Befriending the Criminal

I Bet This, I Bet That

New Day

Jay threw his controller at the couch and turned to Lloyd, eyes glazed with anger. “Lloyd, how could you?! This was going to be my day! I told you I don't like him! Why can't you ever do something with him?”

“I've got my own things to do, Jay,” Lloyd started, leaning against the door frame. “Besides, if you don't like him, then you should try and get used to having him around. Remember, my Dad said he'd be staying with us for three months or so.”

“What do you have to do that's so important?”

“One, you were going to play video games - you know I have to thank Cole for getting you out of the house the other day. And two, I saw Kai, Jay.”

The younger man's blood ran cold and he raised a shaky hand at his friend. “You, you saw the dead guy?” He swallowed. “Kai?”

“You saw Kai?”

Lloyd's muscles tensed and he stumbled into the room, hands in front of his chest.

“Cole! You scared me!”

The other shrugged a laugh and pushed his gum to the side of his mouth. He laid eyes on Jay standing in the middle of the room and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

“Hey, Bluebell.”

Lloyd glanced at Jay from the corner of his eyes and noticed his friend looking a little perplexed and stunned.

“Hi.”

It was then an uncomfortable silence fell in place while Lloyd's gaze jumped from Cole to Jay continuously. The young man in green caught a glimpse at Cole's metal fingers as they slowly crawled into his pocket, staying in there. Jay, on the other hand, was trying to ignore that Cole had called him Bluebell once again.

Finally, Cole cleared his throat and raised a curious brow at Lloyd.

“So, he isn't dead?”

Lloyd shook his head. “I know what I saw. I told my Dad and we're starting to think something's up. He wouldn't have faked his death for no reason.” Lloyd stepped into the room and picked up his hoodie which was draped over the couch. Throwing it on, he flashed a little smile at Jay, then turned to Cole. “Could you maybe… I wanna have a moment with Jay.”

Surprisingly, Cole was cooperative with Lloyd and left the room without another word. The blonde teenager closed the door and drew his attention back to Jay.

“Bluebell?” He snorted.

“Don't ask…”

“Hey, who knows, maybe after today, you’ll start to like Cole.”

“I mean, at the records store he did seem like a nice guy… but that's not…” Jay directed his attention to the floor, carefully processing Lloyd's words. Finally, he asked, “Wha- do you like him?”

Halfway to the door, Lloyd looked over his shoulder and grinned. “He isn't a bad guy, Jay. I bet deep down, you really don't hate him.”

***

Ronin scoured through his drawers, searching for the tab which Nya had given him whenever he needed to reach them. Starting to grow annoyed by his hat falling on his face, Ronin took it off and tossed it on the table.

His eyes lit up the minute his hand landed on the flat surface of the device and he placed it on the table, turning it on.

At first, the tab buzzed, the voice on the other end, fuzzy and difficult to understand.