Song: Rush by Lewis Capaldi ft. Jessie Reyez (don't start playing it until JJ comes into the scene)
"Pope you gotta calm down, I'm not letting you near me with a needle when your hands are shaking like that" Lydia tried to lighten the mood
"I could literally strangle him with my own two hands and with all the coroner knowledge I could definitely get rid of the body" Pope rambled, almost as if he was in his own little world
"Pope, I love that you would kill for me, I do. But you can't blame JJ" Lydia grabbed his wrist to stop the boy from pacing
"What are you talking about? This is all on JJ" Pope looked at her like she was crazy
"No, it's not. We broke up, he has the right to do whatever he wants" Lydia said softly
"Lydia stop. It doesn't matter that you guys are broken up. He should never have even been in the position for that to happen, not right now at least" Pope was finally steady enough to poke her with the needle, reinserting the IV
"Ouch" Lydia flinched, earning a sorry from Pope, "I'm not a piece of glass waiting to shatter, Pope. And I know you're going to bring up yesterday but I'm looking you in your eyes and I need you to listen to me: I swear to god I wasn't trying to kill myself. I just needed to forget and I really tried to keep track and make sure I didn't take too many-"
"I believe you" Pope cut her off, pulling the girl lightly into a hug, releasing a breath he didn't realize he had been holding, "Now you need to rest"
"Can you send JJ in?" Lydia asked
"Did you not hear what I said about resting?" Pope eyed the girl
"I can't sleep without talking to him first. We just have to rip the bandaid off" Lydia didn't know if it was the painkillers giving her some courage or if this was her brain's way of telling her heart that it needed to protect itself
"Promise me once you finish you'll go back to sleep? If you want to feel better, you need the rest" Pope glanced at the girl, who nodded quickly, before exiting the room.
He found John B and JJ sitting on the porch, JJ definitely sniffling.
"She wants to talk to you and I swear to god JJ, you better not make things worse" Pope gritted his teeth, not knowing the truth about what had happened
"JB, can you fill him in?" JJ asked
"Yeah, yeah. Just go easy on her, man. I know you didn't mean to hurt her but that doesn't mean that she wasn't hurt by your actions" John B replied
(a/n reminder to start the song now)
As JJ walked down the hallway, he tried to mentally prepare himself for all the different ways that it could go. He knew Lydia was mad at him, he was mad at himself too for even allowing it to happen at all but he wasn't sure how she'd express that anger. Would she yell at him? Would she cry? God he hoped she didn't cry because it killed him to watch and not be able to do anything.
He arrived at the closed door sooner than he would've liked to. He took one steady breath and knocked lightly, before entering after hearing a soft 'come in'. He took in the sight of Lydia and it took every ounce of his restraint to not pull her into his arms. She was naturally small, but something about the big bed and baggy clothes made her look even smaller. He could see she was exhausted, blue's and purple's adorning the skin below her lash lines. She gave him a soft smile before patting the bed next to her as a gesture for him to come sit. He obliged, hesitantly, not quite sure where she was going with this
"I don't wanna fight with you" Lydia said softly
"I don't wanna fight with you either, Lyds. Just let me explain and I promise you'll see-" JJ began to ramble
YOU ARE READING
Shells
Romance"You and I both know you haven't been okay in months" "So what? It doesn't matter. Not with all the other things we have to worry about." "See that's the problem Lydia. You don't give a shit about yourself and it's going to end up killing you. You...
