stevie | outer banks | JJxOC

13- your breath stinks

"What?" Pope replied to John B's blurt of info after being quiet throughout the whole conversation.

"Dad," He looked up from the compass and at Stevie, "Dad's office"

Stevie rolled her eyes. She hated that stupid office. Not because she wasn't interested or that she thought it was a waste of time but because she was never allowed in there. Their dad never wanted to share his love for history with Stevie even when she was clearly interested and focused on John B. Stevie loved him obviously but she had this gnawing anger that ate away at her because of how he treated her. They used to get on. The whole family was close but as they got older Big John got more and more paranoid and closed off and cut his daughter completely off from about the age of 13.

"Oh god," Stevie let out a sigh. When John B got all worked up like this it reminded her of their dad. He grabbed into his pocket and started walking over to the forbidden door

"He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research." John B explained to the non-Routledges.

"I thought it was just to keep me out," Stevie scoffed making Kie laugh apologetically.

"We used to laugh at him all the time about it like he was actually gonna find it." John B continued towards the door, "but know that he's gone, we've kinda..." he trailed off as they got to the door, "just left it as he kept it"

"Yeah for when he gets back," Kie said confidently for John B but then looked at Stevie with sad eyes.

John B slowly opened the door and revealed the room. Stevie felt disappointed. She always wanted it to look out of this world. With pots of gold and pirate swords on the walls. She thought there would be big old beautiful maps with string and crosses pointing out mysteries and treasure or model boats on the mantlepiece but it was just a room. It looked like the rest of the house. It was dusty with clutter and bins and rubbish like the rest of the house.

"I've slept over here like 600 times, and I've never seen this door opened," Pope reflected as John B walked into the room further, moving some of the clutter about.

"Pope. I live here and have never been inside," Stevie smiled.

"Fine you win," Pope replied moving further into the room.

John B saw what he was looking for and grabbed a board explaining the legacy of the compass, "Here, look." He showed everyone the board, "this is the original owner, right here."

"Ok, Robert Q. Routledge," Kie read out loud. "1880 to 1920. There the lucky compass, right there," she pointed out the small gold piece on the picture.

"Actually, um... he was shot after he bought it." John B said awkwardly which reminded Stevie of the lineage of the compass.

"Wasn't the compass shipped back to Henry?" Stevie asked John B remembering the story that Big John had told them when they were young.

"He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass," John B pointed at the board whilst Kie, JJ and Pope looked at each other worried about the recurring theme.

"It was then given to Stephen," Stevie added.

"Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam." John B finished.

"Let me guess he died in action, right?" he asked sarcastically following the theme of death.

"Well, sort of," Stevie started explaining, "Uh, he was killed by a banana truck. In-- in country"

"Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass to our dad" John B finished the story. However, everyone else was now feeling more on edge than they did before.