FicWad

Jack Sparrow leaned against the counter of the coffee shop. It was the slow day, Tuesday evening, when all the kids were at home doing their homework. They did get a few customers, but not nearly the amount they got on Friday or even Wednesday.
"Hey! Lulu," he grinned as the bleach blond wandered into the small coffee house. It was a bitter December day, and she was quite clearly dressed for the weather in her heavy black coat and scarf. Her ears were unprotected, and Jack could make out the redness.
The girl didn't smile back as she peeled off her gloves and proceeded to try and rub the feeling back into her ears.
"Hi, Jack," she stood in front of the counter, absently reaching into her bag for her wallet. Jack loved that bag. It was a huge, hideous blue and red tote bag. Lulu refused to leave her house without. While most girls carried a small purse with just their wallet and maybe some make up in it, Lulu had a whole cosmetic store, an ATM, and a library in there, along with various pieces of paper that she thought might be important, though she didn't remember what they were for.
"What's wrong?" without being told her order, Jack began to fill a Styrofoam cup with mocha. It was what she always had, rain or shine. Sometimes it was nice to have someone so usual and routine, instead of those tiny girls who snapped their gum and flipped their hair while Jack waited on them.
They hemmed and hawed about what to order, and invariably, they always bought something they took two sips of and then threw away. They glared at Jack, as though he had poisoned their drinks. Truth be told, he had thought about it on more than one occasion. That was trouble of working with teenagers.
"Nothing," she didn't look up as she spoke. Jack frowned. This was unusual for Lulu. She normally looked you straight in the eye and would spend a few minutes bullshitting with you before she went to sit down with her drink.
"Where is Donovan?" Jack asked. They had been dating since September. Jack hadn't seen the two apart willingly since he asked her out right there in the corner of The Pearl Coffee Shop.
"Donovan..." Lulu's green eyes filled with tears. She shook her head and slapped her money on the counter. Without another word, she snatched her drink and scurried to a seat at an empty table (and there were plenty of them that night).
Jack looked at her, sitting in the shadows like that. Listlessly, she undid her scarf and let it drop to the floor. She bent her head forward, letting hair fall in her face. It wasn't really blond, she'd joked with Jack. Really, she had medium brown hair. She just bleached it to give the rest of the world a fair warning.
Donovan had black hair and brown eyes. It was an interesting contrast, almost like positive and negative.
"Jack?" Will's voice made him jump. He turned to see his lover standing in the doorway of the small kitchen. They also made their own muffins and cookies, and served sandwiches for lunch and dinner.
"Why are you standing there like that?"
"Like what?" even as he said it, Jack knew he was standing there with a fistful of money, one finger pointed at the cash register about the push a button. He had been lost in thought.
"What's wrong?" Will's own eyes had wandered over to Lulu, sulking (and most likely crying) into her mocha.
"Why isn't Donovan with her? I thought his clarinet lessons got moved so he could come here with her."
"Apparently Donovan and our fair Lulu have had a bit of a...falling out, savvy?" Jack murmured in his accent. Will looked again at the girl, this time an expression of perfect sympathy on his face.
"Poor girl. She really liked him," he murmured. Jack nodded in agreement as she slipped the money into the drawer.
"I know. Do ye think I ought---," he began. Will stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder.
"I know what you're thinking, Jack." He said solemnly.
"Do ye, whelp?"
"You're thinking of showing her some of that magic you learned. Don't do it. We don't need anyone to even wonder about us. Okay? Just stay away from her."
"I can hardly bear to see her achin' so!" he exclaimed. "I'd give up me rum to help the lass."
"I think I've heard you talk about lasses and rum before. It didn't turn out so well. Or do I need to call Elizabeth in San Francisco and have her remind you?" he threatened. Jack shrank back, emphatically shaking his hand and making his hands in the 'no' gesture.
"I thought not. Leave Lulu alone. She's young. She'll get over it in time." He grabbed the dirty plates in the tub underneath the counter. As he turned to leave, he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"I seem to recall someone tellin' ye that... 'Bout getting' over a certain scurvy pirate." Jack whispered. Will froze. He glanced back at Lulu.
"Can she keep her mouth shut?" he sighed. He knew that Jack was right. Hell, Jack was always right. According to him, anyway.
"Aye, my bonny lad."
