Coffee {Jaya AU}

Chapter 3

***And here's the moment I decided this shouldn't be a oneshot anymore. Now, excuse me while I go to my next class. I wrote this over my break between chem and earth science ;) <3 See ya!***

***(Nya's POV)***

Why the heck am I even here?

Jay leads me up the staircase to his apartment, chattering on about some essay he's writing for a mid-semester project. I think I've pretty much learned his whole life story in the course of the hour we've known each other.

Again, why am I here?

Jay's a criminal justice major. He makes sure people like me pay for their wrongs. That means he's probably waiting for me to confess everything as soon as we get in his apartment.

And the sad thing is, it might actually work. Jay really is charming, in his own special way. I know it's just a ploy, though – he wants to charm me just enough to get me to admit I've stolen and been an active participant in an armed robbery.

Yeah, I'm not proud of that. It's amazing what you'll do, though, when you're high on drugs. Especially the kind Cole came up with then – they weren't typically available on the street, but he had good sources. He simply referred to the drug as "DM".

And I don't remember a lot of what happened, but I know it was bad. I didn't shoot anybody – I know that from the news reports – but I was so suggestible on DM, I'm sure Cole got me to injure people in other ways.

I vaguely remember jamming the butt of my gun right over someone's head. The pedestrian fell like a sack of potatoes.

But I don't do that – not anymore.

Jay opens up his door for me, puffing out a breath into the cold air. "Kind of chilly, don't you think?"

"Yeah." I can feel the heat blasting from his apartment, and it draws me in like a moth to a light.

But I will not be drawn in so easily by his charm. I'm not just going to give myself away like that.

Jay closes the door behind us. "Do you want to leave your coat on?"

I bite my lip. My wool coat is kind of like a security blanket – I brought it with me when I left home, and it reminds me of Kai. I try to take good care of it.

Which means I really don't want to take it off.

But is that another ploy of Jay's? A psychological trick? Does wearing my coat show him I'm on guard, and he needs to up his game if he wants answers out of me?

The last thing I need is upped game. I know very well what that looked like for Cole's friends, and it's not happening again.

I begin to shrug out of my jacket, but Jay gently takes the cuff of my sleeve in one hand and my shoulder in the other. He starts pulling off my coat for me, a warm blush lighting his cheeks.

I swallow. Gosh, he's good with charm. He even makes himself look like he cares.

Jay clears his throat. "So, uh...are you...hungry?"

"Not really." I don't just accept food and drink from strangers. It took me a while to get up the nerve to even purchase my drink at the coffee shop – I was always concerned with what was in it. Cole and I used to visit some places where I never should've consumed anything they gave me.

But I did, and that led to my downhill spiral.

Jay finishes removing my coat and hangs it on a peg on the wall, then does the same with his own. "Is it too warm? Do you need me to turn down the heat at all? I mean, my bill's going to be so high when it comes in, I should probably lower the heating settings anyway." He plays with the knob on the wall monitor until he fixes the temperature a little lower.