Chapter Twenty:
Just Like A Princess
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Fallon looked around, standing on her tippy toes in search of Kie or Pope, both had disappeared just a few minutes ago and she felt out of place without someone to talk to. She knitted her eyebrows together when she saw the back of Pope's head as he talked to a boy in a waiter's uniform. Smiling in satisfaction, she carefully stepped down the stairs as to not rip the expensive fabric, before making her way through the crowd. She watched him until he turned and walked away, disappearing into the crowd and revealing who he had been talking to. Her breath hitched in her throat when her eyes landed on JJ, a large grin forming as she took a fistful of her dress's fabric in her hands to avoid tripping when she ran over to him. "JJ."
She came to a stop, smoothing out her dress as JJ turned around at the sound of his name. JJ choked on the air in his lungs when his eyes landed on her. He had no time to take in her appearance as Fallon already had him engulfed in her arms. She squeezed him tightly, letting her eyes fall shut as his arms wrapped around her waist, "Woah, woah, woah. Did you miss me or something?"
Fallon grinned as she pulled away and stepped back to look at him. His heart skipped a beat as she smiled up at him, her eyes sparkling as she met his gaze. "Hi.."
" Wow.." JJ breathed out, shaking his head to pull himself from his daze as his eyes fell to her lips. He raised his eyes to meet Fallon's, swallowing thickly as her red lips curved into a dazzling grin. "You look-You look... You look like a princess."
Fallon blushed, a giggle slipping past her lips as she looked down to her feet, "Thanks.. Hey, did you know that there's a volcano on Mars that's, like, three times bigger than Everest?"
"Wouldn't wanna be on Mars when that fuckin' thing erupts." JJ joked. Fallon laughed, teasingly rolling her eyes and shaking her head. JJ saw the look flash in her eyes when she spotted the bruises forming. His shoulders drooped as he looked down towards his feet in embarrassment.
"JJ.." Her smile fell when her eyes landed on the bruises forming on the side of his face, "Who.. who did that?"
She carefully rose her hand, glancing at him for permission as her fingers brushed along the bruise. Her hand immediately dropped to her side when he winced at the contact, "JJ.."
He clenched his jaw, avoiding eye contact with her as he balled his hands into his fist. Her gaze didn't leave him until he turned his head to meet her eyes, "This? Uh, this was.. you know, my dad. You know, he has that right jab."
"JJ." Fallon whispered, blinking away the tears forming in her eyes as she watched his facial expression change. "Does it hurt?"
"Don't worry about it, Fal." JJ answered, "It's under control, I'll be getting that Fallon the second after all."
"Wait, what?" Fallon shook her head in confusion as he pointed at her and backed away. "Does that mean we're back on with the high-stakes treasure hunt?"
"Stay here." JJ pointed at her, "I'll be back, okay?"
"Staying here." Fallon nodded in confirmation, resting her hands on her shoulders as she watched him walk over to Sarah. A small smile formed on her face as she watched him dance with Sarah, discreetly handing her a note.
An annoyed scoff left her lips as she spotted Rafe and Kelce out of the corner of her eye making their way towards JJ. She quietly began walking over to where JJ stood, ready to defend him if the need were to come. Which, when dealing with the two she would be, would come.
"I'm wondering if you could get me a mai tai, my friend." Rafe said, grabbing JJ by the shoulders and forcing him to look at him.
"Rafe, you better leave him be." Fallon warned, pointing at him as she pushed through the crowd to get to them.
"Yeah, Pogue, how about you make that two?" Kelce said, glancing over at Fallon and reaching forward to pull her into him. Fallon shifted uncomfortably, struggling against Kelce's strong hold on her. "Maybe three, if your lady friend would like to join us."
"She wouldn't, I'm sorry." Fallon said, not bothering to make eye contact with him.
"Actually," JJ said, his eye twitching as a fake smile plastered itself onto his face as he pried Kelce's hands off of Fallon. Fallon quickly stepped away from Rafe and Kelce, moving to stand behind JJ as he sized the two boys up subtly. "I'm on the clock right now, but you guys look spiffy. You know, uh, I got a few orders ahead of you. So, why don't you guys just go ahead and wait by the bar-"
"No, we're going to wait here." Rafe said stubbornly, crossing his arms.
"Well, like I said, I have a few orders ahead of you." JJ repeated, "Now, you're welcome to wait here, but first come first serve. So, until then, help yourselves to hors d'oeuvres."
