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"IM SORRY ABOUT WHAT RAFE DID TO POPE, JJ. I REALLY AM," Cassidy ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at her. He grabbed her wrist to stop her and sat up, removing his head from her lap. "This isn't on you, okay? I promise that this is nothing that you did," he whispered, his heart aching as she looked away for a moment.
They were currently laying on the deck of her fathers boat as they talked about anything that came to mind. He had tried to run out the door the second his tears had stopped falling but she wouldn't let him do so. She was tired of letting him run.
"I-I didn't know he was like that. He's never raised a hand to me," she continued, bringing her own hand to her chest as she cradled it like it was some weapon. JJ caught sight of the bruises on her knuckle and pulled it towards him, running his thumb along the purple.
"What's this?"
Cassidy looked away in embarrassment. She had completely forgotten about the fight she had with Fran, the memory was almost the least important thing going on in her life right now. She didn't really know how to explain to him that she had gotten into a fight without exposing to him the one secret she clung to. She didn't know how to admit to him that she had lied about her mom.
"I got into a fight—"
"With who?" JJ was perked up now, his eyes focused on her as she looked down. "This girl at Topper's party, Fran Turner. She just got under my skin and I snapped."
It was JJ's turn to look away in embarrassment. He knew exactly who Fran Turner was from a few months prior. They'd had a brief, clandestine relationship of friends with benefits and then JJ had kicked her to the curb when he realized how the girl truly acted. That had been the last Kook he had been physical with. The last one up until he and Cass.
"I lied to you."
JJ's head snapped back towards Cassidy and he saw that her eyes were glossy. He picked up her hand again and continued to same pattern he had started, his thumb grazing the bruises. There was a slight feeling of panic in the pit of his stomach but he kept it minimal, waiting for her to divulge into details.
"I told you that my mom died in a car accident. That's only the half-truth, I guess. They told me that it wasn't an accident. She never tried to stop herself when she hit the tree and they found a note in the passenger seat. My, uh, my dad never let me read it. He told me it would be too much all at once but then I overheard him and the Sherriff talking a few days later. She said that the handwriting wasn't a match for my moms but my dad just blew her off..."
Cassidy gave JJ a shaky smile and laughed at the irony of the situation. Her bestfriend, or whatever Rafe was to her, had just brutally beaten JJ's own bestfriend and now here they were, the two of them lounging on a boat like they hadn't ended things only days before. She didn't even know that her laughter had turned to tears until the boy next to her gently wiped her face with a frown.
