[rosemary] .jj maybank.

chapter nineteen

the next morning, rosie woke up with jj's arm wrapped around her waist. heat rose to her cheeks when she felt him move closer, his face snuggling into her back and his arms around her bare stomach. she waited a few minutes to wake him up, wanting to bask in the feeling of his arms around her. "hey, jay? wake up."

"mm, no. i like laying here like this. you're warm. and my head feels like it's about to fall off literally any second." jj said, his voice slightly muffled and scratchy from his morning voice which rosie tried not to freak out over, again. the fact that they had both slept over at the château or at rosie's plenty of times doesn't mean she didn't find it attractive every single time he muttered a 'good morning' or 'hello' right after waking up. "jj, we gotta get up. we promised pope and kie that we would meet up with them later. i'll get you some water and some advil."

rosie softly pried jj's hands off of her waist and shuffled to get out of the bed. when she looked back at jj, she saw his eyes closed with a pout on his lips. she kissed his forehead and moved away again, watching his frown turn into a smile as he kept his eyes closed. "i'll be back in two minutes. promise."

as promised, rosie returned two minutes later with bottled water and advil to soothe his headache. "here."

"thank you." jj whispered, taking the things from her hands. rosie pat his cheek softly, "i gotta go shower and then we can find something to eat."

jj lifted his head up from his pillow, "ohh, can i join?" rosie laughed, leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed as she shrugged. "kiss me first and then we'll talk."

two hours later, after eating and doing everything necessary to look presentable, jj and rosie met up with pope and kie at heyward's. john b was still MIA. the four of them stood around the counter discussing the details of last night's violent events. "don't let it get in your head, brother. three of them and two of us. that's some typical kook shit right there." jj reassured.

"typical rafe cameron shit, honestly." rosie muttered. "hell, yeah." kiara agreed.

"what was your thought process, using your head?" jj asked, curious as to what was going through pope's mind to make him do something so unplanned- so un-pope-like. "i don't know, man. i just kind of acted off instinct, alright. i was a cornered animal."

"hey, pope, someone here to see you." heyward said, the police entering the shop two seconds later. "shit." rosie whispered, both her and jj sharing a worried glance. "evening, officer," pope said; fear and worry festering in his eyes. rosie walked up to pope, standing slightly in front of him and squeezing his hand.

"i have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property. keep your hands on the counter where i can see 'em... young lady, out of my way." shoupe instructed, getting his handcuffs out. pope looked at jj with fear, jj mouthing something back that neither girl could understand. rosie looked at both of them, deciding to get out of shoupe's way even if she didn't want to. she didn't want to cause more problems by disobeying a cop.
"woah. shoupe, what'd he do?" heyward asked, over the commotion. "take a look at the warrant," shoupe said, aggressively grabbing onto both of pope's wrists and putting them behind his back. heyward, kiara, jj and rosie all yelled out different things to shoupe, trying to get him to back off as he cuffed pope. "anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law. you have the right to an attorney."

"how much did they pay you, man?" jj yelled, taking rosie's hand in his and following the officer. the pogues continued to argue with shoupe as he brought pope to the cop car until rosie felt jj drop her hand. "it wasn't him! it was me."

it felt as if time froze for a second after jj's words. everyone looked his way in shock, only encouraging and giving jj the chance to walk forward and continue. "he tried to talk me out of it, but i was mad because he and rosie had just been beaten up. i was so sick of those assholes from figure eight that i lost my shit. i can't let you take the blame for somethin' i did. you've got too much to lose." jj insisted. "jj, what are you doing?"

rosie looked at kie with panic, tears surfacing on the waterline of her eyes as she shuffled closer to her. "i'm tellin' the truth. for once in my goddamn life, i'm gonna tell the truth." jj said, looking between pope and shoupe. "i took his old man's boat, too." heyward looked at jj, "what the hell?"

"jj, come on." pope said, trying to stop him. "just shut up, pope! just shut up. he's a good kid. you know where i'm from." jj yelled, bringing his voice back to its normal volume a second later. shoupe stared at jj, "yeah."
rosie scoffed at the officer's judgement, finding it typical of them to grasp onto a stereotype. "bitch."

jj nodded to shoupe's response, "this was all me." pope looked at jj sadly, not knowing what to say anymore. "that's the whole truth?"

"whole truth, swear to god." jj answered, instead of pope, who shoupe directed the question towards. "i know what you think, damn it, i'm asking pope."

pope hesitated, swallowing hard before answering, "yeah, that about covers it." shoupe took the cuffs off of pope, putting them on jj as he looked back at rosie and kiara. rosie's chin quivered, tears already rolling down her cheeks, causing her eyelashes to start to clump together in the typical freshly cried way. she quickly walked over to jj before he was put in the cop car. she hugged him tightly as he tucked his head in the crook of her neck, "i'll be fine, rosie."

rosie pulled away but kept her arms around his neck, "you promise?" jj smiled softly, "promise."

"okay, you two. enough now." shoupe said, gesturing for jj to get in the back of the car. rosie stood still as she watched them drive away. "fuck. his dad is gonna be so pissed," she mumbled to herself, worry still invading her senses.
"shit!" pope yelled, walking away angrily causing the two girls to follow after him.

after talking to pope and trying her best, rosie decided to walk around a bit. until she made her way in front of jj's house. rosie started to walk closer until she heard a loud crash, hiding behind a tree as she saw luke barge out of the house with an angry expression. his stomping on the porch steps matched the feeling in her chest. so heavy as if her chest would cave in any second. rosie watched as he drove away she sighed loudly, letting her head fall back so she could face the sky and complain. "jj doesn't deserve this shit. why are you screwing him over like this."

rosie walked behind the house, sitting down on the grass and leaning her head on the wall under jj's window. she desperately wanted to see if jj was okay and waiting for him seemed like the best option right now.

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have a happy wednesday <3