"Beauty queen of eighteen," yeah, right. Eighteen, crowned and caged, you were a porcelain doll on display, your parents' prized possession. JJ, with his wild heart and unwavering loyalty, was the only constant in a world that felt like a stage set.

He'd seen the cracks beneath the perfect smile, the tears that fell behind closed doors. He'd been the anchor when the storm raged, the hand that held yours when you felt like you were drowning.

From scrapped knees running around the beach, to high school drama, he was your constant.

Then, boom, a year ago, everything shifted.

Your parents? Total nightmare. He basically rescued you from them who grounded you, held you together when you were falling apart, and finally, that whole "best friends" thing? Yeah, that went out the window.

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But then, last week, you hit the eject button. "I'm a mess, I'm dragging you down," you’d said, or something equally dramatic. You felt like a burden, and that made you feel worse, a whole tangled mess.

Tonight? Radio silence. Phone dead, you hiding in your car at the beach, your usual spot. He knew something was up. Of course he did.

Rain was coming down in sheets when he pulled up on his dirt bike, looking like a drowned rat. "Found ya," he muttered, tapping on the window. "Seriously, you think I'm gonna let you disappear?"

You unlocked the door, voice shaky. "JJ, what are you doing here? We're broken up, remember?"

"Yeah, well, goodbyes are overrated," he said, sliding into the passenger seat, dripping everywhere. "Besides, someone's gotta catch you when you fall."

"Stop, you're soaked!" you said, trying to push him away.

"No, you stop," he snapped, finally losing his cool a little. "I've been here your whole life, okay? My door's always open. You wanna come back? Come back. You wanna hide? I'll find you. I'm not going anywhere."

And in that moment, shivering in the rain, you realized, yeah, he wasn't.

He was just... JJ. your JJ. Always there. Always stubbornly, frustratingly, lovingly there.