𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗬 𝗦𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡 : WINGMAN
𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘 OF SEASON TWO
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One day, I hope you find the courage to change your life. Through the small things, and big things, and in everything that matters.
You'll still have bad days, weeks, even months. But you have to understand that happiness comes in waves and there has never been an ocean entirely frozen.
I hope you don't finish your story with a bunch of regret and spend your years waiting for your life to begin while the clock ticks away.
And I hope you realise that life is a one-time thing, it's not a practice run or a preview from the outside world.
Life is one big leap of faith. And if you want to make the most of it. Leap.
"Here" he said, his fingertips slicing at the pale paper as it rested in front of her.
Her eyes falling over the printed ticket that was her one-way home.
Her head tilting up as her light eyes connect with the dampened eyes of Ward, his posture straight as she watched the veins dance down his neck as one by one, they popped.
In the background the figure of Rafe loomed over the desk, as his arms held his body up right which his head hung low.
Her eyes following down his body to the two pistols that were placed on the desk beside him.
The pistol that rested between her fingertips as she pulled the trigger.
She could remember the exact feeling that spread through her palm once her fingers squeezed the metal causing the friction to rustle.
She remembers the feeling of the anger that swam through her lungs, giving her a second atmosphere to breathe in.
The feeling of light tears that began to cluster in her eyes, and the feeling of her lip trembling so slightly as she used her teeth to pierce the flesh.
Her eyes becoming ever so bloodshot as she realised, she was never going to get what she wanted, no matter how far she jumped for it.
Her fingers grasping at the paper beneath her hand as she picked up the small ticket holding tightly onto it.
The feeling of her legs growing weaker and weaker as her mind began to fuzz over in her delusion state, but she walked closer to the door which would take her home.
The door that stood right in front of her before a shadow froze her in her steps.
With his figure that looked down at her, making her shiver on point.
Yet his hands went up to her shoulders giving her a small act of comfort. But she shook him off, falling back into her steps as she grew closer and closer to the hall that held home.
"Lala, come on!" he called, waiting for the girl to turn, and run into his arms.
She didn't do that, because her heart broke a little more with each identical step, not from leaving him. But from the fact that she let her anger get in the way of what she wanted most in this world.
Her father.
----
"This is probably a good time to tell you, I'm not great with heights" she spoke softly, as the grip from the bottom of her converse slithered against the tiles of the slanted roof.
One hand wrapped neatly around the bottle of Vodka that splashed around in the glass, hearing each beat that sprayed against the walls while her other hand pressed onto the tiles her feet with scurrying up.
"Nearly there, Blondie" he told the girl as he watched her struggle a little more.
His legs out in front of him as his laces were rested in tangled knots and his trousers were rustling in the breeze that flew past.
Her feet stepping against each separate tile that rumbled under her step as the liquid swished around in her palm.
Her chin tilting up slightly to see him looking down at her with a smug expression making the blonde roll her eyes as she pushed herself up further.
The small pressure that applied to her hand as she felt him gently tug her body upwards allow her to throw her body at the tip of the roof.
Her legs crossing over one another as she gently wriggles on the rooftop attempting to find a comfortable position to hold as her fingertips work their way to the bottle cap.
Her plumped lips that press into the bottle as the liquid burns her throat and the strong scent of alcohol floods the air around her digging into her nostrils.
Yet the smell of weed that covered the toxic drink scent as his lighter swipes gently across the paper, the same lighter the girl had once used to burn the house.
"What's on your mind?" his voice scuffs as his lips blow out the smoke that captured the soft humid air, while the moonlight reflected against the smoke.
"I lost something" Layla lightly whispered as her hands held the bottle in her lap, and her eyes twinkled amongst the stars that carved shapes in the sky.
"And I don't know how to get it back" she finished with a long sip of the alcohol feeling her lips twist in disgust.
"I'm sure you can buy another curling iron, Bow Peep" Barry chuckled as the smoke drifted thicker into the air creating the effect that the two were sat on clouds.
Her brown eyes turning to his direction as she playfully glared at the figure perched next to her, making him offer out the joint that balanced between his fingertips as he held out the drug in front of the girl.
