꒰ 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:·ﾟ
When Bianca Prescott was little, she thought that the moon followed her around because she was special. That she was the centre of the universe and all the planets and all the stars orbited her. Bianca also thought that this was where her superiority complex stemmed from– but nevertheless, in this moment, everything did feel as if it revolved around her.
With the moonlight dancing on their noses and the mindless chatter of music playing softly from the radio, the girl sighed, "My mom is going to kill me for being out all day."
JJ glanced over at her, "Do you always do what your parents say?"
Bianca quietened at that because intentionally or not, JJ had hit a nerve, "No," She hummed silently, although she was most definitely lying to herself and to the boy.
JJ watched as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat and quickly changed the topic, "You know, you're not as bad as I thought you'd be."
At this, Bianca perked up, turning to face him, "Well, what'd you expect?"
"Do you want me to answer that?" JJ chuckled, although to Bianca, this was no laughing matter.
A scowl etched it's way onto her face, "Let me guess- kook princess?" She rolled her eyes.
"Something like that," JJ hummed, his hands still on the wheel as they drove down the empty road, "Rude to waiters at a minimum type thing."
Bianca scoffed, "Well, you're not what I expected either."
"Yeah?" JJ challenged, a daring glint in his eye.
"I thought you were this really laid-back, surfer, dude-bro," Bianca mumbled, "But you're a total meathead and a klepto- you should be in jail."
"Ouch," JJ chuckled, pressing a hand to his chest dramatically, "That hurt."
"Just saying," Bianca gave him a small smile, leaning her head against the window as a soft silence lapsed over them.
After a few moments, JJ sighed, "So what's it going to be like when we get back?"
"With what?" The girl frowned at this, her brows creased together.
"Well- like, um..." He stammered.
"With us?" Bianca narrowed her eyes and when the boy nodded, the situation dawned on her.
She'd spent an entire day with another guy- one who was not her boyfriend- and a Pogue no less. If Rafe, Topper or Kelce even had a suspicion that JJ was with her, they wouldn't hesitate to put him six-feet under. They were like attack dogs waiting for a chance to shred their poor victim until it was unrecognisable as anything except a piece of meat– she couldn't let that happen to JJ. So Bianca plastered on her best scowl and turned to the boy.
"There is no us, JJ- I have a boyfriend," She scoffed harshly, "Nothing changes, I'll go back to Rafe and you'll go back to.. Kiara."
"Kie?" JJ spluttered, his eyes widened in shock.
Bianca's voice suddenly sounded nervous, "Yeah, I don't know- I thought-"
"No- no way," JJ shook his head quickly, "Trust me I've tried that door and it's locked- she's not interested."
"Oh," Was all the girl could manage, her mind whirling with a million thoughts, but JJ's voice pulled her out.
"Bianca," He said, finally getting her attention. Once she looked to him, he spoke, "You wanna pretend like this never happened?"
Bianca's heart sank. The thought of going back to ignoring him, acting like he was lower than her sounded like pure torture- surely, it was impossible to forget this boy after the past twenty four hours. So she decided on being honest for once, never wanting to go back to not knowing JJ Maybank.
Bianca shook her head, "Do you?"
JJ smiled softly, glancing at her with his piercing ocean eyes, "No."
They both just sat there and smiled at each other for a moment and Bianca couldn't help but wonder that maybe this is how relationships were supposed to be; easy. It seemed so easy with JJ.
"Yesterday I didn't even know who you were and today I'm like Bianca Prescott," JJ said as he drove.
They were now deep into the roads of Figure Eight, besides the large mansions and multi-million dollar homes, the Twinkie looked as if it were dragged out of the junkyard. But who would've thought that Bianca Prescott would find solace in John B's beat up old Volkswagen with his reckless best-friend next to her. So when she saw her house come up a head, she couldn't help but sigh a little.
JJ parked the van just outside the driveway while Bianca collected her dress from the backseat and opened the door for her so she could get out.
"I had fun today," He added softly, as if saying those very words could change the very course of their existence.
"Yeah," Bianca said because in a way, it sort of did, "Me too."
They stood outside the parked van for a moment, neither wanting the night to end just yet– there were too many words left unsaid.
"I should probably go," Bianca voiced, her eyes transfixed on JJ's cerulean ones. She sent him a small smile as she backed away towards her front door, "Bye, JJ."
"Yeah," The boy mumbled hesitantly, "Later, B," And when she turned away, JJ wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and bury himself in it because god, he was such a fucking pussy.
Another soft sigh left Bianca's lips– something that seemed to happen more often than not nowadays– and opened the front door for herself.
However, she didn't get a moment to breathe because as soon as she did, she was already being engulfed into a hug, "B, where have you been?"
"Daddy," Bianca forced a hesitant smile into her father's shoulder, "You're back early."
"Yeah," The older man nodded when they pulled apart and folded his arms over his chest, "Security notified me that there was a break in at the office earlier today so I cut a few meetings short and here I am."
Lydia also came beside her husband, running a delicately manicured hand over his shoulder with a wine glass in the other, "They said nothing was stolen, which makes it even more suspicious," She nodded, glancing over at their daughter.
"Oh," Bianca choked out, her heart racing in her chest– all she could think about was the coke she found in the safe.
"I'm going to go in sometime tomorrow to see if we can do anything about it," Michael hummed, "But don't you worry, B- I'll sort it all out," He pressed a soft kiss to the girl's forehead, "Now, where have you been all day?"
"Mom took the car so one of my friend's picked me up and I found a dress for Midsummers," Bianca held the neatly packed garment bag.
"Which friend?" Lydia narrowed her eyes over her wine glass.
"Peeler," Bianca said as confidently as she could muster, at least now she had an alibi– Peeler would surely cover for her.
"Okay," The older woman said breezily, "Well, we'll be helping the Country Club clean up pretty late after the party so you'll have the house to yourself tomorrow night- oh, and Rafe dropped by earlier this evening- he left something special for you upstairs."
But when Bianca merely glanced between them wearily, her father ushered, "Go on, B."
"Okay," The girl mumbled hesitantly, "Goodnight."
Her parents returned the farewell as she made her way up the stairs, gut churning at the 'special' something her boyfriend could've left. It was a repetitive cycle– almost like the revolutions of the planets– Rafe and her would argue, Bianca would apologise, Rafe would buy her a present, usually jewellery, but always something expensive and Bianca would forgive him. So when she saw the neatly wrapped royal blue box sitting on her bed, wrapped in a large, white ribbon, she wasn't at all surprised.
Instead, she lay her dress down on the bed and unwrapped the present– revealing a silver Tiffany & Co. necklace with a heart shaped pendant. Bianca's fingers ran over the worded engravings and on the back a small 'R + B' was imprinted. Beside it was a small corsage fitted with baby-blue roses and white baby's breath flowers, a small note attached–
'i hope you'll still accompany me tomorrow at midsummers. i love you, always - rafe.'
Bianca sighed softly, risking a glance at herself in the mirror sitting perched on her wall. She stood there, exactly the same person she was twenty four hours ago, yet completely and utterly different.
author's note. guys it's literally the first week of uni and i'm already behind on everything lol