~Before. 02~

Delilah thought it would be absolutely terrible hanging out with Sarah but she was actually a decent person and you could tell just by spending an hour with her that she was hiding herself under a layer of superficial bitchiness.

"I just don't know how I feel about him, you know? I'm not sure it feels right?" Sarah spoke to Delilah who was opposite her on her bed.

"I'm pretty sure you'd know automatically if he was the right person" Delilah responded.

"What do you mean?"

"Well if topper was the one I think you'd know straight away, like everything with him should just feel right. Nothing else in the world matters when your with him" she smiled.

"I take it you have a boyfriend then?" Sarah asked.

"What... no, why would you say that" she folded her arms defensively.

"The way you just said that then I know damn well you had a meaning behind it" Sarah reached out and grabbed her hands, "who's the lucky guy, or girl" she wiggled her brows.

"He's just a friend honestly" she shook her head.

The two of them talked for hours and both realised if one of them had just tried to rekindle their friendship with the other over the last few years they would have been extremely close. The only reason they'd fallen out in the first place was because Sarah had made Kiara Carrera her best friend, Delilah had the tendency to sever all ties when she felt replaced. So she cut the blonde off completely.

They discussed the whole situation at length and Sarah told her that she wished she never would have been friends with Kiara, their friendship had only lasted a short while before things turned sour. The two of them were interrupted when Rafe came into Sarah's room.

"Oh hey little Carlisle, I thought I could hear you" he leant against the door.

"Go away dipshit" Sarah insulted.

"I come baring gifts, wanna go smoke" he held up a bag of weed.

"Okay let's go smoke" Sarah shrugged and hopped off the bed with Delilah behind her.

✵ ✵ ✵

They all sat on Delilah's boat and Rafe rolled them each a joint. Sarah put on a playlist on her phone and the three of them got high. When Delilah's phone rang she excused herself to answer it.

'Hello'

'Hi darling, where are you' her dads voice came through the phone.

'I'm just at Sarah's' she tried to sound as sober as she could.

'Okay love are you coming home tonight' he sounded miserable.

'I can if you need me too but I was going to stay here'

'No, no it's okay stay at Sarah's, your mums staying at her sisters house tonight so just try and be home early okay?'

'Okay dad, love you'

'Love you sweetheart'

The line went off and she sent JJ a text back from the last message he'd sent and then returned to Sarah and Rafe.

They smoked some more and Sarah left to meet topper for an hour leaving Delilah with Rafe, who was clearly waiting for his sister to leave. He almost instantly got a bag of coke out his pocket and poured some onto the back of his phone.

"Don't like to do it in front of her, she runs her mouth too much" he shrugged. "Want some?"

"I'm staying here anyway so sure I'll have some" she leaned over and took the rolled up note of him.

To Delilah's surprise Rafe was actually a fun person to be around, yes he had bad habits but he was fun nevertheless. Wether it was just the vibe or the fact they were both high as fuck they found themselves talking about the most random topics ever. They both agreed that there was definitely dinosaur type creatures in the deep sea and that the fox and the hound was the best Disney movie ever.

By the time Sarah had came back they'd finished the bag of coke Rafe had and they'd smoked a little more.

"Come on you two" Sarah called from the dock as Rafe threw the end of the joint into the water.

"Coming!" Rafe shouted back.

When the girls got in bed JJ had text Delilah back so she sent him a Goodnight text and they went to sleep.

✵ ✵ ✵

The morning after Sarah made them both coffee before Delilah had to head home.

The girl didn't mean to eavesdrop when she got home but she was small and light footed, she was about to go in her dads office when she heard him talking.

"Your fucking were? And your sure it was him? Okay well send the email I gave you a list and I'll get you it all. No one will know don't worry. Yes I'll look out for him. Just stop worrying I'll go down tomorrow and buy it then rents not a problem" Her dad was having a conversation over the phone.

It was at that moment that she leaned on the door and it opened so she knocked to make it seem like she'd just gotten there.

"I have to go call you later" he wasn't on his usual phone it was some sort of disposable looking one and he put it in the top draw of his desk, "morning love, you just get home" he smiled and gestured for her to sit on the couch.

"Yeah, why did mom stay out last night?" She questioned.

"We had a rough counselling session" he paused and fiddled with the watch on his wrist. "We think we've came to a solution at least"

"And that is?"

"We all need to get together to discuss it" he shook his head.

"Want me to call mom and tell her to come home"

"Your mums not the issue, I've sorted a flight out for your brother so we'll talk when he gets here"

"Wait what?"

