Together

95. Love you

Settle down with me
And I'll be your safety
You'll be my lady
I was made to keep your body warm
But I'm cold as the wind blows
So hold me in your arms
-Ed Sheeran

JJ is speeding through the Cut, heading into Figure Eight. He gives Kie a couple more calls but still nothing. She's not answering.

"Goddamn it!" he fumes, hand slamming the steering wheel after he forcibly tosses his phone into the passenger side.

He shakes his head, trying to get a grip. She can't be that mad at him, can she? She promised she'd tell him if something was wrong, she promised. He believed her!

He's doing a shit job of calming himself down, really. His head is pounding, his body feels hot and his throat is sore from screaming expletives of frustration. Honestly, he feels like he's gonna pass out by the time he pulls into her driveway. Thank God her parents are busy at the Wreck today.

His legs feel like jello as he jogs up the stairs. He tries the door first, hoping it's unlocked, pissed when it's not. He pushes away the thought that she's shutting him out. He presses his lips together, inhaling sharply and ringing the door bell more times than necessary. He knew if Kie was ignoring him, irritating her was likely the only way to get her to answer the door.

Works like a charm.

The door flies open, and the curly haired girl has a set scowl on her face, ready to lay into whoever the obnoxious asshole is that's at the door. Only her face doesn't stay that way, instantly softening when she sees it's JJ.

She doesn't have time to even ask what's going on before he's walking in, arms coming to her shoulders. She doesn't miss how he hadn't put on a shirt, still dripping wet from the break.

"Are you okay, why didn't you answer your phone?" he interrogates. "You just took off," he tells her. His voice is shaky. He doesn't think it's fair if she is mad at him. She didn't tell him what was going on, and leaving without warning didn't leave him with many ways to apologize for whatever she was pissed at him for. "If I did something stupid I'm sorry, but you can't just leave like that, you pinky promised you'd tell me if you weren't good," he reminds, not caring in the slightest how fucking childish that sounded. He was serious.

But maybe she didn't take the childhood promise as literal as he did. That almost frustrates him more. "You promised," he breathes. God, he feels light headed.

"JJ," Kie rushes to calm him. "I'm fine, I swear, you didn't do anything."

His hands drop from her shoulders, breath returning. "What the hell then?"

She gets an awkward look on her face, avoiding his eye slightly as she switches her weight from side to side. "I'm sorry, I just needed something at home," she says.

This is not an acceptable answer.

"What did you need?"

Cause he's sure that whatever it is he could get it for her. Probably had anything she could possibly need for a day of surfing in the truck or back of the Twinkie. He can't get it out of his head that she's not being honest with him. And it's not subtle either, more like insanely obvious.

Kie huffs out a breath. "Oh, you're frustrated?" he challenges, tone a it sarcastic.

"JJ," she starts, yes, frustrated. She rubs her hands over her face.

"No, tell me what, Kie, cause I spent the last half hour—"

"JJ, it's my period!" she says, tight lipped expression and bugged out eyes saying, you wanted to know.