Accessory Wars

Chapter 23-Ki

            I woke the next morning with my forehead nestled against Jay's shoulder smelling a faded citrusy scent. My body wanted to snuggle closer to the warmth but my brain reminded it that would be creepy. Instead, I forced myself to get up and I made a fresh pot of coffee. Checking the time, I saw it was well after three in the afternoon. That late already? I watched the coffee brew and I heard rustling from my bed. Peeking over my shoulder, I saw Jay untangling his legs from my comforter. He sat up, hair an absolute mess, and peeled away the paper towels on his wrists.

"I didn't know these could hurt you," he murmured. "I knew they shocked you but I didn't know about the spikes."

"Newer model," I replied.

Jay peeled himself out of bed, allowing me a peek at his stomach before his shirt fixed itself with gravity. He shuffled over to my kitchen and examined his wrists in the light. They were red, inflamed and bruised around the small punctures. I poured Jay a mug of coffee and watched him take a sip as I poured one for myself. He frowned. I grabbed him some milk and he drowned out the coffee until it was hardly brown anymore.

"How long do you have the bands for?" I dared to ask.

"Six months. Three on good behavior."

"Sounds like a prison sentence," I murmured into my coffee. In a way, I suppose it was. I glanced over at Jay. He nestled his coffee in his hands, barely drinking. "How come you don't know much about Elicits or Accessories?"

Jay didn't respond so I poked him. He jumped, uttering a, "Huh?". I repeated the questioned. He turned despondent. "I didn't have a traditional school life. Half of my day was spent home schooled, doing religious studies and listening to recorded sermons. I only went to school in the afternoons so I missed a lot of information. I managed to go a bit more often in high school after I persuaded my parents to let me take college credit classes. We never talked about Elicits or Accessories at home and my parents forbade us from getting ID's."

"Didn't you talk about it at school with other people?"

"Not really," he said into his coffee. While it sounded like the truth, he was definitely hiding something.

"Didn't look it up either?" I asked.

"My parents didn't want us on the computer unless we had homework. One of them usually sat with us when we did go online to make sure we didn't get sidetracked. They had to approve all our social media too."

I hummed. "I take it you have siblings?"

"Three." He took a long drink of his coffee. He didn't elaborate so I didn't press.

After several minutes of awkward silence, I decided to change the subject. "I was talking with Mysti the other night and she wanted to go watch the Bailey Cup."

"Oh yeah? Derek went last year and it took him a month to shut up about it," Jay recalled, a hint of a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"Would you want to go? Mysti's bringing Reagan and she said I have to come since I'm "not busy". She allowed me to bring a date, though."

"A date?" I noticed the pink flare spread across Jay's face.

"Figure of speech," I replied, poking him in the stomach. "Do you want to go or not?"

"Aren't I barred from going?" He held up his wrists as evidence.

"Under normal circumstances."

Jay frowned. "I don't think I understand."