drowning our sorrows

Life hadn't been quite as boring and lonely lately since Hadley had started hanging out with Jackson. It was nice having someone else around who knew how it felt to be bitter at the world. They could share stories about the annoying Claras of Amelia. It also helped that Jack had a hobby that was actually worth appreciating, unlike photography; music.

Hadley liked music (who didn't?) but he'd never had any interest in learning it himself. That is, until his pool of potential hobbies became a lot more limited to things he could do through touch and sound alone. Which coincidentally included music, something he now had someone who could teach him how to do.

One day he'd asked Jack to teach him how to play an instrument on a whim. They settled on the piano, since there happened to be an unused one sitting uselessly in the ballroom of the Earalas estate, where Hadley hosted events when he needed/wanted to interact with other important clio.

"Let's take a break," he said, after one particular practice session. "You thirsty? I'm thirsty. Want a drink?"

"Hell yeah I want a drink," Jackson said, wheeling away from the piano as Hadley scooted the bench away so he could stand. He didn't have to ask for clarification to know that Hadley meant alcohol. They knew each other well enough at this point that Hadley wouldn't have offered anything else.

He followed Hadley into the kitchen. "You're getting pretty good, for a blind guy," Jack said as Hadley reached into the ice box to get them beers. What he actually meant was, "You're getting pretty good," because Hadley was actually picking up the piano fairly quickly, even for someone who wasn't blind, but Jack was Jack.

Hadley handed him his beer, and he took a long drink from it, as though he was completely parched. "Damn that's good," he said as he finally came back up for air.

"I'm honored by such high praise," Hadley replied dryly. That comment from anyone else (except Sol) probably would have irritated him, but it wasn't so bad from a fellow cripple. He pulled out a six pack of beer and handed one of the cans to Jack. "You can actually just have this whole thing," he told him, referring to the rest of the six pack. "I don't drink beer."

Instead, he made his way over to the seldom opened liquor cabinet, unlocked it and pulled out a bottle that Nila informed him was something very expensive and delicious. "I'm a man of wealth and taste."

"Suit yourself," Jack replied, happily taking the beers off Hadley's hands. He actually laughed out loud when Hadley talked about his "wealth and taste". He'd take a beer over any liquor any day.

They left the kitchen and went to the living room, where Hadley took a seat and Jack parked himself next to the coffee table. He sat the six pack down next to him and pulled out another beer (he'd finished the first in the kitchen). "So how's things been?" he asked, leaning back. "Hire a new doorman yet?" Hadley had fired the last one after he found out he'd been the one rearranging the cupboards.

"Yeah, I did," Hadley replied, frowning. He had honestly been surprised when he found out Albert the doorman was the asshole moving shit around in the kitchen (Hadley had threatened to purge the entire staff if the responsible party didn't confess). The guy had worked for him for years, and always seemed respectful. What did he even have against Hadley, anyways?

His name isn't Albert, it's Humbert, Nila pointed out.

Whatever, Hadley replied, not caring.

"New doorman, and a new adviser," he said with a sigh, taking a huge swig straight out of the bottle. He'd come to accept the fact that he had to fill Remy's vacant position, and hired a girl named Alicia (or something) who was sort of Remy-ish. Nila kept telling him he should hire someone based on their credentials and not how much they reminded him of Remy, but whatever. Good credentialed clio were usually boring.

Jack raised his eyes at the "new adviser" comment. He didn't know much about his past adviser, except that Hadley had been dating her, but for some reason it had seemed like he was putting off hiring a new one for as long as possible. Then again, Jack didn't know much about overloridian work. Maybe two months was as long as possible. Either way, it was interesting.

"How's the new adviser measuring up?" he asked.

"Eh, she's alright," Hadley replied, taking another giant swig. Alicia wasn't boring, but she was no Remy. Why wouldn't Remy just come back already? She had to be missing him. "She seems kinda nervous around me."

Alicia was still in the stage where she clearly had no idea how to respond when Hadley was being Hadleyish. Which was kinda funny on its own, but Hadley was hoping they'd get to the point where she would banter with him like Remy had. Even Remy herself had been nervous around him at first, but she'd gotten over it very quickly.

Jackson finished his second beer and cracked open a third. "Why ever would anyone be nervous around you?" he asked, only slightly joking. He'd never felt nervous himself, but he also didn't have Hadley as a boss. He could see where the nervousness would stem from--especially as the guy's right hand lady.

The two continued their chatter, knocking back drink after drink. "You know what fucking sucks about this chair?" Jack asked. He couldn't remember when their conversation had gone from basic to "life sucks" but he didn't care. "clio are always looking at you funny. Or acting funny. Like these wheels have addled my brain or something. Like, fuck you. I'm smarter than you with or without the chair."

"I know how that feels," Hadley said, holding up his bottle in a 'hear, hear' sort of way. It was getting pretty light. He was gonna need a new drink soon. "Guess I should be glad I don't see the looks clio give me." He could imagine, though. "The things they say are bad enough. 'Oh sir, do you need help? Of course you do! Let me get your chair! And cut your food! Do you need me to help feed you, you poor blind idiot?'" That was a slight exaggeration, but honestly not too far off the mark from how some clio actually acted. Not to mention the clio who panicked every time they used a common saying that happened to have the word "see" in it. Annoying.

Jack snorted at the 'blind idiot' comment. "What a fucking joke," he said after draining half a can of beer in one drink. He looked over at the case and realized it was empty. "Joke two is that this is my last beer." He finished the can and sat it on the table.

