The Home We've Built

Chapter 8

When they got to the beach JJ, Pope, and Kie left their stuff and ran to the water. "Are you sure you'll be okay here?" John B asked her once again. "Yeah I'll be fine, plus I've got Alaia to keep me company." She reassured him once again. "Okay. You ready Wheez?" He asked, turning to her. "Um yeah, but um, quick question." She said hesitantly. "Yeah what's up?" "I.. um don't know how to surf. Sarah was going to teach me this summer, but then everything happened. Anyways, I was wondering if you could teach me. I mean, if you don't want to, don't worry about it. It's just a silly question and Sarah can teach me when she's better." She said. She wanted to make sure she was not forcing anything on John B because she didn't want him to feel obligated to do anything for her. "Hey, nonsense. Of course I will teach you." He told her. "Really?" She asked excitedly. "Of course, come on, let's go." He said, grabbing the boards and leading her to the water.
While everyone was in the water, Sarah was sitting on a blanket in the sand petting her puppy. "You are so pretty." She said to the puppy in a babyish voice. "I am so glad to have you here with me, I have always wanted a puppy." That's when Alaia got up and grabbed a toy that Kie had bought her from the bag. "Do you wanna play?" Sarah asked, grabbing the rope from her. That's when she received a playful bark from Alaia, "Okay, go fetch." She said throwing it. Alaia took off running and grabbed the rope, she raced back and dropped it at her feet. Sarah picked the toy up and threw it again for her, they repeated this for a while before Alaia got tired and laid down beside Sarah. After a few minutes she heard the pogues cheering, she looked up to see Wheezy standing on the board riding a wave. "Whoo! Go Wheezy!" Sarah cheered, quickly grabbing her phone and taking a few photos of everyone in the water and a couple of her with Alaia.
After a couple of hours the crew had come back to shore, heading over to Sarah and grabbing their towels from them. "Wanna hug?" John B asked Sarah with a smirk on his face. "Not while you are soaking wet." She told him laughing. "Too bad." He replied, giving Sarah a big hug. "Seriously John B." Sarah said laughing, trying to push him off of her. Then Alaia decided to help out and barked at John B and ran around him. "Looks like someone is in a playful mood, aren't you girl?" John B said to the puppy. "I don't know about you guys but I am starving." Sarah said. "How can you be so hungry, princess? All you did was sit here watching us." JJ said in a sassy tone. "Well in case you weren't aware, I am healing from a few wounds and haven't eaten very much the past few days." She told JJ in a sassy tone right back. "I do agree with Sarah, I am starving." Kie said, "Me too." Replied Wheezy. "Be careful JJ, we will not be helping if you turn all the girls against you." John B said. "Yeah, choose your next words wisely." Pope added. "What do you all say, hotdogs, s'mores, and beer?" JJ asked changing the subject before he did have the girls teaming up against him. Everyone agreed, saying things along the lines of 'yeah' and 'i am in'. "Okay supper is settled." John B said, then they all headed back up to the chateau.
JJ and Kie went to get the beer and some more hotdogs and buns, Pope and Wheezy were setting up the fire, while John B and Sarah got what they had at the chateau ready. "I'll get Alaia's food ready so she can eat while we are," Sarah told him, an okay being replied as she started getting Alaia's kibble ready. When she was finished John B set her up on the counter, standing between her legs. "How are you doing?" John B asked, "I think I am doing alright. There is a lot going on in my head that I am trying to sort through, but I am also trying to distract myself so I can move on and not mope around." She told him honestly. "Okay, but if you need anything or wanna talk I am open." He replied, "I know, thank you for that." She said giving him a peck on the lips, that's when JJ and Kie walked in with the groceries. "We got the booze!" JJ cheered, "And Wheezy's coke." Kie added. "Thank you Kie." Sarah told her. As much as she loves her sister, she didn't have the energy to hold Wheez's hair back while she was sick again and she did not want anyone to have to deal with it because it was her sister. "Yeah no problem." Kie responded, giving Sarah a reassuring smile.
