Cursed | PG13 | 30 Rock
Title: Cursed
Prompt: C is for Curse
Challenge: A to Z Drabble Challenge
Fandom: Jack/Liz, Jack/OFC, 30 Rock
Requested by: michellek
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 755
Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish they were. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: Not sure where this idea came from; it simply popped into my head and demanded to be written. Let me know what you think!
-
It’s a Thursday night, nearing 11pm, when Jack raps softly on Liz’s office door. She jumps; she hadn’t thought anyone was still around. She’s been keeping later and later evenings lately. The less time she spends at her apartment the better. It’s lonely there-too lonely. At least here on the 6th floor of 30 Rock, she feels less alone by hearing the distant hum of Khonani’s vacuum cleaner. She’s not ready to tell Jack that she can’t stand being alone anymore (which is weird, because she tells him everything these days, even about her menstrual cycle-which is kinda screwed up and she wonders if it’s the depression or the loneliness or a tumor). Instead, she takes her legs down off of the sofa where she sits with her laptop and makes space for him on his side (it’s always been his side-she never sits there just in case he pops in for a visit and doesn’t allow anyone else to either).
“You’re here late,” she says stupidly. She does that a lot: overstates the glaringly obvious. Maybe it’s the tumor that’s making her lame. (Can tumors do that?)
He smiles his secret smile as he settles back against the fluffy cushions. “I have a date at 11:30.”
“Who has dates on a Thursday night?” Liz asks, scrunching her nose in her attempt to wrap her mind around the concept.
“People who wish to advance their love lives rather than make love to a computer in their places of employment.”
Liz rolls her eyes. “I’m working on my next book,” she says quietly. She hasn’t told him yet that she’s been working on one. It’s nerve wracking and scary and she’s felt like she can’t screw it up if she doesn’t speak the words out loud. She worries that she’s made a mistake in telling him but, to her lack of surprise, Jack completely disregards what she’s said.
“I think I’m in love, Lemon.” He has that faraway look in his eyes, the one he gets when he’s smitten over some new leggy lady with nice, even-sized boobs and good teeth.
“Are you now?” She doesn’t try to hide the cynicism in her voice. “How long have you known this one?”
“A few weeks. She’s perfect in every way, Lemon. I think she may be the one.”
Liz sighs. “They always are.”
Jack turns to look at her then, the easy smile on his face dissipating. “That’s a very loaded statement.”
“Well, I’m a very loaded kinda gal. Wait. That makes me sound rich. Or drunk, and I’m totally not either of those things.”
“You obviously have something to say.”
Liz sighs again and puts her computer down on the floor (she has to remember not to step on it this time when she gets up). “Jack, every woman you’re with is the one. Every woman is perfect. You’re in love with every woman you keep around for more than a week.”
“That’s completely untrue.”
“Is it? You’re cursed with this…I don’t know…this crazy idea of love. You make every chick you meet into the woman you want her to be and you ignore all the stuff that you don’t like, which is why your relationships never last.” She can tell by the tensing of his shoulders that he’s getting angry. She doesn’t blame him; she’s never been this blunt with him before. “And this new lady, Nikki-“
“Nekia.”
“-she’s only perfect and the one because you don’t really even know her yet.”
“She could be the woman I marry, Liz,” Jack replies, standing up. He glares down at her. “And if she is, I expect an apology.” He turns to leave but stops at the door. “Who are you to judge my love life, anyway? You’re the one in a relationship with your job.”
Liz doesn’t comment. She simply watches him go and drops her head back against the arm of the sofa. She really hopes Nekia is the one, but Liz knows that she isn’t. Jack’s a cursed man and always will be until he actually gives up this silly illusion of love that he’s created for himself.
Love is dumb anyway, Liz decides. She picks up her laptop and stares at the blank word document. The floor above her, she can hear a trash can being set back on the tiled ground after being emptied. Who needs love when you’ve got work to do and a janitor to keep you company?
