The Bends - JJ x Kiara

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(JJ)

"'Kay, I got the booze." I hoist the keg up against my body to evenly distribute the weight of the beer. I like to imagine I'm gripping the bottom like a good ol' piece of ass. Feels cool and like metal. Metal ass.

"D'you think people are gonna show?" Kie grabs two boxes of beer by the handles and blows a strand of hair out of her face.

"Psssh. Duh. It's a pogue party." I roll my eyes and shake my head at her. "Can't miss it. Or you can, if you live under a rock like a pathetic-"

"I get it." She nods, exasperated.

"I was just asking, since y'know, people are pretty hung up on the idea of school. Since summer's over." She sighs and heads for the vestibule door. Before she can exit, I quickly dash ahead of her and back up against it so it's held open for her.

"At your service." I shoot her a grin and she scoffs.

"Weirdo."

"Have a nice day, Glenn! My boy!" I nod before our very generous alcohol-provider grunts in response. He's not much of a talker. Bit shy; but good thing JJ Maybank is slowly trying to break that dude outta his shell.

"Good talk, ooookay." I whisper to myself. Kiara unlocks her car and begins to load her boxes of beer into the trunk. She mutters a curse word after a single beer can drops out of the box. She bends over as it rolls somewhere under the car. I peer at those long legs as I try to regain control of my wandering gaze. And those jean shorts she's wearing are squeezing all the right places.

I feel myself go red in the face, and ignore the blood rushing to my d-

"Got it." She's still crouched on the ground, staring up at me with joyful brown eyes. She holds it up and shoots me a grin. But I feel myself jump as she stumbles forward, tripping, and grabs the inside of my leg for support.

Holy fucking hell.

"Sorry, Jayge." She hoists herself up and dusts off her shirt awkwardly.

"Mmh." Is all I can manage. I'm trying not to focus on how hard it is- literally.

"Okay- we still got a bunch of spare blunts. If we run out, you can call Ricky, yeah?" Kie unlocks the door and slips into the car; I follow.

"Yep. Trust me, though- we ain't gonna run out. Hey, y'know what JJ stands for- Joint Jackpot Maybank." I crack open a beer and take a greedy guzzle.

She shakes her head at me, trying to hide her smirk, but fails; "No one calls you that, idiot."

I stifle a laugh and hope to God we arrive back at my Dad's place. I reaaaallllyyyy need to use the bathroom. If you get my drift.

Dad.

I had almost forgot our conversation yesterday.

It was strange; didn't feel real. He wasn't even angry, like he usually is. He wasn't determining how bad of a disappointment his pathetic son was to him; he just slid a bottle of pills across the metal table, and told me I was a good boy. And then he snapped out of it, and told me to go away. But it was in kind of a worn out tone... like he didn't have any energy for me anymore.

"Ah know you been hurting, J. Take sum' of these. They'll numb the pain slowly outta that skull of yours until it seeps out years. And boom. Pain, gone."

I blinked at him, not sure of what to say next. I should've left the pills on the table.
I feel the little bottle shake in my pocket as the car runs over a bump.

I realize I've been picking at the skin around my thumbs as I feel something wet trickle down my hands.

"Jesus, your hand!" Kiara almost runs the car into a mailbox trying to reach for my hand; full on Pope style.