𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 ━ 𝐣𝐣 𝐨𝐛𝐱

part thirty six

the sun was down when riley parked her car outside of the police station. the drive was silent; the group too lost in their own thoughts to interact in a conversation with each other.

after kiara had told riley was happened she had explained to her that john b had this plan and that he needed riley to help him with it. all though the girl didn't get any more information other than that, she reluctantly drove herself and kiara to the chateau to pick up the boys.

"so why did you make me drive to the police station?" riley turned her head to face the boys that sat in the back of her car.

"somebody's gotta tell em what happened," john b muttered. pope bursted into a fit of coughs before anyone could respond.

"i leave for a few hours and i come back to pope smoking weed," riley mumbled under her breath, "yeah, this is gonna go great."

john b sat staring ahead, attempting to gain the courage to get out of the car. jj leaned over pope so he could his anxious best friend in the eye. "you don't go to the police on purpose. just like my man always told me, you should never ever trust cops, no matter what the circumstance is."

"you're old mans an abusive liar," kiara gritted. riley nearly slapped her sister across the face at that comment. riley could see the hurt in jj's eyes as she said it; after all, he was staring right at her. riley's expression softened but she averted her eyes within a second, in which pope decided to chime into the conversation.

"fuck the police."

"peterkin looked out for me, alright? tried to, at least. they need to know," john b stated. "plus riley's going with me. the police love kooks."

"so that's your master plan?" riley asked. jj looked more worried than he had been the entire car ride after john b mentioned that she would be accompanying him. and afraid that he would say something to stop her, riley got out of the car, john b following right behind her.

the group remained accompanied by an uneasy feeling as the at in the car waiting for the pairs return. it only three minutes before they came barreling out of the police station. riley had never turned the ignition faster or floored the gas harder than she did once she reached the car.

"what the fuck happened?!" jj yelled as they sped away from the station. "what the fuck was-"

"SHUT UP JJ!" john b and riley screamed in unison and the blonde boy clamped his mouth shut.

after a long and restless night of sitting in riley's car in an almost invisible part of town, and an even longer morning that resulted in john b as a wanted criminal for 25,000 dollars... the five teens created a plan, dropped john b into the middle of no where, and were now parked outside of the cameron house.

riley made sure to park a distance from the house, so that her car could go unseen. she was sure that if any of the cameron's saw her car they would know who it belonged to in an instant.

"you sure this is a good idea?" jj asked kiara as they all quietly got out of the vehicle.

"no," riley mumbled under her breath, although the question wasn't meant for her.

"well she's the only one who can clear john b," kie sighed. "i have a plan."

"yeah, i have plans. we can do plans," pope nodded, obviously still feeling the effects from his high. "let's do the plan thing. let's get it. let's plan it out."

riley was sure that she would've been giggling with jj by now if they had been on speaking terms. were they on speaking terms? she didn't even know the answer to that question.

"can you handle a plan right now?" kie turned to pope and riley was sure that she could've slapped him right then.

"course i can handle a plan right now," pope scoffed. "i'm- i'm the plan guy, i'm mister plan-o-matic. hey, i-i'm always..." and then he started to sing. kie threw her hand over his mouth to quiet him down. riley put her head into her heads, keeping her distance from the two; however, she could feel jj's presence directly behind her.

"can i move my hand?" kie asked pope, raising her eyebrows. pope nodded, promoting the girl to slowly remove her hand from overtop his mouth.

"i love you, kie," pope blurted out. riley's eyes widened at the boy's words that were directed towards her sister. and jj, from right behind her, had whispered a string of curse words, as he watched his best friend confess his feelings.

"what?"

"i love you. i'm in love with you," pope repeated.

kie just remained silent as she kept her eyes on her friend, her face twisted in a mix of confusion and denial. "you're wasted."

pope launched forward to grab the girl's arm before she could walk away. "no, i know i'm wasted. that's why i'm saying this now. i really feel like this, i love you."

"now uh... that's very sweet, but it's... looks, it's not gonna happen," kie said quietly, a saddened expression adorning her features.

riley could tell that kiara felt guilty from just looking at her. i mean, being turned down by someone you really like was one of the worst feelings in the world... riley could sure relate to pope in the moment.

"look, i-i want something... different," kie awkwardly mumbled out. "i want to go to antarctica, and i want to ride camels..."

"i want- i want to do those things with you!" pope cut in, trying to reason with the girl.

"no pope, it's not gonna work!" kie harshly whispered.

"i wanna be that person," pope pressed.

"no. it's not gonna happen!" kie snapped. "i know that it's hard to hear right now, but we don't have time for this... and a really bad place to do it."

"so is this a bad place and time for me too?" jj whispered in riley's ear, making her jump after being so absorbed into pope's confession.

"what?"

"for me to tell you i like you," jj stated.