tides | jj maybank x oc

ep. 12 ~ lonely reassurances

luna bliss had always liked to understand people, maybe it was because she herself was so unpredictable, or maybe it was because of her mother. or her fathers illness. or a whole myriad of other things in her life. but some part of her wanted to understand everyone else, hell the need ran much deeper than that, she had to understand them.

some people were harder to understand than others but, usually, luna found herself to be a pretty good judge of character. it was something pope and herself had in common. right now though? luna didn't understand anyone.

she knew enough to know there was tension in the group and she knew enough about herself to recognise that she was slipping into a depressive episode. but that was about it.
she hated it.

pope knew something was wrong with luna, just like he knew something was wrong with kie and john b, and he felt a sort of familial need to fix it all. he just couldn't figure out how.

kie was getting progressively more frustrated with luna and the lack of time they had to actually discuss the issues of them both being in the group now so it was a struggle to turn her mind to helping a friend who'd unwontedly kissed her only s few hours beforehand (no matter how much confusion and grief he was going through).

john b didn't know what he was feeling, or even whether he was feeling, and he certainly hadn't stopped to figure out what the rest of them might be going through.

and jj was... jj. he was possibly the only one of them who didn't have some sort of issue or pressure within the group, he was free in that way. but he had other troubles playing on his mind and honestly couldn't see how he could impact, let alone help, his friends in their struggles right now.

~~~

( jj )
when john b manages to come back out of the wreck with not only kie but b too i'm mildly impressed. i mean, the guy went in there looking for one girl who seemed to hate his guts and came out with two girls who don't seem to hold much against him right now. they do still carry a pretty heavy energy when they get in the twinkie though.

john b seems determined not to address it but from the look pope gives me i can guess he's picked up on it too. i can only shrug in response as i trip out of the cab, being forced to move to the back by a determined looking kie. no way i'd wanna try and say no to her right now.

so i climb in the back, settling myself on the floor beside b and across from where pope is sat in the only seat back here. honestly i'm disappointed in the lack of gentlemanly tendencies popes giving out.

i shoot b a grin as i lean back, hoping to easy some of the tension in the vehicle. she sends a small one back to me, but her eyes don't focus on me for long before they're back to kie and a little crease is securing itself between her eyebrows again. i wonder what happened there. if i were sat closer to pope i might theorise about it.

"we all locked and loaded back there?" john b asks, glancing back over the front bench, waiting for us to be seated before we move for once.

"yeah we are!" i call back, patting down my pockets to find my double entendre (b taught me that the other day) and letting out a disappointing "aw shit." when i can't find it.

but we're already moving and it's only b who seems to have noticed my little hunt, probably from how much my moving jostled her.