Audacious//JJ Maybank (Outerbanks)

Chapter 2

'Well, look who we have here.' I call out to Pope as he cleans up the debris on the deck. 'We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory.' John B says into his shoulder pretending there's a walkie-talkie. 'I can't. my pops got me on lockdown.' Pope explains and I sigh. 'Come on man. Your dad's a pussy. Over.' JJ says pretending to talk into a walkie-talk like John B.

I try to control my laugh as Heyward comes up behind Pope and gives JJ a death stare. 'Oh, I heard that, you little bastard.' Heyward shouts and I snicker as JJ's eyes widen in shock and he jumps back. 'We need your son.' John B says. 'Yeah, and island rules. Day after a hurricane's a free day.' JJ makes up a stupid rule. 'Who the hell made that up?' Heyward asks annoyedly. 'Uh, pentagon, I think. We have security clearance. Wasn't it?' JJ says looking at my brother and me with a smirk and we nod in confirmation.' He's right.' I reply and Heyward rolls his eyes as he looks at me. 'Do you think I'm stupid?' Heyward argues and I let out a nervous chuckle as I shake my head.

'I'll do it tomorrow. I promise. Tomorrow.' Pope pleads. 'No, no. Hell no. You do it right now.' Heyward demands as Pope looks at us defeated. 'Get in the boat.' I whisper to Pope and he looks at his father and sighs before placing the hose on the ground. 'Make a run for it, bro.' JJ whispers to him. 'Boy, if you get in that boat-' Heyward argues but gets cut off by Pope running over to the boat and hopping in. 'Yeah, how does that feel?' JJ asks proudly.

'Go, go, go.' Pope says immediately to my brother to start the boat. 'bring your ass back here.' Heyward yells. 'I promise I'll do it tomorrow. 'Whoo!' JJ shouts excitedly. 'Sorry, Heyward. We need your son.' I say sweetly before my brother drives off. ''You're gonna clean shrimp. Clean fish. You'll clean your dirty ass room!' Heyward yells. 'We'll bring him back in one piece.' I assure Heyward. 'And I don't like your friends.' He yells loudly as my brother picks up speed.

It didn't take us long to get to Kie's dock. 'Top of the morning to ya.' JJ greets her with an Irish accent. 'Good morning.' She says walking down the steps to the boat. 'Whatcha got?' Pope asks. 'You got some juice boxes?' I smile and she nods. 'You know, just some yoghurts and carrot sticks.' Kie says nonchalantly. 'What about my kind of juice boxes?' JJ asks with a devilish smile and she smirks at him. 'Yeah.' She says as I help her onto the boat and JJ cheers taking the bag off her and grabbing a beer. 'Brace for impact.' My brother says driving away from the dock. 'Salud.' Kie says clinking her beer with JJ's. 'Skoal.' JJ replies raising his beer to me with a smile.

***

We were driving through the marsh, talking and making jokes. 'You want a beer?' Kie asks me and I shake my head. 'I'm trying to cut down on the drinking.' I say and they all look at me shocked. 'What? It's quite normal for someone to do that.' I shrug before taking a hit from JJ's blunt. 'I never thought I'd see the day Jackie Routledge would try to cut down on drinks. The world must be ending.' JJ teases and I shove him by the shoulder.

'Are you going to stop smoking as well?' Pope questions and I immediately shake my head. 'Never.' I smirk before taking another hit. 'Let me show you a party trick.' JJ says grabbing his beer and I let out a sigh. 'Hey, bro. Can you go a little faster?' JJ asks my brother. 'Here we go.' My brother says gaining speed. JJ tips his beer towards his mouth, trying to use the wind to guide the drink into his mouth, but instead gets it all over us. 'You're getting beer in my hair.' Kie says annoyedly and I chuckle.

'You've tried this 6000 times, it's never going to work.' I state placing my hands on my hips as he rolls his eyes continuing to try to get it in his mouth but it just sprays on us. 'All right, you're done.' Pope says. 'All right, stop!' John B demands as I stand up to grab some food from the basket but before I can the boat suddenly stops moving, sending JJ and me flying off the boat into the water.

Kicking my feet back to the surface, I take in a breath of air, wiping the water from my face and pushing my hair out of the way. JJ resurfaces beside me and groans in pain. 'You guys alright?' John B quickly asks and I put my thumbs up. 'I think my heels touched my head.' JJ mutters as I swim over to him and check to see if he is okay.

