Chapter 6: Jump the Gun

"My grandma can drive faster than this," I exclaim, aware that Jay is capable of driving much, much faster than he is now.

"I don't doubt that," Jay replies calmly in all seriousness, refusing to speed with me in the car.

"Don't insult his driving, I trained him," Jed pipes in from the back. He glances down at his phone when it beeps, not giving me a chance to reply with his next statement, "Also, Kyle's offended that you left him behind."

Snap! I knew I was forgetting something!

"I'm sparing Kyle from that second hand toilet brush I call an enemy," I reply cleverly.

"Why don't I get spared from the second hand toilet brush?" Jed frowns, unappreciative of my good gestures.

"Because you're strong, Jed, and because I like Kyle more than you," I answer bluntly with my feisty nature intact.

Jed places his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright. Got it. You do you, girl. No one's stopping you."

Questions begin to soar through my mind like a wildfire spreading through a forest. "What if Grey's ignoring us because of something more serious than we think? What if Nance kicked him out? What if he's homeless now? What if he's out in the cold, alone and lost?" He'd probably enjoy that. "What if he's turned more evil? What if he's waiting in the darkness for nightfall? What if he died to death? Do you think--"

"'Queela, I don't know any of the answers, but I do know that you're jumping the gun," Jay cuts me off abruptly. "Relax. Those questions...there's no real answers...it's just a gray area. Leave it at that." He grins that boyish smile of his.

Excuse me for being thorough!

I glare at him. "You're not funny."

"Agree to disagree," he argues while Jed stifles a laugh.

"This is not going very well for you, is it?" Jed teases me.

"Watch it or we'll leave you stranded on the sidewalk," I threaten him, letting him know who rules around here.

Jay shakes his head in disagreement. "No, we won't."

As a result, Jed smirks at me with victory.

"It's time I weed out a few useless people from my life, starting with you," I warn Jed a second time. He's on thin ice.

"You barely know me," Jed laughs, finding me to be hysterical.

"I'm blessed," I reply firmly. "Jay will be next to go, straight after you."

"Hey, you're marrying me," Jay reminds me yet again, taking his gaze off of the road to send me a fierce look. He really doesn't want me forgetting my promise to spend forever with him by his side.

I shrug carelessly. "My love, I can't play favorites here," I say as we pull up to the familiar apartment.

Jay looks over at me and shakes his head, used to my insults. When I innocently flutter my lashes at him, he can't help but break out into a grin. My gaze automatically falls to his lips. He smiles and leans over his seat to kiss me. "Then you're lucky that I can," he whispers against my mouth.

I push him away from me to reprimand him. "Now's not the time. Can you not kiss me like every five seconds?" It's exhausting! "Can you just stop being overly affectionate? Can you just stop thinking about kissing me?"

Jay's eyes light up with mischief. "Nah, I can't. It keeps me awake at night." He winks suggestively at me, using his boyish and irresistible charm on me.

Jed, grossed out, rolls his eyes at us and makes a move to get out of the car, thus, I react. "Hold it, Mister Jedmeister! Halt! Not so fast!" I immediately stop him. "You're not going in," I inform him.

Confused, Jed sighs tiredly. "Then why did you force me to come with in the first place?"

I blink up at him, puzzled. "I don't understand your question." I clarify, "What I'm saying, Jed, is that this is something I need to do on my own."

Jay lets out a relieved breath and rests his head back against the driver's seat. "Awesome. I didn't feel like--"

"Let's go, JJ!" I slam the car door open and gesture for him to follow, not listening to a word he's saying. In my eyes, we're one.

I hear him groan under his breath before I hear his footsteps following from behind me. "Coming, Sweetheart," he replies in sarcasm, not happy that he has to tag along.

I suck in a deep breath and knock on the door while Jay lazily strolls over to me. My heart begins to thud in anticipation. I'm nervous. I'm afraid and I don't even know why. Anxious, I run a hand through my hair a few times before fixing my frumpled up sundress that Boss Man failed to iron.

The front door swings open and a stranger's face comes into view. He takes one look at us before yelling over his shoulder. "Nance! It's for you, babe!"

"Who is it?" I hear Nancy's voice from inside the house.

