𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒, 𝗉𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗁𝖾𝗒𝗐𝖺𝗋𝖽

11: 𝚝𝚊𝚙𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛

The group of five found themselves standing in John B's house after their little incident. They were slightly surprised upon the house being slightly different than the way they had left it, signaling that John B had cleaned it all up.

Walking out of a room, Pope was able to find himself some shorts in the Routledge boy's closet, which meant he didn't have to walk around in his white boxers and his hand constantly covering his crotch the whole entire time.

Standing by himself in the kitchen, JJ leaned himself over the counter as he continued to apply peanut butter to the moldy bread that laid down in front of him.

"That bread had mold on it three days ago." Pope informs, walking past the boy.

"I'll just pull off the bad parts." JJ replies. "Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism."

Walking into the main room where all his friends, the blonde proceeds to take a bite out of his made peanut butter sandwich, only to result in gagging, spitting out the piece he ate and throwing it in the trash before walking back to the table, the four friends watch John B open the envelope, then placing a map on the table.

"Oh. X marks the spot." Pope points out, pointing at an X on the map.

"Longitude, latitude." John B murmurs. "Wait, there's something else in there."

The Routledge boy reaches out for the white FedEx envelope again, searching through it before bringing out a tape recorder, staring at it curiously.

"What's that?" JJ questions.

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass." Y/n replies.

"Dear Bird." A voice begins on the tape recorder.

"Who's Bird?" JJ asks.

"That's what my dad called me." John B responds.

"I hate to say, "I told you so", but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either. You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listening to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, living off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If something happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it." Big John, John B's father, explains. "I'll see you on the other side."

The four teenagers watch John B turn off the tape recorder before getting to his feet, starting to walk towards the doorway. However, he doesn't make it far as he stumbles against the doorway, sobs and tears leaving him.

"Holy shit, he did it! Big John found the Merchant--" JJ begins.

"Can you... Can you please?" Kie stammers as she gestures for the boy to be quiet.

"Sorry." JJ mumbles.

Sighing under her breath, Kie walks over to John B, wrapping her arms around him as he continues to sob loudly. The other three continue to stand there, not really knowing what to do. Y/n found herself placing her hand in Pope's, squeezing it as they listened to their friends sobs.

***

The five Pogues found themselves sitting outside on the docks in the night sky, listening to Kie play her ukulele in the silence they sat in. Y/n sat beside her older sister, head rested on her shoulder as she listened to the sound of her sister's ukulele. Kie had occasionally rested her head on top of her sister's as she played.

"How much was it again?" JJ suddenly asks.

"Five hundred mil." Pope replies.

"Alright, let's talk the split." JJ begins. "Now, before we say "evenly", may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us. Protection? Not cheap, okay?"

"You haven't trained. You've done zero training." Pope states.

"YouTube, bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there." JJ replies. "Any objections? Didn't think so."

"What are you gonna do with your 100 mil, Pope?" Y/n questions.

"Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive." Pope responds.

"What about you, Kie?" JJ asks.

"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope adds.

Kie chuckles slightly. "Just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston. Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing."

"Peter Tosh is dead." Pope reminds.

"I know. Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die." Kie replies. "How about you, sis?"

"Sell my art, hopefully. And even create more art. Show everyone what I can do. Make a painting of the Outer Banks, the Pogues. Go to an art museum or studio and just see my art on the wall, with a crowd surrounding it." Y/n responds.

As she had talked, Pope stared at her with a soft smile, replaying her dream in his mind.

"I know what I'm gonna do." JJ speaks up. "I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook."

"You're gonna go full Kook?" Pope repeats, receiving a nod.

"Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond." JJ continues.

"I'm never visiting." Kie informs, Y/n nodding in agreement.

"What are you gonna do, JB?" Pope asks suddenly, all of them now looking at the said boy.

"To going full Kook." John B responds.

The five teenagers all smile at one another before lifting their beer cans in the air and clanking them all together.

"To going full Kook!"