"Look, for nine months they tried to get me to believe my dad's death. They said I'm in denial." John B shakes his head. He and I were out on the hammock the sky was starting to darken. "Whatever. Denial's underrated. You should try it sometime. It's highly effective and it's only denial if you're wrong." We have a pretty deep talk about our mom and his dad. We eventually go to bed, but we get up pretty early the next morning.
Just the two of us, head into the HMS Pogue, the sun still rising. "My dad is the last guy who would ever get lost at sea." John B mutters. "This compass coming back to me, my father's compass, which was passed down for generations, it's a sign. Am I crazy?"
"Not at all John B." I shake my head.
"My dad's still alive and I'm gonna find him." He says to himself.
We pull up to a long ass dock. It's the boss he stole the tanks from, also Sarah's dad. We decide that John B should just go in and I'll wait outside. Of course, John B was taking longer than he should have. Eventually, he came back out.
"What took you so long?" I groan.
"Sarah." He mutters.
We go back to bed for a little after that, I wake up to the pounding on the door. "DCS! I know you're in there!" I walk out to the couch, where John B is waking up and suddenly JJ jumps in front of the window.
"Shit! What the fuck." I scream. John B jumps.
"Whoa!" John B groans.
JJ laughs, "Gotcha guys. You should've seen your faces, your face was like..." He points at me laughing hysterically.
We hopped into the van, it was just John B, JJ, and I. JJ was droning on about how Kiara obviously likes John B. "She's like, 'Oh, John B.'" He pretends to moan.
"Is that what she does?" John B looks over at JJ.
"She's sketching about your diving and then she kissed you!"
"She kissed me, on the cheek." He fires back. "It's not like we were... making out."
"Low-hanging fruit bro. Don't pretend you don't notice." JJ laughs. "I see it in your eyes. You're like, 'I kinda like that,' and you start blushing and shit."
"I blush?" John B laughs.
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"Yeah." JJ then reaches for the compass on the dashboard. John B almost lunges at him.
"Hey, don't--" He reaches for the compass.
"I was just looking at it." John B reaches away. "I gotta admit, your father's compass in Scooter's boat, that's freaky."
"Yeah, and that's why we're gonna talk to Ms. Lana, and figure this whole thing out." John B sighs.
"I'm sure she would just love to talk to us." I chuckle. "It's not like her husband just drowned or anything."
We soon pulled up to her colorful house, we quickly hop out. "Know what this house looks like?" John B says to us.
"Whoever lives here smokes too much weed." JJ looks back at him. As we get closer we hear things banging around, and glass shattering.
"Wait a minute," I mumble to them.
"Maybe, we should come back," JJ suggests.
"No, no, shut up. Shut up, JJ." John B stares straight at the house.
"Tell me where it is, or I'll fuck you up!" I hear a man scream. "I'll sink you in the fucking--" We hear a huge bang, we all flinch, and my back hits JJ's chest.
"Shit," I whisper.
We then hear Lana yell, "You're hurting me!"
"Come on." John B ushers us to follow him. He leads us upright to the window where they're screaming. I hear bits and pieces, the man is looking for something.
"You still think we should stay?" JJ whispers.
Then we hear a yell. "The compass wasn't in the boat! Where is it, Lana?" There's another bang and something starts falling on our heads.
"Is that paint?" JJ looks up.
"Yes, it's paint." I tremble.
"Let's get the hell out of here." One of the men says.
"We should just go..." I try to say. Why are the Outer Banks so fucking scary.
"He's got smuggler written...." JJ begins to say.
"Shut up." John B whispers. He starts to peek around the corner of the house.
"Smuggler is written all over him." JJ finishes. We see the two men exit the house. They get on their boat and start the engine.
"Those were the two guys that shot at us," JJ says. He was right, same boat, same looking men.
Once they leave we head into the house. "Ms. Lana?" John B calls out. This place looks worse than the Chateau. "Ms. Lana." We see her in a small bathroom in the bedroom. "Hey. Hey!" We run up to her. She's absolutely sobbing her eyes out. "Hey are you okay?" he puts his hand on her shoulder. She looks at us in shock. "It's ok."
"Dude, she's tweaking," JJ says.
"Do you need a doctor?" I ask. "Let's call the sheriff's department," I say to JJ and John B.
"No. No cops please." She sobs.
"Mm. That's not good. Come on, guys, let's just go." JJ begs.
"You shouldn't be here." Ms. Lana shakes her head, sobbing.
"That's enough for me," JJ says, he tries to pull me up but I dodge him.
"Wait, wait," I say.
"What do you know about these guys?" John B asks.
"They were looking for something." She squeaks.
John B pulls the compass out of his pocket. "Does it have anything to do with this?" He shows it to her. Her face drops. "Do you know anything about this? This is my father's and Scooter had it. Why?"
"Scooter didn't have it, okay?" She replies. "Don't tell anyone that you have it."
"Come on." JJ pulls me up, so I'm standing straight up.
"Why?" John B asks her.
"They can't know." She yells.
"John B, let's go," I say. They start to yell at each other, their voices exhilarating.
"We gotta go. Let's go." JJ drags John B up.
YOU ARE READING
JJ and a Routledge
RomanceA couple of months after John B's dad went missing at sea, a girl named Coral shows up at his door claiming to be his sister, whom he never knew he had. They soon begin living together as she exclaims her story and dives into the Pogues and their di...
