The rest of the week passed without incident. Jotaro wasn't there, weather it was just science class or not at school in general, you didn't know. Leon was unamused, upset with being saddled with a partner that was unreliable and ignoring time they could have used in class to work on their project. In the back of your mind you thought about sending Jotaro a message, seeing if he was alright, but in the end decided against it. Leon wasn't wrong, it would have been nice to get a head start on things, but instead you both took time to do some research and take notes to later add into an essay.
The final bell rang and the weekend officially began. You rushed to your locker and opened it, having not learned your lesson the last week or any other weeks before, you tossed your books inside; it was a Monday problem now. You waited for (B/f) before beginning your journey to her house, eager to change out of your school uniform and get the weekend started. You had told (B/f) about how you were awkwardly forced to partner with both Jotaro and Leon, the latter not happy about the situation. (B/f) did like the idea of going to the aquarium though, which of course you extended an invitation to; why not make a day of it? It was right next to the beach, which meant that after everyone was done maybe you all could spend some time there. You wondered in the back of your mind if Jotaro would partake. He didn't seem like the type to go laugh and frolic in the ocean, but then again neither were you. Being in the ocean gave you anxiety, not knowing what could reach out and grab you in the depths, so you usually kept close to the shore. Maybe Jotaro would be one of those people that sit and read on the beach, reading a book under an umbrella or something. Your mind conjured up an image him sitting under a beach umbrella, gentle smile on his face. (B/f) took notice of your far off gaze as well as a light dusting of blush that covered your cheeks.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked cheekily, leaning in close to you.
You just shook your head, clearing away your thoughts in the process, "Nothing. Just how weird the beginning of this week was." You answered.
"I'll admit, it was a weird week for you. Why can't I have fun and exciting things happen to me?" (B/f) complained.
"I wouldn't say it was fun or exciting. I got beat up by a volley ball, yelled at by the school bad boy, and then was somehow wrangled into a group project with him. By the way, I'm trying to keep in on the down low that he and I are partners. The last thing I need is a bounty on my head from his fan girls; they're still giving me dirty looks over the whole ankle thing, I don't need more fuel added to the fire."
(B/f) made a zipping motion across her lips, "My lips are sealed." She giggled with a wink. You rolled your eyes good naturedly. You looked up, noticing that you were getting close to Jotaro's house.
"Anyway," You said, changing the subject. "What are we doing this weekend?" (B/f) just shrugged.
"I don't know, stay up late, play video games, and binge on junk food." Hey eyes lit up, remembering something, "Oh, yeah, I had my mom pick up snacks for us, that way we don't have to go to the store." She continued to talk a out the snacks and how her mother tried to make her do extra chores in exchange, but you were only half listening, eying the Kujo residence out of the corner of your she as you approached. (B/f)'s story trailed off as she noticed you weren't paying attention any longer.
"You miss your boyfriend?" Your face exploded in a blush, whipping around to see (B/f)'s Cheshire cat grin.
"What? No, quit it." You shushed her, looking at the front door, as if afraid Jotaro would hear or sense you somehow and burst through the door, yelling at you for being a stalker or something. When no such thing happened, you let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding. (B/f) joined you in looking at the house as you passed, you being much more discreet in doing so.
"Damn, I wonder just how big that house is." She commented quietly.
"Big enough for a library." You muttered under your breath.
"What?" She whisper yelled, "Who the hell has a library in their house?"
"The Kujo's apparently."
As predicted, you and (B/f) spent the weekend playing video games and eating junk food; if you could call the healthful snacks (B/f)'s mom bought 'junk food'. Sunday was always a lazy day for the pair of you, loitering around the house for as long as possible to stretch the weekend out before your parents demanded you come home since it was a school night. You sat on the beanbag at the door of (B/f)'s bed while she was perched on top of the bed, sprawled out on her stomach. Both of you looking mindlessly at your phones, sitting in comfort silence, being broken occasionally as you showed one another a funny photo.