"A famous racer and a homeless girl," he answers and steps aside to allow us in.

I glare at him and shove my way past him. "How rude," I say loudly.

Jay follows in after me, deliberately knocking shoulders with the guy before shooting him a seething glare.

"What's going on?" Nancy asks before appearing before us. She takes one look at us and frowns in confusion. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Better question, what are you doing here?" I emphasize, still waiting for Grey to emerge from the underground.

"I live here," she reminds me with her usual frown intact.

I take in her appearance. The girl is as pretty as she is mean. Her crystal blue eyes shine with irritation as she huffs and flips her braided hair over her blue, nursing scrubs.

"I think you know why we're here," Jay cuts in. "Where is he?"

"He's leaving for China," she answers with a 'duh' look on her face.

"Not Ryan, Satan!" I snap in impatience. She's playing dumb and she's doing a very good job at it. "Grey!"

Nancy's expression morphs into bewilderment. Slight panic flickers through her eyes. "He left a couple days ago. Took his stuff and moved out. He said--"

I gasp loudly and ever so dramatically, interrupting her. "Murmur, hushed whispers, shock!" I pat both my cheeks, stunned by the news.

Nancy places her hands on her hips and cocks her head at me. "You done?"

"It was an appropriate reaction," I argue but allow her to finish nonetheless.

She sighs in frustration and continues, "He said he'd be living by Greg and you guys for a while. It was just after Emma and Xavier moved. That's why I thought you guys were talking about Ryan. Why ask about Grey if he's been living with you?"

Because he's not living with us, because he's disappeared off the face of the earth, because he's vanished without a trace!

I immediately whip my head to look at Jay. He's wearing the same worried expression as me. "You know him best, JJ. Where would he go?" I ask Jay, now really concerned. "You're supposed to run in the same circles. Think!"

"Then stop shouting into my ear," Jay replies in a laid-back voice.

"Shout! Shout! Shout!" I shout into his ear anyway.

Jay gently pushes me away. "I think the only people who might have answers are behind bars," he says with a sad look to his eyes -- I know exactly what he's thinking. "Do you think your uncle can pull a few strings and let me speak to Brody?"

I shake my head, adamant. "No way. You're not speaking to that demonic bug. He takes chunks out of your soul, Jay. You change when in his presence. It's like he nests evil in your heart. He upsets you and I don't want you reliving your past horror story. Do you understand me?"

Jay sends me a blank look. "I'm going to be honest with you, I don't know what you asked because I wasn't listening to you at all."

I scowl at him. "Then I'll repeat it word for word."

I know he heard me!

"I'd rather you didn't," he protests, choosing to be stubborn.

"Fine, you can go, but I'm going with you," I command, taking charge.

"Does this discussion have to take place here?" Nancy's strange friend asks us, interrupting our intense argument.

I narrow my eyes at him. "Yes. Yes, it does."

Does his existence have to take place on this earth?!

"Okay, I'm shutting this down before this gets ugly," Nancy intervenes, taking a step between us.

I move my glare to her. She courageously holds my stare. "Nance, it got ugly as soon as your man bun boy over here got involved. I, for one, am personally offended by his appearance." That's what he gets for saying that I look like a hobo. "He's so ugly that if he laid on a beach, not even the tide would take him."

"Look, Grey's not here," Nancy clarifies before I can insult the loser further. "I don't know where he is. Frankly, I don't care either."

"Oh but your eyes say differently," I point out the obvious with a scoff intact. She can act all she wants, I know she still cares deeply about him, Grey, that repulsive, broken shell of a human being.

Nance scoffs, clearly in denial, before bossing us about, resorting to her usual and unappreciated tactics. "You two should leave."

"You two should leave," I repeat after her, gesturing to their front door and then to her and 'Man Bun'. I love challenging people, especially when I know that I'm winning, which is most of the time.

"Why are you being more rude than usual?" Nancy asks with curiosity budding behind her eyes.

"Why are you dating this fart," I motion to Man Bun, "and not Grey?"

Nancy frowns and places her hand on her hip. "What has that got to do with you?"

Jay subtly nudges me as if to warn me not to say anything further. I take it as a sign of his support and encouragement to speak my wonderful mind. "Grey loves you, stupid! And you keep messing it up!" I hiss, speaking from a place of true concern for a dear arch-nemesis to me.

