Ophelia Nelson-Bowman is so happy, it's almost like she's high. She's on top of the world. As she gets ready for the day even though most of it is already gone, she dances to some music playing lightly in her room, pulling on some jean shorts and a soft pink cropped t-shirt. With her long blonde hair falling down her back, washed, blow dried, and straightened, Ophelia feels the best she's felt in weeks. All because of Jj, and one kiss in the moonlight of the balcony. A kiss she genuinely can't get out of her head, and is still putting butterflies in her stomach. Putting her glasses on, she heads down the stairs with a skip in her step.
"You look happy," Michael observes, watching as his daughter struts into the kitchen.
Ophelia gives him a smile, noticing Reid's briefcase gone already meaning he's at the hospital. She shrugs, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
Michael just nods, and Ophelia notices he's in his work clothes, "I have to head to the school for some department meetings, is there anything you need from the mainland?"
Ophelia's face lights up, "A canvas would be great, I have a new project."
"What size?"
Ophelia shrugs, "I'm planning a portrait, bold colours, so whatever you think is best," She smirks, "And remember this one is on Pa."
Michael smiles, winking at his daughter, "I'll get a big expensive one then."
"When are you leaving?"
"Ten minutes?"
Ophelia grabs some berries from the fridge, putting them into a bowl, "Do you think you could drop me off at Heyward's on the way?"
Michael shrugs, "I don't see why not."
"You're the best," Ophelia chirps, popping a blackberry into her mouth as she moves to leave the kitchen, "I love you!"
--
As Ophelia strides into Heyward's market, she has a grin on her face and a light feeling on her shoulders. Walking behind the counter, she sets her backpack on the ground. Ophelia's heart skips a beat as she sees a particular blond boy. But, before she focuses on him, she greets Pope and Kiara with the Pogue handshake, a quick slap slap snap! For a second, Ophelia wonders where John B is before she turns to Jj, who is watching her with a smirk.
"Hey," He says, standing from his seat and holding his hand out.
Ophelia's smile only grows and she feels her cheeks heat up under his gaze. They do the handshake as well, "Hey," Ophelia breathes, making Jj's smirk grow into a wide grin. Her heart beats fast in her chest and she remembers how the moonlight made him look on her balcony the night before.
Jj motions for Ophelia to take the chair he was sitting on, and she does, noticing Kiara eyeing the pair, "What's up with you two?" She slowly asks.
Ophelia hums in response, her eyes going from Jj's to Kiara's. She just shrugs, "What do you mean?"
"You both look like you're high."
Pope nods from the register, "It's a little weird."
Jj glances down at Ophelia, "We're just happy, Pope. Nothin' weird about that. Right, Lia?"
Ophelia nods, no doubt in her mind that her cheeks are still tinted pink because of the boy beside her, "Uh, y-yeah. Nothing weird at all."
Kiara raises a suspicious brow at the pair of blondes that makes Ophelia nervous. Coming to her aid, Jj changes the subject and she's grateful for it. Time passes fairly quickly, customers coming in and out and showing particular interest in the catch of the day. Ophelia stays perched in her seat, drawing in her sketchbook to keep her hands occupied. Every now and then Jj peeks over her shoulder, using the action as an excuse to put his arm around the blonde. In all honesty, she's happy they didn't tell the Pogues when they asked. She wants Jj to be her secret, and she wants to stay in her happy little bubble for as long as she can.
"You know," Jj mutters as he lazily slings his arm around her, Kiara and Pope having a separate conversation, "You're probably gonna need someone to walk you home."
Ophelia doesn't look up from her page, a small smile on her face, "Are you volunteering, or should I ask Pope?"
Jj takes his arm off of Ophelia's shoulders, leaning on the counter beside her instead, his usual smirk on his face as he tosses an apple between his hands, "Obviously I'm doin' it, m'lady."
Ophelia grins, the nickname taking on a new meaning, "Very noble of you, m'lord."
Then, before Jj can say anything else to the blonde girl, Pope mentions the fight from the night before to Kiara. Jj gives Ophelia a wink before he stands up straight, "Don't let it get in your head, bro, there's three of them and two of us. That's some typical kook shit. What was your thought process? Using your head?"
"You used your head?" Ophelia echoes, a chuckle punctuating her sentence.
"I may or may not have headbutted Topper," Pope says, fiddling with the register, "I just off of instinct alright? I was a cornered animal."
Kiara leans over to Ophelia, her voice dropped low in a whisper, "Yeah, if that animal is a cornered puppy," Making Ophelia snicker.
However, the sound stops when Heyward wanders into his shop, a grim look on his face, "Hey, Pope," He says, eyes trained on his son, "Someone here to see you."
