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link: spoti.fi/3s8PAzh
EYES ON FIRE | BLUE FOUNTAIN
EASY LOVER | PHILIP BAILEY
CHAROLETTE SOMETIMES | THE CURE
THESE THINGS | SHE WANTS REVENGE
Despite the typical jovial spirit that resided within the town of Chagrin Falls, everything seemed to come to a halt, a stand still with a morbid tone to every gust of wind that blew through the air. Fear had been cast upon the citizens, worry and caution rose within the town once the sun set below the horizon—especially as a woman. No one dared to go out past eight in the evening, too scared that they would be pictured on a missing poster next, and with a change of attitude within the citizens of Chagrin Falls came a new fear: being kidnapped.
Kelley Laken was still missing, no one had seen or heard from her since the night of the party, and with the police searching every corner of the town, not a single piece of evidence was found. Not a DNA sample, not a call to her home phone, nothing. The police were growing more and more hopeless as the days went on, because once day three passed of Kelley's presence fading from the small town, the less people believed that she was even alive.
And that was the million dollar question, whether Kelley Laken was alive or not, and the truth was that she had no idea. She didn't like to think about Kelley's fate unless there was news about finding her, because she wasn't made for something like this, something so morbid and horrifying, and for the first time something this grueling happening around her, she wasn't handling it well. Especially with the complications she had with Kelley before her disappearance, despite that being more of Derek's fault instead of her own.
Her nights had become sleepless, replaced with nightmares where she takes on Kelley's role and goes through hell and back before being woken up. She feels things heavily, whether they happen to her or not, and with a girl her age being taken and held, she can't help but wonder what would happen if that was her. It very well could have been, and selfishly, that's what terrified her the most. But she also worries for Kelley, despite not being too close to her, because even with their differences, she knows that Kelley doesn't deserve to die.
Her days were made up with moving through the school hallways without her signature smile, trying to block out the whisper and wonderings about Kelley, though in a town so small, no one could escape it. Alice and her other friends were past talking about it, coming to a silent agreement to put the topic to rest unless news came out about their missing classmate, but some people were more interested in the gossip of it all than actually hoping that Kelley was okay.
Especially the person who slipped the note in her locker.
It fell past her eyes and on to the floor once she swung open the locker door, causing her to flinch before looking down and furrowing her brows in confusion. She was running late to her last class, but the worry subsided as she bends at the waist and fetches the folded up note from the ground, wondering who left it for her. She looks around, seeing virtually no one else in the hallway with her, and as she looks back down at the note, she slowly unfolds it and narrows her eyes while reading over the scribbled words.
Derek was cheating
on you with Kelley.
That's all there was to the note, causing confusion to take hold of her features more now than ever as she flipped over the note, looking for any kind of indication as to where this came from, and immediately she feels sick to her stomach. With the heightened emotions of Kelley's disappearance and remembering how Derek was looking for her the night she got kidnapped, she can't help but believe that this is true, that Derek was cheating on her with Kelley.
She rests her head against the door of her locker, clutching the note in her hand until it crumbles, and with a heavy breath, she stands back up straight and tries her best to keep her tears from building, though her efforts only push her over the edge. She grabs her book bag, shoving everything she needed into it before slamming her locker shut and starting down the hallway towards the parking lot. She tries to calm herself down, knowing this could very much be some kind of prank to get this kind of reaction, but there's not one part of her that trusts Derek enough to discard the note without a second thought.
Sleep deprived and emotionally strung, she storms out of the school and climbs into her car, not caring about the class period she's missing or the question she'll get from her father when the school calls him, but about sitting in the driver's seat of her car while resting her head against the steering wheel. She isn't sure whether it's the idea of Derek hooking up with Kelley that sends her crying, or if it's the combination of everything going on around her, but regardless she can't keep herself from hiccuping with teary cheeks as she turns on her car.
The drive home was shorter than she anticipated with her mind wound up in every suffocating thought in her mind, and as she pulls into the driveway and parks her car, she can't help but notice a new car in Harry's driveway, a newer looking Mercedes-Benz that was chic enough to catch anyone's eye. She doesn't look for too long, her hiccups coursing through her while tearing her out of her daze, and as she makes her way up to the front door, she's quick to unlock it before pushing her way inside.
The house was vacant, both of her family members busy with work, and as she drops her book bag to the floor beside the front door, she's quick to head up the stairs and to her bedroom. The tears don't stop, neither does the heavy beating of her heart, and as she collapses on to the bed, she can't help but lie on her side to face the wall, feeling her jaw tremble with her arms wrapped around her stomach. For years Derek has been her person, despite how back and forth they go with his flirtatious tendencies and her subtle insecurity, but they were Derek and Josephine and that's just how it was.
But deep down, she knows that their relationship was anything but rainbows and butterflies, no matter how badly she wanted it to be that way.
She isn't sure how long she lays there for, teary eyed and sniffling to herself, but when someone rings the doorbell, her tears have dried on to her cheeks, leaving her with a red nose and swollen lips. She pushes herself up from the bed and wipes at her eyes, looking out the window to see Derek's car parked out front, and as she looks at the alarm clock on her nightstand, she assumes he came straight from school. She can't help but wonder if he knows about the note someone left her, here to try and worm his way out of the claim, though she's sure as soon as he sees her, he will be ready to do whatever he can to make things right.
