𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 / 𝐣𝐣 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬 | 𝟎𝟒

"𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 ya been?" I ask my brother as he walks onto the porch. "We waited for you two at JJ's, but you never showed up."

Currently, I'm laying on the couch, reading a book. When he doesn't answer me, I sit up and close the book. "John B?" I ask. When he opens the door to the house, I stand up and follow after him.

"Oh my gosh," he sighs as he takes in the sight of the room.

"I know. It's pretty bad," I agree, looking up at him as I stop beside him. I had already been inside to see the mess, but I hadn't wanted to deal with it by myself, so I had waited for John B to get home.

"I don't even know where to begin," John B admits as he looks over at me.

"Maybe with the old pizza boxes?" I say, more as a question than a statement, as I shrug my shoulders.

"Yeah, that might be best." He looks back up at the mess with a sigh before he walks further into the house.

After about 30 minutes of cleaning, I look over at John B and ask, "Hey, so where were you today?"

"Um, getting fired," he says casually as he sweeps the floor. The plate in my hand slips, splashing into the soapy water that's in the sink.

"What?" I exclaim as I turn away from the dishes to stare at him in disbelief. "What do you mean 'getting fired'?"

"I mean, I got fired."

"How? Why?"

"Well, somebody told Ward that we took his scuba gear."

"Rafe," I mutter under my breath. My eyes squint in frustration.

"Huh?" John B asks me as he sets the broom down to lean against the counter beside me.

"Nothing," I whisper before turning back to the dishes.

"I can't believe her," he says under his breath as he shakes his head. I look over at him, confused as to who he's talking about.

"Can't believe who?"

"Sarah Cameron." He shakes his head and laughs before continuing. "She was on the boat when I took the gear back. She promised she wouldn't tell Ward, but I guess JJ was right. You can't trust a Kook."

"Tells you how much she's changed. And not for the better," I say as I scrub the plate in my hand. I can already feel my grip on it start to tighten from the anger slowly starting to rise.

"Oh, hey. Y/n, I'm sorry," he apologizes as his eyes turn soft.

"It's fine, John B. It was years ago. I'm over it, honest." But I'm not. I miss the old Sarah. The one who was my best friend in 7th, 8th, and part of 9th grade. The one who didn't care that I was a Pogue and she was a Kook. The one who I could tell all my secrets to.

All except that one secret.

"Y/n, are you all right?" John B asks, breaking me out of my thoughts just as I scrub a little too hard, causing the plate in my hand to crack in half. "Y/n!" John exclaims as he sees the blood start to pour out of my hands and into the sink.

"I'm okay," I say as he rushes over to me. "I'm okay," I repeat as he grabs a towel from the counter to clean my hand up. "I'm okay!" I finally yell, tearing my hand away from him, the towel dropping on the floor.

In the next moment, I can feel myself start to break down, and the tears begin to fall onto my cheeks. I rest my back against the counter and slip down until I'm sitting on the floor. John B sits down next to me and hands me the towel. I take it and press it against my bleeding hand as I let the sobs escape my body.