I'm here // JJ Maybank

11

The next day we decide to take the HMS out mid morning to get some sun. I lay on the bow letting the sun cover my body. JJ whistles from beside me and ushers to something with his head. I lean up on elbows to see what he's looking at but it's just a stupid boat.
"You guys see that? That's the Malibu 24-MXZ, the worlds finest wakeserter." JJ says. I look at the boat and try to make out who's on it. Not a cheap boat so obviously a kook.
"Number one in luxury, quality, and performance." JJ continues.
"I'll buy you one when we are rich" I say smiling at him.
"We picked the wrong parents." Pope say which made me laugh.
"I hate to break it to you guys, but that's topper and his girlfriend." Kie says making me squint a little harder, maybe I need glasses.
I fully sit up and stand. Sarah looks over and raises her sunglasses. She dead stares at us and I hold up two middle fingers while smiling innocently. She rolls her eyes and puts her glasses back on.
"You don't have to act like you don't see us bitch" kie says as they pass by.
"They truly are something else" I say laying back down.
—
After a few hours we headed back to the chateau because John B insisted that we get back to treasure hunting. I was starting to see my tan come through but whatever John B says goes. We hop into the Twinkie and head to the country club that JJ works at the hijack their Wi-Fi since all of us are poor. Except for kie... but her parents hate the boys.
"Alright keep a lookout, we're behind enemy lines." JJ says from the passenger seat. He starts to load his gun with a proud smile on his face. I hop out of the van after pope and wait with my arms crossed.
"Yo come on man. Just put it back" John B says to JJ trying to get the gun from him.
"What you can never be too careful" JJ says. Pope walks over and leans on the door.
"Hey I predict that brining a weapon to a four star hotel will likely cause more problems then they solve." Pope sends me eyes for help and I raise my hands in surrender.
"I swear to god, I'm gonna throw that thing in the ocean, jj" kie says leaning between the seats. JJ doesn't budge and continues to prep his gun. I roll my eyes and walk over to the door.
"JJ put the gun away" I say grabbing the barrel and opening his door for him to exit.
"There you go" pope celebrates. JJ stares at me as he reluctantly gets out of the car.
"You can't grab a gun like that" he says to me. I roll my eyes and push him out of my way so that I can put the gun back into the glove box. I quickly take out the magazine and unload the gun, we don't need anyone accidentally milking themselves.
JJ waits for me with sad eyes, like a kid who just got his toy taken away from him. I roll my eyes and put my hands on his back, pushing him towards the country club.
"So where are we going now?" Pope asks following us.
"Stop asking so many questions pope." I say turning so that I'm walking backwards. He flips me off and I blow him a kiss.
"We're getting on the internet because only rich people have electricity right now. This way!" JJ says leading us inside the kook headquarters. We head inside and make our way through the kitchen, JJ saying hi to his coworkers, who I've never met but get a full report about after each one of his shifts. Great to put some faces to the names.
"Mama L! Great to see you!" He says to this sweet looking old lady. He reaches to grab a shrimp but she slaps his hand away making me chuckle. I send her a smile and she returns it.
"See, they got backup generators going? Kooks don't miss a beat" JJ says as we walk into the lobby. I become very self aware the second we walk in. Everyone is dressed so... conservative. Meanwhile I have a bikini top and a pair of shorts on. JJ finally leads us to a computer room and shuts the door behind us making sure no one saw us come in.
"Sweet lord the internet!" Pope says running to the computer. Personally couldn't give a fuck less about us not having internet.
"Let me in there, I gotta check out my insta models." JJ says making me scoff, he turns to me and looks at me surprised.
"We don't have time" kie says. Pope gets the coordinates from John B and puts them into the map thingie. It shows the location and I try my hardest to figure out where that is. Quickly John B says
"Boom continental shelf right there." I nod my head, I've learned a lot from growing up with john B and JJ. I hate to admit it but I know a lot of stupid shit because of them and could probably survive on an island if I were to be stranded. (Hehe)
"Ok well it's it's off the deep end, it's not gonna be much of a treasure hunt is it?" Pope says. He starts to zoom in to see where it falls. I cross my fingers at my side hoping for it to be on the high side. We did not come this far to get this far man. It locks in and it shows that it's at 900 feet.
"Shit, it's on the high side. It's only 900 feet."
"That's not too deep" JJ and John B said. I look at them dumbfounded knowing damn well we don't have any tool that can get us that deep.
"Is that doable or something?" Kie asks looking around and then falling on me. I shake my head no and she frowns.
"Yeah, totally doable" JJ says with full confidence."
"Okay will we be taking your personal submarine?" Pope asks.
"Yeah how do you plan to pull this one off?" I say looking between the two. John B and JJ stare back at me. John B shrugs and we both look at JJ.
"The salvage yard. They got a drone that can drop 1,000. It has a 360 camera and everything. It's for like deep dives and stuff. That's exactly what we need." He says.
"And can your dad get his grimy little hands on it?" JB asks.
"Well, my dads grimy little hands got his ass fired. I guess the salvage captain frowns on showing up shitfaced, turns out. " JJ says. I let out a frustrated sigh. Fucking Luke Maybank
"But the drones there. It's in the impound yard out back."
"So we can just borrow it" I say smirking at JJ.
"Exactly Mel" he says smiling at me.
"How much did you say was on the royal merchant again?" Kie asks, weighing the pros and cons.
"400 mil" JJ, JB, and I say in sync.
"Jinx" JJ whispers to me. Pope stands up abruptly and rushes over to the door, using his body as a blockade. I walk to the door, ready to leave as kie comes to the realization as to how much 400 mil is.
"No absolutely not. Absolutely not" pope says guarding the door. I grab his arms and push him out of my way. I don't need cautions pope
Right now.
"Pope get out of my way" I open the door and JJ follows me out, also giving pope a shove on the way.
—-
(A/N - ik I said the party would be tn, but we are gonna move it to tomorrow night and add a little fictional day. I want to be at the wreck bc fomo. Good talk)
—-
"Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality" pope starts. JJ puts all the stuff to roll a joint in my lap and looks at me expectingly.
"No I did it the last 2 times, it's your turn" I say shoving it all back to him. He throws his head back and whines like a little kid, taking the items from my hand. He takes out a cone and starts filling it with a pout on his face.
"Did you come up with that pope?" John B asks.
"No Albert Bernstein did" I say kicking popes foot. He looks at me with pure shock. Pope gets all the credit for being smart, but I am in all of his classes so I don't know where my credit is. Maybe it's because I smoke too much with JJ.
"I forgot your kinda smart" JJ says as he licks the paper.
" yeah well. Leave it to the man I guess" I say being dramatic.
"Anyways it applies to this whole treasure hunting thing." Pope says.
"Oh." John B says.
"So, which is it? Fantasy or reality?" Pope asks the group.
"Why are you so weird pope?" JJ asks, still perfecting the joint. I swear he takes years making a single joint.
"It's fantasy, but possible reality" kie says. I point to her signaling that I agree.
"Reality" John B says with full confidence. The longer this goes on the more out of touch he becomes. I'm slightly worried about him.
"Virtual reality" JJ says flicking out his lighter. Pope snatches the joint and flicks it across the car. I look over at the sad joint laying in the corner, poor thing didn't deserve that.
"Keep the signal clear" pope says looking at JJ and then slightly peering to me. John B pulls up to Kies car and a boat on the back of it that has a "flat tire". Me and kie hop out of the car to go use the male gaze to our advantage.
"Hey don't worry. You guys got this" John B says to us leaning out the window. I adjust my bikini top and take off my long sleeve shirt that I was using as a cover up. I throw it at John B and smile.
"Oh I know. I practically do this for a living" I say. He looks at me proud, but also extremely disappointed.
"It's not us that I'm worried about" kie says pointing to the back seat and walking her way towards the car.
"You guys got this! Mel use all those tricks you have up your sleeve!" JJ calls out from the back. I send JB a thumbs up and get into the passengers side of Kies car.
"You ready?" I asked kie.
"I feel like this goes against all female causes." She said starting the car.
"I think most women would be proud that we are using men for our advantage. A little switch in the system. I do it all the time. It feels great." I say, she just looks back at me unamused. I guess I will take the lead on this one then. We pull up to the gate and I jump out of the car first. I walk over to the fence and call out to the man, "hey excuse me" I say waving at him. He jumps up and comes outside. "Can I help you?" He asks.
"Hi! Yes please. We have a flat tire, we were just wondering if you could help us out?" I say gesturing between us. He looks me up and down and then back at the salvage yard. He thinks for a second but then says yes and goes to grab the air compressor.
"Too easy" I whisper to kie. We do our handshake and wait for him to come back.
Once he comes back I lead him to the boat, every time I look back he's starting at mine or kies ass.
"It's just this back one right here." I say leaning against the boat.
"It must have been a slow leak or something" kie says standing slightly behind me.
"Probably just sitting in the yard too long" he says.
"Yeah"
He starts to work on the tire, looking up every so often. He looks again, this time his eyes trace all the way up my body.
"Got it?" I asks raising my eyebrows. He nods with no shame.
"I truly hate men sometimes" I whisper to kie. She laughs but quickly shuts up. In the distance we hear a dog start to aggressively bark. I glance at kie with wide eyes. The noise catches the guys attention causing him to stand up and look back.
"You hear that?"
"Hear whay?" Kie asks
"Tebows got something" he says. I take a deep breath and spring to action. I place my hand on his chest and look him in the eyes.
"It's probably nothing. Right?" I say holding eye contact. He nods and I slowly push him down, back into his squat position. In the time I did this kie ran to the other side of the boat to try and buy us more time. He wraps up this tire and stands up again. He notices that kie is missing and rushes over to the other side.
"Wait" I call out. He finds kie crouched near the tire letting air out.
"This one seemed low too" she says. He doesn't buy it for a second and immediately runs back into the salvage yard. Me and kie both run back into the car.
"Shit" I say as we pull off.
"Do you think they had enough time?" She asks.
"I really hope so. That was awful" I say laughing.
"He was eye fucking you the whole time" she says also starting to laugh.
"Me? He was staring at your ass like it had a set of eyes". Me and kie pull over and wait for everyone to regroup.
—-
A couple hours later we pull up to the wreck, starving and tired.
We all hop out and make our way inside.
"Stealing drones makes you hungry" kie says.
"And seducing men" I say with a breathy laugh. I climb out and JJ follows after me. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and puts a good portion of his weight on my body.
"What I would do to a beer and shrimp and grits right now" he says fully leaning into me now. I try to carry his weight as we walk into the restaurant.
We walk in and kie goes to talk to her dad to try and get us some free food. The 4 of us walk past them and into the center of the dining area. JJ keeps his arm around my shoulder, but now pulls me into him so that he's slightly holding me up. We watch as kie talks to her dad, unsure about how the convo is going. He keeps looking at us which makes me feel like it's not going well. Kie looks back at us as well. The three boys wave and I just smile. John B slightly smacks me in the arm and tells me to wave so I do. I don't need brownie points with Mike.
"sit down" kie says turning towards us. We all rush into our seats. I help kie fill up our cups and put orders in. Figured while I'm here might as well be useful. I go around and fill up all of our waters, slapping JJs feet off the Table as I do so. I sit down and eat my food, finally getting rid of the empty feeling in my stomach. John B tosses fry's at me and JJ and we battle to see who can catch more. So far JJ is winning. I lean back, completely satisfied with my meal and watch kie dance around. She points to John B and calls him over to dance with her. He hesitates at first but soon joins her. I smile and sway along to the song. I look back at Pope who stares at them quite sadly. I frown and look at JJ who is so unamused. I get up and offer a hand to each one of them.
"Cmon" I say nodding my head towards where kie and JB are dancing. JJ takes my hand first, followed by pope. I lead them to the floor and we all start to dance. We all away with the music and laugh together. My back is to JJs front as I face pope. We all sway in opposite directions then pope grabs my hands and spins me. Eventually I become too tired and give both of them a kiss on the cheek and then go back to the tables to clean up.