I am Kid Midnight and it's almost sunset [Jam]

tw: marijuana

She felt a bit like an extra wheel, but she was making due. Circe, a former pen pal turned friend, had invited her to come along on a trip with her friends to the beach. Having few friends of her own and only a little bit of time off, Eve had agreed. She hadn’t expected her friends to be… well, who her friends were. There were a lot of them, so many that they had to take three cars just to get them all there. Eve drove Iris, her powder-blue vintage VW Beetle, down, with Circe at shotgun. Circe’s friend Jam had driven his sister Janae and her boyfriend, Sid. Finally, Ezra had driven his own car down with a guy named Stan that Circe assured Eve was very nice, but that Eve had never heard of. She heard of the others, from Circe’s stories, even if she hadn’t met them all in person. 
 
She was excited to formally meet Janae, who she heard was one of Circe’s best friends. Janae was apparently an all-around kind of girl. She likes music, movies, sports, makeup. She liked traditionally girly things and tomboy things both and could adapt around others. She was also, apparently, super pretty. When Eve did meet her, the girls greeted with a hug—they had both heard so much about one-another that they felt like they were friends already. She had some girl-talk with her early on in the day, and they had suggestively put sunscreen over Janae’s back while Sid was watching to try to tease him. Sid seemed cool, too. He was a brother to Circe, in some ways. A muggleborn like her, all alone after the war. It seemed terrifying. Apparently, he had been “adopted” by an older-but-still-young man that Circe accused of being “dreamy.” Eve wondered where her dreamy man that was supposed to financially and emotionally support her was, but she held her tongue, not sure if the joke was in good taste. He and Eve didn’t have much in common other than their shared muggle heritage, but he seemed nice. He was “behaving,” said Circe, since he was typically a terror. 
 
Ezra was…. Interesting. Eve had heard everything about him. He was infamous. She remembered the good things, from when Circe had her massive crush on him. She also remembered the bad things, like him basically cheating on her, gaslighting her, calling her names, and telling her he felt sorry for whoever she was going to date in the future. What a jerk! Despite herself and how inclined she was to dislike him; Ezra was cute and pretty charming. He was a comedian type, which she had expected, but he was actually funny, and not just a huge walking racist or sexist or transphobic joke waiting to happen. She really wanted to hate him, but she couldn’t quite. In fact, she had more reasons than one to hate him. He had really played a number on her cousin, Jet, over the winter break… and, so she had heard, done the same thing to another girl in Circe’s year and basically cheated on her too. A douchebag, but a charmer. The worst kind. 
 
Stan was nice. He was a professional quidditch player, apparently, but he wasn’t on the Harpies so she wasn’t familiar with him by name or face. She could see where he would be famous, though. He was incredibly handsome, polite, gentlemanly. She thought she saw some sparks fly in Ezra’s direction from him, and worried a bit for his safety. He seemed like a doll, and she was immediately protective. 
 
Still, the biggest focus for Eve that say was Jam. He was her mysterious guitarist and clerk at her favorite music store. In fact, she often visited the store just to make small talk with him, but had yet to give him anything that could keep them in contact. If only wizards carried phones! Eve had one, as her dad needed a way to call her and keep tabs, and used it for a few of her muggle friends. She would have wanted to slip him her number somehow. She was very shy around him. She was shy in general, usually, but Jam made her shyer. He was very handsome. He was sweet, loving, and protective of Circe apparently—which she approved of. Why Circe had gone for Ezra and not Jam, seemed like a mystery to her. Jam clearly liked her, but… well, Ezra was charming, she guessed. Popular too, it seemed. Jam… hadn’t really dated as much, Circe had told her. That was a shocker, but still less shocking than the idea that Sid was Janae’s first boyfriend. Janae was just as gorgeous as Circe had told her. Even two weeks after having a baby, bloated and with swollen breasts, Janae was still stunning. She had some stretch marks along her abdomen, which were natural, and some well-placed curves. Maybe Tate blood was just good, because their cousin Dez (her tattoo artist) was really attractive, too. 
 
