fire and gold | jj maybank

Three

By the time that Addison had made it home and crawled under the duvet with JJ, it was nearly two in the morning and her alarm was set to go off at six-thirty. She laid her head down gently on his arm, careful not to wake him from his slumber. Her eyes closed and sleep overtook her.

Four and a half hours felt like no time at all as her phone alarm rang.

She groaned as she sat up, turning off the alarm.

"JJ, babe, time to wake up," she whispered softly as she gently shook his body. "Gotta get ready for school."

"Fuck school. Five more minutes." The blond grumbled before dozing off once again.

She smiled and brushed the messy hair away from his face, admiring how peaceful he looked. All of the bruises that he'd accumulated over the summer were finally starting to fade.

With all of the craziness of the summer, she never got a chance to go back-to-school shopping like she had always done. Although, a shopping spree probably wouldn't be in the cards for a while, now that Thomas isn't paying Evelyn anymore, only the required amount of child support.

There was no strict dress code at Kildare County High, nor was the dress code actually enforced. The only assumption that Addison had as to why they didn't care was because of two things. First off, it being that they lived in North Carolina. And also the fact that the Pogues may not be as likely to show up to school if they couldn't wear what they want.

She pulled a black, cropped cami off of a hanger and grabbed a pair of denim shorts to pair with the top. The laundry basket that had JJ's freshly washed clothes in it sat on the floor next to her dresser. She grabbed JJ's yellow and black flannel to wear over her outfit, it was huge on her but she found it comfortable.

As she brushed her teeth, a freshly dressed JJ snuck in the bathroom and wrapped his arms around her waist. He buried his head in the crook of her neck, peppering soft kisses across it. "God, I love when you wear my clothes."

"And I love wearing your clothes." She responded after spitting out the toothpaste that she had in her mouth.

This was the first first-day-of-school without John B. Ever since she had moved to the south side with her mom, they had a tradition of carpooling to school. Before John B had his license and vehicle, Big John or Evelyn would drive the trio to school.

Anxiety surged through her body as she thought about school without John B there.

Addison dreaded the school day, knowing people there still believe that John B killed Peterkin. She was not ready to hear all of the whispers and false truths from people who didn't actually know what had happened.

"Maybe we should skip today." Addison suggested, as her heart ached with every minute that passed. A lot of Pogues did believe their side of the story; but she didn't want to face those who believed Ward's lies.

"As much as I would love to skip, I'm pretty sure Kie and Pope would murder us if we did." He clasped his hands around hers. "I don't want to hear the lies that some people believe about John B either, but we have to do this for him."

His lips connected with hers. "We'll get through it together. Just like we always do." His head rested on hers as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Addison! JJ! Kiara is here." Evelyn's voice broke them out of their little moment.

The two of them grabbed their backpacks, grabbed breakfast from Evelyn and ran out to Kiara's car. The Carrera's had opted not to fix the damage on Kie's car, instead letting her work to pay for the fixes it needed.