48: An Addict Sees An Addict
[trigger warning: drug mentions]
THEIR PLAN to get to the Church as soon as possible had failed, when John B had to stop driving due to the tide coming in. Of course, this turned into Pope giving the group a lecture as he specifically mentioned the raising tide. The Twinkie's wheels was submerged in the dirty water, and came up to the Pogues' knees as they gathered around to discuss their limited options.
Pope suggested, "Okay, maybe we could walk from here."
"What? And leave the Twinkie?" John B questioned, "The tide's coming in."
"So, what are we supposed to do?" Sarah asked curiously.
"Not stay here." JJ deadpanned, and Rory made a 'duh' face.
"I can take my dad's truck." Kie stated hesitantly, "How much worse can it get, you know?"
"We need a winch to pull the Twinkie out with." JJ added, "There's a winch at the Chateau."
"Okay, if you're gonna do it. Let's go." John B worried, "The tides coming in and the Twinkie's going under."
JJ and Kie started to trek through the dirty water, before Rory quickly followed, "I'll come too... To supervise."
A confused murmur came from the rest of the Pogues, knowing that Aurora wasn't very good at supervising. She was normally the one being supervised. However, Rory couldn't stand one more minute being in the same perimeter of John B and Sarah. It made her feel so unwanted, until suddenly that wash of jealously drowned her again. Plus, Sarah made it pretty clear that she doesn't feel the same way anymore, so Aurora had to respect that- no matter how hard it was.
When they arrived to Kie's house, JJ peered into the truck window to make sure it was empty. Then, Rory and JJ hid behind the white fence whilst Kie went inside to steal the Truck's keys.
"Go, go, go!" JJ whispered, as Kiara left the two alone. He turned to Aurora, whispering, "Why didn't you stay at the forest?"
"A stupid reason." Aurora huffed, as she glanced at her brother who looked as though he was going to burst with questions. She blurted out, "Don't ask."
"I really want to ask." JJ whispered desperately. He paused, "Is it Sarah-"
"JJ!" Rory whisper-yelled, as she cut him off from speaking, "I told you not to ask."
"You didn't deny it." JJ smirked, as he shuffled closer to his sister eagerly, "So, what's going on with you two? Did you, you know, kiss?"
"What- No!" Rory grimaced, though she liked the idea of it. She shrugged, "Well, not recently."
JJ squinted, "How far do you consider recently?"
"When we were... together, before. Like, years ago. Anyway, she doesn't like me like that anymore." Rory explained, and JJ could tell she was clearly upset about the whole thing.
"So, you're not going to get together?" JJ asked sympathetically, his sarcastic voice had disappeared and suddenly he was comforting his sister, "I thought you had this raging crush on Sarah?"
"It's... It's confusing." Rory tried to explain, "One minute, she acts like she loves me. And the next minute, she's all over Topper. When I confront her about it, she says we're just friends, but friend's don't look at each other like we do. You know?"
"Yeah." JJ nodded, before pausing, "Do you know what I would do?"
Rory shrugged, "Probably just kiss her."
"That's exactly what I'd do. You know me so well." JJ gasped exaggeratedly, placing a hand on his chest sarcastically.
Their conversation was interrupted by Kiara running out from the gate quietly, as the twins followed her into her dad's truck. Kiara drove to the Château, before JJ quickly jumped out to find the winch, leaving the girl's alone in the vehicle.
Rory leaned through the middle of the two seats from behind. She grabbed a cigarette from her pocket, before offering it to Kie, "Want one?"
"Uh, no thanks." Kie replied, as Rory nodded and stepped outside of the car, knowing that if Mike Carrera smelt a slight smell of cigarettes Kiara would be dead. Kie rolled down the window, looking at Rory who was leaning against the truck door, "You okay?"
"Yeah." Rory exhaled smoke, then she changed the subject, "I bet you $10 that the Twinkie's a submarine-"
"What the frick?" Kie scoffed, but it wasn't at Aurora. Rory followed her eyeline until she saw JJ storming over to the truck- Luke following behind. The girl felt her body tense, as she tried to take a step back but her back just pressed into the truck door.
Rory held her cigarette between her shaking fingers, as her chest became tighter and her hands started to sweat. She looked at her dead-beat of a father, before looking at her brother in pure terror. Rory attempted to speak, "N-No..."
For the first time in a long time, Aurora was silenced by her stutter that she thought had gone away. She found herself trying to talk, but no sounds escaped her lips except from occasional sounds. She felt useless again.
"Immediately no." Kiara spoke for the girl, who was stood frozen up against the truck, "What is this?"
JJ took control of his father, "Get in the truck. Don't speak to Aurora."
Rory frowned at Luke, who immediately did what his son asked him to. Then, she realised that they must've made some sort of deal. Rory spluttered, "T-The Twinkie is... is-drowning, r-right now, JJ."
"Exactly." Kiara nodded, as she stepped out of the car to help Rory, "What is the plan? What is this?"
"Listen to me. Listen to me, okay?" JJ stressed, as he placed his two hands on the girl's shoulders, "I need to get into the marina at the Island Club. There's a boat there that he can take. You got the sticker on the Truck. Twenty minutes, that's all I need."
"The Twinkie's gonna be a submarine in 20 minutes!" Kiara retorted, "Leave him and we can come back."
