𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 - kiara carrera¹

𝒙𝒗𝒊. 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒔

"AND THEN WE WERE RIGHT OUTSIDE LIKE THIS."

The sound of the the rooster distracted Tatum from JJ's words. Throughout the early morning, while everyone else was sleeping, he and John B had seen the men again. The men that had shot at them days ago. Well, actually, they only saw one of the men. For some reason, the other guy wasn't there. But that's beside the point - these men went after Lana Grubbs, Scooter's wife. Scooter, as in the dead guy that owned the boat the teenagers found.

The blonde boy rested his back on the brick wall, clicking his fingers so that Tatum would turn back around to him. She nodded as a signal for him to continue, shaking her head and trying to focus on the story. "And all we hear is just, 'Bam! Bam! Bam!' Knocking paint off the wall, G! From the inside. All right? And I'm just looking at him, like -"

Kiara and Pope didn't believe a single word that came out of his mouth, and Tatum was already beginning to forget what happened, because she was too busy giggling at the boy's emphasis.

He skipped forwards with a burst of energy, standing in front of the three who were lounging on the chairs, and unfortunate enough to miss out on his and John B's morning trip. "Wait. First off, look at this shit," he said, bending his head and scratching at it. Small balls off white fell out, causing Tatum and Kie to share a look of disgust.

"That's dandruff, disgusting," said Kie, turning her head away.

Tatum picked a small piece up, squeezed it, sniffed it and nodded. "What shampoo do you use, J?" she asked with a laugh.

"Okay, thank you," said Pope, holding out his arm to stop JJ from sprinkling them with his fairy dust.

"Look at that. All right?" the blonde boy said as he stood up straight again. "That's paint." He paused dramatically. Tatum grinned, sitting forwards and ready for the next part. "At that point, I was just, like...I'm waiting for death."

She clapped her hands with whoops and giggles. "Five-star performance. We should go on Broadway together, babes."

Pope shook his head and rolled his eyes, patting the girl on the bag. He honestly didn't know of she was being serious or sarcastic anymore. "Oh, okay, so you saw the guys that shot us, right?" he clarified.

"One of them," said JJ, glancing at Tatum like he knew something. She had no idea what he meant.

"Did you get a good description of him?" asked Pope smartly. "What did he look like?"

Kie nodded. "Yeah. Anything."

She didn't really know what was going on still, but Tatum nodded too. "Yeah, Kiara is totally right."

"Anything we can bring to a police report?"

"Yeah."

JJ looked out over the horizon, still not over his insane dramatics. He really could be an actor. He was seriously considering it now. Nah. Too much work. He turned back to face his friends. "Burly."

"Burly?" asked Pope, his hands out in front of him.

"Yeah. You know, like -"

"That's not very helpful," Kie told him, resting her head tiredly on Tatum's shoulder.

Tatum loved this. She loved the feeling of comfort. She loved the way Kiara had so much trust in her. She just absolutely loved Kiara. She rested her head on top of hers, and her buzz and excitement immediately calmed down. Because with Kie, she was relaxed. Comfortable.

"Okay, well, no, like -" JJ spluttered and pointed at Tatum. "Like the type of guy at our dads' garage." He gestured to everyone else. "I mean, you guys knew they made cargo hides for drug smugglers."