FLAWLESS - J. MAYBANK

xiii. blood is thicker

'You might want to go inside,' JJ murmured to the girl on his lap. He knew full well the extent to which she got pissed at Kiara for shit-talking her twin, and now that they would be there together, the tension would be higher than ever. 'Please, Mae. I'll come get you once everything's sorted between them.'

She hesitated a second before caving. 'Fine.'

JJ kissed her softly. 'Thank you. Go have a nap or something. Or clean, if you're that bored.'

'I highly doubt I'm going to resort to that,' Maelynn giggled. 'But thanks for the ideas. I'll probably nap or go on my phone.'

'Alright. See you later, love.'

Butterflies attacked her stomach at the pet name he used. Love. She screamed internally and settled for grinning outwardly. 'Later.'

She headed into the house with smiles at everyone else and a wink at Sarah. She winked back and stood near John B. That must have even pissed Kiara off. Maelynn smiled at the thought. 

As JJ had suggested, she quickly became bored of hanging around and instead decided to tidy his room instead. It was no simple feat - it looked like he hadn't ever cleaned it. There was layers of dust on just about every surface, not to mention the dirt and sand all over the floor. It took almost ten minutes to clean that alone. Then she moved onto the pile of clothes they had folded earlier that day, tucking them into his drawers neatly. She refolded what was already in them, as laundry didn't seem to be his strong suit. There wasn't much in there anyway. She made a mental note to take him to get more sometime once they were less busy. 

Once finished in JJ's room, she laid down on his bed and opened her phone. There were about thirty texts from Rafe and Kelce, telling her what Topper told them and swearing at her. She left them both on read. That would be sure to make them worse. 

But there was one from Sarah that sent her out the door:

sarah beara
blood is thicker than water.

It was a code they had created when they were younger, that meant an argument had occurred and one needed to talk to the other. Maelynn made the obvious assumption that Kiara and Sarah's fighting had hit a breaking point. She hadn't expected it to get so heated that they would both leave, but when she got onto the porch, that was what she was greeted with. The three boys all looked at her guiltily. 

'What happened?' she demanded. Pope opened his mouth, then closed it, nodding to JJ. 

'You can do it. She's your girlfriend.'

JJ rolled his eyes but turned to her. 'Kiara offered John B here an ultimatum: her or your sister. So, John B being the idiot he is and not understanding ultimatums-'

'I understand them!' interjected John B. 

'-He said both. So the girls both left. We're now deciding how to make them work together.'

Maelynn snorted derisively. 'Good luck with that. From what I know, they're both stubborn as rocks.'

'That's why you're going to help us,' John B put in. 'You know what'll get your sister somewhere, and we have an idea for Kie, so lets put our heads together and make a plan here.'

'Fine.'

ミ⛧ ミ⛧ ミ⛧

'I can't believe he wants to apologize so quickly,' Sarah said as she and Maelynn walked down the dock. 'I mean, it was only a few hours ago.'