Dying Summer | JJ Maybank

(2)

Small content warning - small use of sexual language

Val didn't sleep. He couldn't shake the image of JJ with a gun to a kook's head. He knows Topper's a classist asshole who believes that pogues are the scum of the earth. But that doesn't warrant a gun to the skull. JJ could've tackled him off of John B, he could've done anything else. Just not used that gun. He rubs his face and sits up from his bed. Gets up and takes a cold shower before walks downstairs for some liquid energy. His only constant friend. Coffee. He smells some brewing before he takes his steps down the grand staircase. He creeps past the entrance to the dining room to try and not be seen after he hears the rustle in of paper and the clink of a coffee cup against a saucer.

"Morning Val." His mother calls from the dining room in a sharp tone. He cringes, puts on a smile and turns towards the entrance of the room.

"Morning mom."

"Sit down, Val. Tell me about what happened last night. I got some concerned calls last night about a so-called party down at the beach." She sets down the papers and locks her hands together, looking accusingly at him. He glances at the papers she is signing and writing up. He knows what his family does. They run people from the Cut out of their homes and build 'investment opportunities'. They don't even call them houses or properties. They're called opportunities, because 'Nothing is more expensive than missed opportunities.' As his mother says every time he fucks up. Which apparently happens more than not. "You know not to go to those things, we set an example here. We draw the line." She points the overly expensive pen at him, enunciating the point of the conversation.

"I-"

"I don't want to hear it." He sits back in the chair, already exhausted with the constant blaming. "You and your sister know better. Vance wouldn't have gone to that party!" Ah, yes. The comparison of the dead older brother. The prodigy, the example. Except Val's mother is missing something. Vance totally would've gone to that party. He would've done a handstand of the fucking keg! But mom didn't know that, probably wouldn't even believe Val if he told her so.

Ring. Ring.

He relaxes. He can always count on Mom's busy job as one of the 'best property managers the OuterBanks has ever seen' to break up arguments. She waves him off and walks away running his hands through his hair. Fuck coffee, I'll go out.

***

JJ knows he fucked up, okay, he can admit that to himself. But out loud, never. "You know what I should've done, I should've let Topper drown your ass." He says throwing a rock at a tree.

"Ya. Because Topper, of all people, was gonna drown me. Sure man" John B retorts while walking along the shed, picking up logs, then angrily throwing them in a pile. 

"Sure looked like it. I mean, have you looked in a mirror recently?" He walks towards his friend of 10 years, while gesturing to his black eye. 

"Tell me some more man, Keep talkin'." John B gets defensive.

JJ walks up to the pole the other is standing next to and leans on it, effectively releasing tension but also starts yelling. "They always win, don't they man? Kooks vs pogues. They always win. God Damn!" He punches the hanging buoy and walks off. John B rolls his eyes, 

"It's Okay!" Kie, the peacekeeper. Always trying to resolve the tension. 

. "But it's not okay! It's just not, they don't want us down in the marsh because there's something valuable in the boat we found." He points at John B. "And you know it man. I know you do." John B looks at Kie to gauge her reaction to JJ's point, she looks just as skeptical as he feels about this whole situation. JJ starts at Pope. "I understand why you don't want to go, you're the golden boy, you have too much to risk." He then looks at Kie, "And your already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?" Kie gives him a look. JJ starts at John B again. "But you and me man, we got nothing to lose dude!"