blowing off steam | jack

[lee]

These days, Damien had been all about moving forward. No, he wasn’t growing up; it was quite the opposite, actually. Ever since Abigail’s disappearance (or maybe even just since she left him) he’d been moving. The boy made a habit of hopping from one party or one fight to the next without ever giving himself time to just think. Maybe ignoring what was happening wasn’t the same as coping, but it was the only way he knew to keep everything together. Some of his friends could just put on a strong face and pretend that they weren’t feeling anything, but Damien preferred the luxury of actually not having to feel too much.

Now that he actually had free time and no idea what to do with it, the boy took to the courts. He hadn’t spent much time at the park since he was in high school, and it was actually a bit refreshing. Here, he could get his adrenaline pumping without having to worry about who was suspecting him of doing what. He’d sent a text to Jack, who had been his best friend as long as he could remember, but he didn’t bother waiting to see if the other boy would actually come before he pulled the basketball out of his gym bag and began shooting. It may not have been his best sport, but Damien considered himself to be an athlete, so he liked to try everything.

[jack dominic sinclair]

Ever since Abigail went missing everything had sort have just crumbled. Jack's group of friends had just spiraled out of control in one way or another, Siena had turned into a home bug and he hardly even spoke to her, he was lucky to get a reply to his text to check she was even still alive in that house of hers, Tiffany was, well Tiffany, there was no other way to put it from Jack's point of view. And then there was Damien, it wasn't like he hadn't already started to go off the rails after him and Abby broke up but since she went missing he had sort of just lost control. At first Jack kind of liked it, it was good to see his best friend just let himself lose a little but it was getting to a point that had Jack a little worried now but he didn't exactly know how to voice it to Damien without pissing him off.

The boy was just chilling out in his living room watching a bit of TV when his phone buzzed on the side table with a message from Damien. It wasn't really hard to decide to go or not, who chose staying in over shooting a few hoops? Jack was no couch potato. He jumped up and threw some more suitable clothes on and headed down to the courts to meet his friend. He walked onto the court without Damien seeing him and jumped and intersepted the ball as his friend shot for the hoop. "Alright, I'm surprised your even alive after last night" He joked reffering to the fact that they had both been pretty drunk the night before, it was a wonder Jack had even crawled out of bed yet but a few pain killers had dimmed down the pounding in his head to a quite lul.

[lee]

Damien laughed when Jack stopped his shot. Moving to knock the ball out of his friend’s hand, he said ”Are you kidding? I’m more alive now than I was before,” jokingly as if it hadn’t taken a battery of caffeine and acetaminophen to get him moving when his mother decided to call him at the ungodly hour of seven in the morning. To be quite honest, the combination of his hangover and her shrill voice over the phone had him considering officially putting down the drink, but life and parties were both better when one was allowed to consume mass amounts of liquor, in his opinion. Ok, so he was far from an alcoholic, but one bad morning was not going to have him running for the hills. If it came to his attention that he had a problem, he would probably think really hard about stopping, but for now he was happy to use it as an excuse for his strange behavior.

”What about you?” he questioned, dribbling the ball he’d managed to retrieve slowly as he watched his friend. Jack had had at least as much to drink as Damien did the other night… and probably not as much time to recover before being summoned to the courts. ”Are you up to a game?” Part of him was hoping that Jack wasn’t so that he would at least have a shot (being a star football player in high school had really gotten him used to winning, after all), but the rational, uncompetitive part of his mind was hoping Jack would be interested in a game. Basketball was far more challenging when you were actually playing another person, after all.

[jack dominic sinclair]

Jack laughed a little"Well, I felt like microwaved shit this morning but nothing a few painkillers couldn't handle." he said just as his head panged with a bit of pain as if to remind him it was still there. Most morning after a heavy night out started to same way with Jack, he'd wake up half hanging off his bed with his dog pawing at his hand to be left out, he'd roll over feeling a little confused and disorientated before the ill feeling washed over him. He'd always tell himself he was never drinking again but he knew too well he was just kidding himself, it was just too much fun to drink yourself into oblivion at parties. Sure the hangover wasn't the only fault of the alcohol, Jack also had more chance of doing stupid things or totally losing his rag with someone after so many drinks and no anger managment help could get in the way if he was drunk. It wasn't rare thing for Jack to wake up with broken knuckles as well as a banging head. Thankfully no one had rubbed him the wrong way the night before so he'd kept himself out of trouble.

