RIVER | JJ MAYBANK

SIXTY SEVEN

DRAINS

River couldn't exactly say that she wanted to spend her day stuck beside a drain, clearing it out in hopes that they could find the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin and that Ward used to kill Gavin.

"This is the north drain, it should've gotten washed into the gully." JJ explained as they stood in the murky water.

Silas had made up a pathetic excuse about the fact that he had homework to do, so he couldn't make it to the drains today. Of course, none of them believed him, they all just knew he didn't want to be rummaging around in sewage water, not that they could blame him.

"So if it got flushed out from this drain, it would've been pushed out to like-" JJ motioned towards all the trash.

"Somewhere in this trash." Pope cut the blonde boy off.

"Correct." JJ clicked towards Pope and than made finger guns. He glanced over to River, who sat on top of the drain, her legs swinging back and forth, causing him to smile.

"Oh my God, people who use plastic should be shot." Kie said right as River was about to take a sip of her water, which was in a plastic bottle.

She let go of a small chuckle as she looked at the bottle and then back up to Kie, who didn't seem to have noticed what she said.

"Maybe Ward is an environmentalist and Gavin used too much plastic." River suggested as she took a sip of her water.

JJ let go of a small chuckle, as did Pope but Kie on the other hand didn't find it as amusing. The girl rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to the boys, causing River to whisper,

"Tough crowd."

"Okay, personally, I love plastic. Use it every day. Love the stuff." JJ spoke up, trying to take some of the hostility away from River and onto him.

"Hopefully you revue it and don't let it flush into the ocean." Kie responded quickly, her eyes flickering down to River, who JJ was smiling towards.

Pope pulled out a packet of trash bags and held them up before turning to face Kie with a embarrassed smile.

"I thought you'd say something like that, so, trash bags."

River glanced between Pope and Kie, who now had a small smile on her face at the fact that Pope brought trash bags.

"Did you just proactively protect the environment?" Kie questioned with a grin.

"Maybe." Pope nodded as they both just stared at one another.

"You want us to leave you two alone," JJ motioned to himself and River. "or what's going on?" Pope didn't say anything, instead he threw the packet of trash bags towards JJ.

"Pick up the trash." River laughed towards JJ, who seemed startled by the fact that Pope had thrown the trash bags at him.

"And what are you gonna do angel?" JJ questioned, resting his hands on her thighs and looking up at the girl as he spoke.

River had to bite back a smile, he knew exactly what he was doing to her. He knew the way that he made her feel.

The girl leant down so that their noses were brushing and he could feel her warm breath hitting his face. JJ couldn't help but let his eyes flicker down to her lips, just as he was about to lean in to connect their lips, she pulled away, taking his hat with her.

"I'm gonna sit here and watch, if you wanna make it interesting you can always take off your shirt." River teased, placing the hat on her head with a smirk.

JJ quickly became flustered by the girl, his heart racing as he looked at her. She was hot and there was no denying that. Instead of saying anything back, he just saluted and got to work picking up the trash.

"Well, that was fun." JJ announced as he placed the final trash bag down. They had gone through all the trash, after the first bag, River and Kie both decided to help out.

"If it's not in the trash, then it's gotta be in the storm drain." Pope pointed to the drain.

River grimaced as she looked inside. She didn't want to go in there at all. JJ took his opportunity whilst the girl was distracted to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her back into him.

The blonde girl didn't fight, instead she relaxed into his arms and rested her head back against his chest. She'd missed been in his arms, not that she'd admit that to him. She still wanted him to fight to get her back, she didn't want him to think that just one hug would make everything right between them.

"Of course it is." Kie nodded.

"Good thing I brought the crow." JJ pulled away from River to look inside his bag.

"So, are we gonna do like rock, paper, scissors?" Kie asked curiously.

"No." JJ instantly shut it down, making because he was awful at rock, paper, scissors. Although he could only blame himself for that, he always chose paper and everyone else always choose scissors. He just never learnt. "On three, Pope. One, two, three."

Both boys managed to pull the drain off before turning and facing both girls. River couldn't help but look at JJ's biceps as he picked up the gate.

"In the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there, It gets into your blood and then it has fo come out your pecker. So, uh, that would be a hard pass for me." JJ shook his head.

"Yeah, that's gonna be a no from me." Pope nodded in agreement.

"Aww, that's so cute." River pinched both boys faces with her hands. "You guys are scared."

"If you're not scared, you go in Cross." Pope said almost daringly, not exactly expecting the girl to slowly walk backwards and into the drain.

River had been spending too much time with Silas, and had began to test the waters more and do things that she wouldn't usually have done. She was getting out of her comfort zones more often than not. She'd been sheltered most of her life, now it was her time to be reckless.

"See you on the other side." River whispered as she entered the drain.