River, born and raised a Kook, always found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time; of course, this included relationships. For the last year River had been dating her best friend's brother, and it can easily be said that he isn't the best boy...
"When I erupt just like you do, they look at me like I look at you." DNA, Lia Marie Johnson
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Moments after the long awaited kiss, the pair were sitting at the end of the dock next to one another. Midsummers would be happening later in the night, an event River had no real interest in going to; but she had promised Sarah she would go with her. Even though Sarah didn't even really want to go anymore, seeing as she was technically still in a relationship with Topper. Things were starting to get complicated in Sarah Cameron's life, and River definitely enjoyed the show.
"I wanna know everything," JJ broke the silence, looking over to River as the wind blew her long hair past her shoulders.
River raised an eyebrow, "About?"
"You," JJ smiled, though it looked like more of a smirk to River.
River looked towards the water, "Why do you want to know everything about me?"
"Because," JJ shrugged, moving a little bit closer to River.
"Well," River began fiddling with her hands, "It's not a pretty story."
"I don't care," JJ grabbed River's hand off of her lap, tangling his own hand with hers, "All I care about is knowing you."
The words JJ spoke sent flutters throughout River. She had never been with a guy that actually cared about her, so seeing someone like JJ express more affection than anyone she had ever met was shocking.
"I'm not the happiest individual, but you could probably guess that," River squeezed JJ's hand, "I used to be — you know, when Rowen was here. But, even Rowen couldn't protect me from all the evil that's in the world. He could only take so many blows from my dad, and he took every single one that he could. At least all the ones he saw. But after Rowen died, there was nobody to stop my dads fist. My mom never cared, and she never will. All she cares about is using our tragedies to get attention. But the biggest tragedy is one that no one even knows."
JJ removed his hand from River's, and instead he wrapped his arm around her shoulders — pulling her closer into his body, "You don't have to keep going if you don't want to."
"I want to," River nodded, leaning her head into JJ's chest, "Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can see all the bad things resurface. I can see the man telling us about Rowen, I saw the fake tears stream down my mothers face. I can still see his body in a casket. But that's not even the worst part. Sometimes when I fall asleep, I dream of the moments that he was still here. I remember him teaching me how to swim, how to ride a bike, how to play basketball. He was more of a dad than a brother if I'm being honest. He tried his hardest to protect me from everything in the world, but he couldn't. I mean, it's not like he was a superhero or something like that. He couldn't stop my neighbor, a grown ass man, from taking the innocence of an eight year old girl. He couldn't stop my mind from getting so fucked up. He couldn't stop my obsession with downing any pill bottle I could find, or my obsession with starving myself. Nobody could stop that, not even me."
A few moments after River muttered that last word, she didn't hear a single sound from JJ. He was absolutely silent. River knew by now that JJ hardly ever stops talking, especially when it came to her. River pulled away from JJ's body in an attempt to figure out why he wasn't saying anything. Most people would say 'I'm so sorry that happened to you' after hearing something like that, yet JJ was absolutely silent. Looking up to JJ, River saw tears flowing down his cheeks. He looked over to the frail girl, allowing himself to break even more. To River, this was the purest response she could have ever received. This made her heart yearn for the love of JJ even more than it already did.
"Can I kiss you?" JJ's voice cracked with every word, allowing tears to glide over his slightly chapped lips.
River nodded her head, and moments later — JJ's lips crashed into hers. She could taste the saltiness of his tears, and she could feel the roughness from his chapped lips. She could even taste a hint of beer and weed, a classic JJ combination. But she wouldn't change it for anything in the whole entire world. To her, this was absolutely perfect. It even felt like their lips were made for each other, especially the way that they moved together. It was a perfectly imperfect match.
JJ pulled away from River, leaning his head against hers, "I promise you, River Lock, that I will never let someone fucking touch you ever again."
River had managed to hold herself together this whole time, but hearing those words? River could feel a single tear slowly fall down her cheeks, "You're one of a kind, JJ Maybank."
"You better believe me," JJ lightly smiled, "I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it."
River shoved JJ, throwing her head back in a fit of laughter, "Stop it."
