𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐲

XIX. Can We Talk?

BACK AT the Chateau, the group all sat together on the porch. "I'm gonna testify under oath. I was there." Sarah says to them, gesturing to herself. "I just need to get a hold of my sister." She looks away. "Sister?" JJ says, looking towards Pope and Jake.

"Kie, do you have your phone?" Sarah held out her hand towards the brunette girl. "Wheezie is the only other person that knows Rafe wasn't home that day." The blonde girl then tells them. "Wheezie?" JJ asked her. "I don't know what else to do. I got us into this mess. I'm gonna do my best to get us out." The Cameron says, walking away from them.

"Wheezie? Yeah, that'll work." JJ says with a scoff. "Well, she's right about one thing. We gotta do something. Our boy is a PO-dub right now, okay?" JJ glanced from Kie to Jake, then at Pope. "He's held captive by the enemy right now, maybe even scheduled for execution. Are we just gonna sit here?" He raised his voice, looking around at the three.

"What's the plan? We start by kidnapping Shoupe?" Jake looked up at him, crossing his arms. "Maybe, like, that's not the worst idea actually." The Maybank says and the Lennox just rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's not?" Kie chimed in, standing up. "No!" JJ exclaims.

"That is actually the worst idea I've ever heard." Pope says as he looks up. "It's pretty bad." Sarah says from inside, so JJ turns around to look inside the window. "You know? Please, just stay out of this." He tells the girl, before turning around. "Okay, Pope, look, we've been doing everything your way, and how has that been working out?" He asked.

"Okay, okay, so what's your plan?" The Heyward boy now asked him, slowly standing up. "You gonna storm a jail, guns a-blazing?" He asked and JJ looks up at him, standing up. "Look, Pope, all I'm trying to get you to understand is they got our boy. Now, are just gonna sit here and do nothing? No! We're gonna go get his ass. We're gonna do something about it!" He raised his voice again.

"JJ, we're not storming a jail. It's not happening." Pope tells him. "No, fine, man. Sit in your comfy chair. Do nothing." The Maybank says, then looked towards Jake and Kie. "I'm gonna see what I can do." He looks back at Pope again. "Make something happen, even if I have to do it by myself." He says, putting on his cap. "Okay." Kiara simply says.

"Don't get yourself arrested in the process." Jake said and JJ just smacks the patio door open, leaving the Chateau. Pope turns to them, "should we be worried?" He asked. "Yes, for sure." Jake nods as Kie agreed, watching as JJ got onto his dirt bike. "Look, I'm gonna hit my parents, and I'm gonna see if I can get money for a lawyer." Kie tells them, looking at Jake before looking over at Pope.

"John B has a public defender. He really doesn't need that right now." Pope tells her and Jake nods, gesturing to the boy. "Are you both crazy? Justice costs money." Kie tells the boys and Jake glanced down. "You're right." He says then glanced at Pope.

"I'm gonna dig in hard into anything I can find out about this key, because that tape Limbrey has, that's exculpatory evidence. That can exonerate John B." Pope tells them and Kie nods. "Yeah, we gotta try." She agreed and Jake's phone in his pocket buzzed. "What's up?" Kie looked at the Lennox boy.

"It--it's my grandma. I gotta head out."

When he arrived, he looked at the Honda Civic parked on the side of the road then looked back towards the house. "Grandma?" He said when he walked in, just to find her grandma was sitting on the couch, glaring at Olivia who's holding Evie in her arms.

"You like me better today, don't you?" The Grey cooed, smiling widely at the baby in her arms who giggled and gushed. "Liv, what the hell?" Jake stood there in the doorway as Olivia glanced over at him. "I'm just here to see her for a bit... your grandma said it was okay as long as I wasn't trying to take her away." She merely said then looked at Evie.

"They think I'm trying to kidnap you, isn't that ridiculous?" She said in a baby voice and Jake sighed. "Grandma, I got this..." He said. The woman got up, heading into the kitchen and muttering under her breath. Jake walker over and Liv just picked up Evie, standing up. "Can we just talk? Like... normal teenagers? No yelling, no anger and... definitely no sad look in your eyes everytime you look at me?" She says it as if it wasn't her fault, for the heartbreak she made Jake go through.

Jake just stared, watching the way Olivia was holding their daughter, the baby who had put a hand over Olivia's chest and her head onto the teenager's shoulder. No. She's... she's only Jake's. She's Jake's. Not theirs, not Olivia's. "Talk? Talk about what? There is nothing to talk about, Olivia." He says sternly.

"Jake." She said quietly, staring at him and he sighed. "Alright... fifteen minutes. That's it, and then I want you out of here." On the front porch while Jake's grandmother was inside, feeding Evie, the two now sat on the little bench. "Okay. So talk." Jake tells her.

"I realized I was being unfair." She said as she looked at him and he just furrows his brows, confused as he stared at the ground. "I was being irrational, and... if I'm being honest, jealous, when I said full custody. I was... I was just being dramatic because I saw Kiara there. And... the way she was with Evie, it was exactly how I imagined us. Taking care of her together, living together, too..." She says and Jake just looks at her right away.

"Really?" He asked and she nods, staring at him. "When I saw the test say positive, I imagined all of it, the good and the bad, with you. I saw myself telling you, I saw how excited you got, I saw us moving in together, raising Evie together, and before all of it, I really did think you'd be the one I'd marry, and have kids with, we'd live together on Figure Eight and... and I was the one that ruined it. I'm so sorry." She said, reaching over.

Her hand landed on his shoulder, "I'm so sorry. I tried, I really did. But my mom... she told my dad and once my dad knew, he sent me away, he had it all ready for once I gave birth. I wasn't even the one who wrote the note." She said and he just shook his head. "Why are you telling me all this?" He looked up at her.

"Because I love you. And I wanna be with you. For Evie." She said, scooting closer towards him and he just quickly stood up. Kie came to mind straight away, as he looks away. She sighed, looking down, then stood up. "It's okay. I'll give you time. To process all of it. It's all a lot, I know. But hey, I'm willing to make this work. I wanna have shared custody. I can take her on the weekends." She offered him.

"I--I'll think about it. About both of it."

 

authors note
oh how history repeats itself.... literally same thing happened to his mom, being abandoned by a kook bc of the father's views on their teenage pregnancy 😭😭

+ late update because i forgot 🥲 plus i was busy with grocery shopping lol but i'll update on time tmrw, i promise