"Oh, yeah." Rafe challenged, turning and motioning for his friends to join. "JJ's gonna serve us some hors d'oeuvres. Right?"
Fallon stepped out of the way as JJ began to back up when Kelce and Rafe began closing in on him. She followed closely behind the group of boys as JJ motioned to a real waiter with a plate full of food. "Uh, well, here are the hors d'oeuvres. Right here. I'll be right back, okay?"
Fallon held her dress above her feet to keep up with the increased pace. "We're actually gonna follow you in here, just to make sure.."
"Oh, dear." Fallon muttered as JJ made a run for it, shortly followed by Rafe and his friends. "Great. Great. Great. Lovely, great, awesome, great."
"There's a back way to get there faster." A girl said.
Fallon jumped, turning to look at the blonde girl standing with an apologetic smile on her face. She pointed to a doorway behind Fallon as she spoke. "Oh, uh, thank you..."
"Lila." The girl, Lila, smiled, a hint of pain hiding behind it.
"Lila." Fallon repeated, nodding in thanks.
"See you around." Lila waved as Fallon opened the door, disappearing behind it.
"She was nice." Fallon muttered to herself as she made her way through the twisting hallways, increasing her speed when she heard a crash. Fallon's heartbeat rang in her ears as she came to another door. She opened it, grimacing as she stepped out into the men's locker room. "Gross."
A horrified gasp left her lips as she turned the corner to see Kelce holding JJ in a chokehold as the blond struggled to free himself. "JJ!"
Rafe looked up, smiling when he locked eyes with her. "Aw, look who's come to see the show."
"Fuck you!" Fallon spat, narrowing her eyes at him. "Let him go!"
"Hold him still." Rafe ordered, looking down at his watch, "What do you think? A four iron, right?"
"Stop!" Fallon shouted, running in front of JJ and holding her hands out. "Rafe, stop."
Rafe rolled his eyes at the inconvenience, snapping and pointing to her as a way to order one of the boys to deal with the distraction. In the blink of an eye, a dark-haired boy had her by the elbows and pulled her back. "Wait, hey, don't touch me. Let me go. Let me go."
She struggled against the grip the mystery boy held on her. "Let me go."
"Keep his head still, I'm gonna line this up." Rafe shook his hand out to loosen his knuckles as Fallon pulled against his right hand, looking over at JJ in desperation.
"Very Rafe of you, Rafe." JJ struggled out, his voice strained from the lack of air. "Five on two."
"If you could please stop talking." Rafe taunted, "It's very disrespectful when I'm trying to hit a ball. Learn your etiquette, my friend."
"Rafe, please." Fallon pleaded, trying to pull her arms forward. "I don't wanna hurt this kid.. Please, let us go."
"Your face looks really bad." Rafe ignored her pleads, leaning down to be eye-to-eye with JJ. "Starting to look like your dad a lot more."
The second the sentence left Rafe's mouth, Fallon rose her foot behind her and nailed the boy holding her back right in the crotch. A groan left his lips as he freed her, toppling onto the chair beside him. At the same time this was happening, JJ spit on Rafe.
"Oh, shit!" Rafe laughed in shock, looking at his friend on the chair to JJ. "That was-"
"Lady and gentlemen!" A well-dressed man said, flicking the lights on and off to gain the attention of them. The second Kelce heard the voice, he shoved JJ away. "Is there a problem?"
"Oh! Pardon me, officer. No, there's no issue, I was just.. Well, actually, yes. Yes, there is an issue." JJ said, panting in between his words. "We got a criminal trespass in progress here. Beep! Call it in, right?"
Rafe anxiously pulled on his ear as Fallon smoothed out her dress, avoiding making eye contact with the security guard. JJ ran his hand through his hair as he continued, "Blatant disrespect for private property, I'm in violation of all kinds of shit, sir. But these young gentlemen.."
"Don't touch my shit." Kelce snapped as JJ lifted his hands to fix his bowtie.
"Uh, caught me, sir. And they're about to take me away. And that's what you should do. Escort me out of here. You got me."
The guard let out a sigh, clearly unimpressed as he grabbed JJ by the wrist and started to pull him away from the scene. "Fix that tie, son. Uh, you're lookin' spiffy too. You Powerpuff Girls have fun.
"You know, your girl's pretty sexy, you know, for a Pogue." Rafe jabbed, smiling in satisfaction when JJ's body went rigid, "I might have to get in on that sometime. If you know what I mean. You won't mind, will you?"
