Black Coffee

  Jack placed the magazine back in the pile, as Tay called out that the coffee was done. He got up and ran his fingers through his hair. As he left the room, he thought he felt something move by him down to the other end of the dimly lit hall. He glanced in that direction, but saw nothing. A shiver ran down his spine, but he tried to shake the eerie feeling as he made his way down the stairs. 

Tay was humming in the small kitchen as she prepared her mug of coffee. She glanced over her shoulder as Jack walked in. "How do you like your coffee?" Jack made his way over to the counter beside her. " I just drink it black, thanks". Tay scrunched her nose up at him. " Only psychopaths drink black coffee" she said with a soft smirk. "I guess I'm a psychopath, then" he retorted.

She slid him his cup of coffee and they sat down at the round kitchen table. Tay cradled her mug in both hands, and looked him up and down. He was tall and athletically built. Tattoos covered both of his forearms, and his muscles rippled beneath his faded red tee shirt. His double lip rings clanged against the ceramic mug as he sipped his coffee. The only things Jack had in common with Catherine was their auburn hair and piercing green eyes.

Jack noticed Tay taking him in, and shifted slightly in his seat. He took a sip of his coffee and tried to act nonchalant. The coffee was strong and rich like he liked. As he moved the mug from his lips he glanced back at her. She was beautiful. At first he'd really only noticed all the pink and purple. Her large glasses and long lashes perfectly framed her honey eyes. The overalls she wore did her curves very little justice, but added to her cute and quirky aesthetic.

Tay could feel her cheeks begin to burn as he looked her over in return. She sat cross legged across from him, and wondered why she'd never met him before. His sister had only been her roommate since the beginning of this school year, but she'd talked about how close the two of them were. Tay was glad she could finally put a face to the name, but was sorry it was under these circumstances. Jack broke the silence. " So, how long have you known Catherine?" "Since last year" Tay replied. " We met in Economics class, and hit it off. We became study buddies and the rest is history."

Jack thought it was weird his sister hadn't mentioned Tay before, well, beyond the whole 'I'm moving in with roommates' thing. Now that he thought about it, Catherine hadn't mentioned any names at all. In fact, she'd been quite vague about a lot of details in their past several conversations. He hadn't given it much thought before. He'd chalked it up to her being too excited/busy/ whatever. Now he couldn't help but wonder what else was going on that she hadn't divulged. They'd always been so close. He felt guilty he hadn't visited her sooner, he felt guilty about how infrequent their phone conversations had become.

All the maybe's and what if's began to flood his mind. Maybe if I had been in better contact with her, I'd have a better idea of what could've happened to her. What if I had called her and visited sooner, or more often. What if she felt like I was pulling away? What if that strange phone call last night was the last time I ever hear from her. "Jack?" Tay interrupted his inner monologue. " You ok? You're muttering" Jack cleared his throat and shook his head. " Nah I'm ok, I was just somewhere else for a minute." He sat his coffe on the table. Tay cautiously reached a hand over and placed it on his. " It's ok not to be ok, I miss her too" she softly replied as she nervously bit her plump lower lip.