Her eyebrows relaxing against her forehead as her hand went to grasp at the joint that gave a sense of realisation and peacefulness at one single take.
As her lips form a small circle around the blunt as her chest rises with the short intake of air before pulling it from her pinked lips and releasing the clouds that swarm around her.
The mixture of different emotions and sensations that burst in her stomach, along with the light scatter of pins and needles that rippled along her flesh.
The moonlit sky created the devil in the air which chased the light away leaving the moon in its place to follow the dark tinted sky which merged into colours of violet and navy.
"Who did you lose?" Barry asked as he took the blunt back from her palm watching as fiddled with the tip of the bottle before bringing it back to her lips and pulling the same toxic expression she made after every single sip.
"Too many people" she shrugged, taking sip after sip washing away the flavour of poison and allowing her mind to swerve into intoxication.
"Although, I was close to getting one person back, but I fucked it up. I always fuck it up" she whispered as her voice began to strain and her heart began to thump against her chest like tiny fireworks exploding under her rib cage.
His hands grasping at the bottle from her hands as he watched each finger vibrate against her skin from the emotions that swam so deeply inside her.
And maybe it was because she had a habit of keeping them locked down, that all she needed was a moment to break.
Her head falling into eye contact with his own eyes as he saw the way her eyes shone the finest oak that had been sacrificed in its own ethereal blend.
Among that he saw the isolated girl that had been forced to adapt to the lonely lifestyle ever so quickly as one by one they left her.
He saw the python of loneliness constrict her movement and the red roses inside her wither and die, taking her soul and happiness with it.
His hands finding hers as he looked so deeply into those simple brown eyes that held so much pain behind, he swore to her and himself that he's protect her.
"You've got me, Blondie" he whispered making her chuckle slightly as her palm stroked the tears the cramped up and fell down her reddened cheeks.
"Do you even remember my name, Barry?" Layla asked softly making him blink at her as his lips folded on top of each other while also bringing the smoke back to his lips as she watched him shake his head.
"Blondie?" he responded, blowing the rings of smoke back into the clouded form like the sky was beginning to bend back together.
----
Her sneakers that had been through so much that night scuffing along the pavement that neared closer to the building.
Her hand reaching for her phone which kept shining the time at her realising it was beginning to grow lighter with the small sunrise beginning to blossom and she had spent near enough the whole night with the male on the rooftop smoking and drinking her problems away.
And her mind which was spiralling out of reach, as her warm palms kept reaching out to grasp at any remaining fragments of sanity, but it always created the loop of her fingers stretching out desperately yet reaching at nothing.
The hiccups reaching down her throat and yanking at the headache that pounded against her skull, as her body stumbled towards the front door.
Call it stupidity. She told Barry she was going home.
But she ended up here. And maybe it was because kept telling herself she didn't want to be alone with her intoxicated state, or maybe she just missed the way his eyes felt when they landed on every inch of her body.
Because with him she felt the butterflies dancing inside of her stomach, and how her she would find herself reddening not from embarrassment or anger, but just from the pure shade of red that would resemble the love she felt for the blonde boy with blue eyes.
Her hand tapping on the wooden door as she knocked and knocked in the early hours of the September morning that made her eyes glisten watching the darkened sky which hid her figure with the shadows and mist of the night.
The small light that lit from inside, hearing the growing pattern of footsteps as her eyes grew weaker and weaker.
And then she felt the light stream of tears flood from the brown eyes that her hand tried to wipe away before she felt them connect with beautiful orbs of pure euphoria as he shone his sweet, sapphires.
"Layla?" his voice questioned as his eyes scanned around before landing on her broken figure with an empty bottle of booze in her one hand as she tried to hold herself up strongly but the more, she tried the limper she fell.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I just, I was just- "she stuttered as the words slipped from her lips making her use her teeth to dig into the flesh of her bottom lip feeling the sting after they slice at the broken skin.
His warm palms reaching forward as he saw the blonde girl's eyes redden with the pools that grew under her lashes and then slowly drip down her face.
Layla could feel her heart begin to sink deeper and deeper into her chest, reminding herself of all the words she had spoken to herself on the way here clearly looking insane to anyone that could've seen her.
