Adore You ☼ JJ Maybank

12

[ CALM DOWN ]

"what's this right here?"

"don't touch that, jj." pope said as they were trying to figure out the drone. "i'm trying to work out this thing."

"god bless geeks, pope. truly man." jj says. "what would we do without you to control the drones?"

"technically, it's not a drone. it's a rov."

"shut up, shut up. it's too early for that right now."

"hey, look, once we get footage of the wreck we'll bring it to a lawyer in town and file a formal claim." john b says from the water.

"that's bullshit, why do we have to do that?" jj asked.

"there's a maritime salvage law." maya said.

"you can't just go to the ocean floor and scoop a bunch of stuff up." pope said, standing up and leaning against the rail beside jj.

"i know, i know.. it's just, lawyers aren't cheap, bro."

"well, as soon as they see the footage they'll work for a comp." pope explains, jj nodding. "anyway... the tether is, like, really long. in the wrong weather, it could get pushed around."

"then we'll go at dead calm." john b says.

"at slack tide?" kei asked as the climbed out of the water.

"so now, we just gotta wait around for the right weather." pope said as he looked up at the rumbling clouds, "and today is not that day."

☀︎

"hey, hey." jj said as he jogged into maya's backyard, seeing her picking up some of the stuff that blew over in the hurricane.

"what?" maya said before she was taken back my jj kissing her out in the open like that. "what was that for?" she smiled slightly, placing her gloved hand on his stomach.

"just being you." jj said.

"hmm." she said, "maybe i could get used to that."

"we were going down to meet kei and john b to surf, wanna come with?"

"you don't have to ask me twice." maya said. "let me change."

"i can help with that..." jj said, following maya toward her house.

☀︎

"you all did what?" maya said as she closed her bedroom door.

"they attacked pope, we had to." jj said.

"you sunk their 200k boat?" maya asked, turning away from jj as she changed her shirt and bra out for a white bikini top.

"technically, pope was the one that did it." jj said, "but, yeah."

"let me guess, your idea?" maya said, grabbing the bikini bottoms.

"maybe." jj said.

"dumbass." maya muttered.

"you always call me a dumbass." jj said with a laugh, getting up from her bed once she had pulled her shorts and band tee back on.

"because you are." maya said, leaning up and placing a kiss on his lips before they left.

☀︎

"hey! save some waves for us!" jj called out as the three of them ran on the beach with their surfboards.

☀︎

"you really think it's out there? like, no bullshit?" pope asked. they all sat around their usual spot near the ocean. kei was in the smaller hammock, pope and john b in two of the chairs while jj and maya shared the bigger hammock, sitting on opposite ends.

"my father thought it was." john b said.

"but do you?" pope asked.

"after hearing that voice on that tape... i think i do."

"only one way to find out."

"look, we're gonna find it, you know." kei says from her hammock. "even jj and maya believes... maya never believes in anything."

"oh, my god, do you two really believe?"

"totally." maya said.

"wait, are we talking about four mil?" jj asked.

"four hundred mil." the others clarified together.

"jinx." kei said.

"i'm gonna dream about shipwrecks." jj says, going to move so his head was on the same end as maya. "goodnight, bird shit."

"if you flip this, i swear to god—" maya said.

"it's not going to flip." jj said.

"jj—"

"calm down." jj said as he plopped down beside her, somehow not flipping the hammock.