After a while, a few other friends came. They were older, but even though the gap was like seven years between them, they seemed way more adulty-adults than Eve was used to. There was Isobel and Damian, who were a married couple. They seemed nice, and Izzy was absolutely the mom-friend. They brought their curly-haired Kurt Cobain knockoff friend, who turned out to be named Tock? What kind of name was that? He was handsome, in a weird kind of way, but it still shocked Eve to see that he was Sid’s dad. He looked to be a little high, but then again, they kind of all had been smoking and drinking off and on throughout the day. Eve, Janae, and Stan seemed the most sober of the lot. Ezra was pretty much plastered, now, and Circe and Jam were at the giggling point of stoned. It was cute. Sid had just as much as Circe and Jam, and probably had outdrunk Ezra, but he seemed normal enough despite that. High tolerance? 
 
She carefully slid up next to Jam, pretending that she had nowhere else to sit but right next to him—Circe had arranged this, hadn’t she?—and sat down on a log placed around their small bonfire. The adulty-adults had recently had their own, not far away, but after a while Tock had left the couple alone to stargaze. Ezra had just finished telling a story, and was rolling a few joints for them to share, so Eve smiled at Janae across the way. 
 
Ezra was leaning into Stan a little, wobbly even while sitting. How one man could be such a colossal douchebag yet still be a little adorable sweetheart had really escaped her. She noticed that Stan seemed to like this, but she wouldn’t let on, just in case no one else knew. She wondered if Ezra was going to sober up any time this century, or if someone else would be driving him home. As if on cue, Ezra nudged Stan again and passed him his keys. “You can drive stick, right?” He asked Stan, and Stan nodded, helped Ezra up, and started moving them to the car. Ezra took a deep bow as he stood. “Lovely evening all, I’ll see you another night.” He said, trying to sound like he wasn’t completely crossfaded and failing. Soon, they left. Sid and Janae got up after a moment, and took a little walk holding hands by the sunset. It was cute and romantic and Eve loved it for them. 
 
She didn’t see where Circe or Tock had gone off to, but they were suddenly gone, too. It was now just the two of them, her and Jam, alone. She picked up one of the joints Ezra left, and put it between her lips. She realized belatedly that her wand and stuff was in her car and she frowned. 
 
“Got a light?” She asked, shyly. 

@Jam Tate

Jam had been a little down-in-the-dumps after yet another failed talking stage. Women always seemed interested in him, but they never seemed to stay interested-- which was fine! Nobody had any obligations to be with him, but he couldn't help but be a little bummed out about it. She'd been an American and he'd thought her New York accent was cute. They'd met a month ago when she'd come in to get her guitar repaired after a show she'd said she'd performed. He'd felt hopeful when she'd shot Raf down and seemed flirty with him. He'd gotten even more hopeful when she'd let him take her out to eat and they'd parked outside of the city to stargaze and hooked up in the back of his car. But, it had been about a week of unanswered owls and he assumed she'd gone back to the States or moved on to somewhere else in Europe.

He assumed that Circe had noticed and he also assumed that it was why she'd decided that they all needed a beach day. She was a good friend to him and she always had been, but he'd have been a liar (which he often was when it came to this particular situation) if he said that those hadn't been reasons why he'd been so infatuated with her for so long. But, she was right. They were too good of friends to risk messing it all up. Who would hold him, or her, while they cried if they broke up? It was typically Circe, after all, who was tasked with comforting him after his many failed attempts at love. He returned the favor, though thankfully not as often. Probably soon, he figured. He'd seen the way that Circe and Tock had been looking at each other, and he knew that she'd fancied Tock for years.

He just didn't particularly trust Tock. Objectively, Jam thought that he was cool and everything, sure, but he knew that he wasn't going to treat Circe right. He'd already gotten her arrested, for Merlin's sake! He'd honestly been shocked that Sid had been treating Janae as well as he had, but he really seemed to love her. Tock wouldn't be like that with Circe, he knew, but she was too blind to see it. He wasn't sure if it was really his place to say anything. He'd learned his lesson after the debacle with her and Ezra. Ezra had admitted to him that Circe had been correct in her assumption that he'd thought about cheating, but he'd been telling her that she was crazy-- basically. It had felt really gasslighty and unfair, so Jam had accidentally told her while he'd been trying to make her feel better about the situation. It wasn't his place. He shouldn't have betrayed his best friend like that, but... Circe was his other best friend and he'd felt that he'd be betraying her, the clear victim in this situation, by not saying anything. It was complicated.

