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It had been a blur of a day. Affinity always found it funny how much weather could complement a mood. It had been a bright, sunny day, making her wonder if Ward's death would bring a little bit of light to the subject. But the beginning of the setting of the afternoon sun seemed a little too bright, blinding even. She was left to do nothing but squint for hours, leaving her in a daze with sore cheeks and brows. Better that than cheeks and brows sore from sobbing silently to oneself every night though...right?
The girl lay on her back, the dock wood rough and rigid against her shoulder blades. Her hands cupped over her eyes to provide some relief from the sun as she watched the clouds glide along the blue sky. The ticking sound of JJ's fishing rod echoed in her ears. They had been mostly quiet after what happened in Figure 8, John B especially. Affinity glanced over at him. He was laying flat on his stomach on one of their small boats that bobbed in the water, his head propped slightly to one side on his folded arms. She watched his back rise slowly with each breath. Affinity caught herself doing that a lot, observing people while they seemed at peace. She thought she was weird for doing it at times but she then realized why she did it. They seldom had moments like this, moments where they could acquire some slight physical piece. She was convinced that the heartache never ended, but after watching almost every single one of them die more than once, seeing that her fellow pogues were obviously breathing provided a strange amount of consolation.
"He deserved it, right?" JJ finally asked out loud, breaking the silence amongst the group.
Kiara looked at him with surprise. "Are you joking? Of course he deserved it."
"I've never seen anyone blow themselves up like that before," Pope uttered quietly.
"Cross that one off the bucket list," JJ said sarcastically.
"JJ!"
Affinity thought about her own father and how she almost lost him. Then she thought about the fact that Sarah just lost hers. "I feel sorry for Sarah," Affinity sighed. "She didn't need to see that."
"She didn't," John B agreed, shaking his head.
They fell silent again aside from a faint buzz of Affinity's phone on the dock. She rolled over to see that Connor had texted her saying: "I've released your father to come home tomorrow night! His tests are coming back normal now that he's had time to recover from the shenanigans that occurred two nights ago. He still needs quite a bit of rest so please keep him on the sidelines for the next couple of days. I'll be sure to check in."
"My dad gets to come home tomorrow," she announced to the group, a smile gliding across her cheeks. She needed that positive news.
"That's great, Fin!" Kiara smiled.
"Daddy Daniel never out for long," JJ chuckled.
Affinity shook her head at JJ's comment, trying not to encourage his poor jokes with laughter.
