4 a.m. // Jeggy

Chapter 16

Picture the scene: Saturday afternoon, the Schuyler mansion. I'm in my bedroom, on the floor, with a book in my hands. Angelica leans against the door frame, clutching three tickets in her newly manicured hands.

"Peggy, please! You've been so down lately. We just wanna have fun with our sister!" Angelica begged, waving the tickets in front of my face. They wanted me to come to some concert with them tonight... and I said no.

"We have another sister, you know. Name's Eliza, she's got brown hair, super nice... why don't you ask her?" I said, not moving from my spot on the floor.

"I already asked her, and she said yes. But we want you to come too. I have three tickets for a reason!" Angie said, moving to lay next to me on the ground.

"Ow, how is this even comfortable for you? Why would you lay on the hardwood floor, or all places?" She grumbled, sitting up after a moment. I shrugged, opening my book.

But it was a short lived moment, since Eliza burst through the door moments later, wearing a robe, hair wet from the shower. She snatched my book from my hands and tossed it onto the bed, giggling, before sitting down with us.

"Eliza! Why'd you do that?" I whined, trying to get up. She shushed me and put her hands on my shoulders.

"Ok. Listen, you gotta come with us tonight. We haven't had a Schuyler sisters night in a couple of weeks now, and you really have been down lately. It's gonna be so much fun, and it would be so much better if you came with us!" She said. I began to sigh, about to make up an excuse why I shouldn't go, but she spoke again just as I opened my mouth.

"We're gonna take a bunch of pictures and go get food, and then go to the concert. And we'll get to listen to the music and sing along and have fun, and on the way home we can go somewhere for more food, and we'll talk about our favorite things that happened and boys and food and, I'm really hungry so let's hurry up!" She said in a rush, smiling excitedly.

How can I destroy that excitement?

"Fine." I sighed. Immediately, I was met with squeals and hugs from Angie and Eliza.

"I knew we could get you to come with us." Angelica smiled, hugging me again. I let a smile spread across my lips, allowing myself to feel happiness for the first time in a while.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said jokingly, "But if we actually want to get to the concert and get food before, we'd better get ready to go."

"Oh yeah. That's kind of important." Eliza laughed, realizing she was still just in a robe. She ran off to get dressed while Angelica did her hair and I took a shower.

I turned the shower up so it was at its highest temperature and let it run for a few minutes while I got out a towel and took my hair out of its knotted bun. The room began to fill with steam, so I decided to step in to the shower.

I let the warm water fall over my face, immediately soothing me. It worked away all the soreness from my body and calmed some of the bruises. James's bruises.

I washed my hair slowly, taking my time. I knew Angie and Eliza would complain about how long I take in the shower, but the water is so warm and comforting... I don't know how they take such short showers.

I think about my dream from yesterday. It felt so real, way too real. Why was my brain associating James and John? And... is it doing that to tell me not to trust John?

Pushing the thoughts away, I finished up and turned off the shower, drying off and grabbing my robe before heading back to my bedroom to get dressed. The three of us decided to wear our signature colors, mixed up. So Angelica is wearing yellow, Eliza is wearing pink, and I'm wearing blue. It's weird... almost everything I have is yellow, so I had to take stuff from Eliza's closet.

Soon enough, we were driving to lunch, playing music and singing our hearts out.

"See! I told you it would be fun!" Angie yelled over the music, pointing at me with a smile. I playfully rolled my eyes before continuing to sing the song at the top of my lungs, while Eliza, as always, sang softly but perfectly next to me.

"Guys, I'm sorry about the past few weeks. I know I've been acting off and taking it out on you guys and you really don't deserve it." I said, suddenly feeling guilty that my mean attitude towards my sisters had led them to do something so nice for me to try to help me relax.

"Pegs, don't even worry about it. We just wanna see you happy again. And if you ever want to talk, obviously we're always just a room, text or shout away." Eliza said, putting her singing on hold for a second to grab my hand and reassure me.

"What she said!" Angelica called from the driver's seat. We fell into a giggle fit and for the first time in quite a while, I felt content.

We arrived at lunch to yet another surprise, and a welcome one at that. John, Alex and Laf sat together at a table, apparently expecting us. I sucked in a sharp breath recalling my nightmare about John/James, then realized that it was only a dream. I was gonna be okay. And if I wasn't okay? At least I knew I had my sisters to back me up.

I snapped out of my head and let an easy smile come across my face as we greeted the boys, and John stood up to pull out a chair for me to sit in.

"Aw, what a gentleman," Angelica cooed, pointing at us, "Laf, when have you ever done that? Is chivalry dead to the French?" She joked. Laf retaliated by pulling her chair out from under her as she went to sit down, sending the entire table into a fit of laughter until the waitress came to take our drink orders.

Before I knew it, lunch was over and my stomach was full of delicious food. At this point, I could almost take a nap. Hah. That's funny coming from an insomniac, isn't it? We piled into our cars and drove off to the concert, and I found myself wishing that I had snuck into the car with John instead of having to wait until we met back up at the concert.

As if she read my mind, Eliza nudged me and asked me about John.

"Do you like him?" She asked, scooting a little closer to me.

"Yeah, he seems like a great guy and a really good friend." I answered, not giving away any of my feelings for him just yet.

"No Peggy, you know what I mean. I meant, do you like like him. Like, you know...?" I felt myself blush a little.

"Eliza, are you making her gossip where I can't hear it?" Angie called, giving me another second to craft my answer to Liza. The two went back and forth for a minute, Eliza saying that she wasn't doing anything and Angelica telling her that she knew Liza was lying.

"Guys! It's nothing, okay? I don't have a crush on him, he's just a friend. Besides, he'd probably reject me if I said anything anyway." I said, breaking up their mini-argument.

"PEGGY!" My sisters shouted in unison.

"WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING!" I answered.

"He would literally never reject you. He'd have to be clinically insane to do so. You guys would be so cute." Eliza said.

"Oh and also, he totally is into you. Like, into you into you. That boy cannot hide his feelings well." Angelica threw in. I felt myself begin to get a little giddy. He likes me? There's no way.

Before I knew it, Angie and her reckless driving swung into a parking lot and sharply twisted into a spot. I jumped out of the car to avoid my interrogation and found myself standing next to the talk of the town himself, John, who was waiting outside Alex's car in the spot next to us.

My soul filled with butterflies as he smiled at me and struck up a conversation. I could barely get through it. He's just... exactly how he was that day at the beach. Mr. Hottie for sure.

You know what? Maybe I wouldn't be opposed to this going somewhere.

I stop the thought before I say something stupid, like admitting my feelings for him. Besides, if he knew about what was happening with James? He wouldn't want me. As James likes to say, nobody wants used goods. That's why I "belong" to him.

No. No thoughts of James today. The sex has yet to stop, the threats have yet to stop, but I can control my thoughts. No more about him.

I want to focus on John.

a/n: some jeggy for you all, just about 2 years late, also i lowkey love this book even tho it's not my best one in my opinion