GLITCH.
044 | the cats ass

THE VAN PULLED UP TO THE SIDE OF RENEE'S STREET ,Drawing up enough energy to smile weakly, running her hand over her hair, looking to Kiara and Sarah who still seemed slightly on edge, even more so realising neither her mom or brother were home yet.

" are you sure you don't want us to stay with you?" Kiara asked, receiving a shake of the head from the blonde " at least until someone comes back."

" guys, I'm fine seriously." Her lies spoken through fake laughter didn't deceive her friends who had known her too long to be oblivious to the truth — especially as the tears dried into her skin made the unders of her eyes glisten and the redness of her nose compared to the paleness of her face.

" it's probably good I'll be alone, give me enough time to just..think." she told them — Grabbing her backpack, she got up and and got out of the van — her feet planting on the gravel of the U-shaped drive that ran from each side of the walled entrance into the house estate.

" hey, I'll swing by the chateau later to help you with that planning." she told them, lifting her fingers to salute them as she began to walk away and towards the front door.

As soon as the front door closed behind her, she felt an overwhelming sense of numbness filled her. The smile falling off of her face once she knew no one was there watching her. Kicking off her sneakers that lazily sat by the rack of neatly placed and clean shoes that she simply lacked the energy to put there.

The house was silent, with her mom most likely lounging around at the country club after her weekly catch-up with the others moms in the neighbourhood and Lennon wherever he was — she was alone...again.

She hated the way her sweat covered clothes stuck to her skin, the grime that covered her skin — she jogged upstairs to the second floor where her bedroom door remained firmly closed, although Renee had no doubt in her mind that her mother had been searching around for something to ground her daughter with.

Entering the bedroom, the balcony doors were open filling the room with cold air that eased the high tensions in Renee's mind as she headed towards the dresser.

Littered with memories: beaded bracelets, film stubs from the local theatre, photos either encased that sat on the dresser itself for the photos just bluetacked onto the edges of the mirror on the wall behind it.

That ache in her chest grew as her eyes fell to the particular photo frame that sat usually unnoticed amongst the clutter that surrounded it.

It was a picture of her and JJ, it was from one of the first parties that John B held at the chateau after she had joined the pouges (officially) . She remembered the night so vividly — from her and Pope bonding over  the original starwars trilogy to the pit of jealously that had burrowed itself deep unknowingly in Renee's stomach when she caught herself watching JJ make out with Candice Nolton on the front porch.

They both looked so happy, although at the time they had both pretended it was forced by Kiara's dedication to making a summer scrapbook of memories was then becoming tedious — she could remember the shivers down her spine when he first looped his arm around the lower end of her back and the way it felt hearing JJ's pulse race against her skin as she leant her head on his shoulder or even the way she laughed when he whispered in her ear whilst Kiara was bickering at them to be quiet and look at the camera.

It was the start of them falling in love and they didn't even realise it.

She raised her fingers, grabbing ahold of the frame staring at it for a few more seconds and then placing it face down against the cabinet. Before tearing her eyes back to searching for clothes, although the memory of that night lingered in the back of her mind.

The slamming of the front door and heavy footsteps thudding on the floorboards  of the entry way that sent vibrations through the entirety of the house broke Renee out of whatever JJ transfixed haze she was in.

" Renee get your ass down here now!"

LENNON WAS SCARED. Well he was also extremely pissed off but mostly scared for his little sister but more precisely the situation he confronted with in the country club earlier that day — having been hassled by Barry who had turned up claiming that both Sarah and Renee had stolen money from him, for once in a long time Lennon and Rafe shared an opinion that it sounded very uncharacteristic for both of their younger siblings.

" what where you thinking Ren!" he scolded, although his sister who hunched herself on the couch with crossed arms. Not paying attention to him and instead stared blankly at the picture frame of an overpriced piece of art that hung behind him — giving Lennon the illusion that she was actually paying attention to him.

" stealing twenty five thousand dollars from Barry!" for once the disappointing tone of voice from a blood relative was actually effective at brining down Renee's mood (if it were possible to be brought down more at the current moment).

" seriously! what the hell were you thinking!" he snorted " it's not exactly like we're going to be running short of cash anytime soon!"

