Chapter Text
As the sun rises and you see it shining through the blinds of your temporary room, you stand up. At this point, several hours later, you recognize that you aren't getting any more sleep tonight...today.
You've spent the entire night locked in a moral dilemma about whether you should tell Jodi or not.
On one hand, Jodi is my friend. I mean, I barely know John. Plus as a rule, cheating is bad. Also, Jodi would be pissed if she found out I knew and didn't tell her and then I can kiss my new friends goodbye.
On the other, Jodi is going to be pissed regardless. So pissed at the mere mention of it that she might not believe me. If she doesn't believe me, what is she going to think? Like, look at this from her perspective, some guy who you have barely become acquainted with shows up at your house and tells you your boyfriend of however many years has been cheating on you. In the best case, she thinks I'm lying to mess with her. Worst case, she thinks I'm trying to break them up so I can get in her pants.
Either way, this is not good and will not end well for all parties involved.
...........f*ck
I should talk to someone else about this, maybe I'm not the only one who has caught John cheating. If one of Jodi's close friends sides with me, I might not be immediately incinerated if I tell her. But who?
Sydney is her best friend so Jodi is more likely to listen to what we have to say, but Sydney is her best friend and thus most likely to be distrusting of me when I approach her with this.
What about Toast? He seems to be the most chill out of the group. Least likely to just throw me out. And he was the one who set up this room for me. That does it, I'm going with Toast.
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By now, some people have begun to wake up and walk around the house. You decide against waiting and head downstairs to find him. As you reach the bottom of the stairs, rather than finding Toast as you had hoped, you find John sitting at the table drinking coffee and playing some mobile game.
He doesn't seem to notice you as you approach so you clear your throat in an attempt to get his attention.
He looks over towards you, sets his coffee down, and ushers you to sit.
You do, not saying anything, simply observing.
There is a tension in the room, as one would expect from a situation such as this, so John attempts to break it.
"Find the bathroom alright last night?" He takes a sip of his coffee.
You realize that you never did actually use the bathroom, seemed a trivial thing at the time, but instead of admitting that you opt to just say, "Yeah, thanks for the directions." You pause before continuing with your own question, "Is she still here?"
John's face contorts slightly at you bringing up his misdeed.
He answers, "No, she left a few hours ago. You still..." He moves his hand to imitate you zipping your lips last night.
"Yup. None of my business." You slowly answer, not wanting to tip your hand.
Your pleasant coffee date with John is interrupted by Jodi and Sydney opening the door quietly and taking off their shoes.
Despite their stealth, you quickly lock eyes with Jodi, who smiles at you, obviously unaware of your internal struggle.
John stands up and goes to greet his girlfriend. She remarks something about it being odd to see him up this early but you don't really hear it. If the sight of them together made you jealous previously, now it makes you angry.
The f*cking gall to have that conversation with me, then go on to kiss his girlfriend without a shred of guilt or remorse. He doesn't deserve her.
The sight of him being so friendly with someone he is betraying so deeply makes you want to put your fist through the wall and then through his head.
You clench your fists in an attempt to quell your desire to break John's nose and quietly head back upstairs, not greeting either of the two women.
I suppose you could just hide in the room until Toast wakes up.
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It's around noon when you hear Toast shout at Yvonne. You are so thankful to hear his voice you don't bother trying to process what he is yelling about before grabbing him by the arm and dragging him into "your" room.
"Okay, what the f*ck man!?" He shouts at you as you close the door.
"John is cheating on Jodi." You say, not mincing words.
"WHAT?" He screams back.
You motion for him to keep his voice down and reiterate, "Last night I accidentally caught John cheating on Jodi with some random woman. He saw me and told me not to tell anyone but obviously, I need to tell her. I just need some backup. If it's just me she might not believe it." The words spew out of you after being bottled all night.
Toast stands there stunned for a second before under his breath, you hear him say, "I'm gonna kill him." as he marches up to your door, throws it open, and disappears down the hallway.
You follow but both of you are barely down the hall when you hear screaming. It takes you a second but you determine that it's Jodi screaming and it's coming from their bedroom.
You and Toast quickly approach the room. He doesn't even bother knocking before throwing the door open and entering. As you follow, you hear the door hit the wall. The sharp noise reverberates through the walls of the house despite the soundproofing.
When you enter, you see John lying on the bed with blood pouring out of his nose and Jodi standing over him.
This causes both you and Toast to halt and share a confused glance. It quickly makes sense as Jodi continues screaming, "YOU MOTHER f*ckER, WE HAVEN'T HAD SEX IN MONTHS. THIS ENTIRE TIME YOU MADE ME FEEL LIKE I WASN'T SEXY ENOUGH FOR YOU AND YOU'VE BEEN f*ckING SOME RANDOM BITCH? I HAVEN'T WORN UNDERWEAR FOR A WEEK JUST SO YOU WOULD PAY ATTENTION TO ME. I MEAN HOW slu*tTY DO I NEED TO DRESS? IS MY puss* NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?"
