Heated Lies (Jiara)

Promposal

"Yes?"

"Yes!" She beamed, standing with him. "Dude, you have no idea how bad I've wanted to to go a dance. Me and Kie were talking about it back at school! She said JJ-"

She bounced with glee, as Pope
marveled in her short and hyper ways. Then, he could hear faint footsteps. He quickly raised his hands to silence her. His worried whispers came out next.

"Wait, wait, I love your excitement, but hold on." She immediately quieted down, giggling when his smile showed as well. "My dad might be outside."

Then the door handle jiggles and they both sprang into action. Nora hopped right back in bed, posing in a ridiculous sleeping form. Pope quickly hid behind the door. By the time it
opened, the lights were back off and everything looked normal. Heyward peeked inside for two second, whispering for his son.

When there was no answer, he hummed, backing out to check the boy's room.
As soon as the door closed, Pope gave a salute to the girl, making a mad dash back
to his own room.

After he was gone, her eyes opened, staring way up at the ceiling. She was smiling, wider than she had in a very long time. After a few minutes, she retreated into the blankets, giggling.

"He loves my excitement."

***

Kiara was alone in her room when she started to hear the music. It sounded familiar, like a nostalgic memory she couldn't quite put her finger on. She followed her feet off her bed and toward the window to find the source of the song. There, standing in a tux that was a little too big, was JJ. For a moment, she didn't recognize him. JJ wasn't the type to dress up. Which showed because his tie wasn't done right, but Kiara kind of liked it like that. It was definitely JJ.

Her eyes followed his hands above his head, bouncing a large stereo with music loud enough to leak around the neighborhood. He was smiling so wide, so proudly, his eyes lighting up under the sunlight that somehow hit him just right.

Kiara wasn't sure she'd seen him that happy before. Ever. Then he started to bounce a little, like a nervous puppy. Behind him, Pope and John B exited the Twinkie in their own suits. They each held a poster. John Bs sign was green with huge ribbons and glitter. On it, letters read "You+Me..."

Then, next to him, Popes was bright pink with more glitter and ribbons. On his sign, which was a lot neater than John Bs, read "PROM" in big bold letters. JJ was staring at the posters as if he hadn't checked over the spelling a million times already. It couldn't possibly be critiqued anymore, but he was making absolutely sure anyway.

Then he looked back up at Kie, whose hands covered her mouth like she wasn't sure she was really there. And then she disappeared, running down the steps of her house as fast as she could. In that time frame, JJ glanced back at the boys, who gave their respectful thumbs up.

The foot door flung open and JJ damn near dropped the boombox. Pope grabbed it from him upon instinct just as Kiara ran into the blonde boys arms. Despite his fancy attire, his hair was still a mess, and he still smelled like weed and ocean water. It was perfect.

His arms made their way around her waist, picking her right off her feet as he inhaled the scent of her strawberry shampoo. When he finally pulls away, her cheeks are a pretty pink, matching the flowers on her dress. It takes him a second to catch his breath.

"Um... so...?" He looks back at the posters and Kiara giggles.

"Yes, J, of course I'll go to prom with you." She's bouncing in her dress as JJ's eyes shut in a sort of childish excitement. "I love you, JJ."

And his expression is blank for a moment. He's heard those words before, but it creates the same reaction every time. She ruffles his hair and he starts to laugh, calling her a sap.

"Oh, I'm the sap? You're the one with the boom box!!" She laughed, lightly slapping his arm.

"Oh! I almost forgot! I bought you a dress!" He grinned.

Pope chuckled. "Is that why you were picking up so many shifts?"

He reached in the back of the Twinkie, grinning. It was covered with the black flat bag, letting the hanger stick out the top.

"I saw you kept moving it from your cart to your wishlist... I kind of figured you wanted it."

Kiara was actually rendered speechless. With everything that had been going on when she'd been looking at the dress, she was surprised he even remembered. Her lack of a response caused short lived anxiety on his end.

"I-I also think green looks really good on y-"

"It's perfect."

A small sigh of relief followed her response. She looked back up at him, complete admiration on her face. He looked from her to the floor. Like holding her gaze too long was a privilege he had the absolute honor of having.

"It is...?"

"Yes, JJ. I love it."

His cheeks darkened pretty much any time she said the l word. Then she was turning his jaw toward her and kissing him. He laid the dress back down on the seat of the twinkie to wrap around her waist. She smiled into the kiss just as Nora let out a long "Awwwwww."

Sarah had pulled up, hoping to hang out as a girls thing. She'd brought Nora, and somehow, she'd walked into the promposal. Her phone buzzed just as her smile was fading. It was then that she checked it, staring at the calendar reminder. Tomorrow was JJ's dad's sentencing. She was wondering why he'd decided today to do this.

A distraction?

She wondered how all of this would hit the next day. Was Kiara aware? She had to be. The blonde girl took another glance to JJ, who was soaking in every moment like it was his last. Fuck.

Meanwhile, Pope was hugging Nora pretty closely for the rest of them. Some would ask why Nora didn't get some huge promposal like JJ and Kiara. Kiara, Pope, and Nora knew why. She didn't like loud celebrations as much as the rest of them, least not for herself anyway. She was grateful that Pope could sense that.

A sneaking suspicion told her he was the same way.

The Pogues kept in the now as they bounced off fresh excitement. Things would change tomorrow. It was anybody's guess how this would go.

Major disclaimer- i have no idea how to write a court scene. if this next chapter is trash,
please forgive me 😭😭