𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄, jj maybank

EIGHT, trouble in kooklandia

"well, as soon as they see the footage, they'll work for a comp." john b assured him.

kie, who was beside him in the water, asked, "how do you know all of that?"

"cause my dad said it, like, a million times." john b said, eyeing his sister and jj.

"yeah, that's fair." kie replied, pulling herself onto the ladder.

"this tether is, like, really long." cassie pointed out. "i feel like it could get pushed around."

"in the wrong weather, yeah." pope remarked.

"then we'll go at dead calm." john b said, staring up at the sky. it was gray, cloudy and overcast, making cassie bite her lip in frustration.

"at slack tide?" kie asked. thunder crackled not soon after, making cassie lose all hope and sigh.

"so now, we just gotta wait around for the right weather." pope told them. "and today is not that day."

cassie pulled away from the blonde haired boy, announcing, "i'm going to go get grace." she began to walk away, before turning around. "anyone coming with?" jj and pope both nodded, leaping up and following after her.

☀︎☀︎☀︎

     AFTER A QUICK VISIT TO THE THOMPSONS TO PICK GRACE UP, THE FOUR HEADED OVER TO GO HELP HEYWARD WITH HIS GROCERY DELIVERING. cassie went with pope sometimes, to keep him company, which made heyward like cassie a bit more than the others. he liked that someone cared about his son enough to want to go with him when he was alone, plus, cassie was— apart from the whole teen mom aspect— the most responsible out of the other three pogues. jj had never come on these delivery runs before, but he joined them today because he needed the money.

"come help with the bags, mama," cassie said to grace, grabbing some of the groceries from heyward. grace grabbed a light bag with some bread in it, happy to help.

"you guys get these groceries over to figure eight." heyward commanded. "get straight back here when you're done. no fishin'." cassie nodded, setting the groceries down. "i promised delivery by this afternoon. rich folks don't wanna wait for you lazy sons of—" he turned around to see jj stood before him, both arms stretched out, ready to take some bags. "oh, jj, thank you." the man said, handing him the last of the bags. "—sons of bitches."

and the four were on their way, headed over to figure eight. "doesn't even look like the storm hit there." pope remarked, mentioning a huge house that looked completely untouched.

"that's because they got generators, bro. get used to it." remarked jj, bitterly. "and then they say the juice will be out all summer at the cut."

"it's nice to be a kook." muttered pope.

"lucky bastards."

"well, maybe we'll be like them soon," cassie commented, rubbing pope's back gently.

they docked outside the island club, where pope had to make his delivery, which was close to the other two houses in the area that they needed to make runs to as well. cassie and grace finished their drop off quickly, returning back to the boat before the boys.

"sunscreen?" questioned grace, who noticed that they hadn't put any on that day.

"you're right!" cassie exclaimed. she finished helping grace into the boat, then went for her bag, fishing a tube of sunscreen from the bottom. "did you have fun with faith and miles?" she questioned, unscrewing the cap.