Then, deputy Shoupe walks in, and Ophelia stiffens, sitting up a little straighter in her seat and slowly closing her sketchbook. She looks over to Jj, whose gaze is already fixed on her; worry in his eyes and his jaw clenched.
"Evening Officer," Pope nervously says.
Shoupe barely hesitates, handing a sheet of paper to Heyward, "I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property," When Pope shifts, Shoupe's eyes harden, "Keep your hands on the counter where I can see 'em."
As Shoupe gets closer, Ophelia gets up from her chair, "No, no, there must be-there must be some kind of, uh- mistake or-or something!" She sputters out, her heart starting to race and her palms getting sweaty. But, she knows she's lying. It's about the boat. Jj had told her about it the night before.
"Shoupe, what'd he do?" Heyward asks, as a response Shoupe tells him to read the warrant in his hands, getting out his cuffs and putting them around Pope's wrist.
Kiara, in disbelief, says, "I-I'm sorry, you're arresting him?"
"You're just arresting my boy?" Heyward asks.
Ophelia sees Pope wince at the tightness of the cuffs, "Hey!" Ophelia protests, "Be careful with him!" But, Shoupe starts to read Pope his rights, and Ophelia's heart starts to beat faster.
"How much did they pay you man?" Jj harshly asks as Shoupe starts to escort Pope outside. Ophelia rushes around the counter, Kiara and Jj both following her. She feels her eyes starting to sting, and she prays she doesn't start to cry with her contacts in.
Ophelia's voice mixes with everyone else's as they walk out to the parking lot. She's shouting questions, trying to get some kind of answer from Shoupe, who says nothing. Jj tries to shove the officer, but Ophelia grabs onto his arm, not letting him. He takes her hand, tangling their fingers together and holding it tightly, Ophelia's other hand running up and down the boy's forearm and trying to calm him down despite her own panic. Everyone is yelling, and Ophelia can barely decipher who's saying what.
She steps away from Jj slowly as they approach the police car. Her mind racing a mile a minute as they get closer and closer.
Then, Jj yells, "It wasn't him!" Ophelia's heart stops in her chest, and her blood runs cold as the noise around them stops, "It was me."
Ophelia's eyes swell up with even more unshed tears, "Jj," She quietly mutters, confused. Had he lied the night before when he said it was Pope?
Jj's eyes move to her, and he gives her a small nod, "It's alright, Lia," He assures, "I gotta own up to what I did," He turns back to Shoupe and Pope, "He tried to talk me out of it," Jj says, "But I was mad because he'd just been beaten up. I was so sick of those assholes from Figure Eight that I lost my shit," Jj looks over to Pope, "I can't let you take the blame for something I did. You've got too much to lose."
Then, it suddenly makes sense. Jj didn't lie to Ophelia, he's taking the fall for his friend. Ophelia's heart swells with sadness, and Kiara suddenly appears beside the blonde, taking her hand as the scene continues to unfold.
"Jj what are you doing?" Pope asks.
Jj is quick to respond, "I'm telling the truth," Ophelia's tears spill over her cheeks, and she tries to wipe them away before anyone sees, "For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna tell the truth. I took his old man's boat too."
"What the hell?" Heyward remarks.
"Jj, come on," Pope tries to plead, but it's no use.
"Just shut up, Pope!" Jj snaps, his voice cold and loud, "Just shut up," His gaze moves to Shoupe, "He's a good kid. You know where I'm from."
The officer nods, "Yeah."
Jj glances over at Ophelia again before looking back at Shoupe, "This was all me."
"That's the whole truth?" Shoupe asks, his eyes fixed on Pope. For a split, selfish, second, Ophelia wants Pope to tell the actual truth: That is was him. But, she also knows better, she knows why Jj is doing it. If she had thought of it, Ophelia would probably do the same thing.
"Whole truth, swear to God," Jj chirps.
"I know what you think, damn it," Shoupe snaps, "I'm asking Pope, here."
There's silence, and Ophelia squeezes Kiara's hand tightly, trying to keep herself from breaking out in a mess of sobs. She can't take her eyes off Jj, even if it is Pope considering the question. Then, he says "Yeah, that about covers it."
Ophelia doesn't think she breathes as Shoupe takes the cuffs off of Pope, putting them around Jj's wrists instead. Ophelia can't even think clearly as the blond boy is read his rights.
Her happy little bubble has been popped.
Ophelia swallows the building lump in her throat as Jj gets in the car, his blue eyes trained on her green ones before the door is shut, and she can't see him anymore.
As the police car pulls away, Pope throws his hat on the dirty ground, cursing, and Ophelia lets silent tears stream down her cheeks, watching as Heyward chases after his son.
Still holding onto her hand, Ophelia turns to Kiara, "Kie, can-can you take me home, please?"
