it was late that night when riley heard the door open downstairs and footsteps to follow the loud sound. this was unusual because she knew her parents weren't arriving home until the next night and her sister was supposed to stay at john b's. once riley heard a large clatter she decided to go down the steps and take a look for herself.
"kiara?" riley called out, seeing the figure of her twin in the dark kitchen. she switched the light on as she walked on to see kie lifting jj's arm from around her neck and sitting him down on the stool.
"hey uh-" kiara began.
"holy shit," riley cut the girl off once her eyes adjusted to the light and she got a good look at the blonde's face. "what happened?"
"your stupid fucking friends happened," kiara grumbled. "listen i have to drive pope home can you... can you clean him up?"
"clean him up?" riley repeated her sisters words. "you can't just leave!"
kiara turned quickly on her heal and made a beeline to the door. "kiara!" riley called out for her once more but the door was quickly shut in the girl's face. riley slowly turned around, biting on the inside of her cheek as she let her eyes fall on the bruised and beat up boy in front of her.
"i can just go," jj said before standing up from the chair. he took one step before stumbling forward due to his lightheadedness. riley quickly grabbed onto both of his arms steadying him before he could fall.
"yeah i don't think so," riley guided the boy back onto the stool. jj was looking down at the ground which caused the girl to place a finger under his chin and tilt his head up so she could get a better look at the cuts and bruises on his face.
"i'm fine," jj muttered.
"you don't look fine." riley walked over to a cabinet, grabbing a wash cloth, hydrogen peroxide and antibiotic cream before closing the door and bringing it all back over to the kitchen counter.
"listen i really don't need you to-"
"shut up," riley cut the blonde off. she wet one end of the washcloth with water and began to gently pat it on jj's bleeding cuts and busted lip.
"rafe did this?" riley asked the boy, assuming he was the friend that kiara had been referring to.
jj nodded, "kelce and topper too. but pope got topper pretty good." the blonde smiled thinking back to how proud he had been of his friend for head butting the kook.
riley only nodded her head, disappointed that her friends would do this to them. "did you do something to anger them?"
"not something that i can tell you," jj replied.
"i'm literally cleaning up your wounds and you can't tell me what you did to those guys to deserve these?" riley motioned to his face.
"hey you're one of them," jj said, referring to the fact that she was a kook. the corner's of his lips quirked upward slightly. "i don't know if i can trust you with this kind of information."
"i'm not a snitch," riley shook her head.
"but how do i know you're not lying?" jj pressed, the small smile still lingering on his lips.
riley had given up on trying to get it out of him. she then took the other half of the cloth and soaked it in the hydrogen peroxide. "this is gonna sting."
jj smile immediately fell from his lips and he sucked in a sharp breath as she reconnected the cloth with his face. he screwed his eyes shut until she was finally done. riley squeezed a little bit of the cream onto her pointer finger and began to dab it over the cuts.
"where'd you learn how to do this?" jj asked the girl.
"well besides it being common sense," riley began, "i watch a lot of medical shows."
"oh yeah?"
"yeah," riley sighed.
"hm," jj hummed in reply, "you wanna be a doctor?"
riley laughed softly at his question, "i don't know, maybe."
"interesting... the more you know," jj teased.
riley rolled her eyes, biting the inside of her cheek to try and keep herself from smiling. once she was done cleaning up his face she got a pack of ice from the fridge. she brought it up to his swollen lip before he reached his hand up to hold it for himself.
"uh riley?" jj began. "are you uh.. are you okay?"
"your the one hurt why are you asking me if-" riley's voice trailed off. the girl had almost forgotten that jj was there to witness her meltdown the night before. "oh. oh you mean-"
"you don't have to be embarrassed about it," the blonde quickly told her. "i just wanted to make sure that you were, you know, doing okay."
riley gulped and dropped her focus to her feet, "kiara told you, right?"
"she didn't tell me anything," jj said. this made the girl lift her head back up to look in the blonde's eyes again. she was confused why kiara hadn't told him l what had cause her breakdown.
"oh," was the only thing that riley managed to mumble.
"you don't.. you don't have to tell me anything either," jj said. "you just, uh, seemed upset."
riley let out a small chuckle at jj's understatement. "yeah. yeah i'm okay now."
"good," jj said quietly. he didn't have to speak loud because of how close the two were. jj's eyes were level with riley as he sat in the stool and she stood in front of him. the blonde let his eyes flicker down to riley's lips for just a moment.
this however didn't go unnoticed by the brunette who was now holding her breath, unsure of what was going to happen.
suddenly the two heard the front door open and riley stumbled backwards, her eyes immediately averting away from jj's. kiara appeared from around the corner and looked between the two.
"well i think heyward's gonna kill pope for that shiner on his eye," kiara announced.
jj stifled out a laugh. "did you drive past the chateau?"
"yup," kiara nodded. "all the lights are out, john b's a goner. do you wanna just stay in our guest room tonight?"
"parents?" jj raised his eye brow.
"not home until tomorrow night," kie affirmed.
"alrighty then," jj said, standing up from his seat. before he walked upstairs with kiara he turned back to face the girl still standing in the kitchen. "thanks for uh.. for cleaning me up."
"no problem."