FLAWLESS - J. MAYBANK

xxiii. gone

JJ kept going.

God, it was hard. Sometimes he felt simply hopeless. But he knew Maelynn would rather see him happy than in the pits of despair, so he went on. He got a second cat to be with Cassie and named her Andromeda. He told Kiara and Pope all about living with her and getting married at the ripe young age of sixteen. There was never any regret. None.

Wheezie became a bigger part of his life as well. He taught her how to surf, and in true Wheezie fashion, she was the same as her sister as far as skill. She didn't fall off once. When they had retired, right before he drove her home, she sent him a link to Maelynn's playlists.

'She had an entire one about you,' she explained. 'I figured you'd like to hear it.'

He drove her home, blaring stupid songs with good beats and screaming the lyrics out of open windows. Wheezie went in cackling with laughter, and the next morning, sent him a text complaining about a sore throat. JJ sent her a video of Cassie and Andie climbing all over him in response. They became best friends, the only thing they had in common being their love for Maelynn. But it was enough.

The text from Sarah and John B only made everything hurt worse. They wouldn't know of Maelynn's death. One of Maelynn's reasons for being okay with dying was that she would get to be with her twin again. Now even that was taken away from her.

How much could you take from a dead girl?

sister-in-law
how was school
????
im gonna assume torture

brobrobro
ofc it was
how abt 4 u
ur in highschool now right
oh shit wait
r u in my school????

sister-in-law
i think so
i didnt see u tho
heard u ran out of class
unexcused

brobrobro
u kno me
always bending the rules
had 2 piss
when u gotta go, u gotta go

sister-in-law
ew jj
tmi
pls save that for ur friends

brobrobro
oh dont worry
i told them 2
so whats up

sister-in-law
can we surf

brobrobro
what fam thing r u trying to avoid

sister-in-law
nothing
just wanna spend time w my bro in law

brobrobro
as much as id like to believe u, i dont

sister-in-law
rude
>:C

brobrobro
fr?

sister-in-law
fine
court

brobrobro
oh shit thats today
c the thing is
i have 2 go 2 that
so i cant surf w u 2 avoid it
srry wheeze

sister-in-law
is ok
if u and ur friends r there itll b interesting
so ill come

brobrobro
bring popcorn
kie is a little fiesty
and very much angry
at ur dad
so interesting doesn't quite cover it

sister-in-law
oh i bet
k ill c u there
rose is abt to steal my phone

brobrobro
get going kiddo
c u there

ミ⛧ ミ⛧ ミ⛧

When John B and Sarah turned up out of nowhere, you can bet JJ was surprised. In fact, he was more than surprised. Flabbergasted, taken aback, shocked, stunned, astounded, astonished, bewildered. All the words Maelynn would've listed off if she were still around.

He was more than happy to be seeing the two of them - after all, it had been horrible to lose so many people he loved at once. He got two of them back! But the knowledge that Maelynn died thinking they were dead lingered under every smile. She would've been so relieved and excited to see them again.

They made it almost the whole afternoon before someone asked about her.

'Hey guys?'

JJ turned to smile at Sarah. 'What's up?'

'Where's Maelynn? I mean, I would've thought she'd be here, or at least one of you would tell her to be, but maybe dad has her on lockdown. When did you last talk to her?'

Kiara and Pope exchanged a glance as JJ's heart dropped to his stomach. Technically, they hadn't heard from her since the day she died, but it would feel dishonest to say that.

'There really isn't a good way to say this...' Kie started. She looked to JJ for help.

'Maelynn...' he cleared his throat. 'Maelynn was driving home to talk to your family, and Rafe was going the opposite direction, and..' he cleared his throat again. 'He uh...he hit her head on. She was pronounced dead at the scene.'

Sarah chuckled. When no one else cracked a smile, hers dropped from her face. 'You're not serious.'

'Yeah. She's gone.'

Sarah had frozen in place, staring at the water flowing around in the hot tub. 'Oh my God.'

John B froze as well, though he was watching JJ. His best friend looked like he was holding back a lot of tears. He had never seen JJ look like that before. It was also obvious he wasn't telling them something.

'JJ?'

'Yeah?'

'What aren't you telling us?'

He looked up at Sarah instead of John B. 'We got married the day before she died.'

She looked back at him with tears streaking her cheeks and filling her eyes. 'You got married? How? Why?'

'She said she felt like something was going to go wrong, so one morning she just woke up and told me we should get married. We used our fake ID's, wore our Midsummers outfits, and used almost all of her money to buy rings.'

'Where's hers?'

JJ looked at his. 'She was buried with it on, at her own request. She wrote me a letter the day she died just in case something happened.'

'Oh,' Sarah choked out. 'Who else knows?'

'I told your dad, Rose, Wheezie and Rafe at and before the funeral. Your dad and Rose both gave me some money to keep myself afloat with. Rafe still hates my fucking guts, but Wheezie and I have been hanging out quite a bit. She really loves the cats.'

'I bet. She and Maelynn always talked about getting them. Wheezie wanted an orange tabby or two, but M was always set on a black cat. She said she'd name it after a star or constellation or something space-related,' Sarah said with a fond smile. 'What are the cats named?'

'There's Cassiopeia, which Mae found and named the day she died. I brought her to the funeral. Rose adored her almost more that Wheeze. I adopted Andromeda after Mae passed. Cassie seemed lonely while I was working and hanging out with your little sister, so I did my research and found out Andromeda and Cassiopeia are related somehow. I can't remember what way, but I figured Mae would like it, so that's what I did.'

Sarah smiled and went over to JJ, pulling him into a tight hug. 'Thank you for loving her so much, and being there for her when she thought we were gone.'

'You know, she made me feel whole. I'm never gonna stop loving her.'

'Me either, JJ. Me either.'

ミ⛧ ミ⛧ ミ⛧

1116 words.
written august 25/21.