Adore You ☼ JJ Maybank

6

"my parents are so paranoid of me being a pogue, like it's the worst thing that could ever happen," kie groaned, sitting on the side of heyward's truck bed, her voice edged with bitterness. the truck rocked slightly under the hum of the ferry's slow journey toward charleston.

maya leaned back against the bed wall, the salty air tangling through her hair. she glanced at kie from the corner of her eye—there was more pain in that sentence than kie wanted to admit. and maya recognized it because she'd felt it before too: being treated like something less. unwanted. wrong.

"hey, i hear they got good weed at boarding school, though," jj chimed in from atop the cab roof, ever the comic relief.

"i'm not going to boarding school," kie shook her head hard. "they're going to have to kidnap me, tie me up, and throw me in a van."

maya smirked. "they might try."

"well, i say we just crumble some herb right now," jj said, jumping down and handing kie the joint he just lit. he dropped beside maya, settling close enough that his body heat radiated onto her. she didn't mind it. she never did.

"hey, kie, have you tried to hit john b. back on that number yet?" pope asked, his voice cutting through the mellow vibe as kie took a hit.

"like, twenty million times," she muttered, handing the joint to maya.

maya accepted it with a small nod. "that's quite a few times," she said, amused but not unkind. she took a slow drag, the smoke curling into the air as the stress in her chest loosened—just a bit.

"some random lady at a hotel keeps answering," kie sighed.

"well, until we hear from them again, we gotta try and clear his name, and right now this letter's our best bet," pope said, always the voice of logic.

"right, stay on task," jj nodded, "that's why i love ya, pope."

"where would we be without you?" maya added, resting her chin briefly on her hand as she passed the joint to jj.

"dead, probably," pope said with a soft smile.

maya held the joint up to pope with a playful arch of her brow. "wanna hit?"

kie grinned, "what pope are you gonna be today?"

"i'm good," pope shook his head and glanced away from kie, keeping his focus pointedly elsewhere. "i'm gonna try to focus."

"good pope," kie nodded as she sat beside maya. "boring pope."

"i'll take that, please, thank you very much," jj said, plucking the joint from maya's hand.

"ah," maya said, relaxing a little as he leaned against her.

"what, you want me to do tricks now? roll over, boy," she teased, nudging him lightly with her knee.

☀︎

"guys, i've read this thing like a thousand times. it makes no sense," kie huffed, waving the paper in front of her. they were now off the ferry, bumping along the mainland roads with the city growing closer. "i mean, the limbreys own half of charleston. what do the kook kings of charleston know about a murder on kildare island?"