JJ pulled himself from the guard's grasp, lunging toward Rafe without a second thought as Fallon jumped back. "Fuck you, Rafe! You wish."
"Hey, hey!" The guard struggled to pull JJ away from Kelce and JJ. "Stop it, come here. Let's go."
"You think I'm afraid of you?" JJ taunted. "Huh?"
"Hey, safe travels back to the cut!" Rafe shouted as Fallon shoved past him, lifting her dress to catch up with JJ and the security guard.
"This ain't over!" JJ snapped as Fallon ducked under the security guard's arm to get through the doorway.
"Hey, hey, it was really nice seein' you two again!"
"You have to let him go." Fallon crossed her arms as the guard held a tight grip on JJ's neck.
"No." The guard said sternly, not batting an eye.
"Yeesh." Fallon muttered under her breath as he opened the door to the outside of the party.
"Hey, look-look, man, I can walk by myself." JJ said, gesturing to his legs as the guard pulled him through the crowd. "Look, I got legs! Can you see that, brother?"
"Shut up."
"All right, I really appreciate what you did back there. Let me just walk out by myself." Fallon shifted in embarrassment as the crowd's eyes turned to her and JJ as the guard forcefully shoved JJ in front of him. "Oh, Mr. Dunleavy, I see you got your drink. Good, that's nice of you."
"JJ." Fallon cringed as JJ took the drink from the man's hands.
"I'm actually gonna down that."
"What the hell's the matter with him?" Mr. Dunleavy rose his eyebrows, clearly unamused as the crowd gasped in horror.
"Sorry, sir." The man apologized as JJ handed the glass back, groaning as the liquid burned his throat. Fallon shook her head, coming to a stop on the staircase.
"I, uh, really appreciate the discretion, Daryl, you know?" JJ said as Daryl released him from his grasp. "It's okay, everybody! Do not panic. Let the men and women in uniform handle it. Let's hear it for them! Rose! You look like lady liberty."
"Oh, my gosh.." Fallon grabbed a fistful of fabric, watching as he walked out into the middle of the crowd and clapped. She glanced over at Kie as she stepped up to stand beside her, an angry look on her face.
"It's good to see you again. Oh, hey buddy! Can I have one of those?"
"Let go of him!" Kie shouted as Fallon nodded in agreement, even if she knew her opinion didn't matter to them. Kie's parents looked around in embarrassment as they stood behind them. "You can't just boot him!"
"Excuse me, ma'am?" The guard paused to look at her. "Really?"
"I invited him here!"
"Kiara, stop." Mrs. Carrera scolded, looking around sheepishly as the crowd's attention fell to her.
"Stop it, Kiara." Her dad scolded. Fallon gulped, slowly backing away from the scene.
"I'm a member of this club." Kie said.
"Shit." Fallon muttered, slipping past the Carrera's and walking towards JJ as he suddenly shoved the guard, knocking him into the waiter behind him.
"Sorry about that!" JJ apologized, spinning on his heel to look at Kie and Fallon. "Mandatory power hour at Rixon's, Fal. Pope, Kie, you guys as well. All right? Rixon's cove, let's roll."
"JJ," Fallon shot him a look, "Come on."
"All right, Kie, come on!" JJ said, looping his arm around Fallon's and pulling her with him. "Workers of the world unite."
Fallon blocked him out, focusing on not tripping on her dress as he pulled her with him at an unsteady speed. "Throw off your chains!"
"Slow down." Fallon scolded,
"Oh, sorry." JJ said, slowing his footsteps as he came across John B.
"Colonel."JJ greeted, saluting him.
"Captain." John B replied.
"Holy shit." Fallon grinned, pulling John B into a hug. "Thought you, like, died."
"Mission accomplished, sir." JJ smiled.
"Kie!" Fallon grinned, motioning for her to join them. A bubbly laugh left her lips as she stumbled back when Kie crashed into her arms, "Glad to have you with us."
"Glad to be here." Kie grinned, pulling away from the hug and sliding her arm around Fallon's shoulders as Fallon rested her arm around Kie's waist.
"Let's go!" JJ shouted into the night, "Whoo!"
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{ A/n: when i tried to update setting sun wattpad deleted the work ive spent the last hour on 🧚♀️❤🌹 im abt to go manic also thats her dress! i hope it loads }
{ Edited: No }