Alone Together • JJ Maybank

Twenty One.

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The journey back home was quiet after the failed attempt at finding the gold. Everyone's spirits were low, compared to how buzzed we all were last night. Usually in this mood I would retreat back to my room alone, but the last thing I wanted to do was dig myself an even bigger hole by looking into mom's stuff again. I wanted to forget about that and the gold for a while. And I wanted to give John B some space that he clearly needed.

I decided to tag along with Pope as we returned the boat to his unsuspecting dad while everyone else went home. Forcing a smile to my face whenever Heyward would crack the odd dad-joke throughout the morning surprisingly helped, and helping Pope restock items definitely took my mind off of things.

"You two kids are in a dire mood today. Quit looking so glum. You're scaring off my customers." Heyward sassed when he caught Pope and I leaning our body weight on the counter in complete silence, both of our minds elsewhere.

"Sorry Mr. H. It's just one of those days." I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

Heyward stared at me, expressionless for a second longer before turning to Pope. "Yeah, yeah, That's every day for me. Go take those crates outside and make yourself useful, boy." He gestured towards the crates of fruit stacked by my side before walking off.

Pope walked towards the crates, picking the top one up without a word. I followed behind, lifting the next one and walking towards the front entrance. "If only your dad knew we essentially just lost out on 400 million dollars today, huh. I think he would understand our mood then." I laughed gently again as I placed my crate beside the one Pope had just put on the outside table. Pope didn't respond, his face completely zoned out. "Hey, earth to Pope." I said, waving my hand in front of his face and snapping my fingers twice.

His eyes snapped back to me as he shook his head. "Sorry, sorry, Abby. I was miles away." He stuttered out. "You ever think we're just destined to never be Kooks, no matter how hard we try?"

I studied his face for a moment, trying to read his mood. "I don't know if I believe in destiny. I think you just gotta work hard." I said as he nodded at my words. "And maybe a little bit of luck plays a part. Which, Pope, we do not have, so it seems." I pointed playfully at him. He laughed a little at my words, finally cracking a smile for the first time since we got back.

"I guess the dream was nice while it lasted." I hummed along to his words, pulling the saran wrap back from the crate and rolling it in a ball in my hand when I spotted a shiny grey Jeep pull up at the corner of my eye. I looked past Pope, towards the car, spotting the now recognizable faces of Topper and Rafe.

"Do those two usually shop on this side of the island?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as I nodded my head in their direction. I looked back towards them when Pope turned to look. They were glaring straight at him.

I reached my hand forward, gently placing it on Pope's forearm, feeling him tense up. "Erm, what's that about?" I asked, dropping my voice to a whisper. He didn't reply, he just turned and walked quickly back inside. I watched on in confusion as he rushed anxiously towards the door before I turned to look back at the car.