Thalassophile // JJ Maybank

Chapter 28

After surfing with JJ he had taken me home, allowing me to relax after the exhausting afternoon. After he had dropped me off, telling me he had some stuff to take care of at home.

I wandered up to my room, Flynn in toe. I climb into my bed before falling asleep, clutching onto my dog. I slept for three hours before being woke up again by a loud knock on my front door.

Knowing both my parents were working today, I get up from my bed to go answer the front door. I open the door revealing JJ and Pope mid conversation.

"Kie is not gonna be happy."

"Dude, I don't care what Kie— Franklin, Hi." JJ finally notices I had opened the front door.

"What are we doing that's going to piss off Kiara?" I ask confused.

"She's dragging us to some movie thing." Pope informs me.

"So we're dragging you, too." JJ adds.

"Oh, why?" I complain.

JJ just smiles at me. I shake my head at him before bending down to grab the shoes I left by the front door.

"You owe me for this." I tell the boys.

"We know." Pope states.

I follow them out to Pope's truck, climbing into the passenger seat.

"Do we know at least what movie?"

"Oh, no. No idea." JJ informs me.

"Awesome."

"They're usually old." He adds.

"This is really what you two are dragging me into?"

"Yes." Pope speaks up.

We drive for a couple minutes before Pope pulls into a gravel parking lot, filled with cars. Families and groups of friends are everywhere, making their way over to the field with a large screen. People had set up blankets and chairs all over the field. Pope pulls his truck into a man made parking spot.

JJ climbs out of his seat before holding a hand out for me. I grab it, thanking him as I slide out of my seat.

"Hey boys!" I release JJ's hand at the sound of Kiara's familiar voice. I wasn't really in the mood to deal with her glaring at me.

"So, why are we doing this?" JJ asks her.

"Doing something normal will be good for us."

JJ grabs a cooler out of the back of the truck as Pope grabs a couple folding chairs. I grab the blanket they had packed and look back over at the trio.

Kiara waves us to follow her. "I'm so glad they're still doing this. Keep calm, carry on. Back to OBX life. Aren't you guys glad I made you come?" Kiara asks looking between the two boys.

"Ecstatic." Pope retorts.

"My couch was pretty comfy, I'll be honest."

"I was passed out when these two lunatics decided I needed to come see an OBX movie."

"Hey, would you wanna come grab drinks with me?" Kiara asks me.

My eyes widen at the question. I couldn't help but tilt my head slightly in confusion. I give her a small nod.

I follow her over to the line. I still had my guard up, in case this was an ambush of some sort but she doesn't say anything else.

"Hey, uh... Can we get two Pepsi's, please?"

"Sure."

"Hey, Frank." I whip my head around, finding the source of the voice. I see Rafe sauntering over to me. I walk over toward him, hoping to leave Kiara out of anything. "Hey, what's up? How are you?"

"What do you want?" I ask him, my voice low.

"Okay, no need to be rude. I asked how you were."

"I'm great, Rafe. Thanks for asking." I say sarcastically. "So what do you want?"

"Tell your boy that we know what he did."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I state honestly. "Who?"

"Uh.. he'll know." Rafe states.

"Dude, fuck off." I turn around walking back over to Kiara.

"Bye!"

"Shut up!"

"What did he want?" Kiara asks me.

"Something along the lines of 'tell your boy we know what he did,' I don't know what that's supposed to mean."

"Weird." The other girl comments.

We walk back over to the boys, who had no set up a spot for us all to sit. I hand JJ the blanket before taking a seat next to him. He unfolds the blankets, placing it across our laps.

"So she just saw Rafe." Kiara informs the boys. Apparently he said, and I quote, 'Tell your boy we know what he did.' What is that?"

"Um..." JJ hesitates. "Where is he?"

I glance at the blonde. I could tell he was nervous and that was making me nervous.

"Right there." Kie tilts her head, gesturing to the boy that now stood a couple rows behind us.

Both boys whip around, looking at the trio of Kooks. I notice their gaze lingers on the other boys.

"Alright dipsticks, can you make it any more obvious?" I question.

"Great, the whole death squad." Pope announces.

JJ reaches over to smack the other boys head. "Don't stare, bro." JJ looks down at the other boy. "Just warning you bro, if they come after me, I'm coming out swinging, okay? Slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now."

"Yeah, yeah." Pope agrees.

"If that doesn't work, I got this right here." JJ holds up the backpack he had brought.

"Yeah, so we just stay in a group. They can't come get us if we're in the group. Like a school of fish. Stay in the school. Can't leave the school."

"I'm sorry, JJ..." Kiara starts.

"Stay in the school..."

"Please tell me you did not bring a gun here. JJ, there are kids."

"Kie, I didn't bring the gun. Everything's fine, okay?"

"Yeah, I gotta say that's not convincing." I say.

"Founding principle, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues .

"Girls, it might go down tonight." Pope tells us.

"What does that mean?" Kie asks. "'Might go down tonight.' What did y'all do?"

"Deny, deny, deny." I hear JJ whisper to Pope.

"Dude, she's gonna figure it out." I whisper to JJ.
He raises a finger to his lips. "Sh, the movie is starting."

"Ass." I mutter.