Chapter 5
Glancing up from her bowl of cereal she was eating in the living room, Pippa smiles as she spots J heading through the house, wrapped in only a towel. Dropping her book and bowl on to the coffee table, she stands, following him through the house to the courtyard area outside of his room.
"Hey you." Pippa calls, wrapping her arms around J from behind, who smiles to himself as she presses a kiss to his bare shoulder. She stops still as J freezes, taking in the sight in front of them. "Holy shit, what happened?"
"Where is it?" Pope asks as the pair slowly enter the room. "The watch I gave you."
"I have it. Here." Pippa cuts in, stepping in front of J before he could answer, sliding the watch off her wrist and pressing it into Pope's hand. "Jesus, Pope, did you really have to do all this? You could have just asked like a normal person." She snaps as she steps forward, dragging the mattress back onto the bed.
"What else are you hiding?" Pope continues, ignoring Pippa as he turns on J again.
"I'm not hiding anything." J replies, standing motionless in the middle of the room. "I gave the watch to Pippa. You told me to."
"That was my go to when I was your age." Pope says, nodding up at the vent above the bed. "Hid all sorts of shit in there."
"Yeah, well, he's not you Pope." Pippa bites out, moving to stand beside J who curls his hand around hers. "How 'bout you fuck off, yeah? I think you've caused enough mess for one day."
"Get dressed. I'll take you to school." Pope states ignoring Pippa as he turns to head out of the room. Pippa glances up at J with raised eyebrows as he hesitates, watching Pope leave.
"We're meeting our friend Nicky on the way." She replies for the two of them, reaching forward to pick up J's clothes from the floor, dropping them on to the bed, watching Pope out of the corner of her eye as he turns to face them again.
"We can pick her up on the way."
"We're fine. We'll ride our bikes in." Pippa cuts in again, sensing J's hesitation.
"It wasn't a question." Pope calls over his shoulder as he turns his back on them.
"Fuck you." Pippa mutters under her breath, casting her eyes over to J as Pope leaves the room, the other teenager shrugging his shoulders. "Seriously? Ok, fine. Let's go."
"Hey, it's fine. Ok?" J says gently, pulling Pippa back towards him as she moves to follow Pope.
"It's not fine, J. He's psycho." She hisses as she turns to him, shaking her head in frustration.
"It's fine." J tries again, reassuring her, dropping his head down to hers to press a kiss to her lips. "Come on, let's just go. At least we get a ride to school, right?"
"Right." Pippa mumbles in agreement as she drops down onto the end of J's bed as she waits for him to get dressed.
Laying back on the sand, Pippa sighs, looking up at J who smiles down at her. "Let's just stay here tonight."
"Stay here?" He repeats, his eyes twinkling in amusement as she nods.
"I don't want to go back home. That place is nuts at the moment."
"All night?" J clarifies, shifting to lay beside Pippa who nods again. "It'll get cold soon."
"Probably." She replies with a shrug, pushing herself up on to her elbow, leaning over J as he tucks a hand behind his head, still smiling up at her.
"We don't have any blankets or anything."
"We'll be ok." She reassures him quietly, brushing her lips lightly over his, letting out a giggle as he reaches up his free hand to wind in her hair, pulling her lips down to his for a lingering kiss.
"My old place is near here. I'm sure it's still empty, why don't we crash there?" He suggests, tucking a strand of hair behind Pippa's ear as she smiles at him.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Why not? It's worth a try."
"Ok. Sure." She agrees, sliding down to rest her head on his chest, J's hand immediately winding back through her hair, massaging at her scalp lightly.
J smiles as he slides back into bed beside Pippa the following morning, dropping his head to press tender kisses across her forehead, moving down to her cheeks until he reaches her lips, letting out a chuckle as she playfully pushes him away, burying her face in the pillow with a moan.
"Go 'way. It's still early." She moans, reaching up to push his face away from hers making J laugh again as she rolls on to her side, turning her back to him.
"It's not that early. We were just out late." He protests jokingly, wrapping an arm around Pippa's waist to pull her back flush to his chest.
"Well why are you waking me?" She moans, pulling the blanket tighter around her body.
"We need to get back to the house. Smurf will realise we're not there." J says gently, brushing her hair off her face, leaning down to press a kiss to her cheek.
"So?"
"So...Smurf will realise we didn't spend the night there." He reiterates, sighing against her skin as she shrugs.
"She won't care." Pippa replies, turning her head to look back at J.
"Ok."
"She won't. I promise. And if she does, I'll take the blame. It's fine." J sighs, letting out a laugh as Pippa lowers her head to the pillow again, letting her eyes flutter shut.
"We need to get to school."
"We could skip." She mutters, keeping her eyes tightly shut as J rubs his hand along her arm.
