CHRYSALIS

18.

please play the song I put in the chapter. I promise it adds so much, the vibe is immaculate.

"Hey, hey, hey, you gotta share!" I whine at Harry and fling my legs off his lap to grab at the joint between his fingers. He leans his body off the side of the wicker love seat, laughing as he attempts to get away from my greedy fingers.

We got to his house about 20 minutes ago and almost immediately made our way outside. He carried my kit in, I took it up to my room with my tote bag, went pee, brought the goodie bag downstairs, and found him walking to the french doors with two large glasses of water and a lighter in between his teeth.

I laughed out loud and followed him outside, excited to see where the night would lead. So far it's lead to us not moving off of this loveseat, sharing a joint under the glow of half of his outdoor lights, he didn't want to turn all of them on, said it would ruin the ambiance.

"Jo, Jo, Jo, Jo, Jo, patience my darling." He chuckles as he blows out a thick cloud of smoke and rights himself in his seat, pulling my legs back onto his lap and passing the joint to me.

I find myself distracted suddenly as I look at my legs draped over his. It's so strange to see his legs covered in denim, he wears jeans so sporadically it's a shock to my system to see them on him tonight. The top half of him looks right though, he's wearing his grey "treat people with kindness" sweatshirt with his hood on.

The rough smoke fills my mouth and burns my throat on its way to my lungs. I watch a smile spread across Harry's face, the big kind that makes his eyes crinkle and his dimples pop. "JoJo. I like that. Can I call you JoJo?"

The joint leaves my lips and my mind races, filled with memories of being a kid, running through parks, a tight hug at my graduation, the end of a phone call..."bye JoJo, I love you" ..."bye Gramps, I love you more."

My teary eyes meet Harry and a soft smile falls onto my face. "Yeah. Yeah, you can call me that...nobody else though." I hit him with a harsh glare, teasingly and he squeezes my leg.

"Are you okay?" He asks. I nod my head softly, "Yeah, I'm good. My grandpa used to call me Jojo, I haven't heard that nickname since the day he passed."

"Fuck, I'm so sorry, I won't call you tha-"
I interrupted him before he could finish.

"It's okay, H. He would like it. He looooved your music. Said you reminded him of Bowie and Elton and you danced like Jagger. Carolina was his favorite, said it made him feel young again."

I took another drag and met Harry's eyes, his eyes were teary now so I handed him the joint and swiveled my legs so I could lean my body into him. He adjusted a bit and wrapped an arm around my shoulders while I rested my head back onto his shoulder.

"I take it you two were close then?" Harry said after taking another hit.

I nodded slowly, " Yeah. He was my best friend."

"Would you tell me about him? I'd like to know more about the man if I'm to be joining the best friend club."

I smiled and then I talked. I talked and talked, telling him story after story about Gramps. Some of them were much funnier in our current mental state than they should have been but we laughed until it hurt either way.

"Oh fuck, he sounds like he would have been one of my favorite people too. I'm devastated I won't get to meet him."

"You can visit him! When you're on tour...You have a show in my hometown, I can give you directions to his headstone. It's a very pretty cemetery....oh god, that's weird huh? Oh nooo, now you're gonna know I'm WEIRD."