ruthless; jj m.

21

I woke up to the sound of a phone buzzing. I was still in JJ's arms and I didn't want to wake him up. It had been quite obvious when he came here last night that he hadn't been sleeping well. 

None of us have.

With steady movements, I got out of JJ's hold and picked up my phone, seeing that Pope had called me. I put on some slippers, making my way outside to the back of my house to call him back.

I clicked on his contact and called him, and in the middle of the first ring, he picked up. "Scar, oh my god, finally," Pope said, relieved I had finally reached out to him. "Hey, Pope," I said in my morning voice. 

"Shit, I didn't mean to wake you." He said into the phone. "No, it's fine. Is everything okay?" I asked him. "Uh, well, not to freak you out but, I haven't heard from JJ and I don't know where he is." Pope said in a worried tone.

"He's here. He came over last night and we kind of just passed out." I admitted. Pope breathed a sigh of relief before speaking again. "Good. I didn't want him doing anything stupid." He said and I lightly laughed.

"Don't worry. He's safe." I said into the phone. "All right. Are you guys coming over to John B's today?" Pope asked me. My heart dropped into my stomach at the sound of his name, and the thoughts of him and Sarah that followed. 

I cleared my throat before speaking. "Um... for what?" I asked him. "I think we should kind of have a sort of memorial for him and Sarah." Pope said. I bit the inside of my cheek, nervous about the idea of letting them go.

"I asked Kie and she thinks it's a good idea too." Pope said, trying to get me to go. I sighed before speaking again. "Yeah. Yeah, we'll be there." I agreed. He quickly gave me a time to meet and said his goodbyes before hanging up the phone.

I opened the back door and walked back into my house to see JJ sitting up with his head in his hands. I sat down next to him and placed my hand on his back, leaving traces of comfort. He looked up slowly and wiped his tears away.

"I forgot for a minute." He said. He didn't have to explain. I knew what he meant. I had forgotten about John B and Sarah's passing for a moment before Pope mentioned them to me. "Me too," I confessed. 

His eyes met mine and a tear slowly left his eye, but he quickly wiped it away. I was thinking about the memorial Pope had mentioned. JJ could really use this right now. 

JJ stood up and made his way over to his bag, grabbing some clothes to change into after his shower and his toothbrush. 

"Hey so, I just got off the phone with Pope," I said and he immediately went over to his phone. "Shit, I forgot to tell him I was coming over here." He said as he was about to call him. "It's okay. I told him you were here." I said. 

He smiled softly and nodded, now making his way to my bathroom. "Wait, J." I said and he turned around. "Yeah?" He asked as he slowly approached me. "Pope also mentioned, um..." I had trouble getting the words out as I wasn't certain about how he would react.

"Mentioned what?" He asked as he sat down next to me. I sighed, "A memorial." I spit it out. His eyes widened slightly in shock as he took in a breath. "Oh." He said. "Yeah, we're gonna meet him and Kie at John B's later today." I said. 

He nodded slowly as he looked anywhere else other than at me. "Okay." He said and got up, heading to the shower.

I was worried about him, but I think he needs this. We all do.

∴∴∴∴∴

After JJ and I had both showered and eaten something, we got into my car. He sat in the driver's seat and I sat next to him in the passenger's seat. He reversed out of the driveway, then we headed toward John B's.