"What else you got in that kitchen, my dear, blind friend?"

"Lemme finish this and I'll show you," Hadley replied, downing the last of what had once been an extremely expensive bottle of liquor. He got to his feet a little too fast and was immediately struck by dizziness that hadn't been there while he'd been sitting down. "Whoa. Shit," he said, having not realized until this moment how drunk he'd been getting. He reached out his hand and took a few steps forward until he came into contact with something to steady himself on, which turned out to be one of the handles of Jack's chair. "To the kitchen. Go."

"Using my disability to counteract yours, how very clever of you," Jack said as he wheeled away, leading Hadley behind him. "Kitchen, ahoy!" he said as they crossed into the tiled room. "Now where the fuck is my alcohol."

"I'm not disabled, I'm drunk," Hadley said, as if the two were mutually exclusive. What he really meant was that he was holding onto the chair because he was dizzy, not because he couldn't see where he was going, but he couldn't articulate that right now. Although being drunk did completely mess up the mental map he had of the estate.

"Drinks, drinks," Hadley muttered absent-mindedly, letting go of the chair handle and walking over to the wrong side of the kitchen. He stopped, mildly confused, when he realized he was by the sink instead of the liquor cabinet. "This isn't where my liquor is." He then walked over to the correct area and unlocked the cabinet.

"I have all these," he said, pulling out random bottles and setting them on the counter. He heard a few fall over but didn't stop. "Take your pick."

Jack wheeled his chair over and grabbed the first thing his hand came into contact with. He looked down at the label and decided the proof was high enough. Then he reached out and grabbed another, mostly so they wouldn't have to return to the kitchen.

"So tell me about this Remy chick," Jack said, after they'd situated themselves back in the living room and had started drinking again. He leaned his head back against the top of his chair and felt his head go dizzy. His buzz had given way to drunkenness, and Jack relished the feeling. "Why'd she leave you or whatever, again?" Jack didn't really know who had left who, he was just being an asshole.

Hadley laid down on the couch, realized that would make drinking more difficult, and sat back up. He took a big drink and nearly gagged, realizing that he had accidentally grabbed straight whiskey. Disgusting. He leaned over and slowly set the bottle on the coffee table.

Then Jack started asking about Remy. Remy, Remy, Remy. Why did he want to know about her? Hadley frowned. Had he been completely sober he would have brushed off the question or lied, but as it was, he wasn't sober. "She left me," he began, gearing up for a drunken rant. "Because I kicked her asshole brother out of the house for making me trip over a chair. Also, he was using her for her money. Also...something else. I don't remember. The point is, it wasn't my fault."

"That's a lot of somethings," Jack said, feeling very light and very heavy at the same time. Besides feeling drunk, he also felt like maybe Hadley had thought a little too hard on the "it isn't my fault" point. "But, to be fair, I'd leave you if you kicked my sister out too, asshole that she is or not. By the way, she is definitely an asshole." His favorite asshole, but still.

Hadley paused for a long time, looking mildly offended. "...Okay, but you're missing the context here," he retorted. "They're not real siblings. She met him like a month before this happened...and he was using her for money." He was pretty sure he'd already said that last part, but just in case he said it again with extra emphasis. He felt like it was an important part of the story.

"She just met her brother a few months ago?" Jack asked, confused. He paused, and thought about it for a minute. Did that not make sense because it didn't make sense, or because the room was spinning?

"Yeah," Hadley replied, not thinking that that sort of statement needed any kind of follow-up information. "The fucking day she met him she acted like she knew him for years...thought he was this perfect angel." He scowled just thinking about it. The way she took Lysander's side in every argument, thought he was this fragile flower who could do no wrong. While Lysander fucking blatantly milked it for all it was worth. "She's the blind one, not me."

Jack blinked. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen Hadley show this much emotion before. "Well she sounds pretty dumb, if you ask me," he said, taking a drink and watching the overloridian. "Who'd give all this up for a stranger? Good riddance, I say."

"She's not dumb, usually," Hadley said, suddenly defensive even though he had just been complaining about Remy himself. He laid down on the couch, his head resting on the arm rest. His head was spinning. He closed his eyes, not that it made any difference. "I mean I get it...She wants family...but I was just looking out for her and she chose him over me." He groaned. "I just want her to come back."

"Then why don't you tell her that?" Jackson asked, realizing he'd finished his bottle and sitting it down next to the many emptied beer cans. He blinked slowly and realized how hard it was for him to open his eyes back up. The room was dancing, so he shut his eyes again.

Hadley laughed bitterly. "I'm not coming back unless sweet poor precious Lysander can come too!" he said, imitating Remy's voice. Then, normally, "I'm not letting him move back in. Nope. Not doing it." If only there was some way to get Remy to understand the truth, but Hadley didn't think she'd ever believe it unless she somehow heard it from Lysander's own mouth.

Jackson shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I dunno what to tell ya then, buddy. Maybe she's seen through him already and you just don't know it." Jack kept his eyes closed, liking the spinning feeling while he was surrounded in darkness rather than in light. "Or maybe she's gone forever and you just gotta move on."

Jackson wasn't really good at making clio feel better.

"I am moving on!" Hadley insisted. "That's why you're here. My new best friend. And I'm not just saying that cuz I'm drunk," he added, even though he totally was. He sat up, sort of, and reached out to like pat Jackson's shoulder or something but completely missed. "Where are you?"