everything about you •• jj maybank

thirty six

Kiara and I had driven around for an hour after I told her about Toby. She assured me that everything would be okay and validated my feelings. After that, she dropped it and completely changed the subject. We spent the next hour or so driving through Figure Eight, blasting music and singing together, acting as if nothing bad had ever happened. Like everything was back to normal again.

I needed every minute of that.

Nothing had felt normal in what felt like forever.

Not since I met JJ.

She had ever so kindly gotten my mind off of everything, before we drove back to my house to see if the Lancaster's were still at my house. Luckily for me, they weren't. However, I had to go back there whether I liked it or not. There were things I needed to get so stay with Kiara for a few days.

She had invited me to crash at her place as long as I needed. I happily took the invitation and told her to drop me off at my house, and that I'd be over as soon as I had everything I needed.

"Thank you," I breathed as we both got out of the car. She handed me my car keys and pressed her hands to her hips. "For everything."

Her face twitched into a look of adoration, her head cocking to the side as she looked at me.

"You don't need to thank me. It's what friends are for right? Best friends."

I grin and pull her tightly into a hug, the two of us laughing gently with each other. Giving her one last squeeze we pull away and she salutes me, walking backwards.

"Good luck. Let me know if you need anything."

I salute back to her before reluctantly turning towards my house again, feeling an overwhelming , unsettling feeling sit at the pit of my stomach.

My feet carried me to the door, my hands shaking slightly when I reached for the doorknob and twisted. My muscles relaxed when I opened the door and was seemingly in the clear. Nobody sat in the family room or the kitchen from what I could tell.

All I needed to do was to run up to my bedroom, grab what I needed, and to get the hell out of here.

Once I got to my room I -very quietly- closed the door and ran to my closet, grabbing my designated going away bag. The bag was light blue, and big enough that I could fit several days of clothes in here and some toiletries if need be.

I spent a few minutes grabbing everything I could get my hands on, not knowing how long I was going to be gone. I grabbed denim shorts, athletic shorts, dresses, blouses, tank tops, t-shirts- basically anything I could get my hands on.

I shoved everything into the bag and stood up, going to my vanity to get some small things. I didn't hesitate to pack my hairbrush, but skipped out on the curl cream- knowing Kiara would let me borrow whatever she had. I grabbed some jewelry, and my fingertips lingered along the keys that were sitting in their respective dish.

I grinned to myself.

JJ thought these were cool.

It was crazy how something so small would stick with you forever.

So many of my friends, Toby, and even Topper had always teased about my weird hobby. Anytime I tried dragging Toby into a pawn shop or an antique store, he would groan and beg me to leave. He thought it was weird and stupid.

"I'll buy you a brand new bracelet from Cartier or Tiffany if you just take me home."

He was such a buzzkill.

I didn't buy a lot in that year we were together. The items had collected a lot of dust, sitting still, without being touched or admired.

Ever since that conversation with JJ, I had been itching to find more items.