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"She's gotta handle this herself, JJ."
- John Booker Routledge
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[July 2019 — Last Summer]
Abigail was thankful her cheek didn't look as bad the next morning. The swelling had gone down quite a bit, and the bruising left behind wasn't horrible. Her grandmother did ask about the cut on her cheek, which she lied about, making up some excuse about falling on the beach. Gram bought it, and Abby felt guilty for lying to her, but her and Aaron were broken up and she didn't see the use of upsetting her grandparents with the details now. So, she lied about the cut, and told her grandparents she dumped Aaron because he was leaving for college.
They bought that lie, too.
Aaron hadn't tried to call or text Abigail since the kegger, which she was happy about. She was hoping it would stay that way, that he would just leave for college and never come back.
More realistically, she was just hoping he would never speak to her again.
She wasn't so lucky.
Aaron made it a whole three days before trying to contact her.
Abby was surfing with the boys. They had just come in for a break, now laying on the sand and letting the warmth from the sun dry their wet skin when her phone rang. She pulled it out, her eyes nearly popped out of her head, and she froze for a moment.
A moment too long because the boys noticed that her phone was still ringing and she was staring at it.
"Who is it?" Pope asked, with furrowed brows.
Abigail snapped out of her daze, lifting her eyes from her phone to the two boys sitting across from her. Before she could even come up with a response, John B, who was sitting next to her, catches sight of the name on Abby's screen. His jaw sets, and before he can think it through, he snatches the phone from her hand and slides his thumb across the bottom of the screen to answer the call.
"Why the hell are you calling her?" He snaps after he places the phone to his ear.
"John B!" Abigail exclaims, standing up.
JJ and Pope stared up at them, confused, their eyes darting between both teens.
"No, you can't talk to her—" The brunette boy continues.
Thats when JJ and Pope put the pieces together — Aaron.
After that, JJ keeps his eyes locked on Abby. She's visibly nervous, her thumb pressed against her lip and he knows she's probably biting her cuticle.
"I'm dead serious, actually — you're lucky we didn't go to the cops for what you did to her!"
"Stop!" Abigail hisses, reaching towards the boy, but he just shakes his head, stepping away from her.
YOU ARE READING
In the Dark ~ j.m¹
RomanceAfter being abandoned by his mother at a young age, left to deal with his abusive father, JJ Maybank feels like he was stranded out at sea during a terrible storm, fighting to make it through each day. Even though he meets the Pogues at a young age...
