stevie | outer banks | JJxOC

16- Enough with the attitude

"Oh my god," Stevie let out slightly in shock that John B was right. She extended her arm forwards and picked up the FedEx package.

"What?" John B couldn't contain his curiosity. Stevie turned the package over, hoping to find any indication of what was inside, but was left frustrated. For Bird. She couldn't be bothered to get angry or complain so she just walked back over to the hole and pushed the package into John B's hands. 

"That's not gold," Pope stated sarcastically even though he knew it was a long shot. Pope reached his hand through the hole to help Stevie climb back out, luckily for her, the floor was higher on the inside. Once she crawled through and landed on the outside of the tomb with help from Pope, she smiled at John B knowing that this meant a lot to him.

"It's from my dad," He told kie.

"Guys." JJ alerted the group, "Square groupers. Code red," he said as he turned to face the group holding a lit joint. All five of them moved quickly to hide themselves and get out of sight. One by one they started turning off their torches, except JJ who was trying to put his joint out.

"Idiot," Stevie whispered as she grabbed JJ's head torch turning him to face her to turn it off. He was caught off guard slightly and stared at her until he realised what he was doing and crouched behind the tomb.

"Didn't have to yank my head off," JJ complained.

They debated for a few seconds whether it was actually the same guys who robbed the chateau but Kie grew tired of waiting after JJ pointed out that they had guns. Kie grabbed Steve's hand and legged it, the boys followed after. After a good run up, Kie and Stevie jumped at the wall and managed to pull themselves over followed by JJ and John B. Pope, however, tried to climb over the gate and got caught on one of the elaborate details.

"Guys, I'm stuck," Pope panicked as the Pogues replied with a chorus of swear words. Kie ran over to the boy to pull him down as Stevie noticed out of the corner of her eye JJ holding a gun at Pope. she ran over and put her hand on the gun to lower it down.

"What are you gonna do?" Stevie asked sarcastically, "Shoot him down?"

"Maybe," JJ replied unfazed by his stupid idea. In the meantime, Kie had pulled Pope down forcing his shorts to rip from under his body. "Nice! Come on, dude."

"It's a little tootsie roll." John B joked as the teens ran into the Twinkie and sat down in a fluster. They should have been scared of the impending threat of the square groupers but they were young as stupid and couldn't stop laughing at Pope in his underwear.

The pogues jumped out of the van once they got to the Chateau, excited to see what the mystery package was. Stevie sat in the main lounge area whilst John B went to change and give Pope some new shorts. She sat and drew one of the birds she could see out of the window. She'd seen this bird time and time again and had filled a page with different angles and details. She was close to finishing a whole sketchbook of drawings she had done of the birds, shells and landscapes of the outer banks. She had pictures of plants and fish and any animal she could come by, scattered across her room, stuck on the walls and ceilings. When she was 14 she painted small vines running across the ceiling of the room with little flowers here and there. A lot of her drawings were ruined when the square groupers broke in. Some of her favourites.

In her peripheral vision, she noticed JJ in the kitchen preparing a sandwich. "That bread had mould on it three days ago," she warned the boy.

"I'll just pull off the bad parts," he said optimistically , "Plus mould is good for you. It's just a natural organism"

"That-" she started to reason with him but quickly gave up, "You know what? Fine," she said letting him do what he wanted although she was interested in how much he'd actually eat. They both moved the table where John B started to open the package but Stevie was quickly distracted by JJ's gagging. "I told you," Stevie smiled.

John B pulled the back apart and pulled out a large filled piece of paper that unfolded to reveal a map. As Pope pointed out there were few markings and coordinates on the map, "Oh. X marks the spot."

"There's something else," John B pulled something else out.

"What is it?" Stevie asked as she couldn't quite see what was in her brother's hands.

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass," JJ glared at the girl.

"Ok, enough with the attitude," Stevie hissed back, "I couldn't see," She defended herself.

"Sure," JJ unconvincingly held his hands up, and when she stopped looking at the blonde he muttered, "Idiot"

"Shut up guys," Kie told the two off as John B pushed the button to start the tape.

"Dear Bird," The tape started.

"Who's Bird?" JJ asked.

"It's what dad called John B," Stevie replied, noting how it was only addressed to one of his children. "This is bullshit," she said under her breath as the tape continued.

"I hate to say, " I told you so" but I told you so. And you doubted your old man." The pogues looked around in shock but John B couldn't look up from his hand where the voice was coming from. Stevie was barely listening, feeling exhausted from dealing with everything to do with her dad. "I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight. But don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either. Hopefully, we're listening to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, living off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If something happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold kid. I love you Bird, even if I didn't always act like it."

Just as Stevie was about to get up and leave, not wanting to listen anymore, she heard her name, "Tell Evie I'm sorry." Both Stevie and JJ looked up at each other. JJ knew she had been called Evie in the past but he could remember why or who said it, and he didn't understand her sudden aversion to it until now, "I've been a shit dad. Wasn't exactly the father of the decade. You and I are so similar, I didn't know how to deal with her. She's so smart and creative. Her drawings. Her drawings are amazing. She sees the world through the most imaginative eyes. She's beyond me," Tears started falling from Stevie's eyes. She had never heard him talk about her like this. She was still annoyed at him for pushing her away but it was nice to hear her dad care, "it didn't come from me, I tell ya. Your mother-- she-- it was her. She's got the best bits of her. Oh, your mother-- Tell Evie I'm sorry, but I'm coming home to fix it cos I love you two. And I'm proud of the people you've become. I'll see you on the other side."

Neither of them could speak. The tape recorder clicked off and the room was silent. Without speaking, Stevie stood up making a painfully loud noise as her chair scraped the ground and grabbed a beer from the fridge before walking out onto the jetty that goes from their house to drink alone. She didn't want to talk to anyone.

a/n: oooh s3 came out!!! it will take a while to get there tho so in the meantime I hope you enjoyed. I'm sorry it has been a very slow burn but JJ and Stevie will start to have more and more interactions. please vote and comment and ill see you in the next part :)