" POINT OF ORIGIN "

✦

JOSEPHINE FANNED a paper plate at the smoke detector blaring its annoying loud sound. She was balanced on the countertop with a finger stuck in her ear to reduce the noise while the other hand waved away.

"Josephine!"

"Give me a second!"

The smoke detector stopped blaring after a few more seconds and Josie huffed as she planted her hands on her hips. The faint smell of burnt food and smoke filled her nostrils and any breakfast plans she had were now ruined.

"A little help?"

The other figure in the room shuffled over to the girl on the countertop and cautiously helped her off. He peered over her shoulder and glanced at the ashen mess on the stove with furrowed brows.

"What the hell are you doing to my kitchen, Josie?"

"I was attempting to make us breakfast," she gazed up at the boy through her lashes. "Sorry for almost burning the place down."

"I thought you learned your lesson the last time you tried to make breakfast." Lorenzo quirked his brow as he thought back to the last time she had spent the night at his place.

"I'm getting better at this cooking thing."

The college student cast a worried glance at the frying pan. "The eggs are black."

"Hey! I'm trying."

"I know." He stepped forward and cupped her cheeks, kissing away the frown on her lips. "Why don't you get dressed and I take you out for a real meal?"

"That sounds a tad bit like a date to me which as you know, I'm against."

When Josephine and Lorenzo began the stages of their "situationship" the former decided that they would need to agree upon a set of rules. The rules were clear and pretty much stated that they would only spend time behind closed doors and never do anything that blurred the lines between situationship and actually dating.

"Oh, come on, Josie. We've been doing this for what, a year and a half? You should let me take you on a date."

"My life is too hectic for a boyfriend. These sleepovers are all I can handle and you know that, Enzo." She took a step back and leaned against the countertop with her arms crossed against her chest. "You know the deal. Say the word and we can end it."

"I know."

⏜●⏝●⏜

"THANKS FOR being here."

Josie silently nodded her head and patted the older woman on the back as she engulfed her in her arms. She wouldn't necessarily call herself a friend of Abby's nor was she good in a crisis but when she got the message the woman sent to all of her contacts about her missing mother, she reached out to lend a helping hand.

She knew a bit about Abby's Mom and that she had Alzheimer's, the redhead mentioned once when they were sitting in the breakroom. It was a lot for one person to deal with and Josie couldn't imagine how the woman was feeling now that her mother had gone missing.

"No problem, Abby. Has this happened before?"

"No. Never," Abby sighed. "But every day isn't the same especially as things progress..."

"Yeah, that makes sense. So...any idea on where she might be?"

"I mapped out..." Abby trailed off when a knock on the door sounded. She looked to the side and Carla, her mother's caretaker, was already on it and making her way to reveal who was on the other side. "Be right back."

"I'll be here."

"Josie?"

The woman in question lifted her eyes from her phone to see Buck entering the open space of Abby's apartment. She scratched at the back of her neck and awkwardly flashed the man a smile but really, she wanted to ask what the hell he was doing inside of her coworker's apartment.

"You know each other?" Abby glanced between the two.

"Yeah," Buck nodded. "She...she's, uh⎼"

"He works with my cousin's wife at the 118," Josephine interjected. "I'd ask the same but I think I know the answer."

"Yeah, we're friends," Buck affirmed.

"I meant you're here to help." Switching her gaze over to Abby, Josie raised her brow. "So...what do you have so far?"

"Right." Abby spread open the map that had pinpoints on it. "So, we're here. I made assumptions based on her being on foot or in a taxi, then...she could have gotten much further."

"No. This is good. What do you figure, like, two miles an hour walking pace?" Buck asked.

"Three," Carla said. "Patricia's an annoyingly fast walker."

"Even if she's been gone for nine hours, she couldn't have been walking the entire time."

