Without the Love
You Don't Do It For Me Anymore pt. 2
He hadn’t had the time to process it was Macaria until after she was already disappearing into the crowd. When their eyes met from across the bar it was reminiscent of late nights in dive bars all across the country, her hands resting on his shoulders as they slow danced in back corners or her hips pressed against his when they knocked back shots with the guys. She could drink him under the table once upon a time, but that was before his blood alcohol level was perpetually legally drunk. Jack found him watching after her with what, he was sure, was a forlorn look on his face. The woman behind the counter who had tried to stop her from running refilled his beer and set a shot down in front of Jack, with a flirty smile in their direction, before she sashayed off to help another customer.
“The place is packed,” they were the first words Alex had said since he left his parents house that morning; having visited them before checking into his hotel room and traveling across the city to the bar. He had to nearly shout into Jack’s ear as he spoke; the words felt gravely in his throat, awkward with how they parsed out, and brought their faces uncomfortably close in the dim of alcohol, perspiration, and body heat that the crowd around them formed. “Better than expected?”
“Much.” Jack tossed back the clear liquor and set his glass back on the bartop. His white button down shirt, with the collar popped up and the top three buttons undone, was sticky with sweat, and his hair, currently sporting an electric blue streak through its front, stuck to his forehead. “We honestly expected maybe half this crowd since it was our opening night but the marketing campaign that Mac ran worked wonders.”
He had just left the dancefloor, where he and Noelle had been dancing and fraternizing with the patrons who had so graciously showed up. On his way to the bar he had seen Macaria coming back inside, her jaw hardened and her shirt adjusted to show a ridiculous amount of skin on her abdomen and her chest. Without a word to each other it was clear that she was furious with Jack, one quick look at the bar and he had figured out why, and had changed course from walking up to the woman of the moment to coming to stand beside her ex-fiance...and his best friend.
Alex nodded and swirled around the amber liquid in his glass, his eyes searching the crowd. “She works wonders,” Alex agreed with a small smile as he took another sip of beer. “You did a great job with the place, Barakat.” His hand squeezed Jack’s shoulder, his motions slow and calculated even though it was just the two of them.
“She’s doing good, Lex,” Jack offered meekly as he stood from his barstool. “Why don’t you and I get lunch tomorrow?”
Alex nodded, trying not to focus on the implicit ‘stay away’ that had just come through Jack’s words. “I’m sure you’ll call me,” he grunted and drained the rest of the glass. After Jack had left, nodding promises to him, Alex switched from beer to scotch.
Seven drinks in, feeling it flowing through his body in feather light heat that kept him floating just above his feet, Alex stood and dropped money on the bar top. The noise was starting to get to him; it was no longer his scene to sit in loud bars, alone and drunk, pining after the girl he threw away and the friends that he left behind. He had seen Zack and Rian, brief glimpses of each as they picked up drinks or mingled with other people at the bar top, but had averted his head before either of them noticed him. He was on his way out the door when he saw her again.
She was standing on one of the tables in the boothed section, dancing with the woman he briefly recognized as Zack’s wife, her hands running through her hair and her slender hips swaying. Every movement of her body was carefree, from the swirl and sway of her hips to the way her hands waved over her head in time to the music. Her pants and top hugged each and every curve as she moved, stirring something in his chest, and in other parts of his body as well. She was beautiful even in the dim light and the crowd.
Their eyes met briefly, and although he couldn’t make out the look in her eyes, he knew somewhere deep down that him being there troubled her. She closed her eyes to him and turned her back. He turned his face away, rubbed his face, and left.
---
He was with her in his dreams that night. Physically unable to touch her but able to watch as she maneuvered around the house they once lived in. It wasn’t exactly a memory, but not exactly not a memory either, the scene painted in front of him; she was dancing in their kitchen with music on in the background, wearing one of his t-shirts and a pair of leggings that hugged each and every curve in her leg. Her hair was down, loose, and bounced in soft waves as she shook along to the music. Watching her move he felt something tug at his heart strings. He crossed the floor and wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her against him.
“I’ve missed you,” she said into his arm as her lips pressed kisses.
“I miss you,” he heard himself reply.
When he woke, shortly after the admission left his lips, his heart was beating a mile a minute. He reached for his phone to check the time and knocked over several empty beer bottles. The traffic outside his hotel room was almost nonexistent, just a car horn beeping and a couple of sets of tires driving past. His stomach felt off, uncomfortable, and his head pounded. His legs trembled when he stood and he was certain, with each shuffling step into the bathroom, that he was going to become acquainted with the floor shortly.
And he was right. But, before his body completely crumbled to the floor, his head met the corner of the bathroom counter and his eyes, burning with tears, shut.
Notes
Oops; Alex got himself into a bit of a pickle now, didn't he?
What'd you guys think about the conversation Jack and Alex had? I'm still debating how I want to write their current relationship...so stay tuned for that.
I am beyond late for this update; but school, the holidays, and NaNoWriMo are all killing me so please be patient! I promise that after the end of this month I'll be on a regularly updating schedule!
I just want to say thank you to @nanook for the helpful feedback and wonderful comments, and to each and every one of you for reading this!
This chapters song is still Demi Lovato's "You Don't Do It For Me Anymore" in celebration of her being out of rehab and doing so much better! (I'm a huge fan, so she may pop up eventually).
If you like the story so far, please vote, subscribe, or leave a comment! Thank you!
Wowwww... I am so late, but I am here. I'm so sorry for the delay in commenting!
I haven't really gotten on here as much lately. Life stuff. :/ And just, trying not to be so absorbed with the internet lately. I've gotten on social media a tad but I'm trying to take more breaks from it.
But I wanted to take some time to sit down on here and catch up with what I've missed, so here I am. :)
Cute interlude. <3 Their first kiss, aw. A bit scandalous, though, with the age gap, but at least they didn't rush into things. It's sweet how he was so confident in being with her, but then it changed. :( What happened?
I'm hoping following this comment I don't take forever to lead feedback again. Sorry about that, and looking at the comments, I take it you've probably waited since no one else has left feedback yet. :/ But I'll be here as much as I can be.
Oh, and in response to your author's note: Simple Creatures! YAAASSS, am I right? :D
Interested in seeing more. :)
2/18/19