Take Me Back to Start

Jolie found a pattern for herself in the coming weeks that helped her in the path to heal. She would meet with her therapist once a week, which was incredibly helpful. Through her time with Dr.Benson so far, she was able to talk through a lot of her experiences. It helped her get to the root of many of her habits and find the triggers for her panic attacks. They even went through the best methods to help with her anxiety. Dr.Benson even taught her some meditation techniques to help when her thoughts felt like they were running wild. For the first time, Jolie felt like shew as making real progress.

Everything wasn’t perfect though. She still found herself triggered at times and couldn’t stop the nightmares that haunted her sleep. She didn’t like being in the house alone. More often than not, one of the guys or Val were with her. On the days they were busy, she would go over to Papa Gates’s. There had been many days she had dinner with the Haners, even Brian would stop by for a visit on those days.

The biggest problem for Jolie came in the area of self-compassion and trusting herself. She still didn’t trust herself. Every day she was terrified that she would go running to Alex. Matt had taken her to the store to change her phone number and block Alex’s in hopes to help ease the temptation. She knew now how he had a power to make her feel guilty. He could trick her into anything if she let him. On the other hand, her self-esteem was still hurt. She allowed Alex’s words and opinions become truth to her over the years. She saw herself like he tried to portray here. Dr.Benson had been working on getting Jolie to see the reality of herself. It was a slow process, but they worked hard.

When Jolie didn’t have therapy, she found herself working on art more. The day Zacky brought the sketchpad over revived her old inspiration. Now, she found herself lost in her work. She had contacted some old costumers and started some commission work. Along with that, she finally agreed to helping Zacky with Vengeance Academy. She’d spend long days at the office working with Zacky or working on her own art pieces at home. The old room she used to use to work on her art was filled once again with every bit of art supplies she could get a hold of.

One day, Jolie was deeply concentrated in a painting when her phone suddenly went off. She wiped off her hands before reaching over to see a text from Jimmy. All it said was, “Be there in ten minutes. Be ready. I won’t take any arguments. It’s adventure time.” She smiled brightly and laughed knowing there was no way she would get out of it. The painting would have to wait. She hurried to the bathroom cleaning off paint as best she could before fixing her make-up on and changing into some clean clothes.

Exactly ten minutes later Jimmy pulled into the driveway and Jolie hopped into the car. “What’s the plan, Captain? I didn’t know if I should bring anything,” she asked curiously. He was already pulling out of the driveway and flying down the road as he let her know she didn’t need anything. She just needed to let her dad know she would be gone and not to wait up.

The pair didn’t stop driving until they were two towns over. Jimmy pulled into a carnival and Jolie started laughing. He was already jumping up and down in excitement like he was a child, though everyone knew he was one at heart. As soon as she got out of the car, Jimmy grabbed her hand and took off towards the ticket stand.

Jimmy lead Jolie around making sure to ride nearly every ride and play all the game. Each time he won a stuffed animal, he would present it to her as a great prize. He would get down on one knee and hold it up to her. People would stare at him, but she made sure to be just as excited for each prize. She had collected five stuffed animals. She had no clue how Jimmy could be so good at carnival games when they were all rigged. “You just gotta get in the carnie’s head, you know?” he would say simply as he stared down whoever was running the booth.

Then, Jimmy decided they should go on the Ferris Wheel. Jolie sat down across from him as the ride started up again. She noticed a certain mischievous grin on his face that made her believe he was up to something. They were almost at the very top when he suddenly stood up. “Jimmy! Sit down!” she said right away as the cart started to rock. He rolled his eyes.

“Come on, Jo! Live a little bit. When’s the last time you had some fun?” Jimmy teased hopping up grabbing the bar above the cart swinging widely. The cart started shaking more and Jolie could hear screaming from below. “Try it!” he said dropping back down. She hesitated, but he kept egging her on. Finally, he helped her jump up and she started to swing. After a bit, she dropped back down too. Then, Jimmy grinned brightly. “I bet I could make it to the next cart,” he said. Before she could even tell him not to try, he was already swinging. He told her to get on the opposite side.

Jolie sat on the opposite side as Jimmy leaned over the edge grabbing onto the side of the wheel and dropping down into the next cart. He held his arms up in triumph and Jolie started to cheer loudly for him. When they were almost at the bottom though, two police officers were waiting for them. “You know what to do,” Jimmy called over to her and she nodded.

Before his cart was even at the bottom, he was climbing over the edge and took off running. She climbed over, dropping down, and also started running. The police officers were yelling to stop, but they never did until they reached the car and went flying out of the parking lot.
The two friends were on an adrenaline high as they started speeding down the road. They couldn’t stop laughing. “What even was that?” Jolie asked between giggles as she rolled the window down.

