everything about you •• jj maybank

thirty one

My hands were shaking when I sat myself at the table, confusion and anxiety rushing over me, breaking me out into a nervous sweat. Toby was at my house, having lunch with my family.

Just like old times.

He had, of course, taken the seat next to me and was charming his way straight to my families hearts. Everyone was chatting casually, catching up, and laughing together. My heart was racing, and I was stuck in a daze, tunnel vision clouding my eyesight.

Just like old times.

This felt all too familiar. I hated it. I had never wanted an escape so badly, never wanted to hear JJ's bike revving outside my house so badly. But there was no getting out of this. My mom wanted to trap me, and succeeded.

"Josephine?"

I blinked quickly, pushing myself back into the conversation, a fake smile set firmly on my face.

"Sorry, yes?"

I turned to meet the eyes of Mary Grace Lancaster. The mother of Toby; the sweet woman who possessed the same emerald green eyes as him. Her red hair was short, sitting pleasantly on her shoulders, and her eyes were soft as she stared at me. Mary Grace was the epitome of a kind hearted woman. She was gracious, she was gentle, and soft spoken. She was everything Toby tried so desperately hard to be.

But he was nothing like her.

"I just wanted to know how this last school year had gone for you, sweetie. I know you had mentioned before that this year was going to be full of lots of AP classes. How was it?"

Her smile was so bright as she spoke to me, her eyes glimmering as she stared at me with such sweetness. She had always been so great to me. Given her energy towards me today, I wasn't sure what Toby had told her about our breakup.

I had hardly told my parents anything. Especially not my mom. They knew I was heartbroken. I'm sure they heard me crying to myself or Sarah or even Topper in my bedroom. But I never told them how he treated me or the cruel words he had spread about me after.

I was too embarrassed. And I knew they wouldn't understand, or worse, they wouldn't believe me.

I don't know if they had known what actually went down between us if today would be any different. He probably would still be sitting here with his parents, charming his way out of everything like he always did. They would assume I was being overdramatic about the whole thing and assure me that things would work out.

"It was very stressful but I powered through. I aced all of my classes and finished strong. I'm just glad the school year is over," I answered politely.

Toby grinned from beside me, reaching over and caressing my shoulder lightly. "I think we can all agree that's not surprising in the slightest. We all know Josie is brighter than the sun. Putting that pretty head of her's to good use."

Everyone cooed at his words, and I chuckled weakly, shrugging away at his touch. When he turned to look at me, I sent him daggers, a slight shake of my head making him smirk and turn away.

My nails tapped against the table and I cleared my throat, looking over to my mom. "Is the food almost done? I'm starving."

Her eyes widened softly and she laughed, shaking her head at me, "Josephine, don't be so greedy, dear. It will be done shortly."