"He'll be here in a few days" Joseph cracked a smile as his daughters face lit up.

"Wrens visiting?" Delilah's mouth was now in the biggest grin possible. "How long for?"

"That's another thing" Joseph let out a dry laugh, "he's going to be moving over here indefinitely, something happened while he was at school but I'll let him decide if he wants to tell you"

"I haven't seen him for almost a year!" She half bounced up and down. "Does that mean he's moving in with us, can I help set up one of the bedrooms?"

Joesph cradled his daughters head and kissed the top of it as he laughed. "Just wait until he's here okay love"

All's she could think about now was what colour wren would want to paint his room and if he still had a thing for weird biscuits. She decided to call him, as soon as she got back to her room she put the phone on speaker and let it ring.

After three rings it was picked up, "your coming home!" Delilah practically shouted.

She heard a throaty laugh through the phone, "hey lilah bug"

"How long have you known?" She asked.

"Dad FaceTimed me yesterday to let me know the plans were final but I've known for a few weeks"

"I can't believe you didn't tell me, was I the only one who didn't know"

"Mum's been trying to get me home since the minute I got here so she knew, so I guess that means yes, your the last" wren laughed.

"What did you do this time" Delilah questioned.

He let out a long sigh and Delilah could feel his frustration through the call, "I'll tell you in person, shouldn't be too long now"

"I've missed you so much"

"I know little sister, I miss you too"

The two of them just sat in silence on the phone for a moment before wren spoke again. "So what have you been up to"

"Nothing really, I'm friends with Sarah again though" she shrugged.

"It was stupid stopping being friends in the first place, as much as I love you sis you do tend to have an all or nothing outlook when it comes to friends. Is Rafe still at home?"

"Mhm" she moved onto her balcony and sat cross legged on the chair she had out there, "he was at college but he dropped out"

"Hmm, that sounds like double brother sister days out if you ask me" he chuckled.

"You did not just say that" she burst out laughing.

"Joking, maybe." The pair laughed together, "okay bug I've got to get some sleep, I'll see you soon"

"See you soon, love you"

"Love you" wren ended the call and Delilah let out a happy sigh of relief.

When she checked her phone she had a text of her mom telling her she was going to be staying with her aunt Tara until wren flies in, she'd also had a text from Sarah arranging more plans and finally she had three texts from JJ.

The last text read, 'be at your house in ten'

Suddenly Delilah had a heart attack because it was sent five minutes ago and her room was a mess, she practically threw the mess into the corner of her closet and jumped on her bed with a book so she didn't look suspicious.

Not even a full minute later there was a quiet knock on her balcony doors and JJ slid the door open and came in. Delilah put down her book and sat up tapping the space on the bed next to her, JJ locked her bedroom door before sitting next to her and wrapping his arms around her.

"Hey" he whispered into her jawline.

"Hey" she whispered back.

"Missed you" he kissed her shoulder.

"I thought you'd be busy" she asked raising an eyebrow at him.

"John B has a social service visit, so I'm all yours" he smiled.

"What If I have plans"

Now JJ was raising his eyebrows, "you make plans now"

"I'm kidding" she laughed, "I do not have plans tonight"

"Good"

JJ turned the girl around and planted a kiss on her lips and then trailed kisses along her neck making her shiver. She lifted her hands to either side of his face and kissed him back deeper. Soon she climbed on his lap and pulled at the hem of his shirt and he worked with her to get it off, just as she'd followed his actions and took off the tank top she had on a knock came from her bedroom door.

"Delilah why is your door locked" Joseph's voice called from the other side of the door.

"Sorry dad I just got out the shower!" She half shouted, "did you need something?"

"Just letting you know I'm going out for a bit, I'll give you a ring when I'm on my way home" he responded.

"Okay dad, bye!"

"Bye love" he said as he retreated away from the room.

When Delilah looked back down she'd put her hand over JJ's mouth and his eyes were roaming from her waist up to her face in awe. She took away her hand and gave him a look that let JJ know it was okay to carry on. He ran a hand up her side while the other was placed firmly on her thigh.

"How are you so perfect" he said in a low voice.

"Shut up" she shook her head and leant in for another kiss.

In the back of Delilah's head she knew that they were probably too young for sex, but they were also too young for drugs and alcohol and that didn't stop them. She only had a few more weeks before she turned sixteen so it didn't really matter too her, especially because it was him. It was JJ. She was safe with him.

