-
The can rattled as it shook before a hissing sound came from the can as a finger pressed against the top. Baby blue spray paint flew out, painting the white wall blue.
The hissing of the can stopped a minute later, and Wynonna took a step back admiring her work.
There were large beautiful turtles on the wall as if they were swimming under the water.
It was a rare day that Wynonna was hanging out alone. Her friends were all busy, and the animal shelter was closed, so she decided to give some art to the walls of figure eight.
Wynonna had a passion for art. Ever since she was young, she always liked art, painting, her mother used to paint on her free time, most of the time it ended up with the two of them covered in paint head to toe.
Her dad used to laugh at them instead of helping them, and he took pictures. Her mother used to hug her father while he was laughing, and while she was covered in paint.
Wynonna remembered that made her father stop laughing, but it made her mother start laughing, and then her father joined.
Wynonna slightly frowned, remembering that memory. Happy memories were supposed to make you happy, but for Wynonna, it just made her upset, missing her parents more than anything.
"..hey!" Startled, Wynonna turned around and looked down seeing a security guard.
"Get down from there!"
"Shit." Wynonna cursed under her breath and collected her spray cans, tossing them in her bag, and she slung the straps over her shoulders before she headed down.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, she bolted.
"Hey, stop!" The security guard chased her, but Wynonna didn't stop.
Her heart hammered in her chest full of adrenaline and excitement. Sure, the fear of actually getting caught was there, but in that moment, she didn't really care.
Her aunt wasn't that uptight. She cared about most things, but like Wynonna, she also had a passion for art, and she had told Wynonna all about her teen days she spent painting on walls and running from the cops.
Surely, her aunt would be more disappointed in her for getting caught than painting on some random figure eight building.
Wynonna saw boats, and she made her way over, jumping over the wooden gate before she jumped over a railing and into a boat, instantly hitting the ground, taking deep breaths.
Her cheeks were red, and her lungs felt like they were on fire, but Wynonna let out a small quiet laugh as she heard security run by.
She turned and peaked her head up, not seeing anyone around.
"..Nonna, what are you doing on my boat?" Letting out a startled shout, Wynonna spun around, her wide eyes spotting Rafe who was standing behind her.
"This is your boat? I wasn't stealing it or anything! I..I was just hiding from..security." Wynonna replied with an awkward smile.
Rafe took in her appearance. She had black short shorts with a red and black flannel shirt with her signature red sneakers.
He noticed the dark blue backpack that had a blue spray can hanging off of it, and he noticed the paint on her clothes and hands.
"..you're the mystery painter that's always leaving graffiti on our walls." Rafe spoke, taking a step closer to her.
Wynonna let out a small scoff, "graffiti? Dude, it's not graffiti. It's art. Art isn't graffiti. It's something beautiful with a deep meaning behind it."
Rafe was standing in front of her now, and he leaned down, so he was eye level with her.
He grinned at how short she was compared to him. "..what's the meaning behind the art, you left on my car?"
Wynonna innocently smiled at him, "I'm sure you know the meaning of that one, I mean, sure, Top had his karma for beating up Pope, but you really didn't, I had to do something, and I was going to slash your tires too, but having your car honk every time you press on the gas, was pretty funny."
Rafe rolled his eyes ," that was fucking annoying. Do you know how much that cost to get that fix?"
Wynonna shook her head. "No, I don't own a car, but it must've cost you some ego and dignity, right?"
Rafe saw that stupid grin on her face. It wasn't exactly stupid, more stunning than anything, but Rafe found it annoyingly stunning.
"You owe me a car." Rafe told her, and Wynonna scoffed, pushing him back and pointing a finger at him.
She looked like a tiny poodle. "And you owe Pope money for his trauma that he got because of you and Topper, oh, and also JJ. I know what you did at the misummers, I shouldn't even be talking to you."
She turned around to walk away, but Rafe's hand shot out, stopping her from walking away.
"..I saw your pogue friends with Sarah earlier, what's up with that?" Rafe questioned, trying to get information for his father.
Wynonna looked at him confused before glancing down at his hand that was on her arm.
He rolled his eyes and removed his hand, already missing the way her skin felt against his hand.
Wynonna turned to face him, "what are you talking about? My friends were busy today."
Rafe grinned to himself. So, those pogues were leaving Wynonna behind. He felt bad for her, but maybe he could use it to get closer to her.
Rafe shook his head, "Sorry to tell you, Nonna, but your friends were all hanging out without you."
Wynonna frowned. She didn't want to believe rafe, and she wasn't. Her friends just wouldn't leave her out of anything.
"..you can come back when you see it for yourself. My boat is always open for you." Rafe voice snapped out of her mind.
"Thought you hated pogues?" She asked, and Rafe shrugged.
"You're the exception."
Wynonna shook her head before she left Rafe's boat, and Rafe watched her leave with a smirk on his face, knowing that she would be back.
His smirk slightly faltered as he remembered how messy the boat was. Wynonna was gonna scold him for having the boat dirty and trash.
