𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋'𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 || 𝐣. 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱

As Kie passed, her face still muddy and gross, tears filled her eyes. She asked him, "Did Ward bribe you? This doesn't make any sense."

"You ain't gonna do shit," the Maybank boy whispered as he walked out, fixing his red hat back onto his head rather aggressively. He was taking his anger out on an inanimate object which was good because usually, he would be beating the shit out of Shoupe. So, this was definitely an improvement int hat department.

When Bree followed him, she paused and looked at the man, her voice calm but bitter as she told him what he already knew. "You know that we're right. All you have to do is send it in, and you'll see."

《✵》

"MAN, IT'S BEEN A LONG DAY," JJ SIGHED. He and Bree were sitting on the beach after everything with the sewer and showing the gun to Shoupe. She was still really mad that he did not believe them, even after they got him the gun that killed Peterkin.

She sighed, leaning back on her hands and staring out at the sunset. She liked to go out there and watch the sun go down. It was always so beautiful, and it reminded her that there were still good things in the world. "We've had a lot of those."

"Yeah, we have," he agreed with a small nod as he watched the waves go up and down in front of them. He turned to her after a moment. "How are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" she questioned, taking her eyes off the sky so that they met his. His face held a slightly worried look that she did not see very often.

He shrugged before thinking for a second to come up with some sort of metaphor and explaining to her, "I mean, you've just gone from being like that one really rich guy in Gilligan's Island to all of the other poor people in Gilligan's Island."

"It's been a while since I've heard a Gilligan's Island reference," she told him. She used to watch the show when she was little, and hardly anyone knew what it was. She must've seen the entire show at least twenty times, and she was not exaggerating.

"Well, I remember you saying that you liked it," he told her, looking down at the sand shyly as a light blush came to his cheeks. It was a side of JJ that the Callaway girl had never seen before. "So, I've been watching it over the summer whenever I have free time."

She raised her eyebrows at him with a small smile. "And?"

"It's great, but you're trying to get me off topic. I didn't forget about the question I asked you," he informed her, and she knew that she would not be able to distract him from what he wanted to know.

"I don't know. I guess I just figured that everyone else had bigger problems," she answered with a small shrug. She played with the sand under her fingers nervously. "I mean, John B and Sarah are on the run in the Bahamas for God's sake. In the grand scheme of things, I'm doing pretty well."

He furrowed his eyebrows at her in slight concern, shaking his head at her. "Your mom left you all alone. You have to live a completely different life than what you're used to. It's okay if you're not okay."

"I guess that's just how I've been dealing with it," she admitted. Thinking about the fact that other people had it worse than she did helped her get through the bad times for some reason. It was just her way of coping. That and not focusing on or dealing it by taking apart and rebuilding a bike.

A smirk crossed his face, and he was determined to make her feel better because she was currently frowning at the ground. "Well, if you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I have some pretty nice shoulders."

"Oh, really?" she quizzed with raised eyebrows as a smile creeped up onto her face at his jokes. Even when they weren't even funny, which was kept of the time, she couldn't help but laugh at them.

"Yeah, I mean, look at these things," he told her, and he wrapped his hand around hers and brought it to his shoulder so that her fingers wrapped around it. He looked up at her with a grin, and her heart beat a little bit faster as she felt his skin against hers. "Feel them."

She giggled as she shook her head and pulled her hand away, despite how much she was actually enjoying his touch. "I'm okay."

"No, come here," he said as she stood up to get away from him and his shoulders. She ran across the beach, kicking the sand behind her. They both laughed loudly when it hit him as he followed her, slowing him down a little bit.

He was still faster though, and he eventually caught up to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind to stop her. She practically cackled as her picked her off her feet for a moment and spun her around as she kicked her feet a little bit.

Once he placed her back on the ground, his arms remained on her waist as she turned around so that she was facing him. Their faces were so close that she could feel his warm breath fan across her lips. She could feel her heart beating out of her chest, and it was so loud she would be surprised if he couldn't hear it. His fingers brushed against the exposed skin or her hips, casuarina her to take a deep breath. His eyes flickered down to her lips and back up to her eyes so fast that Bree thought she might have imagined it.

Their lips were so close to touching when something in the background caught her eye. She gasped and pulled away from him as she exclaimed, "The turtles are hatching! Come on. Let's watch."

"Yeah, let's go," he muttered back as she left his arms and bounded off to watch the sea turtles make their way slowly to the ocean. He was frozen in place for a moment after what just happened and almost happened. Finally, he snapped out of his trance and turned around to watch her. As she smiled at the baby creatures, he couldn't help but smile as well.

Man, the hold that girl had on him.