Sunflower || JJ Maybank/Cassandra Routledge

6. They Never Give Up

The Lucky Compass 2.02

Even though they can read each other effortlessly, the one thing they can't read is the weight the silence is currently holding for the other person.

          As Casey drifts through her thankfully peaceful sleep, she is awoken by pounding and yelling at the back door. She pulls the blanket over her head and turns over to face away from the bedroom door, careful not to hurt her shoulder. The girl tries to ignore the annoying noise echoing through the house but unfortunately, the pounding continues. She lets out a deep sigh and opens her eyes, officially over the new day. All she wants is for a good night of sleep where she isn't rudely woken up, but no, that seems to be too much to ask. She slowly stands up as the pounding gets louder and lets the blanket fall from her shoulders as she walks out of the room, hell bent on finding the noise and putting an end to it.

          Right as Casey stops in the doorway leading into the living area, JJ appears in the window next to the back door. He bangs on the dirty glass from the outside and makes John B, who is lying on the now converted back to a couch, pullout, jump up. "Gotcha, slick." He jokes, making Casey roll her eyes and turn on her heels, heading back into Big John's room, not wanting to deal with either of them just yet. As she enters the bedroom, she hears JJ laugh from outside and yell through the window. "You should have seen your face, man!" She slowly closes the door behind herself, muffling the boy as he continues to speak. She is definitely annoyed that JJ woke her up, but, deep down, she's relieved it's him and not DCS or the police banging on their door.

          Casey stands in the middle of the room for a moment, debating if she should go back to sleep for a bit or not, but when she hears someone making noise through the door, the decision is made for her. The girl huffs as she makes her way to the dresser and opens the top drawer. She rummages through a mix of her's and Big John's clothes before finding a black crop top and blue distressed jean shorts to wear. She carefully pulls the shirt she is currently wearing over her head, hissing at the pain in her shoulder. Before putting the new shirt on, Casey looks at her arm in the mirror. It's redder than last night, but thankfully none of the stitches came undo. Surprisingly, the girl smiles at it and carefully puts the new shirt on, then the shorts. She throws her dirty clothes in the corner of the room and opens the door to officially join the boys for the day.

          As Casey reenters the living area, she is met with John B still on the couch, slowly waking himself up and JJ now in the house, instead of creeping on them from the porch. The boy smiles at her from his spot leaning against one of the kitchen counters but she ignores him and walks to the fridge to grab a beer. She barely has a chance to take a drink before JJ makes his way to her, his hands behind his back. "I got something for you."

          Casey raises her eyebrows at him. She did not get enough sleep to deal with JJ, well, being JJ already. So, instead of being sincere, she immediately gets sarcastic with him. "Yeah? And what would that be?" JJ chuckles at her response and pulls his hands out. In one, a huge box of bandages, big enough for her shoulder, and a roll of medical tape. In the other, a sunflower. Casey looks between the two things, then back up to him. She was assuming he would give her something he swiped from the Châteasu days ago to be funny, but instead, he actually got her something.

          At first, she tries to keep her emotions hidden but the longer she stares into his puppy dog blue eyes, the harder it is to hide her appreciation. Finally, she lets the smile appear on her face. "Thank you, Jay." JJ's smile grows at her reaction. He had a feeling the flower would make her feel better.

          Without saying anything, the boy places the bandages and tape on the counter, hands her the flower, and starts rummaging through the cabinets. As JJ begins to tear the kitchen apart, John B gets up and heads toward the hallway. As he passes, Casey looks over at her brother but before she can say anything, John B shrugs his shoulders, basically telling her she has to deal with whatever JJ is doing. Casey sarcastically rolls her eyes at John B and leans on one of the counters as JJ begins to huff in frustration. She doesn't have to ask what he's looking for, and even though she knows exactly where a vase is, watching him struggle is quite entertaining.