✔𝚮𝐞𝐥𝐥𝛐 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 ➳ 𝚩𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝚩𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 34: 𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝛐 𝐭𝛐 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫

𝐉𝛐 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 in disbelief, and it wasn't even noon yet. She hopped out of the blue pickup truck and bounced up the five stone steps, feeling the new metal railing as she ran through the living room. The glass doors were pushed apart, and she burst through to the backyard. Peggy was sitting there with a cup of coffee and a book.

"So-"

"I got the letter!" Jo laughed out and took out the slip of paper. "All I have to do is call Joan when I've picked a school, and she'll send them a letter."

"Oh my god, Jodie, that's wonderful!" Peggy exclaimed and put down the book. "I'm so proud of you!" The sisters wrapped their arms around each other, hugging tightly.

"Fuck- she even bought the paintings. Twenty-five dollars apiece," she laughed while Pietro, Tony, and Wanda stepped out of the house as well.

"Dude, that's awesome," Pietro said and took the bills she had been waving in the air.

"So, that means you're finally paying me back?" Tony asked, cocking an arrogant eyebrow.

"Yeah, whenever you stop being an ass," she huffed while Wanda grabbed the money from Pietro, probably thinking he would pocket it or something. "Not like you need money, rich-boy!"

"I was thinking we celebrate," Steve said as he walked through the doors with Bucky.

"Let's go down to the river," Jo smiled, her eyes going wide when she turned to her sister. "Dude, it's been forever since we went down there together."

"I don't know. With you getting hurt and everything..." Peggy said, placing her hands on her hips and watching her younger sister.

"A swim can be revitalising, I've heard," Jo said solemnly, nudging Pietro, and he started seriously nodding along with her.

"You're going to go down there even if I don't go, won't you?" She asked, and Jo gleefully nodded. "Well," she sucked in a breath of air, "better to have some supervision I suppose."

"You're making it sound boring," Jo chuckled and grinned at Wanda. "Time to get in your swimwear."

"Sounds good with me," Steve said, and they all went back inside, going to their separate rooms. Bucky was quick to grab her hand when it was just them and Wanda on the second floor.

"Hey, can we talk later?" He carefully asked, and her stomach flipped.

Talking wasn't a word she liked, not like this. When you asked someone to talk, it was always serious and never about anything good. Jo gulped down the lump and nodded, putting a smile on her face. After everything with Semmel, what the woman said, she had an idea of what he wanted to talk about.

"Yeah, of course," she said, quickly pulling him down the hallway. Good thing she was an expert at pushing thoughts away.

Wanda and Jo changed in her room, and Bucky in Wanda's. It was easier with their bags being in that room. Peggy had to make it a whole thing, of course. So, she had packed a basket full of sandwiches as lunch for everyone. Jo shook her head, bouncing out into the backyard where she grabbed a few six-packs, handing them to Tony and Pietro for them to carry.

The smile was still etched in her every feature as they led the way to the river. They went further downstream to a point where the water was deep enough for them to jump from the rocks. The sun was scorching as they walked, warming, and burning all at once. Their things were put down underneath the treeline, close to where a tire swing was moving back and forth with the light breeze.

"I'm burning up," Wanda groaned and dropped her things, quick to start pulling off her clothes.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Jo laughed, pushing Pietro, and setting off in a run to the water. Her shirt was off first, and she barely got her shorts off before her hands landed in the crevice of a large rock. Pietro was right behind her.