Picturesque

Chapter 27: A Good Friend

I had just stepped out of the bathroom, holding a towel to my wet hair, when I saw Jo sitting on my bed. She had showered too, apparently, because her hair was damp and towel-dried, and she was wearing a green polka-dotted pair of pajamas. The dried parts of her hair were blonde, while the rest was darker and slicked, and it was different seeing her hair like that. She was just sitting on the edge of my bed, one long leg hanging off the side, the other one bent at the knee and tucked into herself. She was just looking around at my room, her hands fiddling together on her lap.

"Hey," I said, pausing before I continued to towel-dry my hair, coming over to my desk and sitting down on the chair so I was facing her. "Are you okay?"

Jo shrugged, moving a hand to the back of her neck and rubbing there. "I don't know."

I threw the towel over the back of the chair and picked up my hairbrush from the desk, brushing my shoulder-length brown hair. "I'm sorry about everything," I began, staring at the floor as I brushed. "If I hadn't gone to you, Katie wouldn't have gotten so mad, and Holly wouldn't have heard anything."

Jo sighed, leaning down and palming her face. "I saw Holly when I ran upstairs. I didn't stop because I was just so... I didn't want her to see me like that."

I turned the hairbrush around in my fingers, eyeing her. She looked distressed, burying her face in her hands, sitting on my bed like it was her own. Even though I was worried for her, I felt a little warm at the fact that she had come to my room and waited while I showered. She felt safe with me.

Standing up, I came over to the bed and sat down in front of her. "Holly's okay. I talked to her and put her back in bed. But she..." I remembered the look in Holly's eyes when she asked if Jo was going to die. Jo looked at me between the cracks in her fingers. I didn't want to say it to her. "She was sad that Willow is gone, and she is just worried for her big sister." I gave a tight smile.

Jo removed her palms from her face and sighed again, trying to run a hand through her damp hair, but it caught on a tangle. She hissed and moved her hand away, and just that little thing made her look like she was going to cry again.

"Here," I said, scooching closer to her and holding up the brush. "Turn around."

She looked between me and the brush hesitantly before she shuffled around on the bed until her back was facing me. I sat behind her, my hand gently taking the ends of her long hair. The back of her pajama shirt was still damp. She was stiff as I brought the brush to the ends and started getting out the tangles, admiring how shiny her hair looked and how smooth it felt between my fingers, the moisture still in the strands dampening my skin.

"I'm sorry," she suddenly whispered. "You didn't have to go to Manor Farm last night. I would've been okay."

"Jo—"

"But I'm glad you were there," she added, turning her head slightly so that I saw the side of her face. Her voice was in a low, tremulous whisper, even though no one was awake on that side of the house, and my room door was closed. "I don't know what I would've done if you weren't."

I could imagine the tantrum of sadness that would have happened if I wasn't there. Jo would have gone off and got herself lost, drowning in her own sadness. Luckily, I appeared like a lighthouse, and even though Katie was furious and Marty distressed, I would still go back and take those car keys from Marty's hand.

"Don't mention it," I whispered with a small smile as she turned her head away, and I continued brushing up her hair.

"I really had Willow all my life," Jo started speaking, her body starting to relax. "I've never... I've never really lost anyone...anything like that before." Her voice sounded so vulnerable that it felt like I could hear her heart beating.