𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖 ➸𝙟𝙟 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙠

𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳

╔────── ･ ｡ﾟ*.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.──────╗
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE NOT REAL LAKE
[LOVING]

╚────── ･ ｡ﾟ*.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.──────╝

The group exited the van at the lighthouse hastily, Nova shutting the door with a soft grunt.

The lighthouse towered over the fields, making the small girl dizzy as she glanced up at it.

"Right. Here's whats gonna happen." John B began, "You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" He pointed at JJ while he explained.

The blonde quickly protested, "Wait... Why me?"

Nova giggled, throwing a hand over her mouth to muffle the noise. Obviously JJ couldn't come, he was way too much all the time.

"Because you're not coming." John B repeated himself.

Nova mocked him as she stood next to Kie, "Haha you can't go!" She spoke sarcastically.

"Nov you can't go either." Pope interjected.

Her face dropped quickly, her mouth flying open to argue, "What the fuck why not?"

Pope began to explain, looking towards JJ first, "There are independent variables and dependant variables. You're an independent we don't know what you're going to do."

"Huh?" Nova replied.

"Shut up, shut up!" JJ yelled over Popes explanation, the two yelling back at each other quickly causing Nova to flinch away from the conversation.

"Listen to me for a second!" John B yelled over them to make them stop. He brought his sister in for a hug, understanding that she hated yelling, all of it. He never knew why, it just made her nervous, she shut off when she was around it. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, the small girl burying her face into his chest.

"You guys are scaring my sister, so both of you, shut the fuck up." He whispered yelled, his voice going back to normal as he released his grip on her slightly. John B was always protective over Nova, especially now that their dad is gone, "Pope, you stand lookout with JJ. Okay? Nova is going to stay here with you guys because she's intoxicated and now thanks to you guys she's shaken up. If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."

"Great." Kie confirmed, watching as Nova pulled away from her brother, walking over to a tree silently, sitting herself in the shade as she laid on the ground.

"I'm going to go work on my merit scholarship essay," Pope announced, "I'm trying to keep felonies down to a minimum."

JJ threw a ball up in the air, "All right, will you just shut up already?"

The blonde walked over towards Nova while Pope shut the van, laying down next to her.

"You okay?" He broke the silence, the pair turning their heads to look at eachother, "Didn't mean to scare you."

"I wasn't scared," Nova answered, "I'm fine I just hate it when people yell, it reminds me of Carter."

JJ nodded, not really sure how to handle emotions, it wasn't exactly his strong suit.

"You're not really scared of much, are you?" The blonde asked after seconds of quiet, "I mean just in general. The things you do feel very, fearless to me."

Nova closed her eyes for a second, she felt her high start to dwindle and she hated that feeling, she wished she could stay in the clouds forever.

"I guess before anyone does a super scary activity or something dangerous they think about all the negatives, the worst case scenario and like everything that could ever go wrong right?"

The blonde nodded at her, signalling she could continue.

"Well I guess when I used to do that I thought about my dad, I thought about school, I thought about people that relied on me. But then when my dad disappeared it's like, I never had much to think about anymore. Like obviously John B, but he doesn't need me you know? There became less reasons to stop so I just didn't. Like I have nothing to lose, why not test the odds." She spoke, "God that sounds so morbid. I guess I just came to the conclusion that I wasn't really meant to do much with life so I'm just going to do whatever I feel like until one day the sun doesn't come up anymore and this thing called life is over."

JJ had always struggled to get his thoughts into words, he thinks it's one of the reasons his dad continues to treat him like he does, because JJ doesn't even think about talking back, about defending himself. Especially around people he loves, people he respects. One way JJ does get his feelings out, is through his actions, through showing people rather than telling people.

So he sat up, and placed a gentle kiss on the brunette's lips. He treated her like she was made of glass, his hand delicately placed on her jaw. Her lips were soft, they meshed with his just right and he felt himself get butterflies for a second.

"Oh shit!" Nova yelped, hearing the police sirens blare.

She shot herself up quickly, running towards the van hearing JJ follow behind her.

"I'll drive I guess." She mumbled, jumping in the driver's seat when she saw JJ and Pope get in the back.

"Intoxicated girl driving, genius isn't it."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

i really need to write a
chapter where nova like
goes ape shit crazy and
does something stupid
to fuck up the plot 🙈