not a chance • jj maybank

e l e v e n

PAISLY ROUTLEDGE

"Jay, we can't tell anyone." I whisper to him as we walk to the back of the chateau.

"This stays between us." He smiles.

"Paisly! Where've you been?" John B asked me. JJ lays in one of our hammocks.

"Out and about. When were you going to tell me you got fired from the Cameron's?" I question him as I sit in a lawn chair.

"I've been meaning to tell you but with everything going on, it slipped my mind." My brother confesses.

"I'll pick up more shifts at The Wreck." I sigh.

"Why would you do that when you're both about to get 80 mil?" Pope asked.

"Can't rely on hope, Pope. Ha, that rhymed." I laugh to myself.

"She's right though. We can't let our hopes get up, just in case it all falls through. The drone may have worked, but we never know." Kie agrees with me.

"How was that, checking the drone out?" I asked the group.

"It works like a charm." John B smiled at me.

For the rest of the night, they filled me in on how their day was. I couldn't help my gaze land on JJ every few minutes, and his eyes were always on me.

• • •

"Was that Sarah Cameron I just saw?" I question my brother who was sitting by the shed, holding a bag of popcorn.

"Yeah. Apparently she wasn't the one who got me fired. I guess this is her way of apologizing." He holds up the bag of Skinny Pop popcorn.

"Weird." I huff.

"What are your plans today?" John B asks me.

"Just lounge around. Where's JJ and Pope? They're always here in the mornings." I question him.

"They're out helping Heyward deliever groceries. Kie is at The Wreck helping her ma and pa." John B explained.

"Alrighty." I sigh, taking in the hot breeze.

"Kie wants us to go surfing with her in thirty. Go get ready." John B says, looking up from his phone.

"Okay, can I drive?" I ask with a pleading look.

"Fine." He grumbled.

I run into the chateau, excited to get back in the ocean. I haven't surfed since the night of the hurricane. I rummage through all of my bikinis, finding a tan simple one.

Once I'm all ready, I slip on a black swimsuit cover up skirt. Grabbing the keys to the Twinkie, I make it honk to let John B know I'm ready.

• • •

"There's my favorite Routledge!" Kie shouts from her board on the water.

"Me?" John B point to himself.

"Fuck off. Obviously I mean Paisly." Kie laughs. I set my belongings next to Kie's and run to the ocean with my board.

"Did you tell her and JJ about our..?" Kie asks John B.

"Kiss? I told JJ and he told her." John B finishes her sentence. "I had to. I mean, Pogues don't lie to Pogues, right? And plus, JJ just laughed at me because you shot me down, so--"

"I didn't shoot you down. I mean, it was really bad timing. You were freaking out, right?" Kie scoffs.

"Yeah. Yeah, no, I-- I was freaking out. I was freaking out. Why do you ask?" John B appeared nervous.