Baby Pogue // JJ Maybank

16. don't fight back

"Bro, it was the craziest shit I've seen in a long time." JJ told a story as he sat on the edge of the hot tub with a beer in his hand in the middle of the day on a Monday.

John B raised his eyes with a smile, "I'm sure."

"What's good guys?" Kie walked up to them after arriving.

"Oh, hey, Kie." John B smiled.

"Howdy." JJ nodded and sipped his beer.

"At 1 pm on a Monday?" Kie gave JJ a smug smile.

"You know it." He grinned.

John B rolled his eyes, "You know when Sarah will be here?"

"Um," Kie looked at her texts in her phone, "said 'be there soon'."

"She didn't text you? Her boyfriend." JJ raised an eyebrow an John B.

John B shook his head.

"Ouch." Kie giggled and cracked open a beer. She sipped it before continuing, "And Pope should be here-"

"Hey guys." Pope greeted as he walked over to the hot tub.

"Now." Kie laughed to herself.

"Hey, Pope." John B nodded to Pope.

"What's good Popalini." JJ joked.

"Popalini?" Pope gave him an 'are you kidding me' look.

JJ shrugged.

"J, where's Avie?" Kie looked at him.

"Oh, she's at some baby doctor shit with her mom." JJ answered and fully submerged himself in the hot tub.

"You didn't want to go with?" John B questioned.

JJ shrugged, "Her mom told me it's best if she went to the first one to make sure Avie understood everything. Apparently I wouldn't know."

"This is true." Kie agreed with Amelia.

"She makes a good point." Pope insisted as he took of his tank top to get in the hot tub.

"You gonna go to the next ones?" John B asked.

"Hm," JJ looked up to think, "I haven't really thought about it."

"You should. If you're trying to be a good dad and prove Avie's dad and brother wrong." Kie nudged him as she sat next to him.

JJ nodded.

"Did they talk to her yet?" Pope asked JJ.

"Just her mom and Ashton. Ashton actually seems to be okay with me." JJ looked between his friends.

"Is that so?" John B raised his eyebrows, surprised by his friend's answer.

JJ nodded proudly, "I'll win the others over." He smirked, "I still got my charm."

"That charm work on Daylon?" Kie questioned JJ.

JJ shrugged and chugged the rest of another beer.

Pope and John B shook their heads and laughed as they all stepped in to submerge themselves into the water.

JJ looked out to the distance in deep thought. He wondered how it was going with Avie at her first appointment. He was almost worried. He didn't want to go with; that would make the whole situation too real. But he wanted to be there and support her to make sure she knew for a fact he would stick by her side.

He thought about how different his future was going to look. It worried him how he would afford a child, balance a job, see his friends. He didn't tell anybody this. Nobody could know; they would tell him he should have been safer and that he needs to take accountability.