𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐨𝐲 ☼ 𝙅𝙅 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙆𝙞𝙖𝙧𝙖

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔

Pope's POV

"Hey you ok man?" I asked JJ as he walked into my house with a frown on his face. His eyes were bloodshot red, and from the look of his expression, he wasn't high.

"Ya I'm fine" He answered.

"Where's Kie?" I asked.

"She uh- she had to go home right away. Her parents called." He said as he rubbed his neck.

"Oh ok." I replied.

My mom walked into the living room and made her way towards JJ.

"Oh JJ honey come here." She said as she pulled him in for a hug.

"I really appreciate you letting me stay here. I promise I'll try and save up as much money as soon as possible so I can be out of your way." JJ said.

"Don't worry about it son. You're welcome to stay here as long as you would like. We just want to keep you safe." My mom said.

"We don't have an extra room, so you'll be crashing on our couch" I said.

"It's all good man." He replied.

"I got you a blanket, pillow, and a towel, so let me know if you need anything else." I said.

"For sure bro, thanks." He answered, as he started setting up his makeshift bed.

"Alright man, goodnight. See ya tomorrow." I said as I headed towards my room.

JJ's POV

I woke up to the sound of my phone vibrating intensely. I turned it on and noticed a bunch of notifications from Kiara. She's been spam calling me and texting me to meet her at the dock, so I decided I would. I quickly threw on a shirt and started making my way towards the dock. Kiara was sitting on the edge with her feet dangling over the water.

"Kie!" I called out. She whipped her head around to look at me and smiled. I made my way over to her and sat down.

"I didn't think you would show up." She said as she lifted her legs from the edge, and placed them back on the dock. I shifted my body to face her.

"Well I'm here." I said dryly.

"Listen I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lash out on you last night. You just have to understand where I'm coming from JJ. You and Pope are all I have left. I can't risk losing you like I lost John B. I'm always here for you J. Me and Pope. Please don't feel like you have nothing left. We'll always be here for you." Kiara said.

"I don't know Kie. I just feel like I'm losing my purpose in life. I mean, not that I even had one. I'm just a reckless, stupid kid who can't control his emotions anyways." I confessed.

"JJ, stop. You're not stupid. I know you have a lot of great ideas in that head of yours. And I don't think it's such a bad thing to have emotions. It shows that you care about us. Don't be so hard on yourself J." Kiara said, putting her hand on my leg.

"But all I ever do is ruin everything! I can't fucking do one thing right. I'm always the one who has to mess shit up because I'm just stupid fucking JJ!" I cried.

"Shh shh, it's okay." Kiara said, running her hand along my legs to try and calm me down. "You're not worthless JJ. Not to Pope. Not to me. I need you in my life J."

"Look at me, I'm a mess. How could you ever want someone as broken as me?" I cried silently.

"Please, just let me fix you." Kiara said, moving closer towards me. "You just have to trust me JJ, just let me fix you please."

I looked up into her eyes and she had concern written all over her face. We looked at each other for what felt like forever and everything around us seemed to shift. It felt like it was just me and her in the world, and all of our problems vanished. Her eyes slowly trailed down my face to my lips. It seemed almost as if gravity was pulling us towards each other like a magnet. My eyes made their way to her lips and she slowly leaned in closer towards me and without a doubt, she pressed her lips against mine. This moment that I have imagined and longed for for years was finally happening. I was taken aback at first, but I just let myself melt into her. It felt as if something washed over me, and cleansed my problems away. I wanted to stay like this forever, pressed up against the girl I've adored for so long. She cupped my face and I placed my hands on her waist and slowly pulled her closer to me. Our lips moved in sync when finally, we pulled away, snapping back to reality and realizing what just occurred.

"I'm uh- I'm sorry." She started. "That was on me."

"No, no it's all good." I said, trying not to let out a smile. I've wanted Kiara to kiss me for forever, and I'm glad it happened. But not like this, not when Pope and her have a thing.

"Can we just, not talk about that. Please don't tell Pope. That was a one time thing JJ, we were just in the heat of the moment." She said.

Hearing her say that ripped my heart. I know she and Pope have some complicated thing going on, but having her confess that she needed me in her life, kissing me, then saying to just forget about it, didn't sit well with me. She told me that she wasn't even into Pope for fucks sake! How is she gonna feed me with all this bullshit then switch up and tell me to forget about it. I can't have her play with my feelings like that, so it's best if I just stop them. I love Kie, and I always will as a friend. But I don't think we will ever get past that.

"Yup understood." I said as I stood up and started walking away.

"JJ, no don't do this." Kiara said, standing up.

"Do what Kie? I'm not doing anything." I lied as I turned around to face her.

"JJ you know rules. No pogue on pogue macking. Listen, I love you J and I always will, but we can't do that." Kiara said.

"Oh so is that why you're leading Pope on? Got it Kie. Don't worry about me, I'm completely fine." I lied as I continued to walk away.

"JJ it's complicated!" She screamed.

"Really Kie? Because I think it's pretty fucking clear. You're leading Pope on, and I sure as hell won't let you do that shit to me! Talk to me when you know what you want Kiara, because I can't look more of a fool than I already am!" I yelled back.

"JJ!" She screamed. I ignored her calls and kept walking.

☞author's note☜

Oop they finally kissed! But shits just getting started and it's about to get real messy. I'm almost done with school so I'll be able to start posting more frequently. I'm planning for 2 chapters a day, but we'll see how that goes. I hope you guys are enjoying my story so far and don't be afraid to show your love and support because it truly warms my heart :)

p.s. thank you so much for 500 reads!