INDIANA II JJ Maybank (Outerbanks)

chapter twenty one

"Stealing drones makes you hungry?" Kie asks them as they get to her family's restaurant.

"What I would do to a bear and shrimp and grits right know." JJ says as they get out of the van.

They all go inside and Indi and Kie go over to say hello to her father. The boys go to the back and watch a couple eating while waiting for the two of them to join them.

"Hey, Dad." Kie smiled at her father and Indi greeted him to.

"Hey girls." He greets them back.

"How'd we do?" She asks him.

"Didn't turn it over once." He replies to her.

"It's probably just bad luck because of the storm." She goes to give him a hug.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to tell the banks that." 

"Guess now is not the best time to ask for free food for me and my friends?" Indi just awkwardly stands beside them.

"Look at them." He sighs as they all turn to the boys, still watching the couple. "They're greedy pelicans."

From her position she hears John B mumble something about him being so hungry, and she could only agree. They both hadn't had a full meal in what feels for days.

"I thought I told you guys to stop hanging around them." He looks at the both of them.

"Ehh, that's gonna be kind of hard for me since one is related to me." Indi tells him.

"And everybody at the Kook Academy hates me, Dad." Kie adds.

"Cause you never gave them a chance." He argues with her.

"I did give them a chance." Kie argues back. "They got stuck up. They care more about shoes than surfing. What am I supposed to do?" 

Indi didn't want to interrupt them and she felt wrong listening to their conversation so she went over to the boys. John B puts his arm around her shoulders.

They see Kie and her father looking over to them so John B and Pope wave at them while JJ gives them a peace sign.

"Sit down." Kie tells them. JJ rushed to the other side of the table and takes Indi with him so she can go and sit next to him. Kie brings out food and the boys start stuffing their mouths with the fries they got.

Kie stands up and starts dancing at the music. She motions with her finger to Indi to come and join her. Indi joins her and they start dancing to the music in the middle of the restaurant.

Kiara goes to John B and drags him by the arm to come and dance with them. Indi goes to do the same to JJ but he doesn't budge.

"I don't dance." He laughs at her and takes her arm away from her.

"Fine then I'll dance with Pope." She tells him and goes over to Pope who jealously watched how Kie danced with John B. She holds her hand out for him and he takes it.

They move to Kie and John B and dance with them. They dance for some time as Indi suddenly gets pushed away from Pope.

"Okey, it's my time now." JJ tells Pope and takes Indi's hand to dance with her.

"Is somebody jealous?" She grins at him.

"Tss, me? No." He shakes his head.

"So you won't mind if I go and dance with Pope again?" She questions.

"You're gonna stay with me." He tightens his grip around her waist and she just laughs at his actions.

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The next day they are all on the dock testing the drone out that they stole the day before.

Indi, John B and Kie were in the water and JJ and Pope stayed on the dock to see if the drone worked.

John B dove down and tapped on the camera of the boat. He then pretended to brush his teeth with his finger as Indi joined him and pushed him away from the camera. She waved at the camera before John B came back and pushed her also away from the camera.

"Wait go back." JJ tells Pope as he tries to touch something on the drone.

"Don't touch that." Pope tells him and pushed his hand away. "I'm trying to work this out." 

"Just turn the camera back to Indi." He tries again to touch something on the camera as Pope pushes him away again.

"Okey, chill." He told him and turned the camera back to Indi who was attempting to do somersaults in the water.

"God bless geeks, Pope, Truly, man." He tells him as he watches Indi in the water with a big smile. "What would we do without you to control the drones?"

"Technically, it's not a drone. It's an ROV." Pope says as the three emerge from the water.

"Shut up. Shut up." JJ tells him as Indi swims over to the stairs to get out. "It's too early for that right now."

"Hey, once we get footage of the wreck, we'll bring it to a lawyer in town and file a formal claim." John B speaks from the water.

"It's bullshit. Why do we have to do that?" JJ asks them as he wraps Indi in a towel.

"Because, there is a maritime salvage law." Indi tells him. "We can't just go to the ocean floor and scoop a bunch of stuff up."

"It's just lawyers aren't cheap." He tells them. 

"Well as soon as they see the footage, they'll work for a comp." John B says still in the water.

"How do you know all of that?" Kie asks him.

"Cause our dad said it, like a million times." Indi says from the dock.

"Yeah, that's fair." Kie replies and gets out of the water.

"This tether is, like, really long. In the wrong weather, it could get pushed around." Pope informs them.

"Then we'll go at dead calm." John B said as a thunder rumbles further away.

"Slack tide?" Kie asks.

"So now, we just gotta wait around for the right weather." Pope tells them.

Indi looks up at the sky and sees the dark clouds. "Guess that won't be today."

"Well I have to help my father at the store." Pope tells them. "And Indi remember how you promised my dad you would help me?" 

Indi looked at him for a moment confused as she remembered how she had promised Heyward the day after the hurricane.

"Right." She smiles at him. "Let me go change my clothes and I will meet you at the store." 

"I'll help you guys." JJ tells him. He walks over to Indi. "Guess I'll see you later." He winks at her as Pope and him go to walk up the dock.