Kiara nods, wordlessly putting her arms around the devastated blonde. Kiara leads her to her car, not saying anything as they drive back to Figure Eight.
Ophelia's tears dry during the drive, and she doesn't bother wiping at them. When they pull up, Kiara looks over at the blonde with a concerned expression, "Do you want me to stay?"
Ophelia softly shakes her head, "No. I think I want to be alone for a bit," Ophelia gets out of the car, facing her friend once more, "Can you, uh, can you let me know if you see John B? Or tell him to come here," Kiara nods, and Ophelia gives her as much of a smile as she can muster, which isn't much, "Thanks for the ride, Kie."
So, Ophelia trudges inside of her house, her feet dragging her up the stairs. Ophelia opens the door to her studio, stepping inside and letting her eyes roam over the mess that remains from yesterday. She frowns, hesitantly moving over to the torn pieces that was once Hamlet's Ophelia. All at once, she feels a disturbing anger boiling up into her chest. She's so mad. She's mad at Topper and Rafe for beating Pope, she's mad at Pope for sinking the boat, she's mad at Shoupe, she's mad that John B had seemingly disappeared, she's mad about Rafe, Topper and Kelce forcing their way into her home, and she's mad about the fight from the night before.
With a loud yell, Ophelia grabs a canvas from the wall, she doesn't even look at what she had painted on it before she's swinging it at the doorframe, earning a loud snap! As the wooden bindings shatter. Ophelia drops it right after, not feeling any better. It was an old abstract piece, nothing she considered important.
Frustrated, Ophelia looks around the room. Then, her eyes land on Kelce's airpods. The vivid memory of Kelce tearing up Ophelia's favourite painting flashes in her mind. She gets a terrible idea. Ophelia surges forward, grabbing one of the glass jars she uses to clean her brushes and running out of the studio to her bedroom and directly to the ensuite. There, she runs the tap, filling the jar with water.
Returning to the studio, Ophelia puts the jar down on her desk. For a second, she hesitates, not thinking she has the nerve to do it. But then, she thinks of Jj. The only person she genuinely doesn't think she's mad at. The boy who doesn't let anyone mess with him or his friends, and who was arrested for something he didn't do. She hopes he would be proud of her.
Ophelia picks up Kelce's airpods, flicking the top open and grabbing the two earbuds. One by one, she plunks them both into the water, following them with the freshly-painted case. Then, Ophelia grabs some of the paint colours she had used, dropping globs of it into the water as well, concealing the airpods and making the water a disgusting kind of murky. Grabbing the sealant spray, Ophelia sprays some of that in the jar as well before she grabs the jar's lid, screwing it on and shaking up the container for good measure. Part of her wishes Topper brought over a surfboard so she could cut it in half.
Ophelia grabs a piece of paper that she would usually use to write thank you notes for people who paid her for commissions, and a pen. Then, she scribbles out:
Kelce. Tell anyone about this and I'll get you and your friends booked for a B&E and assault. Thank you for your business, Kook. - Bob Ross.
Proud of herself, Ophelia quickly jots down an actual thank you note to Scarlet before she grabs the jar, and Scarlet's shoes. Then, Ophelia heads downstairs and out to he bike, putting the stuff into her basket. Taking off, Ophelia pedals down to Kelce's house, just a few blocks away. She puts the note and the jar into his mailbox, barely even stopping as she does so.
After this, she bikes a few more blocks to Scarlet's house. The girl is already outside when Ophelia pulls up, sunbathing. As soon as she sees the shoes she freaks out, making Ophelia feel a bit better. After thanking her profusely, giving her the money she owes, and taking a picture of Ophelia and the shoes for an instagram story shoutout, Scarlet lets Ophelia leave.
When she gets back to her house, Ophelia doesn't know what to do. She wonders what the punishment is for felony destruction of property, and how much trouble Jj is really in. Mindlessly, Ophelia cleans up her studio, wanting to make it the way it was before. So, she picks up the debris of the paintings the kooks had wrecked, as well as the one she smashed earlier. By the time she's done, the only noticeable thing is the gaps on the walls where the paintings once hung.
When she hears her dads come home, she's happy to have the distraction. They make dinner, and her parents talk about their day. Not wanting to be alone, Ophelia stays downstairs the entire night despite the brand new canvas waiting to be brandished upstairs. The Nelson-Bowman's watch a movie together, and before Ophelia heads up to her bedroom for the night she catches a glimpse of three dry-cleaner's bags, and she remembers what's happening the next day.
Midsummers.
---
A/N:
Thank you for reading!!! What did you think of this? It's really short and a filler chapter. But, I'm really excited for the next one, Midsummers is my favourite episode.
Any predictions/opinions about what's gonna happen next? what's your hot-take?
Thank you, again! Please vote and comment!