Promise
A harsh knock pounds against Vi’s bedroom door.
She’s messily laying in her bed, a bottle of vodka in one her hands and a barely lit cigarette in her other. She’s half asleep and quickly jerks upright at the sound of the knock.
“What?” Vi mumbles.
“It’s me, sis,” Jinx chirps, hanging on the door frame.
“Oh, sorry, yeah, what’s up?” Vi says. Her voice is jumbled and slurred.
“Put down the alcohol,” Jinx says, swinging into Vi’s room.
Vi rubs her temples and nods, setting down the bottle with a soft thud on the chipped hardwood floor. She presses the cigarette onto her forearm, hissing at the burn from the butt. Her eyes brim with the threat of tears, but she ignores it, tossing the newly unlit cigarette onto her floor.
“Now why would you do that?” Jinx asks, sitting on the foot of Vi’s bed.
Vi shrugs. “What do I owe the honor?” Vi tilts her head to each side, letting the bones pop loudly.
Jinx sighs. “I’m going to be gone for a few days, no contact. But I don’t want you to worry about me, okay?”
Vi furrows her eyebrows. “What’re you doing?”
“I can’t tell you, you just need to trust me that I’m going to be okay, yeah? I’ll be back.”
“But-”
“You can’t argue, sis,” Jinx says.
Vi swallows a lump in her throat. It stings as she attempts to breathe. “I just don’t want to lose you again.”
“You won’t.”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” Jinx whispers.
Vi nods, her bottom lip tight between her teeth. A slight copper taste coats Vi’s tongue and she realizes she is causing her lip to bleed.
Jinx sets a hand on Vi’s shoulder and smiles. “Don’t worry about me so much, worry about yourself for me when I’m gone, k?”
“I can’t-”
“Aye!” Jinx says.
“Fuck, fine, just be safe, goddamnit.”
Jinx inches closer, extending her arms and Vi can’t help but smile slightly, wrapping her little sister in her own arms. Jinx sighs into the hold and Vi rests her chin on Jinx’s head.
“Love you, sis,” Vi whispers.
“Love ya more.”
════❖════
“Vi, she’ll be fine,” Jayce says. Jayce and Viktor are sitting at the bar that Vi works at, watching her make drinks.
“I’m just worried, and I don’t think she understands how worried I am about her and how much I just want her to be safe and just-”
“Take a shot,” Viktor says, pointing at one of the bottles behind the counter.
Vi furrows her eyebrows. “I’m on the job.”
“We won’t tell,” Jayce says, laughing slightly.
Vi glances at the tequila and sighs, pouring herself a shot.
“Us too,” Viktor says.
Vi smiles, pouring two more shots. “Cheers, bitches.”
“Cheers!” both Jayce and Viktor say, taking the shots quickly.
Jayce gags slightly and Vi hands him a lime. “Thanks,” he mumbles, squeezing it into his mouth.
“Thanks guys for listening,” Vi says, taking the shot glasses from both of them.
“So, what does she even do for work?” Viktor asks after a moment of silence between the three.
Vi finds herself stopping to think. “I… well… it’s complicated?”
“Mm, so you don’t know?” Jayce asks.
“It’s probably illegal,” Viktor informs.
“Vik!” Jayce says, elbowing his boyfriend.
“He’s probably not wrong… she does have a record. But that doesn’t help my whole ‘I’m scared something bad is going to happen to her’,” Vi mumbles.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Jayce whispers.
“I’m just being realistic.”
“Vik!” Jayce says again, starting to get annoyed.
“He is though,” Vi mumbles.
“You guys, stop,” Jayce says. “None of this is helping.”
Viktor fidgets. “Erm, want to watch a movie with us tonight to distract yourself?”
Both Vi and Jayce pause, turning to look at Viktor.
“Pardon?” Jayce asks.
“I am inviting Vi for a… ‘girls night’ to distract herself,” Viktor informs awkwardly.
“Yes I heard that but-”
“Is that a problem?” Viktor asks.
“No, not at all!”
“It just caught us off guard,” Vi says, laughing slightly. “But hey, I’d love to come have a girls night with you guys.”
“Great, we can watch the movie with the um… pink girls?”
“Mean Girls?” Jayce asks.
“No… she’s blonde…”
“Legally Blonde?” Vi asks.
“No… is um…”
“Barbie?” Jayce finds himself asking.
“Yes! You are Kenough, Vi,” Viktor says.
The three of them laugh wildly at that comment.
“I was thinking we could get drunk and watch some action films,” Vi says.
“I’m vetoing the drinking. We’re in your healing era and alcohol is not a part of it,” Jayce informs.
“You can’t possibly expect me to not drink,” Vi says.
“I’m not expecting it, I’m requiring it. Let’s sober you up and watch some Barbie,” Jayce informs.