Both you and Toast stand there in shock before John replies, "Jesus what the f*ck Jodi? They're just some texts! It's not like I actually f*cked her!"
"Bullsh*t!" You clap back.
Jodi turns, only now noticing that there are other people in her room. You can see the anger radiating off her in waves. Her face is bright red and tears pour down her face causing her makeup to run.
Your heart breaks a bit at the sight but you resist the temptation to embrace her and continue, "I caught them last night in here going at it."
"IN MY f*ckING BED! YOU PIECE OF sh*t!" She moves to start hitting him again and as much as you would enjoy seeing that at the moment, you don't want her getting hurt so you move to pull her back.
You manage to get her off him but not before she lands another few hits on his already damaged face. As you pull her back, Toast advances and grabs him by the collar. He drags John out of the room and you hear what you can only assume is John being thrown down a staircase.
You and Jodi quickly follow. You watch as Toast recaptures John's shirt collar and drags him to the front door before literally throwing him out of the house.
As you and Jodi descend the staircase, you hear Toast screaming, "I swear to f*cking god if I ever see you here again I will rip your f*cking throat out!" before slamming the door shut.
Without the object of her anger present, Jodi refocuses it on you. She turns and shoves a finger into your chest, "AND YOU! YOU f*ckING KNEW! WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME? YOU JUST LET HIM KISS ME THIS MORNING KNOWING HE WAS A CHEATING SACK OF sh*t? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
Before she starts getting violent, Toast grabs her by the shoulders and attempts to calm her, "Jodi, Jodi, JODI! He was going to tell you. We were on our way to when we heard you scream."
This does calm her a bit but you can still see the rage boiling below the surface. You quickly add, "I wanted to tell you this morning. I just didn't think you would believe me. I thought if it was coming from someone else you would be more inclined to believe it. I'm sorry Jodi."
As you finish your explanation, you see the last of her anger die down. In its place, is a crushing wave of anguish and despair as she realizes that the relationship she had spent so long cultivating had just exploded in a matter of minutes.
As the truth of her new reality sets in, she collapses to the ground crying.
You drop down and place a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to console her. She stays like that for a second before jumping up towards you in a Kohala hug. She wraps herself completely around you and you struggle to maintain your balance.
You whisper to her, "What can I do Jodi?"
She doesn't do anything for a second before you just barely hear her say, "Just hold me..." in a broken voice. You look over at Toast who just shrugs in an unsure manner.
You figure she should probably get some sleep, doubting she got much while helping Leslie, plus having to deal with all this. "Do you want to lay down for a bit?" You ask. You feel her grip on you tighten and realize that her room is probably not the happiest place for her right now. In a panic, you add, "You can use my room."
She nods into your shoulder so you meet Toast's gaze again and nod your goodbye to him, before carrying her upstairs and into your room.
You go to lay her down on the bed but she refuses to let you go.
"Stay with me..." She sniffles, "Please."
Obviously, you can't say no so you slide into bed next to her and return her embrace. You grab the blanket in an attempt to cover the two of you and slowly rub circles into her back.
The two of you lay there while she cries and cries until eventually the combination of your soothing movements and her exhaustion lulls her to sleep. By this point, your shirt is soaked in tears and your arm is bent at such an odd angle you wonder if it's still attached. But as you lay there with Jodi in your arms and sleep creeping upon you, you think that you have never been more comfortable in your life.
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You feel a slight pressure on your abdomen. It isn't uncomfortable, just unfamiliar. Soon the pressure descends until it reaches your erection, your failure to use the restroom for the past hours catching up with you giving you a nearly painful case of morning wood.
As the pressure reaches it, you feel it steadily rise and fall almost as if someone is petting your dick.
It takes a few seconds for your memory of before you fell asleep to return to you but eventually it does.
That feels good..........f*ck JODI!
You shoot up from your slumber, wide awake after realizing what is going on. Looking down, you see Jodi with her hand cupping your erection through your pants. She looks up at you and gives you a sultry smile before continuing to stroke you.
You reach down and stop her hand.
"Jodi, what are you doing?"
"I thought we could have some fun," she responds with a smile and a wink. With your hand stopping hers from continuing, she uses her other one to reach down and start lifting her top off.
As much as you want that top on the floor, your thinking head wins out over your other head. With your right hand occupied, your left quickly stops her.
"I'm not sure that's the best plan right now."
With both her hands restrained, she wiggles in an attempt to break your grip but you hold firm until her facade breaks and she erupts into a fountain of tears.
As she cries, you release her hands which immediately go up and cover her face. She remains like that for a moment before her hands ball into fists and she starts pounding on your chest.
"I JUST WANT TO FEEL ATTRACTIVE!" She shouts between tears. "I'm *SNIFFLE* sexy *SNIFFLE* right?"
You embrace her, pulling her close to your chest, and quietly say,
"You are the most beautiful woman I've ever met Jodi. Any guy would be lucky for you to even look their way." You pause. "But you're in a very fragile emotional state right now. You shouldn't be jumping into anything like that right now."
