Joey knocked on the door quickly, more like banging her fist it seemed. She'd driven here extremely fast, thanking god her moped didn't die on the way. She hit the door again, harshly rubbing at the dirt that dried on her skin. Her chest heaved, her heart was racing, if she was completely alone she'd have cried. But then the dream of a life time opened the door. "Topper."

"What the hell?" he looked at her oddly, eyes looking over the mud on her legs and thighs, her clothes with sand and mud as well. "What happened to you?"

"The water got shut off at my house. Can I use your shower? Please." she was never the type to beg, but this was different. In Joeys head she wasn't just seeing mud all over her, she was seeing any possible disease and parasite lodged in the mud that was currently eating at her skin and would kill her slowly over time. She wasn't just feeling sand in her clothes, she was thinking about how if she inhaled it all the horrible things that could happen to her lungs. It all lead back to diseases. Just like the disease that took her Mother.

"Okay, yeah." Topper took a breath as he pulled the door open. "Why didn't you go to your friends house?"

"They're all worse then I am." Joey said honestly, kicking her shoes off at the door to avoid tracking mud through his house. "They wouldn't understand."

"I'll bring you some clothes. Go, go." he waved her off, watching as she hurried down the hall, feet hitting the floors as she did so. Topper winced as he heard a few things fall. "You good?"

"Knocked over the toilet paper holder!" she called back, making him stiff a laugh. "He's okay!"

Then the shower kicked on, and Topper figured she'd be in there a while. Last time she was here, she'd used his shower upstairs. He had four, apart of him wondered if she'd manage to use all of them before summer was over. Topper went to the kitchen first, flipping on the stove before walking up the stairs to his room.

He wondered which shirt to get her. He sat there a second, analyzing every single outfit he could remember her wearing. After a minute, the ones he could remember were two maroon shirts. After a second of digging, he pulled the maroon tee that he got at a golfing tournament a few months ago. Grasping the sweat pants and a pair of socks, he went back down the stairs. The stove beeped, indicating it had been preheated.

"Hey, i'm gonna come in a second." Topper knocked on the door, getting an okay from the inside. Pushing the door open, Topper laid the clothes, that were now folded, on the counter. "You got everything you need in there?"

Joey poked her head out the shower, face and hair wet. One of her curls stuck to her forehead. "Can I use your soap again? No offense to whatever lady uses this one, but rose scents make me itch."

"Yeah, that's my moms." Topper nodded, trying not to look at her despite it only being her head. He tried not think of her in the shower and seeing her face made it hard not to. "I'll get it for you."

"Thanks." Joey smiled at him, pulling her head back. Topper left the door open, heading back up the stairs to get his soap. He grabbed his shampoo and conditioner too, just in case. Running back down, Joey laughed slightly when she heard his feet hurrying back. "You walk loud."

"The house echos." Topper said. Joey peaked out the shower again, this time out reaching her arm. Her arm made it so much worse to not picture her naked. He knew she was, obviously she wasn't gonna shower with clothes on. Why was it so hard not to think about her naked? Just because he saw her face? He saw her face plenty of times and didn't think of her naked then. Was it the fact that he was so close to her, knowing that just a curtain was hiding her away.

"You gonna make me get out to get it?" Joey laughed. Topper realized he hadn't moved to give them to her, lost in thought.

"Yeah. No. Sorry, no." he forced himself to laugh, reaching out to give her the three bottles. "I brought the shampoo and conditioner too."

"Thanks." she smiled again, disappearing again.

"You like jalapeño poppers?" he asked her, grabbing the muddy clothes off the floor.

"With the cream cheese in the middle?" Joey recalled her memory.

"Yup." he called back to her, taking a second to push all his moms belongings on the counter into the drawer.

"Yeah, those are great." Joey called. Topper walked out, shutting the door. The Finlay girl looked down, watching the mud wash away. She sighed in relief, not feeling so paranoid and on edge. She was glad Topper let her in, but was embarrassed by him knowing her water was off. She knew he already looked down at pogues, he'd probably use this against her somehow in the future when they both forgot about the few good moments they had together.

By the time the jalapeño poppers were done, the shower had shut off. Topper placed each of them on a plate, splitting them down the middle evenly. He wondered if she'd be grossed out if he put ranch on the plate, deciding on getting his own little bowl for it. Looking around the corner, the blonde boy frowned his eyebrows when he saw the bathroom door open, the light off, with no Joey.

He thought she'd snuck away by now. "Joey?"

"In here!" she called from the room at the end of the long hall. Topper placed the little bowl on the plate, holding it in one hand as he headed down the hall. Stopping in the doorway, he leaned against it with a minor laugh. Joey had found Toppers moms personal library, laying on her stomach, facing the door, flipping the first page of one of the books open.

"What'd you find?" he asked her.

Joey looked up from the bed. She had a sort of glow to her after a slower, a fresh and clean glaze across her skin. Fresh faced, her curls wet and flat, a few of her eyebrow hairs sticking up rather then all going to the side. "You've read The Secret History?"

"Not me. This is my moms." Topper looked at the book collection. "She's never read it either, though. It's just for looks."

Joey sat up, nodding to the space on the bed. "The library at school has the worst books ever. They only want us to read education stuff, which would be fine if we had a public library, but we do not."

Topper laid the plate down, watching her body dip a little bit at he crawled in next to her. "You can keep it, she won't notice."

Joey put it under her knee, looking around the room. "This is your moms room?"

"Guest bedroom." he corrected her, crossing his legs like she had. "No one's ever used it though."

"How come your mom isn't here?" Joey turned her head to Topper, slouching when her tail broke began to hurt.

"She works a lot." Topper nodded his head, pushing the plate closer to the end so the poppers wouldn't fall off. "The hurricane still has the water off on The Cut?"

