Carefree || JJ Maybank

Chapter Seventy-Four

"Okay, John B, your turn." Sarah smiles as she takes off the woven hat she had made.

John B draws his lips into a line. "Alright, alright, truth."

"This is exciting." Cleo adds as he catches the hat that Sarah had tossed. He takes a seat next to Everleigh and smiles at the blonde girl across from him.

"If you could do it all again, what would you do different?" She asks curiously. Everleigh let out a breathy laugh knowing that it would be easier to name the things they wouldn't do differently.

"Uh, get the gold out before Ward did." JJ answers for John B.

Pope decides to add on, "Maybe, hide the cross a little better."

"Not, yell murderer at Ward... Maybe." Kiara suggests.

"You better be glad I wasn't up there for that because, Kie, I promise you I would've slapped you." Everleigh jokes, earning a sarcastic thank you from Kiara.

"Uh, steal a couple bottles of rum before we jumped off the boat." John B admits looking at his sister who nodded in reply.

JJ turns and looks at John B, "Yeah, why didn't you do that actually?"

"I don't know. Maybe cause I was in a fight to the death." John B replies to JJ quickly, referring to the fight between Rafe and himself.

Cleo finally joins in on the conversation, "I would look both ways before crossing the street." She gives a glare John B's way making the whole group laugh. John B have an ashamed 'my bad' to Cleo which made her smile. "Your turn chief."

"Alright, Kie." He looks past Everleigh and at Kiara. "Truth or dare." He takes the hat off of his head and puts it on Kiara as she rolls her eyes.

"Truth."

"Alright, uhm... If you could go home, to your parents house, on Figure 8, this instant. Would you do it?" He asks her.

She smiles and looks around at the group, "No chance."

"Seconded." Sarah smiles as she points to Kie.

"Here, here." JJ raises his coconut into the air as if he was holding a toast. "To no chance."

"The shower is tempting though." Kiara adds.

Everleigh kicks at the sand as the group continues on. Until she hears Kie call for JJ and tosses him the hat. She looks up but JJ is already looking at her. His gaze seemed to calm her and she knew everything was alright.

"Truth or dare." Kiara calls to him.

JJ takes the hat from off of the ground and puts it on his head. "I mean do you even need to ask."

She uses the knife in her hand and points to a cliff off in the distance. "Big jump, nobodies done it yet." She explains, and when he turns around she points at him. "Dare."

"Is that really a good idea?" Everleigh asks, but JJ is already at his feet and offering his hand to his girlfriend.

"Probably not." He smiles as she takes his hand. "I mean you can come if you'd like."

"Right because that would just make things so much better." She jokes with a nervous laugh.

He grabs her head and kisses the top of her forehead. "I'll be back for you, princess." He shouts as he takes off sprinting towards the cliff.

"He'll be alright." Sarah smiles at Everleigh. She held her hand to stop her from doing her usual thing and gave it a reassuring enough squeeze.

A minute or two goes by and JJ reappears on top of the cliff and the entire group but Everleigh hollers. She wasn't a fan of the idea but she knew there was no stopping JJ.

"Send it!" Pope yells with one of the biggest smiles on his face.

"He's not gonna do it." Cleo deadpans, also thinking that the jump might be a little too scary for both JJ and his health.

"Oh, I won't?" JJ yells down. His blonde hair blew in the wind and his body was in a stable position to keep himself balanced on the uneven rock.

"No way." John B laughs, looking up at the teenager on the cliff, feet away from possibly killing himself.

"He's gonna do it." Pope tells the others who were on the sand next to him. "It's highly dangerous. Zero reward. Yeah, he's doing it."

JJ puts his arms in the air and lets the wind hit him after he hollers back to the group. "Hey!" He shouts, "This one's for you princess!" He yells.

Yeah. That didn't make her feel much better about the situation. Now if he hurt himself or worse, it was for her. Surely, thats not what he meant. She couldn't focus on one thought because she thought of every single negative outcome. After being on the island for so long, she became more protective because her friends were all each other had. And doing stupid shit, was unnecessary. Regular obx Everleigh, probably wouldn't of seen too big of an issue with her boyfriend's crazy ideas. She knew she needed to loosen up, but maybe after he jumps.

JJ takes a few steps back and gets ready to run. He sprints towards the edge and leaps off. He flipped through the air and landed in the water on his feet.

The entire group cheers and they all run to see him. When his head pops up from beneath the water. A sigh of relief escapes Everleigh's lips. The group hugs him before eventually backing off.

She stopped him in his tracks and puts her hands on either side of his face.  "How did you not die?" She smiles. But he doesn't answer. He held her face like she was previously holding his and smiles. His eyes were bright blue but quickly shut when he smashes his lips with hers in a short kiss. He reaches for her hand and kisses it as they begin to follow the group.

"I actually thought I was gonna die, I'll be honest." JJ laughs and tells the group.

Later that night the group was surrounded by the fire, eating the food they previously caught that morning.

JJ hums after he swallows the food that was in his mouth. "That's what I'm talking about. Freshly caught." He smiles. Everleigh looked at him with a slight smile.

It was quiet. Sarah was weaving something else. Pope's focus was lost in the fire. John B was looking around. Kiara was staring at the sand. Cleo was eating her food. And Everleigh and JJ were wrapped up in one another. But still, not a single word was spoken between anyone.

They all watched silently as the fire eventually burned out. There was nothing to be said between anyone. They couldn't complain about any Kooks who were bothering them, there weren't any around. They couldn't have a conversation about how good the food was, they'd already eaten the same thing plenty of times over the last month. They couldn't talk about their family, they were back in obx and could be up to anything by now. They couldn't plan out their next move in getting an ancient treasure, they'd lost it all. Seven kids on an empty island. Some thought it was paradise, the others couldn't wait to get home.