Jace nodded at that, walking away from his car to open the door that lead into his house. He kicked off his shoes, and braced himself for Lady. She flew into him, licking his face and barking happily. He shoved her off.

Then, without checking on Angel, he walking into his house, and said over his shoulder, "Rooms are upstairs. Pick one." Jace then ran a hand through his hair, and strode into the kitchen with Lady on his heels.

He opened a cabinet, and pulled out a bottle of some sort of alcohol. He popped the top off, and took a swig of it. I never used to drink, he chided himself. I think it's from the stress.

Jace sat down on a chair, and put his feet up on the glas s table in front of him. He took another drink from his whiskey, and let his eyes focus on the ceiling. His head was already starting to feel light, probably because he never had been very tolerant of alcohol.

Lady sniffed at his arm, probably looking for food, and then trotted off upstairs. Jace watched her leave with hollow silver eyes, and then took another swig from his bottle. He said to himself in a scolding voice, "I'm going to end up wasted. This will not end well..." But regardless, he continued to drink the whiskey.

(( I just remembered Jace is only 17 ))

Jace glanced up at her, a little startled to hear her voice. He smirked a little, amused that a girl like Erin would want something like alcohol. "There's another bottle in there," he pointed to the cabinet he had gotten his bottle out of.

He took another swig, a little disappointed when he saw he was over half-way done his whiskey. "I didn't know you liked alcohol," he commented with a small chuckle. "I mean, I don't usually drink stuff like this either, but, I think I have a good excuse to at this moment in time."

He pulled his feet off the table, shaking out his hair, and set his feet on the ground. Jace stiffled a small, drowsy yawn. He let his eyes rest on a newspaper sitting on the table. The headline read : Mutant wolf kills 6, injures 3. Windsong looks into it. He rolled his eyes, and looked away from the rediculous paper. As if there were such things as mutant wolves.

Jace smirked. "I don't drink, actually," he said. "I've just been stressed lately with, well, these two girls I know." He took another sip, and started to stare at the ceiling again, lost in his own deep thinking. His eyes were blank as ever.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Erin set her glas s down abruptly. He was startled. He watched in silence as she pinched her eyes shut and clenched her hands into fists. A look of pain flashed across her face, making Jace start to worry about her a little.

"Erin," saying her name made his stomach twist a little, "What's wrong? You've been distracted, or well, out of it since I saw you in the park. What's the matter?" He didn't mean to pry, but she was starting to make him nervous.

His silver eyes caught her blue eyes with a look of raw concern and worry, which wasn't abnormal for him. He even set his bottle down so he wouldn't be tempted to take a sip from it.

_______________

Josh got up from his bed, done staring out the window, and decided to go down to the kitchen to get something to eat. His stomach was rumbling wildly, and his thoughts were darting around his brain like a bunch of angry bees.

He looked at the note on the fridge in confusion, reading it over three times before his mind finally processed it. Out to get a job - Dinner's in the fridge. From, Dad. He shrugged, and opened the door to glance into the nearly-empty fridge.

Instead of pulling out the left-over spaghetti that was in there, he took a swig of milk from the carton, and took out an apple. He kicked the door shut, and went back up to his room to change.

He peeled off his old shirt, wincing and fighting back tears as the fabric pulled at the wounds that travelled along his spine. He tossed the dirty shirt on the ground, and then pulled on a navy blue shirt that made his indigo eyes seem brighter and scarier.

Then he shucked off his jeans and pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans. Then he pulled on his favourite pair of DC shoes, which were black and blue, and walked into the bathroom.

Josh pulled out his mother's old make-up kit, and started to apply the foundation to the deep purple bruise on his face, to hide it for the moment. He sighed, a little uneasy about the fact that he was wearing make-up, but shrugged it off.

Then he left the house, apple in hand, and went for a walk in the park.

