Malibu | j. parker

treinta y uno

After just breaking up with his girlfriend of almost a year and a half, JJ walked out to the football field and joined the rest of his team. as usual, he greeted everybody but he stuck with his best friends; Jordan, Asher, and Spencer. The three were already getting warmed up for the warm-ups, and took notice of how JJ walked onto the field alone. "Where's Mari? I thought she was coming to watch practice again." Asher asked.

Jordan and Spencer made noises of agreement, also thinking the same thing since she had waited outside of the locker room for quite some time. Asher leaned down to pick up his water bottle off the floor, trying to hydrate himself before the hell Billy was about to put them through. "I just broke up with her."

It was such a simple and short sentence, but it had Asher spitting his water out everywhere and coughing, ultimately catching the attention of the rest of the team. "You did what?!"

"You guys know we can't have any distractions for this playoff game."

Jordan looked at his long time friend like he had two heads, meanwhile Spencer was in too much shock to move and Asher was still coughing.  "Distract— did you leave her in the hallway?"

Once JJ nodded his head, Jordan took off running back into the school, some thing that didn't go unnoticed by Billy.  "Son, where are you going?"

"Ask JJ!"  He yelled over his shoulder.  Billy turned to number 47 in confusion, and he smiled nervously, realizing he's going to have to explain to Billy, basically Mariposa's second dad, what he had just done.

Meanwhile, Jordan ran into the school and his cleats echoed down the hallway. He was about halfway down the main hallway and was going to call out Mariposa's name because he wasn't seeing her, but instead he heard her. More specifically, her sobs coming from the bathroom. As much as they picked on each other, he still thought of Mariposa as his second sister, and he wasn't going to let her suffer alone.

The school was empty and has been for almost an hour, so Jordan made the assumption that she was alone in the bathroom.  However, just to be safe and not get expelled, he just slightly opened the door enough for her to hear him.  "Mari, are you by yourself?"

"Go away!"

Ignoring her, Jordan checked the hallway and made sure no one was around before saying, "I'm coming inside now."  When Mariposa ran to hide in the bathroom, the janitor was leaving, so everything was pretty clean, but that did not explain why she was sobbing on the floor on top of her backpack with her arm wrapped her legs.  "Mari, the floor's gross."

"You're gross."  She said through her sobs.  Jordan just sighed and sat beside her on the ground, rubbing her back until she unwrapped her arms from her legs and turned to hug him and cry into his chest instead.  "He left me, Jojo."

"I know, and he's an idiot."  Jordan adjusted the two of them so he could hug her back properly and continued to rub her back, somewhat calming her down. Since they were on the floor, he leaned his back against the wall and had his legs separated so Mariposa could sit in between them as they hugged.  "You want me to call Liv for you?" Mariposa shook her head stubbornly, sniffling against Jordan.  "We can't sit on the floor all night, it's gross.  I'll call her for you."

"Why do you keep asking questions if you're just going to do it anyway?"  She mumbled into his chest, gently wiping her cheeks on Jordan's jersey instead of walking to get tissue in one of the stalls

"Because you are in no state to make decisions right now, so I do it for you."  Jordan explained, grabbing her phone to text Olivia. "You'll be okay, Mari.  I'll make sure you are."

× × ×

A few hours after Olivia had picked up Mariposa, she laid on her bed face down with her head turned to stare at her shelf of plants as the sun was setting and shining light on them. She didn't even bother to change out of her jeans into more comfortable pants, which automatically was a symbol to everyone in the house that she was broken. Even Kalani could sense her distress, so she was laying in between her legs with her head resting on Mariposa's thigh. "Just leave me here to die."