The Bends - JJ x Kiara

Desirability

OOH, THIS CHAPTER IS LONG. BUCKLE UP BESTIES
•
(JJ)

I felt a fat drop of cold water fall on the tip of my nose. And then a few more.
It was raining softly. Gently. Like the clouds were weeping.

There was a hand on my cheek. Soft. Warm. My bones felt achy and my vision still felt blurred.

"JJ..." a voice whispered grievously.

I lurched myself awake, gripping onto the nearest entity sitting next to me.

"Mom?"

The entity was quiet. I squeezed my eyes shut, letting the moisture clear my sight. Once they flew open again, the entity became clear.
Kiara. Why was she always next to me whenever I woke up? She needed to quit it with the mixed signals. They hurt my head.

"No, it's Kie." Her voice was soft and hesitant. "Hold on, I'm going to help you sit up. Okay?" She reached for my back, which caused an automatic wince on my part. She slowly pushed my back with all that strength of hers, until I was sitting up. My eyes flickered around the area. The ocean, what was once a navy marine, was now a dulled grey. It looked sad.

"What happened?" That was the only thing I was wondering.

Kiara looked down at her hands, fumbling with a ring on her pointer finger.

"We think you slipped, and hit your head on the side of the boat. Pope is just grabbing some Advil."

"...oh."

Silence.

Neither of us spoke for a while after that. We did exchange some unwanted glances though. She looked hopeless. But this time, I didn't want to hold her. I felt fucking nauseous.

"I got the stuff, is he awake??" Pope's voice echoed from up the beach. Seeing that neither of us answered, or were speaking to each other, he hopped on board, and started unscrewing the pill bottle cap.

"Take these." He extended his hand out toward me, two little orange pills in his palm. I downed them. Kiara held up a water bottle, lifting my chin. I drank almost the entire thing.

"Thanks." I mumbled. She nodded swiftly before looking back at Pope.

"...what's going on with you two?" Pope was crouching on his knees, looking between the two of us expectantly.

Neither of us said a word. I scratched the back of my neck. Kiara started fiddling with her ring again.

"...ooookay. Well, JJ, we should probably wait until the rain stops to leave. What do you think?"

Both of their heads turned toward me, expecting an answer. God, pressure much?

"Whatever, dude. Maybe this wasn't the best idea anyway. I don't know. But, I know one thing. I'm fucking cold. And wet." I peered down at my shaking pruny fingers. Water droplets ran down my ab line.

Kiara nudged me gently.

"I need to talk to you. Pope, can you go grab some blankets? It looks like the rain's about to clear up."

Pope nodded, using one leg to step out of the boat. The rain had began to slow down. I was so cold, that I think my goddamn dick was shivering.

I really didn't want to talk to her.

"JJ, what happened earlier today? You totally snapped at me, and I don't even know what I did." She ran her fingers through her hair, breathing out.

Stillness. No words spoken. Painful silence once again. I hated it, but I wasn't going to ice her out. I still cared about her.