"The most beautiful woman you've ever met?" She asks into your chest.
"Yes!" You respond without hesitation, "And I'll remind you every day if I have to until you believe it too."
She gives a half-hearted laugh at that.
The two of you sit there for a while until she starts to sit up. You release her as she does.
She looks up at you, her tears mostly subsided. "Sorry I got a little handsy."
"It's okay. Like I said, any guy would be lucky for you to get handsy with them." You say with a chuckle. "I just want to make sure you're okay before you go doing that with anyone."
She bites her lip, pondering something, before hesitantly asking.
"You promise to remind me every day?"
You smile at her, "Every day until you believe it." You hold out your pinky.
She laughs at your gesture before joining her pinky with yours. As your fingers tangle, she sticks out her thumb and bites it.
This causes a confused look from you. In response, she lifts her head and says, "You have to bite your thumb to seal the promise! It's the only way to prove you mean it."
Still smiling, you lean your head down and exaggerate biting your thumb. She does the same.
"There, now our promise is real."
"Oh, the pinky promise is what sealed the deal for you?" You joke.
She gasps, holding her hand to her chest, "DON'T DISRESPECT THE PINKY PROMISE! I know of nothing more sacred."
She turns from you with her arms crossed.
"Okay Okay. I apologize to the pinky promise gods."
She turns back to you laughing properly this time. As she finishes laughing, she looks around the room before asking, "Man what time is it?"
"I have absolutely no idea." You respond, reaching for your phone. "It's almost ten. We basically slept the day away."
"Good, it was a sh*tty day." She responds, her gaze starts to drop towards the bed before you reach out and lift her chin back up. As you make eye contact you say, "Well, we better make it an amazing night."
You stand up off the bed and reach out for her hand. You pull her up off the bed and ask, "I think you promised to show me around LA. Granted, it wasn't a pinky promise so I don't know how true it was."
"No, no. I did promise that and I intend to deliver. But first, I am starving. I think I have some leftover pizza in the fridge. Would you be interested in some Jodi pizza?
You feel your stomach rumble at the mention of food, having not eaten since last night's pizza dinner "I would love some Jodi pizza. As long as it doesn't kill me." You say grinning.
"Okay f*ck you for that. I seriously believed you were dying!"
"IT WAS PIZZA, WHY WOULD IT KILL ME?" You respond laughing the whole way through.
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE ALLERGIC OR SOMETHING!"
"Well if it eases your mind, as far as I am aware, I'm not allergic to anything." As you respond, you begin to walk towards the door, with Jodi trailing closely behind.
"LUCKYYYYYY! I wish I didn't have any allergies. Cats make me all puffy and itchy."
"Don't you have two cats!?" You exclaim, giving her a side-eyed look.
"Well yeah, but they're awesome and totally worth it."
As she finishes speaking, she stops and stares towards her bedroom. With the two of you standing in the middle of the hallway and her door handle firmly embedded in the wall from Toast's overzealous opening method, her gaze is uninterrupted.
With such an obvious reminder of the events that transpired a few hours ago, you're no longer distracting enough to protect her from her own thoughts.
Once you've noticed her stop, you realize what's going on a bit too late.
Her tears start flowing again and her hands rush up to cover them.
You quickly wrap your arms around her shoulders and pull her away from the room. The two of you descend the staircase together.
Before you've even reached the bottom you hear a scream, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!"
You look towards the source of the sound, it's Sydney. You brace for impact as she charges you but instead of attacking you, as you assumed she would, she pulls Jodi from your arms and into a deep hug.
"WHO THE f*ck DO YOU THINK YOU ARE BRINGING HER TO YOUR ROOM ALONE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW VULNERABLE SHE IS RIGHT NOW? I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU TOUCHED HER IN ANY WAY."
You rush to defend yourself but are cut off as Jodi pushes Sydney away and beats you to it.
"He didn't do anything Syd. We just slept." She wraps her arms around herself, attempting to shrink into her own hug.
Sydney looks back and forth between the two of you for a second before her gaze softens ever so slightly. She places a hand on Jodi's shoulder and ushers her towards the kitchen table.
As they move, Sydney looks back to you, her gaze hardening again and mouths, I'm watching you, before guiding Jodi to sit down.
You move towards the fridge and begin hunting for the pizza. After retrieving it, you place it directly in front of Jodi and take a seat.
You hadn't really noticed until now, your focus being on getting Jodi the food she had requested, but every other seat is taken.
Sitting at the table with a grim demeanor is the entirety of OfflineTV(excepting John of course).
On your left sits Michael followed by Lily then Scarra. At the head of the table is Toast. At his left, Yvonne and, to your surprise, Brodin and Pokimane. Finally, of course, Jodi and Sydney sit together at the other head of the table.
Of course, you haven't actually met Brodin or Poki yet but recognize them immediately. Before you get the chance to introduce yourself, Toast speaks up.
"So... We need to talk."
