Subway

Priya told Jonah she was going to take him out for a nice lunch after their shift one day to celebrate their survival of the infamous morning shift, as school was starting back in a few days, which meant they'd only be working early shifts on weekends. Still not great, but an improvement. Plus, Jonah knew on weekends Nicky couldn't get away from his siblings a lot, so the morning shift would work better for him to, which made it worth the horrible hours and shit pay.

"Can Nicky come?" Jonah asked.

Priya laughed until she realized Jonah was serious. "Why do you want him there? It's our celebratory lunch."

"He comes in every day and stays with us for our whole shift. Doesn't that deserve a congratulations as well?"

He congratulated himself for that on-the-spot excuse. Really, he just liked spending time with Nicky. Sure he came to Happy's pretty much everyday and Jonah pops over to his house a lot to listen to music and hang out, but he wanted more. When he wasn't with Nicky, he found himself thinking about him, and then he wanted to be talking to him. It was kind of nice.

Lucky for him, Priya shrugged. "I don't see why not, but I'm not paying for his food."

That's how Jonah found himself sitting at subway with Nicky, waiting for Priya to pull up in her car.

"This is her idea of a nice lunch?" Nicky remarked, looking around the sandwich shop with a frown.

Jonah shrugged. "It's not so bad. At least she's paying."

Nicky held up the half eaten sandwich Jonah bought him a few minutes before. "Is she?"

"She does this all the time," Jonah explained, lying a little bit. He liked that Nicky and Priya were finally warming up to each other, so he decided it was okay to tell a little white lie here and there to save one of their asses. "She'll pay me back when she gets here. You'll see."

"That's her car right now," Nicky said, nodding over his shoulder to the big glass window.

Jonah peered over his shoulder and, when he saw the Toyota he was referring to, his heart fell to the bottom of his stomach. He closed his eyes and turned back to Nicky, telling him, "don't look at the car."

"Why?" He asked, "isn't it Priya's?"

Jonah shook his head. "That guy drops her off at Happy's sometimes. It's her boyfriend."

"Oh lovely, the famous Drew Max," Nicky joked, suppressing a smile by rolling the straw of his drink between his teeth. Both boys had heard a lot about Drew from Priya, but that was the only side Nicky got. Jonah had known Drew since elementary school, so he saw a whole different side he never had the heart (or the balls) to tell Priya about. He kept quiet when she gushed about how much of a gentleman he was or how hot his body was or whatever she went on about when he wasn't really listening.

"Keep your head down," Jonah warned, ducking his own head and stiffening his shoulders in the hopes it would hide him from Drew and the other guys in the car.

"Why?" Nicky asked as he did the exact opposite of what Jonah told him to and craned his neck so he could see them. "Who's he with?"

Jonah didn't have to see their faces to know. He could hear their rough, booming voices as they entered the Subway making some dumb jokes, probably at someone else's expense. "Logan Hammond and Erik Zhang. They're on my team."

Nicky's curious-turned-hateful stares told Jonah he knew enough about the hockey guys to get what he was insinuating. "Priya's boyfriend hangs out with those type of people?"

"He is that type of person. One of the main ones."

"Why would Priya date a guy like him?" Nicky asked, still staring the three boys down as they ordered their sandwiches.

Jonah shook his head. "She doesn't know."

Finally, Nicky ripped his eyes away from the giant guys and looked at Jonah like he was crazy. "You haven't told her?"

"It's not worth the drama."

"'The drama' isn't worth telling Priya she's dating an asshole? I disagree."

"Leave it alone, Nicky," Jonah warned, "or else it might get-"

He stopped talking when he felt a soft splat on the side of his face and turned to where it came from, finding Drew holding a spoon that looked like it used to hold mustard on it while the other two boys snickered by his side. He quickly looked away and dragged his thumb down his cheek to get rid of the mustard splatter and forget about the whole thing.

"Moshe!" Drew called out. Jonah stared forward at Nicky, who's jaw was clenched like he was forcing some killer words to stay in his mouth.

Suddenly, he felt two hands clamp onto his shoulders and he flinched, visibly enough to get a laugh out of the three boys. "Why do you look so nervous, kid? You scared?" Erik questioned from his side.

"No," Jonah answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

Logan snickered and shared a look with his friends. "I couldn't hear you there. Maybe we could go outside and talk there?"

"He said no, asshole," Nicky snapped, causing the three boys to turn their attention from Jonah to Nicky, who didn't look scared in the slightest. In fact, he looked sort of bored, like he'd seen this happen before.

"You finally got a friend, Moshe?"

Jonah didn't answer. He was too busy giving Nicky his best "stay out of this or we're both going down" look.

"Do you think we could kick his ass too?" Drew asked, looking Nicky up and down like a lion getting ready to pounce.

"Easily," Logan said.

Jonah felt the fingers digging into his skin peel off his shoulders as Drew moved over to the side Nicky was sitting at and ruffled his hair, disheveling his black coils. Instead of pulling his hand out and leaving it a frizzy mess, Drew gripped on to his hair just as he had done to Jonah's shoulders a minute before. Nicky winced as his head was yanked a bit, but it was so quick, Jonah was surprised he even caught the way he squeezed his eyes shut before returning to his normal, bored, resting bitch face.

"How about you shut the fuck up," Drew hissed, "and then I'll let you get away without a scratch. How's that sound, freckles?"