"What are you doing here?" She asks as soon as she swings the door open, obtaining a small croak to her voice as the words leave her lips, though he doesn't answer, but steps past her and inside the house. She rolls her eyes, but shuts the door, only before turning to face him with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Why did you ditch last period?" Derek asks her in response, disregarding her question entirely, which doesn't help his case right now, "And why are you crying? Tommy told me he saw you running out of the school in tears—"
"Did you mess around with her?" The words tumble from her lips like her sobs did when reading the note, knowing in her gut that there was some truth to it, and immediately, Derek sighs and runs a hand down his face.
"Josephine, we talked about this—" He groans into his hands, and while she would let him shake her off any other day, she was at her breaking point. The pressure was too much, the suspense and uncertainty was clawing at her sanity, and she was unsure of who to trust and what to believe at this point.
So she snaps.
"Well, we're talking about it again!" The volume her voice reaches is unprecedented, yelling like that is out of her nature and sends Derek looking at her with wide eyes, full of shock as her chest moves up and down with every heavy breath. She swallows thickly, having no more tears to cry for him or the missing girl, but sadness and despair overcomes her as she looks to him. "Did you mess around with her?"
"No!" Derek exclaims while throwing his arms into the air, as if it would solidify his denial, albeit she didn't believe him. "I didn't touch her, Jo. Out of all people, you think I would cheat on you with Kelley fucking Laken?!"
"Stop yelling!" She responds, and as he sighs she turns on her heels and begins to pace, tightening her arms across her chest while trying to think clearly. "I just . . . I don't believe you." She mumbles, turned away from him as the words fall from her lips, and as she turns back around she can see the hurt clear in his eyes.
"Jo, please . . . I'm telling you, I didn't do anything with Kelley—"
"Everything you've done makes me think otherwise." She cuts in, running her hands through her hair in order to alleviate some of her stress, though it helps nothing but the knots in her tresses. "Just be honest with me, Derek. She's missing, and if her body gets . . . found with your DNA on it—" She can't finish, covering her mouth with her hand as the horrific image is painted in her mind.
"That's not gonna happen, babe." He says to her softly, reaching to touch her, but she moves away before his skin can mesh with her own. "I didn't cheat on you, I-I can't do that to you, Josephine." He stammers, and while every fiber in her being wants to believe him, something makes her believe otherwise.
"You need to go." She tells him, watching his face fall, and as she goes to open the door, he stops her with his hand pressed into the glass window. She looks up at him, still holding on to the doorknob, and with their faces inches apart, he leans down, as if he's going to try to kiss her. She dodges his advance, going to push him away, but he only leans in further and lets his lips ghost over her own. "Stop it, Derek, you need to go—"
"C'mon, Jo . . ." He mumbles with his eyes flickering down towards her lips, "just let me kiss you? I need to show you how much I care about you—"
"Derek, cut it out." She whines as he gets closer, backing her into the door only before finally mustering up enough strength to push him off of her. He stumbles backwards, nearly falling on his ass, and with a new round of tears accumulating along the roots of her lashes, she feels raw. "Get the fuck out." Is all she can get out as she pulls open the door, widening it for him to leave, and he doesn't say another word, only glaring at her with a scoff and a shake of his head.
When he's finally out of the house, she shuts the door and watches through the glass as Derek walks towards his car and makes his way to the driver's side, though at the same time, Harry walks out of his house across the street and immediately takes notice of Derek's presence. Harry keeps his gaze as intimidating as possible, not making any kind of gesture towards Derek, but walks towards the Mercedes-Benz in his driveway as Derek climbs into his own car.
Once Derek drives away, she steps back from the door and goes to the kitchen, hoping that there was ice cream in the freezer and as soon as she opened the refrigerator, she spotted her favorite carton of ice cream and smiled to herself. She's quick to pull it out, finding a spoon as well, and once she takes a hefty bite with a sniffle, she turns on the television in the living room and plops down on the couch, needing some kind of distraction from her current state of despair.
The phone ringing from her father's office is what tore her out of her ice cream driven daze, causing her to set the carton and spoon on the coffee table before hurrying to answer whoever was calling. She quickly plucked the phone from the receiver and leaned against the wall, twirling the chord between her fingers while starting off with a simple hello.
"Josie?" It was Alice calling.
"Yeah, it's me. What's up?"
"What the hell?! Why did you ditch last period?" Alice quickly asks, changing her tone once knowing it was her, "And I mean, without me? How rude!"
"Someone left a note in my locker." She says to Alice, "It said that Derek was cheating on me with Kelley." She concludes, hearing a subtle gasp on the other end of the phone that sent her sucking her bottom lip between her teeth.
"You think he was?" Alice asks her, though she doesn't get the chance to reply before Alice speaks up again, "I think he was—why was he meeting her outside the night she went missing? That was so weird, Josie."
"I know." She agrees, "He came by after school and denied it though."
"Well, of course, he's going to deny it! Who wants to be known for cheating on their girlfriend with the missing girl?!" Alice exclaims with a new sense of anger, making her to sigh while pinching the bridge of her nose. "I love you, Josie, and I know you care for Derek, but he needs to get lost! You deserve so much better—"
"I know." She can't help but cut in, feeling the build up of stress start to weigh on her, "I know. I just . . . feel like I need some kind of proof that he was actually messing around with Kelley before she went missing—"
"You don't need shit, you have your intuition and that's enough of a reason to break up with him." Alice tells her, always being the stronger one out of the two of them, and she drops her hand by her side. "Want me to come over? We can go eat at The Diner and make fun of the creepy waiter who always tries to ask you out?"
