False Signals | OBX

Chapter Seven: Balcony

Pope

"They're having dinner at your place?" JJ asked Sarah. "Perfect!"

"Perfect forrrr." I looked at him for an answer.

"We, my friends," He took a hit, "are sneaking into the Mitchell's residence tonight."

"No, we are not." I quickly objected.

He exhaled smoke. "It wasn't a question, Pope." he took out his lighter, playing with it.

I looked at everyone else to see that we were split up. Sarah looked at me in agreement, while Kiara and John B looked over at JJ.

"Oh come on guys!" I looked at them, "We're seriously going to break into the Mitchell's house? That's a crime!"

"It's not a crime if we maybe don't do the breaking in part?" Kiara said. She sounded unsure of herself.

"Meaning?" I asked.

"What if we ask someone for a favor?" she asked, her lips forming a smile as she looked over at Sarah.

"No." Sarah shook her head, "Absolutely not, Kie!"

"Please! Can you think of anything else then? Because I can't." she answered.

"Can one of you just tell me what's going on?" John B asked.

"Kie wants our lovely Sarah to ask Topper for a favor." JJ said casually, "Smart, I'll give you that." He pointed at Kiara.

"Topper?" I looked at Kiara, "You want Sarah to ask Topper what exactly?"

"Just to hang with Kal and leave a window unlocked before he leaves! It's not even a big deal."

"Since when do you scheme up criminal and morally wrong plans? I thought only JJ did dumb shit like that."

JJ sighed, "Don't be so boring—Seriously, what else could we do? If we actually break in, we'd trigger the alarm and get Shoupe on our asses again."

I looked away, still listening to them speak.

"You have a point—But I'm not gonna force Sarah to do anything." John B looked over at Sarah who had the same look on her face since we mentioned Topper's name.

We all looked at her now as she thought about it. "Fine. I'll talk to him. But how do I make it casual?" she asked. "Hey, Topper—Can you hang out with Kal right now and leave a window open so that my friends that you hate can sneak into her house?"

"Just say you got her a welcoming present and wanna sneak into her room to surprise her later." JJ said, flicking his lighter. "For the hanging out part—Tell him Kal enjoys his company." He shrugged, "That she'd like to get to know him."

"I can't just lie like that!" She raised her eyebrows, "Kal specifically told me she wasn't into him. What, I'm just going to force him onto her doorstep?"

"Do you wanna know if your neighbors are drug lords or not?" JJ asked. "All those paintings and safes—I have a feeling there's a stash behind one of them, you know."