Inside the Outer Banks || JJ

4. The Motel

"I think there's a boat down there." Pope informed, confused, but the rest of us just rolled our eyes.
"ha, ha." I replied sarcastically.
"Shut up," John B shook his head as Kie looked amongst us.
"No way." She insisted, I glanced down to JJ who was looking around himself in the water.
"No, no guys, I'm serious. There's like a boat down there. For real." He insisted, everyone standing up and walking over to the edge of the boat. I could see something white under the waves but couldn't make out what it was.
"Holy shit. He's right." Kie answered, the rest of us stripping down to our swimwear before jumping overboard, and swimming down to the wreck. It was definitely a boat, but I couldn't tell much more than that. We pushed off from the boat making our way back up to the surface.
"You guys saw that, right!?" JJ shouted as we emerged, Kie and John B laughing in excitement. "That's a grady white, a new one of those is like 500 bucks easy." We swam back onto John B's boat, climbing on together.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge." John B informed as Kie's hands dropped.
"You surfed the surge?" She asked for clarification.
"That's my boy, pogue style dog." JJ laughed, dapping John B.
"Wait do you know who's boat that is?" I asked following John B over to the manhole.
"No, but we're about to find out." He replied as I crossed my arms in front of my chest, watching as he took out the anchor and walked over to the edge of the boat.
"John B." Kie said sternly, making John B turn around to face us.
"What?" He laughed, holding the anchor to his chest.
"Diver down fool." Pope informed, giving John B a salute.
"Yeah he is." JJ laughed, pushing onto John B's shoulders, causing him to fall off the boat.
"JJ!" Kie shouted as we ran over to the side of the boat, leaning against it. I was the first person to lean down, and when JJ did, his hand landed on top of mine. He glanced between our hands and my face for a split second before turning back to the sea, neither of us moving our hands. We watched the water for what felt like 10 minutes, I was starting to get worried when Pope spoke up.

"Should we go get him?" He offered as John B emerged from the water, coughing as he did so.
"Oh my God that took forever." I groaned as JJ removed his hand from mine, walking over to pull up the anchor.
"Any dead bodies?" Pope asked, making JJ chuckle.
"Learning potential?" He joked as he continued to pull up the anchor.
"No, no, I did find this motel key though." John B replied and my brow furrowed.
"A key?" I asked and he nodded.
"Yes a key, Allie." He answered as he started to swim back over to the boat.
"Great we salvaged a motel key." JJ replied, annoyed.
"Guys we should report the wreck to the coast guard, maybe we'll get a finder's fee." Kie offered and JJ nodded.
"Yeah no work all summer, thanks Agatha ya batch."

-
We pulled up the boat at the coast guard, making our way over to the building. There was a fair crowd around it so only John B and JJ went inside, the other three of us staying outside.
"Well that went well." John B said sarcastically as they came outside.
"So what's the plan?" Pope asked, Kie and I moving closer in order to tighten our circle.
"We figure out how to find the guy that owns that boat." John B answered holding up the room key as JJ leaned on his shoulder, his eyes glancing over to me for a split second.
"No, no we don't know whose room that is. It could belong to anyone." Pope protested as JJ grabbed the key out of John B's hand.
"I'm in." He smirked as he passed me the key.
"Come on, we'll be look out." Kie smiled, linking her arm through mine as we walked over to the boat. We sailed down the marsh, looking out for the motel that the key belonged to, when we saw it JJ let out a whistle.
"And I thought the chateau looked bad." He scoffed at the run down motel that had been ravaged by the storm.
"This place is a shit show." John B agreed, driving towards it.
"Motel or meth lab?" Kie contributed.
"Doesn't look like the type of place someone with a grady-white would stay." Pope informed and I nodded.
"No it looks like the kind of place that someone with a grady-white would get killed." I answered.
"Okay, here we go." JJ said before putting on his walky-talky voice again, "This is your captain speaking, HMS Pogue coming in for landing." He jumped off of the boat, tying it the bank.
"We good?" John B asked and JJ nodded.
"Yeah, we're good." JJ returned as John B started walking to the end of the boat.
"Here goes nothin."
"Hey." I said, catching both of the boys' attentions.
"Yeah?" John B asked as I pointed to JJ.
"Don't let him do anything stupid." I ordered, noticing JJ smirk back at me.
"Oh we will." JJ replied.
"No promises." John B smirked, me rolling my eyes back at them as I sat down.
"Be careful." Kie insisted as she handed them the room key, "I mean it."
"Yeah, we will."