They'd done it a few times before and neither of them really had a clue what they were doing. The fact that they'd waited as long as they did was a miracle given that JJ was a hormonal teenage boy.

"Your sure" JJ asked her as they rolled so he was on top of her.

Delilah nodded, "of course"

They carried on leaving messy kisses all over eachother and before either of them knew it Delilah felt a sharp pain and she bit down on JJ's shoulder too hide the gasp she wanted to let out. He handled her like she was made out of glass going slow so he didn't hurt her. It didn't last long before they were both lying underneath the duvet, trying to catch their breaths.

JJ stroked along the back of her arm and kissed the top of her head, "are you okay?" He looked down at her laying across his chest.

"Better than okay" she smiled and leaned up to kiss him.

They sat like that for a while before Delilah threw on JJ's T-shirt and turned to him with a mischievous look on her face.

"What's that look for?" He smiled.

"I have an idea" she bounced slightly.

"That is?" He leaned up on his elbows.

"I happen to have some weed"

"I like how this ideas starting" he nodded.

"Okay, let's get high" she smiled and threw him his shorts.

She rummaged through her bag and got out the pot of weed that Rafe had given her the night before then dug through her dresser to find the bong she had stashed. Her and JJ got comfy on the chairs on her balcony and she packed the bowl taking the first hit before passing it to him.

"Who'd you get weed off anyway" JJ asked the next time she passed it back to him.

"Sarah" she lied knowing it was technically a half truth.

"Sarah Cameron?"

"Yeah"

"Since when did you two hang out?" He looked over at her concerned.

"We were friends when we were little, I guess we just fell back into touch after the party" she shrugged.

"Well I'm not complaining it's good weed" he laughed.

Once they'd finished smoking it was dark out and Delilah made them nachos while they watched tv. After an hour or two she got a call from her dad that he was on his way home. Delilah told JJ that she'd come over once her dad was settled for the night so they had a quick kiss goodbye and Delilah waited for her dad to get home.

She was laying on the couch when her dad came through the door dressed in a suit and looking tired, he'd also clearly discarded his tie at some point and looked slightly wore down. Not realising his daughter was there he poured himself a drink and ran a hand over his face.

"You okay dad" she rested her chin on the back of the couch.

"Didn't see you there sweetheart, yeah I'm okay" he sat down next to her, "have you had a good day"

"Yeah it's been okay, I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep until wrens here though" she smiled.

"You two best not team up and get into trouble or I think my head'll explode" he smirked and sipped on his drink.

"No promises" she held up her hands.

"Well I'm off to bed, I'm exhausted" he stood and stretched out his arms, "goodnight lilah, love you"

"Love you too dad"

When she knew that her dad was going to be in his room for the rest of the night she climbed over her balcony and made the trip to The cut. She'd swiped a bottle of whiskey to give to Luke and he was grateful as always.

JJ's face lit up when she walked through the door and he held out his arms to which she crawled straight into. Just like when they first started making out and couldn't stop, they now couldn't keep their hands off each other in one way or another. So much so that they didn't actually get too sleep until at least 2am.

✵ ✵ ✵

The next morning Delilah was half expecting JJ to be gone but when she sat herself up he was still there. She smiled and took herself to the bathroom, JJ followed and the two of them brushed their teeth stoping halfway through because JJ felt the need to kiss her and cover them both in toothpaste.

"Your phones been getting messages all morning" JJ spoke as she sat back on the bed.

She checked her phone and started grinning. JJ looked at her with a confused look on his face, "you won the lottery or something?" He asked.

She shook her head, "Wrens coming home, his flight is tonight" she couldn't stop smiling.

"Wren as in your mysterious brother?"

"He's not mysterious" she chuckled, "he just doesn't live here"

"That's mysterious" JJ held up his hands, "how long is he staying for?"

"Hopefully it's going to be a permanent thing" she clasped her hands together nervously.

JJ took both of her hands and kissed them, "does he know about us?"

She shook her head no, "he knows that I'm seeing someone just not who that someone is" she pulled him into her so she could kiss in between his collar bones.

They started making out but we're interrupted by sound of a car pulling into the driveway, JJ looked out his window and his face drained of colour when he saw John b walking towards the house.

"Shit" he spoke.

"Whats wrong?" Delilah asked.

"It's John b, you need to hide" he quickly gathered up her possessions that were in view and put them in her bag.

"You want me to hide" she let her mouth fall open slightly.

"Yes, quick" he gestured for her to go under the bed.