"No, I'm okay." She chuckles into the phone, hearing Alice laugh too as she looks out of the window of her father's office to see that Harry was crossing the street towards her house. "Harry's walking over here right now, I don't know why, I'll call you later." She hurries out, and before Alice can get a word out, she's hanging up the phone as the doorbell echos throughout the house.
Before answering the door, she runs a hand through her hair, hoping she didn't look like a complete and utter mess from her argument with Derek, and as she sees his figure through the glass of the door, she offers a small smile while going to open it. He was dressed in his usual attire, a pair of distressed jeans and a t-shirt that hung off of his broad shoulders nicely, and with a faint smirk curved along his lips, she speaks first.
"Hi, Harry." Somehow his presence sends her smiling despite the afternoon she's had, though she's sure he has a clue when seeing Derek leave her house huffing and puffing with anger.
"Josephine," He replies with his voice low, albeit as he notices a faint redness to her eyes paired with the look of exhaustion, a hint of concern washes over his features. "are you alright?" He asks her, and his sudden change of mood causes her to put up the wall to hide her true feelings, though it doesn't last for long.
"I've seen better days." She says and tries to brush him off with a small chuckle, but it doesn't seem to work. "I'm alright, really—"
"Let me take you for a ride." He more so tells her than asks, leaning his hands against the doorframe as a small dose of confusion dawns on her.
"What?" She can't help but ask, though she hears him perfectly, "I mean—I don't know, it's gonna get dark soon, and I don't think—" Her hesitation comes out with a sense of uncertainty, and whether it's because of recent events or because of the way Harry makes her feel, she doesn't know, but her heart beats much faster in his presence.
"C'mon, I'll keep you safe, J . . . out there in the dark and all." He says to her, teasing her almost, and as she takes a deep breath, she finds herself giving in with a small nod. "Yeah?" He muses with a small, upward twitch of his brows that sends her insides swirling with anticipation.
"Give me a minute."
"I'll be waiting." He tells her, only before sending a cheeky wink her way and stepping away from the door.
She can't help but reach up to her cheeks once closing the door, wondering if they were really as hot as they feel, and as she rushes up the stairs to her room, she's quick to glance at herself in the mirror and winces. No wonder he asked if I was okay, she thinks to herself and hurries to make herself look a bit more presentable with makeup and a hairbrush. She then slips on her sneakers, tying them as quickly as she could, and races back down the stairs, feeling a sense of excitement course through her that overshadows the horrible day she has had.
When she opens the front door she sees him already waiting for her by the curb, straddling his bike with his helmet in one hand that immediately gets handed to her once she's close enough to grab it. She gives him a small pout as she tugs it on her head, hating that he didn't have one for himself, but her reaction only sends him chuckling as he reaches to do the buckle underneath her chin. Once she was ready to go, she swung one leg over the seat and sat down, feeling him reach behind himself to grab the back of her thighs to pull her closer to him.
A smile fights to curve over her lips from the action with her front pressed against his back, and as she wraps her arms around his torso, he kicks up the stand and starts down the street. The wind brushes past her and drifts along her skin as he drives, and despite how much of her day had been filled with negativity, she was grateful for Harry and his efforts to make her feel better. Or at least that's what she assumed this was, because she didn't know what else he could get out of taking her for a ride with no destination in mind.
She lets him take her wherever he wanted to go, holding on tight with every turn he made and it wasn't until he stopped in front of the bowling alley fifteen minutes outside of town did she speak up, though it was always hard to with the engine roaring so loud. At first she thought he was just turning around, but once he parked in a spot and turned off the motorcycle, she realized that they were there for a reason and she couldn't help herself from giving him a look once he undid the buckle of the helmet and pulled it off of her.
"Harry, no." She says to him with a subtle shake of her head, "You didn't say anything about—"
"It's just a bit of bowling." He shrugs with a smile to his lips, one that could get him out of any trouble—or further into it depending on the circumstance. "Scared I'll kick your ass, J?" He teases her, resting his helmet on the metallic handlebar of his bike before turning back to face her.
"That's not the point, Harry, you didn't say anything about going—hey, wait for me!" She exclaims once he walks away and starts towards the door, albeit he doesn't make it very far before he stops and lets her catch up to him, gently laughing while giving her a teasing nudge. "I'm not good at bowling."
"I'll help you out, no worries." He assures her with a smile while going to open the door for her, following her into the lively bowling alley as her eyes roam around the room. "This way, J." He tells her once she starts walking in the opposite direction, though with a gentle hand on her shoulder, he guides her to where the shoe rental was and once he let go, there was a coldness that she didn't want to welcome.
"Six and a half, please." She says to the man working behind the counter when asked for her shoe size, and once Harry told his, a couple of pairs of bowling shoes were set on the counter as Harry paid for the lane before she could even grab the pair of shoes. "Thank you." She tells him as they walk away and towards the lane that was reserved for them, though Harry only nods his head and smiles down at her.
They sit in the chairs beside the lane to change into the ugly looking bowling shoes that make her grimace, but it only amuses him as she kicks off her sneakers and goes to slip the shoes on. She sighs when one of the bowling shoes has a thick knot in the laces, one she can't get undone, and before she says a word, Harry holds his hand out toward her, causing her to hand over the shoe for him to untie.
"Your feet are very small." He mutters under his breath as he successfully unties the knot for her, sending a scoff falling from her lips. "'s not a bad thing, I'm just making an observation." He shrugs and hands the shoe back to her, though with an attitude, she snatched it from him and makes him laugh with a shake of his head.