"He keeps messing it up!" She retaliates, surprising me with the hostility in her voice. She sighs when she takes in my stunned facial expression. "You don't know as much as you think, Aqueela."

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion but speak anyway. "And you don't think as much as you know." What she really means by her statement, I have no idea. What I really mean by my statement, I have no idea.

"Who's Grey?" Man Bun asks Nancy, lost.

"He's a grouchy, hell-bound mutt raised by a family of wolves, and that's putting it nicely," I immediately answer his question before Nancy can, being completely truthful. "You wish he was your worst nightmare. Instead, he's your worst reality. He's the reincarnation of a never-ending, living hell. He's the chill in the air when it's not even chilly."

Nancy's mouth falls agape. "For someone who is supposedly searching for him out of worry, you're still hating on the guy and throwing shade his way."

I feel Jay's strong arms encircle around me from behind. "'Queela," he says quietly by my ear, "let's just go before you cause any more chaos."

"Please! I'm just getting started," I fight him off in protest.

He sighs in defeat and grabs my hand instead as he begins dragging me to the exit. "I love you way too much for your own good," he mumbles to me before shooting an apologetic glance Nancy's way.

"I love you more," I argue for the sake of arguing.

"Doubt it," he replies firmly, leaning down to kiss my cheek. "I definitely love you more."

I grin happily from ear to ear. "You might be right for once."

He's 100% wrong.

In turn, Jay playfully rolls his eyes at me and gives me a gentle push toward the front door.

I submit and finally leave. I salute goodbye to the pair watching us. "See ya, Nance! Hopefully I don't see ya, Man Bun!" I call to them over my shoulder before Jay hastily drags me all the way back to his car.

"Jeez," I slam open the passenger door and climb inside, "what's the rush, JJ?" I ask him, puzzled.

"Me maybe!" Jed exclaims from the back of the car, rather loudly might I add. "You realize that I'm squashed up at the back here, don't you?"

I honestly forgot all about him. Poor creature. We probably could have rolled down a window for him or something...

I send Jed a sheepish smile. "Jay apologizes for taking his damn sweet time. He's solely responsible for all of this and is willing to be held accountable for his selfish, inconsiderate and disrespectful actions."

Jay sends me a sharp stare as he gets into his car. "I will make you walk home, Klutz. Don't test me."

Jed shakes his head at Jay in pure frustration. "Not the brightest girl you could have chosen to marry but definitely a stunner. Very beautiful," he tells Jay honestly, managing to insult me and compliment me at the same time -- nonetheless, I'm flattered by both.

Jay suddenly narrows his eyes at Jed in warning, his jealous side kicking in as fast as the flip of a light switch. "She's okay," he replies fiercely and absentmindedly, angrily shoving the Gallardo into gear and starting it up.

The hum of the engine is not enough to distract me from his words. I immediately reach over my seat and smack him upside the head. "Only okay?!" I growl in anger. "Really?!" I punch his arm, annoyed. "You're gonna get it when we get home," I threaten, displeased by his incredibly offensive comment to which I take no offense.

Jay smirks and turns his head to wink at me. "Looking forward to it, Hun."

Just for that, I whack him again as he reverses out the driveway. He simply chuckles, making him that much more irritating to me.

Jed also cracks up laughing, finding us to be amusing. "Don't sweat it, Jay. I'm not going to go after your insane, abusive lady."

I scowl at Jed for assuming that I'm the crazy one between us two as if it's so freaken obvious. "You should've stayed behind, Jedmeister," I conclude, his presence now disappointing me.

Jed's eyes widen before he has an outburst. "Are you serious? Like I even had a choice! You--"

"Do not use that tone on me," I hold my hand up and cut him off mid-sentence. "Save it. I do not need to hear your pathetic apologies."

Jed drops his head into his hands and rightfully curses Jay for forcing him to tag along for no good reason whatsoever.

I frown at Jay and clap my hands. "Way to go, Jay. You've done it again," I say sarcastically, referring to the fact that he's always upsetting people.