"All right," he didn't say another word or even look at his lover as he returned to the kitchen. Jack reached into the pocket of his baggy pants. He held some square object lovingly, as most men polish antique cars.
Lulu as crying silently. She kept wiping away her tears with the sleeves of her coat. She seemed to be staring blankly at the steam rising off of her drink. Once in awhile, she glanced at the door, as though expecting someone to come in. Jack pulled out a chair and spun it around, straddling it.
"If ye don't drink that, it'll get cold. You hate it when your drinks get cold."
"Jesus!" she jumped, putting her hand to her chest. "Jack! Don't you ever do that again! Don't you realize you could give someone a heart attack?"
"Aye, that I do." He smiled at her. She rolled her eyes and looked back towards the door.
"So, are ye going to tell me what happened with Donovan?"
"Isn't it obvious?" she sniffled miserably. "He dumped me, Jack. He dumped me because he wanted to go out with Clarinda."
"Clarinda?" Jack screwed up his face in thought. Clarinda... Oh yes, the girl with the long red hair and the legs from here to Montana. Yes, she was a nice looking girl. She would have done fine in Tortuga.
"It's his loss, Lulu. Clarinda is the type of girl that everyone dates in high school but no one marries. She'll have three kids and be single, working at the grocery store while you're changing the world."
"What's the point in changing the world if no one loves you?" Lulu moped. Jack reached out and put his finger under her chin. He tipped her face upwards.
"Hey, you're young. I know that you're probably tired of hearing that by now, but you are. It'll get better. I promise, Lulu. You have plenty of people that love you. What about your Siamese triplets?" he wiggled his eyebrows, hoping to make her laugh. Lulu instead looked thoughtful.
It was true that there was a boy and a girl, Angelus and Michelle that she was usually with. Truth be told, Jack hadn't seen her with them a whole lot since she and Donovan got serious. But the three of them had been friends since junior high school, and there they all were, smack in the middle of their senior year.
"I've neglected them."
"Maybe, lass." He conceded. "What do ye want, Lulu?"
"What do you mean?" she asked slowly.
"Since I've known you I've seen ye go through a whirlwind of relationships, and not one of them has been good for ye."
"Jack?"
"Aye, lass?"
"How come now you have an accent?" she squinted at him as she looked up from her now cold drink. He flushed and looked away.
"I can't tell ye, I'm sorry. I believe you're trustworthy, but there are other people at risk here, not just me."
"I see," she murmured and then brightened. "When I first saw you, with dreadlocks and your hair in a red bandana, I thought you were some sort of weird pirate guy. Now you talk like it. That's just so cool."
"Oh ah, yeah... Cool," sweat was starting to form on the back of his neck. He could face Barbossa and his undead crew, but this clever high schooler always made him a bit nervous once she turned her brain on.
"I don't know what I want, Jack." She said after a beat of silence. Jack handed her the wooden object.
"This is magic, Lulu. This is a compass." The girl opened it and then looked at Jack as though he were looney.
"It... Doesn't point North."
"Because it points to what you want most in the world." He whispered in her ear. Lulu looked at him and beamed.
"Does it really work, Jack? Does it?"
"Aye," his gaze softened as he saw Will take his post at the counter and begin serving a small group of high schoolers, apparently hyperactive already from finishing their homework early and the fact that one of them was having a party on Friday.
"It pointed me to the one I love most and wanted most."
"Will," Lulu grinned. She held the compass tightly and closed her eyes as though wishing on a star or a penny in a wishing well. Then she cracked her eyes open. The compass started spinning.
It stopped, trembling, pointing at another table. Lulu squinted.
"Who is the lad? Do I know him?"
"Albrecht Smith. He's in my math class. He comes in here everyday. He's just really quiet." Lulu whispered. The boy had blond hair and thick glasses and a sweater vest.
"He likes me... I want him... I want him," she said this the second time with much more confidence.
"So go for it, lassie. Don't wait for it." Lulu pushed the compass towards Jack. With her eyes fixed on Albrecht, she slowly walked over. Wordlessly, she sat at his table. He looked up with a start and instantly seemed dazzled by her smile.
Satisfied, Jack got up and walked back to the counter. Will was balancing the register and didn't hear him. He wrapped his arm around the younger man's waist and slyly kissed his neck.
"Ah! Well," Will smiled. "Did it go well? Are you happy?"
"Aye. I'm very happy." And indeed he was.