--
*John B's P.O.V*
"Why are all of these mattresses out here?" I asked as we started walking towards the motel.
"After a hurricane they have to ditch them because they're all moldy." JJ responded as we climbed the stairs. He grabbed onto my shoulders, pulling me back towards him. "Just be so careful John B." He mimmicked Kie, rubbing my face as we walked.
"Oh God." I groaned pushing him off of me.
"What the heck was that about?" JJ asked and I shrugged.
"I don't know, maybe she wants us to be careful. Ever thought about that?"
"Since she heard you were getting threatened with exile, she's been like..." He started again, rubbing my shoulders. "Uh, be so careful John B, just give me that John D already."
"Okay and what about you?" I snapped back, his brow furrowing.
"What about me?" He asked in return as I rolled my eyes.
"You and Allie. It's clear you have a thing for her." I insisted and he shook his head.
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh com'on, the two of you cuddling on the beach, or what about getting high on the hammock the other night. Or when you fucked a Kook because she kissed Jace. And don't act like I didn't see you holding her hand when I went down to check out the grady-white." I continued as he stopped walking.
"This is the room." He informed, changing the conversation, he knocked a couple times on the door, moving his head as he did so. "Housekeeping!"

--
*Allie's P.O.V*
The boys had been inside for a while, Kie and Pope were talking about their biggest pet peeves, and no surprise hers was about the environment. I heard a car pull up and glanced over.
"Guys shut up. It's the cops." I informed as they glanced over.
"Shit." Kie groaned, starting to climb off the boat.
"Call them." Pope offered but I shook my head.
"Can't, towers are down." I replied, following Pope off the boat.
"If I lose my merit scholarship I'm gonna kill someone." He informed us as we huddled by the sign, watching as the police officers questioned civillians. "Maybe they're not going up there, maybe their just..."
"Look he's pointing, he's pointing to the room they went in. They're going up there." I replied, glancing between the cops and the room. We ran over to the window, starting to throw rocks up to the window. Pope went first, his hitting the wall.
"That's it, haven't you ever played baseball?" Kie complained, picking up a rock herself.
"I was on the math team." He retorted as I picked up a bunch of rocks as well, starting to throw them up myself. Eventually one of us landed on the roof under the window, the blind was opened revealing John B and JJ, so we signaled to them that there were cops were coming before running back to the boat.
"Should we peel?" Kie asked, getting behind the wheel.
"No, never leave a pogue behind." I replied, staring up the window, watching the two boys climb out and stand against the wall.
"What are you guys doing?" Pope whispered with actions as John B held up a finger to shush him. They stood there for another few minutes, before something fell out of JJ's pocket.

"Fuck, just act natural." I ordered as Pope and I turned around to face Kie.
"Yea, uh, uh, oh for sure." Kie pretended to have a conversation as we sat there. The cops emerged from the room as John B and JJ climbed off of the roof, running over to us as Kie started the boat.
"Well that was fun." JJ smirked, "Coulda warned us a little sooner."
"We would have but Pope was on the Math Team." I retorted.
"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." Pope informed and I nodded, glancing between JJ and John B. "Did you guys find anything?"
"Did we find anything? Hmmm." JJ stalled as he reached into his pockets, pulling out a wad of cash and a gun. "No I don't think so... Oh yeah I think we did."
"Oh my God!" I shouted in shock, standing up.
"Dude you took that from a crime scene!?" Pope cried out as JJ walked over to him, wrapping his arm around Pope's shoulder, "I'm going to lose my merit scholarship."
"Sh, sh, sh, sh." JJ hushed holding the gun up to Pope's lips, honestly? Kinda hot. "At least you have us right?"
"I'm living the nightmare."