Faded Heart

VIII. Mysteries Abound

Tonight I had finally found myself in bed at a reasonable time, but for the last twenty minutes I've been listening to the sound of something banging against my window. At first, I thought it was a branch continuously hitting against my window from the wind. But, after a while, I started hearing whispering coming from the knocks against the window.

"What the hell?" I questioned, when I pulled the blinds up to see the culprit of all the knocking. JJ was standing on the balcony right below my window. He must have climbed up the pillars in order to get up here. "What are you doing here? It's one in the morning!"

As soon as I opened the window, JJ made his way into the room, without even asking if it was allowed in. If my parents would catch me with a boy in my room, let alone JJ Maybank, I wouldn't be allowed out of my house for the rest of my life.

"We need to talk about the plan." He explains. It's dark in here, but I still notice that he is somewhat staggering. He must've been drinking tonight. I hope he didn't drive here.

"Why can't this wait until later?" I asked, concerned about how he managed to climb up a balcony with alcohol and knowing him he probably had some weed in his system as well.

JJ took off his hat and ran his hands through his messy blonde hair. Even with his hat hair he still looked good, "Well, I'm here now so we might as well talk about it...Is there any other place your parents would have hid information?"

"I don't know...Maybe their work office." I sigh, knowing that since JJ was now in my room, I wouldn't get him out unless I complied with his plan right now. When he got an idea, he was relentless with it.

"Get dressed, we're going." He exclaimed, not even caring that it was one in the morning and I was in my pajamas.

"No way, it's so late. I have to be up early tomorrow." There was no way that I could sneak out all night and fully function at the community service day that my parents are making Elise and I go to at Masonborough. Plus, I never snuck out before. I didn't want to get caught sneaking out to break into my parent's office.

"Come on, Emerson." JJ stumbled forward, his hands folding together. I couldn't exactly make out what he was doing, but it somewhat seemed that he was attempting to give me his best puppy dog face. "I promise, I'll have you home in an hour."

I motioned for JJ to be quiet for a moment. I was thinking that this might be a good time to go since my parents don't suspect that I know anything yet. Despite disappearing for a few hours everyday, I've been trying to make it seem as though everything is normal. Plus, I was getting pretty anxious to find out what everything meant and how it all connected.

"Fine." I said, making my way towards my dresser. This was a good time to go to their office.

"I knew you'd give in to me. It was the puppy dog face, wasn't it?" He laughed, his tired eyes locked on me the entire time.

Even though he couldn't see it, I still rolled my eyes at him. I had to admit though, it was still nice to see him again, even if it was just for some crazy mystery or treasure hunt. Which, I still was not one hundred percent convinced about. The only reason I'm even involved is because of my parents. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably still be telling JJ he was crazy.

"Do you actually believe the Royal Merchant is real?" I said, throwing on a pair of jeans. I didn't care that JJ was watching me. It's not like he hasn't seen me in a small bikini bottoms before, there wasn't much difference between that and my underwear.

After throwing on the hoodie, I led JJ down the stairs and out of the house as quietly as possible. Both of my parents were heavy sleepers, so I knew that they wouldn't have woken up to the sound of quiet footsteps.