it's a no brainer

chapter 2 - the bracelet

This has been my favorite chapter to write so far :) enjoy🤙

~~

When Kie saw JJ her heart skipped a beat. It's been doing that quite a lot lately and she doesn't know why. She looks and sees the shirt that he's wearing and smiles.

"You can't replace John B y'know," Kie says jokingly.

"Oh really, gosh darn it was really hoping y'all wouldn't notice," he quips back. He missed this. They used to always joke with each other, but ever since they lost John B it's been hard to laugh with each other like they used to.

She missed this. No matter what witty thing she said JJ was always there challenging her as if they're in a battle of banter going back and forth. She walks over to him and hugs him. The last time they embraced like this was when she saw how badly Luke had beaten him. It broke her to see him like that. I mean, how could someone do that to their own son. Their flesh and blood. The only good thing Luke Maybank has ever done was to bring JJ to her...to all of them she meant.

"I don't know if I'm ready to say goodbye J," Kie says into JJ's neck as a tear escapes her eye.

"Me neither," JJ says and hugs her tighter once he feels his neck wet from her tear.

They stay hugging each other like it's the only way that will make them feel better and for a moment they did. Their hearts were beating surprisingly fast but they both chose to ignore it for the sake of the other.

Pope arrived at the château and saw JJ and Kiara through the open door. His heart felt heavy. He was more surprised that he felt something more than anything. When he walked into the room they both turned and looked at him, their faces slightly wet from freshly shed tears. He walked over to them and joined their hug. Each of them silently wished they had another pair of arms in their group hug.

~~

Pope was the first one to leave, he had to wake up early and help his dad. Ever since he lost his scholarship he's been working extra long hours to try and pay for as much of his tuition as he could.

Back at the château JJ and Kiara were sitting on John B's couch since Kie wanted to show him something. He watched her disappear into Big John's office and come back holding a stack of VHS tapes.

"Where the hell did you find those?" JJ asked amazed since he hadn't seen a videotape like that since they tore down the last Blockbusters almost ten years ago.

"Well, when I was here a few days ago I was looking around to find a memento of John B," Kie began to explain while she was looking through the tapes. "I found a cabinet full of VHS tapes Big John took from JB's childhood and you have to see what I found."

Kie puts the tape in the VCR and turns on the TV. She walks back to the couch and sits next to JJ. On the screen are two boys around 8 or 9 years old. They were on Big John's boat and kept jumping into the water from the bow of the boat.

"And this, ladies and gentlemen, looks like the start of a beautiful friendship," says Big John as he keeps the camera on the boys.

The screen goes black and Kie looks over at JJ. He has tears built up in his eyes as he looks down. She takes his hand and squeezes it to let him know it's okay to cry. He opens his eyes and looks up at her hair, at John B's bracelet.

"Hey," JJ starts but his voice cracks. He clears his throat and continues, "where did you get this?" His hand reaches up touches the bracelet and runs his hand along her hair while bringing it back down.

"Oh, I found it on John B's dresser before I fell asleep and you found me," she says while reaching up and letting her hair down.

JJ nods looking back to the TV, "y'know that was the first day we met."