"Topper? Why the fuck is Topper calling you?".
Elle felt herself tense up. Why was he calling her? They'd only seen each other a couple of days ago. She racked her brain for a second trying to think of reasons why, was he in trouble? Had something happened to Rafe?
"Maybe he wants to say hi?," she asked sceptically, "ooo or invite me to a luxurious day of charming the kooks of Figure Eight", sarcasm coating her words. JJ rolled his eyes, clearly not impressed with her responses.
"Well are you going to answer it?", he asked, getting tired of the ringing sound.
"With you here?", she scoffed, "Right, I don't think so".
He shook his head incredulously, "So you apparently don't know why he's calling you but you refuse to answer because of me? Yeah that makes sense Elle", he let out a sigh slumping back into the passenger side chair.
She rolled her eyes, sick of the way they were speaking to each other. "God why do you have to make everything such a big deal?".
"Just answer the damn call", he spoke, turning to look out the window.
"Fine, just shut up", pressing the accept button and turning up the volume from her steering wheel.
"Hello?"
"Hey Elle, it's Topp, how are you", he answered confidently.
From the sound of his voice everything seemed okay, calming Elle for a second, "Yeah I'm um, I'm alright, you?".
"Doing as well as I can", he paused, sighing before continuing, "I just wanted to say, about the other night, it was uh..", trying to find the words that he had rehearsed for about 5 minutes before calling her, "It was really nice talking to you again, like we used to".
Elle didn't need to turn her head to know that JJ's brows were furrowing, trying to figure out what Topper was talking about.
"Yeah, it was Topp,", she replied sincerely, turning to look at JJ and noting how his leg was bouncing as he looked out the window, that was his telltale sign of anxiety, "is that why you called?".
"Uh no actually", silence filled the line for a moment, Topper trying to find the courage he needed. "I called to ask if you, uh, I don't know, wanted to come to the Island Party with me on Friday night?"
It was Elle's turn to furrow her brows, "The Island Party? The one where everyone dresses up and celebrates absolutely nothing?", she clarified. He was inviting her to the Island Party, a kook tradition that Pope worked at with his Dad. Last year Pope had met the pogues at the chateau afterwards, complaining about the absurd requests guests had regarding lobster preference, the others poking fun at the ridiculous lifestyle as they spread out on the couches with beers.
"Yep, that would be the one", he laughed.
Was he asking her to be his date? She didn't know how to respond to Topper Thornton of all people asking her out, especially with JJ sitting next to her. To say that Topper asking her out was completely unwanted on her part would be a lie. She had been thinking about the other night often, remembering how sweet he was and how he truly listened to her. Since John B and Sarah's disappearance she was aching for someone to just listen. Not to mention their 'almost' moment which she had been questioning the meaning of ever since.
Topper broke the silence, "I just thought that, it might be nice for us to hangout again and talk about everything. How's it going with J-".
Elle quickly cut him him off before he could continue, "You know what Topp, I'm driving right now so I'll have a think on it and get back to you if that's alright? Talk to you later?".
Surprised by her response, he nodded his head on the other side of the line, "Oh alright… bye Elle". He didn't know whether that was a rejection or whether she really was just driving.
She ended the call promptly, glad to have nipped that conversation in the bud before JJ was mentioned. Taking a deep inhale she prepared herself for how she was going to explain the phone call that just occurred to the boy sitting next to her.
"What the hell was that about?" he questioned, his voice holding an accusatory tone, raising his eyebrows at her.
"Did you not hear the call? He asked me to the-"
JJ cut her off, "Yeah no I heard it. But my question is why?".
"Why?", she repeated, confused as to what exactly he was referring to.
"Yeah, why is Topper Thornton inviting you as his date to the Island party?", he further pressed, the word date coming out with a tone of disgust. She ignored the pang in her stomach at the idea that a date with her would arouse feelings of revulsion from him.
To mask her emotions, Elle turned on her sarcasm switch again, "I don't know, maybe so he's not lonely", she responded, flicking on her turn signal as they sat at the stop sign.
"Cut the sarcastic shit Elle", JJ was clearly getting fed up with the half-assed responses he was getting, staring her down to try and crack her facade.
She sighed deeply, the car ride and the constant interrogation finally breaking her. "Not that I owe you an explanation but, the other night, I called Topper to come and pick Rafe and I up, and we got to talking about… everything".
"Everything? What do you mean by everything", he pressed, the concern coming out clearly.
"Relax, I didn't tell him anything that could get us in trouble. It was just nice to have someone to talk to who actually cares". JJ felt the sting of her words. Is that really how it looks to her? That he doesn't care? He scoffed at the idea, if only she knew how she was all he ever thought about.
As she pulled into her driveway, silence engulfed them once again, JJ looking down at hands as he twirled his rings.
Nervously he muttered out,"So, are you gonna go with him?".
She was surprised at his question, expecting him to keep interrogating her about what exactly she had told him. "I haven't really thought about it", she said, parking the car in the driveway of the chateau and pulling the keys out of the ignition before turning to look at him. "Do you think I should?".
JJ's breath caught in his throat. He didn't expect her to ask for his opinion on this, and he couldn't tell if his head was screaming no because Topper was a piece of shit or if it was because if anyone should be making Elle their date, it should be him.
He shrugged his shoulders, ignoring what his heart was telling him to say and settling on "If you want to, go for it".
Elle pulled her gaze away from his eyes, feeling a familiar sinking sensation start in her stomach. She was stupid to think that he might've told her not to, and that Topper isn't the type of guy that she should be going on dates with. Looking down at her lap and nodding her head, she accepted his answer, which felt more like a rejection, and after composing herself opened her car door.
"Pope and Kie are waiting for us inside, we should probably head in", she said, pulling herself out of the car and heading inside, trying to ignore the dagger she felt wedged through the chest.
JJ hadn't taken his eyes off of her since he had responded, waiting to see how she would react and if he could gage how she really felt about them. Watching her slam the door shut and make her way up to her front door, JJ could feel his stomach tighten, removing his hat and running his hand through his hair before placing it back on. Letting out a final sigh, he followed her in, wishing that he had the balls that Topper so clearly had.