Not Liz Lemon, that’s for sure.
---
Prompt: C is for Curse
Challenge: A to Z Drabble Challenge
Fandom: Jack/Liz, Jack/OFC, 30 Rock
Requested by: michellek
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 755
Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish they were. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: Not sure where this idea came from; it simply popped into my head and demanded to be written. Let me know what you think!
-
It’s a Thursday night, nearing 11pm, when Jack raps softly on Liz’s office door. She jumps; she hadn’t thought anyone was still around. She’s been keeping later and later evenings lately. The less time she spends at her apartment the better. It’s lonely there-too lonely. At least here on the 6th floor of 30 Rock, she feels less alone by hearing the distant hum of Khonani’s vacuum cleaner. She’s not ready to tell Jack that she can’t stand being alone anymore (which is weird, because she tells him everything these days, even about her menstrual cycle-which is kinda screwed up and she wonders if it’s the depression or the loneliness or a tumor). Instead, she takes her legs down off of the sofa where she sits with her laptop and makes space for him on his side (it’s always been his side-she never sits there just in case he pops in for a visit and doesn’t allow anyone else to either).
“You’re here late,” she says stupidly. She does that a lot: overstates the glaringly obvious. Maybe it’s the tumor that’s making her lame. (Can tumors do that?)
He smiles his secret smile as he settles back against the fluffy cushions. “I have a date at 11:30.”
“Who has dates on a Thursday night?” Liz asks, scrunching her nose in her attempt to wrap her mind around the concept.
“People who wish to advance their love lives rather than make love to a computer in their places of employment.”
Liz rolls her eyes. “I’m working on my next book,” she says quietly. She hasn’t told him yet that she’s been working on one. It’s nerve wracking and scary and she’s felt like she can’t screw it up if she doesn’t speak the words out loud. She worries that she’s made a mistake in telling him but, to her lack of surprise, Jack completely disregards what she’s said.
“I think I’m in love, Lemon.” He has that faraway look in his eyes, the one he gets when he’s smitten over some new leggy lady with nice, even-sized boobs and good teeth.
“Are you now?” She doesn’t try to hide the cynicism in her voice. “How long have you known this one?”
“A few weeks. She’s perfect in every way, Lemon. I think she may be the one.”
Liz sighs. “They always are.”
Jack turns to look at her then, the easy smile on his face dissipating. “That’s a very loaded statement.”
“Well, I’m a very loaded kinda gal. Wait. That makes me sound rich. Or drunk, and I’m totally not either of those things.”
“You obviously have something to say.”
Liz sighs again and puts her computer down on the floor (she has to remember not to step on it this time when she gets up). “Jack, every woman you’re with is the one. Every woman is perfect. You’re in love with every woman you keep around for more than a week.”
“That’s completely untrue.”
“Is it? You’re cursed with this…I don’t know…this crazy idea of love. You make every chick you meet into the woman you want her to be and you ignore all the stuff that you don’t like, which is why your relationships never last.” She can tell by the tensing of his shoulders that he’s getting angry. She doesn’t blame him; she’s never been this blunt with him before. “And this new lady, Nikki-“
“Nekia.”
“-she’s only perfect and the one because you don’t really even know her yet.”
“She could be the woman I marry, Liz,” Jack replies, standing up. He glares down at her. “And if she is, I expect an apology.” He turns to leave but stops at the door. “Who are you to judge my love life, anyway? You’re the one in a relationship with your job.”
Liz doesn’t comment. She simply watches him go and drops her head back against the arm of the sofa. She really hopes Nekia is the one, but Liz knows that she isn’t. Jack’s a cursed man and always will be until he actually gives up this silly illusion of love that he’s created for himself.
Love is dumb anyway, Liz decides. She picks up her laptop and stares at the blank word document. The floor above her, she can hear a trash can being set back on the tiled ground after being emptied. Who needs love when you’ve got work to do and a janitor to keep you company?
Not Liz Lemon, that’s for sure.
---