Jack had always been into sports, it was one of the many things him and Damien had in common and ever since they were kids they'd been playing against eachother. When it came to any sport the two were incredibly competative especially with eachother, it was like brotrherly rivalry on the court or the pitch or whatever they were playing. Jack had to say Damien was better at football, always had been and unless he broke a leg or something, probably always would be. Jack hated it, he couldn't stand being out done by anyone but he said he made up for it in skill in most other sports. He'd been captain of the basketball team in school and star stiker in the soccer team and he played most other sports just for fun, even golf, usually the only thing him and his father ever did together. It was Jack's competative side, and his arogance in his basketball skills that made him ignore the whining in his head not to play a game and agree to it "Of course, when do I ever turn down a chance to kick your ass?" He joked as he knocked the ball from damians dribble into his own hands and dribbled to the other hoop and shot the ball in. He knew it wouldnt count but he was a show off and he liked to prove a point.

[lee]

Ahh, Damien had figured as much. There was no way even someone as well versed in the lifestyle as Jack could get over a night like that without some payment. The way Damien was beginning to see it, the whole morning after feeling was really just the consequence of having such a good time, and for now, it was really worth it. On the plus side, no one that mattered was hurt, though he couldn’t really remember enough to speak for the rest of the people they’d hung around. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he remembered most of their names. In the end, it wouldn’t really matter. Lately, he’d been making a point of shifting crowds. It was bad enough to keep up this lifestyle when so many people suspected you of kidnapping (or something worse), but to do so repeatedly with the same people just seemed like a bad idea. After all, the sort of people he’d been hanging around weren’t really known for their discretion, and Damien couldn’t afford to risk any more than he already was. Being angry and reckless was understandable enough under the circumstances, but the department was under pressure and pretty soon they’d be out for blood. Damien and his friends were lead suspects, so it was just better to be as careful as his need to slowly ruin his chances at a real future allowed.

”You look like shit,” he remarked playfully, a smirk apparent across his features while he nodded as if in agreement with Jack’s statement. They may not have had the healthiest or the friendliest of relationships – most of their time together was spent either being competitive and shooting one another down or enabling each other’s thoughtless impulses – but Jack was one of very few people Damien was sure he could count on in a pinch. Today was a prime example. Only minutes ago had he texted the other man and yet here he was, hangover and all, ready to whoop him in a game of basketball. Hey, he could admit that it wasn’t his best sport, something Jack had spent no time proving with an illegal move (though some friendly one-on-one wasn’t really likely to stay clean anyway); he’d just have to find some way to make it up to him. The fact that he knew that he would probably end up losing, however, did nothing to sway him from talking as though he wouldn’t. ”I don’t know,” he responded, following Jack across the court, ”I’ll answer that when it finally happens.” He was a jock. That in itself should have allowed him some arrogance.

[jack dominic sinclair]

It wasn't just because Abby had gone missing that Jack switched his crowd when he went out partying, it was just safer in general to keep finding new people, old people usually had problems with him, whether it was a guy whos girlfriend he's Jack had hit on, a girl he had messed about, someone house he'd messed up a little too much at a house party and so many other reasons people hated him. If they were new then you didn't have these problems as well as it being easier now not having people judge you for being a suspected kidnapped and who knows what else. It was easier to forget all that when no one was bringing it up and forgetting was the main reason for going out and getting so drunk. Letting go of all the crap and just having fun, what was so wrong with that? The hangover was the only complaint Jack had and that was just a sign it had been a good night.

Jack rose his eye a little bit "Thanks man, but have you look in the mirror today, cause you really can't talk" He shot back with a smirk to match his friends. Sure they didn't seem like the friendliest of besties but it was just becuase they were so close that they spent so much time insulting eachother. There wasn't anyone Jack trusted more than Damien and he was the one person Jack knew he could count on no matter what, sure they had had their disagrements over time but that didn't change anything in the long run. There wasn't much, if anything, that could break them up. "Pfft, alright then..." he teased and threw the ball to Damien "I'll let you start, make it a little easier for you" He mused arrogantly. It wasn't even because he knew he was good at basketball. No matter what the sport was he always talked the talk, he was a jock, it explained it all.