Her vision grew cloudy and his body in front of her was almost impossible to make out as it all blurred into one oil painted image.
His palms connecting with the sides of her face softly as her held her in his grasp watching as the girl broke down.
Her mind set becoming ever so fragile as her own palm cupped his hand that rested against her flesh bringing to her lips and pressing a gentle kiss to the flesh that held her.
Her eyes connecting directly at the ground as all she could do was mutter soft apologies under her breath.
"I did something-something really bad JJ" she cried.
The look on her face said it all, as he noticed through the raw emotions that glassed over her skin the guilt was the one recognisable feature he could make out.
So his hands gently pulled her in, and their footsteps rhymed with the sound of the wooden floorboards.
His fingers caressing the tissues that he used to wipe each tear and trace of makeup from the drunken girls face as he used his hands to gently tilt her chin upwards.
The tissue wiping softly under her eyes creating the small moment of eye contact that would connect the most simple of colours yet make the moment so more magical it felt euphoric.
She felt the way his fingers gently treaded along her skin as they froze on her face, her eyes lifting so lightly to where they saw his eyes looking straight in her own.
But this wasn't like the other times where he would look away after being caught or would blush a dusty pink.
He kept looking, and she watched as his blue eyes drifted towards her plumped lips causing the electricity to whizz through her body.
And she knew from the light that shone through his window from the midnight sky that the moon itself was smiling with his crooked smile as the couple bathed in the moonlight.
The tissue gently releasing the girls face as his hands fell causing the boy to clear his throat, before grasping at the white shirt that hung over his bed and turning back to the blonde girl that looked half asleep on his mattress.
"Here" he muttered, sitting on the bed beside her and helping her weave her body through the shirt before helping her slip off the tank top from underneath the shirt trying not to peek or make the girl uncomfortable.
Her body falling backwards when she felt the soft pillows melt behind her neck and the strands of hair sway along the cotton.
She listened to the sound of him move throughout his room, his footsteps, and his breathing which the girl focused on after trying to calm her mind from spinning 24 directions.
"JJ" her voice called just above a whisper making every freeze.
"Yeah" he responded, and she went back to hearing the footsteps grow closer as his feet hit the wood beneath them making her swallow the lump that began to clog her throat and shallow her breathing.
She sat herself upwards using the bottom of her elbows to hold her body as her dark eyes found his face looking at her figure which seemed so desperate.
"Can I please just, just have a hug?" she asked the boy, who blinked multiple times in a row before climbing onto the mattress and allowing the blonde girl to lean towards him.
Her head falling onto his chest as he fell next to her, tucking his legs under the sheets and bringing his arms to hold her in place.
His eyes watching her face as she stared directly at the wall, not moving.
Yet he could feel the pace of her heartbeat through his own chest as it felt as if their hearts were communicating with one another through the butterflies of love.
He knew he's love her till the day he died.
Even if it hurt him.
Even if it killed him.
"I think I shot someone" her voice croaked as she listened to each heartbeat create an uneasy pattern from his chest before she felt the shift of weight underneath her.
'Uh, goodnight to you as well?" his voice was deep, as she felt it rumble through his chest.
While his hands came to her blonde hair stroking it from her sweaty forehead causing her chin to lift as she looked up towards his face.
His soft eyes gleaming down at her as she took a breath.
His eyes were a reminder, a reminder of why she was still here. Whether they were mid-argument or not, she needed him.
"Please don't leave me" she told the boy whose brows furrowed in confusion at the blonde girl who sighed ever so lightly it sounded like the tooth fairy fluttering her wings through a sleeping child's bedroom.
"I'm not going anywhere, Rosie" he whispered back, as his hands trailed to her own linking their fingers and holding it tightly.
"I promise, I'll always be here holding your hand" he told the girl before lifting it up and pressing his lips to the tip of her knuckles.
----
"No!" the voice yelled back as she peered through the window watching the three pogues gathered around the front of the house shouting back and forth.
While Layla leaned over the edge listening in to the comments the girl would throw around about the blonde.
"We made a deal JJ! She deals with it herself, that was the deal" Kiara argued as the blonde girl opened the door causing the eyes to turn in her direction making her frown at the curly haired brunette.