Your phone alerted you to a new text, probably from your mom telling you to come home. You groaned, gaining (B/f)'s attention. You opened the message, eyes enlarging as you realized it was indeed not your mother.
'My house, Monday after school.' A follow up text was sent, simply containing his address.
"Oooh, his house, huh?" From her vantage point on the bed, (B/f) could easily look over your shoulder and read the text messages. Your face turned red as you clutched your phone to your chest, and turned to see her grinning down at you.
"First of all, don't you know it's impolite to read other people's text? Second of all, my grade is depending on this, so if that means having to go to his house, then there's not much else I can do. " You began typing out a response, away from (B/f)'s prying eye. "Besides, Leon is going too."
'Works for me, I'll text Leon and let him know.' You hit send and switched over to you and Leon's conversation, letting him know.
'We can walk there together after school, safety is in numbers lol' Leon replied. Leon had confided in you earlier that week that he didn't like nor trust Jotaro in general, especially when you were involved, but you didn't feel threatened by Jotaro; no more so than usual, that is. You received another text, this time it was from your mom, telling you to get your butt home. You gathered your stuff with a sigh. Another weekend drawing to a close. Tomorrow it would be business as usual.
Monday was just like any other day. It drug on it seemed, but that could have been the anxiety about going to Jotaro's house after school. He wasn't at school, which put Leon in a foul mood, but you assured him that you'd make sure all three of you worked hard to make up for lost time on the project; half the class hadn't even started. You found Leon waiting outside the front doors to the school.
"Well," He adjusted his backpack on his shoulder, "You ready?"
You shrugged, "I guess so." Your tone lifted towards the end, making it sound more like a question rather than a statement. "I'm sure we'll have fun." You offered trying to keep optimistic. You had no idea why you were so nervous, you weren't alone, you had Leon. You spent the rest of the walk trying to keep calm and tell yourself that everything was OK and nothing was weird about this situation. Just two science partners going to study with their other science partner that, for some reason, insisted that you and he be partners; nothing weird.
"This is it." You said as you and Leon passed the small gate that secured the property. It was a beautiful house for sure. Your pulse quickened as Leon knocked on the front door, truth be told you didn't know if you personally would have had the courage to do so. A fair headed lady answered the door with a bright smile on her face.
"Hello, you must be Jotaro's class mates! Please, come in." You and Leon exchanged glances before walking inside, taking off your shoes. You'd seen Mrs. Kujo before, at school events, but never interacted with her. She was always cheering for her son, obviously very proud of him in his younger years. As the years passed Jotaro seemed to outgrow his youthful vigor and was now seemingly bitter towards everyone. At least his mother kept the same spirit. "Jotaro should be in the library," She said, interrupting your thoughts, "I'll take you both there."
"Thank you, ma'am." You said politely, enjoying the feeling of the tatami mat under your feet. You and Leon followed her down the hall, both of you eyeing the various photos upon the wall out of the corner of your eye. One in particular caught your eye, causing you to stop for a moment. You knew this photo, you had the same one in your house. It was taken at a school sports festival, all the students who participated grouped together. Your eyes automatically located you, just out of habit when looking at the photo, as you slightly cringed at your younger self.
"That was my Jotaro back in 5th grade," Mrs. Kujo pointed to him in the back of the group, already tall for his age. "He was tall back then too, but hadn't grown into his head." Leon began to snicker as you elbowed him as a sign to behave.
"I can't really comment, I had the worst haircut back then." You pointed out yourself in the photo, the small girl in the front with the blunt cut hair, to which Leon full out began laughing at. Mrs. Kujo looked at you, starry eyed.
"So, you and Jotaro grew up together?" You mulled it over in your head; sort of. You more grew up around each other.
"I mean, kind of, yeah." You settled on that as an answer and Mrs. Kujo seemed as though she was going to cry for a moment.