Delilah rolled her eyes and popped open the window, and threw her bag out. "I'm not hiding under your bed JJ Maybank" she shot him a disappointed look.

"Lilah wait... I'm sorry" he said as she swung both legs out the window.

"Whatever, goodbye" she hopped down and grabbed her bag walking over to her boat cautiously.

When she looked back she saw him run his hands through his hair and then walk out his bedroom door. When she'd gotten to the boat there were tears streaming down her face and she let herself scream a little. Thoughts were running through her head but none more than the devastating question of 'is it always going to be like this' she sighed and got out her phone to call Sarah.

Sarah answered the phone on the second ring and greeted her in that same bright disposition she always had.

'What are you doing today?' Delilah asked.

'Absolutely nothing, toppers going to play golf with Rafe and Kelce'

'Well I'm coming over, see you soon'

'I'll make us drinks! Bye' she chirped and hung up the call.

Delilah had calmed slightly and watched JJ and John b get into the van from her boat and sighed, driving off towards Sarah's house. By the time she'd gotten there Sarah had prepared extremely pink looking cocktails and she'd made a cheese board.

"Are you serious?" Delilah laughed.

"My dad and rose won't be back until tonight let's make the most of it" she held out the cocktail.

"What have you put in them? They look like they've came straight out of a kids cooking show"

"Malibu and this" she held up a bag of frozen strawberry ice that was definitely made for snow cones and not cocktails.

Delilah took a sip and then looked at Sarah, "okay this is good, your a genius."

"I know right" Sarah laughed, "can I ask why you look like you just decided to go on the run" Sarah pointed out the giant overflowing bag and her attire.

She looked down and realised that she was still in JJ's T-shirt, it wasn't the cleanest and the clothes she was wearing the day before were coming out of the top of her bag.

"What do you mean" Delilah tried to play it cool.

"Delilah that is not your T-shirt and I'm pretty sure you don't usually carry around an overnight bag" she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes playfully.

"I'm afraid I can't disclose that information" she laughed.

"So you've been with your secret lover boy" she wiggled her brows and moved Delilah's hair out of the way pointing at something on her neck.

"Oh god, is that what I think" Delilah blushed.

"Hickey? Yes it is" Sarah laughed.

"I'm going to kill him" she buried her head into her hands.

"And your still not gonna give me a hint of who it is?" Sarah sipped on her drink.

"Not a chance" Delilah shook her head.

Delilah texted her dad that she was at Sarah's and he told her what she already knew that her brothers flight was tonight so he would be here by tomorrow. She also called her mom to check she was doing okay, Zara said that she was fine but Delilah could tell her mom was stressed out.

Sarah and Delilah ended up drunk as fuck and when Rafe got home with topper in tow Delilah practically jumped for joy. Sarah and topper were distracted making out so Delilah and Rafe both headed to the bathroom.

"Little Carlisle getting me alone in the bathroom, that's definitely not the girl I remember" Rafe laughed to himself.

"Oh shut up Rafe" she laughed.

He pulled a bag out of his back pocket and held it up to her, "this what you want"

She eyed the white powder and smiled at him nodding. Rafe let out a laugh again and poured some onto the counter using a card to make multiple lines and rolled up a note. He took the first line handed her the note. When they'd done a few each Delilah checked her nose before going back to the kitchen.

She liked the way that coke made her feel, alive and slightly invincible. Rafe fixed them all more drinks and they carried on with the evening. Delilah's phone started to ring and she looked down to see her brother was FaceTiming her. Quickly fixing her appearance in the camera she answered.

"guess where I am" he said with a smile plastered on his face.

"Hmm, are you at the dentist" she said sarcastically.

"No, I'm at the airport" he laughed. "Where are you?" He questioned.

"Oh I'm at Sarah's" she flipped the camera onto the group sitting around the kitchen island.

"Who's that" Rafe called out from his seat.

"Just Wren" she answered looking back down at her brothers face on the screen.

Rafe came up to we're Delilah was standing and put his face in the camera, "what's up man, long time no see"

"That's about to change" Wren laughed moving the camera so they could see the airport lounge.

"Your coming home?" Rafe asked.

"Yep, be there by tomorrow" he nodded.

"You'll have to hit me up, we can grab a drink or something" Rafe said.

"Of course man" he looked from Rafe to Delilah, "I have to go and grab some food before I board"

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, love you"

"Love you sis" wren said before hanging up.

Rafe looked at Delilah and cocked his head to the side, "take it he doesn't know what your up too"

"No he doesn't and I plan on it staying that way"

"Well I'll keep my mouth shut don't worry" he smiled at her.

