𓈊 A Poppy By Any Other Name

Act XIV

"Hey, beautiful," Joel's voice came down the line. "What do you need? I'm driving."

Lizzie sighed. "Grian's having a panic attack," she said. "I got him to nod at me, but that's only because I offered to call you and let you talk to him."

"Oh." Joel paused a second. "Is he in the room?"

"Yeah."

"Put me on speaker."

Lizzie obeyed, taking the phone away from her ear to hold out in front of Grian, who had his arms wrapped around his knees, hugging them to his chest. "He can hear you," Lizzie told Joel.

"Hey, Grian," Joel said softly. Grian didn't respond. "What's going on, bud?"

Grian stared at Lizzie phone for a moment before muttered a small, "Scared."

"You're scared?" Joel confirmed, sounding like a father talking to his kid. "Why are you scared?" Grian mumbled, but nobody could understand him. "Listen, bud, you've gotta talk a little bit louder. I can't help if I can't hear you."

"She was gonna hit me," Grian said again, and Jimmy shifted uncomfortably from behind Lizzie.

"Who was?"

"M-Mu-" Grian cut himself off with a sudden sob, covering his mouth with his hand.

Sighing, Lizzie took the call off of speaker for a minute, mouthing, "Wait with him," to Jimmy before walking out of the room.

"Liz, what the hell happened over there?" Joel asked.

"We were having a pillow fight," Lizzie said quietly as she watched Jimmy kneel in front of Grian. "Jimmy kind of... backed him into a corner, and..." She let out another huff. "I think you can guess what happened next."

Joel hummed. "I've got a couple guesses," he said lightheartedly before changing back to a serious tone. "So, he just closed up?"

"Yeah," Lizzie answered, seeing Jimmy smile slightly at Grian, who did the same. She couldn't help but smile at the sight. "He just smiled at Jimmy, though."

An almost relieved sigh came from Joel's end. "That's good." There was a beat of silence before Joel asked, "Can you let me talk to him privately?"

"Of course." Lizzie walked back into the living room, handing Grian the phone and leading Jimmy out through the kitchen into the dining room.

Jimmy sat down at the table and groaned, crossing his arms and throwing his head into them. "I'm such an idiot," he grumbled into his sleeves. "I shouldn't have-" He cut himself off to grian again. "I'm so stupid."

Lizzie huffed a small laugh as she sat down across from him. "You couldn't have known," she said in an attempt to reassure him.

"Yeah, but I should've." Jimmy lifted his head to look at his sister. "It's not like I don't know that his mom beat the heck out of him." He sighed. "Besides, I backed him into a corner. I'm not even surprised he shut down like that. I just..." He trailed off, not saying anything else afterward.

Lizzie took a moment to collect her thoughts before clearing her throat. "Well, Jimmy," she began, reaching over the table to hand one of his hands in both of hers, "I don't think you should beat yourself up about it. He's almost never reacted like that to anything before, and you couldn't have possibly known that this was going to be one of the times he did." Jimmy didn't respond much other than a simple nod. "Now. Are we going to tell Father about this?"

Jimmy shook his head. "Nope, nuh-uh, no way. He will have my head on a silver platter and I think I'd like to keep it on my neck."

Lizzie snorted. "Fair enough." They sat in a comfortable silence for a while before Grian's hoarse voice came from the doorway.