the little noise of shock briefly alarmed jay, concerned he'd actually frightened his friend, but jarvis seemed to recover just as quickly. when he heard laughter he peered around jarvis, looking to catch a glimpse of the smile he suspected had appeared. he returned the amiable expression as soon as he saw it, pleased he could trigger such a thing, and then looked round swiftly, gaze landing and stopping on ada.
"hey, princess," he half-sang, tone calming down. to most, the nickname might sound condescending, infantilizing, what have you - he meant it almost endearingly, empowering.
princess who broke the rules and seemed to have the supernatural ability to always get away with it,
princess who reveals her anger at the most inopportune moments and yet can maintain friendships with those who become victims of it,
princess who has to keep her emotions in check lest she reveal something ugly to the rest of the nation. for all intents and purposes, he meant the nickname literally, and adored the fact that ada suited it so well - ironically so, because she was the exact opposite of what you might expect a princess to be like. he was almost re-appropriating the word itself, losing the 'placid and demure' aspects of it and replacing them with 'rebellious and free.' somewhat free, anyway. jarek was sure there was something she locked out of sight from the others that only
maybe someone like jarvis knew. not that he'd ever ask, anyway.
in response to his nickname, jarek bobbed his head proudly, looking as if he'd received a pulitzer prize. truthfully, it felt special to have a name all to himself, although there was no one else it could have gone to - really, any attention at all was pleasing enough to jay. it often felt like that was the primary reason he spent most of his time with jarvis, because he was so adept at focusing all of his attention onto one person at a time; usually, it could only be directed towards two people: jay himself and ada. it was strange, because jay wasn't exactly ada's best friend. when he looked over jar's shoulder, he followed the other boy's gaze to her hair and, hell, he admired it too, but aside from that he wasn't exactly in on her deepest, darkest secrets. he wasn't quite that way with anyone, actually. this group seemed to get along solely because they were linked by bad pasts, or at least, some sort of deep-seated repression. it was kind of cliché, jarek thought, but he couldn't see himself getting along with the kids in his own social class. they're all actually equipped to deal with status. jarek, on the other hand... suffice to say he used all that excess money for fake ids and alcohol so pure that he may as well be in some warped, distorted version of the prohibition era. that was no one's business but his own.
once jarvis had repositioned himself further away, jay loosened his grip on his friend, tilting his head expectantly. he had half the mind to ask why jar was even coming, if only that question didn't sound so much like an attack. really, he was only curious because, like "philly cheese steak" over here, jarvis wasn't the most socially skilled kid out there and his financial situation was... well. it certainly wasn't like jarek's. he respected jar's father for all the work he did to both keep those two afloat and provide all of his son's nerdy comic books and action figure and geeky 'what-have-you's; it certainly wasn't easy, from the looks of it, because jarvis already had those off-and-on jobs of his own. jay couldn't imagine it - he hadn't worked a day in his life it was always the nurses and the servants dealing with domestic duties, and his father was the one who brought in the majority of the cash. both parents, however, came from an 'old money' family anyway. they could've lived better off than jarvis even without working until their cozy early retirement. it was confounding how his friend could stay the way he was, then, with such a life behind the scenes: he seemed consistently stable and sane, which was something jarek had never been able to say for himself, and at the same time
generous. honestly, it was strange how that worked. get nothing your whole life and still be generous... that's just the kind of person jarvis was, he figured.
talking about how we shouldn't go to a beach or you might accidentally drown yourself... or someone else. jarek laughed vibrantly as if no other conversations were being held, placing a hand over the button once jarvis's had moved away, looking half like a puppy that'd just been kicked and half like he'd just been given a birthday gift. the latter was almost accurate, considering how grateful he was to watch jar's eyes light up in vivid aquamarine. as much as he'd like to return the mesmerizing favour, jay's stayed glazed over and glassy, like he was in a dream. that was semi-true, come to think of it.
"play nice, or i'll accidentally drown you, moore." he arched an eyebrow, trying to keep a straight face as best he could, before cracking up and shrugging his shoulders boyishly. jay's eyes, always wandering, were still able to see out of his periphery that jarvis kept his concentration on him - much to his delight. there was more of that heavenly attention. too often when he knew all eyes were on him, like when he made a scene publicly, was he filled with a certain sense of euphoria (although there was the inevitable
dysphoria that followed later, hours even, when he retraced the day and regretted how dumb he must have looked or how foolish he must have sounded, so on and so forth). that didn't quite happen in simple moments like these, when jarvis had only the innocent intention of looking at him. jarek played dumb for a minute before suddenly making eye contact, then smiling profoundly like he'd just won a game.
leaning in as if the gentle tug from jarvis was enough force to bring him over, jarek rolled his eyes impatiently at the question. he may enjoy getting the spotlight, but not necessarily when it addressed his bad habits. sometimes there was that sweet moment wherein the company hosting the 'intervention' might mention how much
value you have, jarek, or
how you should take care of yourself more; so many people would miss you - sickening, how that worked. the rest of it was boring, a waste of his time. he lowered his voice, allowing side conversations to go on without his brash volume interrupting this time.
