SAFETY || JJ MAYBANK

nose bleeds, arguments and the beatles

The walk home from the boneyard was a quiet one. JJ and I were alone, walking down the dark road in silence. No cars passed, only the light from the moon showing us the path. We hadn't said a word since Pope left, both of us deep in our own thoughts, mine mostly on the boy I was keeping my thoughts from.

"I stand by it," he says out of the blue.

I glance at him, the pair of us walking in step, the same slow relaxed step. "What?"

"I stand by what I done," he says sharply.

I fidget with the red friendship bracelet tied round my wrist, the mild air hitting my bare arms and legs. "I told you not to do it, you know how stupid that was?"  I say calmly, not in the mood to shout at him. Not after how much Kie and Pope had shouted at him.

The thing with JJ was, that shouting didn't get through to him. Sure, you could scream at him, threaten him and try use fear to convince him things are bad, but that just doesn't work for him. It's probably to do with his dad, but I'm not in the place to start diagnosing him or whatever. But to really get JJ to understand, you have to talk him through it, shouting at him just shuts him down, and that's when he says things he doesn't mean.

"He hit you Sky," he states angrily.

"That doesn't mean you should've held a gun to his head,"

He stops in his tracks, causing me to slowly stop and face him, his dark shadow of a face looking back at me. "Topper's hurt you enough, I wasn't gonna sit and watch him hurt you more," his voice seemed angry, but I could tell he was upset, about me getting hurt, or the fact everyone seemed angry at him, I'm not sure.

"Jay," I whisper, not knowing how to respond to that, "I get this gun is good, it's protection, but you can't pull it out whenever anyone is in any a bit of danger," I say calmly.

He nods, and walks forwards, grabbing my hand, making us continue to walk, before dropping my hand again, exposing it to the cool air. My hand stretches out, missing the feeling of his on mine, even if it was for a few moments.

"Anyway, what was Topper really gonna do with all that blood pouring out his face?" I say, trying to lighten the heavy mood.

The boy smiles slightly, running his hands through his hair, "You got him good, I'm proud of you," he says as he glances at me, his shadow covered face not succeeding in hiding his big smile and ocean coloured eyes.

I roll my eyes amused, "Acting like it's not in my blood to know how to throw a punch," my hand reaches the side of my face as I hold onto my jaw, feeling the area that was likely to bruise due to the lack of ice since it happened.

"Does it hurt?" he asks bluntly, making me drop my hand, shaking my head.

"I'm fine," I say through a smile, the muscles in my cheek aching from the movement.

The boys eyes stay on me, as we walk closer to the path leading up to our houses, closer to the two windows with a yellow light shining out. "Come in to mine first, I'll fix you up," he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me up the path of his house, past my house, with the light on.

My mom was awake.

The conversation with my dad hit me again, and dread started the gnaw away at my insides.

JJ drops my hand as we reach the screen door, the door behind it half open, letting a slight crack of warm light shine onto us. JJ sighs, offering me an awkward smile, before opening the screen door and letting us into his house.

Luke Maybank was sitting on the couch, his feet on the table in front of him, a beer in his hand, the same replay of some old football game on as it always was.