Chapter One

Jay took a small, slow sip of his drink. He let it sit against his tongue for a minute, committing the taste to memory. The drink was a vanilla bean frappuchino, otherwise known as his girlfriend's favorite drink.

Well. Ex-girlfriend, to be precise.

Jay swallowed.

He looked down at the book he was supposed to be studying. The black letters blurred, becoming nothing more than shaky squiggles against a background that was far too white. Jay closed his eyes, then took another slow sip.

More than anything, Jay wanted to call her. Wanted to apologize, because surely, whatever had prompted the breakup had been his fault. She'd stated that it was her and not him, but that was only what everyone said, wasn't it?

Before Jay's shaking fingers could search for the number, however, his phone rang on its own. For a brief second, Jay's heart leaped. But then the caller ID revealed that it was not, in fact, his girlfriend.

Ex-girlfriend, he reminded himself.

"Hey Cole," Jay answered, trying to keep his voice from shaking. Not that it would do much good to try and pretend. Cole knew him better than anyone. There was no use in hiding anything. "What's up?"

I'm at the lab, with Dr. Julien. We're waiting for you. He thinks he might have made a breakthrough on his research. Cole's voice was strong and steady. A polar opposite to Jay's own. You going to come soon? . . . Wait, you're at that café again, aren't you?

"Maybe," Jay bit his lip, waiting for the scolding that was sure to come.

You're not making this any easier on yourself. There was a tone of annoyance to Cole's voice, but mostly, there was worry. Just come. We can go get something to eat after the Doctor's done with us. Somewhere far, far away from that café.

"The drinks are good!" Jay protested, trying to defend his actions. But Cole knew exactly why Jay chose to keep coming to this exact place, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the coffee.

There's plenty of other places to get a drink. I know what you're trying to do, Jay. But I doubt you'll run into her. She probably banned herself from going to that café, something you should do too.

"If I see her, maybe I can. . ." Jay began to blink rapidly, as the memories of everything threatened to crash down upon his rattled mind.

She made her decision Jay. You need to respect that.

"I do I just. . . I don't know."

Just come on. We can talk about it later.

"Alright, I'll be there in a bit."

With a tap of his finger, Jay ended the call. He looked around, searching faces, but coming up empty. No, Cole was right. He wouldn't find Nya here.

He took another long, slow sip of his drink.

Cole stared at his phone long after the call had ended.

It had only been a week since Nya had broken up with Jay. Cole knew that with time, Jay would slowly grow better. He knew Jay had fallen head over heels for the girl, and it would be quite some time before he could recover. Cole knew all this, but it didn't stop him from desperately wishing he could fix everything.

There wasn't much he could do, other than stay by Jay's side and try his best to herd him in the right direction. The healing of it all was up to Jay, and Jay alone.

"So is he coming?"

Cole looked away from his phone, slipping it into his back pocket. The man that stood before him was old, wrinkled and white-haired, but there was a youth in his eyes that shone brighter than anything. Cole felt that the man had far more life within him than any of his exhausted students put together. It was impressive, to say the least.

"Yup, he'll be around in a bit."

"Good! Good. I'm sure this time I've got it. We'll surely have the devices ready by the end of the week. Then of course, we'll do a test run. You and Jay are up for that, yes? I do wish I could do it myself but. . . I'm afraid that I shouldn't put much strain on this old brain of mine."

"Oh c'mon, you're not that old, sir. I swear I feel older than you most of the time."

Dr. Julien waved away the flattery, but smiled regardless. "Compliments are nice, but I'm afraid you forgot to answer my question."

"Of course we're up for it." Cole nodded. "I know Jay's been. . . distracted. But I know as soon as he sees how close you are he'll get his focus back."

"I hope so! No offense to you Cole, but Jay's mind is a tad more helpful when it comes to these things."

"None taken," Cole stated truthfully. He understood almost nothing of Jay's and Julien's words when they went off into their little science world. The only reason Cole had wound up as Julien's assistant, was Jay. Although Jay had been more than excited about helping the man, he hadn't wanted to set foot in a new environment alone. Cole hadn't minded lending some time to his friend, and Dr. Julien had been more than happy for the extra help.

"Well then! Jay had better hurry here as fast as he can. I truly can't wait to get started."

Nya ducked back around the corner, silently praying Jay hadn't seen her.

She'd spotted him coming out of the café. The café. The one where they'd spent most of their class-free time in. It was about the third time she'd seen him inside. Like he purposely wanted to not get over the break-up.

Or, more likely, like he wanted to run into her. Which he almost had. But luck had been on Nya's side again, and she'd managed to slip away from his attention.

With a sigh, she waited until Jay was fully out of sight to head towards the café. The memories it stored made her realized just how much she did miss him. But, unlike Jay, Nya didn't miss the romance. She missed only the friendship. The shared jokes and stories, the way they always did seem to have each other's back.

She wished Jay could understand that. But she was afraid that if she tried to reach out, he'd get the wrong idea. But maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he'd understand and. . .

Nya shook her head. As if. Since when had boys ever understood the concept of 'it's over'? Never. At least not it her experience.

Her phone buzzed, alerting her of an incoming message. She lit up the blackened screen, revealing that the text was from none other than Cole.

Jay was at that Café again. You sure you don't want to just try and talk to him? He keeps hoping to run into you. Maybe you two can, idk, try to get some closure.

Nya made a face, before rapidly forming an answer. I'd love to talk, if he actually manages to understand that I only want to be his friend.