" I don't know." she shook her head, her words spoken in a low tone — rubbing the pad of her thumb over her lips.

Not ready to throw JJ into the deep end, knowing it would be much worse for him than it would be for her: especially with Rafe and Barry involved. She could only pray Sarah wouldn't blabber to her older brother either.

"What is it with you and making the worlds worse decisions this summer?" Renee diverged her eyes as her brother mocked her, breaking whatever tether that was holding Renee together.

" that's rich coming from you!" she scoffed, " the only reason I know who Barry is because he sells you baggies of whatever the fuck you ask for."

" Lennon you cannot judge my life decisions!" She snapped, standing herself up so she no longer had to look up at her brother " you of all people cannot dictate which decisions of mine are right and which ones are wrong."

Her older brother stepping forward, his finger pointing at his sister " you know, I'm getting sick of this sense of entitlement you've got going on little sister!" he rose his voice, " I am aware I'm no godamn angel but at least I don't go running around acting like this world owes me something."

" I am not entitled!" she boomed back " and even if I was, I think it's a fair statement to make that the world has put me through a lot of shit in the last year or two!"

Before Lennon could speak, Renee opened her mouth again " okay I'm sorry if I'm not acting like this perfect person for everyone!" she told him.

" But why am I always the one to make amends, who has to hold everything together!"

" I'm sorry I'm not this perfect little sister that you may have been waiting for anymore , or-or the perfect daughter that mom wanted!"

" I'm sorry that I'm the reason we've fucked up the entire picture perfect kook family stereotype that we had down to a 'T' before dad died."

" but I am so sick of this!" she snapped " I'm so sick of playing the role of the black sheep so willingly because I'm too scared to defend myself, to let people know that I have fucking feelings too, and that I hurt too!"

" I'm trying, please believe me I'm trying to be the perfect person for everyone."

" a daughter to mom who she can take shopping and flaunt around the country club to make her friends jealous"

" a sister to you that you can protect from the evil of the world."

" a rock for John B, who can rely on to be there for him whenever and wherever he needs me."

" a girlfriend for JJ who needs to be there hold his shit together when he can't,"

A mix of fury and confidence was predominantly controlling her, " But I'm just so tired of giving and giving and giving!" she stated " and just getting it all thrown right back in my fucking face."

Lennon furrowed his eyebrows, noticing her anguish over the JJ situation bleeding into her bottled up emotions as she could feel her eyes begin to water,

" Ren-"

" like seriously? I've put my all into this friendship and now this relationship and he just suddenly decides that I'm not good enough for him because of how much money our family has, because he feels inferior to me!"

" what the actual fuck is that about !"

Lennon finally understood about what her outburst was forming from — as she continued to doubt everything concerning her and JJ's relationship.

" I told him I love him." tears beginning to slither down her cheeks even more briskly as she looked at her brother, almost pleading for answers on what to do as she had no clue anymore.

" I told him that I loved him and he still doesn't want me, he still continues to push me away!"

Staying quiet, Lennon approached her — his arms wrapping around his sister's body as he pulled her into a hug. The feeling was abnormal yet warmly welcomed as she fell into the comfort of her older brother.

" what am I doing wrong Lennon?" she confided in the boy who only tightened his hold of his sister, himself feeling saddened by her amount of doubt and self-criticism. " why can't he love him, what's so unlovable about me?"

" nothing...you're perfect ren." He told her " and he knows that, everyone knows it ."

Renee sighed, " I'm sorry, it's just a lot of shit has done down this summer and I'm just so..so tired."

Lennon chuckled lowly, looking at his sister who pulled away slightly to maintain eye contact " how stressful can lounging on John B's boat be, really?"

The girl shook her head, with a saddened laugh 
" god.. if only you knew."

LENNON HAD OFFERED TO DRIVE RENEE TO THE CHATEAU,

Although they bickered about her emotion stability to drive herself — her brother shared JJ's persistence that inevitably made Renee surrender — instead asking Pope to pick her up along with Kiara so they could drive there together.

Renee was still quite quiet , sitting closest to the window whilst Kiara was smushed between her two friends,

" so we gotta be done before my scholarship interview in the morning ." Pope told them, Renee hoped that after this interview Pope may not speak the 's' work ever again.