Jed, without hesitance, opens his door at a red light and climbs out of the car. "Oh, look, anyone else!" He remarks joyfully before walking in the direction of a beggar and a complete stranger as if it's the normal thing to do. "I'm gonna hitch-hike, I'll catch you later, Jay!" He shouts out to us, repeatedly ushering us to leave him be.

I sigh in shame and shake my head accusingly at Jay. "What do you have to say for yourself?" I blame him for all of this.

Jay shifts in his seat to look at me, his blue eyes shining in contentment as his intense gaze meets mine. "Just shut up, Aqueela, and let me kiss you already," he says quietly before I feel his body heat encase me and his soft lips moving against my own.

Butterflies swarm through my veins as I welcome the unexpected yet affectionate action taken on his part.

*~*~*~**~*~*~*

"And so now he's missing and I'm scared Jay's going to go on a witch-hunt like in Salem to find the monster, and he'll probably do it while I'm not around," I explain to Tim while he scans through some of my more recent photographs. "I feel like you're not listening to me, Timmy," I add, offended by his silence on the current crisis that is my life.

Tim lifts his eyes from his work to look at me and finally pay me attention. "If you didn't have talent, you know you'd be fired right?" He asks me, somewhat annoyed by my presence.

I shrug carelessly. "Yeah, I guess I can see how that might transpire out of nowhere."

"Out of nowhere?" Tim questions, arching a brow at me in disbelief, gesturing to my sneakers atop his office desk. "I just asked for the photographs of that important project you've been working on, not your entire life story," he rudely reminds me.

If he keeps this up, I'll give him my story from day one, straight outta the womb! And behold, I saw light!

"You are failing to see the point and the problem, Tim," I point out in a matter of fact way. "Jay is the Jack in this story. Jay is Jack and I refuse to be the dumb Jill who tumbles down the damn hill, right into the witch's claws before she flies away with me on her broomstick and feeds me to the three, horrendous little pigs."

Tim uses both his hands to rub the sides of his face, clearly frustrated. "Never tell Tia any nursery rhymes or stories. Thank goodness she's with her mother today." He sighs, almost as if in mental pain. "You're literally giving me a headache, Aqueela."

It's not my fault I never had anyone read stories to me as a child.

I laugh, brushing his words off in ease. "Try working with Melinda, she'll give you daily seizures." Dean's just the cherry on top of it all.

Tim blinks at me, exhausted. "I assume you meant that Jay is the Hansel in the story, as in Hansel and Gretel. You don't want to be Gretel and follow Hansel to the witch's house? The witch would be your missing friend, correct?"

I nod profusely and clap for the correct conclusion I brought him to. "Exactly!" Of course, I'd change my name if I was ever to be called Gretel. In fact, I'd want to be eaten by the witch if I had to go through life with such a name!

"Don't know where The Three Little Pigs fit into your absurd story," Tim adds as an afterthought.

I grin happily, content in the moment. "Neither do I, Tim. Neither do I. That's the beauty of the pigs."

"You know something, Aqueela..." Tim drawls out before pausing, "you're the first employee that I have to beg to take a lunch break."

"Sweet!" I beam widely, now excited. "You paying? You treating me?"

Tim points to the door in warning. "Out, Lawson."

He's resorted to his last resort: resorting me out of his resortable office.

I drop my head and obey, leaving his office, but only because I'm starving. I forgot to eat again. I get carried away in my thoughts, so much so that all my other bodily functions stop working on their own accords -- hence me forgetting how to breathe every once in a while.

Lazy, I grab Melinda's lunchbox from the fridge and rip off her name tag. Desperate, I dig into her disgusting leftovers and force myself to swallow each bite without regurgitating everything. Out of it, I head back to my work space while my amazing thoughts lead me astray.

I'm fearful for Jay. Knowing my fiancé, he'll find a way to get himself in trouble in order to find his friend, and he'll do it without me knowing, like paying Brody a visit for instance. He'll cross back into his dark past for Grey's sake. It sucks because I feel like Jay was only starting to really recover now. I just hope Grey's not in some serious trouble and that Jay manages to keep moving forward in life.

I shake the pessimistic thought and silently take a seat in front of my office computer, refusing to dwell on it any longer.

