Someone to stay || JJ Maybank

10

I look at the boat that's slowly stopping next to us. This can't be happening.

"Just act fricking normal", Kie sits up in the bow, looking nervously at me.

"Yeah, right, except our best friend is running out of air down there. How do I act 'fricking normal'?!" I turn to her, with the same look in my eyes. It's been almost ten minutes since John B went down there. At least. He doesn't have much air left.

"Evening officers", I hear Pope greeting the cops and immediately turn around to face them. I recognize the two of them, a man and a woman. They are the same people who came to the motel room and almost caught me, JJ and John B there. Shoupe, I think the man was.

"Evening", Shoupe answers, handing Pope a rope to tie their boat to ours to prevent us from running away. JJ ties the rope to our boat and returns to his place next to me. I can't help but glance over my shoulder to the water. If there's even the smallest sight of John B, we're screwed. But I don't know if it's any better that there isn't, since he'll be out of air soon, if he already isn't.

"How you kids doing?" Shoupe's voice gets my attention back to them. "Did you know that the marsh is closed?"

"No."

"No, I didn't know that."

I glance at Kie, who has squeezed her eyes shut, probably thinking the same that I was. They didn't sound too convinsing, and a look at Shoupe tells me he seems to think the same.

"Um, why is it closed?" I ask before he has more time to doubt our motives to be here and if we really knew we're here without premission.

"Well, we're conducting a search out here", he tells us as he looks around. "A boat went down."

"Oh.."

I can't help but look towards the water again, to the spot where John B disappeared under water. Still no sign of him, but thankfully no sight of the boat either. Someone kicks me to my leg and I turn around, furrowing my eyebrows at JJ who's still sitting next to me. A shake of his head, is everything I get as an answer.

"Seen anything?" Shoupe asks.

"No", we all answer almost in unison. Well if that wasn't suspicious then I don't know what is.

"No boats", JJ adds, shrugging his shoulders, looking as clueless as possible.

"Where's your friend you always hang out with? He here?" He keeps questioning. Please can't this interrogation stop already. Go away.

Again I get the need to glance towards the water, but JJ's hand moving over mine turns my head to the other way. "Don't look", he whispers so quietly I can barely hear him. He nods towards Shoupe who was also looking around at the water around us.

"He's working", Kie speaks up for the first time since the cops came. Good thinking from her though, I would've never thought of that. A sigh of relief leaves my mouth as JJ squeezes my hand a little, showing me it's alright.

"Hm", Shoupe looks around again, and my relief is a light memory again. He steps closer to our boat, stepping on it with one foot. "I'm gonna check your little boat out."

I know for sure that there can't be more than two minutes left of air for John B, probably even less, and this officer decides to do a check on our boat! Can't he see we have kind of a situation going on? Okay, hopefully he can't but still, like go away.