𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐲

XVIII. Not There.

AFTER FINDING the Royal Merchant, Pope searched all around it as they're huddled together. But there is nothing there. All of the smiles slowly fade from their face. "It's not there." Pope sighed out softly.

"Just pull the drone up."

Jake looked over at John B right away as Pope looks at him as well. "Look, we can do another pass. Recharge the battery." He says and Jake just shook his head as John B is already walking away. "We can-- we can go back down." Pope says as JJ glanced back.

"Guys, we've been through it three times. There's nothing there." JJ tells them. "Shut up!" Kie says right away. "What? It's true!" The blond shouted back at her. "The gold could be buried. We don't know." Kie said and Jake looks at her. "The drone has metal detectors..." He says quietly, glancing over at John B.

"Jake and JJ are right. Somebody beat us to it." John B makes Jake look over at him right away before they began bringing the drone back up and packed up everything before heading back. Jake kept looking at John B with worry the whole way back, and once they got back, John B just left without a word, all he did was say his goodbyes and go to his boat.

Jake looks at the others, "this was fun." He said and raised his thumbs up at them. "I'll see you guys whenever... Gotta head home for now." He sighs and Kie looks at him right away. "I can give you a ride home." She said as she had picked up her backpack, following him.

"Sure... bye guys." He waved at Pope and JJ who just waved back as they tied down Pope's dad's boat. On the way to Jake's, he keeps checking his phone like as if he had any phone service due to the hurricane. He glances at Kie who's brushing her hair back with his hand and he purses his lips together.

"I hope JB's okay... It really sucks the gold wasn't there." He sighs and Kie looks at him. "I know... But it's John B, he'll be fine... right?" She sounds a little worried and he nods. "Yeah... fair point." He says and chuckled faintly as the car slowly comes to a stop. "Alright, later, Kie." He says to her and did their handshake with her again, absentmindedly.

"Later, Jake."

Upon walking, he smiled when he saw Evie immediately look over. "Dadda!" She said and began crawling towards him so he came over to her and kneeled down. "Hi honey, hi, hi, hi," he says, kissing her all over her face making her giggle and scrunch up her face.

"Hey, Jake... are you hungry? I just started cooking up some soup and my homemade bread is just fresh out the oven!" His mom says from the chicken as he stood up, lifting up Evie. "That sounds delicious." He says as he smiles, rocking Evie side to side before sitting down, looking at the television screen. "How is there power?" He pointed and his mom glanced over. "Hector from next door hooked me up with a back up generator, said it was for Evie because she's so adorable." She explained.

He chuckles, brushing his fingers against Evie's cheeks, "thank God you're adorable." He says and she looks at him, giggling again. He chuckles, looking up before setting her down onto the floor again. "I'm gonna go set my stuff down in my room." He says before standing up but when he goes to their room, Evie follows him in by walking slowly.

She had been taking her steps for a while now but everytime she falls, she just sticks to crawling again. So everytime she walks, Jake claps and cheers her on to motivate her to walk more. "Wanna lay down with dadda for a bit?" He patted the bed before sitting down and she walks over to his side, holding onto the bed for support. He lifts her up, "superhero Evie." He says excitedly making her laugh before setting her down onto the bed, laying down.

They laid down for a while with Evie babbling words and not even saying some of them right, the only ones he can catch are dadda, granny, and tv. "Really? That's crazy." He treats her like she's saying something really interesting anyway as he looks at her with shock.

After they laid down for half an hour, they went to go eat when his mom told him their food was done. He gave Evie something else to eat, which was some of the vegetables and chicken from the soup, some pieces of the homemade bread and then grabbed her a bottle he filled up with water, setting it down on her little tray.

He sat and ate with his mom, as she talks about her night and day she spent with Evie. And then a knock came at the door, so he quickly got up, "I'll get it. You stay seated." He points at his mom who just chuckled. "Okay..." She says and he walks over to the door, sighing.

He opens the door, pausing as his brows raise at the sight of Kiara standing there on his porch step, holding onto one of her backpack straps. "Hey..." He says, surprised and she just smiles, "hi." She said and glanced behind him, inside his house. "What's up, Kie?" He says as he put his hand onto the doorframe.

"Uh... nothing much, I just came by to, uh, ask you if you wanted to go to the summer movie series? It's soon in, like, an hour..." She says and he slowly nods. "Sounds cool... are the guys going?" He says and she raised her brows, "oh, yeah. For sure!" She says and he smiles. "Then yeah. I'll come with." He nods.

"Cool. I'll come back in an hour to pick you up."

And just like she said, she picked up Jake just as she said and he came to her car, "I brought a blanket and some snacks. I usually sneak some in to avoid buying stuff there." He says as he got into the passenger seat. "Cool." She chuckles before she drove off, to go and pick up Pope and JJ next from JJ's.

 

 

  

  

  

  

 

  

A.N.
kie: let's go on a date lol
jake: ... are the guys gonna be there?
(not what she said but basically how it went)