I dare you «JJ MAYBANK»

Chapter 13~ History repeats itself

"Hell of a job melting it down, Doctor Frankenstein." Jj scoffs, holding the blob of gold in his hands. "Oh, like you could've done any better." Kie argues, folding her arms over each other. "Yeah, actually. I took a welding class." Jj sneers back, I roll my eyes at the two.

"Chill out, alright?" John B gets in between the two, Jj scoffs, throwing the gold up in the air and catching it. "Easy for you to say, you're not the one who has to pawn this piece of shit off." He sulks, flipping it over.

"Yeah, how did we get this job anyway?" I ask, grabbing the gold from Jj's hands to get him to stop fiddling with it. "Because you're the best liars." Pope says as he shoves us closer, I roll my eyes. "I'll take that as a compliment, Poe." I yell out, he sighs from behind me. "Poe?" He asks, his voice raising slightly. "Yeah, like the Teletubbie." I turn around, shooting him a wink.

"Just, just go." He sighs, I look over at Jj, high fiving him right before we go in. "Hot damn, let's do it." He whispers, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"Afternoon, ma'am." I greet the lady, eagerly walking over to the counter, Jj follows. "Afternoon." She says skeptically, looking us up and down.

"I see you buy gold." Jj fills in, looking over at me and giving me a quick nod. "That's what the sign say, don't it?" She raises an eyebrow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. "Well, I hope you buy a lot. 'Cause we're about to blow your mind. Show her." He tells me, I nod, pulling the gold out and laying it on the table.

She frowns, looking at it with doubt. She shakes her head finally. "That ain't real." She concludes, her hand resting on her hip. "Really? Check the uh, whatever you need to check." I scratch my hair, not really sure how test the authenticity of gold. "Feel how heavy it is." Jj says finally, I nod, raising my brow.

She takes it in her hand, jutting her lip out as she thinks. She grabs a little light, shining on it. "Spray painted tungsten." The woman shakes her head, still denying our statements. "Spray painted tungsten?" Jj raises his eyebrows, standing confidently. "Ma'am, I don't even know what tungsten is, to be fair." I confess, leaning against the counter.

"You mind?" She asks, pulling out a little hammer and a wooden stick. "Not at all." Jj shakes his head. The woman taps on the gold blob, nothing happening, no scuffs.

"Wow, would you look at that!" Jj says sarcastically, I roll my eyes playfully. "Hold on, we ain't got to the acid test yet." The lady grits, turning around. "The acid test, my favorite." He jokes, I tut, looking over at him.

"Well, it ain't plated and it ain't painted." The pawnbroker huffs, setting it back down on the table. "I'm telling you, this is as real as the day is long." Jj assures as she continues to inspect our beautiful gold glob. "It looks like someone tried to melt it down." She looks up, her look alternating between the two of us.

"My mom." I say without batting an eye. "She had a bunch of jewelry lying around, thought it was best to, to consolidate it." I lie my ass off, she raises an eyebrow, not believing my story.

"Seven pounds? That's a lot of earrings." The lady remarks, looking down at the gold. "To be honest, ma'am. It's been really hard seeing my mom fall apart with Alzheimer's." I croak, cracking my voice on purpose. I force tears, my lip trembling. "I'm sorry." I hold my hand out, apologizing as I dramatically lean into Jj's side.

She huffs, her gaze softening a little. "Give me a minute." She nods, walking off to the back. I sniffle a bit, dropping the act when she leaves our line of vision. "That was amazing." Jj compliments, pulling me towards him. "Yeah, Oscar worthy?" I tease, looking over at him. "The lip tremble sold it, I think." He high-fives, giving me a hug and lifting me up just the tiniest bit. Butterflies swarm through my stomach, catching me off guard.