stay | jiara

𝗂𝗆𝖺𝗀𝗂𝗇𝖾

How is it that one minute a person you love can be right by your side and then the next, not even on earth anymore?

The universe isn't our friend. The universe doesn't care what it takes from you. It'll give you the best things in life and then rip them from you. You get no time to balance. To even process.

The worst part of it all is that everyone deals with grief differently. You would think it would bring people together but the next couple days after Sarah and John B's passing, Pope's priorities changed and he was crawling back into his books to hide away from his pain. He was defeated. Lost his scholarship and his best friend.

But it was almost no excuse. Kiara and JJ were also just as defeated. Kiara was on bad terms with her parents. And JJ had no one. The two so desperately needed Pope but he wasn't budging. He was retreating into his own world.

Kiara locked herself in her room, crying herself to sleep on and off all day. She was so hurt. Both of her best friends were gone and it was almost like she was grieving Pope as well.

JJ felt like he had no one. No parents to comfort him in time of need and his friends were seeming to deal with their friend's death on their own. He needed them as he always has and how he always will. They were his family at the end of the day.

"Hey," JJ calls out to Kiara when they pass by each other at the convenience store just in town. She holds a granola bar in her hand. It's all she could stomach the past couple days, despite her parents fresh home cooked meals.

"Hey," she calls back with a small smile. It holds so much pain and his heart pinches. He doesn't want her dealing with this alone anymore. It doesn't have to be that way.

He grabs a 12 pack of blue moon from the cooler and holds it up. "On me?"

She isn't even reluctant to nod at his offer.

"How are you doing?" he asks when they're sitting on the sand by the water. Kiara digs her feet into the damp ground and looks over at him. Her hair is in a braid with a yellow bandana around her forehead, a white tank top on her torso with denim shorts.

"I miss them," she says softly, already on the verge of tears. "I miss you and Pope. I'm just—I can't believe any of this."

"Same here," he mumbles after taking a swig out of his can. He'd spent the past days drunk or high, in hope of thoughts not occurring as much but somehow his grief fought harder than his intoxication.

He wasn't doing okay. And neither was Kiara. He just wants her to know she doesn't have to do it alone. He doesn't want to anymore. He wants his best friends back—if not all, at least one.

"I think more than anything I'm just angry and I have no way to channel it. I feel hopeless," she continues and he nods, listening because she was only putting his feelings into words too. He wasn't very good at that—talking about his emotions. He rather liked to hide away his pain in humor.

"I wanna show you something. Follow me," he suddenly says and gets up, bringing the beer case with him.

They walk half a mile from the beach into the green woods where there's an abandoned car lot. It's a mess of car parts and cars themselves that are evidently beat up.

JJ chugs the rest of the beer in his hand and sits down the case, walking away from Kiara and coming back with a wooden baseball bat.

"Where'd you get that?" Kiara laughs and he's glad to hear the sound again.

"Brought it here." He runs a hand through his messy blonde hair. The greasiness of it almost looks as if he hadn't shower in a couple of days. "Go ahead. Take a wack at it."