ғᴏᴏᴛsᴛᴇᴘs | ᴋᴍ ✔︎

ZEUS

"It is better to die young than to outlive all one loved, and all that rendered one lovable."
- POWER, Marguerite (Countess of Blessington)

| ALEX |

"Are you almost ready?" The soft sound of Tobin's voice from the other side of the door brought me back from my thoughts.

"Yeah, just a minute." I reply, looking at my reflection in the mirror and straightening out my black dress before I unlock the door and exit the room to find Tobin waiting patiently in her own dress.

She sends me a soft smile, "You okay?"

I only hum in agreement, not trusting my voice enough to properly answer her. She holds her hand out for me to take and I do, and she leads me to the hall.

The entire walk to the front of the church through the nave was silent, eerie. Each person that we pass by sends us sympathetic smiles and a few stop us completely at the pews to tell us how sorry they are.

"You're doing great," Tobin whispers as my mom and sisters come into view. They waste no time in approaching, each wrapping their arms around me tightly.

My mom bites her lip in an attempt to withstand the barrage of tears, whimpers and sobs threatening to escape. "I'm so sorry, baby. I'm sorry you didn't get more time."

She embraces me once again before taking her seat. As she moves from my line of sight, the coffin is all I can see. The mahogany wood, polished to a beautiful finish. The garnet color giving off the impression of warmth, in antithesis of the cold, empty emotion of the room. To the left was Jack, wrapped in Christen's arms as they speak quietly with Jeri. As my sister walked away, Christen's arms tightened around the blonde's shoulders as Jack's body shakes with grief.

"Are you ready?" Tobin asks as people begin to take their seats in the pews.

As the crowds disperse, the photo on display next to the coffin comes into view. It's a picture of a beautiful brunette woman under the golden words 'In Memory Of'. Her vivid blue eyes on display, despite the gray that swirls in her iris. Staring at the picture, I can almost hear her voice. The gold lettering continues beneath the picture of the happy woman, with the name of the one person I loved more than anything -- Cody M. Morgan.

The silence is decimated by the ringing of a phone, turning in anger to scold whoever it belongs to, I find that the church is empty. Everyone that was seated–gone. Turning to face the coffin, only to find that, too, has disappeared. I turn one last time and open my eyes to find myself in bed, the alarm on my phone going off, and sweat trickling down my forehead.

I sit up, wipe my forehead with the back of my hand, take three deep breaths in hopes it helps me shake off the sickening dream I endured. I turn my alarm off, seeing a text from Cody.

babygirl💜 - We'll be in ORL soon! Can't wait to see you mom. Love ya!

| Cody |

After the joint shoot with Jack for Adidas, we decided that we would fly back to Oregon, I would pack a few weeks worth of clothes, get Zeus and my trusted car, before roadtripping to to Utah to visit Kelley and probably Christen, though Jack wouldn't admit that, before heading to Houston so that Jack could spend the last day and a half with Rachel before Daly flies back to the UK. I plan on asking a certain fellow American out, too. And after that we're driving through the south to Orlando to spend some time with my mom, and apparently Jeri.

"Remember the last time we had a roadtrip?" Jack asks as she fiddles with her phone, trying to pick a song to play.

"Yep. Before I went to London, right? We ended up fighting."

Jack grinned, "Yeah, you were a brat."

"I'll stop this car and kick you out." I threaten but we both know I'm not serious. I mean, yeah I'd kick her out and leave her there, but I'd be back to pick her up five minutes later. Zeus barked happily from the back seat, cuddling with the bunny teddy he's had since I got him when he was a puppy.

"Aw, c'mon boy, you know she loves me," Jack turned in the passenger seat to give Zeus a treat. He growls slightly and Jack playfully surrenders, "I know, I know. She loves you more."

Zeus happily eats the treat barking happily as Jack faces me, "You've raised a giant baby."

———

"Are you sure this is what her text said?" Jack asks as she pulls onto Kelley's street and I unlock her phone to re-read the text.

"Yep, and Google says it's this house here," I point to the typical American family home, only thing missing is a picket fence.

"Are you sure?" Jack asks.

I hum, "Positive."

"How can you be sure?" She questions as the car begins to slow.

"Because Kelley's at the door waving at us," I chuckle as the 'adult' launches herself towards us. She opens the driver's side door, forcing Jack to finally hit the brakes, and Kelley wraps her arms around Jack.

It's quite a sight to see, considering the issues they had with Kelley refusing to sign on as Jack's guardian.

"Kelley, the hell! You're supposed to wait until the car stops!"

I laugh as Christen yells at her teammate, and the moment I'm out of the car, the brunette wraps me up in a hug, "Hey Press."

"Baby Morgan," She grins, and ruffles my hair. "So this is your first stop?"

"Yeah," I sigh and let Zeus out the car. He hops around, bunny-like, before chasing his tail. "Texas after this then Florida."

"Why don't you guys just fly?" Kelley asks before hugging me, and we watch as Christen and Jack exchange smiles as well as a rather awkward hug.

I share a glance with Kelley, who raises a brow before shrugging, "We haven't seen much of each other, and I couldn't pass up spending this much time with my best friend–" Jack grins at me, "—Zeus."

"Fuck you," Jack grumbles and flips me off, before I wrap my arms around her and apologize as the older women laugh.

"I'm only joking." I defend as Zeus barks at my feet.

"Bullshit!" Jack yells as Kelley and Christen mimic eating popcorn. "You banished me to the backseat!"

"Jack, you don't need to be jealous," I laugh as my best friend slaps me and tries to chase me before hearing Zeus growl and she freezes.

"I need to get a dog. A bigger dog than Zeus," the blonde grumbles before walking away with Kelley.