𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖗 | ᴄᴏʀᴘꜱᴇ ʜᴜꜱʙᴀɴᴅ x ᴏᴄ | ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴏɴᴇ

The Halloween Party

Meanwhile at the bar, Jack was going through his regular opening duties as usual without much of a hitch. His other coworkers had haphazardly decorated a bit last night. 'Good for them' he thought, making note to thank them since he knew he would never put in extra effort as a closer. He poured a little extra liquor in all the premixed drinks he needed to make today, making sure to try and remember to do the same for tomorrow- at least the bloody mary mix. His manager wouldn't notice much inventory wise, and no one ever watched the cameras unless something happened, and he would obviously be paying for all his friend's drinks tonight himself tonight. If Violet showed up, she would just need to think it was getting written off, but everyone else knew he was well off at this point.

Hell, he had even thought of quitting a few times to do music and streaming full time now since his last three songs got so much attention, and now that he was streaming with the big leagues thanks to Felix; so many doors were starting to open. He remembered everyone that would be attending tonight. Charlie, Rae, Poki... and several other big-name, highly recognizable players... they all had plus ones or twos, so it might be enough to not raise -too- much suspicion from Violet, but it was certainly a couple major flags. If she finds out, she finds out. He thought. He was too drained to panic about yet another thing today. He wanted to enjoy the night, he was trying to let himself believe he'd earned it, despite never thinking he'd done enough. He had worked hard and he was excited to see everyones reactions online and party with his friends, besides his panic attack itinerary was long enough as it was. He had it down to a science at this point. He had time blocks almost scheduled out for 'screaming-breaks-in-the-walk-in'.

All he had to do was get through the shift, and then tonight his friends would come and he could let his walls back down. Sure his ex was still blowing up his phone, already drunk at noon- not that he could relate to that- but no way she would come try any of the things she was continuing to type to him. He knew that drunk texting her a few days ago was a bad idea but the situation with Violet had him reaching for the bottle and anything to take the frustration out on, it just so happened that he'd happened across another one of her messages cussing him out for not talking to her and he used it as a way to let out that frustration. His heart rate spiked and he let out a shaky breath, pulling his phone out again and checking it as four more texts came through.

Emily:

Stop fucjing ignoring me

i know ur reading these you fcking asshole

If ur really not gonna answer after all that then guess ill c u soon

He slid it back in his pocket and went back to polishing glasses. It's fine. It's on the schedule in case it happens. He always had to be prepared. He poured himself a nice stiff shot and gulped it down quickly. It was gonna be a long night.

While he was glad that the bar was set to only have a half day today, leaving him the entirety of midday to get ready, he could feel his anxiety rising as he continued to feel his phone buzzing over the next half hour of working on his opening duties.

It had been over a year now since he had cut ties with her. If he was honest with himself, the entire relationship had been rocky. She'd always start arguments with him about his drinking or other addictions, they were subdued arguments for the first few weeks, but soon she became inconsolable- screaming constantly and tearing him down completely. She'd also had an ex that she insisted stay in her life- despite the thousands of red flags. He'd made the mistake of opening his mouth and trying to make well-meaning comments to her on the issue, but was only met with her turning into someone he barely recognized. She started distancing herself, hiding things all the time from him. Any discussion quickly turned into a war with her throwing out double-standards and ultimatums any chance she had. He later found out that her ex had apparently convinced her that Jack didn't really have true feelings for her and that he was the only one that really cared about her.