Kiara nodded, agreeing with the time frame Pope had just allotted them" okay, then we've gotta focus."

Renee still quiet earnt peering eyes from her peers "Ren, are you sure you're up for this tonight?"

The blonde turned her head and nodded " I promise I'm fine, now are we going to get this gold or not?"

Opening the passenger door, Renee looked at Pope who was simultaneously leaving the car " so what exactly is the plan?"

" so John B and JJ will be inside the well with me up top." He told the girls who nodded " and you two and Sarah will be outside transporting."

" we got that." Renee nodded, heading towards the back of the car where all the supplies that been placed.

" uh I got a winch." he pointed at the mechanism as the girls listened to him " that tin can hold over like..two hundred, three hundred pounds."

The sudden sound of a whirring generation took ahold of  all of their attention — sudden beams of light surrounding them in the form of string lights looped between the branches of different trees that scattered in the backyard of the chateau.

" what the hell?" Pope asked on behalf of the others who all looked around with furrowed eyebrows and many questions in their minds.

Renee squinted her eyes, moving her body to look around to the figure that managed to peer into her eye-line from how far she was — although they looked nothing more than a blur.

" I don't know, who the hell that is?" Renee began to walk towards the scene, her face painted with bewilderment — even more so the closer she got and soon realised who it was.

It was JJ. He was sat in a hot tub and an expensive looking one at that — poorly inflated inflatable pool decorations placed messily around the backyard and a bottle of freshly popped  champagne sat in his right hand.

He was drunk, it was obvious. Renee could tell by his slurred smile when he finally acknowledged her presence.

" what the fuck?" is all she could say, it felt like a fever dream. Whatever this was it didn't feel real.

" what did you do JJ?" Pope asked, whilst JJ seemed to avoid their questions completely.

" I got a jet going straight in my butt right now." he laughed, finding comedy in the atmosphere

"Y'all should get in immediately you hear me?"

The three of them stood in a perplexed silence, flickering their eyes from each other to JJ who began to pour them all drinks.

" salud!" he raised it, only greeted by a shake of the head from Renee who felt slightly nauseated by the sight she could seem to rip her eyes from.

" how much did this cost?" although it was pretty obvious that his sudden luxurious spend was paid out of Barry's stolen cash, they were still to learn how much of it was spent.

JJ's smirky look seemed too drop as he began to explain himself " uh..well with the generator, the petrol,"

" and oh express delivery!" Kiara continued to look at everything, whereas Renee kept her eyes firmly placed on JJ hoping to be able to read his facial expressions.

" pretty much all of it."

" all of it, you mean an entire twenty five grand on..on this!" Renee stuttered, squinting her eyes as she couldn't seem to fathom JJ's reasoning for this.

" yeah all of it." JJ nodded, his slurred smile making him look proud of himself.

" you spent all of the money in one day?" Pope asked, JJ nodded not seemingly to care for what he had done and instead was treating it as some joke.

" yeah, burned a hole right through my pocket." he told them " but I mean like, come on guys, like look at this!"

" finest in jet-based massage therapy, that's what they told me!" Renee shook her head in disappointment , no longer even being able to look at him. Wiping the back of her hand over her lips as she deterred her attention,

" Ren what?" he caught onto her inability to maintain eye contact with him " can't anybody but you have a little luxury in life?"

Using his free hand to take off his glasses, he had nothing to hide behind — Renee could tell when she looked back at him that he actually had sadness and vulnerability practically drowning him.

" all this scrimping and scraping." he pondered his eyes, soon realising his guard was falling down and attempted desperately to keep it up before it crumbled  " I mean, like guys, we— you only live once right?"

Realising his friends weren't relating with his explanation, he scrapped it — gesturing his hand for them all to join him.

" enough with this emotional crap." he proclaimed "get in the cats ass, come on."

Kiara finally spoke, " the what?" her arms sat uncomfortably folded on her chest.

" In the Cat's ass." he smirked, pursing his lips to withhold his laughter " that's what I named her."

The silence was deafening, none of the pogues knowing what to do or how to approach this type of situation.

