𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 ━ 𝐣𝐣 𝐨𝐛𝐱

part eighteen

"hey, what's all the commotion out there for?" riley asked the cashier behind the counter.

she unwillingly ended up at the market by the force of her mother. she was checking out with a large list of items she had been given.

"not sure," the cashier lazily replied, clearly not interested in having any sort of conversation.

riley glanced back to the people that were beginning to surround a store across the street that, she was almost certain, belonged to pope's dad, heyward.

"thanks," riley mumbled as she grabbed the receipt from the boy and left the store with her bags. after placing them in her car she decided to go over and join the crowd. "excuse me," she quietly said as she slipped into the sea of people.

"it wasn't him!"

catching riley's attention, she suddenly heard a familiar voice yelling. she knew who it belonged to even before making her way to the front of the crowd, where she could now see the scene.

shoupe was guiding pope out of the building. the boy's wrists were retrained in handcuffs and he was followed by quite the crew. heyward was alongside kiara and jj, who's loud voices were all loud and overlapping each other.

"it wasn't him," jj repeated himself, cutting through the tension-filled air like a knife. "it was me."

everyone turned to look at the blonde as he approached the sheriff and his friend.  "he tried to talk me out of it, but i was mad because he'd just been beaten up. i was so sick of those assholes from figure eight that i lost my shit."

everything was starting to click in riley's head. the fact that rafe had beaten up pope had almost completely escaped her mind. of course she still didn't think that sinking topper's boat was the right way to handle the situation; but, she figured that jj had been right... that pouge's just did things differently.

"i can't let you take the blame for something that i did. you've got too much to lose-"

"jj, what are you doing?" pope gritted.

"i'm tellin' the truth. for once in my goddamn life, i'm gonna tell the truth. i took his old man's boat too," the blonde said.

"what the hell?" heyward muttered, his face twisting as he spoke.

at this point it was almost painfully obvious to riley that jj was doing the exact opposite of telling the truth. he was putting on a show; for the officer, for the crowd, for his friends. riley didn't know why she could see through his lies when shoupe was clearly eating them up, but she didn't know how to help him either.

"jj, come on," pope pleaded.

"shut up pope! just shut up," jj yelled making riley jump slightly. the small movement of her body in front of the crowd somehow caught the blonde's attention because he flicked his gaze over to her for just a second. the confidence that was held on his features diminished for that one moment, but he quickly regained it as he turned back towards the sheriff. "pope's a good kid. you know where i'm from."

shoupe nodded his head, agreeing with the boy. the small gesture made riley sick to her stomach as she gulped.

"it was all me," jj confirmed once more.

"that's the whole truth?" shoupe turned to pope who's face was hard and full of guilt.

"whole truth, swear to god," jj added.

"i know what you think, damn it. i'm asking pope."

pope let his eyes flicker over to kiara, who riley had almost forgotten was even there. kiara was clearly upset, her eyes evidently glossed over. riley felt a small pang in her heart at how torn her twin looked.

"yeah that about covers it," pope finally muttered.

jj turned his head to the side again, his eyes meeting riley's for the second time that day. her features were twisted and she chewed on her lip as she stared back at the boy. the small moment between the two felt like it had lasted an eternity.

kiara finally noticed riley after following jj's stare. once the blonde was shoved into the car kiara stomped over to her twin as the crowd began to disperse behind her.

"what the hell are you doing here?" kiara snapped, tearing riley's eyes away from the police car.

"i-"

"came to see the show so you could report back to all your kook friends that did this?" kiara deadpanned.

"kiara," riley mumbled, trying to calm down her twin.

"don't," she warned. "you don't even know the shit that jj's gonna have to go through now. the restitution that he's gonna have to pay! what would topper have had to do if he had taken the blame? hmm? god forbid maybe to do the fucking dishes as punishment?!"

riley averted her eyes from the girl in embarrassment, the pit in her stomach feeling like a bowling ball.

"can you just let me drive you home?" she quietly asked kiara, knowing that jj had probably been her ride.

kie just scoffed in her face, "i'll find a way home myself."

authors note:

midsummer's next. i'm way too excited about the shit i have planned for them.