"We're not going to skip school." He says with another laugh, shaking his head at her annoyed groan.
"But we could."
"But we're not."
"Hmpf."
"You know, for a good student who claims to love school, you sure are a bad influence when it comes to actually going to school." J teases lightly, gently pulling Pippa on to her back, leaving her glaring up at him, her lips pursed into a pout.
"I don't like mornings." She grumbles, turning back on to her side so they were laying chest to chest, tucking her head into his neck.
"What if I got you a coffee?" J asks, brushing her hair away from her face again, smirking as he finds her eyes tightly shut again.
"Hmm."
"And food."
"You're getting warmer." Pippa encourages him, a small smile gracing her lips as he brushes the backs of his fingers gently across her cheeks.
"Umm...I'm lost. What else?"
"An extra hour in bed?" She suggests brightly, lifting her head to pout up at J again who laughs, shaking his head.
"Yeah...nope. Come on." He laughs, rising to his feet and holding his hand out to Pippa whose pout grows as she reaches out to playfully bat his hand away from hers.
"No."
"Yep. Come on. Quicker you're out from under the blanket, the easier it'll be." Pippa lets out a shriek as J grabs the top of the blanket, clutching at it as he attempts to pull it off her.
"It's so cold out there!" She cries, curling herself into a ball with the blanket tucked tightly around her.
"It's not that cold. You can have my hoody if it's really that bad." J compromises, smiling as Pippa raises her head to meet his eye, humming slowly.
"Hmmm...ok."
"Ok to..." He prompts, waving his hand in the air.
"Getting out of bed, if I get your hoody, food, coffee, and another kiss." Pippa states, ticking each thing off on fingers, smirking as J lets out a loud laugh.
"You drive a hard bargain, Miss Waters." He draws out, tilting his head back to playfully consider her requests.
"Do we have a deal?" She asks, peering up at him from under the covers, only her eyes visible until her nods, Pippa pulling down the blanket to grin up at him.
"Yes. We have a deal."
"Brilliant!" Pippa exclaims, jumping up from the bed, pouncing on J who catches her, only stumbling slightly. "I'm up!"
"Great!" J laughs, shaking his head in mock exasperation.
"Now...where's my payment." She asks with a laugh, wrapping her arms around J's neck as he pulls her in for a kiss, both of them quickly falling backwards on to the bed again.
"Late night?" Smurf calls as she catches J leaving the kitchen with two cups of coffee, heading back towards his room.
"I'm sorry, Pippa and I went to the beach. We were too tired to ride home so we just crashed at my old apartment, it was closer than the house." J explains, pausing to turn back to face Smurf.
"Don't be sorry. Its not a prison. You come and go as you please." Smurf replies with a smile.
"Is Baz back?" J asks, nodding his head towards Lena who was sat colouring at the coffee table in the living room.
"No not yet. Catherine generously allowed me to babysit while she runs some errands. The boys will be back tonight. Craig's a lot better."
"Oh, good. That's good. Pippa'll be glad to hear that." J states, nodding his head as he hovers awkwardly in the hallway, glancing back at his closed bedroom door, knowing Pippa was in there waiting for him.
"Yeah." Smurf replies, smiling at J. "I'm going to make ribs tonight. Think you and Pippa will be here?"
"Yeah." J nods, beginning to inch backwards towards his room.
"That's good." She states, moving through the hallway as J turns to head towards his room again. "Hey so, um, you and Pippa are having sex?" She asks, J pausing and turning again with a nervous laugh as she drops down on to the ledge. "You don't have to be embarrassed, she's a beautiful girl. Does she know what you like?"
"What?" He laughs, looking over at her in disbelief.
"Does she satisfy you?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Just make sure she knows what you need. She's a good girl." Smurf replies with a smile. "Pippa? You can come out here too, you know?"
"To talk about mine and J's sex life with you? No offence Smurf, but I think I'm ok." Pippa calls from the doorway of her bedroom, her tone light and teasing. She steps out of the room, making her way over to Smurf, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Sorry we were out late." She continues as she shuffled backwards to stand beside J, gratefully accepting the cup of coffee he held out to her.
"It's ok, sweetheart." Smurf says, dismissing the apology with a wave of her hand. "Here, catch." She says, throwing a new phone to both teenagers. Pippa raises her eyebrows at Smurf, holding the box lightly in her hand.
"Smurf…really?"
"So you can tell me next time the two of you are going to be out late, sleeping somewhere else."
"We came home..." Pippa starts, trailing off as Smurf nods.
"I know you did. I appreciate that. Just let me know next time, ok?" Pippa nods, resting her hand lightly on J's arm as she passes him, heading back to her room to change.
