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────014, silver lining somethings.
CLEO BENNETT HAS NEVER FELT MORE SICK TO HER STOMACH BEFORE.
She had returned to Blue Shell Cottage after JJ had been arrested at Heyward's and had grown restless since then, pacing the small smothering confinements of her room for what felt like an eternity. A myriad of thoughts ran through her head, pondering what she should do to help JJ. Should she go to the station? Should she wait at his home? Every question was met with an useless answer, pointing out the fact that she would be no help anywhere in this situation, especially when she did not know how long JJ would be held up at the station for.
Ideally, she should have been preparing for Midsummers, but this was anything but ideal. The yellow dress she had bought still splayed out on the edge of her bed where she had put it that very morning, freshly ironed by her grandmother the night before, is a harsh reminder of that. Getting ready for Midsummers when her best friend was taking the blame for something she and Pope were both involved in didn't feel right. Worst of all, she was alone in her panic, anxiously gnawing on her lower lip as she circled her room for what felt like the thousandth time that afternoon, each of her friends being pulled into different directions in tow for Midsummers, with Pope having to help Heyward prepare for the night's catering and Kiara forced to begin readying herself for her own arrival to the party; John B was still missing, though he had become the least of Cleo's concern in the stretching hours following JJ's arrest.
Because she knows what would happen to JJ, whilst at the same time had zero inclination of what could happen to JJ when his father hears about his charge━━and that harrowing fact has her stomach twisting and churning as she verges on tears. She knows JJ of all people didn't deserve the anguish or punishment, on top of the life sentence he was already serving living every day with his father, and that pained her the most. Above all else, she knows he's so much better than what he makes himself out to be, so much more than what he believes. He didn't have to take the fall for the sinking of Topper's boat, and yet he did. Because, in the harsh reality they live in, JJ Maybank would do something as reckless as that, and no one would believe otherwise. No one, it seemed, except for Cleo.
Five hours is how long she waits.
Five terrible hours, stretching on in a never ending cycle as she's forced to wait for answers or Midsummers, and she fears the celebration may arrive sooner than any sort of comforting reassurance.
Yet just when she thinks she can take the awful prolonged dread no longer, she hears the sound of a commotion outside, distinctly resembling the muffled chortle of a motorbike's engine. She peers out her bedroom window then in search of the noise, only to find the same said vehicle pulling into her driveway in a frantic rush. A fleeting, hopeful thought nags at the back of her mind as she speculates just who it could be, but she refuses to dwell on it, apprehensive she may let herself down. Still, it spirits her out of her room and down the stairs, briskly making her way towards the front door, wrapping the sheer gossamer chiffon material of her floral kimono-style cardigan tighter around her body. She peeks desperately through the eyehole of the door to spot the newcomer, heart hammering in her chest as they approach.
