JJ and a Routledge

Stopping the Flirting

There are only three kinds of relationships in the animal kingdom. The first is commensalism. One example- is fish finding hiding spots in coral reefs. Fish profit, but life for the coral doesn't change. Then there's mutualism... a relationship where both animals benefit from each other. The tricky thing about animals is that you don't always know what kind of relationship you're in. This brings me to relationship number three. The parasitic. 

We pull up to The Cameron's house, and Ward drove me and JB in his fancy car. As we stop, Ward takes off his glasses. "Welcome home, kids." 

"This is your room, Coral," Sarah tells me. We were now inside and Sarah was told to give us a small tour. She guides us into a huge room, the theme was obviously ocean. Perfect for me. 

"Wow, Sarah, it's beautiful." I sigh. 

"I'll leave you to settle in, I'll show John B's his." She smiles and walks out with John B in arm. 

I sit down on my bed and breath it all in. "Pretty nice, huh." I hear someone say from the door. Ward. 

"Yes, sir. Thank you so much, I love it." I smile. 

"Of course, will you come with me, I want to have a chat with you and John B."

"Oh, yeah, sure." I quickly get off the bed and follow him to JB's room. 

Once we get there, Ward clears his throat. "How are you doing? How's the arm." He gestures toward the cast on John B's arm. 

"Uh, better." John B's eyes widen. 

"Your lucky." Ward smiles. "Fall any other way, you don't hit the sand, you could've broken both your legs and your back." 

"Yeah, I'm super lucky." JB sighs. "I- we, just wanna say thank you for sticking up to DCS for us." 

"Don't even think about it. Happy to do it. One other thing..." This is why we're here. "Last night Sarah was in my office and she was getting a map, and said it was for you, and..." Why am I here? "I'm sorry I just had to ask. You guys aren't chasing after pots of gold like your old man, Coral, John B?" I sigh, I decide not to tell him he's not my dad. Because I'm getting tired of repeating it. 

John B stays quiet for too long. "Look, Mr. C, Sarah just told us that she had some cool maps, we're quite the history buffs... I guess with got that from our dad." I smile. 

Ward smiles, I can't tell if it's ingenuine, "That makes sense. Anyway, John B, take it easy the next couple of days, all right?"

"Absolutely." John B nods in agreement.

"You've been through a lot," Ward says as he turns his back. I quickly leave for my room after that, to sleep after no rest last night. 

The next morning we were all at The Wreck. "I'm sorry, you guys are staying where?" Kiara asks, already annoyed. I was standing by JJ and Pope while John B was at the bar. 

"Tannyhill." John B repeats. 

"So you guys are living with Sarah Cameron." Kiara blankly answers. She comes over to me, Pope, and JJ to give us our drinks. 

"Okay, look, the only reason we're living there is because her dad bailed us out, all right?" He starts walking over to the table. 

"And, it's way better than foster care, which, by the way, is where we were about to go if Ward didn't--" I ger interrupted by Pope. 

"Hey, so do you guys have memberships to clubs now?" 

"I don't know, Pope." I sigh. 

"What about those little gold carts they drive around? You got one of them?" JJ asks. I don't get a chance to answer because Pope has another question. 

"Does it come with a sweater vest, or do you have to buy one on your own?" John B rolls his eyes at this. 

"Look, you promised." Kiara sighs. John B looks up to meet her eyes. "You said you weren't with her." 

"Bro, just own it. She got you." JJ snickers. 

"Look, if you want to hang out with her, that's fine. But I'm letting you know right now I'm not doing anything with Sarah." 

"Do you guys see her here?" JB looks at us. "No. Right. Okay. A little focus would be fantastic. We got the map, right?" 

"It's out of wack because the guy was ganja'd when he drew it," JJ says, looking down at it. 

"It's cause the coast has changed," I tell him. He nods, taking in the stupidity. 

"So we just have to look for landmarks that haven't changed." Pope nods. 

"What about the old forts?" John B lifts his head. 

"Battery Jasper," Kiara whispers. 

So, now we're at what's left of Battery Jasper. "We're in battery right here." Pope points at the map. "So if this is Parcel Nine, then it's somewhere northeast of here." 

"Somewhere over there." I point in a northeastern direction. 

"Right." Pope agrees. 

"Over there?" JJ questions. "Guys, that's not Tannyhill, that's a subdivision." 

"Tannyhill Plantation used to be the entire island," I tell him like we haven't discussed it a bunch of times. "It got sold into smaller pieces over time." 

Pope nods, "So we're just looking for an old stone wall." 

We're back in the Twinkie, Pope in passenger, giving JB directions while JJ, Kiara, and I were in the back. I was trying to teach JJ how to braid my hair. 

"I think I'm putting your hair into a big knot..." He groans. I giggle and look back up at him, holding my hiar to find the 'knot.' 

"Hey, it's okay." I laugh. "It's no biggie." As I unknot my hair from JJ's attempt. 

"But I wanna be able to do your hair like you do it." He almost whispers, and combs his hands through my hair.

"Stop with the flirting, please." Kiara groans. JJ immediltey stiffens up, like her words at woken him up from some fantasy dream. 

We soon pull up to a stone wall. "That looks like a stone wall to me." JJ blurted. 

"This is it." Pope decides. 

"Not the Crain House." John B complained as we got out. 

"What the fuck is the Crain house?" I pondered. 

"Are you kidding me?" cursed Kiara. 

"Worst case scenario." JJ walks up next to Kiara, leaving me still confused. 

"Why'd it have to be here," Pope muttered. 

"I'm sorry, what is this place?" I urge. 

Partially answering my question JJ began. "I heard that Mrs. Crain buried her husband's head on the property." So a murderer lived here. How splendid.