P4L, carpe diem (JJ Maybank)

066

"Oh, God," John B sighed, holding his head back.

"Wow," I said, sarcastically. I looked at JJ, my eyebrows raised in a sarcastic manner.

"Cause I already got a plan," JJ continued, as me and John B shared a look. I scoffed. "Hopefully it's better than springing Tweetie-Bird out of jail," I sighed, clicking my tongue.

JJ laughed, pulling me and my brother into a little huddle between the three of us. "Nah, this is my best yet—"

"Oh, jeez—"

"Baby, listen..."

He began to whisper, for some reason, because it was only us in the Twinkie.

~|~

When Kie and Sarah got back and JJ had told us (me and John B) his plan, we drove back to the nursing home to pick-up Pope.

JJ looked back at me, winking, rather in his usual seductive way, or his way of assuring me this 'plan' of his was gonna work.

"There he is," JJ said as we pulled up. I looked up, watching Pope solemnly walk towards the Twinkie, deep in thought. He stepped into the Twinkie, sitting down beside me.

"So?" I began. "How'd it go, Mama Pope?"

Pope looked up at me, and let out a deep breath. "Shit just got way more personal."

~|~

We all went back to the market, or the Porthole, taking some beers from Maggie's dad's shop, from Maggie herself. Kie and Sarah were sitting on top of plastic water tanks, as the rest of us stood.

I leaned against a wooden beam as we all teased Pope for being OBX royalty.

"I still can't believe that you're related to Denmark Tanny," John B sighed, patting Pope on the shoulder.

"Uh-huh," JJ agreed, shaking his head.

I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand. "Holy shit. Are we in the presence of a fricking Royal?" I questioned, playfully.

"A king?" JJ asked, walking up him, pretending to place a crown on his head and began speaking with a British accent. "We shall crown him. All hail the Lord of Tannyhill!"

"Bow down," I chuckled, bending down to Pope and bowing.

"We're not worthy!" John B added, as everyone began bowing down to the new lord of Tannyhill.

Pope winced. "Alright, alright. Everybody relax. Can we relax, please?" He asked us, acting serious but we all knew he loved the attention.

I leaned over to JJ, crossing my arms. "Let's be honest. Relaxing is something I cannot do," I whispered, looking at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you overachiever."

I did a little happy bow as he playfully shoved me away as I chuckled, sticking my tongue at him.

Sarah smiled. "Relocate to the Cat's Ass, question mark?" She asked, twiddling her hands.

"I'm with that," JJ answered, pointing to Sarah. "Ditto," I agreed, pointing up my beer to J.

"How soon can we move in?" Kie asked, raising her eyebrow at me.

"As soon as you begin paying rent," I laughed, crossing my arms.

"Damn, Dyl. I don't have a place to stay, and you're asking for rent—?"

"Yeah, Dylan," Kie laughed, shooting a glare at me. I held my hands up in mock surrender. "Some of us are homeless! Wait, should we get bunk beds?!" Kie laughed.

"YES. Bunk beds," I agreed, pointing at Kie happily.

"Cheers to that," JJ added, turning to me as we clinked our beers.

Pope cut in, changing our subject quite quickly. "I just keep thinking about the letter, the one that Limbrey sent. It had the wheat symbol on it. Like, that must mean it has something to do with the Royal Merchant," he explained, and all of our faces shone with concentration.

"Yeah...something seems fishy," JJ agreed, taking another swig of his beer.

"But...if we find that cross, we can split it like we were gonna split the gold!" Pope said, optimistically. Honestly, that sounded great. Us just chillin' with a cross for the rest of our sad, miserable lives.

I nodded, shrugging my shoulders. "And then we'll live—" I began, teasingly.

"Let me guess. Happily ever after?"

My head turned, looking at the middle-aged woman once again. The woman I had seen trying to hunt Pope down in Charleston. Carla Limbrey. We all stood up, defensively. But, not surprisingly, Pope led us forward, walking towards her, his teeth clenched.

Well, shit.