"i've got a house full of food, jar, what'd'you expect?" he replied, quirking one side of his mouth up. that wasn't exactly a lie; 'twas a good enough response by his terms. jarek moved the spearmint gum from his cheek to between his front teeth, baring them ferally.
"and now i have gum. want some?" he leaned forward, teasing toward jar like he'd transfer the piece over, before laughing and stepping back - as much as he was sure his friend wasn't exactly comfortable with his exhibitionism, he kept on with it anyway. it seemed respecting personal boundaries was a rule only one of them kept by.
"the beach!" jay repeated after jarvis, whipping his head toward phil triumphantly. he wasn't exactly observant enough to notice the half-mechanized movements like the closer friend lizzy had, and instead assumed the choice to be innocuous. he likely wouldn't associate phil with rigging the decision either way - seemed like everyone underestimated the poor guy, and jarek was no exception.
so now that we've got that sorted, who's going with who? his gaze lingered on lizzy even after she spoke, waiting for perhaps some suggestion, and jarvis was quicker to come to a conclusion than him. jay sneered at him, acting just as repulsed, before looking round at the group whilst they introduced their different options. he felt half-ashamed for his own inability to drive; he had nothing to contribute... well.
"oh, definitely. you get to ride on my handlebars." he spoke in a grand tone, like being given the gift of riding jarek's old-ass bike was something unimaginable, but could only hold it up for so long and laughed abruptly. knowing he'd have to make a choice quick lest they be separated (and he really couldn't stand riding separately for so long), jarek sized up the different members offering their transport.
the first one his gaze landed on was theo (or 'teddy'), who was, coincidentally, his top choice. jay was quite certain that he was too obnoxious for the guy's tastes, but he envied theo's self-confidence and streak of reckless shenanigans. it's not like he didn't have his own, but 'teddy' had a certainly more refined way of going about things - bonus, the guy was a goddamn artist. triple threat, quadruple threat, he'd lost count a long time ago. jarek would abuse the chance to spend time with him whenever the opportunity arose, and now was fine enough.
"mind if i take you up on that offer, teds? i've got a captive, too." ignoring the grip jar had on his jacket, jarek forced a bony arm round his shoulders and ruffled his hair, as if he was making him presentable. not only was theo pretty much choice out of the selection here, his car wasn't too bad either, if he'd seen it correctly outside. likely smelled of that damn banana bread, though. both a blessing and a curse.
the rampant conversation following was unexpected, and jarek turned to watch as cass went off on a sass tangent. good christ, he wanted to applaud her for coming up with all of that on the spot. he himself wasn't exactly the most witty when it came to insulting others (although you could barely call it insulting when it came from cassandra rowley - that was just her way of communicating). her offer was almost as inviting as theo's, but he was sure if he went with cass he'd just butt heads with her the entire time. similar personalities tended to do that, even if cass's was the more intriguing out of both of them. phil handled her well despite this; jarek was surprised with his shorthanded response before he reminded himself who it was coming from. phil certainly didn't seem like someone to pick a fight if he didn't absolutely have to, even when cass was throwing around some savagery like she was wont to do. when he went on with his explanation - practically a speech when it came from phil - jarek simply shrugged his shoulders, teetering from heel to toe because he didn't have a clue about the geography of his own country. didn't keep up with much.
despite it all, lizzy was, as per usual, the more levelheaded of them all. he admired the scene as she stepped in to cut off all the bitter words, wondering why he hadn't thought to do the same first. ah, right - that whole 'lack of compassion' thing. it didn't occur to him whatsoever to defend phil from the barrage of verbal attacks, even if they weren't actual threats. even still, she faded from that moment very gradually, her expression morphing into a more sheepish one. in an attempt to at least look understanding (he certainly couldn't feel whatever was going through her head), he nodded slowly at the apology, lips pursing together in faux sympathy. he tuned out of the rest of her speech, though, feeling detached from the situation already, and rightfully so - impulse told him to pour all the water from the bottle in his pocket over them, because god knows
what his mind is doing coming up with these ideas, but he restrained himself, leaning against the nearest surface for support. for a moment he looked expectantly around, like he was waiting for someone to break the ice and help lizzy move on from her brief episode, before figuring he could be the one to do it. jarek removed his hands from his pockets and wandered over not-so-gracefully, lifting up a small cookie from the sheet and inspecting it.
"dunno about you guys, but i totally wanna go to fairytale town." he stared at the sweet, crumbling in his fingers, and cracked up slightly.
"hear they've got the most rockin' japanese garden." he peeked up from his hands daringly, like he was waiting for more negative input.
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