Together

130. Relief

How could I go home
When you're all I wanna know?
Come on, let me see your bed
It's too late for this to end
Yeah, I got myself too drunk on you to drive
So I'm crashing here tonight
-ILLENIUM and Bahari

They fell asleep in the truck, not waking until the rising sun cast enough light to wake them. Kie is the first to stir, rubbing her eyes as she feels the weight of her head lifting and falling against the side of JJ's abdomen. They'd climbed in the back of the truck and he let her fall asleep in his lap. His arm hangs loosely around her waist in slumber.

She looks up from her somewhat upside down view. The sun was behind them so it was soft lighting that painted his features. He looked peaceful. Golden fair hair gently brushing his forehead, eyes lightly resting while his body is completely taken over by sleep. It makes her smile at him.

She adjusts herself, wanting to relieve the slight kink in her neck. JJ reflexively tightens his arm around her, still not even remotely awake, but sensing her stir all the same. Feeling his tender embrace, even in slumber, has her not knowing what she would do without this boy.

Kie pulls out her cell, noticing that it's close to dead because she pulled it from her charger last night to follow JJ into the open water. That reminder has her gripping his arm back, wanting to be just as close to him as he was to her.

She blinks back happy tears when she thinks about how he comforted her. Challenged her thoughts and gave her the opportunity to re-evaluate them. It wasn't like she was cured. The thought of Travis still made her want to throw up bile. But that seemed less inappropriate now. Like it made sense that she should be disgusted by him. He was the one that made the decision to stalk and attack her.

And for the first time since it occurred, Kie doesn't feel like it was her that was the problem. At least not entirely. She could forgive herself for the errors she still felt she made. She just needed to remember that she wasn't the one that put herself in that situation to begin with. At least now that thought felt a little more true to her.

Kie takes another lung filled breath of air. The freshness of the chill morning making her feel new.

In the back of her mind she knows that the sun coming up is not good. Her parents will be waking up soon, if not up already, and she knows for a fact that they are going to be worried. Just when she thinks about checking her messages her phone goes black.

"Whoops," she whispers to herself. She turns her face up when JJ stirs a little more, deciding to kiss his arm as she sits up a bit more and continues to lean on him.

"Hey," he responds, voice raspy with the morning as he sleepily blinking away his unconscious state.

"Hi," she smiles.

He catches her tone, looking back at her happy demeanor with mirrored emotion. It felt good to wake up with her in his arms and feel comfort. Having her close made breathing easier.

Noticed how he didn't have to wake up and remind himself that his dreams weren't real. Didn't have to tell himself that it was over and she was safe. He had the evidence in his arms and it was so relieving.

"Oh shit," he says when it finally hits him that it's straight up daylight now. "Your dad is gonna—"

"Do absolutely nothing," Kie interrupts with mild amusement.

JJ raises his brows in obvious disbelief. "It's been a minute since I pulled this with you," he reminds, talking about them staying out all night. Checking in on her every night was one thing. Taking her, literally, from her parents sleeping arms and not being there when they are definitely awake was quite another.