"You go first." She tells him, knowing she'll most likely send the ball straight to the gutter, and with a roll of his eyes, he stands up and makes his way towards the rack of bowling balls. He picks one for him and one for her, one heavier and one lighter, and as he sets hers down, he goes to bowl first and gets a strike on the first try. "What the heck!" She can't help but exclaim, standing up from her chair to take her turn, and as Harry turns around to face her, he smirks.
"Calm down, J . . ." He chuckles as she grabs her ball from where it was say, "I told you I'd help you, didn't I?" His voice was much lower now, albeit she hears him loud and clear with how close they were in proximity, and with the bowling ball in her hand, he follows her to the lane.
"Alright, what do I do?" She asks him, and as soon as the question falls from her lips, she feels him behind her, and despite feeling the urge to tense up, she doesn't and plays it cool.
"The goal is to make the ball go down the center," He says from behind her and as she feels a hand come down on her right shoulder, he continues, "but sometimes it'll drift, so you'll wanna aim it more that way." He tells her, using his other hand to point to the side in front of her.
She swallows thickly while nodding her head, trying her best to not lean into his touch, and to get away from how enticing it feels to be touched by him, she takes her turn. With a couple of quickened steps, she lets the ball fall and roll down the lane, hitting half of the bowling pins, which was more than she thought would hit in the first place. She can't help from smiling as she turns around, noticing a smile on Harry's lips as well with his arms crossed along his chest.
"Was that good?" She asks him, waiting for her ball to return to she can take her turn again, and as he leans against a nearby table, he chuckles and nods his head.
"It was great, really." He responds, "Want somethin' to drink?" He quickly asks, nodding his head towards the concessions stand to the side of the bowling alley, and she nods.
"Just a water, please?" She requests and he nods his head before starting towards the stand.
"You got it—and don't sabotage my turn!" He tells her with a strong point of his finger, causing her to giggle with a shake of her head as her ball finally reappears.
As she goes to bowl again, she only hits a couple more pins, making it Harry's turn, and as she goes to sit back down in one of the chairs to wait for Harry to come back with her water and whatever he got. She couldn't stop herself from glancing towards the concessions stand where Harry stood, paying the young girl working behind the counter, and she knew that despite her and Derek still technically being together, there was a part of her—a part without a subconscious—that was beginning to like Harry.
Like, really like him.
He was so handsome, and charming, and he always made her feel like she was the only one in the world with just a simple glance. His charisma and looks alike enticed an emotion from her that was new to her cabinet of feelings, he was exciting and thrilling and always seemed to go out of his way for her—which wasn't easy to come by. Derek charmed her, he was handsome and caring as well, but it was different with Harry, simply because Harry doesn't have to do any of this.
But he wants to, ever since he laid eyes on her he's felt the strongest urge to get close to her, to be near her and know her in a way he doesn't know other girls. In his dark and twisted mind, girls are one of two things—interesting or uninteresting—though Josephine has paved the way for her own category. He doesn't know what it is yet, or what makes her stand out among the rest, or why he hasn't felt inclined to hear her scream yet, but just the thought of seeing a tear roll down her cheek sent his stomach churning, and not in the way he liked.
When he turns around from the concessions stand with two styrofoam cups filled with water, he feels the naturally formed smile on his lips fall into a scowl, his brows tug inward with tension, and as he grips into the cups, he nearly causes them to implode from the pressure. But he straightens up his spine, jerking his head to the side to release a crack or two, and as he approaches Josephine and the douchebag trying to talk to her, he feels an overwhelming desire to snap the guy's neck right then and there—especially when noticing the awkward shift in Josephine's movements.
He's quick to set the cups down before doing anything, not wanting to make a bigger mess than what he plans on doing, and as he frees his hands and approaches Josephine, they make eye contact and he lets her know with a simple gaze that shit's about to go down. She stands up from the chair she was sat in, as if she was going to try and stop him while attempting to side step around the guy in front of her, but she was too slow and he was too quick to put this idiot in his place.
"Can I help you?"
The four words slip from his lips in more of a grumble, through his clenched jaw and gritted teeth, though from the look on his face, you would never see the anger ready to smoke from his ears. His question was simple on paper, but with his stern tone and the dead look in his eyes, the guy turns to face him with his brows raised, as if he was shocked to see someone else challenging his intentions with Josephine, who looked at the man as if he was the grim reaper himself.
"This your bird?" The man asks, nodding his head towards the petrified looking Josephine as she moves to stand closer to him.
"Bird?" He can't help but snicker, rolling his eyes at the guy's stupid terminology, but continues, "Yeah, she's mine . . . so fuck off."
"She didn't mention anything about a boyfriend—"
Without hesitation, he cups the back of Josephine's neck with one hand and the other presses into the curve of her spine, smashing his lips on to her own, but not for too long, just to make it believable, and by the time he pulls away from her, the guy is scoffing and walking away with a shake of his head. He can't help himself from dragging his tongue along his bottom lip, tasting her bubblegum lip balm as he turns to her and notices the glare he's currently being dealt.
