In which JJ might finally get his little bit of luxury.
Remember Barry the drug dealer, who works at the pawn shop? Well, he has a sister, and she's not one to be messed with either. Her and JJ are both from the wrong side of the tracks, stuck in li...
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After Shoupe had kicked me out I'd learned that JJ's dad had, in fact picked him up from the police station and brought him home. I'd watched from my window as their beat up old truck had pulled up, anxious for any signs of anger on his father's part but not being able to see much in the dark, especially at this distance. I was ready to show up with a baseball bat at the slightest sign of him hurting his son but they both seemed eerily calm as they walked in to their house.
I kept waiting anxiously by the window for hours, not really knowing what I'd do if I heard anything but still there nonetheless.
Just when I'd given up and finally gone to bed, I heard a knock on my bedroom window. I nearly jumped out of my skin, but bolted up out of bed and unscrewed it rapidly when I saw it was JJ's outline that stood outside.
"Want a joint?" He whispered.
Silent, I squeezed through the window out to where he was standing on the grass. The second my feet touched the ground my arms were thrown around his neck and I was hugging him.
"You scared me you dickhead".
"Awh come on don't go soft on me now Ti".
He hugged me back hesitantly. When I pulled away to look at him the faint light hit him just right and the bruised left half of his face was clearly visible.
So his father had not taken his arrest well after all.
Despite the sadness and the guilt that threatened to consume the entirety of my chest I chose not to mention it. JJ and I had a silent understanding sometimes and in this moment I knew what he needed.
So I didn't mention his arrest or the gold or his bruises and his cuts, but instead smiled, plucked the joint from his fingertips, and took a seat on the ground up against the wall. He sighed contentedly, taking his place next to me and handing me his lighter wordlessly.
What he needed right now, was this.
While we shared the joint in comfortable silence together I wondered how much of the connection I felt for JJ was in my head and how much of it he felt too. I couldn't tell if it was a hopeful fabrication of my subconscious, telling me that we shared something more. That he saw me, and I saw him. Like, really saw each other. Understood each other.
