Anchor- A JJ Maybank Fanfic

13. The Quiet Touch

The Quiet Touch:
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"Take a turn here, " I instructed, pointing to a grassy pathway. JJ swerves and pulls up to the small brick house near the peaceful marsh while I held his torso tightly. Anxiety builds back up as I wondered about what might occur when I step into the property I once called my home.

It's been weeks since I saw my parents last, one month and a half to be exact. The moment they portrayed me as this disturbing image from the result of my instantaneous fame, they disclaimed me as their own with no doubts.

The vines on the side of the house were slightly overgrown, barely showing the yellow stones on the wall as they crawled into the side windows quietly.
A mixture of grass and dirt covered the short steps that led to the short porch and entrance. I squint my eyes, checking a sight of lights from the inside, but oddly, there was none.

Where the hell are they?

JJ parked his bike and turned off the engine. He looks down at my hands as they were still positioned on his body, and they were trembling with cold fear. "Hey," JJ says softly, placing his warm hands on mine, "You ok? You're shaking, Mer."

I take a second to throw a glimpse at the broken-down house—the place I used to feel protected around when storms would cross over the island. I'd never expected that the actual hurricane that brought significant damage to this humble home was the ones from the inside.

"Yo Mer, you good?" JJ asks once more, gripping tightly onto my anxious hands that were still tied together on him.

I sniffed and shook my head to organize my doubtful thoughts, "Yeah, "I lied, "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just..." I paused, letting myself inhale deeply into the warm nightly air, hopefully becoming therapeutic to my heightened emotions, "I'm just still tensed up about the whole Kook shit."

JJ sighs, "Well, I'll wait until you reach the door so that you won't go runnin' off telling John B that I'm an asshole or some shit."

"Well, you are," I responded coldly, slowly removing my hands from his waist and hopped off the bike, "I mean, you yelled at John B for basically nothing, and you yelled at me for answering a damn question."

JJ rolled his eyes and raised his index finger, "First off, he was lookin' a little sus Mer, with that weird-ass hug he was giving you, saying-," He changed his tone of voice to mock John B, " 'Oh, I just wanted to check up on her and make sure she was ok, '" He scoffs, "That's bullshit Mer, and you know it."

I rubbed the side of my forehead to try and reduce the amount of stress I had and hide the annoyance and irritation that was displaying in my eyes. JJ continued, "Second of all, you and I both know that what you said about us isn't true, like how in fuck are we just friends? I'm actually really fucking curious, Mer."

I unleashed a heavy breath I didn't realize I was holding before answering, "Nothing that we did meant anything; why are you so sensitive over this? Like, what did you want me to say?"

"I don't know!" JJ exclaims frustratedly, "Just something other than...that." He runs his fingers through his golden hair as his brows were furrowed, "Just something other than that, Mer."

My jaw instructed my mouth to keep shut, endeavoring my mind not to cause more issues with him. I nodded at the boy while moving my sight towards the front entrance of the disastrous house I once felt loved in.

A sharp knife of fear emerges in my gut as it strokes its self-doubts on my inner core, splitting up my entrails. My trembling legs grew small amounts of courage and began to slightly map their way towards the wooden doorsteps of this excruciating household. My foot makes contact with the wooden floor of the porch as it created a minor squeaking noise, causing me to jump. I felt speckles of sweat forming beneath my neck hair while placing my other foot on the screechy floor.