Once they got all the food prepped, they headed out to the fire where Wheezy and Pope were sitting by the fire talking about school. "Oh yay! Now you've gotta fellow nerd to talk to." JJ cheered, "Ha ha JJ, I was just telling Wheezy that if she needed any help with school that I would help." Pope said, "Which I will totally accept when Sarah's busy or we can't figure it out." Wheezy told him. "Wait, you help Wheezy with her homework?" JJ asked, "Yeah why wouldn't I?" Sarah asked confusedly, grabbing a hotdog and putting it on a stick and into the fire to start cooking, "I don't know, I just thought that it was something that parents helped with, not siblings." JJ said dumbfounded, "In case you haven't noticed, Rose is a stuck up snob who only cares about her appearance, Ward was to busy with work and criminal activities, and the only other person who could help is a fucking psychopath. So yeah I helped Weezy with her homework and basically raised her since she was a baby and I was 6." Sarah told them, "Thank you Pope, I really appreciate the offer to help her and we will probably take you up on it at times." Sarah said to Pope with appreciation, taking her hotdog out of the fire. "Hey babe, could you grab me a bun with some ketchup on it?" She asked John B. "Yeah, here you go." He said handing it to her, helping her get the hotdog off the stick and into the bun. "Remember all of the sleepovers your two had that were spent helping me do homework and going to all my school things." Wheezy asked Kie, "Yeah, those were some fun times." After a couple of minutes everyone had started eating, "Oh!" Cried Sarah, "We forgot about the drinks, what would you guys like?" "Beer please." They all said, "Not you Wheez, you're having coke tonight maybe another night." Sarah told her while passing everyone their drinks. "Don't worry, I'm only having one of these then I'm switching to coke as well." She reassured Wheezy.
After a while, they had finished eating their hotdogs and were now digging into the s'mores when Wheezy had finally gained some courage. "Hey Sarah?" She started. "What's up sweety?" Sarah asked, "Do you think it'll be alright if I go to school tomorrow? If it gets too intense I can phone you to pick me up, but then I can at least get some homework." Wheezy told her, hoping that Sarah would say yes. "If that's what you want, then sure. And if you need someone to pick you up just shoot us a text." Sarah told her, "If that's okay with you guys, that is." Sarah said quickly, asking for their permission. "Yeah of course. How about we make a group chat so that you can send a text and then there is no confusion on anything." Kie said "That sounds like a great idea John B said wrapping an arm around Sarah pulling her closer. "Okay munchkin, it's almost 11 so if you are going to school tomorrow then you need to hit the hay." Sarah said getting Wheezy in gear herding her to the chateau with Alaia close behind, "I will be out soon you guys." Sarah told them heading in.
"She gets pretty protective over Wheezy, doesn't she." JJ stated once Sarah was inside. "You would be too if you had been raising your sister from a young age too." Kie told him, "For as long as I have known Sarah, she has always put Wheezy ahead of herself. The amount of times that she had canceled hanging out with me because she had a last minute parent teacher interview or Wheez's tournament was running longer than expected and there was no one else there. There were a lot of times that she hung out with us because we were 13 and she was 7 and couldn't be left alone. Sarah has been more of a parent to that little girl than any of our parents have been, including her own." Kie told them all, "So yeah she gets a little defensive over her."
About 20 minutes later Sarah comes out of the Chateau with Alaia prancing behind her, "Hey Sar," John B said, "she asleep?" Sarah looked at him with the feeling a warm sensation tends to go through her whenever he shows just how much he cares for her and her sister. "Yeah, she was out as soon as her head hit the pillow. I stayed a little longer to make sure she was good." She replied while she climbed into his lap, his arms instantly wrapping around her as he placed a kiss on the top of her head. "That's good, she needs the rest from all the events that she went through within the last while. How are you doing? I can't imagine suffering the way you may be suffering." He whispered into her ear, "It is tough, but I am trying to work through it. I have you and Alaia and Wheezy, and all of the Pouges there to help me through this if need be." She told him, snuggling in closer while relaxing to the sounds of the Pogues talking quietly in the background. "Okay, but if you need anything just let me know." John B told her he had seen that she was slowly falling asleep so just held her close and listened to his friends talk. John B had sat there wondering how he had gotten so grateful with his wifey and his friends. Even though he had lost his dad, he couldn't be more grateful for what he had.
As it got later it had gotten chillier and Sarah had curled further into him and Alaia had curled up on his feet, he had decided that it was time to head in. "Hey guys, I'm going to take us in and go to bed. It's starting to get late and I'm losing feeling in my feet." John B chuckled to the others, they soon joined in. "Are you guys okay with cleaning up?" He asked, "Yeah John, you go tuck your lady friend in and don't worry about anything else." JJ told his best friend, seeing how much John B cares about Sarah and how much they have gone through to be together showed him that taking the risk can turn out pretty good. "Okay, thank you guys. Have a good night." John B said, with the replies of goodnight from his friends, John B picks Sarah up and heads towards the chateau with Alaia in tow. When John B gets into their room, he places Sarah gently on the middle of the bed beside Wheezy. He then gets up and shuts the door after making sure Alaia was in the room. He quickly gave Alaia a pet before shutting off the lights and climbing into bed. He pressed a kiss to Wheezy's head while leaning over Sarah, then pulling her into him and giving her a gentle kiss, falling asleep almost immediately