RIVER | JJ MAYBANK

SEVEN

"Pope, you're not gonna loose your scholarship. I promise." River reassured the boy after taking a deep breath and sending a sharp glare to JJ one last time.

After a short while, the five of them pulled up to the docks in time to see the paramedics wheeling a body on the gurney.

"Who's that?" John B questioned a random girl. JJ stood on a box, River jumped up and sat on the ledge next to John B. JJ's hand rested on her thigh as she fiddled with the ring on his thumb.

Despite her being mad at him because of his stupidity, he still knew exactly when to comfort her and when to stand by her. He didn't care how mad she was at him, he preferred to be by her side.

"It's Scooter Grubbs. He was out during the storm." She answered. "Check out this pick I got." She showed John B and River. "Dead body." She boasted. 

River gagged and covered her mouth. She felt sick to her stomach. How could one just take a photo of him dead, without even thinking twice or feeling sick.

"Insane." Kie mumbled.

"Holy shit." JJ mumbled. "What kind of boat did he have?" He asked curiously, wondering if it was the same boat that the pogues had found.

"Somehow, that dirt bag dipped a brand new Grady-white. Everyone's out looking for it." She answered honestly.

Everyone shared an anxious look, the fact that they had found Scooter's boat was enough to tip River over the edge.

"Excuse me." River said as she looked at the paramedics wheeling the gurney into the ambulance.

The girl ran away covering her mouth and clutching her stomach. She pushed past everyone to get to the closest bathroom. Instantly, she locked the cubicle door and began to vomit.

JJ wasn't too far behind the girl. He didn't care if he walked into the girls bathroom. River needed him and he'd do anything for her, even if that meant publicly embarrassing himself.

"Ri." He knocked on the only locked stall. A few girls gave him a weird look and left. "Open up baby."

River pulled the flush, wiped her mouth and unlocked the door but didn't move from her spot on the floor. She leant over the toilet seat.

"I don't know what happened." She mumbled, gagging again. JJ slid his way into the stall and locked the door. He gathered River's hair in his hand. He tried his hardest to put it into a plait, something that she had tried to teach him multiple times. "I just couldn't look at him."

"It's okay Ri, you don't have to explain yourself to me." JJ reassured the girl, after plaiting her hair, he rubbed soothing circles on her back until she felt well enough to return to the others.

The group were at John B's now and River sat on the arm of JJ's chair. He was flicking a lighter open and shut, while River combed her fingers through his hair, it was more soothing for her than it was for him. She begged him to let her plait it. But he said no.

When he sleeps over at hers, on the rare occasion he lets her plait his hair and he tries to do hers. It never ends up working. He always ended up making her hair all knotty, but he said he wanted to learn for when he had his own daughter one day.

"Okay. So um, we didn't see anything. We don't know anything." Pope said as he walked onto the deck, taking a seat besides Kie. "We need to have total and complete amnesia."

"About what?" River asked innocently with a small childish smile.

She was trying to play off the anxiety by making jokes. It was her usual way of coping, but this time it completely went over Pope's head.

"About the-" Pope paused, he clicked his fingers before making finger guns and pointing towards River. "Good. Just like that."

"That's my girl." JJ smirked looking up to the now blushing blonde, he paused for a moment before continuing, "Actually, Pope's right for once." JJ slowly stood up. "See I agree with you some times. Deny. Deny, deny."

"Guys, we can't keep that money." Kie stated.

River could tell that she felt guilty. The money wasn't theirs, heck, they didn't even know if it was Scooters. Nobody knew where the money came from, and now they never would.

"Okay, not all of us can afford unlimited date plans, Kiara." JJ said, resting on the ledge as he turned to look at the girl, his brows knitted together as she spoke.

"We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma." Kie shrugged, she was a big believer in karma.

"Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too. We gotta go dark." Pope agreed with the brunette.

River ran her tongue over her bottom lip, taking in all the different outcomes and trying to figure out which one would be best for them. She looked up to JJ, knowing that he wanted to keep the money, she knew that he needed it too. But then she looked at Kie, she didn't need the money but she knew it wasn't the right thing to do to keep the money.

"If that means we get to keep the money. Then I agree." JJ said as he paced around before looking out at the water.

"I don't agree." John B stated, placing his hand on JJ's shoulder before slowly walking away and going to stand beside where River was sat.

"What? Why?" JJ questioned, shocked that his best friend wasn't with him on this.

"Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Alright, same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole." John B paused. "Shit, one time we saw this dude begging for change at the Save-A-Lot parking lot." He motioned to River. "Because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin'" John B shrugged.

River didn't want to keep the money, but she understood where JJ was coming from. He needed that money, more than the others. He needed money in order to eat, pay his fathers bills, everything. Not that he'd want to admit that to anyone.