Do-Over (A Jayy Von Monroe FanFic; BoTDF)

Chapter 4; "If Money Is All It Takes To See Her Again, I'll Go Broke."

"Yeah?" Dahvie mimicked my quiet tone. He must've noticed how concerned I sounded. I handed the paper to him as discreetly as possible. "But...?" He sounded lost.

"Exactly," I whispered.

"Can we?"

"Of course Jayy. You know damn well, if there's a possibility of you getting Hunter back, we all want it for you as much as you want it for yourself. When she comes back out, put this in the tip jar."

He tried to hand me a dollar, but I shook my head. "If money is all it takes to see her again, I'll go broke."

When the woman came back out, I put six dollars in the tip jar, purposely facing the single towards her while still actually tipping for the great coffee. I made a mental note to remember this place when there weren't important things going on like Hunter's possible resurrection.

Maybe Hunter caught my eye and nodded, so I nodded back, making a silent agreement.

I started crying on the walk back. I was terrified that this was a cruel joke or a dream and that Hunter was still as dead as before and I was even more scared that she still wanted nothing to do with me.

Dahvie comforted me as best he could and I wasn't a complete wreck when we got home.

"Just so you know," Dahvie said to the guys. "Me and Jayy have to be somewhere at eight. I'm not sure when we'll be back, but we'll explain then."

The guys seemed a bit confused, but they all group hugged me, Dahvie included, told me I could talk to them if I wanted to, and left the sappiness at that. Dahvie must not have told them I agreed to go with him this time.

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We went to the address on the paper right at eight, just in case there was a reason we couldn't go before that.

She answered and, beyond all doubt, I could see that it was her. It was in her eyes, those beautiful gray-blueish eyes that turned green in the right light or when she cried. With those eyes, it had to be her. Or so I rationalized.

She motioned for us to get inside, then closed and locked the door and sighed. "The one day I run out of contacts, you come in the shop. What am I going to do with you Jayy?"

I gave a weak, admittedly shy smile. I missed this girl so much...I'd cried so much...and now here she was, alive in front of me. And moreover, she hated me the last time I saw her.

She ran a hand through her hair nervously. "I'm assuming I've got some explaining to do now, huh?"

"Can we start with why you would use something that risky to get my attention?"

Hunter shrugged. "It was discreet."

"But what if I'd left it alone? What if I didn't notice and somebody else got it?"

She mimicked my weak smile from earlier. "I know you," she said guiltily. "I knew it would bug the shit out of you Jayy."

I sighed and smirked a little. "Why did Ronnie say you were dead?" Dahvie asked behind me. My smirk fell as I remembered all the pain from the last few weeks.

"She thought I was," Hunter said, looking down. "She found me on my way home, God knows how she found out I was coming, but she found me. She told me I wouldn't make it home and to get out of the car. I was scared of what would happen if I didn't listen to her, so I got out. To spare you the graphic details, she beat the shit out of me and dragged me off into the woods. No one goes in there, so she knew nobody would find me. Luckily she just drove my car back to your house and left the keys. Probably so it looked like I never made it home, like my flight went down or I died before I boarded or after I got off.

"I was in the woods for... two days, I think, before I woke up. I walked to a friend of my Mom'a and took him up on a longstanding offer on a job at the coffee shop and took what money I had left from holidays and such, and what you hid in my bag, yes Jayy I know you did that, and used it to get this little apartment for the first two months' rent. I drove my car to get here, it's in the garage, but it's not safe to drive it until I get the money to change the plates so Ronnie won't know that it's me if she sees it. Other than that, black's a pretty common color, so that's safe. And, so far, so am I. But I have to lay low. If Ronnie ever found out...She'd make damn sure to finish me off."

"Please tell me you went to the hospital at some point..."

"Yes Jayy, I'm not stupid," she said with a smile.

"I knew that."

"I know you did. Anything else?"

"Why didn't you call us?" Dahvie asked. 'Give him another point for good questions.'

"I also have yet to change my phone number, so I can't use it. That's why I never called you back Jayy."

"I thought you hated me..." I whispered. "Why are you being so nice with me now?"

She sighed. "I was mad. I never hated you. The near-death experience helped me calm my tits." She looked down. "Or lack thereof."

"Oh please, your tits are wonderful, now come here." I hugged her tightly and Dahvie joined us. I felt her start crying into me and I squeezed her tighter. "It's alright Hunter," I said softly.

"We've got you," Dahvie finished.