Bad Timing - Jiara (JJ Maybank & Kiara Carrera)

Chapter 10

                 Outer Banks, North Carolina                                         

              What would she have done differently if she had known the consequences of her actions would lead to this?

"I am sorry." I feel the tension and hear the ferocity in her tone. There's a great deal of emotion behind the words she is speaking. 

"I don't need your pity," I riposte, even-tempered. I chugged a cold beer, which caused a sour flavor and a stinging in my throat that took me back to when I was a fool who attended parties with John B. I could still hear her breathing as she stood there. I knew her eyes were waiting for me to react, but I wasn't going to give her the contentment of knowing how much, in her arms, and her arms only, I want to implode.

It didn't matter how long ago it was; she would never let me go, she'd hold me in her arms until I passed out. She used to just hold me and that was enough for me to feel loved, but right now, the effort she was putting in was weakening her... if she has to go through all of that just to make me feel loved by her again, then maybe love isn't worth it after all. 

In her present disputatious tone, she stated, "I'm not here because I pity you, JJ." I knew what she was about to say next, and I wasn't ready. She was here because she cared about me, she murmured, her voice trembling. 

The flushing of my cheeks made me feel as if someone was trying to boil me alive. Tears cornered my eyes. My heart pounded. I could feel the blood coursing through my veins. The cold beer helped with the heat. I guzzled the last bit of it from the bottle, leaving it empty at one edge of the dock at JohnB's chateau. 

"What's your problem?" Despite her valiant efforts, she was still unable to yell stridently enough, for her voice cracked halfway through. She was sobbing silently as I kept my back turned to her, only stopping in my tracks once I got to the chateau. 

I realize I'm being an asshole right now, but it's just a temporary empathy deficit━I'm tired, normal empathic service will resume shortly. I just couldn't look at her. I couldn't face her. I couldn't talk to her. 

But if there was one thing I knew about Kiara, it was that she always gets what she wants, however long it takes, and if it's me that she wants, then she'll get it. And if there's one thing I definitely know about myself is that I always give her what she wants. 

Once again, I hoped that she'd be waiting for me outside The Chateau when I returned. And she was, just as I had left her a few minutes before. Even though it was only four years ago, she had aged. But it wasn't bad at all. I mean,  Probably because her highlights were dark brown at the roots instead of lighter shades, and I thought life would have worn her out by the time she reached her mid-twenties, yet she pulls off twenty-three with ease. Yes, the bags under her eyes intensified, and her skin grew tiny little spots from not wearing sunscreen, and her style grew less unique, but she still looked like four-years-ago Kiara to me, and last time I remembered, I loved the frick out of her.

I wanted to feel something, anything, just to convince myself that she was right, that we could actually fix this like she is pleading. I needed something to assure me that delving into the past blindly once more won't end the same way it previously did. 

 And so I kissed her. I kissed her as I have never before, which, considering the powerfully kisses we've shared, was surprisingly fierce. 

It would have been nice if I'd been correct about us being messy because it would have shown me that she was completely insane and that we'd never be able to work things out again, that we should just leave the past behind us and let each other go, but I was obviously wrong. My heart was twisting upon itself, creating a strong force I couldn't quite explain, and the fact that I wanted to kiss her again told me everything I wanted.