Outer Banks ~ JJ Maybank

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We sat in the chicken house and waited for them to leave. There wasn't nearly enough room for all of us so we were sweating up a storm. I was squished between Pope and JJ. We were across from John B and Kie. The rooster suddenly decided to start crowing loudly. "Will you shut that thing up!" Pope whispered. JJ grabbed the rooster by his throat. It was still making noise so he tightened his grip, then all of a sudden, we heard a snap, and the rooster's body went limp. Kie began to burst in to tears. She grabbed a hold of John B's hand and covered her mouth with the other. "Nice going JJ." I said yanking his arm causing him to fall back. "Sorry." He said as Kie burred her face into John B's shoulder. Pope and I rolled our eyes at him and went back to waiting.

We waited until the sound of the truck faded off into the distance to leave. "Good. It was so hot in there. And JJ, would it kill you to shower." I said. "Sorry I sweat. I'll try to hold in my sweat next time." "It's not your sweat. It's your armpits." "Wanna take a sniff again." "NO!" I said running away. "Guys. I think I know that Redfield is." "What?" JJ and I both said, as he crashed into me and we feel onto the ground. "Let's get in the car." He said. "Sure. Why not. No explanation of what it is we are doing. Just, get in the car." "Pope, you need to calm down. May I suggest weed." I said dusting myself off and heading to John B's car. "Gotta keep the signals clear." "Why you so weird, Pope?" JJ said getting in the car and closing the door as John B drove off to our mystery Redfield.

"The lighthouse?" "Redfield Lighthouse. You know dad loved this place." "Yeah. But you really think this is what he meant?" "It's worth a shot. Kie and I'll go up and you guys can be look out. If anything bad happens, we all meet back up at JJ's house." "I'm always look out when we are doing illegal shit. I wanna be part of the action." "No." John B said sternly. "I am supposed to be the one taking care of you right now and I can not have you get arrested or in any kind of trouble with the law." "But-" "No buts. You JJ and Pope are look out. Let's go Kie." He said, walking towards the entrance to the light house. Kie looked over at me a shrugged and walked away. "Asshole!" I yelled after him. I slid down onto the ground and put my head between my knees. "JJ-" "I'm already on it." He said handing me a joint.

"So, now that you're all doped up, wanna tell us what all of that was about?" "John B has decided to take on this new paternal attitude with me. He doesn't want me to do anything that could get me in trouble. He all of a sudden has a problem with me smoking weed. The other day, he made me put on a t-shirt because the top I had chosen that day was 'a little too skimpy'." "Was it the purple one?" "The green one." "Oh, I like the green one." "And that too! He is suddenly super worried about you and me's relationship. Like the other day he got low key worked up just because we were asleep on the couch together." "Well, it's not like you guys don't flirt with each other all the time." "Shut up Pope. No we don't." "You just said you like the green one." "I'm not allowed to like the green one!" "No the point." "Anyway, since dad has been gone he is acting more like a dad to me rather than a cool older brother.I think he is trying to act like a temporary Dad to me, just to tide me over until the real one comes back." "Do you think he is coming back." "No. I knew the day we reported it that he wasn't coming back. I think I'm just better at dealing with all this shit than he is. For the first month after mom left, he would sit by the door for an hour in the morning and an hour at night, waiting for her to come home." "Why did he stop?" "One night he saw dad finish packing up her stuff and he watched him put it away." "Damn. That's dark." "Yeah. But it needed to happen one way or another." "So, do you think he'll get over this thing with your dad?" "Maybe. They were always so close so I think he is still processing it." "Let's just hope he gets over it soon so we can get back to our summer." JJ said, throwing the last little bit of the blunt on the ground and stomping it out. 

We sat for a few more minutes and the heard the sound of sirens. "Shit." We all said, booking it to John B's car. I took of before Pope was completely in the car. "What the hell!" "Sorry. It was either get arrested or hope you could hold on well." "It's nice to see how much you value life." "Aw. Thanks." I said. "I'm a true humanitarian." "Where are you going?" "My house." "I thought we were going to my house?" "Fine." I said taking a sharp left. "Goddamn. Are you trying to kill us?" "It'd make my life whole lot more bearable." "What!" "Not you Pope. How else am I supposed to barely pass high school." "You are so caring."  Pope said sarcastically, getting into the passenger seat and buckling up.

We waited at JJ's house for hours before hearing anything from John B or Kie. Thankfully JJ has a landline at his house so we heard the phone go off and bolted over to it. JJ picked it up and we all listened. "JJ? Is that you?" "Yes." "Is my sister there?" "Yes." "Put her on the phone." "Why?" "Just do it." "He handed the phone to me and I held it to my ear. "Hey John B. Are you okay?" "I am at the police station." "Oh my god! Are you okay!" "Yes. I'm fine. Kie's dad came and got us." "Were you arrested!" "No. I was detained. It's different. Anyway, not the point. The point is, you have my car and I need you to come pick me up." "Okay, you should lead with the car thing next time. Not, hey, I'm at the police station." "Thanks for the tip." "No problem. I'm on my way. Should I bring Yo Yo Head and Smarty Pants?" "No. Tonight is more of a Routledge night." "Okay. I'll be there in a few." "Thanks sis." "Bye Bird." "Bye Flower." I hung up the phone and grabbed the keys. "See you losers later." I said jogging out to John B's van and driving off.