Celestial ~ JJ Maybank

017.

After walking along the island's roads for over an hour, Celeste found herself standing at her front door. Her mind was running wild with thoughts whilst none of them were distinguishable from the others. She couldn't seem to pinpoint one emotion that she was feeling. Everything was a mess inside her head.

She knew that JJ didn't totally mean what he said. He was just lashing out. When backed into a corner, he would always push people away as his defence mechanism. All his friends were practically ganging up on him and he believed he was doing the right thing. And in his mind, that meant revenge. To get back at Barry. He just wanted his friends to stand by him after everything that had gone down beforehand but they didn't. So, he left. He had to go on alone.

But she ran after him. And, maybe in his enraged state, he just needed to be left alone. He should have known that Celeste wasn't the type to leave him to storm off alone. Fuck knows what he could do in that state. Especially with 25 grand in his hands. Then she pushed him. Why did she have to push him? So, he spoke words that he'd never said before, making her walk away from him.

How could she walk away from him? From JJ? From her JJ?

But at the same time, what he said to her... he'd never said anything like that before to her. His words hurt. Did he mean them? Had he thought these things this whole time but hadn't said anything? Being called a Kook may be small and a stupid reason to get hurt over for some people but to her? It fucking hurt. She has always been compared to those asshole Kooks because of her parent's wealth and she hated it with a burning passion. Her family were Pogues at heart and always have been. Her friends knew that. JJ knew that better than anyone did. So, for him to say that... she couldn't handle it. It sounds stupid and she knew that. She knows she shouldn't be affected so much by a label but to her – it was the principal.

She hadn't even moved forward from her insecurities about being useless within the group and not belonging from Pope's comment before. How was she meant to work past this as well?

That alongside JJ calling her the other names...

Each word he spoke hit her harder than the last.

If he really did mean what he said, how was she meant to go on without him? She couldn't handle that.

Would he be okay without her? It's JJ. Of course, he'd be better off without her.

The thoughts continued whirring around her head 100mph as she reached to unlock the front door. She walked inside and was met with sounds of soft chatter coming from the kitchen. Celeste sighed heavily, debating on whether to head straight to her room and sulk or to find her parents. She chose the former of the two.

She was able to climb one step when her name was called from behind.

"Is that you Cellie?"

She bit her lip, trying to stop it from trembling. In a shaky voice she called back, "yeah mom it's me"

"We thought you'd be home later. I can't hear the guys with you and we all know they can't keep quiet for the life of them" she heard her dad laugh.

"N-no they're not with me, I'm just gonna go up t-to my room" she stuttered back. She cursed at herself for her obviousness. Footsteps soon sounded and Celeste continued up the stairs, hoping her parents weren't going to stop her.

However, luck wasn't on her side.

"Celeste"

And when her mother uses that tone, you know better than to ignore her.

"Guys, I'm fine. I'm just tired and I jus--" she tried to say but was interrupted.

"Sweetheart, you can talk to us" Celeste's hands gripped tighter on the banister, trying her hardest to hold in her emotions. Her lip was practically bleeding with how hard she was biting it, "come back down here"