Sunshine State Of Mind ☼ JJ Maybank

Chapter Five: Maybank

Third Person JJ POV

"How would I tell her that she's all I think about?"

Carolina, Harry Styles

JJ was sitting across from Sunshine, trying not to look in her direction. He wasn't the one driving the HMS Pogue on this excursion, so he had grabbed the last beer from Kiara's cooler to wind down during the ride and was doing a good job of finally being quiet. See, JJ is never quiet. He is full of hyperactivity and misremembered quotes and bullshit ideals. But here he was also trying to push down the annoyance of new feelings toward the newcomer in their group. Sunshine. Her loose curls were flying in the wind and she kept having to tuck them behind her ears, but it wasn't working as they kept flying away again. And she was also wearing JJ's shirt. Hell, he had seen her strip out of it not two hours ago when they found the Grady-White in the marsh. And he had also made it very clear last night to John B, after Sunshine had fallen asleep at the Chateau, that he thought her joining the Pogues was a very bad idea. He was against it for clear reasons. Her being a Kook, obviously. But the unsaid reasons were clear to his friend and maybe not so much to JJ himself, that something had sparked in him when she first arrived that he wanted nothing to do with it. JJ doesn't do 'feelings', he hasn't in a long time. Not with his dad in the picture. Not when he can help it. So he had been picking on Sunshine a bit, trying his best not to get attached to a girl that was bound to betray them once she found the other side of the island. And not to a girl that he remembered meeting a long time ago. Not when she didn't remember.

"What are you thinking about?" Sunshine asks, her  face had gotten some sun from earlier in the day and her cheeks were now slightly pink. The other pogues were talking amongst themselves heatedly about some nonsense at the front of the boat and had left Sunshine and JJ to their own defenses, and although JJ would complain later, it didn't feel so bad in the moment.

JJ shakes his head and instead of answering her question, responds with, "You know you don't seem so bad, when it gets down to it."

Sunshine smiles in spite of herself, it just came over her like a beam of light. "But?"

"But-" JJ starts, scratching the back of his head. "I just don't trust..." His voice trails off. Kooks. Her. Pretty girls. The list could go on.

"You don't trust me?" Sunshine's smile falters a little, and JJ's chest does that thing when you make a pretty girl cry. Twists near your heart with a little guilt and the want to make every bit of it better. But then her smile switches back on, like a light turning on, "And who says I trust you, future tax cheat?" Her hair is still blowing around, but the boat has slowed a little so it's less intense. It creates a small halo around her head, and JJ tries his best to ignore how pretty she looks.

JJ has to give it to her, not a lot of stuff phases Sunshine. He's been trying his best to be only sort of off putting, while also not getting too close, and neither of those seem to be working against him. He can only stop his charms from escaping so much. "What? John B tell you that?"

"I don't kiss and tell." Sunshine says, balling up her knees to her chest. JJ's legs are spread out on the boat's deck, and they could almost touch each other's shoes together. JJ scoffs, and Sunshine looks at him curiously. "What's your deal? Is it just the Kook thing?"

JJ looked at her, while trying desperately not to see her, and answered, "No, it's not just the Kook thing."

The pogues had finally rounded up on the motel inlaid in the key they had found, and JJ stood up quickly, ready to get away from his conversation with Sunshine if he could, "I thought the Chateau looked bad." He said, shaking his head.