"I know. That's what I was thinking, so I figure, maybe 15 to 20-mile range, but then that seems too far, so I brought it down to 12. But in any direction, we would have just under 527 square miles to check. But, I mean, literally, she could be anywhere. I...I don't know what to do. I'm so much better when it's somebody else's emergency."

"No one is good when it's personal. But we got this okay?" Buck assured. "We're gonna find your Mom. Promise."

"Yeah," Josie nodded. "Mind if I use your bathroom before we get started?"

"Right over there."

She sent a curt nod her way and stalked across the living room to reach the nearest bathroom. She locked the door behind her and pretended to do her business but truly she was just panic-texting Isabella and trying to come up with the perfect excuse to get out of the situation.

Sure, it was majorly fucked up, the woman's Mom was missing but Josie couldn't stand one more minute in that room with Buck and Abby. They had a very odd sexual tension when they spoke and it creeped the hell out of her.

Josie flushed the toilet and then switched on the faucet to sound like she was actually using the bathroom. Then she shut the light off and walked out with her phone in hand and a remorseful expression on her face.

"Hey, sorry to just cut out and run but my friend, Isabella her, uh, car broke down and she needs a ride," Josephine innocently shrugged her shoulders. "I'll make sure to keep an eye out for your Mom, Abby."

"Yeah, okay," Abby knitted her brows. "Thanks for stopping by anyway."

"Yeah, of course."

⏜●⏝●⏜

A KNOCK alerted Josephine of someone at her bedroom door, the young adult called out and let the figure on the other side know it was okay to enter. She didn't bother moving from her comfortable position in bed but when she felt a dip on the side of the bed, she glanced over and saw Karen attempting to make herself comfortable.

"What are you doing in my bed, weirdo?"

"I haven't seen you in a few days. I missed you," Karen mumbled. "What are you watching?"

"NCIS. I can't get enough of Jimmy Palmer, he's so hot."

"The nerdy medical examiner?"

"Mhm."

"I don't understand your taste in men."

"That's because you like girl parts," Josie snorted.

"That's inappropriate, Josephine," the older woman elbowed her cousin in the rib. "How was your day?"

"Weird," she mumbled. "Yours?"

"Frustrating."

Karen thought back to the conversation she had with her wife while they were at the park earlier in the afternoon. Hen brought up the topic of her ex-girlfriend, Eva, and how she was up for parole, the only problem was that Karen assumed Hen cut off all communication with her former lover.

That was true up until a few days ago. Hen visited the women's correctional facility and spoke to Eva who was trying to convince her to speak on her behalf at her parole hearing.

"Why was it frustrating?"

"Hen saw Eva in prison. She wants Hen to speak on her behalf at her upcoming parole hearing."

"You're kidding?" She gasped.

"Wish I was. She went on about how good she seemed."

"Did she ask about Denny?" Josephine asked

"In passing, according to Hen," Karen said. "Whatever the hell that means. What do you think about all of this?"

"Well, I don't trust Eva and as much as I adore Hen, I don't know if I could trust the version of her that she might become if Eva happens to get out." Josie pressed pause on the remote and slid up against the headboard, crossing her arms against her chest. "I'm not saying that all of your trust in your wife should just fly out of the window if Eva does get out...I'm just saying be careful. For yours and Denny's sake."

"When did my baby cousin get so wise?"

"Probably around the time my Mom killed herself and your parents sent me to therapy."

"Josephine!" Karen pulled the throw pillow out from underneath her and lightly smacked it against the girl's head. "Your humor can be very dark sometimes."

She merely shrugged and turned back to the television, picking up the remote and resuming the show.

"Wait. I want to know why your day was weird?"

"Oh, no biggie. I just found out my forty-something-year-old coworker is probably banging Hen's twenty-something-year-old coworker."

"I'm sorry?!"

"So am I."

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authors note

-short chapter but again, I tried working around the episode!

-no josie slander pls she's just a girl who refuses to be in an uncomfortable situation even if she comes off as a bad person🫣