Dying Summer | JJ Maybank

(4)

John B puts his hands in surrender once he notices what he walked into, just by looking at Val's blush and rumpled shirt "Shit. Okay umm. My bad guys." He pauses to run a hand through his hair. "We just need to continue the conversation about the compass shit." He gestures to the back porch where everyone is watching this interaction from the windows. He turns around and speeds out of the room.

Val and JJ look back at each other for a few seconds in silence, and crack up. They are laughing together, JJ is resting against the counter while Val has his hands on his knees.

"Haha, that was so incredibly awkward." JJ is still breathing heavily, wiping the moisture from his eyes.

"Ughh. I needed that." Val is smiling ear to ear, making JJ smile just the same. They stare at one another just taking it in. JJ makes a move to get closer.

"JJ, Val lets go!" Kiara yells from the open window and walks back towards the other side of the porch.

"Coming!" The yell in unison.

Conversation is significantly heavier than inside the house. "Lets stear back on track from whatever the fuck that was." Kiara gestures to the two guilty men standing quite closer to each other. "Why do we think they want the compass?" She questions the room.

"Exactly, no offense John B, but it's kinda a piece of shit," Pope says, "You couldn't get more than five bucks at a pawn shop for it." He looks guilty. "No offense John B. I know it's in your family I–"

"The office." John B ignores the apology and starts walking towards the door. "He always kept the door locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his royal merchant research." Everyone follows behind him as he walks towards the locked door. "I mean we all used to make fun of him for being so paranoid, and how he thought he was actually gonna find it. But now that he's gone I've just kinda.. I've just left it as he kept it." He stares at the door for a second before grabbing the keys.

"Ya, for when he gets back." Kiara says, hands behind her back. The other guys give her a look. John B unlocks the door and everyone slowly moves inside as John B hunts around.

"I've slept over like 600 times, and I've never seen this door open." Kiara agrees with him. John B grabs a cork board off of the wall and plants it on the desk to show everyone, as they gather around the table. "Here look. This is the original owner, right here." He points at a name on the board.

Val reads the name out loud. "Okay, Robert Q. Routledge, 1880-1920." He looks at the picture next to the text. "There's the lucky compass on his hip." Val smiles to himself at the discovery he made.

"Actually he was shot after he bought it." Val's smile drops after John B's 'required' input. "But then the compass was shipped to Henry. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass." Val doesn't like where these stories lead, seeing as how they currently have the freakin' thing. "Then after he died, the compass was given to steven." He points at another man's photo. "Steven had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam, unrelated to the war. Heard it was an incident with a banana truck." JJ shifts uncomfortably beside him. "Anyways, the compass then lands on my father." John B exhales as his finger shifts to a photo of him.

"Hmm sounds like there is a recurring theme here." JJ states, wagging his pointer finger at the board.

"Yes, Johnny, sorry to break it to you, but you have a death compass." Val says with a straight expression. John B denies.

JJ backs him up, "Seriously dude, you have to get rid of it." Everyone is speaking over one another, telling him to toss it.

"Look my dad used to talk about this compartment in here," John B ignores the rest of their pleas and continues. "Soldiers used to hide secret notes," He untwists the back of the mechanism.