"The cops are after him!" JJ blurted out in frustration, "I do this now, maybe I'll never have to do it again."
Rory shook her head repeatedly, as she realised her eyes were full of tears.
JJ held both of her hands, softening his voice, "It's gonna be okay, I promise. I made a deal with him, he's not gonna... hurt you. We do this, he's gone forever, okay? Please, Aurora, trust me."
Rory hesitantly nodded, "O-Okay."
JJ nodded gratefully, before walking around to the back seats where Rory had been sat before, "Okay, Rory switch seats with me. You go next to Kie, okay?"
"Come on." Kiara tried to smile encouragingly, as they got into the front of the Truck.
The car ride to the local store was silent, and Aurora suffocated in her thoughts the whole way there. The ride seemed longer than it actually was, mainly due to the fact of her thinking what was the worst possible scenario to come out of this situation:
1. Luke suddenly has an anger outburst and hits her and her brother.
2. Luke leads the cops to the truck, possibly meaning the three teenagers get in trouble for illegally transporting a criminal.
3. Luke goes on a murderous rampage, causing the three to not get back to the Twinkie so the rest of the Pogues get eaten by gators.
Aurora knew that scenario number 3 was the least likely to happen, but it was still a concern that grew inside of her mind. However, Rory had to consider that her anxiety levels were off of the chart, so 2/3 things would probably not happen.
"Crackers and baked beans and tuna, alright?" Luke called out the window to JJ, who was walking to the store, "And some salt and pepper. Five days worth."
"Yeah." JJ replied, "I know."
Unexpectedly, Luke started drumming the seats in front of him to the beat of a song, causing Rory to squeeze her eyes shut and pray that this wouldn't escalate. Her chair shook, as Kiara secretly grabbed her hand to comforted her.
Kie blurted out, "You're a terrible father, you know that?"
"Kie." Rory whispered, as she slightly shook her head to tell her to stop what she was doing. The last thing she wanted was for her best friend to get hurt by her own father.
"Yeah, preach it to me." Luke replied, a hint of sarcasm laced his voice, "Set me straight."
"Do you have any idea how special your kids are?" Kie asked honestly, "Like, even a clue?"
"He's a thief is what he is." Luke corrected, then Aurora felt his eyes glare at the back of her head, "And you're an addict, aren't you? Don't pretend like I don't know what you've been up to."
Rory clenched her jaw, staring into the distance in front of her. Kiara retorted, "And what are you? You're just a wasted local salt who never did shit but mess up and hustle people. Very impressive."
Luke chuckled, "You sound just like your mama. She was just like that in High school, always thought she was better than everybody else. Kook Princess." He paused, leaning forward, "You know, I bet you're a lot like your mama. Slumming with the bad boys. Are you an ungrateful shit like she was? I bet you are-"
Suddenly, Kiara swung her elbow back to collide right into Luke's face, causing him to groan and sit back. She silenced him, just as JJ arrived back at the car. He passed Luke a crate of beers, and a plastic bag filled with food, before glancing at the girls to check if they were okay.
Somehow, the three had managed to smuggle Luke onto a boat at the marina. Whilst Kie waited on the deck, JJ and Rory helped their dad with starting the boat. Her brother climbed up the ladder to try and start the boat, as Rory unpacked Luke's food into the mini fridge.
Luke walked in, stuffing away things in the cabinets, "How'd you hurt your hand?"
Rory hesitated, looking at the bandage on her hand, "Punched someone. Don't act like you.. care."
"Don't be like that, Rora." Luke's voice peculiarly changed to a soft tone, "I know I could've been better, but... you know, you just remind me so much of your mama and it gets me fired up."
"Y-Yeah." Aurora replied, as she turned around to face him, "I wasn't exactly the ideal daughter."
"Hey, don't be like that." Luke shook his head, before reaching into one of the cabinets, "Look, I have this you can have..."
Aurora's eyes stared at the bottle of drugs he was offering to her. She shook her head doubtfully, avoiding eye contact with the bottle, "No-No, I can't. I just can't-"
"People like us, Aurora, our bodies can't function without these. You know it, and I know it." Luke explained, placing one hand on her shoulder, "It takes an addict to see an addict."
Rory shook her head again, "I'm not an... I'm trying to get clean, dad."
"I see you fiddling with your clothes, bouncing your leg, picking your skin." Luke exclaimed, "I see it all, Rora. Please, for me, take it as a gift."
"A gift?" Aurora scoffed, as she took the bottle from his hand, and examined the bottle.
"I'm going to Yucatan, I might never be coming back." Luke stated, as Rory slipped the bottle into her pocket, "It'll all work out-"
"The tanks full." JJ interrupted, as he walked in, "We need to get going."
As Luke had the same talk about living together in Yucatan as one happy family, Aurora left the boat and untied the rope which was holding it to the deck. JJ left soon after, looking down at the floor to hide his tears. They both hated to admit it, but they did love him, he was their dad.
"You two okay?" Kiara asked, as she wrapped her arms around each one of their shoulders before they started walking to the Truck. JJ and Rory didn't answer Kie's question, and the ride back to the forest was silent.
However, Aurora felt a piece of her feeling almost free. Free from her father forever.
a/n:
so glad L*ke is gone!
ALSO THANK YOU FOR 70.1K READS 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
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