BABYDOLL // JJ Outer Banks

twenty-seven

hannah rested her head on jj's shoulder, watching as pope anxiously paced back and forth. a small sigh escaped jj's lips, causing hannah to look at him.

"what?" she giggled when she caught jj staring at her.

"you're just really beautiful," jj whispered softly, admiring the way the warm light of the fire complimented her features, the curve of her lips and the dusting of freckles on her cheeks.

"hey, guys," pope spoke up, causing the two to return their attention to the group. "so, like, my dad's already gonna kill me, so what's this mandatory meeting about?"

john b looked to jj for advice.

"might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed."

john b nodded. "you ready for this?"

"yeah," kie responded.

"the gold never went down on the royal merchant."

"oh my god," pope groaned, "here we go again."

"this conversation is already giving me a headache, and we're not even five minutes in." hannah rubbed her temples.

"no, wait," jj said, "hear him out, alright?"

"it's been here the whole time."

"swear to god, jb, if you say 'the gold was inside us the whole time', i'm gonna take jj's gun and shoot you in the head."

"no, no, it's on the island."

"are you serious?" kie asked in disbelief. "oh my god."

"i'd like to voice my skepticism," pope interjected.

jj rolled his eyes. "i'm sure you would, pope," causing hannah to elbow him in the ribs.

"hey! don't be rude to my friend."

"he's my friend too!"

"can i please present you with my evidence, sir?" john b sassed.

hannah raised a brow at the boy. "why ask if you're gonna do it anyway?" 

"someone's being especially sarcastic tonight," jj teased.

"i'm too sober right now to be let down again, forgive me for not wanting to get my hopes up."

"you don't have to. see, in my backpack, i have a letter from denmark tanny."

"am i supposed to know who that is?"

"yeah, who the hell is that?" kie asked.

"denmark tanny was a slave that survived the royal merchant wreck," john b said. "check this out." he handed kie a piece of paper. "okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. that was his big discovery. so tanny used the gold from the merchant to buy his freedom. after that, he bought his farm. drumroll, please, because that farm is..."

hannah smirked at kie who was eagerly hitting her knees as a mock drum. she's so into him.

"tannyhill plantation."

kie gawked at the boy. "tannyhill?"

"yeah, so, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him. so on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."

kie waited for him to answer. "where?"

"harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. except, there's no wheat. you see, wheat is code for gold. check this out," john b got up to point to something on the letter in pope's hands. "the gold is in parcel nine, near the water."