happy place || jj maybank ON HOLD

chapter seven

"You inspired that last one." JJ says, sending me a smirk, "John B made it up when I first met him in third grade. Year after you stopped coming around." He chuckles.

I push JJ's shoulder and roll my eyes. I know now that this is his humor, although it may be true that I inspired it, he's not saying this to be rude.

"Anyway," I say, shaking my head at the boy, "What happens when you break a rule?" I ask.

"Umm" Pope looks to JJ.

"Honestly, not sure." JJ says, "it's never happened before."

I nod at him, then look over to see that John is finally exiting the restaurant, with Kie behind him.

Kie gets in and takes the passenger seat, since JJ has moved to the back. John looks at JJ suspiciously, so JJ throws his hands in the air and hops over the bench seat, sitting in the trunk area instead. John then starts the car and backs out the the parking lot, heading toward the graveyard.

By the time we're halfway there, the sun is set and it's already dark.

"You mind if I just relax on this one? It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down." JJ says, licking the blunt he had just rolled, finishing it off before digging through his bag for a lighter. I take mine out of my pocket and hand it to him. "Thanks, Enna." He says, taking the lighter. I furrow my eyebrows at the nickname, but let it go, happy he's finally being somewhat friendly towards me.

"I'm just gonna lay low." He says, holding the blunt to his lips. I watch him intently, taking in his facial features. I never really noticed his looks until now, and wow.

"Oh did you want a hit of this?" He questions, noticing me staring.

"Oh, uh, yeah." I respond, hoping to disguise to  the staring as me just wanting a hit.

I light the blunt and take a hit off of it, inhaling it into my lungs and sighing it out. I take a second one and hand it back to JJ, who's now smirking at me.

"Pope, want a hit?"

Pope raises his hand to the blunt. "I keep the signal clear."

"Alright, you know what your problem is? It's that you don't get creative, dude." JJ says, still holding the blunt toward him. "If you got creative then maybe-"

"Look, I-I know V and I were wrong about the lighthouse, alright?" John says, ignoring the interaction. JJ takes the blunt from Pope and puts it back between his lips, taking three hits then passing it back to me. I happily take it, mentally agreeing that today has been wild, causing me to now feel the need to smoke.

"And probably wrong about pretty much everything else going on." I add, exhaling the weed.

"But we were right about one thing, okay? They're messages, I know it. Our fathers are trying to tell us something." John says. "And, V, put the blunt down."

I roll my eyes, "Yes, sir!" I say sarcastically, and bringing it to my lips again and taking another hit. Ignoring John's request, if he doesn't have a problem with JJ smoking, he should have one with me smoking.

"Atta girl." JJ comments, taking the blunt back for himself.

We all pile out of the car, heading into the cemetery. John and Kiara lead, Pope stands somewhere in the middle of us and JJ and I trail a few yards behind.

"Feeling alright?" JJ asks, noticing how slow I'm walking.

I giggle at him, "yeah I'm fine."