"Harry, what the heck!" She squeals at him, tossing her hands in the air with a stressed out look on her face, and perhaps he should have been more considerate towards her and her sub par relationship with her cheating boyfriend, but in the moment, he felt like it was a good choice. He doesn't regret it. "You can't just . . . why would you—"
"Josephine, the guy was a total prick that wouldn't back off." He reasons with a shrug of his shoulders, taking a step towards her, and as she goes to step backwards, she runs into a table and nearly trips before he holds on to her. "And I mean, c'mon, J . . . I know you wouldn't mind me doing it again." It was a reach for him to assume that she liked his lips on hers half as much as he liked feeling her body pressed up against his own, though he can see deep within her eyes that a fiery war zone of conflict had been incited within her mind.
"I have a boyfriend, Harry—one that isn't you."
"Mhmm," He hums with a smirk while flickering his gaze down to her lips, "he know you're out here with me? I'm sure he wouldn't like it too much if he did—"
"You don't even know him." She mumbles, noticing his growing enticement with her lips as he sucks his own between his teeth.
"I don't," He agrees with a slight nod of his head, "but if I had you running around saying you're my girlfriend, I wouldn't let you outta my sight." His words send her breath hitching in her throat as he moves his hand to her lower back, ghosting her clothes with his lips inching closer and closer to her own. Suddenly she inhales, sending her chest moving against his own before looking back up into his eyes, and as a frown tugs at her lips, she speaks and shatters the buzzing tension around them.
"What happened?" She asks him, and until he felt her finger reach up and run along the scratch on his neck, he had virtually no idea what she was talking about. His heart hammers in his chest, his skin blankets with chills, and the memory of Kelley swiping his flesh with her nails surfaces within his mind.
"Accidentally scratched myself in my sleep." He lies, shrugging his shoulder with a small smile, and she takes the careless answer with a curt nod of her head.
"Your turn." She tells him with a smirk and gently pats his cheek before slipping from his embrace and walking around him.
⟡
As soon as the news that Kelley Laken's body had been found, not a single person in her class sported a paid of dry eyes. She found out in her last class of the day, sat in her desk when her principal made an announcement over the intercom, and once the announcement was done with, everyone left to go home. Most people assumed Kelley was dead, that no one had found her yet, but she still had a little bit of hope that Kelley would be alive.
But she was clearly wrong.
She didn't sleep for a single second that night, her mind working a hundred miles a minute trying to understand why someone would kill Kelley. Or who did it. Or what happened to her. But it was later revealed that Kelley didn't die until the morning she was found in the woods, lying naked amongst the leaves and dirt, and she cries just imagining it. She was held and kept alive for a whole week, waiting for someone to save her, yet no one did.
No one ever saved her until it was too late.
Kelley was found in the woods, twenty minutes outside of town with her clothes missing and sported a thick incision down the middle of her chest that was sewn back up. That was all she knew about, reading it in the newspaper that her father tried to toss out, but with puffy eyes and exhaustion weighing down on her, she thought that maybe knowing more might be the key to understanding, which could help her cope with what was happening.
Kelley's funeral was inclusive of the entire town, stores were closed like the school was, and as everyone pulled out their all black attire, she couldn't help but cry the morning of the memorial. She isn't sure why she feels so effected by Kelley's murder, they were never good friends, but a part of her knows it might be because that could have easily been her. She could have been found in the woods undressed with pain still in her body. She could have been the face on the cover of the newspaper with the morbid headline. That could have been her, but she was thankful that it wasn't.
She saw Derek as Kelley's funeral, stood with his family at the cemetery as the pastor spoke, and he didn't look at her, only stared at Kelley's casket with a stoic look on his face. She hadn't spoken to him, he hadn't spoken to her, and she almost assumed that they were broken up and the saddest person was, was that she was fine with it. She didn't feel a hint of sadness about not being with Derek anymore, and while she should after being with him for so long, she knows why her sadness gets quickly absorbed, the reason stood right beside her and her family during the entire funeral.
Harry went with them, wanting to be respectful despite not knowing Kelley, but she thought that was nice of him. He was so handsome in all black too, something that she just couldn't ignore despite bigger issues at hand that day, but it helped distract her from her overwhelming emotion. Her father stood beside her with his arm around her shoulders to hug her as she cried, and once the funeral was done with they decided to go out to lunch. Harry was set to join them, which secretly excited her, but before she could leave the graveyard, Derek caught her with a gentle hand to her shoulder.
"Can we talk sometime soon?" He asks her with a thickness to his voice that she's never heard before. "I-I miss you, Jo." It pained her to hear him say that, because while he was apparently missing her she was getting kissed by Harry in the bowling alley—although deep down in her most selfish thoughts, she hoped that he would do it again.
"Maybe sometime later this week." She nods and leaves it at that, not giving him another second before catching up with the rest of her family at her father's car.
Harry rode with them to the funeral, sat in the back with her as the radio played at a low volume, and as she stared out the window during the drive, she could feel Harry's gaze on her. She didn't look at him until feeling his hand rest on hers in her lap, causing her neck to crank towards him, though she knew that his actions were only an attempt to comfort her—nothing more, nothing less. She offers him a small smile, feeling his thumb run along the back of her hand, and something about his comforting touch made her feel calmer, it soothed her in a way she couldn't explain, but she appreciated it.
Once they arrived at the restaurant her father wanted to have lunch at, they all got out and trailed inside as the restaurant just begins to reopen. They all sit at a table in the middle of the restaurant as more people start to come in, and with Harry to her left and her father to her right Johnny sat across from her, being more caring today than he had ever been in his entire life. She appreciated it, but she knew he was going to go back to being an asshole in less than twenty four hours. He couldn't help it, that's just how he was.
