MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! jj maybank

018. circle of glass

WARNINGS: abuse

COLA WAS NERVOUS. Extremely nervous, actually. Despite hanging out with John B, Pope, and JJ at the Château, drinking beers for hours while they fished, the girl could feel her heart beat extremely fast in her chest. The moment that 7:50PM hit, the realization that her father was actually waiting for her back home had hit her.

Was she supposed to be excited? Was she supposed to be scared? She did lie about the DCS trying to get her, after all. But her father sounded like he was eager to meet her when she heard his voice at the phone.

"I'm heading back," Cola mumbled, taking a big gulp of water to sober her up. (She was very heavyweight and rarely got drunk, but she had to make sure she looked a bit presentable before meeting her father.) "What time are we picking em up tomorrow?"

"Before the sun sets." Pope replied simply, eyes on the rubik's cube he was attempting to solve.

Cola furrowed her eyebrows at that. They were leaving Kiara and Sarah alone for more than twenty four hours? "And when we catch two dead bodies in the boat tomorrow?"

"Remember, hydroponic."

"Right, whatever." Cola rolled her eyes, grabbing her tote bag to fish out the keys to her bike. "I'll see you guys after my shift at the club."

"You have work tomorrow?" John B questioned curiously, suddenly aware of the fact that he's currently jobless. Sure, they had the gold, but there was no guaranteeing that they could actually salvage it.

"My schedule's a bit of a mess right now, so I'm trying to clock in as many shifts as I can before summer ends." Cola shrugged nonchalantly, wiggling the helmet on her head. "Need to save money before school starts."

"You're well aware that school doesn't start in two months."

"I have a lot of bills to pay, Pope." Cola deadpanned, walking out of the door in realization that it was almost 8PM. "See you guys later!"

The three boys hear the revving of the motorcycle, then the scraping of wheels.

"That girl works too much." John B mumbles in both disbelief and amazement, taking another swig of his beer.

He had been living alone for months, so he was still trying to adjust to it, but Cola had been doing this shit since she was thirteen— no matter how long she's been doing it, it was still surprising every single time.

"Can you blame her, though?" Pope chimed in with an uneasy glance, eyes never leaving the door.

...

Cola stood still in front of her small house, feeling a giddy, pleasant, but slightly sickening tremor in her heart. Her father was inside. It's really happening. After not being home for more than a year— she was going to see him again. Not his assistants. Him.

Despite the cooler night air, Cola was beginning to sweat. She was going to talk to her father. Her ears were buzzing from the blood pumping through her body as she imagined finally seeing him in person.

"You can do this," as she took small steps to her humble abode, Cola was trying to hype herself up and shake the negative thoughts away from her head. "You can do this. You can do this."

She didn't know how long it took her to muster up the courage to knock on her door twice to alert her dad of her presence. Sure, the key was right there in her pocket, but the door was unlocked.

Her palms were sweating, which threw her confused for a moment since her palms never turned that clammy, but Cola ignores it and pushes the door open, eyes darting around the room to catch a sight of her dad.