“It was adventure and excitement, of course!” Jimmy declared proudly, “But we aren’t done yet! We got more to do!” Then, he pulled into the liquor store running inside. When he came back, he had arms full of alcohol. They drove to the beach and Jimmy lead the way to a secluded part where they usually would hang out. He plopped down into the sand and pulled out a beer before taking a sip. Jolie followed his example and popped own a beer for herself.

The two friends drank too much, too fast. Jolie found herself completely drunk and laid back in the cold sand. She stared up at the stars. Meanwhile, Jimmy was starting to stand up. “Come on, Jo! You can’t lay down!” he demanded, “We gotta go swimming!” Suddenly, Jimmy’s boxers were hitting Jolie in the face and all she could see was his bare ass running into the water. Being too drunk to care, Jolie stripped off her clothes and went running after him.

“I don’t remember the last time I had this much fun, Jimbo,” Jolie slurred as they drifted in the water. Jimmy laughed and splashed her. They continued to joke around until Jolie started to shake from the cold. He decided that it was time to end the night, but neither of them could drive so they had to call someone to pick them up.

“We’re not calling Matt or Val. They’ll just rant about how dangerous we are. Remember that one time in high school we got arrested and Matt came to bail us out? He said not to call him anymore,” Jimmy giggle easily and Jolie joined him remembering that time, “I think Zacky was at Lilly’s tonight and Johnny is a short shit, so he’s out. Guess we’ll have to call Brian! He won’t lecture us too bad…unless we’re waking him up.

As Jimmy talked to Brian on the phone, Jolie slipped her clothes back on and leaned against Jimmy’s car trying to keep warm. Thankfully, Brian didn’t take long to get to the beach. He rolled his eyes at the sight of his two friends. He hopped out of the car pulling towels out. He handed one to Jimmy before wrapping the other one around Jolie and pulling her against him. “What were you guys thinking? It’s too cold to be swimming. You guys are going to freeze,” Brian muttered shaking his head.

“Bri, don’t worry about it! Jimmy took me on an adventure and it was totally worth it!” Jolie cheered right away, “I did a bunch of wild things! I don’t remember the last time I felt so free!” Brian looked down at the small girl in his arms and couldn’t help but smile. He liked seeing her like this, even though he was sure Jimmy made them do some things that would be considered dangerous. For now, she had a big smile on her face and that was all he could really ask for.

“See, Brian! I’m a good influence!” Jimmy said smugly and laughed, “Anyways, you would have loved doing it all if it wasn’t just for your concern for Jolie. You get all worried whenever she’s involved. I wonder why!” He started to wiggle is eyebrows at the end and giggle. Brian rolled his eyes gently pushing him towards the car.

“Shut up, Jimbo. You need to go to bed. Let’s get everyone home,” Brian insisted.

“Wait! We should have a sleepover!” Jolie interrupted.

“She’s a genius! Sleepover at Gates’s house!” Jimmy declared.

“Fine, but you guys better not keep me up,” Brian grunted.

The three old friends got into Brian’s car and headed over to his house. When they got inside, Jimmy took off running around the house chasing Jolie around. Brian grumbled to himself wondering why he was the one that had to deal with the two drunks. “Come on guys. You need new clothes. Jimmy, I have some of your shit you’ve left here. Jolie, I’ll just give you something of mine,” he offered.

It took some convincing and wrangling, but Brian managed to get everyone changed. Jolie even managed to down a bottle of water. He tried to set them up in the guest room and couch. But, when he finally got back into bed, Jolie and Jimmy tried to sneak into his room. They were nearly tripping over each other and trying to smother their laughter. Brian sat up in bed rubbing his eyes. “What the hell are you two doing?” he muttered.

Jolie climbed into Brian’s bed settling herself against him while Jimmy climbed in on the other side of her. They both just grinned brightly. “Fine, whatever, just go to bed, okay?” Brian gave in easily. He laid back down throwing an arm around Jolie. Jimmy cuddled up behind Jolie and threw his arm around her too. Surprisingly, it wasn’t long before all three of them were asleep.

Brian and Jimmy were woken up suddenly about an hour or two later when Jolie started struggling against them. They moved apart from her straight away looking down at her. She was mumbling barely loud enough to hear and tossing. Brian gently caressed her cheek and whispered softly to her. She slowly started to relax again. After a few minutes, she shuffled until she as nearly clinging onto him again. Jimmy leaned back watching his two best friends. Brian met the look and quickly looked away. “Go back to sleep, Jimbo,” he said before laying back. Jimmy let out a small chuckled before rolling over again.

Notes

I really liked writing this! I thought it was fun! :) What do you guys think? I love everything that involved Jimmy <33