"What did Derek say to you before we left?" Johnny asked her, never taking a huge liking towards Derek, and she wasn't shocked by his question.
"Just that he wanted to talk." She shrugs before taking a sip of water, letting her eyes glance over at Harry as he stared into the table cloth. "We haven't been doing good." She confesses.
"I'm sorry to hear that, honey." Her father offers, albeit she knows he doesn't mean it and secretly hopes they will break up sooner rather than later. "I'm sure whatever is going to best for you will happen, with or without him." Her father says and she nods her head, knowing what he meant by that.
By the time they ordered food and ate, all she wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep. Her father had to return to work, Johnny was out doing God knows what as soon as they got back home, which left her with Harry, stood at her door after she invited him inside. She didn't mind being alone, but she was mentally and emotionally drained, so being around someone as understanding as Harry helped her. Especially when he offered to make her tea like a real British man.
She's never had the tea he talks about but it up for trying it and lets him venture down into the kitchen as she lays in her bedroom, kicking off her shoes before changing as quickly as she could into something more comfortable. By the time he's returning to her room, she's tugging on a t-shirt, hearing him knock before she makes her way to the door and lets him inside. Having him in her bedroom makes her nervous, she can't lie, and she's glad she cleaned it earlier that morning, because she would have been so embarrassed otherwise.
"Here you are, tell me how you like it." He says to her while passing her the warm mug, and despite only ever having cold tea, she enjoyed the warm drink spilling down her throat. "Like it?" He asks with a small smile tugging at his lips as they sit down on her bed and she nods her head.
"I do, thank you." She tells him, taking one more sip before setting it on her bedside table. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to, I'm sure you have other stuff you need to do today—"
"Cut it out, J." He quickly tells her, causing her to sigh with a small smile on her lips. "I'm a grown man, I know what I'm doing."
"I'm just saying." She mumbles with a shrug of her shoulders, causing his eyes to roll. "It was very nice of you to go to the funeral today, even though you didn't really know Kelley." She says and watches him nod.
"It's important to pay your respects sometimes, even if you don't know them." He responds, but quickly changes the topic. "You look tired, I should let you rest—" He tells her, changing his mind on staying, but she's quick to grab his hand before he can walk away from her bed. She knows she has no right to have him stay, she shouldn't want him around this much at all, but she does and she can't help but feel the times warmer with his hand in her own as he looks down at her.
"I know I said you can go . . ." She quietly trails off, watching his lips curl into a subtle smirk as she goes to continue. "but stay?"
"You're lucky I can't say no to you." He sighs as her lips widen in a smile. "Scoot over." He tells her, causing her to move towards the side of the bed closer to the wall as he kicks off his shoes.
The bed dips down as he lies beside her, quick to latch an arm around her to pull her closer to him as her heart leaps in her chest. She can't help but wonder what in the world she got herself into, having him so close while lying in her bed, but selfishly, she relishes in the feeling of his arms around her. She's never felt more safe in her entire life, despite how wrong this entire situation is, and even though she's exhausted and feels a familiar heaviness dawn on her eyes, she wants to stay awake to bask in the moment.
"Go to sleep, J." He mumbles softly to her as he starts to run his fingers through the roots of her hair. "I'll still be here when you wake up." He tells her and she can't help herself from wriggling in his arms to turn and face him.
"Promise?"
"I promise—as long as your Dad doesn't come up here knocking on your door." He chuckles, letting her feel the deep vibration with her face close to his chest, and she nods, lying back down with his hand running up and down her arm.
It only took Josephine five minutes to lose consciousness, becoming limp in his hold as his eyes glance around her bedroom, looking exactly how he imagined it. It smells of her perfume, along with her bedsheets and hair, and he can't help but relish in the feeling of having her so close to him. Josephine was a very emotional person, usually people like that annoyed him to the brink of murder, but somehow she did it in a way that didn't make him want to snap her neck—instead he wanted to kiss it.
He didn't know what was happening to him, he knew it wasn't good that he felt this way towards Josephine, but he simply couldn't help it. Just fucking look at her, he thinks rhetorically to himself when trying to wean himself off of the high that Josephine gives him, but he's addicted, and he wants nothing more than to kill her boyfriend just for the hell of it to make space for him—despite the annoying conflict he would face with her family.
But Josephine makes him feel bad, he feels guilt and sadness, and he hates all of those feelings—the feelings that are rarely ever dawned upon him. He doesn't know how she does it, or what kind of magic she uses on him to make him second guess what he's doing, but she has a power that no one else has without even knowing it. Granted, there was a lot of shit about him that she had no idea about, and he'd like to keep it that way.
Time slips by at a pace he can't recognize, only looking over to her alarm clock a couple times to know a couple of hours had passed, and knowing she'll want to sleep during the night, he goes to wake her with a subtle shake of her shoulders. He murmurs her name, watching her eyes slowly flutter open before she realizes that he was still there, and in her sleepy daze, she moves closer to him and rests her head against his chest—melting him from the inside out.
"Josephine, if you don't wake up now, you won't be able to sleep tonight." He mumbles to her in a warning tone when she closes her eyes again, though his words don't seem to change her mind as he sighs. "J, c'mon, you have to get up."
She doesn't move, only lets out soft breaths into his skin until he makes the hasty decision to get up from her bed. She doesn't have time to say a single word before he's picking her up from the bed and hoisting her body over his shoulder, carrying her out from her bedroom as she kicks her legs in an attempt to free herself.
