Storm Of Chaos| Pope Heyward| JJ Maybank

ix. 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥

"Oh, hi." Topper frowned his eyebrows when he opened his door. "You were on the druthers."

"Wheezie said a certain blondie would be here." Rio rose her eyebrows at him. "Not sure she was talking about you though."

"Sarah's in the guest loft." Topper spoke, looking at the fruit basket in her hands. "Do you..."

"Yeah." Rio walked inside as he shut the door behind her. "I just wanted to come see how she was doing."

"Not so good." he said honestly while leading her up the stairs. "How do you guys know each other?"

"Friend of a friends." she explained. "You?"

"Ex." he answered while going for the door.

Rio rose her eyebrows. "Lovely."

Sarah was still asleep, Topper nodded. "I've gotta get to school so..."

"I'll wait till she wakes up so she can lock the door when I leave." Rio nodded to him as Topper grabbed his bag. "Here."

He took the orange she gave. "An orange a day keeps the doctors away."

He gave a small point. "Close."

Rio shut the door of the room as she heard Topper go down the stairs again, setting the basket on the floor as she sat next to Sarah, giving a small shake. "Yo, blonde woman. You still alive?"

She immediately slapped herself in the head with a look of disbelief. "Why would you say that, dumbass?"

"Rio?" Sarah frowned her eyebrows. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought you a basket of fruit." she gave her a small grin. "Well, Kie and I did it together, but she had to go to school."

"Thank you." she sat up with a tired exhaled, looking around. "Topper let you in?"

"He did." she confirmed. "You have good taste in boys. Him and John B are both super cute."

Sarah looked like she was about to smile, but then reality hit her again as she simply laid back in bed. "I don't wanna move from here."

"Don't blame you." she shrugged with an exhale. "I also like to just lay in bed and take a bunch of super cutie selfies, then send them to everyone and talk about how good I look, even when just laying in bed."

Sarah laughed slightly as Rio cracked her a grin. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't really know how to feel." Sarah said honestly. "I just...I wanted John B to understand and be there for me."

Rio wasn't allowed to have much of an input on any of this yet, but she let Sarah say what she wanted to. "And he looked happy, like, he was glad my Dad died and I was literally having a panic attack right infront of him."

In Rios head, she understand John B's side. She wished he'd have been the one to comfort her at least, but she understood where maybe, even though she hadn't seen his face, his joy came from. "I think the both of you need to just take a breather, spend a few days apart, and talk it through. Communicating has gotta mean something."