but he didn`t care much. People died, that`s just the way things were. He didn`t know the guy-- Andy might have seen him around, but he didn`t even know his name.

"Yeah, I suppose something could have happened. Still, the bartenders are usually pretty good about keeping things under control. Did you ever come in here where there was that newly graduated witch was working the bar? She kept everything in line, in here and in the Hog`s." He raised an eyebrow and swirled his drink around. "She knew how to take care of things; you seem like you could, too." Andy smiled a little and tilted his head slightly to the side, lowering his ice blue eyes to the counter.

[Jade Hayes]

There was something about the way that Andy responded to the question that interested Jade. Maybe it was the way he suddenly snapped to attention, or the way that he suddenly looked at her like she knew too much. But mostly it was the way he didn't answer her question about whether he could walk away or not. He stated that something could have happened, but he didn't answer her question. She decided not to press it.

"Thanks." Jade responded. "I'd like to have a job here, but then again I wouldn't. If that makes sense?" She paused for a moment, trying to make sense of the swirling thoughts and emotions in her mind. "I'd like to have a say in what happened here, to prevent things if possible. But on the other hand, if something did happen and I didn't or couldn't stop it, I don't think I'd be able to forget that."

Jade looked down at the counter. "Sorry, I guess I'm a little shaken up about that boy killed in a bar a little while ago. I know that stuff doesn't happen a lot, but it's still so scary when it does."

[potter_fan122]

"It makes perfect sense. If I worked here and something happened I would feel terrible. Still, things happen, though. You can`t just get caught up on the little things." He looked back up into her face. She was an awefull deep thinker for someone just being sixteen. Sure, he though a lot too, but still; in this day and age, a lot of people just acted, they didn`t really thing about what they did or said.

Think before you speak. How many times had his mum tell him that? Of course, Andy did think. He thought a lot, especially for a teenage guy. Reading people was so easy for him, and most of the time he knew exactly what to say to get what he wanted. But Jade? No, she was a thinker too, and those were the trickiest.

"Don`t worry about it. I heard about that. Luckily there weren`t any other students there, or it might have been a lot worse. Don`t worry about what happened to him, though. It happened, yeah, but we can`t change that. Worrying never helps. I would just be a little more carefully when you go to a bar late. Take a friend or something."