'Pope, what did you do?' JJ asks as I help him back to the boat. 'Sandbar, the channels changed.' Pope explains as JJ hops back onto the boat. He offers his hand to me, and taking my hand, he pulls me back onto the boat beside him. 'No, shit.' I scoff standing up and grabbing a towel to dry my hair. 'Ugh, this is probably gonna mess this whole place up.' My brother sighs. 'Hey, I saved the beer, though.' JJ says proudly and confidently and I roll my eyes as Pope walks to the edge of the boat. 'G-Guys?' Pope stutters.

'Yeah?' I ask and he sighs. 'I think there's a boat down there.' Pope says squatting down to get a better look, we all rush over to the side of the boat. 'No way.' John B and I gasp in unison. 'Holy shit' JJ says astonished looking at John B and me and then at Pope before jumping into the water. 'Let's go.' I say taking off my top and hopping in beside JJ.

After a moment, Kie, Pope and my brother jump in and we all dive into the water down to the boat. A Grady white to be exact, it looks brand new. I was so mesmerised by the sight in front of me I was starting to think I was having a dream. My lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen so I motioned to everyone to come back up and they followed momentarily behind me as we all resurfaced. We instantly take in a breath of air.

'You guys saw that right?' JJ asks immediately. 'Yeah.' We all answer in unison. 'That's a Grady white.' JJ explains and we all laugh. 'A new one of this is like 500 Gs, easy.' JJ exclaims as we swim back onto the boat. 'That's a promo rig.' He says and my eyes widen in the realisation.

That was the boat my brother and I saw yesterday. 'That's the boat we saw when we surfed the surge.' I say looking at my brother and he nods in agreement. 'Maybe it hit the jetty or something?' John B suggests. 'Wait, you guys surfed the surge?' Kie asks looking at John b and me with disappointed expressions. 'Yeah.' We answer in unison. 'Hell yeah, Pogue style.' JJ laughs, giving my brother. 'What the heck?' Kie says annoyedly. 'Wait, wait. Do we know whose boat that is?' Pope asks. 'No, but we're about to find out.' My brother says opening the compartment on the boat. 'Dude, it's too deep.' JJ says looking into the water.

'Only for the weak and feeble.' John B smirks pulling out the anchor. 'I'm not resuscitating you. But I will for Jackie.' JJ says with a smirk and I roll my eyes. 'Cool.' My brother replies. 'John B.' Kie crosses her arms disapproving. 'What!' John B asks with a laugh. 'And you're going to let him do this?' Kie questions look at me and I nod my head and she scoffs. 'Diver down.' My brother salutes. 'Diver down.' Pope says. 'Yeah, he is.' JJ says pushing my brother into the water. After a minute he comes back up with a motel key. 'Oh my god, that took forever.' Kie exclaims with relief. 'Any dead bodies?' Pope asks and I roll my eyes. 'No.' My brother says getting back onto the boat. 'I found this motel key.' He says handing me it.

'A key.' Pope says disappointed as JJ lifts the anchor back onboard. ''Yes, a key, Pope.' My brother replies. 'Great! We salvaged a motel key.' Pope says sarcastically and I roll my eyes. 'Guys, we should report the wreck to the Coast Guard.' Kie urges as we drive back through the marsh. 'Maybe we'll get a finders fee.' She says. 'Yeah, and not work all summer.' JJ says happily and I smile. 'Thanks, Agatha. Ya, bitch.' I tease and we all laugh.

After a few minutes of trying to get the Coast Guard's attention John B turned around to start to walk out, I was still preoccupied with trying to grab their attention and JJ just scoffed beside me before grabbing my wrist and pulling me out. 'What are we going to do now.' I groan and Pope nods in agreement. 'Yeah, what's the plan?' Pope asks. 'I know how we're gonna find the guy.' My brother says with a smirk and Pope and I look at him furrowing our eyebrows in confusion.

'We don't know which room that is. It could be anyone.' Pope states and I nod in agreement. 'I'm in.' JJ says tossing the key to Kie. 'Come on. I'll be lookout.' Kie says with a smile. 'No, no, no.' Pope repeats. 'Finder's fee. Just saying.' My brother says tapping Pope on the shoulder before he, kie and Pope walk towards the boat, I sigh. 'If it makes you feel any better, I don't like this idea too. I got a weird feeling about it.' I say and he sighs. 'Come on, Bubba' John b urges Pope and he rolls his eyes before following after him. 'Are you going to just stand there or join us?' JJ yells from the boat looking at me with a smile. 'Shut up.' I roll my eyes before hopping onto the boat.

To be Continued...