loving ain't easy [jj maybank]

chapter 4

kathleen gwilym

i wake up to the sunrise, the birds chirping loudly, my head resting against jj's chest, and his arm around me. i tilt my head up and smile at him. he looks so peaceful when he's sleeping. he notices my movement, and his eyes slowly open. "morning." he grumbles.
"morning j." i smile.
"morning lovebirds!" john b marches out of his bedroom, grabbing a banana from the fridge.
i roll my eyes at him, and sit up, looking out the window.
"well, let's see what damage aggie did." jj swings his legs out of bed. i wrap my fuzzy blanket around me, yawning. i decide to get up and get dressed. i leave my curly, dirty blond hair down and natural, put on my favourite rainbow stripe bikini, and throw on a tie dye shirt with athletic shorts over it. i put waterproof mascara on, and i'm ready for the day. i meet jj on the porch, and he hands me his juul. the three of us start cutting up branches, raking leaves, picking garbage up while blasting my surf rock spotify playlist. that's when i see my brother jake riding down the driveway of the chateau. he's the oldest of my brothers, and he's 14 and so spoiled, he might as well be a kook.
"kathleen!" he calls. i walk down to meet him.
"what do you want jake?" i cross my arms. "mum says to come home." he states.
"no thanks. and she's not my mum so i don't have to listen to her." i roll my eyes.
"she said you have to or she's kicking you out." jake adds.
"too bad. it's my house. dad left it to me! it says in his will. besides, he's going to be back soon, so we'll see what he has to say about that you little shit." i snarl.
"kathleen. dad is dead. i thought you would've known that by now, you bitch." jake stares me down.
"and for you john booker routledge, have fun with my prostitute sister!" jake adds.
"go the fuck home jake!" john b yells at him. i fight back so much anger as jake pedals off.
"how do you put up with him without killing him?" jj asks.
"i barely put up with him. as for the killing part, i don't know how he isn't dead yet." i sigh, going back to cleaning up some limbs. the 3 of us put the pogue back in the water, and head down to pick up pope.
"hi mr heyward!" i smile and wave, hoping he'll let pope come with us to fish for some crab.
"how are you kath?" he asks, as i jump onto the dock, giving him a hug. pope's dad has always been like another dad to me.
"i'm good, do you think me, kie and the boys could steal pope for the day? we wanted to go catch some crabs." i ask, hopping back onto the pogue.
"well not today since we have a lot of cleanup to do..." heyward says.
"come on pope, jump on!" jj says.
"please dad!" pope asks.
"pope, i said no!" heyward says, as pope jumps in anyways.
"we'll have him back by sundown!" i call and john b speeds up.
we pick up kie at her dock and then head out onto the marsh.

jj maybank
"hey pope, speed up a bit!" i exclaim standing on the hull, letting the beer fly into my mouth as kie and kath complain about getting it in their hair. all the sudden the boat stops and i fly into the water.
"i think my heels touched my head!" i say, resurfacing.
"sorry we hit a sandbar." pope apologizes.
"uh guys, there's a boat down there.." kie says, john b, kath and i staring down intently.
"that's the boat i saw surfing the surge last night!" kath exclaims.
"you surfed the surge! kath!" kie exclaims, concerned.
"yeah the three of us did. i'll explain later" kath says the last part under her breath.
"i'm going down." john b announces.
"no, i can hold my breath the longest, i'm going." kie says.
we eventually decide that we will all dive down. we stay down for as long as possible, but don't see anyone or anything worth noting.
"dude one of those is worth 500 g's easy!" pope says, as we all climb back onto the boat.
"i'll dive down with the anchor and see if i can find anything." john b says.
"i'm not resuscitating you. i'm just making that clear." i chuckle, looking over to see if kath's okay. she seems like she's spaced out.
"diver down." he says, standing on the hull and i give him a shove.
the 4 of us lean over the side of the boat, waiting for him to resurface. i put my hand on kath's back and she gives me a small smile. i can tell she's freaking out, but i need her to stay calm until we can talk in private.
john b finally surfaces, coughing and holding up a motel keychain.
"get in losers, we're going shopping!" i exclaim mockingly, causing everyone to laugh, including kath.

a/n : when I type this in the notes app on my phone it seems so much longer than 800 words! also some more jj fluff for everyone! i joined stan twitter today and oh boy that was a mistake on my part🤭 i've got 12 reads in 2 days which is awesome! thanks for reading💗