Head above the water

12

(Me rn because I have to wake up super early to do makeup for senior things at school and the stress is getting to me.)

There was a silence in my car, broken only by the low whine of the radio drifting through the speakers. I was focused on driving, and Jungkook was looking out of the window, observing the route from the school to my home. It wasn't a very far drive, only four blocks, but I drove for the convenience of it. On very nice days I would walk, but it was rare that I could leave the house in the morning and reasonably expect it to not be bad weather by the time I had to walk home.

"So, what's one of your hobbies?" I asked in an attempt to break the awkward tension.

"I dance. I like to sing, too," He answered as if it was second nature.

"Namjoon told me that you like photography," I mentioned to him.

"Yeah! I really like taking pictures. If I'm not somewhere that I can't have it, my camera is probably in my hand," he finally seemed to relax.

"I like photography, too. I like the idea of freezing a moment forever. You can't loose things when they're frozen like that," I explained.

"That's a really cool way to look at that," Jungkook said to me.

"I guess it is," I shrugged the thought away as we pulled into my drive.

Before Jungkook could get out of his side of the car and make it to my door, I already had it open, and I was trying to hop on one leg up the driveway and to the door of my house. Hurrying to catch up, Jungkook swooped me up in his arms, bridal style, before I had a chance to get more than a few feet. It made me angry and embarrassed that I couldn't take care of myself, but I knew Jungkook was only doing what he thought was right. I couldn't get mad at him for that.

He gently sat me on my feet when we reached my front door. I dug the keys from my purse and unlocked it for him to enter, assisting my limping form. I steered us into my living room where I plopped down on my couch and Jungkook marveled at my house. We didn't live in a tiny house, but by no means was it huge, either. Our house was comfortable, and, had a piece of the foundation of our family not been missing, it would have felt overwhelmingly homey.

There was a bit of dust settled on the shelves that held pictures and knickknacks from old family vacations and a few old movies that seemed to have been watched more than a thousand times. One of my well worn paperback books sat on the coffee table, the spine so used to being bent that it was still open to the page on which I had left it. A fuzzy blanket was thrown in a jumbled mess on the other end of the couch, and the decorative pillows were stacked like someone had used them to nap on. My mom must've slept on the couch last night.

"Who is this?" Jungkook asked, pointing to a picture of my dad, my older cousin, and myself all sporting huge grins and looking at the camera like we knew a secret.

Of course, we had known a secret in that picture. My dad had just told my cousin and I that we were going to surprise my mom, who was behind the camera, with a cake for her birthday. My cousin and I were still young, so we thought cake was a fantastic secret surprise.

"That's my cousin, my dad, and me," I explained with a nostalgic smile.

"You guys are cute," Jungkook cooed to the picture, "Where does your dad work?"

"He, um, he doesn't," I awkwardly answered.

"Oh! Is he looking for a job?" Jungkook continued his line of questions.

"Jungkook, my dad can't do anything. He's dead," I dropped all pretense of happiness.

"Oh," he replied to me, and sat beside me on my couch in silence.

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Muhahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhaahha!
Suckers! Have fun with this cliffhanger. I love you all very much. So much that I intend to not leave this cliffhanger for too long.

Love Ya Always,
-Haleigh