Where is the love?// JJ Maybank

Chapter 2.19

Me and JJ walk to my house in complete silence. The only sound was from our feet hitting the ground. Things were still tense between us since our fight that we hadn't yet resolved.

As we finally got to my house we decided to be quiet and sneaky so my dad wouldn't ask any questions. My keys were inside the house so it was going to be a little difficult.

"Are you sure you wanna do this? Petunia's tough but are you sure she's this tough?" JJ asks me.

"Let's just go before I change my mind." I tell him.

"Alright, here we go."

I walked inside my house quietly and heard my brothers and my dad talking in the living room. I made it to the kitchen and went into the drawer where we kept the keys, I got mine and hurried out of the house.

"Hey." JJ said holding his hands out for the keys.

I didn't know why he wanted to drive nor did I want him to. But i threw them to him and got into the passenger seat anyway. He starts my car and we drive off down the road and to the Chateau.

"This'll only take a sec. I think it's over in the surf shack. Yeah, it'll be in the surf shack. I'll be right back."

"Got it." I say.

As he runs towards the surf shack he tries to jump over a pile of sticks but he fails and falls on his face. "I'm okay." He yells.

I smile and chuckle. I couldn't help but wish things were normal between us. I wanted to apologize even though i knew i wasn't in the wrong.

I waited a while for JJ to come back. He took longer than I thought he would so I honked the horn.

"JJ!" I yelled out and walk around to the drivers side. "JJ!" I honked again.

When JJ finally returned he was with his father.

"What the fuck? No. Immediately, no." I say knowing how JJ's dad treated him.

"I know." JJ tells me.

"What is this?" I say getting out of my car.

"Just get in the car." He tells his father and goes to put the wench in the trunk.

"I'm sorry. The Twinkie is drowning right now, JJ." I say as we walk over to the drivers side door. "What is the plan? What is this?" I ask.

"Listen to me." He grabs both my arms and pulls me close to look him in his eyes. "Listen to me, okay?"

I couldn't help but think about how this was the closest we'd been in the passed few days.

"I need to get into the marina at the Island Club. There's a boat there that he can take. You got the sticker on your Jeep. Twenty minutes, that's all I need." He let's go of my arms.

"The Twinkie's gonna be a submarine in 20 minutes!" I yell at him as he walks over to the passenger side.

"I know, Em!"

"Leave him, we can come back!"

"The cops are after him!" He hits the hood of my car. "If I do this now, maybe I will never have to do it again." He turns to get in the car.

I sigh and turn to get in. "Don't look at me." I tell Luke as I close the door.

I drive for about 5 minutes when Luke starts to speak.

"Hey, pull up to Home Food here. I'm gonna need provisions." He says.

I do as he says not wanting to start an argument. When I come to a stop JJ gets out.

"Crackers and backed beans and tuna, alright? And some salt and pepper." Luke lists the things he wanted to JJ.

"Yup." JJ walks up to the store.

"Five days worth."

"I know."

As JJ walks into the store Luke starts banging on my seats as if they were drums.

"You're a terrible father, you know that?" I felt absolutely nothing towards this man but hatred. The only thing I had to thank him for was for the fact that he brought my favourite human being into this world.

"Yeah, preach it to me." Luke says. "Set me straight."

"Do you have any idea how special your son is? Like even a clue?" I shrug.

"He's a thief is what he is."

I nod my head slowly. "And, what are you? You're just a wasted local salt who never did shit but get messed up and hustle people. Not exactly impressive." I didn't take my eyes off the store in front of me.

"You sound just like your father. He was like that in high school. Always thought he was better than everybody else." Luke leans forward. "Does your dad know what you're doing? Slumming with the bad boys. Are you an ungrateful shit like he is?"

The door opens and i watch JJ walk out of the store.

"I bet you are." Luke continues. "Miss figure eight, hopping up there on your high horse, riding around in the car your daddy bought."

I swing my elbow back and hit him in the face. "Don't talk about my family." I tell him.

"Hey!" JJ whistles as he walks over to the car. He hans his dad cans through the window and puts the rest in the trunk as I start the car.

"Let's get this over with, yeah?" I say.

"Yeah." JJ agrees closing his door and i back out.

I pull up to the Marina Club and JJ gets out immediately.

"Hey," Luke leans forward in his seat. "why don't you tell your dad hi-"

"Shut up." JJ pushes Luke's shoulder through the window.

"Make it quick." I tell JJ.

"Hey Luke!" I says as they start to walk away. They both turn around and I flip him off.

"Go." JJ steps in front of him. "Go!"

I had been waiting for a while so I got out of the car and walked down the dock to where JJ was. I saw him watching his dad drive away, I walked up and hugged him from behind. He turned around in my arms and hugs me back. I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to resolve our issue so before I could convince myself not to, I spoke.

"He's gay." I say.

"What?" He pulls away slightly to look at my face.

"Chase. From the bonfire, he's gay." I elaborate.

"Oh." He stays silent for a second. "I'm sorry." He looks at his feet.

"It's okay." I play with the shark tooth necklace on his chest. "If I saw you that close with a girl I probably would have reacted the same way. Although I would let you explain yourself.

"I'm sorry it's just hard for me to-"

"I know J." I cut him off.

He leans down and kisses me, the kiss was short but filled with love.

"I love you." He says pulled away but keeping our foreheads together.

"I love you more." I say

We turn and make our way down the dock to my car with his arm still around my shoulders.