"That's..." She started to say, before emotions took over and she yelled, "That's so adorable!" You were taken aback a bit, remained smiling none the less. You scratched the back of your neck in embarrassment, as Mrs. Kujo continued to lead you both down the hall. Leon flashed you a glance before discreetly showing you something on his phone. It was a zoomed in photo of younger you with your terrible haircut, set to show up when you would call or text him. You broke out in a blush as you pursed your lips while glaring at Leon's mischievous face.
"Jotaro!" Mrs. Kujo called out as they approached as open set of doors, shelves upon shelves of books lined the room. "Your friends are here!"
"You're so damn annoying." Jotaro said sternly as he came out from between two of the book shelves. You and Leon both were taken aback at how he talked so harshly to his mother so casually.
"I almost forgot to ask, are you two staying for dinner?" You looked over at Leon for guidance; you didn't want to stay if he wasn't. Leon looked back at you, as if doing the same thing you were.
"Um," You began, shifting your gaze over towards Mrs. Kujo, "I'm not sure, I'll have to ask my mom." That excuse would give you sufficient time to ask Leon his thoughts.
"No problem, I'll check in with you guys later!" She blew her son a kiss and left the three of you to start studying. You turned to see Jotaro seemingly clenching his jaw in annoyance as he watched his mom disappear.
"So," You began uneasily, unsure of what to say in this situation. Leon took the lead,
"So, now that we're all here," Leon emphasized, "we can finally get started on our project. Me and (Y/n) have been working while you've been absent." His tone was laced with hints of anger, sending your heart rate soaring. You didn't want a fight on your hands.
"That's OK, we- um, we can all work together and help one another out." You looked from Leon to Jotaro, both sporting narrowed eyes at one another. "So, where should we start looking for books on dolphins, or marine life?" Distractions. You needed to divert their attention back to the task at hand. Jotaro's narrow aqua blue eyes shifted down to your (e/c) ones, softening a bit.
"Over here." He said brushing past Leon and leading you to a large book case. It was filled with various books about things like space, animals, Earth in general, and tons of other science based things. There were quite a few about marine life and the ocean; maybe Jotaro really was interested in all this stuff after all. "Any of these should do." He said as he ran a finger along their spines. You mentally plated 'eenie-meenie-miney-mo' and proceeded to choose the one you landed on. It was a thick hardback book, seemingly well read judging by the folds in the spine. Just as you'd ran your hand down the book's spine something ran it's hand down yours. You quickly jumped away from whatever it may be and ended up brushing up against Jotaro. Oddly enough he didn't seem to react to your odd reaction, he just looked down at you for a few moments before reaching by you and also retrieving a book.
"Thanks." You said as you ducked your head, brushing past him in the narrow space between the bookshelves, returning towards the front of the library where Leon sat at a low round table. He was fiddling on his phone, having already pulled out his notebook and other supplies.
An hour went by, everyone just brainstorming and you writing down a rough draft of the essay, both Leon and Jotaro helping out with rephrasing words and eliminating unnecessary wording. Leon stretched his arms out, leaning back.
"Oi, Kujo, where's the restroom?" You'd taken notice that the two boys, what little they spoke each other, would call one another by their last names. Jotaro's eyes cut over to Leon, looking at him for a moment before giving Leon directions. The fact that the directions had several turns involved baffled you; imagine living in a house that you'd need a map to get around. Leon gave you a mock salute before walking out of the room, leaving you and Jotaro alone. You continued to look down at the book before you, not really reading it, just more so avoiding eye contact or and awkward dialogue. Apparently, Jotaro didn't like that idea.
You let out a squeak as his hand slammed upon the table. Your wide (e/c) eyes traveled upwards ,tracing up his arm until you met his eyes which were locked onto you, eyebrows furrowed. This was it, now that you were alone with him, he was finally going to kill you and bury you in his backyard.
"You're so damn quiet." He said finally, taking his hand off the table adjusting his hat, "It's annoying. You don't talk to me, but you're always talking to that idiot, Caldwell." A light blush dusted your face. He was right, you had really only talked to Leon the whole time, joking as usual; you probably looked like a complete jerk.