"Uncle didn't pay the bill." Joey shrugged her shoulders, thinking about lying but couldn't think of any better excuse. "He can shower at his boyfriends house though. But, he's got two kids and I think i've embarrassed my uncle enough at Midsummers, probably doesn't want me ruining his new family."

"I don't think he thinks that." Topper shook his head at her, slouching too when his back hurt. "Have you ever though about, I don't know, being nice to people you meet?"

Joey snorted. "Woah. Tell me how you really feel."

"I'm just saying." the blonde shrugged at her.

"It's just hard to get along with people sometimes." Joey admitted honesty as she piked at the loose skin around her nails. "I don't know why I get so annoyed or so mean, I just do. I don't like pretending like i'm happy, too many people do that and it's bullshit."

Topper shrugged. "Yeah, I get that. Probably just a habit for most people."

"Probably." Joey admitted. "But I think I like to know people try with me. Like, they should hate me when they first meet me, because they think i'm rude, but they keep trying with me. It just makes me feel good, even though that sounds really stupid to say."

"Did John B do that?" Topper looked at her, getting a small nod.

"Not at first. He avoided me a lot, but I went out of my way to make him miserable." Joey laughed slightly at the memory of last summer. "But he kept falling for it, then he tried really hard, like, killing me with kindness. I hated him but I loved it."

"That's so not normal." Topper gave a minor laugh. "Is that what you do with all your boyfriends, then? You pretend to hate them so they try hard to get you?"

"John B was my only boyfriend even." Joey shrugged. "But most people don't like me when they first meet me so it's kinda bound to happen."

"Yeah, but you're not that mean actually. You just force it sometimes." Topper hit her with the truth, grabbing one of the poppers to feel if it was still hot. "I remember when we met for the first time."

"Oh, so do I." Joey gave a small snort. "I vaguely remember throwing a golf ball at Rafe, hitting him in the eye with it, and then you and Kelce chasing me off the golf course."

Topper laughed with a nod of his head. "I don't know why we were chasing you. It wasn't like we were gonna put you in a choke hold or something."

"It was like little kids running at a bunch of birds just to see them run away." Joey laughed at her own words, making Topper do the same. "It was worth seeing Rafe have a black eye for a week though."

"He's not too bad once you get to know him." Topper gave a minor shrug, getting a look of disbelief. "I mean, he's still an asshole, but he's not always so bad."

"He's got pretty eyes." Joey admitted honestly with a nod of her head. "He'd be pretty cute if he wasn't such a dick. Like someone else I happen to know."

Topper gave an offended look. "Was that you hinting at me?"

"It was." Joey hummed, putting the popper in her mouth. "Why are you so normal and sweet when it's just you but act like a complete jack ass around your stupid friends?"

"Why do you act so normal and sweet when it's just you but act like a complete jack ass in public?" Topper shot back at her, raising their eyebrows on sync. "See."

"Maybe we're just destine to be alone all our lives then." Joey hummed falling forward as she leaned on her elbow, grabbing another popper. "So, how you holding up with your break up?"

"I miss her." he said honestly. "You seen her?"

"She's fine." Joey nodded to ease any possible worry he had. "She's having fun. A lot more then I am."

"Why do you hang around her and John B if you know it's just gonna make you mad?" Topper asked her. Joey knew she couldn't tell, especially not him, about the gold. Even though it would be fair game considering John B had told Sarah.

"He's still my friend. His friends are still my friends. It's complicated." Joey said back, looking back at him from where she laid. "It does suck though. A lot."

Topper watched as she grabbed another popper, sighing as she went on. "Just having to sit there and watch the person you're in love with be completely in love with someone else as if you don't even exist. Feel like someone is just stabbing me over and over again with hot metal."

Topper laid on his side across from her, watching her chew a second. "I think you should find a new friend group."

Joey laughed with a minor look. "Carful. I might start thinking that was you inviting me on golfing trips and early morning boat rides."

"Don't get too excited. I don't like you that much." he cracked a grin, grabbing a popper while looking her way. "I am glad you get it though. The whole break up thing. Kelce and Rafe just think I should drink all my issues away and hook up with other girls. They don't get it."

"Because they don't care about your feelings." Joey gave him a knowing look. "Sounds like you need to find some new friends too."

Topper exhaled. "I think I will when I graduate. Go to college, find my people, you know? Right now it's just getting through high school, being friends with whoever, trying not to complete peak before graduation."

"I hold onto the whole college friends too." Joey nodded, taking a breath. "I think you'll find your people. They'll probably still dress like dads on vacations, but slightly nicer then Rafe and Kelce."

"Carful. You happen to be in dad on vacation clothes." Topper nodded to his clothes she wore, once again. "Maybe you'll find your people too. The ones that hate everyone in the world, are really mean to everyone, love flowers, and are actually likable when they're alone."

Joey couldn't help but smile over at him. "Well, hopefully Duke has those people."

Topper blinked, giving a small jult. "You're going yo Duke?"

"I want to. I've been saving up with my job at Moonys, keeping a 4.0, extra curricular. It's up to the scholarship programs. I mean, I probably won't get in, but it's just the dream. Where do you wanna go?"

Topper rose one eyebrow. "Duke University."

Joey held back a smile. "Maybe I'll run into you and we can pretend we don't know each other."

"Not a single person would have guessed we talked about our ex's and ate jalapeño poppers together." Topper hummed, grabbing the popper as she did the same. He held it up like he was making a toast. "To pretending we don't know each other exist at Duke."

"To pretending we don't know each other exist at Duke." Joey smiled, hitting the two poppers together before popping them into their mouths.

•

kylie speaks

you see, toppey has the
chemistry but routlay has
the history.