ɪʟʟɪᴄɪᴛ ᴀꜰꜰᴀɪʀꜱ • ʀᴀꜰᴇ ᴄᴀᴍᴇʀᴏɴ & ᴊᴊ ᴍᴀʏʙᴀɴᴋ

𝕋𝕎𝔼ℕ𝕋𝕐 𝕊𝔼𝕍𝔼ℕ

He feels bad, but he can’t tell Hope the exact truth.

“We as in, you and your friends?” she asked again

“Yeah. We’ve got uh, mission”

“Do I want to know about this ‘mission’?” She emphasize the last word. Just testing the boy, she doesn’t really want to know. And she knows JJ wouldn’t share with her, cause it looks pretty serious to them to risk to do anything like this.

“Uh---” JJ stutters, not knowing what to answer.

Hope caught the horror from him, she burst out in laugh “Relax, Pogue. I’m joking, you don’t have to tell me about it. I’m not that nosy” she declared.

JJ breath in relief, mostly because he doesn’t need to lie at Hope and also doesn’t need to tell her the truth. He doesn’t know why he can’t just come up with better comes back, he always good with that. He just did it before and he can do it again. But facing Hope, he has no guts to do that. It made him feels guilty.

“Listen, I appreciate for what you’re doing but I really need to go now” JJ announces, taking a step closer to her and standing tall while facing her.

Hope pressing her lips tightly, she understands that. But she can’t help to feel disappointed, she wants to spend more time with JJ.

“Yeah, sure” Hope gives him a smile, hiding her truth feeling. She’s being ridiculous and she knows that.

“I promised I’m going to get it back with you. We can just hang out, you know. I’ll buy you a Coke or something, if you’re down with it, of course” JJ proposed the idea. Because it’s not only Hope who wants to spend more time together, he’s too. He always been looking forward for it.

“You want to hang out with me?” Hope asked, her eyes brightened up with hope.

“Sure, if you wanted too” JJ nods, confirmed it.

Of course she wants to, she always hopes she has a chance to just be around JJ in more casual way instead of bumping into him for anything like this. But she also knows that it almost impossible for her to just hang around JJ or any Pogues, if her brother or her parents caught her doing it she would be in a deep trouble.

“I want to, I really do” Hope mutters it, biting her lips. JJ notices the worry from her “Then, what’s the problem?” he asked, tilting his head a little.

“It just uh---Topper not really wants me to hang around the Pogues” she feels bad for saying that, it almost making them like a bad persons or something “and my parents too. If anyone caught me doing that and tell them, I would be in a trouble” she continues.

JJ licks his lips, he wants to say he’s surprised with that information but he didn’t. Though he kinda can’t see it coming, but he’s not surprised. Of course they would do it.

Until now, she seems to have her own freedom.

“You know they don’t own you, right? You can do whatever you want to, it’s your life, Hope” JJ told her, it feels something to Hope when he calls her using her name instead of those ridiculous names “They can’t prevent you from being friends with anyone you want, you’re not a baby anymore”

“I know, I’ve been telling them about it for years and I would end up in more trouble” Hope sighing, hunching her back in defeat.

It’s been countless time she spoke about it and they’re going to threat her to not let her out anymore. Hope has no choices than listen to them. It’s better got tied with rules than incapable of going out.

“They’re suck” JJ cuss and Hope gives him a look.

“They’re my family, JJ” she said and JJ mutters a sorry, feeling guilt for his action “But you’re right, they’re suck” she adds up, her lips tugging with a smile. JJ gives her a look before he’s chuckling, glad that she’s not taking it to the heart.

“I’m sorry, Hope. I wish I can do something for it” JJ said, giving her a sorry look.

Hope wants to just give up, agreeing with him and letting the nice offer to hang out with him slipped away. But then, she remembered something. Maybe there’s still a hope for them.

“I think you can do something” Hope chimes, looking up back to JJ. The blond furrows his brows “Uh- what is it?” he asked, still confused.

“There’s a party tonight, at the figure eight” Hope said, she remembers Sarah told her about it earlier and how she’s gonna sneak out with Topper tonight.

“You want me to be at Kook’s party?” JJ questioned, he looks mortified. Because that sounds like a nightmare to him.

Being in a room full of Kook? That’s a big no for him.

“No, but I can sneak out from it. Nobody would notice me being disappear for a while” Hope suggested “We can hang out a little if you want, just around the figure eight”

JJ rethinking about the idea, that doesn’t seem bad to him. But is he really wants to just casually hang around the figure eight with the Kook princess herself?

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to” Hope said when she caught the look of hesitates from the boy. She can feel that JJ doesn’t really like the idea being around the Kooks or anywhere where the Kook lives and she understands that.

“No, no, that seems like a good idea” JJ quickly said, not wanting Hope to get a bad idea because of his silence. Hope starts to have a hope again, her face brightened up. The thought of JJ might agree with her made her beaming up.

“I can’t promise anything with you, but I’ll tell you if anything change about tonight, alright?” JJ states, because he doesn’t know if his friends up something tonight and he doesn’t want to disappointed Hope for waiting for him.

Hope nods, that’s fine with her.

“So, can I have your number? You know, so I can tell you if I anything changes” JJ asked, trying to hide his excitement. He’s trying to stay as smooth as he can, not trying to look desperate for it. But he actually been wanting to ask for it long ago, since their first encounter at the Heyward’s.

“Sure, gimme your phone” JJ quickly pulls out his phone and hands it to Hope, she takes it from his hand and punching her numbers into it. When she’s done, she gives back the phone to the owner. It took everything from JJ to not to jump , he takes the phone, looking at the numbers on the screen.

“Thank you, I promise I’ll be in touch” JJ said, grinning widely at the girl. Hope nods and smiling lightly, she also as excited as the boy, she’s totally going to wait for his text tonight.

“See you later, Pogue” Hope pleads the goodbye.

JJ chuckling a little “See you later, Kook” he pleads back.

Hope gives him one last look before she turns around and went back into the place, while JJ can’t take his eyes from the girl. He’s been watching her figure until she’s out from his sight. With a smile tugging on his lips and a little excitement spark inside him, he walks away.

At least he’s got her number, right? If he can’t make it for tonight, he could always texts her.