Coffee {Jaya AU}

Chapter 13

***Y'ALL THINGS ARE GONNA GO DOWN REAL SOON-***

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

Jay and I leave the diner around five in the evening. I'm not even sure which meal we just had – I skipped lunch, and it seems too early for dinner. In any case, it's getting late in the day, and it's time Jay drops me off at the coffee shop to get my car. He'll be meeting his parents at the church soon to visit haunted houses, anyway.

He babbles all the way back to the café about how if we play our cards right, I shouldn't have to spend any more than a year in prison. It's a nice prospect, but I'm still a little wary.

"Jay, has it occurred to you that we have no proof I was on DM during the armed robbery?" I finally interrupt him. He's in the middle of promising to come visit me every day in prison if I'm not acquitted.

He pauses slightly in his rambling. "Well...yeah. But we'll find proof, Nya." His voice loses the confident edge it had before.

"How?" I ask. "It's not like Cole still has any Dark Matter on him, and he's not just going to tell the courts that he purposefully gave me the drug without telling me its effects. He'd be in prison for years if he confessed that."

"We could talk to his dealer?" Jay suggests.

I lift an eyebrow in skepticism. "Jay, we don't know who his dealer is."

"We could find out. Ignacia isn't that big of a place." He taps his fingers along the steering wheel. "The Ninjago City police force has given me access to certain cases. I mean, I don't have confidential information or anything, but I can look through their database. I'm pretty sure Ninjago City helped Ignacia take down a drug cartel about a year back. We could always look into that and see if we can make connections with Cole's dealer."

"Maybe. What are the chances they'll remember Cole coming to them two years ago, though?" I sigh.

"Selling Dark Matter is probably something they'd remember," Jay shrugs. "Whatever the case, we'll find the proof we need, Nya. I promised you I would protect you, and I'm a man of my word." He says the words resolutely.

I shake my head, unable to resist the smallest of smiles. "You are something else."

"Why?" he asks. "What'd I do?"

"People don't swear to protect people they've just met, Jay." I stare out the window.

"I do for you."

I smile slightly, staring out my window. Yes, Jay's crazy for lying to his parents about our relationship and our future kids. I don't have any romantic interest in him. But he's kind of sweet, in a weird way. Despite his faults, he wears his heart on his sleeve. And he's giving up a lot to help me. He's...well, as I said, he's sweet.

Something flashing in the distance catches my eye, and I blink to clear my vision.

Sure enough, I see a flashing blue light up ahead. And...it looks like it's in the parking lot of my apartment. We're passing by the place on the way to the coffee shop.

Wait. Police...at my apartment?!

I grab Jay's arm. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

I grip his elbow tighter as the apartment parking lot comes into view. "Jay, police are swarming my apartment complex!"

Jay jerks the steering wheel to the left to avoid running off the road. "Oh my gosh!" he exclaims. "But...there's no way...how could they...do you think they're there because of you?"