Watching as the girl she grew up with rolled her eyes and walked closer to the dark-skinned boy who offered the blonde a gentle smile.
"This is bullshit, I fought with my parents for this crap" she argued as scoffed.
"Okay, I'm sorry that you fell out with your parents Kie, but that literally has nothing to do with me" Layla argued tugging at her forearms as she crossed them in front of her chest.
The white shirt that still hung over her body, like the sea crossing over the sand.
Her eyes moving to Pope who stood there with a guilty expression making the blonde raise her eyebrows at his watching his teeth bite into his lip.
"We're going to the Bahama's to find JohnB and Sarah" he broke as he took a breath after making Kiara turn to him with a glare.
"Great let's go" Layla shrugged walking inside to change her shirt before the grasp of a hand clasped around her wrist making her fall backwards slightly.
Her head spinning around to face Kiara who was shaking her head at the blonde girl with a frown plastered along her tanned features.
"No, you're not going with us, that was the deal we made that some people have clearly forgotten!" she called her eyes turning towards the two boys.
"Why can't I go- "
"-Because you're not one of us, Layla!" Kiara snapped, her words cutting off the blondes immediately as she shut her mouth listening to the Carrera girl's words split her heart into two pieces making it burn as she froze.
The hand that clasped around her wrist grew lighter as slipped more, but the words that still stung for so many reasons caused hurt and anger to race through the Wyatt girl.
As she brought up her free hand to slap it across the face of the brunette.
"Screw you Kie!" Layla shouted making the girl step back instantly releasing her wrist as her own hand went to her cheek, ignoring the boys calling their names and muttering words.
"I am a pogue! I'll always be a fucking pogue!" she snapped, "I spent a whole summer running around like a lunatic just to make sure JohnB was happy and still had some sort of hope that his dad was still breathing." Layla cursed.
"I spent hours on end making sure Pope was prepared for an interview for something he dreamed of getting, or answering every phone call your parents made to my house to lie for your sorry ass when you were running around the streets with Aven!" she cried.
Her chest felt heavy, as she felt everything work its way up to her throat.
She knew she should stop, but she couldn't.
That's the thing about anger.
How it burns at your heart and throat making the words spill out a million different feelings.
"The number of times I cleaned up blood from JJ from some fight he had gotten into or staying up to wait for him to sneak into my window just so he could get at least one good night sleep!"
Her throat felt as if it had blisters crawling up the sides and her tonsils were lit alight with a match that was dancing at the back of her tongue.
"I lost Martha! I lost Aven! I lost my entire family and still got up every fucking morning to look for the pathetic gold, which by the way we ended up losing! So don't you dare walk over here and tell me that I am not a fucking pogue, Kiara"
"Because I gave up everything to help everyone else. And I get that you're mad at me for Aven." Layla spat, using her fingertips to wipe away at the pathetic tears that silently slithered.
"She's the one person I couldn't save in time, and I already blame myself for that! So I do not need you constantly reminding me how everything went to shit because I stood up for myself at the wrong fucking time!" she screamed but her voice began to break as the whimpers and cries cut through her lungs making her burst through with a cough.
The tears that fell against her cheek soaking it dry, she felt as if she hadn't stopped crying and how it felt to be known as the crybaby blonde that killed her entire family by accident.
Yet the arms that forced their way to wrap around her body made her crash, her knees buckle as she fell straight towards the ground landing in the arms of girl whose curly brown hair stuck to her body.
"I'm sorry, okay. I'm sorry" Layla cried as she felt the tears of Kiara roll down her shoulder blade sinking into the top of JJ's shirt as they held each other.
----
Her head that gently rested on his shoulder while she was pulled into a short sleep, bouncing on each bump the tires collided with on the road while the Heyward boy drove, and the Carrera girl offered directions to pull over to a small, wooded area.
The Maybank boy held the blonde girl in his arms for the second time that day, he knew he would eventually go running back to her, but he didn't know whether she would do the same with the amount of pressure that she had be carrying on her shoulders.
He felt guilty that he hadn't realised her stress sooner.
And the pain that rose in his heart when he saw how much she was struggling to cope, and he allowed her to push herself away from him.
