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────015, a midsummer's dream.
"I'M STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY JUMPING INTO THE SHOWER WAS YOUR BEST IDEA."
Cleo lets out a troubled sigh. It's only been twenty minutes since the shower mishap, in which time JJ had gotten changed into Wesley's clothes and had clambered into Cleo's Jeep so that she could drive them towards the Chateau. Now, making their way along the uneven dirt road up towards the house, JJ is sprawled out in the front passenger seat, elbow leaning sanguinely against the opened window and fingers prodding his head up. Faint music plays on the stereo from Cleo's phone, an upbeat jovial indie tune the soundtrack to their reverie. In the waning hours before the sunset, the sky is most golden, a radiant glow setting all of Kildare ablaze magnificently.
"I mean, I'm not complaining, C," JJ muses thoughtfully. "In fact, I could've really used your help washing my back, but━━"
He adds his last thought as a joke━━she hopes. The complacent smirk on his face at least offers some sort of hope. Still, she reaches out coltishly to flick her fingers into his side as if to silence him, and the sudden sharp jab has his wicked smirk crescendoing into a snicker.
"Hey, hands on the steering wheel, Bennett!" JJ scolds mockingly.
"What else was I supposed to do?" Cleo asks instead, though she does place her hand back onto the wheel as she takes a turn.
"Oh, I don't know," The boy hums sardonically. "Lock the door, maybe?"
"I didn't have any time. You saw that," Cleo protests. "And where else was I gonna go? Out the window?"
"Just admit you wanted to see me naked, Cleo," JJ waves his own hand dismissively. "I won't mind. You've been gone for a year, after all; must've really missed me, huh?"
Cleo rolls her eyes. "Next time you're knocking on my window at three in the morning, I'll let you sleep outside."
Though her retort is a simple jest, she still feels bad for saying it; still, JJ doesn't seem to mind. Instead, it beckons an even more amused laugh to tumble from his mouth and Cleo's nerves settle at once. It's both foreign and yet not at all foreign to banter with JJ like usual, his presence a welcoming comfort to her life despite all the turmoil their friendship had endured not less than a few days prior. From the corner of her eyes she surveys his still battered and bruised face though it's less intense now, the shower having washed away dried blood and the sweat that covered his skin, the cool water most likely helping with any swelling. Though not by any means fully healed, he at least seems to be in better spirits.
