𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 {𝚓𝚓 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔}

𝚜.𝟷 𝚎𝚙.𝟼 -𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚟𝚎-

"and I heard you got arrested / for being young and restless / nowadays you laugh a little less / I want to ask are you okay? / and I won't judge you either way / I want to say that I think you're great / your voice starts to break / you say 'everything's changing."

~

"Do you guys have any idea how dangerous that is?" Tate awoke to Pope shouting from the ground. "Not to mention- what the hell are you doing?"

Beside her, JJ grumbled and rolled over on his back, opening one eye to peer down at the street below in the morning sun. "Go... away," he muttered, just loud enough for Pope to hear. He rolled back to his side and put an arm around Tate's waist, pulling her closer to him sleepily.

Tate's back felt like it was going to collapse on her. Sleeping on the roof had seemed romantic the night before, but she realized now that it was not the move to go for. She gently shifted away from JJ to sit up and run her fingers through her tangles of blonde hair. "What do you want, Pope?"

"We gotta pick up the girls and start on some plans. We need you guys, come on."

JJ let out another incoherent groan, much louder now, and sat up blearily. "Give us ten minutes, will you? And stop talking so loud."

--

"Uh-oh!" Pope called to Kiara and Sarah, both perched on the edge of Heyward's boat in the middle of the marsh. "You forget your keys or something?"

"You need a tow?" shouted John B. Tate and JJ exchanged an annoyed glance at the loud noises. The night before had been one of the best of Tate's life, but that morning she was sore, achey, and hungover. The worst combination. Kiara and Sarah glared at them as the HMS Pogue pulled up to Heywards's boat. "You gotta admit," said John B, "-it was kinda funny."

Kiara rolled her eyes. "John B..." she sighed.

"Uh, what's that?" said John B.

"Mastermind, huh?" Kiara sounded unimpressed.

John B shrugged. "I'm always plannin'."

"Some patriarchal bullshit," Kiara said, and Tate was satisfied to hear the anger in her voice. At least Kie was still on her side.

"Yeah, that sucked," Sarah Cameron agreed. The satisfaction faded.

JJ gave the girls a tired, but still lighthearted, grin and tossed them a rope. "You still love us though, right?"

"Yeah, whatever," said Sarah.

Tate scowled. She didn't like Sarah acting like she'd ever even tried to be friends with their group before getting with John B. Speaking of John B, he was looking up at her with a hopeful smile, his eyes lit up. "Hey, you still hate me?" he asked in a low voice.