✔𝚮𝐞𝐥𝐥𝛐 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 ➳ 𝚩𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝚩𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 13: 𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝛐𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝛐 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝛐𝐧

𝚮𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 always trailing to her. Always. Always. Always.

No matter what he did, and how little he wanted to. There Jodie was, passing by him in the school hallway. There she was bouncing down the stairs of Peggy's house, almost ramming into him, because of course, she never paid attention. There she was in the tree as he walked by, eating a fresh apple, and giggling with Wanda on a branch.

None of it had been on purpose either. It was before he left for college, and after it happened. Bucky didn't know what it was, but she stopped being there. It bothered him more than he cared to admit, not having her around him was worse and more annoying than having her there had been.

He had gone on a walk to try and clear his mind. Not like he could ask Peggy about it or show up at their house looking for her instead of her sister. She had been sitting so quietly, so still, and small that he almost didn't notice her. He didn't even believe it was her, and his heart jumped at the sight of her small frame.

"So, enjoyin' solitude, are we?" He lazily tilted his head, chin turned upwards. No matter what he couldn't do what he really wanted to.

"Yes."

Her voice was so small. Jodie had never spoken that softly to him before. There was always such a charming spark of life in her, able to easily wrap the world around her finger with a smile. That was what she always did to him.

Always. Always. Always bold and unapologetic.

"What's got you trippin'?" He stepped closer to the yellow Camaro, looking in at the backseat where she was lying on her back with her legs out of the door. Since when did Peggy let her take the car?

"Nothing." Her short answers came slowly. By now, she would have usually thrown various curses his way. All that fire had burned away, leaving nothing but ashes. Honestly, it worried him.

"Then you won't have a problem tellin' me about it," he said and rested his arms on the roof of the car, watching her. She didn't feel like herself. Not anymore. Something was different.

"Do me a solid and go away."

A deep sigh left her, but he didn't move an inch.

"Honey, you got my attention already. You should take advantage of it." He knew she hated when he used those kinds of names for her.

"No."

Such a plain answer. His eyebrows puckered.

"Well, you've trapped yourself then. I'm not going away but you don't wanna talk."

Finally, she looked up at him, and he smirked widely. Bucky now saw the tears in her eyes, but his expression didn't waver. Jodie's face was cold ice as she crawled out and roughly pushed him to the side. He watched her, unsure what to do, even if he didn't let it show. She opened the driver's seat and with staunch expression looked back at him.

"Get in then," she said and nodded towards the passenger seat on the other side.

╼ 𓇣☀️𓇣 ╾

Bucky slammed the two pieces of bread together and walked over to the drawer, grabbing himself a knife. He cut the sandwich into two, pushing the thought of that day away from himself. Maybe if he hadn't gotten into the car everything would have been different.

Probably not. She always haunted him. They only had three weeks together, but it felt like the brightest lifetime. Once in chemistry, he had learned how nearly all the elements in the human body were made in a star and many of them had come through several supernovas.