Unwrapping himself from the sleeping girl's grasp as he allowed her figure to press against the door while hopping out the opposite side to slither himself out.
He needed fresh air and he needed a moment to breathe.
Seeing the Heyward boy in the distance as Kiara had opened the back of the truck to rest down the blankets they had stuffed under the seats.
His shoes slithering through the damp grass as it swished with each step making the blonde boy cringe.
While leaning against the tree and staring into the star night sky and admiring the way the stars glistened through everything they did.
They reminded him of Layla, the way it didn't matter what was pressing down on her or what colour the sky would be that day she'd always shine so brightly.
And when the sun comes out you never can see the stars but they're always there.
Just like the pain she carried, it's there and it's always been there but the way her smile would plaster up the identity of her feeling completely fine rather than suffering in silent prayers.
"You're thinking too loud" Pope spoke as JJ looked to the side to see him looking at him.
A small chuckle rippled in his throat, as he turned back to the stars.
"Do you love her, JJ?" Pope spoke quietly making his head fall back to the boy who stood beside him. His eyes drifting from Pope's face to the sleeping girl in the truck who was leant against the window.
He would watch as even just seeing her made his heart flutter.
"I don't think I could ever not love her" JJ replied with a click of his tongue, while turning back to the stars that brimmed above them all.
How they watched down like nothing was wrong, and how JJ felt as if the stars were watching his every movement.
"I used to be jealous of what you two had' Pope told JJ.
"So jealous I started to grow feelings for Layla because I saw the way she looked at you, it made me want that with someone" he admitted causing the Maybank boy to shake his head.
"I knew you liked her; it was only Layla who was oblivious to realise you weren't looking at her like you normally would." he chuckled making Pope join in.
The two boys stood under the stars that glazed over their bodies making them realise how grateful they were, even growing up on the rough side they were still standing strong.
They had each other, and that's what got them through it all.
"You need to tell her, if you don't tell her you're going to lose her" Pope reminded the boy who nodded his head.
Only for them both to walk back to the truck and hop onto the blankets that were scattered around along with the two girls that were lying in silence staring up at the pitch-black sky.
The boys grabbing a space to relax as JJ turned over to only see the blonde girl lying up staring directly upwards.
Before hearing the soft peck of Kiara's lips pressing into Pope's skull which made JJ's heart burn. He wanted the awkwardness to stop, he normally wouldn't even hesitate to press his lips on her own but now he couldn't stop thinking about if she felt that way or not.
Her couldn't lose her forever, it would break him.
"Layla, can you please move over a bit" Pope's voice rung out as the mutter of sweet words fell from Layla's lips as she gently pushed her body over more to relax growing closer to the blonde boy who tensed.
"A bit more please, I'm squashed" Pope asked once again.
She moved her body until her shoulder hit the top of JJ's arm when she stopped moving.
Her arms crossing over her body as she hugged herself to bring in a small amount of warmth that would hold her body.
"Layla, I can't breathe right now. Keep going" Pope whispered making the blonde girl groan in annoyance as she moved a tad more making JJ turn his body to face her so she could move over.
But it still wasn't enough for the Heyward boy, who began shuffling around.
"Okay, okay. Can we just go back-to-back please?" he suggested making Layla curse under her breath as she tilted her body sideways until her shoulders ached with pressure and knots that built their way into her joints.
Her eyes connecting with the navy shirt that was wrapped around JJ's torso as a large shove connected with her back making her lean forward straight into the navy shirt.
Her arms grasping onto the light material while JJ's eyes snapped open look directly into the soft eyes of the blonde girl.
His arms making their way down her shoulders to hold her gently, before he watched her lips mouth an apology to him in which he shook his head at the small incident.
Before catching the small smirk of the dark-skinned boy who in fact had plenty of room.
His eyes connecting with her face as he watched her eyes trail to his lips in which his tongue had swiped across many times that day due to nerves that built their way up to his stomach making him feel nauseous.
But she was warm when she fell into his arms, and he was warm when he brought her closer to press the gentle kiss of his lips to her forehead.
Holding her like her promised too.
----
4,616 words : edited.