JJ didn’t even feel like a person. Granted, she often didn’t really feel like a person, but that was usually because she was high on something artificial that made her feel like she was soaring, pumping her full of a euphoria that she would never be able to recreate naturally. However, today she was nursing the wicked hangover, courtesy of a party that she had attended last night, which meant that her lack of feeling like a real, living, breathing person was largely self inflicted, and remarkably negative for the first time in a while. The worst part of it all was that she hadn’t even really enjoyed herself. Sure, the party was fine, they were all fine, but she hadn’t managed to find an actual person there who wanted to talk to her outside of her little supply and demand chain of various pills and substances. And sure, normally that didn’t bother her, at least not to this degree, but lately she had been feeling the pressure from her parents, from her family in general, to make a name for herself, and she had no idea how to do it. So yeah, everything felt pretty fuckin terrible right about now.

At the very least, she could remedy one of the reasons that she felt so miserable. A hangover cure was pretty simple, most of the time, and consisted of greasy food, water, and black coffee to shake off the last fingers of sleep that her body was still yearning for. Those things were easily gotten, but they also meant venturing out of her room, which was something that she could really do without right about now. WIth a groan, she hauled herself out of bed, ran a brush through her hair, and grabbed whatever clothes that she could reach with minimal effort, ignoring the pounding headache that had settled directly behind her eyes. Thank god her roommate was gone, and had left quietly this morning, probably because JJ had not come in quietly at all this morning, and her roommate knew exactly what state that she would be in this morning; despite her general indifference to the woman that she shared a living space with, she had seen her in a number of states and had helped her out of each and every single one. The woman had to be a fucking saint or something, and it was kind of annoying.

Just before she headed out the door, JJ slipped some cash in her pocket in case she decided to head out into New Orleans proper, which was fucking doubtful given how she felt right about now, and her sunglasses that she promptly slipped on to block out the persistently bright sunlight that felt designed especially to scorch her retinas. She slid them into place, and made her way outside, cringing even behind the dark lenses covering her eyes.

SHE had just made it to the coffee place on campus and placed her order, waiting for it to be made, when she heard someone say her name behind her. Without turning around, or even glancing into her peripheral vision, she spoke. “You’re either incredibly brave or remarkably stupid to be talking to me this early on a Saturday before I’ve had coffee.” The barista behind the coffee bar slid her order to her, and she grabbed it, breathing in the heady aroma of the coffee that fueled her entire being before even turning around to see who the hell had decided to ignore all common sense and talk to her.