They really needed this night out. He and Ezra had finally made up, and Jam had been making more of an effort to let his best friend know that he still loved him. He'd bought the other man's favorite kind of booze, and he'd also made sure to pick out some things that he knew that his sister and the other ladies might like. Jam genuinely tried his best to make sure that everyone felt included and cared for, and that was why it had been so disappointing that he'd done such a monumentally shite job of it lately. He'd do better, though. He had to.

He was having a great time, and he was glad that everyone else seemed to be too. Circe had invited her friend, Eve, along. He remembered seeing her in the shop-- several times, now that he thought about it-- but he hadn't really been on his game enough to give her the attention that he normally would have. He was glad when she'd found her way to his side and he'd flashed her a grin in his semi-drunken, definitely stoned state. He was definitely faring better than Ezra, who looked as though he could barely stand.

"Oi, drive safe!" Jam had called out to Stan, though he knew that he would. Stan was usually fairly responsible. It wasn't long after Stan and Ezra's departure that he'd noticed Tock and Circe sneaking off away from the group. He'd arrived, earlier, with Damian and Izzy and Jam had done his best to act normal and not suspicious of his motives. Janae and Sid departed soon after, and soon it was just him and Eve.

Jam felt a little more nervous than he typically did with girls. This was Circe's friend, though the thought hadn't dawned on him until just now that the blonde girl had arranged this. That made sense, actually. He was partly grateful and partly amused. Scheming Slytherin brat. He smiled, again, at Eve.

"Always." He pulled a lighter from his pocket, he thought, rather smoothly and offered it to her. She was definitely his usual type. "I'm glad that you could come with us. I hope you're having fun? I know some of us can be a bit... much, but we're a good group. I think." 

Eve smiled as Jam pulled out a lighter. She lit the joint, inhaling, and holding the smoke in her lungs. While she wasn’t as drunk or stoned as the others, she certainly smoked and knew how to hold her own. She exhaled away from him and flashed him a grin before passing the lighter back, and offering him a toke. She blushed a little as he gazed at her, hoping it wasn’t all that obvious. 
 
“I’ve been having a great time.” She promised. “You guys are all exactly the way Circe described you all, you know?” She smiled. “Ezra is a trip.” She admitted. She knew Jam and Ezra were best friends, but she also knew that he had told Circe on him. “For someone who treated Circe like such a monumental douchebag, he’s really charming.” She laughed. “And of course, you’re exactly like you described you, too. Very sweet.” She blushed a little more. 
 
“Has she said anything about me to you guys?” She wondered. “We were pen pals ever since she went to Beauxbatons for the year. She and I really hit it off. I… was at Hogwarts briefly, too. My first year, I was a Ravenclaw there. When the muggleborns got kicked out, though, I ended up at Beauxbatons and then just… stayed there. It was nice there, I had friends. It wasn’t as scary as being at Hogwarts, I guess.” She shrugged. “I feel like… I vaguely remember seeing you.” She admitted. “And, of course, I come to the shop all the time. I guess I didn’t put it together that the guy from the music shop and Circe’s Jam were the same person.” She admitted. 
 
She took another inhale off the joint, feeling it kicking in a little bit. “I really like the shop, you know? Music is a passion, and I have a fair few tattoos.” She pulled her jacket off to show him her occamy tattoo.  â€œThis one is my favorite. Dez did it for me.” She smiled. “Come to think of it, you guys have the same last name. Related? Brother, or cousin or something?” She wondered. 
 
“Dez is really good at tattooing, so I’m pretty loyal to him.” She admitted. “But you… do guitar lessons too, right? I’ve always wanted to play, but I’m not sure if I’d be any good. Acoustic would be more my thing?” She admitted. “I suppose I’m spread a little thin, though. I work two jobs now, one at this potion-coffee shop in London and also as an apprentice herbologist and potioneer in Edinburgh.” She smiled. “You…. Do anything else? You’re in a band, right? Write music and rap and all that cool stuff? Circe told me.” 
 
She eyed him up, offering the joint again. She was talking a lot, probably from nerves. “So, tell me more about you, Jam?” She offered. “You’re a mystery to me, and I‘m curious to know more.”