𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄, jj maybank

SIXTEEN, little girl

"no, she's taking faith and miles to visit their dad." the brunette answered, as she started to pour out some of the batter onto the frying pan on the stove. "i think naomi's still sleeping, so i was gonna put some in the fridge for her."

as he put away the milk, the boy listened, nodding. "wait, what about grace?" he asked, after he thought about it for a second, realizing that no one was home to watch grace. "she can't come with us today."

cassie smiled at the boys concern, setting the mixing bowl down. "we're dropping her off at max's." she replied, grabbing a spatula from the utensil cup. jj looked surprised at this, knowing what he had said at the midsummers party and how upset it made cassie.

she pulled jj closer by the arm, adding on in a whisper, "i needed a babysitter really badly, and i didn't want evelyn to have to pay the new nanny while she's not here."

"are you sure?" jj asked, raising a brow. "we can take her with, y'know, you two can sit in the car or something."

"jj, it's fine." cassie assured him, rubbing his arm. she quickly switched her attention back to the pan, sliding the spatula underneath the pancake, and flipping it. "i'm not putting her around all that again."

jj wasn't sure how he felt about leaving grace with her dad, but he had no say in the matter. "well, can we take her to the chateau with us and drop her off on the way to crain house?" he asked, grabbing cassie's waist. 

she watched the pancake in front of her cook, as jj rested his head on her shoulder affectionately. she liked this, even if she was still trying to figure out the best way to go about it. she pursed her lips, moving the pancake from the pan to a plate. "sure," she replied. she turned, giving jj a kiss on the side of his head, before asking, "how many pancakes do you want?"

☀︎☀︎☀︎

     CASSIE, GRACE, AND JJ MET UP WITH KIE AND POPE AT THE CHATEAU NOT LONG AFTER ALL OF THE PANCAKES WERE DONE. everyone ate quickly, then they got to work on the plan. today was the day they were going to get all of the gold, just as soon as john b got back from fishing with ward cameron.

cassie was trying to keep her relationship with jj under wraps, but it was hard, now that they had confessed their feelings for each other she just wanted to show it. she wanted to be able to kiss jj whenever she wanted to, but she was waiting for the right time to tell everyone.

kie kept shooting her suspicious looks, every time she sat on the boy's lap or held his hand, but cassie rolled her eyes in reply, like a way of saying you're crazy. she felt bad lying, but she wanted things to cool down before they opened another can of worms.

if she was being honest, cassie didn't care much about kiara and pope knowing— it was more about john b. they had broken his precious rule— although so had he and kie— and cassie was taking a huge risk by pursuing her feelings for jj. 

but, everything in life has consequences.

there was a 50% chance that letting herself be with jj would end badly, but a 50% chance that it would end great. if she didn't try at all, there was a 0% chance of either happening, so she was going to at least try.

kie was sitting in the winch that pope had built, to test if it would hold the weight. pope was stood near his truck, watching her and holding onto the rope. grace, cassie, and jj sat on the edge of the hot tub, letting their legs soak in the hot water.