𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒. ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ¹

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 47.

    𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐋𝐘 ceased on the perfectly paved driveway, coming to a graceful halt at the end. In front of the vehicle, stood the ever-beautiful TannyHill mansion with it's long white columns, flawless trimmed outdoor ferns, and grass cut to perfection. In the summer gleam, there was suddenly a different light to it. Maybe it was the nervousness inside my stomach, or the sunlight casting down onto the mansion at a perfect angle, or the simple fact that the residence in front of my eyes could quite possibly be my new home.

"You got everything?" John B broke me out of my small daydream, as his hand placed itself on my forearm, resting over the cup holders.

I looked away from the Cameron house with a blink, "Yeah, pretty sure," I nodded, glancing over his shoulder to my backpack— which was stuffed with as many clothes I could fit.

"Okay," his face relaxed into a soft grin, looking at me directly. "And you're sure about this, right? This is what you wanna do." He wasn't trying to back me out of it, just asking for clarification.

"Yeah, I'm sure," my voice was quiet, but somewhat confident. I calmly smiled at him.

The night before, I had nearly stayed in the hot tub for an hour, with the Pogues. By the time we had finished talking, the tips of my fingers were wrinkly, and my pyjamas were completely soaked as I had fully immersed myself into the warm water. I didn't care if my clothes were ruined, or if the ends of my hair were wet— I had made it clear that I wasn't going to leave until Jj was okay, or at least better than before.

I had even surprised myself with how comforting I seemed to be, from previously having no experience with friends, or dealing anyone remotely emotional for that matter, back in New York. I just did what felt right. After a few long minutes of hugging one another, all jumbled together in the centre of the tub, we had separated. But it wasn't okay to leave Jj in there alone, and so the three of us had stayed, and even sat down in the water alongside him. For a while it was quiet, and sad.

That moment had changed a lot of things for me. For starters, Jj and I had never been that close to one another, let alone hugging in a hot tub in the middle of the night. I had never really thought about our friendship being that good. But as we stood there, his tears falling on my shoulder, I couldn't help but think about it. Although we had never said it before, since the beginning, I considered Jj closer than a friend— more like I brother— except I had never thought about it that way. But the second I saw him break down, I knew.

First he'd been gone for nearly a week, which was worrying enough for all of us, but he had shown up at the Chateau in the middle of the night after days. I couldn't refrain from hugging him tightly, even though we had never hugged one another before. And then, the second I realized something was wrong— it was almost an instinct to comfort him, even if it meant jumping into a tub. As well as wanting to be a good friend, it was the least I could do for him after he had helped me keep the secret about my parents— I owed him.

I had also never been that close to Kiara or Pope before. It was a weird night. For once, Pope had actually ignored the differences between the two of us, he put that aside to help Jj. In that moment, I had fully realized how true their friendship was— and now I was apart of it too.

The rest of the night after that consisted of lots of talking, less about Jj's situation, a lot of joking to take away from the sadness, and multiple hugs. After a while, Jj was getting better, and half-returned to his normal self, and because he was still intoxicated, there was a lot of fooling around. They asked about my parents, and so there was a moment where I told them about Danny and Cecile, since the three of them were quite interested, as we sat in the jacuzzi. I felt like I could tell them anything— like we had known one another for years.