Josephine Routledge is the twin sister to John B Routledge. Their dad goes missing during the search for the famous shipwreck, the Royal Merchant. The twins and their friends, JJ, Pope, and Kiara, come across the sunken boat that holds a clue to the...
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The four of us stayed like that for a while, just hugging each other while the disco mode continued. When JJ stopped crying and I was just sniffling, Pope and Kiara pulled away. I kept JJ loosely in my arms as Kiara said something about needing to go home before her parents worried. Pope offered to drive her home, and she said that he could stay the night with her. JJ and I said goodbye as they drove away.
JJ pulled away from me and walked inside. I followed after him, slightly confused.
"JJ?" I called out, stopping him halfway to the bathroom.
"Yeah?"
I frowned at the fake smile on his face.
"Can we please talk about what just happened?"
His smile disappeared.
"There's nothing to talk about."
"There's nothing... JJ, please, please just-"
"Stop worrying about me!"
I stopped talking when he yelled, closing the distance between us quickly.
"All you ever do is worry about me and if I'm okay. Why?"
I pursed my lips as his voice got lower.
"Why!"
"Because I care about you!"
My chest heaved up and down after my shout. His eyes were wide as if he couldn't believe the words that I just screamed at him.
"What?"
"I care about you, JJ. I don't know if I love you in that way yet, but-"
"You don't."
My eyebrows furrow, and my lips pull down into a frown.
"Wha-"
"You don't love me."
He took a few steps back, creating distance between us.
"JJ-"
"I mean, how could you? I'm basically broken, and my life is so fucked up, and-"
"Shut up."
I closed the distance and pulled him into a kiss.
He didn't return it, and I pulled back, keeping my hands on the back of his neck.
"You listen to me, JJ Maybank. You have been my best friend for as long as I could remember. I care about you as a best friends, and I care about you as your girlfriend and your partner.
"I don't give a shit if you think you're broken or if you think your life is too fucked up, but I care about you, and feelings that I haven't felt before are developing, and it kind of scares me, but I'm not gonna run. I've run from a lot of things in my life, JJ, but I'm not gonna run from this, from us."
