He needed the drink. After the day he had had downing his feelings in alcohol was exactly what the doctor ordered, kind of. If his brother saw him doing this rather than talking it out it would have become a lecture, which was the exact reason he had skipped Molly's, that and his attempt of avoiding the problem. Well, one of the problems.
Jay spun the bottom of the half-empty tumbler in circles on the wood of the bar, watching the liquid inside slosh from side to side before taking another swig of it, finishing it off and flagging the bartender down for a repeat.
With the whole ordeal with Abby and Erin he found the excuse that another drink wouldn't hurt. A second glass was put in front of him and it's not there a second before the rim of the glass meets his lips. The whiskey burns on the way down, it was meant to be sipped, but he just clears his throat and puts the glass back down, now a significant decrease in the amount inside.
He takes in the décor of the bar - it was really different to Molly's. Molly's had the fairy lights hanging across the entire bar's ceiling, was lit like a fourth of July firework show, but this place was different; no pixie lights, no warm greeting from fellow officers or firefighters on his entrance. It was moody, dark and in his current mindset he was thankful. It was exactly what he wanted. He'd usually be at their regular place with the guys, celebrating after a long case or distracting after a difficult one. Tonight though, he didn't feel like being around them, with the jokes or remarks. He just needed to be alone.
As his eyes shift around the room they meet those of a girl sitting a few seats away, who looks away after a beat of them staring at each other. He didn't get a great look of her, she was just far enough away that the light didn't hit her. Despite her moving her gaze back down on to the bar, Jay just continues to look, curious as to why she was acting the same as him, tapping the glass in her hand against the placemat.
Clearly she can sense him still looking in her direction so she glances back and tilts her head to once side. "Did your mother ever tell you it's rude to stare?" She asks, an invisible hook pulling at her eyebrow.
Jay doesn't move his eyes when she catches him, only after she had made her comment. He drops his attention back to his glass and takes a second swig, and that's when she makes her voice heard again.
"You know you are supposed to sip that."
He nods, sending a glance in her direction before looking forward. "You only live once, can't live it following rules."
In the corner of his eye he can see her pick up her glass and scoot over a couple seats so she was now sat beside him. Now she was closer Jay was able to see her better. She had soft blonde curls that fell on to and over her shoulders with lively and bright blue eyes. She wasn't dressed like she was going out or living the life of the party, it was only a casual, bordering on slightly formal, blouse tucked into dark jeans and suddenly Jay's head is agreeing how it suited her well.
He looks her with furrowed eyebrows, pushing himself into the present and not his thoughts.
"You wanna talk about what's got you so rebellious?" She asks.
Jay shakes his head. "No offense, but I'm not revealing my deepest darkest secrets to a stranger I just met in a bar."
She leans against the wood. "I'm Hailey." She introduces herself, a small extend of her hand as a gesture to shake his.
He ignores her hand but returns the introduction. "Jay."
Hailey nods. "Now we're not strangers." She cuts in with a playful smile pulling at the corners of her lips and he spots the dimples on her cheeks, making a quick remark in his head about how he though they were cute before he pushes it away. It wasn't the time.
Jay takes a second to fight off his own smirk at what she had done before he points to his now even more empty glass. "I think I'll just keep the whiskey as my therapist," he replies before turning further toward her on his stool, turning the tables on her. "Anyway, what brings you here into a bar on you're own, you wanna talk about it?" He asks, attempting to mock her but it only makes her smile wider.
"Amazing," she mutters quietly, referring to his take at parodying her before taking a pause to finish off her own glass. "And I don't need a reason and I definitely don't need to tell you it even if there was one."
"Well me neither." He adds in quickly, facing inwards again and picking up the glass, practically inhaling the last of it.
Hailey flags down the bartender, ordering one for herself before telling them to get another one of whatever he was having. Jay's face scrunches up.
"What was that?" He asks.
She shrugs it off. "You clearly needed another one so that one is on me."
Jay folds an arm over his chest. "You didn't need to do that, I can buy my own tab."
