Ocean and Alcohol ✘JJ Maybank✘

As the Rooster Crows

It was confirmed. There was never going to be a normal day hanging out with the Pogues.

JJ was describing how he and John B had witnessed someone getting attacked in their own house rather dramatically. Pope and Kie grilled him while John B paced back and forth.

"You're sure they were the guys that shot at us yesterday?" you asked, looking up from your hands.

"Yes!" JJ said, letting a puff of smoke out of his mouth.

"How do you know if you can't describe them?" Pope yelled, exasperated.

"I wasn't taking little mental polaroids the entire time! I was under duress, okay?" JJ took a step back before taking another hit from his vape pen.

"That's alright," you said, putting up a hand as Pope shook his head and crossed his arms.

"But I can tell you," JJ said, taking a deep breath to try and calm himself down. "By the way Ms. Lana was screaming, these guys were serious hombres, man."

"Wait," you said, scowling. "Ms. Lana? That's whose house you were at?"

"Yeah," JJ said, running his hands through his hair.

You stood quickly, picking your bag off the ground.

"Where are you going?" Pope asked.

"I've got to go see Ms. Lana. I can't leave her there alone," you said. You made for the door of the porch, but JJ grabbed your wrist.

"You can't go there," he said, shaking his head. "Those guys could come back."
"I don't have anything they want, do I? Ms. Lana is my friend, I can't just-"

"Why do they want the compass anyway?" Kie asked, sitting up straighter.

"Yeah, it's a piece of shit," Pope said before looking back at John B, who was still pacing. "No offense dude, I know it's in the family-"

"The office," John B said, looking at JJ.

"What?"

"My dad," John B made for the front door. "My dad's office."

You watched him walk inside, one hand still on the porch door. JJ tossed you a pleading look. You couldn't leave him here when he wanted you to stay, but how could you leave Ms. Lana there knowing that she was hurting?

"Dammit," you murmured to yourself as you turned toward JJ and followed them inside the house.

"He always kept the office locked in case anyone tried to steal his Royal Merchant research," John B explained as he led you all through the house. "We used to laugh about it, but now that he's gone I've just...I've kind of kept it has it was."

The door you stood in front of looked like every other door in the house; white, wooden, plain. The only difference was the lock that kept it shut. John B stared at the lock for a few moments, as if deciding whether or not it was worth it.

"For when he gets back," Kie said. She sent a very pointed look to JJ and Pope, who rolled their eyes. It was clear to you that there were some in this group who weren't one hundred percent sure that Big John was coming back. For John B's sake, you really really hoped he was going to.

John B unlocked the door and pushed it open slowly.

The room was an absolute mess. Papers, books, charts, and maps littered almost every surface, You weren't sure how anyone was supposed to find anything of use in this room. It was a fire hazard. You also didn't want to mention that a locked door wasn't really much use when there were glass windows surrounding the place, so you kept it to yourself.