fade away youth// rafe cameron

40-Closing up the curtains while you call out of work now

"Please get up!" Kie pleads.

"You gotta wake up," John B tells JJ.

"Get up!" Kie shouts.

JJ starts to cough as he opens his eyes.

"There you go Yeah, yeah. Cough it out. Cough it out, baby," John B tells him.

JJ keeps coughing up the water in his lungs.

"Hey, buddy, there you go," Pope says. "Hey. Hey, buddy. Welcome to the land of the living, dude."

"No CPR needed, huh?" John B says.

JJ looks at Kie and she smiles. "Hi."

"'Sup?" JJ says.

Everyone laughs.

"Dude!" Pope says.

Kie hugs JJ tightly.

"Just always looking for attention," John B teases.

"Whatever it takes, right?" JJ jokes.

"Don't ever do that again," I tell him.

"What the hell happened?" JJ asks.

"The blunt end of a machete," Kie tells him.

"Machete?" JJ asks.

"The blunt end," Kie tells him.

"Next time, duck," Cleo tells him.

"I'll try to remember that next time. Thanks," JJ says.

"This shit ain't over," Pope states.

John B shakes his head. "No, it ain't."

We keep going until we stop at an island. The boys are pulling the lifeboat up onto the beach.

"Good job, guys," Sarah tells them.

"Good job," Kie and I say at the same time.

"Whoa," JJ says.

"You okay?" I ask.

"JJ, you all right there, buddy?" John B asks.

"Yeah. Still a little dizzy," JJ tells us. "Okay, anybody know where we're at?"

"Deserted beach. Unknown island," Pope states.

"All right, I'll take that as a no," JJ says. "Plan A, huh, Pope? That went well."

"This is the lowest we can go. We literally have nothing else to lose. The cross, gone," Pope states.

"The gold, gone," Sarah adds.

"Seriously, if we had a nickel for every time we got beat up, I'd say we're at a dollar fifty," JJ says.

"That's more than I got on me," Kie offers.

"That somehow doesn't make me feel better," Sarah tells her.

"Yeah, you're right," John B says. "But, I mean, we've... We've had some good stuff happen, right?"

"Name something," Pope tells him.

"Um..." John B thinks for a moment. "Uh, the boiler room. What? I mean if the boiler didn't explode, I wouldn't have gotten away from Rafe. I couldn't have gotten the Zodiac and gotten us out of here."

Cleo shakes her head. "That wasn't luck. That thing was gonna blow the second I stopped feeding it."

"Stealing my thunder, Cleo. Um..." John B tells her.

"Sorry," Cleo says.

"Okay. Pope, you're related to Denmark Tanny. That's crazy," John B tells him.

"And I lost all his inheritance," Pope reminds us.

"You know what?" John B says. "Guys, this is it. This is the Pogue life. We are in the Caribbean. It's our own little slice of paradise. With my best friends, with my family. I don't know. I wouldn't wanna do it with anyone else. Look, and while you guys were complaining about every little thing... JJ?"

"Hmm?" JJ says.

"I was looking at those burly lefts," John B tells him.

"There's some slabs out there," JJ admits.

"Just a few," John B agrees. "Kie, see that? I know you wanna get out."

"No boards," Kie reminds him.

"Well, we can bodysurf till we make some boards," John B offers.

"Lame," Kie tells him.

"Pope? Come on, man," John B says.

"They do look pretty tasty," John B admits.

"Oh, yes, they do," John B says.

"There's nobody around. We could squat here for a bit. Kind of belongs to us now, huh?" Pope offers.

"You got a point," John B tells him.

"Seven-way split?" Pope asks.

JJ puts on a posh accent, "Poguelandia."

I laugh. "Oh boy."

"I claim thee Poguelandia." JJ goes back to his normal voice, "I like the ring of it. I'm gonna make a flag. It's gonna have a chicken on it. With a coconut bra, smoking a J... in Crocs."

"I could use a J," Kie says.

"Can we vote on this?" Sarah asks.

"Shall we get to work?" Pope asks.

"Let's get to work," John B tells him. "Let's start working on provisions. Set up shop." John B walks over to Sarah. "Sarah. Till death do us part?"

"Till death do us part," Sarah tells him.

"Welcome back to the Pogue life," John B tells her.

"Full Pogue," Sarah states.

"Full Pogue. Ooh," John B says.

Pope holds his hand out to Cleo to help her up. "Welcome to the Pogues."

"Thanks," Cleo tells him.

"Going full Pogue," Kie states.

"What is a Pogue, anyway?" Cleo asks. "What is that handshake you do?"

Pope shows her the top secret pogue handshake. "Slap, slap. Hey!"

We gather enough provisions to last us the rest of the day and for the next few days while we live it up in Poguelandia. The boys get a fire going and it's just like a night at the Château minus the beer and s'mores.

Rafe and I are sitting off away from the others.

"How are you doing?" I ask Rafe. "Considering your dad is actually alive and he tried to kill Sarah. And Hunter tried to kill us."

"Yeah it's... it's crazy," Rafe tells me. "I..." He sighs. "I still can't believe it really."

"For what it's worth you have me. I'm not going anywhere," I assure. "And not just because we're stranded on an island."

Rafe nods slightly. "I know."

"Anything for you, Rafe," I tell him. "I love you."

"I love you too," Rafe tells me.

Rafe smiles as he leans in and kisses me. I look out at the water after pulling away.

"It's not Spain but I'll take it," I tell him.

"First stop of many," Rafe tells me.