They carried on the night and every time Rafe went to the bathroom Delilah would go right after because he'd leave the coke in there for her so Sarah and topper didn't get suspicious if they both went in together multiple times.

Delilah didn't get home until around midnight and Joseph was already asleep so she got lucky, as quietly as she could she got herself some snacks from the kitchen and she filled up her workout bottle with ice water hoping that chugging it before she fell asleep would prevent the lethal hangover that was obviously gonna hit her in the morning.

She'd received one text from JJ that simply read 'sorry about that' looking at it made her even angrier than she'd been when she had to climb out his window. She clicked off they're chat and scrolled through her contacts clicking Rafes name, she snapped a picture of her with the giant bottle of water and pressed send. He immediately text her back 'water isn't gonna save you Carlisle!' she laughed out her nose and plugged in her phone to charge overnight.

✵ ✵ ✵

The next morning she was woken up by her dads voice booming around the house, giving orders too someone she couldn't hear. She threw on a tank top and some shorts then made her way downstairs. Her head felt like it was splitting in two and she needed an aspirin and an iced coffee more than she needed oxygen.

When she entered the kitchen she could see her dad talking too two men in the den, Delilah was anything but stupid when it came to her dads business she knew that he was in the drug supply industry. In all honesty she didn't care as long as he didn't get caught, rolling her eyes she climbed on the kitchen counter and grabbed two aspirin from the medicine box. As she went to climb down she almost slipped and fell on her face but she was caught by a pair of arms.

"damn Delilah are you thinking about joining a parkour club or some shit"

Delilah turned her head too see Barry trying to hold in his laughter, "thank god you caught me that fall 100% would have killed me" she said as she popped the two painkillers in her mouth and stuck her head under the water dispenser on the fridge.

"classy" Barry coughed after he took a hit of a joint.

"does my dad know your smoking in our house" she raised her eyebrows but smirked playfully.

"oh ha ha, if he wants to keep me on his payroll then I can smoke were I want"

Delilah looked over to see that the den's door had been closed over probably due to the fact her dad didn't want her knowing what he was up too. She frowned at the door and turned back to the boy who had moved closer to the back door, without thinking of the consequences she walked over and took the joint from him taking a drag and handing it back to him. Barry had a shocked look on his face but shrugged.

"want some coffee?" she asked the boy.

"nah, I don't do caffeine" he shook his head.

"you don't do caffeine? are you okay do you want me to ask my therapist if she can fit you in?" she joked.

"very funny... when did you start" Barry nodded to the joint in his hand "You know?"

"I'm not living under a rock Bare I've done it before, recently I just started to do it more... regularly that's all" she poured herself an ice coffee and took the sunglasses Barry had looped to his shirt and put them on.

"am I being robbed by a kook right now" he joked as she retreated with the sunglasses still on.

"nope I'm borrowing them so I have an excuse to be seen at your place without the warden knowing" she gestured to the closed door her dad was behind.

Barry just laughed as she ran back up the stairs with her coffee. She turned on some music and checked her phone, one missed call from JJ at 4am two texts from wren saying that their mom was picking him up from the airport in Charlotte, Sarah had sent her a picture of herself next too the toilet and Rafe had texted her a picture of Sarah taking the picture with the toilet with a message that said 'I take it you look better than her rn'. In return she sent a selfie with her coffee too Sarah and text Rafe a bunch of laughing emojis.

Delilah was quite enjoying dancing around her room until her dad opened the door and nearly gave her a heart attack, "Jesus fucking christ dad, you could have knocked!" she shouted in shock.

"I did knock you just couldn't hear me over that" he pointed to the speaker in the corner of her room, she lowered down the music and smiled sweetly at her dad.

"better?"

"much thank you" he rolled his eyes at his daughter. "your mum's picking wren up then they'll be straight here so you know... get dressed or do your hair, if I have to deal with your mums whiny comments I might just fuck off back to England myself" he gave her a loving look.

"love you dad" she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest.

"and I love you darling, want anything from the shop" he said making her look up at him with a disapproving look, Delilah hated it when her dad used British slang because half the time she didn't know what he was going on about.

"from the store" she said pronouncing store for him like he was a child, "but yes could you get me some cake mix"

"for fuck sake" he ran a hand over his face, "I'll get you the cake mix but I'm not cleaning up after you" he said as he turned and left the room.

The second the door closed behind him she turned up the music and carried on dancing.