" oh wait, I almost forgot." he hovered towards the front of the hot tub — pressing a button that began a swirling of more energy being spent up, soon large jets fired across each side of the tub as well as dispensing a disco ball that spun around send speckles of more light to dance around the yard.

" yeah, thats right disco mode!" he seemed proud of himself " thats right baby."

His large smile faded, soon realising his friends weren't half as pleased with his purchase as he was,

" are you kidding me!" Pope exclaimed, an outburst of annoyance being rare for him.

" you could have paid for restitution!" He shouted, soon Kiara expressing her dismay for the situation as well.

" or literally given it to any charity!" Renee couldn't help but feel a slight stabbing pain lodge itself into her stomach noting JJ's expression change as he rubbed his fingers over his eyes, most likely wiping away tears.

" guys, take it easy!" Renee bit back at them, although she wasn't heard as the rants continued.

" you could have helped us buy supplies to get the gold of the well!" Renee huffed at Pope,

" Pope, leave him alone!" she snapped, defending JJ as it mustn't have been hard to see that he was covering up his true feelings, like he always did — be it through the usual media of drinking, weed, using Renee as a distraction from everything bad in his life and now a money splurge.

JJ seemed to snap, lifting himself up to stand — Renee's heart breaking from the inside of her chest as she turned her head back to look at him, more specifically the dark purple and brown coloured bruises that littered each side of his ribs.

" okay, well. You know what?" he retaliated " I didn't do that!" his voice barely strong enough to portray the bitterness he wanted to.

" I got a hot tub!" He shouted, Renee felt her eyes water at the pure pain that JJ was conversing in "for my friends."

" JJ?" Renee spoke in barely a whisper, flickering her eyes up from his bruised torso to his glassy eyes.

" No! you know what screw friends!" He told them, tears dripping from the corners of his eyes.

" I got a hot tub for my family!" Renee tore her eyes away from the violent marks that had been pressured into his skin by his fathers fists, her heart sinking every second longer she look at them.

" JJ what the hell?" Kiara spoke over, although it made no difference to JJ who didn't seem to be listening to any of his friends.

" I got this for you!" he told them as if they weren't able to understand why he had gotten it " guys look what I did for you! All right?"

" look at this!" Renee took the opportunity to step closer to the edge of the hot tub whilst JJ had his back turned from them.

" look at this!" JJ repeated, turning back greeted by the small puddle of tears forming in Renee's eyes as well as her poorly concealed quivering lip.

" J." she trembled out her single syllable nickname for him, he looked at her and shook his head.

" no, stop being emotional, it's fine okay!" Renee could watch the tears dripped from his eyes and down his cheeks as he inhaled shaky breathes, his facade of being okay falling down.

" I mean it's sweet right-" Renee didn't hesitate to climb in, the warm water rising until her knees as she soon wrapped her arms around JJ. Fingers sitting in his hair.

His head bowing and nuzzling into the corner of were here shoulder and neck met — his arms too weakly pressing on her hips as he began to sob into his girlfriends shoulder.

"I'm here now baby." she spoke softly, trying to stay at least the tiniest bit strong for JJ although the pain he was in was forcing tears in her eyes, " I've got you I promise."

" I was going to do it." her heart only dropping further at the clear intentions of what his words meant. Renee tilted her head to gently kiss his cheek.

" I can't take him anymore!" he cried out, agony and hurt drenching his tone. Renee nodded, sniffling as tears slipped from the corners of her own eyes.

She was oblivious to it all, she knew of what his father was capable of but only what JJ would let her know — if Renee would have known how bad it was actually, she would have never let JJ go back there again.

" I know." she soothed him with her voice. One of her arms moving to rub his back whilst she continued to cry into his girlfriends shirt.

" I was going to kill him."

Renee hummed, not knowing what to say to comfort him but instead running the palm of her hand over his wet hair as she gently rocked them back and forth.

Although there was one thought that was circling in her head constantly,

Renee was never going to let Luke Maybank lay a finger on JJ again, she swore to herself that she was never going to let the person she loved most in this world go through this pain again.

AUTHORS NOTE.
I hated writing this scene,  I HATED IT!
fuck luke maybank, all my homies hate luke maybank

on a side note, hope you guys enjoyed and hope you're having a good day wherever you are <3

all my love,
-elle x