𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐉𝐉 | 𝐉𝐉 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

25. you beg with your eyes.

T W E N T Y - F I V E
you beg with your eyes.

No one could find JJ, he didn't show up to school, he wasn't at the Chateau, he wasn't even at his own house - which somehow more run-down than the Chateau - it seemed like the only logical answer was that he had run away.

As much as she hated herself for it, Otto was upset.

It wasn't just because she really, truly liked JJ, but because now she knew the baby wouldn't have a father.

Before there was always the slither of hope that JJ would figure himself out, fix his priorities and could have a real, meaningful part in the baby's life.

But now he was gone.

She had given him the opportunity to not take part at the beginning, and he took that opportunity, then he wanted part. But now he didn't, and he not only didn't want a part he moved away.

Days went by. For the first few days everyone thought he must have just gotten too inebriated to find his way home, but then he didn't come home the next day. Or the day after that. Or the day after that.

It took a week before the group began to realise he may not be coming back.

That they might’ve lost anther member of the once tight-knit group.

Otto put up a strong front, pretending it wasn't affecting her, that she didn't care. She could do it on her own and she didn't need him.

But it stung.

And that fact it stung made her so angry.

"I'm gonna go home." Otto said, standing up from her chair.

The hammock didn't have the same satisfaction it did when JJ pushed it, it felt wrong to lay in it. He ruined it for her.

"Want me to drop you off?" Kie offered but Otto shook her head, "I'll walk." She smiled at her friend.

Truly she wasn't going home, at least not yet. She needed time to think, without people near her, she needed somewhere relatively silent.

So she walked to her spot.

When she got there she carefully climbed up the tree and sat on a thick branch, leaning up against the sturdy trunk.

She swung her legs back and forth while she looked out at the calm water, that gently rippled and spread out across the surface. The sun was still high in the sky but she stilled loved the spot.

Otto could've say there for hours. She often did sit there, in that tree, for hours.

But after she moved to the island her trips to her spot began to become sparse, her time was filled up with her newfound friends.

She had forgotten how peaceful it was, how it calmed her.

Not many things calmed her.

She sat there until the sun began to lower, it wasn't quite setting yet but it was getting there. Otto decided she'd leave once it began to set so she'd be home before dark.

A noise broke her relaxed state, she froze, ceasing the swinging of her legs.

The missing teenager walked straight through the barely-there entrance, Otto was silent for a while.

He hadn't run, at least not from the island.

He sat down in his usual seat, on the fallen log, resting his back against the same trunk Otto did. JJ began getting comfortable, kicking his legs out and crossing his arms over his chest.