Never the First || Outer Banks

Chapter 3

"Yo, JJ, Toby. You been outside yet?" John B smacks at the brunette's ankle, caught in between JJ's legs, no blanket in sight.

Stretched across the sheets, Tobias rolls over, squints at him, and finally, groans as an answer.

"I have polio, bro. I can't walk." JJ grumbles, still half asleep, face mashed against a pillow. He shoves his hand blindly at Toby's knee when it jabs into him.

John B rolls his eyes and continues out the front door.

"I need coffee," Toby says, his first discernible thought.

JJ finally opens his eyes, "I got beer?" He rasps, reaching into the corner of the couch-bed and like magic, freeing the unopened can from its warm confines.

"You have a stash?" Toby yawns and pushes himself up, "At this hour?"

"Best way to start a day." JJ sends a crooked grin over the top of the opened can. Nimbly, he rolls off the bed and twists into a stand, stretching his arms over his head. 

Toby's eyes follow, and then he looks down at himself - it must've gotten hot in the early morning because he'd followed the other two into the land of shirtlessness.

"Agatha did some work, huh?" JJ leans against the porch pillar, overlooking the wreck left behind. He burps into his shoulder.

Dragging a hand through his short curls to flick away the sweat, Toby then gestures toward the fallen tree. "That's new." 

"Yeah," John B climbs the HMS Pogue, and starts tossing broken branches away with purpose.

JJ saunters down the steps, "What you thinkin'?"

"I'm thinkin' that storm surge pushed all the crabs out on the marsh maze." John B turns to look at them, smiling, "All those drum are gonna chase the crab."

Toby hoists himself up to sit on the edge of the boat, "DCS still coming today?"

"Nah, they're not gettin' on a ferry." He turns back, looking between JJ and Toby, "Come on, think about it! It's God tellin' us to fish." He gestures with a stick enthusiastically towards the sky.

JJ grins, solidifying the plan.

The first thing they do, after grabbing their gear, is steering the boat towards Papa Heyward's to pick up Pope.

Every time Toby glances at the water, there's a new cluster of trash. He scoops some into the net on occasion. Kie would appreciate it.

"Dude, look at this place." John B whistles.

Standing tall in the middle of the HMS pogue, "Agatha, what'd you do?" JJ groans.

"She is a crazy lady." John B draws out.

"A one-night stand, if you will." Toby clicks his tongue, swinging his legs down the front of the boat.

"Leaves you cleaning up the mess. It'll take us all summer."

"That is my nightmare."

Finally, the boat pulls around enough to see a cardboard sign out the front of the Heyward place.

In big letters, it reads: BRING IT ON, AGGIE YOU BITCH.

Toby can applaud to that.

Pope glances up from his seemingly torturous chores, judging by the look on his face, when he hears JJ's cheerful voice.

"Well, look who we have here. Toodle-oo!"

Toby grins, "Mornin', Pope!"

John B speaks into his cupped hand, the result a sort of static radio, "We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory."