Always | JJ Maybank

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The vibes in the van were bizarre. For the first time, I think in all of history, no one said anything. Not even my brother said anything about me laying my head on JJ's. Normally he would have told me to get up, but this time he didn't.

"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B asks breaking the long silence in the van, " A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message?"

I  tried to get him to stop, "John," I whispered, but he did not listen. Instead, he continued, "He had to know it was gonna get back to us, right?"

"yeah, it's possible," Kiara said. 

Pope interjected, "It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels"

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels," JJ says trying to lighten the mood, "Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies." I softly laugh, only JJ could say that during this kind of conversation. 

As I laugh I can feel JJ turn his head to look at me. Sometimes I think he only says things to make me laugh. I know that is ridiculous, but no one else ever laughs. 

Completely ignoring JJ, John B continues with their conversation, "I'm not concocting, okay Our dad's trying to give me a message."

"If it helps you believe John B" Kie says softly.

I'd have enough I lift my head from JJ's lap, "We don't need a therapy session, okay? " I say to Kiara and Pope, then I turn to John B, "And it's 'us', he's giving us a message!" I finish and fall back onto JJ.

"We're not trippin', Okay?" John B says as he tries to keep his eyes on the road while also trying to look at everyone else. "Look, my... my dad is missing, okay?" he continues, "Missing.

Still laying on JJ', I add, "You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."

"It's almost been a year," Kiara says looking between John B and me.

JJ looks at me, "Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility." He says, attempting to make us feel better.

"Yeah," Pope adds, "could be in a Soviet sub, getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." I'm not quite sure if he was being sarcastic.

Add another option, Jj says, "Absolutely. Uh... or Atlantis."

 we finally arrive at our destination, Redfield Light House. It was Dad's favorite place, and what he etched in the compass.

We all get out of the car and look up at the lighthouse, "Right," John B says turning back, "You're gonna post up and look for bogeys, Okay?" He points to JJ and me.

"Wait... why me?" JJasks. He seemed offended, which I get.

Pope turns to him, "Because you're not coming," Jj tries to protest but Pope continues, "Look there are independent variables and dependant variables. You're an independent variable. We don't know what you're going to do"

Then The two begin to argue. I seriously wish they would stop. and Thankfully John B interrupts, "Guys! Shut up" he shouts, "Pope you stay here and stand look out with them. Okay? If we get split up we meet back at JJ's House." Kiara Agrees and the two walk off to the lighthouse leaving the rest of us by the car.

"I'm going to work on my Merrit scholarship essay," Pope says as he begins walking back to the VW bus, "and I'm trying to keep felonies down to a minimum"

JJ rolls his eyes, "yeah whatever"

I haven't moved yet. I just kept watching as Kie and John B got closer to the lighthouse. I can never understand why John B never takes me with him, I mean this is about our dad for god sake.

A couple of seconds later JJ nudges my shoulder, "hey, " he says softly, grabbing my attention, "wanna go sit by the tree while we wait?"

I smile at him, "Yeah" I say. With that JJ takes my hand and leads me to a giant tree not too far from where Pope is. As I sit down at the base of the tree, JJ basically throws him to the floor making me laugh.

"So, how's your arm?" he asks. "ah, Just wonderful," I joke, "I just love having a bullet hole in my arm" I laugh again, leaning my head on his shoulder. I felt like I could have stayed there forever, I liked the fresh air and with JJ it was perfect.

We had been sitting there for what felt like forever, and honestly, I would have been okay with that. But the police just had to ruin the moment. The second we heard their sirens JJ and I jumped up and ran back to the car and drove off before they saw us.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

Pope drove us to his house where he got out and went inside his house, so much for sticking with the plan. I ended up having JJ drive us back to the chateau, I know about JJ's dad and I wasn't in the mood for that.

"So, " JJ said as we got out of the car, "what are we going to do?"

"Whatever we want!" I smile as I sit on the couch on the covered porch. JJ plops down next to me, I laugh and grab his hat, "hey!" he laughs as well.

I take his hat, put it on, and then do an impression of him. I get up and cross my arms while making a face that is trying too hard to be cool. Then I flip the hat backward for an extra JJ appearance. He laughs at my impression of him, I was very proud of myself. Once he'd had enough of my impression he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me into his chest as we laughed.

Then he suddenly got quiet and just stared at me. "what is it?" I ask, "Is there is there something on my face?"

"No No  No," He smiled, "You're just so beautiful," He said softly, our faces inching closer together. our faces just kept getting closer and closer, it's like we couldn't stop. Then suddenly JJ closed the small space between us and connected our lips, and almost on instinct I placed my hands on either side of his face and he placed him on my waist.

After we separated, all I felt like I could do was look at him. I wasn't even sure what happened was real. 

"I should go," JJ says as he lifts me off him and onto the couch, " But  I'll text you later I promise." He smiles as he steps off the porch.

"Oh okay," I smile back at him and he waves back to me as he begins to presumably walk back to his house.

I could not stop thinking about what happened, I mean JJ Maybank just kissed me! What else was I supposed to think about?

A short while later John B. comes walking back to the Chateau, " we need to move on, " he says continuing to walk into the house, "help me clean up," 

and so I do, John B and I collect all the trash in the house and put it out in the year in a pile, and then we put all of the furniture back in order. When I thought we were done John B then took a whole bunch of our dad's things to the pile.

"JB what are you doing?" I ask.

He turns to me, "We need to leave the past behind us, trust me." Then he pours lighter fluid over the pile, strikes a match, and then throws the lit match onto the pile, setting the whole thing on fire. I start to cry.

After a couple of seconds of the fire burning, John B pulls out one thing, The Routledge family tree board from Dad's office. He stomps on it to stop the flames and then kneels to it and points to one of the names on the board; Olivia R. Routledge.

"Get in the car, " he says. I look at him, tears still in my eyes, "Why?" I ask.

He stands up and looks at me, "BJ, I need you to trust me, come let's go."

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