She waited a couple of seconds, knowing Cole was usually fairly quick with his answers. Nya was glad that at least she had him to talk to. With her brother hopping around from job to job all the time, she didn't have that many people to chat with.

I'll talk to him tonight, promise. He'll understand. He's just upset, but he'll understand.

For the most part, Jay had been one of the more understanding guys she'd found herself dating. But she didn't dare hope. If she believed guys were all the same, then she wouldn't have to be constantly disappointed.

We'll see.

We'll see.

Cole frowned down at his phone, before quickly stuffing it back into his pocket as Jay walked inside the lab. Well, walked was an overstatement. His body moved slow, as if gravity had suddenly decided to tug down with more strength over him and him alone.

"Hey Jay." Cole smiled, trying to lift the mood around him as much as he could. Jay gave a small nod.

Dr. Julien looked up, a smile bigger than anything Cole could have mustered pulling at his lips. "Jay! You made it!"

"Yup." Jay walked closer, pulling a nearby stool closer to Julien's desk. "So what's the big news?"

"Well, we've definitely proved that there are alternate realities just beyond our reach. But! Trying to transport mass through the dimensions. . . It just isn't going to work. And even if there was a way, I think that is something that will take us much more research that what we could do in our lifetimes."

"Uh huh," Jay said, his eyes as unfocused as his mind.

"Well, we don't have to try to push our bodies into other dimensions. What if we simply sent our minds? It would limit us to only being able to see those dimensions in which we already exist, but it could be done!"

Jay frowned, then looked back at the Doctor. "Could it?"

"I'm almost 100% positive it would. Imagine the things we could learn, if we were to see-"

Jay swallowed, his mind moving away from Dr. Julien's hopes for interdimensional traveling and into his own. Infinite universes meant infinite possibilities. Which mean that, somewhere out there, was a Jay with all the things he could ever wish for. A real house instead of a small trailer. A good neighborhood, instead of a junkyard. Confidence instead of shaking waves of anxiety.

And most importantly. . . Nya.

Someone, somewhere, had done a better job at keeping Nya than he had. And he could get there.

It took him a second to realize that had stopped talking, and was now staring expectantly at him. "I'm. . . sorry?"

"I said," Dr. Julien shook his head, but his smile was unfaltering. "Are you willing to go all the way with this? It would be ground breaking. Not easy. You'll have to find that spark of yours again, give me all the effort you can. But oh, it will be so very worth it!"

Jay nodded, and found that his mind was already ticking forward with different ideas. He could even feel his heart skipping a beat, and the world had somehow gotten a little bit brighter. "Oh yes. Let's do it."

"I'm glad to see you excited about something again," Cole studied Jay, enjoying the inventive spark now bouncing throughout his blue eyes. It was a nice change from the dark clouds that had constantly plagued every one of Jay's expressions after the break-up. "It's been a while."

"Yeah. . ." Jay looked down, trying to avoid Cole's direct eye contact for as long as he could. If Cole knew the true reason behind Jay's excitement, Jay would surely never hear the end of it. And he wasn't in the mood to be lectured. Not when things were finally seemed to be turning around.

"So you'll stop going to that shop?"

"Yeees." Jay tried not to roll his eyes. "I'll stop. You don't have to mother me, you know. I am an adult."

"Yeah, technically."

Jay narrowed his eyes.

"I'm just saying. Nya's been feeling uncomfortable since-"

"Wait." Jay held up his hand, dropping the pencil within it onto the table. "You've talked to her!?"

"I. . ." Cole thought fast. If he admitted that Nya and him had kept in contact, Jay would bombard him with questions, and try to get Cole to say things to her on his behalf. It would be endless, and beyond frustrating. "No, of course not. Her brother is my roommate though. You think he doesn't know about what's going on?"

"Ah," Jay seemed to deflate slightly, and he returned the pencil to his hand. "Right. Kai. The scary dropout."

"He isn't scary. He just pretends to be. Once you get to know him-"

"No thanks. I'm pretty sure he hates me. If he didn't before, he definitely does now. Nya's told him I've been to the shop? Wait. . . that means she does still go! So then I could. . ."

"You could stop going. She's seen you, and avoided you. You need to give her some space, Jay. It's over. You two could be friends. Great friends, probably. But first you need to realize that it is over. Respect her decision dude."

"I do respect her decision. It's just. . . It's something I did isn't it? So if she could just tell me. . .I could be better. I could work on it."

Cole shook his head. "It isn't necessarily something you can fix, Jay."

"Okay, okay, I'll drop it." Jay shrugged. It didn't matter either way, did it? Once 's invention was finished. . .

"Good," Cole smiled, and once again Jay avoided his eyes. It felt odd, not blurting every one of his thoughts towards Cole's ears. But if Jay's idea was going to work, he would have to keep it a secret. "Now let's talk about something else. Anything noteworthy happen at school?"

"Well not really." Jay said, but nevertheless continued to speak. "I mean, class was a little odd today. . ."

As Jay told an animated narrative of his misadventures throughout the day, his mind began to slip further and further away from Nya, the possibilities of interdimensional travel, and the insidious idea that had been building itself up throughout the day.

For a moment, Jay felt simply alright. No worries, or obsessive thoughts, nothing but a few jokes and a couple of laughs alongside his best friend.

And although a sliver of anxiety in the back of his mind reminded him that, like all other moments, this one would come to an end, Jay managed to enjoy himself far more than he had in weeks.