He let out a small groan at the thought of cleaning, but for Wynonna, it was worth it.
"Things I do for her." He mumbled to himself.
-
Wynonna headed to the chateau. The sky was darkening, and as she walked closer, she saw the light was on, and a smile made its way to her face.
There was no way Rafe was right. It was Rafe cameron, number one pogue hater. Wynonna wouldn't be surprised if he made a club of just pogue haters..wait, he already did.
Wynonna chuckled to herself at that thought. As she reached the chateau, she heard laughter, and she paused, the smile on her face disappearing as she saw her friends with Sarah.
She shouldn't be thinking much of it. Maybe they all just arrived like her, but a part of her was believing rafe.
Wynonna was gonna hate herself for doubting her friends later. She pulled out her phone and shot a quick text to the group chat.
She just asked if they were free and wanted to hang out.
The replies came back a few minutes later. One by one, all of them said they were busy.
Wynonna didn't reply. Instead, she put her phone away and left.
She couldn't believe it. Why. That's all that she wondered. Why?
-
JJ frowned as Wynonna didn't reply back to them. He glanced up from his phone and noticed the frowns from the others.
"We should tell her, she deserves to know," JJ spoke, causing everyone to look at him.
"She's in this with us, and she's birdy." JJ continued, his birdy deserves to know, and not be left behind.
He can't leave her behind. He won't. It doesn't matter what everyone agrees on. He's going to tell her.
"..so, what? We just go up to her and say that the car accident that took her parents' life and almost hers wasn't an accident? That's gonna destroy her, finding out her parents were murdered." Kiara said, her eyes full of guilt, having the same thought as JJ.
"Yeah? And us leaving her behind is gonna destroy her more!" JJ snapped, and he glared at Sarah,
"Including her and not birdy is gonna break birdy," JJ said, and he shook his head.
"I am not going to ditch her like Sarah did, or did you all forget about that, huh? I'm pretty sure none of you forgot how devastated she was, or how much she was struggling with her parents' death, and the fact that her friend up and ghosted her months after her parents death." JJ spat out
"She forgave me, JJ." Sarah spoke up, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Birdy might have forgiven you, but I haven't, I won't because you hurt birdy, and you broke her heart, and we had to pick up the pieces while you lived your comfortable life in your big ass mansion." JJ told her,
"You think I wasn't hurting?" Sarah asked, stepping closer, and JJ chuckled
"Honestly, I could give a rats ass if you were hurting, I'm pretty sure feeling suffocated and overwhelmed by your life choices was nothing compared to what birdy was feeling." He said,
Sarah huffed in disbelief, and John B stepped in. "JJ.."
JJ shook his head, "how can you forget John B? How can you all forget the promise we made birdy after her parents died? How can you of all people get with her." JJ gestured to Sarah, who looked down at her shoes.
JJ scoffed, "Guess I'm the only one here that truly cares about birdy." He spat out and turned around, and walked out of the chateau
"JJ, wait!" The others followed him, "look, I want to tell Birdy as much as you do, but do you remember how bad her depression was? I'm sure you do." Kiara said,stopping him.
"Yeah, I remember because I was the one with her every single day, I remember because I slept outside of her room because I was afraid she was gonna hurt herself, I remember everything, but if she get depressed again, I'll be there, just like before." JJ said, stepping aside Kiara.
"Maybe she won't get depressed. Maybe she'll want to find out who murdered her parents, and she'll put herself in danger." Kiara agrued, stepping in front of JJ, who scoffed.
"You are not stupid, Kiara. We're on a search for John B's dad and the gold, that's dangerous. I'll rather be on birdy side than let her do things alone." JJ replied
"I don't want to see hurting again!" Kiara snapped, glaring up at JJ. "She's my best friend,and I was there too, JJ. I remember, and I don't want to see her like that again."
"Then don't." JJ spat, before shoved her aside a bit.
"JJ, wait, we'll tell her once our information is solid," Pope butted in, stopping JJ this time.
"Look, her parents being murdered is just a guess. We don't know for sure, and if we tell her now..if we tell her without making sure our information is correct, she'll hate us, and probably go into a deep depression and won't let us see her." Pope told him, knowing it was wrong of him, wrong of all of them.
All of them knew how much JJ cared for birdy, and using birdy against him was playing dirty, but it did the trick.
JJ scoffed, shaking his head. "She's gonna hate us anyway."
He went back inside of the chateau, slamming the door.
JJ glanced behind him, seeing his friends plus Sarah quietly talking among themselves. He grabbed his phone from the table and went over to the letter on the counter.
He glanced back at the others before he took a photo of the letter, making sure it was readable before he sent the photo to birdy and he saw the others walking over and he quickly placed his phone back on the table and grabbed some beer.
He glared at Sarah as he walked past her, taking a large swing of the beer.
He wasn't going to forgive her for hurting his birdy, and he wasn't going to forgive himself for hurting birdy either, but she deserved to know.
She always had his back, and he has hers.
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Word count - 2097
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