"Ooh, freckles," Nicky remarked. "I've never heard that one before. You gonna call me a terrorist next?"

Drew gave another yank to his hair and, judging by the way Nicky bit his lip so hard it turned almost as white as his fingers that were death-gripping the table, that one hurt a lot more. "I'm gonna ask you again, kid. How's that-?"

Drew stopped suddenly and released Nicky's hair from his grip and backed away, grabbing his friends and forcing them to step away from Nicky as well. Jonah turned around to see what was causing the sudden change and found Priya walking into the Subway with a huge smile on her face.

"Babe!" She squealed when she got inside, running over into Drew's open arms. "I didn't know you were here!"

Drew laughed. It sounded a lot different from the cackle Jonah had been hearing. "How could I forget about my girl's love for Subway? I was just about to bring you some."

"You're the sweetest," she gushed, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Isn't he just the sweetest?"

Jonah nodded, forcing a tight smile onto his face as he made eye contact with Drew, who was narrowing his eyes and shaking his head. A shiver went down his spine, causing him to nod faster.

Nicky, on the other hand, crossed his arms and stared Drew down, ignoring the heated glares of Erik and Logan. "No. He's not."

Priya looked away from her boyfriend for the first time since she arrived to raise a brow at Nicky. "What?"

"He's not the sweetest. Actually, he's kinda the worst."

"I don't even know him, Pri," Drew told her, forcing out a laugh.

Priya laughed a little, too. "That's what I thought. What are you talking about, Nicky?"

"He just came in here and threatened to beat us up. How could you tell me that I'm not good for Jonah when your own boyfriend harasses him? You do realize his two friends are on Jonah's team, right?"

"Nicky, stop," Jonah spoke up from behind him, but he pretended not to hear.

Priya ignored him as well and instead looked Erik and Logan up and down slowly. Nicky watched as the huge, intimidating assholes squirmed under her heated glare. "You guys didn't threaten them, right?"

Neither of the two said anything, which must've been enough evidence for Priya, because she tore her hand from her boyfriend's and stood next to Nicky. "Tell me the fucking truth, Drew."

"This kid's crazy, babe. Right, Moshe?" He prompted Jonah through clenched teeth.

Jonah looked between Priya and Drew, completely torn on whether or not to lie. He had sat through weeks of Priya's nonstop blabbing about how much she loves her boyfriend. It would destroy her if she found out.

But he panicked under the five pairs of eyes all staring him down, waiting for his next move so they could pounce. He couldn't find it in himself to speak, so he just looked down at the tiled floor, praying he would survive whatever punishment he had just set himself up for.

"Oh my god," Priya whispered. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god."

"It's not that big a deal, babe. It's just a little messing around, that's all," Drew tried.

Priya scoffed. "No it isn't, Drew! You know how it makes me sick to hear what people do to Jonah, and to find out that you've been messing with him too? Behind my back? Drew, oh my god!"

"Babe-"

"We're done."

Drew let out a nervous laugh, glancing back at his friends who were staring at Priya like she was their worst nightmare. In any other situation, Jonah would be laughing. "You can't dump me, Pri."

"I can and I will," she stated, her voice booming all around the Subway, probably even shaking the poor guy making the sandwiches to his core.

He looked around at his petrified friends, then back at his— now ex— girlfriend. "Fine. But you'll regret this, Priya," he told her. He pushed Jonah's chest hard enough to cause him to stumble and scowled. "You too, you fucking snitch." He took one last look at the three of them before storming out of the restaurant, his friends following close behind.

"Are you okay, Pri?" Nicky asked.

She was staring out the door, her eyes glistening. "No, but I will be. Are you?"

"Yeah," he mumbled before turning to Jonah. "How about you, Jonah?"

Jonah scowled and shoved his hands into the pocket of his letterman. "No. I'm not. I told you to stop, Nicky."

"So?"

"So now he hates me even more! He just got dumped because of us, dude. You think he's gonna let that go?"

Priya put her hand on his shoulder. "It doesn't matter. I'll always be there at school."

"That's not true," Jonah said, shaking his head. "You won't be there when Drew and I have physics together. You won't be there in the locker room at practice with Erik and Logan and all the other guys. You're a senior, Priya, which means we'll barely see each other. Why didn't you just stop when I told you to, Nicky?" He demanded.

"Because I was trying to get rid of your fucking bully! You're welcome, by the way," Nicky snapped back, clenching his fists.

"Shut up, guys. Let's just talk it out," Priya said, grabbing Nicky's arm and pulling him closer.

Before she could say anything else, Nicky ripped himself from her grip and stepped back. "Don't bother. I'm going," he said, sparing Jonah one last glance before he stormed out, slamming the glass door behind him.

———————

Lmao bruh moment.

Who do you guys think was in the right? I mean, Nicky did sort of set Jonah up for a lot more bullying, but Priya needed to know. Thoughts? Also Priya is a bad bitch and I love her to death, what do you guys think of her?

Also um name inspo to my guy herondaledevices I was just re reading their incredible book Oliver Loves Carson and I realized that when I first started writing Morning Shift (back in 2017 I was babey) I stole the name Nicky from her book. So thanks.

Lots of love for all you guys and especially to my new readers who came yesterday when my other story, Count the Stars, absolutely blew up for a day and got 10,000 new reads (me yesterday: 😳)! Hi!

~Teddy