The Strays ⎈John B Routledge⎈

The Catalyst

"Oh." He said, the word elongating as his accent went back to normal. "I see. So, they wanted to hook up, but I was in the bedroom, so they decided the absolute best place to go was the HMS Pogue. Scandalous."

"Oh my God, JJ get out of here." John B groaned as he finally looked over at the dock. At the big grin on Pope's face, he clarified. "Both of you."

While Pope muttered a joking 'damn', JJ got to his feet with a crooked smile. "Fine, fine. Don't have too much fun, kids."

With that, he slapped Pope's arm with the back of his hand, prompting the other Pogue to follow. They left with grins, snickering over the situation and going back and forth on the top times they thought CJ and John B would've gotten together. When they were finally walking up the yard, shoving each other around, the female Maybank let out a relieved breath.

"My god, I thought they would never leave." She chuckled softly, raising the joint to her lips once again.

CJ felt a little awkward and didn't really know what to say. Not that she regretted anything that happened, it just wasn't exactly expected. Before yesterday she hadn't even realized she had feelings for her best friend. Now, they had both admitted they were in love with one another and had fooled around in a boat. A lot had happened in one night that she needed to wrap her head around.

"So..." John B started off, clearing his throat a bit self consciously. "Wonderful weather this morning."

An amused scoff fell from CJ's lips as she turned to face the boy next to her. Blowing smoke, she handed the joint back to him. "Did you really just go for the weather conversation?"

"Yes. Yes, I did." He responded, face screwing up as he nodded his head with apt certainty. His voice was deep and it made CJ's skin tingle.

Smiling widely, the Maybank shook her head as she giggled softly. "We're so bad at this."

"Yes. Yes, we are."

Hitting the joint, that was all he said. While he looked toward their legs, still wrapped under the covers, CJ's gaze turned to the water. The sun was shining brightly in the sky and something about it made her want to open her mouth. Maybe it was something about how the sun was never shy about shining so brightly in the sky. Something might cover it up, but day in and day out, that sun rose and shined as brightly as ever for everyone to see.

"So, I'm in love with you." CJ kept her gaze on the water as she simply nodded her head, her hands twisting around one another on her lap. "Yeah, I dunno when or how that happened, but it definitely did."

Her nerves were shooting through the roof as she waited for a response while John B physically couldn't breathe. His heart was racing and thoughts shot around in his head as if he could truly grasp on to any of them. He'd waited for this moment for so long and he was so worried that what happened last night and what she'd said had just been heat of the moment. That she was just drunk. He'd been so worried that even though he'd made sure she wanted to do what they'd done that she would feel he'd taken advantage of her. John B in no way shape or form wanted to remind her of the mistake she made with Topper.

"Wait, what?" Was the epic response his brain picked out, too muddied to think of anything else.

"Do I really need to say it again?" CJ questioned, gaze falling to her fingers as her cheeks burned. After all, she'd never been vulnerable like this and although John B had seen her at her worst and at her most vulnerable, none of those things ever had to do with him. It wasn't something that he had to understand, it was something he had to feel in return and despite the fact that all of this started with him kissing her unannounced, she was still worried that he might not feel the same.