Die In California

48

Devyn's POV:

We got to Pops' around 10 pm, and JP crawled the bike up the drive to the garage door, telling me to get off to knock on the door. Getting down off the back of the bike was a struggle, providing us with laughs, before eventually I managed to drop to my feet, Luna still secure in my hoodie. "Yo, Pops!" I called out with a laugh as I knocked on the door, despite the evening being late.

He eventually came to the door with a laugh, before shaking his head at the sight of me and Luna waiting on his doorstep, JP impatiently waiting outside the garage door and revving the engine of his bike - sure to piss off the neighbours. "What the fuck you two doin' 'ere?" Pops asked with a laugh as he opened the door wider for me, walking through to the garage to let JP and his bike in.

"What brings you two here, Devy?" Andrea asked as she walked over to pull me into a hug, before cooing at Luna and taking her from me for snuggles.
"I-uh... I jus', I- well... I guess-" I was stalling, anybody could see that. Truthfully, I was waiting for JP to come inside and divert the conversation away from me. How could I tell them that I impulsively ran away to foolishly try and escape my problems? Did they even know about the fucking house in LA?

"We jus' wanted to see Jodie again, didn' we darl'?" JP thankfully swooped in to save the day, slipping his arm around my waist protectively as he pulled me into his side and kissed my temple. I nodded and looked into his hazel eyes with a smile, in hopes that he'd understand how grateful I was for him. I think he already knew, but it never hurt to express gratitude a little more.

"We introduced her to Luna, an' updated her on everythin' that's been goin' on, an' uh- then we jus' talked through shit and sorted a few things out for ourselves." He explained, pulling me closer into his side. "Now why don' you go on up an' check what I've got? I'll be up in a minute." His hand drifted down to my ass, lightly squeezing as he pressed his lips to mine. I blushed - yes, I seriously blushed in front of his parents, probably for the first time since I was an awkward, hormonal teenager in her first ever relationship - then turned to head upstairs just as JP called Cole down.

I passed his little brother in the hallway, and was instantly grabbed into an iron-tight hug by him. I laughed and squoze him back, lifting him off the ground a little as he laughed maniacally. "Oh, I missed ya, C-dizzle." I exhaled when I set him back down, pulling away to mess his hair up. He playfully glared at me, then broke out into a wide grin. "I missed you too, DJ!"

Cole was then dragged into the kitchen by JP (who, might I add, had the poor kid in a headlock), who was also offering him Luna to sleep on his bed for the night. We all knew what he was doing - or at least all the adults knew what he was doing - but Pops and Andrea turned a blind eye whilst I headed upstairs to JP's room with a quiet laugh, also feigning obliviousness.

When I got to JP's childhood bedroom, I pushed the door to behind me and started to rummage through the drawers of his bedside table. Pops and Andrea already knew about JP smoking, and most likely knew of his stash, but it felt wrong to be doing it in someone else's house, and I'd rather Cole didn't happen to look in as he walked past to his own bedroom.

I opened one of the drawers and broke out into a shit-eating grin at what I found. I slowly sank to sit on the edge of the bed as I began to flick through the contents of the drawer. It seemed that it was dedicated to all of JP and I's memories together. Photos, polaroids, love letters written during class (one of which was fucking confiscated by the teacher), his bracelets that matched mine, the cinema ticket to the first film we saw together. He had everything!

"Found anything?" JP bursting through the door startled me; I'd been so consumed by his drawer that I hadn't heard him coming up the stairs - and they were pretty creaky stairs, you could hear even the slightest of movement of those things. "Uh, yeah I found an old joint. I don' know if it'll be any good, but hey, it'll be worth it." I shrugged with a laugh and gestured to the pre-rolled joint and lighter I'd thrown on the bed behind me, before going back to looking through our memories.