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꧁ － － － － － － ✧ － － － － － － ꧂
𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 — 𝑖 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑜
THE POGUES SPENT the rest of the night at the Chateau, waiting for something to happen. But not Leilani. She needed to go home, to sleep in her own bed. Though she didn't want to deal with Rachel, she couldn't run away and she couldn't hide. Leilani's current problem was trying to get JJ to let her go. "Leils, you're not going there alone." JJ protested, following Leilani as she walked to her car.
Leilani sighed. "J, it's going to be fine. You don't need to worry. Rachel's not going to do anything." she unlocked her car, zipping up her fleece.
JJ gently grasped her forearm. "Please. Don't go. I can't let you get hurt." his words were soft, but Leilani knew he meant them. He cared for her so much, but Leilani had to go.
"I'm sorry, J. I'll be back tomorrow morning," Leilani removed her arm from JJ's grip, opening her car door and settling inside. "I love you." she said, her door open.
"I love you, too." JJ mumbled before he turned around and left. Leilani rolled her eyes at his behavior and drove away from the Chateau and over to Figure Eight.
Leilani pulled her car into the driveway, inhaling and exhaling before she walked through the front door. "Rachel? I'm home." Leilani called into the quiet house. She had almsot forgotten that the kids had Scout. She missed them.
"Kitchen." Rachel answered. She sounded drunk, Leilani could tell.
Stepping into the kitchen, Leilani saw that her phone was on the counter. She didn't dare grab it. "I'm sorry I'm late. I couldn't check the time." Leilani said quietly, sliding into a chair at the kitchen table.
Rachel placed a plate of food and a mug of overly sweet tea in front of Leilani. "You missed dinner," she sat down across from her after dropping Leilani's phone on the table. "You're late again, this goes away for good." Rachel threatened, sitting beside Leilani.
Under Rachel's intimidatingly watchful eye, Leilani ate her whole meal and drank the entire mug of tea. "Thank you for dinner. I'm going to get ready for bed." Leilani was struggling to keep her meal down, knowing what it was doing to her.
"Wait," Rachel said sharply, pouring herself a glass of wine. "I recieved an interesting call from Christopher today. He informed me that his lawyer is drafting up a case against me. He's trying to take Caitlin and Bryce away from me, for good." Leilani breathed slowly, afraid of making too much noise.
"I'm sorry to hear that." she finally settled on saying. Rachel was a ticking time bomb that evening and Leilani didn't know what was safe to say.
Rachel slammed her glass of wine down on the table and Leilani jumped in her seat. "If you think you're going to testify against me in court you have another thing coming, kid. You have no idea what I am capable of. Now, go to your room. Don't come down here again tonight." Leilani knew Rachel was angry when she drank, so she didn't hesitate to rush upstairs and lock herself in her room.
She immediately emptied everything in her stomach into the toilet and scrubbed her body clean in the shower. Leilani wanted someone, anyone to be in that house with her, but she really needed JJ. She couldn't call him, couldn't tell him that he was right. So Leilani pushed herself into her bed and held onto her sunflower stuffed animal, enduring a restless night.
✰✰✰
Leilani surfed all morning, training, destressing. She wasn't surprised to see JJ sitting on the beach with her things when she came in from the water. "Here to say 'I told you so'?" Leilani dropped her board on the sand, shaking the sea water from her hair.
JJ shrugged. "Do I need to?" Leilani sat down beside him, his necklace resting over his bare chest.
"I'm not telling you that you were right. I didn't get hurt. She just indirectly threatened me." Leilani laid back against the sand, looking up at the sun beginning to peak out from the sky.
"That's so much better," JJ said sarcastically, pushing himself onto his back, head resting on his arm. "You're okay, though, right?" he turned his head to look at his beautiful girlfriend.
Leilani nodded. "It's just weird when Cait and Bryce aren't there," she shrugged off, shifting until her head was above JJ's lap, toying with her hair. "If I win the next surf competitions, I'll have enough money to go far away from here."
JJ looked down at Leilani, fingers drawling up and down her arm. "You'd leave?" he asked curiously.
"If Cait and Bryce are with their dad full time, I doubt I'll be able to see them. All I have now are the Pogues. And I don't belong here, J. My home is on my island. Maybe I'll go there." Leilani spoke softly, her voice radiating through the warm air.
"Is this your way of saying you have nothing to lose?" JJ said with a smile. He would go anywhere Leilani went, if she wanted him to. JJ wasn't worried of losing her, but he should've been.
Leilani shook her head. "No way. I have a lot to lose before I'm done for." one of her hands left her hair and found JJ's hand, holding it.
"Like what?" the blonde boy asked with a loving gaze.
Leilani smiled, looking up at her boyfriend. "You, dumbass. And Pope, and Sarah, and JB, Kie, Cait, Bryce, Scout. I don't think I'll go anywhere if you guys are still here."
JJ tilted Leilani's chin upwards gently, placing his soft lips onto hers intensely. Leilani let out a light laugh, pulling her sunglasses off and sitting up. "I'd go with you, you know. Anywhere you want to go, I'll be there." JJ sat up beside her, an arm looped around her waist, fingers rubbing at her bare skin.
"I know," there was something Leilani needed to know. Something that couldn't wait. "Is there something happening between you and Kie?" Leilani blurted out.
With wide eyes, JJ turned from the ocean to Leilani. "What? No, of course not." JJ said firmly.
Leilani met his blue eyes with her brown ones. "You'd tell me?"
"Baby, I would tell you. There's nothing going on between us. There was a history, yeah, but that was a long time ago. It's you and me, Leils. I promise." Leilani's jaw was in JJ's hold, his thumb caressing her skin.
She knew he was telling the truth. "If anything changes, if she tries something..." Leilani said, leaning into JJ's grip.
JJ's dimples became prominent. "You'll be the first to know." and he kissed her once more, hands on her neck while she held his sides. In that moment, it was just them. It would always be just them.
