The Strays ⎈John B Routledge⎈

Summer's Over

Chapter 16: Summer's Over

I love making gifs

~SiriusCatBennett

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It had been a week. A week of John B trying his best to accept his father's death, trying to act like everything was okay. CJ made that better, along with the rest of his family. The only family he had now. They'd spent every moment they could trying to cheer him up or just being there for him. The boy had gotten time off due to the discovery, Wade Cameron telling him to take all the time he needed. He's pretty sure JJ messed up his own bike just to give the boy something to do. The boys spent two days fixing her up, just happening to have the parts they needed.

Mike had invited them to dinner one night at the restaurant, whipping up a feast with his daughter. Even Anna was there, trying to hide her solemn expression around every turn. He'd had a good time that night and they'd even gotten him laughing. Mike didn't even say anything when a food fight broke out because John B was smiling and he'd smite himself if he was the one to wipe it off his face.

It was the next day when the Kooks decided to fuck around with the group. Rafe had gotten kicked out for being a stealing druggy and somehow found a way to blame it on people that had nothing to do with it. None of the boys had gotten the memo that Big John had been found, even though it was the talk of the town. As soon as they walked up, the twins both pulled weapons and Pope pulled John B behind him protectively. The expressions on all the Pogue's faces - other than John B - showed they weren't fucking around and for once, the Kooks were smart enough to leave it alone.

But, the week had come to an end, and true to Peterkin's word, she had to call DCS. They had shown up one of the only times John B was alone that week; the girls were at work and the boys went out to buy some pizza when John B told them he wanted cheesy bread. The boy had tried to duck and dodge past them but had inevitably been stuffed in the back of an SUV.

Luckily for John B, he was smart. And conniving. He'd managed to trick the workers and slipped past them, running for the hills - or, more accurately, the tiny cabin. Once there, he called JJ to tell him what happened. The boy immediately told Pope he had to take off and ran the pizza and cheesy bread over. As soon as CJ got off work, being dropped off by Kie, she took the dirtbike and met up with them.

She told the duo that Peterkin had already come to her work looking for John B. She'd questioned her about where he could be and in turn, where her own brother was. CJ told the sheriff she had absolutely no idea. The twins decided it would be best to stay at the Home of the J's with John B, not only to keep him company, but to give less opportunity for the cops to question them.

They'd all been there for two days now and CJ had packed a small icebox with food so they had things to eat. It was funny that they finally had power but were still living out of an ice chest. John B was just glad that he didn't have to work or after all of this was over, he'd be out of a job too.

Currently, JJ was doing god knows what while John B and CJ sat on some random branch of the tree that help up the tiny cabin. They'd been up there for a while now, just enjoying the sights and listening to the wind rustle the leaves. They were eating lunch at some point, one turkey and one ham sandwich.

"You know what I've always wanted to do?" John B questioned, looking into the distance before turning to the girl in front of him. She was staring at him with curious eyes, waiting for him to continue. "Carve our names into a tree. You know, like dumb sappy couples with the heart and stuff."

CJ smiled widely at him, making a tiny smile appear on his face as warmth filled his heart, thawing some of the ice that had encased in. "Yeah? I think that would be cool." Reaching to her hip, she pulled the knife that was always there off of her shorts. Flipping it open, she held it out for him. "You wanna do it first?"