"The pool in your backyard looks refreshing, maybe they'll wake you up." He says as she giggles vicariously, immediately fighting against him twice as hard when she hears him.
"No, please! I'm awake now, I promise!" She laughs uncontrollably, gently hitting his back as her legs kick back and forth, though he doesn't let her down until he's on the first floor and in the living room. He drops her on to the couch with a plop, watching her bounce up and down as she laughs with a wide set grin that makes him smile too.
"Alright, I gotta go, J." He tells her with a sigh, though despite his words he leans over her with one hand pressed into the cushion and the other on the back of the couch. "One for the road?" He suggests with a slight raise of his brows, and once she realized what he was implying, her lips parted as she goes to shake her head.
"Harry, we can't just—" She begins in a scolding tone, albeit he doesn't let it go on for too long before cutting in.
"We can do whatever we want." He mumbles, getting closer and closer to her with his eyes flickering between her eyes and her lips. "Just a small one? C'mon, I'll be quick. Won't tell a single soul." He smirks down at her with only an inch of space between them as he feels her breath catch in her throat.
She never replies verbally, but when he feels her hand cup the back of his neck to pull his lips towards hers, he nearly lets his smile ruin it. He kisses her, slowly with a subtle swipe of his tongue across her bottom lip, and with his insides shaken like a snow globe, he has to force himself away, knowing he's more than capable of climbing on top of her and kissing every square inch of her skin.
He pushes himself up with a heavy breath, standing up straight as she looks up at him with a shocked look on her face, as if she couldn't believe she did that. He honestly couldn't believe it either, but it happened and he couldn't keep himself from smiling while running a hand through his wild hair.
"Not a single soul?" She asks him, and while he would love nothing more than to kiss her like that during any time and any circumstance, he nods his head, knowing how much of a mess it could be if someone knew.
"Just you 'n me, J." He promises before turning on his heels to start towards her front door. "I'll see you around, yeah?" He says, turning to see her leaned over the edge of the couch while watching him walk towards the door.
"Mhmm," She hums, nodding her head with a smile.
"Also," He says with a quick swallow, leaning against the open front door with a smirk curved along his lips, "you purr like a kitten in your sleep . . . kitten." He winks, and shuts the door behind him.
⟡
"I know you have a thing for Harry." The voice sends her jumping as she stands in front of her vanity, brushing through her wet hair from the shower she took, and as Johnny stands at her door with his arms crossed across his chest, she shakes off the fear and rolls her eyes at him.
"You know nothing, idiot." She replies, turning back to the mirror as she continues to brush her hair, though against her wishes, Johnny walks further into the bedroom and shuts the door behind her. "What do you want? I'm not messing around with him—"
"You're not a good liar, Josephine." Johnny says and shakes his head, "I saw him leaving the house earlier, you fuck him?"
"Johnny!" She can't help but scoff, absolutely appalled that he would even ask her that and especially about Harry—despite the secrets they now share.
"He's my friend, Jo . . . he's also like, six years older than you." Johnny claims as she starts to grow frustrated, dropping her hairbrush on to her desk before turning to her brother with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "Look, I get your boyfriend's a total tool, I agree with you—"
"Derek isn't a tool."
"—but you have to at least be honest."
"With who? You?" She nearly laughs, "I'm not messing around with Harry, so give it up."
"Then why was he here with you alone?" Johnny asks her, smirking as if he had cracked the code.
"He was over here because you and Dad left, and I was sad after the funeral." She says, and it wasn't exactly a lie, but it was a bit far from the truth. She couldn't tell her brother that Harry laid with her while she slept, or kissed her and called her kitten. She's sure Johny would lose it. "He's a nice guy, what else do you want from me?"
"If you don't fess up right now, I'll tell Dad—"
"And I'll tell him that you're always out of the house not because you're working at Paulson's, but because you're too busy selling drugs to everyone in town." She quickly retaliates, watching Johnny's brows pull inward with annoyance and tension. "Get out of my room." She concludes, pointing towards the door, and with an unsatisfied scoff, he finally leaves and shuts the door behind him with a slam.
As she lays in bed and tries to go to sleep that night, she can't think about how heavenly it felt to have Harry's lips on her own, the first and the second time, and despite Johnny's inquisitive ways, she knows he won't tell anyone—not when the idea of their father knowing about his drug dealing was at risk. She doesn't know when she'll see Harry again, if he'll go out of his way to see her or not, but she can't wait for it to happen, despite how wrong it is to feel this way about a man who isn't her boyfriend.
The following morning she decides to get ready and go to Derek's house with every intention of breaking up with him, knowing she can't stay in a relationship where she doesn't trust the person she's with, and if she was honest with herself, it was partially because of Harry. Or not really Harry's actions, but how she feels about him, because she also shouldn't be with Derek when she has feelings for another guy, whether her and Harry will ever be anything or not.
When she pulls up to Derek's house and makes her way towards the door, she hopes that he's at home, not wanting to deal with his parents if he wasn't there, and when he was the one to open the door, she felt a wave of relief crash down on her. Immediately, he knows that she's there to talk and lets her inside, and despite the small, warm smile on her lips, she bears bad news and she doesn't know how he will react to it. They've been together for so long, but people grow, people change into new people, and while Derek hasn't changed, she certainly has.
They sit in his bedroom and she assumes his parents aren't home, but she doesn't ask about it and sits at his desk while he sits on his bed, which doesn't give him hope about where this conversation is going. She can tell that he's nervous, from the way he twiddles his thumbs to the way he won't look right at her, and she tries to push down his care for him, knowing it will only get in the way when trying to make the hard decisions that will only improve her life.
