The Strays ⎈John B Routledge⎈

I Wish I Wish Upon a Star

Chapter 7: I Wish I Wish Upon a Star

Iz ma gif ^

~SiriusCatBennett

The next day came with a rough wakeup call. JJ was the first up, stretching out as he grumbled from the mild headache he had. The Maybank twins rarely got hangovers, but the boy wasn't surprised he'd drank enough to have one. 

After John B left to find his sister, JJ dipped into the vodka he knew his best friend kept in his room. The bottle had been a few shots to empty and JJ was sure he'd get chewed out once John B saw it now was. His plan was to just run into town and steal a new one. Replace the old one before Johnny noticed it was gone. Once the hard liquor was gone, he drank a few more beers before passing out on the pull-out. 

Turning to the right, JJ's arms dropped and his expression softened. There was his sister; safe and sleeping soundly. John B was on her right, arms wrapped around the blonde. He wondered when the boy would have the balls to ask her out. He knew one day the boy's feelings would outway the 'no Pogue on Pogue macking' rule he hid behind. He just wondered when. 

As if hearing his thoughts, the boy stirred in his slumber. It seemed like he might just fall back to sleep, tucking closer to CJ, but then he stirred again and his eyes opened. 

"Mornin', cowboy." 

Slowly looking up, John B's eyes squinted from the light filtering through the living room window. Catching sight of an awake JJ, a small open-mouthed smile crept onto his features. "Hey, comrade. I found CJ." As if demonstrating, he nodded down to the sleeping girl. He would've pointed, but he didn't feel like removing his arm from around her waist. 

"Yeah, I can see that." He responded smartly, jumping up from the couch. Walking over to the dining room table, he grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen from it and threw two in his mouth. "How was she?" 

Letting out a sigh, John B carefully moved his left arm from under her pillow and ran it through his hair. "Not as bad as it could've been. I think she was too worked up over the Topper thing to really think about anything else." Turning to JJ, he cocked his head. "Kie needs to get over here, man. Or at least Pope. She's freakin' out." 

After that, the conversation fell flat. CJ had groaned and rolled slightly onto her stomach. Hand pressed to her head, she hid from the light pouring into the room. 

"You good?" 

"Go away." She grumbled; the only response John B would get. The boy simply chuckled, removing his arm from around her to rub her back. When he started to run his fingers through her hair, she noticeably relaxed and let out a relieved moan. 

Grabbing a cup of water, JJ brought it and some pain meds over. Climbing into the bed, his legs sprawled out as he held out the little orange pills. "Here, take these." 

CJ made no motion to move, so reluctantly John B stopped massaging her scalp. With an angered growl, CJ raised her head and glared painfully. Squinting at her brother, she grabbed the objects from him and downed the meds. Once she took a few drinks, she fell back on John B's chest and grabbed his calloused hand. Picking it up, she laid it on top of her head lazily. The boy chuckled before continuing to play with her hair, making her hum and relax. 

"What are we doing today?" 

The plan had been to clean. While the two were gone, John B had made sure to check on the treehouse, but it still needed to be cleaned up. The house still needed quite a few things done as well. Seeing as neither Maybank was in any shape to be working, John B figured they'd just want to relax. He went to explain that when he froze.