Hailey starts to stand back up from the stool, getting ready to either wander off somewhere else or return to the seat she had been sitting at before. "Drinks rack up a big bill and you look like you're gonna be here a while." She says, lightly tapping his shoulder as she stands.
She begins walking back to her other seat but he calls out for her, making her look over her shoulder, humming at her name.
"I mean you did order them together, it does seem like the socially acceptable thing to do... what do you say? One drink?" He offers, glancing down to the now empty seat where she had been sat moments before.
She draws her lower lip between her teeth for a second before nodding, taking the seat beside him again.
The following morning Jay's eyes squint open at the morning light streaming in from underneath the unfamiliar blinds. It takes a couple blinks to notice the difference in what he was used to every morning and then the memories from the night before come flooding back.
The one drink that became one too many.
The stumbled walk to her place because it was right around the corner and he had been too drunk to drive.
The sloppy kiss that started in the kitchen and the hands trailing, eagerly pulling jackets off shoulders and ditching shirts on the floor on the path up to the bedroom.
The way his fingers loosened the curls in her hair as she pulled him on top of her and effortlessly ripped his belt from the loops.
The way she hummed in his ear as he moved his lips down her neck to her collarbone before flipping them over so she was on top, her hands moved down his chest to the waistband of his jeans and popping the button open with a flick of her wrist.
How the night was enough to bring him out of his head and into the presence. That had been the most free he had felt in the last few days and it couldn't have felt better.
Jay wasn't the type of person for random flings or one-night stands, but last night he had needed the distraction almost as badly as she had needed it.
He carefully glances his eyes around the room, not wanting to get too nosy on the possessions of this girl he had met the night prior before his gaze falls on the sleeping figure beside him. She had her back turned but he could remember her face clearly.
The carefully made blonde curls from the night before were now messy strands that lied splayed out against her bare shoulder and back and her breathing was even and gentle as she slept.
The silence of the room is shattered when he can hear the sound of a phone buzzing in the pocket of a pair of jeans at the foot of the bed. Jay sits up and sees how they're his pants, so he leans forward and pulls the phone out of the back pocket, reading the text displayed into the screen.
It was one from Erin, explaining how they caught a case and how he had to get down to the district as soon as he could. He sighs and puts the phone back in his jeans pocket and he begins getting himself dressed again.
Just as he was doing up his belt, Hailey starts stirring before ultimately waking up. She watches him for a moment and then sits up, bringing the duvet with her to cover her bare chest. "So you're one of those guys." She mumbles tiredly, her words sound more stated than her asking him if he was, as she wipes her spare hand over her face, ridding it of the stray hairs.
Jay shakes his head. "I'm sorry but I've got to head to work, they need me pretty badly."
She shrugs but doesn't say anything.
He puts his hands on his hips, subtly gazing his eyes around the room for his shirt before remembering how Hailey had pulled it over his head and had thrown it somewhere downstairs just as things were getting heated. Jay then meets her gaze and even in the early morning light her eyes were still the same bright level of blue they had been in the dark lighting of the bar. "Last night was a lot of fun. I really needed it."
Hailey smirks, nodding slowly and she doesn't take away their shared eye contact. "So did I." She whispers.
(two weeks later)
After sending the ambulance off toward the hospital, the team went back into the credit union to investigate further. Voight sends someone off to get a copy of ID's and that's when a voice from behind him makes Jay look up from the cell jammer in his hands.
The voice was commanding the same uniform to do a different task and seeing her face made him freeze, the soft blonde curls pulled up into a professional ponytail and the bright blue in her eyes.
She glances at him quickly but then rips it away, looking to the other people beside him. "Detective Upton, Robbery-Homicide."
and there is the prologue. for now, updates will hopefully be consistent on thursdays at a similar time of day as 'another life' and if there is going to be a sudden change i will let you know on my wattpad announcements and on my twitter :) i'm really excited for this one, and i really hope this was interesting for you to read. there will be more info at the end of the next chapter.
as always, votes and comments are greatly appreciated, i'd love to hear your opinions on this one, and have an amazing rest of your week x