Jace tossed the paper aside, trying to keep her eyes off of it. "Don't worry about it Erin," he said gently. "I know the feeling. Just relax; I'm sure everything will get sorted out. Good things come in due time, after all."

His silver eyes flashed with a painful story he didn't wish to share as he took another drink from his bottle. He took off his glas ses and set them on the table, sighing softly to himself as he tilited his head back. 

Jace had always looked much better without his glas ses; almost prince-like he was so handsome. But he couldn't see without them, and he didn't like the attention being attractive gave him. So he wore his glas ses.

He smirked a little to himself, and glanced at his whiskey. "I think I'm starting to get a little buzzed," he admitted sheepishly. "And I'm not even done my bottle yet." He set it on the table next to his glas ses, the world around him slightly fuzzy. Anything past the end of the table looked like a big blob of random colour.

Jace smirked, downing the rest of his whiskey. He had to bl
ink a few times, making sure he wasn't going to pas s out in the middle of the kitchen or something. He regained his crooked smile. "So you noticed her come in, huh?" he said, looking at her. "Yeah, that was Ella."

He put both elbows on the table, and set his head in his hands. "I've got myself in quite the mess with her, right now. It's hard to explain, and I don't think I can say it right while I'm in this condition." He chuckled a little, and then stood up shakily.

"I need another or something. Maybe some vodka or something... I dunno." He started to walk back into the kitchen, when he blinked back at Erin hazily. "You want anything, Erin?" Jace had to bl
ink a couple times to get her into focus. He was starting to get a light headache.

He ran a hand through his messy silver hair, grinning crookedly at the younger female. He'd never expected to be sitting in his kitchen with her, drinking, and talking like good friends. He'd just expected her to walk off, or slap him across the face or something when they met.

Jace pulled out a bottle of vodka, then opened the dishwasher and pulled out two clean glas ses. He spoke as he prepared the drinks, "There's nothing to explain, really. I'm just kinda wedged between her and another girl I know."

He smirked wryly, and stuck a little umbrella in each of their glas ses, just for kicks. He shook out his hair again, getting a little irritated with it. He added in a curious voice, "Ever felt like something was tearing you in two directions, but neither direction is right or wrong?"

He walked over to the table again, setting their glas ses down and taking a sip of his. Damn, that stuff was strong, too. Worse than the whiskey. He chuckled lightly, "Yeah; that's kind of what it's like. Though, I'm not really sure how I feel about Angel and the other girl. Angel, obviously, seems to like me a lot. But the other girl..." he drifted off, staring into Erin's eyes for a minute.

He shoved it off and looked away. "I'm not so sure about the other girl. Nor about how I feel about either one of them. It's complicated and confusing." He blinked, smiling his crooked smile at Erin again. "I take it you've never been in a situation like that?"

Charlotte blinked, eyes out of focus for a moment. She tried to get her head to work for a moment, then looked at Derek, clearly startled. "....Derek?" she said in a whisper, placing one hand on her forehead. "God. I must be dead. I must have gone to heaven; I'm imagining things. Can't be Derek..." She blinked again, and looked at him in shock. "Oh. It is you." She flushed a light pink.

"Thank you,"

________________

Jace looked at her in confusion, obviously puzzled. "Who's Josh?" he asked himself, staring at Erin kindly.She had no clue he was talking about her the entire time. He sighed, downing the last of his vodka. He winced when a sharp pain entered the back of his mind, and he started to feel drowsy.

He set his arms on the table, and then set his head on his arms. "Just a little nap can't do any harm..." he said sleepily, yawning. "Night Erin.." He closed his eyes, and before he knew it, was pas sed out cold with an empty glas s of vodka and an empty bottle of whiskey beside him. 

His dreams weren't really dreams. There were only shapes and colours, and faces. Erin, and Angel, Lady, and his parents. but there was this giant, angry black wolf with indigo eyes made of fire that kept popping up...

( Thanks. :) )

Derek rolled his eyes, shifting human before taking a few steps toward her.