Dissociative Psyche ✦ J. Riley | ✓ [book 2]

17~ You're In The Good Old Days

"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them."

~ Andy Bernard

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EMTs loaded Ken into an ambulance, fully sedated and without struggle. There were paramedics on the scene, tending to the wounded, but luckily, nobody had been killed. In fact, the worst injury was a shattered knee from a nasty fall.

Jake watched it all fold up around him; not ten minutes ago, the entire campus had become a hot spot. There were news vans stationed around the set perimeter, all waiting to sell the story of the next brutal attack in the city. But what seemed hurt him the most? Jenna was sitting in the back of an ambulance, waiting patiently as an EMT gave her the standard trauma check. Dave mentioned how she might get a special honour from the mayor, but knowing Jenna, she didn't want any glory, or attention. She never wanted this.

Especially not for her friend.

"Every student is accounted for," Lex approached him, "We got lucky this time. The ME gets the afternoon off," he said. Jake nodded, barely paying any attention as he watched Jenna. And Lex definitely noticed.

"She okay?" he asked.

Jake scoffed back, "Would you be?" he replied. 

"EMTs say Ken's going to be okay. They're going to give him a full detox at the hospital," he said.

"Believe me, that's not even close to why Jenna's upset," Jake started over to the ambulance. Once the EMT saw him coming, he gave Jenna the final nod of approval and went on to attend to another student. Jenna put on a small smile when she saw him, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked down.

"You okay?" she asked him. He seemed taken aback.

"I should be the one asking you that," he said, "That was incredible, what you did in there," 

"I guess all those hours of oral decompensation came in handy," she chuckled loosely. Jake looked down at his scuffed boots, knowing fully well what was coming.

"You said we needed to talk," he said, "So... let's talk,"

"Here? Right now?" she looked around at the mess before them.

"I have a feeling I know what you're going to say, I'd rather we just get it over with then drag it out," he said. Jenna sighed and looked away, her chest beginning to feel heavy.

"I don't want to break up with you," she stated, "I love you, and I love Quentin, but I don't love what this job has done to us," 

"You always loved my job," he said.

"Not your job in general. This case. You pissed somebody off, and they decided to take it out on me and my friends. Your third party got Ken, to get to me, to get to you" she said, "And the fact that I said all of that in just one sentence just goes to show how screwed up our lives are,"

"So, what do you want to do? Take a vacation?" he asked, "I can't leave my job, Jen. I was on leave for two weeks, and I went stir crazy,"

"You didn't go stir crazy. You were just bored," she replied.

"That's not my point," he said, "Whatever you want to do, I will be behind you. But after today, I can't just take off. And I think you know that," 

Jenna sighed and nodded reluctantly, "Yeah, I know. But I think the best thing for all of us would be if I took a step back for a while," she said. Jake was confused.