"You looked pretty at the funeral." He tells her, causing her cheeks to redden, and while she thanks him, she glances down to the floor.
"I don't want you to think that I hate you, or that I never want to see you again, but . . . I don't think we're good for each other anymore." She says, and while she tries her best to not sound uncertain, her words almost come out as a question rather than a statement. She watches as his brows pull inward with confusion, as if he couldn't believe she was even saying this, though from how they had been treating each other and acting in public, she wasn't too shocked that their relationship had come to this. "We barely ever talk to each other anymore, and to be honest, I can't trust you."
"Is this about Kelley?" He asks her with a sharpened tone, "Still, this is about Kelley? She's dead, Josephine, why are you so—"
"Whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm breaking up with you." She rushes out, hating that he was trying to make a fight out of this, simply because she hates confrontation of any kind. "We're over, Derek. That's it, end of story—"
"After years of dating you're just gonna end it like that?" Derek scoffs while visibly angry, standing from his bed with a shake of his head. "I mean, what the fuck, Josephine?! Is it because of your weirdo neighbor?! You have a thing for him or something?!"
"N-No, I just—" Her words melt into a scream as she watches him angrily swipe his lamp off of his nightstand, letting it hit the nearby wall with a crash and immediately she stands up from where she was sat. She looks at him with heavy breaths flowing through her, and as he turns to face her, a look of guilt crosses his features, though she doesn't want to hear his excuses. "I-I'm done. Bye, Derek." She forces out and walks past him, glad to be done with him and his idiotic behavior.
She doesn't feel herself begin to calm down until she's back in her car and pulling away from the curb, letting out a heavy breath as she drives down the road and makes her way to Alice's house, knowing she'll be happy to hear about the break up. They decide to get ice cream and as they drive to the ice cream parlor, she tells Alice about what happened, and while she was worried for her safety when hearing about Derek's rage, Alice was enthralled about them not being together anymore.
Then she decided to tell Alice about kissing Harry.
"You, what?!" Alice screams, nearly causing her to crash until pulling into a parking spot and turning off the car. "No fucking way, you kissed him?!"
"He kissed me first, but I kissed him the second time." She says to Alice as they get out of the car and make their way inside, and with shock riddling Alice's features, she can't help herself from giggling with pink cheeks. "What? I thought you would be happy about this—"
"Don't get me wrong, I am." Alice nods, "I'm just . . . shocked you actually did it."
"Well, he's not easy to say no to." She shrugs, causing Alice to laugh as they step up to order their favorite flavors of ice cream. "I actually think I like him." She mumbles to Alice once they paid and clutched the waffle cones in their hands.
"I know you, Josie. I know you don't just kiss guys because you like their shirt." Alice chuckles, "But don't you think it might be good to be alone for a little bit? You were with Derek for so long, you don't want ruin whatever you could have with Harry because of unresolved shit from your relationship with Derek."
"Yeah," She sighs while licking the strawberry ice cream, "but I don't think it's gonna be anything serious any time soon . . . it's not like I can go tell my Dad that I'm dating him anyways." She shrugs and Alice nods.
"I just don't want you to get hurt, is all." Alice says and she smiles, appreciative that Alice looks out for her like that. "But tell me . . . is he a good kisser?"
"Mhmm," She hums with a feverish nod of her head, remembering how euphoric the kiss felt, "really good." She adds before taking another lick of ice cream.
"Damn," Alice says, "must be nice." She laughs once more as Alice joins in, shaking her head at her as they continue to eat their ice cream.
They decide to head back to her house once finishing their ice cream, planning to have a sleepover from the lack of school the following morning, and once they arrive, she can't help but notice a manilla envelope sat on her doorstep. When she parks the car and turns it off, they both make their way towards the front door, and as she bends down, she reads her name on it, noticing that it was the same handwriting from the note left in her locker.
"What is that?"Alice asks her curiously and she shakes her head, having no idea as she opens it up with her brows clenched with confusion.
"No idea."As she pulls the papers out of the envelope, she squints her eyes as she reads, only to feel the muscles in her face loosen up when noticing that it was Kelley Laken's autopsy report. At first she had no idea why she needed to see this, or why someone would leave it on her doorstep like this, but the more she read, the more sick she felt. "Alice—" She gasps.
With a hand pressed against her mouth, her jaw trembles with a sick feeling to her stomach, and as tears flood her lash line for what feels like the millionth time, she glances up at Alice, who stares in confusion and panic. The paper falls from her grasp and on to the floor between them, only for Alice to quickly bend down and grab it, mimicking her reaction when reading the cursed text on the page that crushed her entire world.
"Kelley was . . . she was pregnant?" Alice reads aloud with widened eyes, full of shock and confusion as her tears fall on to her cheeks. She can't seem to stomach the news, especially what Alice didn't mention until letting her eyes read further into the autopsy report, and when she reaches the bottom, a gasp flies from her lips that incites a choked sob to echo from her. "Josie, I-I'm so sorry—"
"It was Derek's . . . the baby was—" Her words get cut off as her breathing picks up, panic flashes within her eyes with her heart beating out of her chest, and as soon as Alice reaches for her, she feels her knees grow weak underneath has as her vision grows spotty.
"Josie, don't—" Alice says to her, but before Alice can finish her sentence, she feels all consciousness slip from her mind as she falls on to the porch.
⟡
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