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IT WAS THE EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING.
pope and kie had left to give the group space, jj was still clinging onto emery and mara like his life depended on it. the water had gone cold hours ago, but everyone stayed where they were.
"j?" emery asked, breaking the silence that had consumed them since jj had stopped crying.
"hm?" he mumbled into the girl's shoulders.
"you need to go inside." she said quietly, the boy nodding. levi moved to let emery and mara help him out of the tub. when they got inside, emery helped mara get jj to the bathroom, where she left her and jj alone.
"wordlessly, mara began cleaning the boy's torso, stopping for a moment when he'd flinch.
"i tried to pay my restitution." jj said suddenly, mara stopping what she was doing to look at him. "i really did, i tried."
"i know." mara assured. "i believe you, j." she muttered, pushing some of his hair out of his face.
"he seemed... proud of me at first, like i had proved something. but then he started talking about how he wanted to go gamble it- y'know the rest." jj mumbled, mara nodding and squeezing his hand tightly. she began to work on cleaning his bruises again, but her hand never left his.
a knock echoed the door, both teen's heads moving over to see levi holding a pair of sweatpants.
"found these in my truck, figured you could use them." he said, jj smiling a little.
"thanks." he mumbled, levi putting the sweatpants on the counter and walking out of the room, softly closing the door behind him. mara squeezed jj's hand one more time, walking out of the bathroom to give him privacy to change. emery was at the end of the hall, leaned against the wall looking at her phone, now wearing the hoodie from earlier with the box shoved in the waistband of her shorts.
"is he okay?" she asked once the door shut, mara pausing, shaking her head.
"i don't think he's ever been 'okay', ems. you've known him longer than i have." mara stated, the melville girl nodding slowly.
