The Beast

Chapter 7

I scribbled around on my papers mindlessly, too lost in my thoughts to actually get any of my work done. I felt someone poke me in the side of my ribs and I looked up annoyed to find Jay staring at me with an ear to ear smile.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked casually, plopping himself down on the seat in front of me. His ridiculous smile still on his face, and from the corner of my eye I can see a few teenagers looking at him in disdain. If they were just a few tables closer not even they would have been able to resist his candy apple green eyes that forever gleamed with mischief.

"My homework." I said hoping he would actually believe my lie and we wouldn't lapse back into talking about Xavier Night again the way we had been doing since they had forced me to tell them. Maggie had apparently heard a man's voice and decided to tell Jay and Sophie, them being the deranged imbeciles they were, did everything they could to get who it was, out of me. Sometimes it seemed as if getting me an adequate social life for a young woman in university, was their only goal in life.

"You actually think I'm gonna believe that? I know you better than you know yourself." Jay said playfully sassily, and I smiled at him turning back to my homework, this time trying to actually do it. My temples immediately beginning to ache as I caught sight of the accounting problems that sat before me.

"How is it that Sophie and you are here just as much as I am, while I'm the only one who actually works here?" I ask Jay.
"We enjoy the ambiance, it's certainly not for you." Jay said sassily, and I made a face at him turning back to my work.

"I'm just kidding, we love you." Jay said ruffling my hair playfully. Staring at Jay I wondered if he was bipolar.

"You were thinking about him weren't you?" Jay said refusing to drop it despite my clearly failed attempt at changing the topic.

"Amongst other things." I answered hoping my aloofness would annoy him and he would stop badgering me.

"I've been thinking too and that's really weird, are you sure you weren't hallucinating? A man like that doesn't drink super sugary lattes and wink at people. From what I've heard he's as emotionless and blank as they come." Jay said. Admittedly the man's face didn't show much of what he was feeling, but his eyes were expressive, if you had the courage to look into them. His jaw seemed to tick when he was irritated by something, eyebrows raised when confused. I couldn't have been the only one to notice that, perhaps the others were too intimidated by him to catch the little things that hinted at what he was feeling.

"Hey! My gingerbread latte is not super sugary it's actually healthy, quite a good source of calcium." I tried defending my favourite drink.

"That's all you got out of what I said?" Jay asked exasperated. I simply nodded until I realized what he said.

"Hey, I don't hallucinate I have a perfectly healthy state of mind." I argued angrily. Although my parents would always deny it I had a faint memory of going to a psychiatrists clinic as a child to get a check up. My habit of mumbling to myself had been with me from when I was a kid. My parents probably thought it was clinical psychopathy, but I was just strange. So it was definite, I had not been hallucinating unless I'd driven myself into becoming delusional over the years, but ignorance was bliss.

"Yeah right, you thought the Xavier Night winked at you, and drank a gingerbread latte? Either you were high, which you would never do, or you were hallucinating. For gods sake people are terrified of him, no one has ever seen him smile or even look angry. A year or two ago there was this thing going around that he wasn't even human." Jay said and I watched with a brow raised as he gossiped in a hushed whisper, his eyes glowing while he spoke of the scandal. Gossiping made his whole face light up.

"There's no point arguing with you, I think you have more than just slight issues." I said and Jay stuck his tongue out at me childishly, while I turned back to my work ignoring his childish tactics.

"No matter what, you stay away from that man okay baby pie? You're too innocent to be in touch with a guy like that." Jay said sincerely.

"I will. Trust me, I plan to stay as far away from him as possible, he's really scary." I said, gulping nervously as our last encounter comes back to mind. The way his intimidating aura and tall broad stature had made the cafe seemed much smaller in comparison. Rumours about Xavier Night in this town were so extensive that some people didn't even wish to stay in the same vicinity as him. Some of the elderly even went as far as to blame our collapsing tourism industry on him.

"Even holding one of your smiley face gingerbread lattes?" Jay asked smiling and I nodded my head rapidly, remembering how intimidating he looked even with the cutest drink ever in his hand. A chuckle escaped him and he leaned over the table to press a kiss to my forehead.

"I'm gonna go Raine, but you take care, and if he comes near you, you call me okay? I may not look like much but I can whip some booty. Especially when I'm in the mood." Jay said winking as I looked at him confused, before I finally realized what he meant making him laugh at my disgusted expression. It was Jay's life goal to disgust me.

"Bye baby pie." He said before walking away, leaving me to get back to what I'd been doing. I sat at the table for the rest of the day,  mumbling to myself as I finished my homework.