Starter for: @mtchstick
The shift at the Phoenix was ending and Jericho was more than happy for it to be over. He moved to the back to change into his street clothes and clocked out. A check on his phone and he didn't have any messages which meant he was free for the night. At least if nothing else came up for him to do. That called for a drink or several, something he genuinely needed after all the shit going on in Red Ridge. That and the rumors that someone who looked a lot like the sister he hadn't seen in nearly two decades. He figured it was just a coincidence and if it wasn't he was better off not knowing. Red Ridge was big enough for them to avoid each other.
Jericho could have gone to one of the bars in the Phoenix but they weren't really his style. Besides, if he went to Lewis' he was already on the South side and close to home. That meant he could drink as much as he wanted and he wouldn't have to pay for a ride home then back to his car the next day. When he arrived there and walked up to the bar to take a seat he would regret not going to St. Peter's. No sooner than the whiskey hit his lips did she come into his peripheral. It had been a long time but he still recognized the brown locks and the blue eyes. His mother's eyes, same as his. He turned his head to get a better look at her and a swarm of memories crawled played in his head like a cockroach infested apartment in the dark. The urge to scream at her built in his chest but the sound never left his throat. Instead he stared for a moment, his mouth slightly agape. He'd always imagined she'd come back and take him and Liz far away from home and Red Ridge. Mitch would come home and she'd hold them tight in her arms and they could go somewhere safe, she'd always brought them somewhere safe. But she never came and now here she was a little over sixteen years later. He wasn't the scared little boy he was back then and he certainly didn't need her protection anymore.
"Fuckin' Michelle Novak." A bitter laugh escaped him as he said her name and he downed the remainder of his whiskey glass tapping the counter for another. Jer sighed and shook his head before turning to look at her again. "Nice to see you're fuckin' alive and breathin' after all." The words came out of his mouth like poison and left a burn on his tongue. Or maybe that was the two shots of whiskey he'd just consumed. The bartender dropped another half full glass of the liquid in front of him and he finished it off just as quick. "Yeah just leave the bottle man, put it on my card." He said, exhaling the burn in his throat and filling the glass again.