Alone Together • JJ Maybank

Thirty Three.

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"Hey, Abby. Wait up." JJ's voice called as I reached my back door. I looked back, not expecting to hear his voice after he had practically avoided me all day. He had his hands buried in the pockets of his shorts as he jogged towards me, and I couldn't hide the confusion on my face at why he was rushing after me.

"Can we, er, talk?" He mumbled as he stopped a little distance away from me. He seemed nervous, glancing down at the ground momentarily as he spoke, and I couldn't tell if this was going to be a good or a bad talk.

I took a deep breath when he was looking away, preparing for the worst but not wanting to pass up the chance to find out why he was avoiding me again. "Yeah, sure." I forced a small smile back at him, trying to hide my worry. I let go of the door knob I was still holding and gestured down to the step for us both to sit. It felt awkward and I hated it.

JJ sat down beside me, keeping just the smallest of distances between us. He fidgeted with his cap on his head again as I looked towards the dock, watching the last of the dark orange rays from the sun almost completely fade away. "Soooo, why is this awkward?" I chuckled a little to break the tension.

"I know, that's my fault." JJ said back with a forced chuckle that sounded more nervous than anything else.

"You wanna talk about it?" I pressed, trying and failing to read his face. I could see him take a breath as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. His eyes were focused on something in front of him and I could tell he was wracking his brain for the right words to say so I decided to take the lead. "Look, JJ, I don't know what is going on with you, but it's just me. You can talk to me, remember?" I reached forward to grab his hand, and for the first time all day he didn't pull away from me.

"I'm sorry, for being off with you today." His voice was quiet. I squeezed his hand a little tighter, which encouraged him to look at me. "I just- It's..." He stumbled over his words before he looked away again in frustration. "Shit, I'm no good at this."

"At what?" 

"Talking."

"Clearly, you suck at it." I laughed, finally able to draw a small laugh from JJ's serious mood. "You don't have to explain why you've been off with me. But please don't shut me out fully again, like today. It's no fun knowing just how funny and playful and charming you can be, only to have you blank me all day."

His ears perked up at my compliment and an adorable shy grin grew on his face. "Charming, now, huh? That's another new one."

I nudged into him slightly, but was secretly happy to see his usual personality slowly coming back. "I'm serious, JJ. I can always depend on you to cheer me up, so when you're sad, I'm sad. It's a package deal now I'm afraid." I carried on my jokey tone, desperate to keep his mood rising, but I felt his body tense at my words.

I tried to ignore his sudden mood change and carry on. "And besides, whatever our problems are right now, they get solved tomorrow." JJ looked back at me, his hand still in mine, but a confused look now on his face. "When we find the gold." I reminded him of our plan for tomorrow, as if I was certain that we would find it. "That gold literally solves all of our problems, right?"

I couldn't help but feel optimistic about tomorrow. At the beginning it had been a long shot at an unrealistic dream. Did we really expect to find the sunken treasure that people have been hunting for hundreds of years? But now it felt so close. It had to be there. And it would change everything for all of us.

JJ sat up a little straighter, as if he was really thinking over my words. "Yeah... you're actually right." His smile grew wider as if he was only just realizing something as he placed his free hand on top of our already clasped hands. I furrowed my brows at him, trying to figure out what it was that was playing on his mind that the gold would fix, when a thought came into my mind.