"I'm sorry. I guess I just assumed that you'd find me talking to you to be annoying, honestly." You paused, taking a moment to look away in embarrassment. "I mean, I see girls talk to you all the time, I just figured you probably wouldn't appreciate another." Not to mention that should you have any friendship with Jotaro, those same girls trying to talk to him would probably get out their pitchforks and torches. He crossed his arms and hummed in response, his eyes looking down at the table as if trying to find the right words.
"That's different, I don't find you to be annoying. Not all the time anyway." He muttered quietly, eyes turning to meet yours. That was probably the closest thing to a compliment that you would hear from Jotaro Kujo. The moment was broken by your phone altering you to a text message. You opened it and immediately had to fight back the urge to facepalm yourself. Leon sent you the photo of your younger self that he'd taken earlier that day. You muttered a quiet, 'Idiot' before sending him a rude response.
"Is that you?" You looked up from the phone screen to see Jotaro learning towards you, looking over your shoulder.
"Hey!" Just as you did with (B/f), you clutched your phone to your chest, away from his prying eyes, "You and (B/f), I swear. Yes, Leon took it from that photo of the 5Th grade sports festival." You said rolling your eyes. As if on cue, Leon walked in and sat back down in his previous spot, you shot him a look before going back to writing the paper, this time actually taking time to talk to Jotaro as opposed to just talking around him. Leon's phone vibrated, interrupting you all. He looked at it and closed his notebook.
"That's mom, she wants me home." Leon announced as he began packing his bag. You looked at your own phone, checking the time. It was still early, only 5pm. A part of you wanted to leave with Leon, but the other part if you wanted to stay for some reason. Maybe it was the comfort of knowing that Jotaro didn't find you completely annoying; only slightly you supposed. "See you tomorrow, (Y/n), Kujo." And like that it was back to just you and Jotaro. You spent a few moments staring at the door Leon had just left through before turning your attention back to the large teen beside you.
"I guess that means we're done for the day." Jotaro stated, closing the book in front of him. You followed suit and closed your own book, looking down at the cover.
"I suppose. We made good progress though," That statement could be meant for both the project as well as you and Jotaro in general. "Leon mentioned earlier today that he was off this weekend and that it would be a great time for us to all go to the aquarium." Truth be told you couldn't wait. You loved the aquarium, most of it anyway, the shark tunnel was kind of scary. "Oh, and since it's right by the beach we could all go there afterwards and hang out and do, um, beach stuff." You scratched the back of your neck, still curious as to if Jotaro even enjoyed the beach. You were surprised to see that he had a small smile on his usually brooding face.
"I would like that." He said simply as he stood up and walked towards the door. Not wanting to be left behind, you followed. He opened a door that led to the inner courtyard, a beautiful pond, complete with a gorgeous landscape made you breathless; it was magical feeling. He motioned for you to go ahead, but didn't back up. You awkwardly brushed against him as you cleared the door, turning away so he didn't see the blush on your face.
You two just stood there for a moment, appreciating the scenery, before Jotaro fished a cigarette out of his pocket. You watched out of the corner of your eye as he produced a lighter and lit it. It wasn't a secret that Jotaro smoked, you could smell it on him whenever he was next to you as well as having witnessed him smoking in the courtyard at school. You two just sat in comfortable silence for a bit, before Jotaro's mother called out to him.
"Jotaro! Jotaro, dinner is ready!" He took a long drag from his cigarette before discarding it.
"Yare Yare Daze, so damn annoying, having to yell across the house to find one another." He began to walk along the wooden walkway along the house, before noticing you hanging back a second. "What?" He asked looking over his shoulder, sounding annoyed that you were holding him up. Your eyes snapped up to his.
"Maybe I should go home, I don't want to intrude or anything." You said as you shifted your weight nervously. He continued to look at you his brow furrowing a bit.
"Just shut up and come eat."
I feel like my writing style is going to shit. Idk maybe it's just me.
Damn. This chapter was long.
This is a slow burn, but things are happening, you just don't know it yet.
I have a plan.