Dean immediately notices my entrance, as well as my change in demeanor. "Furby!" He exclaims loudly. "What up, Boss Lawson? Why no loudmouth greeting like usual? And where were you at lunch? Did you forget again?" He interrogates me, getting up close and personal -- basically, he's right in my face. "I had to sit with Melinda."

Ooh...why voluntarily torture yourself?!

"I told you not to sit by me!" Melinda chirps in while cleaning spitballs off of her shrine, the shrine dedicated solely to herself -- no doubt Dean had fun early this morning. Spitting soggy paper balls at Melinda is guaranteed fun.

Dean mimics her in a shrill voice behind her back while rolling his eyes.

I stifle a laugh. "You make work fun." I don't know what Lan's problem is; Dean's a blast! I love working with him. He's the best.

"Fun?! Are you kidding me?! He is the epitome of irritation! He embodies it!" Melinda hisses, whipping her head around to glare at me. "He's--"

"She's still sore about me dumping her," Dean speaks over her, cutting her off completely.

I nod in understanding and stuff another mouthful of garbage food into my mouth. "Totally see it, Deanie. It's written all over her face."

Melinda's mouth falls agape before she scoffs at us. "Get it into your thick skull, we were never dating, Dean Wyatt!" She screams in anger.

"That's my name, be respectful and don't wear it out," Dean shushes her, handling her well -- maybe they should get married after all.

Melinda scowls at him before shaking her head, clearly put off by our loving natures. She then notices me chewing with my puffed up, hamster cheeks. She does a double take as it registers in her nonexistent mind. Her eyes widen and she huffs in fury. "Drowned Rat, are you eating my food again?!"

"This is mine," I lie, motioning down to the crap I'm scarfing down out of pure starvation alone.

"But I packed the same thing for lunch," she argues, staring at me skeptically.

"Well, I too packed in leaves and other weird-looking trash to eat today," I reply, defending myself while staring down at this so-called meal.

"It's a salad, Aqueela!" She yells at me before snatching her lunchbox from my hands.

"Shame on you," Dean tsks me, looking all smug before taking a sip from his steaming mug of coffee. He ends up choking when the boiling hot liquid runs down his throat.

"Stop taking my freaken things!" Melinda suddenly explodes on us, grabbing the mug with her face on from Dean's grasp before slapping his bicep.

"Fine but just know that I backwashed in there," Dean responds in nonchalance, hiding an evil grin like the conniving brute he is.

"I'm calling Leban!" Melinda shrieks at us as she storms off while fishing for her cell phone from her bag. As a result, she ends up spilling Dean's hot, backwashed coffee all over herself.

"Ooh!" I mock without flinching, unfazed by her tantrum. "So saucy today," I comment under my breath, noticing the spitball stuck to the back of her head.

Dean glances over at me with a cunning smile before we both burst out laughing. We continue on laughing until our sides hurt -- just a normal day at work for us.

"So, you guys located Grey yet?" Dean eventually asks me once our laughter subsides. "What's up with the dude? I haven't seen him around the tracks for a while either. It's so unlike him."

My heart drops at the change of subject. "We went so see Nance yesterday," I answer, unsure how to word it.

"How'd it go?" He presses when I don't say anything more.

I feign a smile. "It went extremely..." I falter, unable to fake it any longer, "okay," I end on a dull note, crushing his high hopes. "It went extremely okay."

Dean looks at me weirdly. "Okay?"

"She doesn't know where he is," I give it to him straight. "No one does. He's missing."

And the key to finding him is probably in finding Leila first.

*~**~*

What's up guys?! :)

1. Do you think Grams can drive faster than Jay?

2. What was your favorite part of this chapter?

3. Thoughts on 'Man Bun' and Nance?

4. Which character from them all is the wittiest?

5. Ideas on Grey and what he's up to/where he's at?

6. Who loves who the most? Jay/Aqueela?

7. Thoughts on Tim? What are his greatest attributes as a boss so far?

8. Was anyone else afraid of the story, 'Hansel and Gretel', as a child?

9. Thoughts on Dean, Aqueela and Melinda working together?

10. Does anyone feel sorry for Melinda yet?

As always, thank you so much for supporting me!!! I love you guys. Have a blessed weekend :D

~ CJ