L I E S
"That bread had mold on it three days ago" says Pope to JJ who is buttering a loaf of bread with peanut butter.
"Then why didn't you throw it away?" I look up at Pope in confusion. Those boys are the worst.
"I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism" explains the blond boy.
"JJ!" Shouts Kiara
"yup, yup, yup!" He runs to the table, with his bread and beer, where John b and I are sitting with the envelope.
"Hot damn! Let's do it" JJ takes a bite of his bread.
he gags "Mmm..." and spits the bread into his hand.
"Told you" I say to him. JJ comes back after throwing away the spit out bread and stands behind me, sitting on a chair. He puts his two hands on each of my shoulders.
"JJ throw that thing away!" I look at JJ's hands, in which he is still holding the bread and is pulling off the 'bad parts'.
"Holy shit" John b mumbles as he spreads out a card on the table.
"Oh. X marks the spot" Pope points to the X on the map that my dad has drawn.
"Longitude, latitude" John B points to different places on the map.
"Wait, there's something else in there" He pulls out a tape recorder from the envelope.
"What's that?" JJ asks.
"It's a tape recorder, dumbass" answers Kiara as John b pushes a button and we hear our father's voice.
"Dear Birds."
"Who's bird?" JJ asks.
"That's what our dad used to call us." I say to the boy.
"I hate to say, "I told you so," but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect, at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kids. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either." Me and my brother look at each other for a moment.
"You two were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kids? I could smell the barn....And hopefully, we're listening to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa-Rica, living off passive investments and pulling on permits."
"If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant" you hear a pen in the background.
"If something happens to me, finish what I started. And even if you don't want to, Emmi, help your brother. Go for the gold, kids. I love you, Birds, even if I didn't always act like it......I'll see you on the other side."
JJ noticed how I got tears in my eyes. And John B can't hold it back either, he stares at the tape recorder, stands up, and walks a few steps away. He holds onto a door frame and bursts into tears.
"Holy shit, he did it" JJ gets louder. "Big John- He found the Merchant-"
"Can you... can you please?" Says Kiara upset, glancing at me as she then goes to John b to comfort him.
"Sorry" mumbles JJ, looking down at me. I have a few tears running down my face.
That just brought it all up in me again now. I had somehow finished with it, wanted to believe that my father is dead to be able to live on. But all the shit that happens here in the last few days, brings all the emotions up again. Especially hearing his voice again. After 9 months. That is hard.
I am very hurt. At least as much as my brother, who bursts into tears. But JJ knows I don't like to show it when I'm hurt. Still, I couldn't hold back a few tears when I heard my father's voice.
JJ squats down next to me, takes my hand, wipes the tears from my face, and hugs me tightly. He doesn't say a word, but he knows that this helps much more than words ever could.
--——————
"How much was it again?" JJ asks, throwing rocks into the water. We sit out on the dock, Kiara playing ukulele, me singing a bit along, casual stuff.
I love this kind of days. I hear the birds singing and the wind rustling through the leaves. It's beautiful.
"Four hundred mil" replies Pope.
"All right, let's talk the split" JJ turns to the others.
"Now, before we say "evenly", may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us" JJ holds his gun in the air.
"Protection? Not cheap, okay?"
Pope looks accusingly at the blonde. "You haven't trained. You've done zero training"
"YouTube bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there"
"You haven't-"
"Any objections?" JJ shakes his head. "Didn't think so"
"Yeah"
"I don't hear any, so..."
"What are you gonna do with your 100 mil, Pope?" Kie turns to Pope.
"Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive" we all give him a confused look.
JJ turns to Kiara. "What about you, Kie?"
"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope wonders.
"Just wanna make a double album" Kiara shrugs. "About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston. Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing."
"Peter Tosh is dead" Pope interrupts.
"Peter Tosh is dead. I know. Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die" Kiara holds up her beer.
"Actually I know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook" JJ says with a grin.
I look at him, smiling.
"You're gonna go full Kook?" Chuckles Pope.
"Yup. Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond. Put a bunch of those fish-"
"I'm never visiting," Kie makes clear. "What about you, Em?" Kiara snaps me out of my thoughts. I look up confused.
"Pretty much the same like JJ" I smile slightly.
"Of course she does, she'll be coming with me after all" JJ says naturally. The others chuckle.
I always liked the idea of me and JJ living together in the future. But I also always knew it was just in my head.
"What are you gonna do, JB?" Pope looks up at him.
"To going full Kook" he smiles. "I'm not gonna let JJ steal my sister." he mutters afterwards.
„Too late, right?" laughs Pope, when he then notices, John b doesn't know. And we didn't want him to know. This boy just ruined everything.
I feel my heart beating faster at the thought of my brother finding out.
„What do you mean?" John b stands up, looking at the blonde and me.
"nothing." murmurs Pope softly. "It—It was nothing serious, it was just one night, right?" Pope shrugs and JJ gives him a 'are you fucking serious? look.
"Fuck." mumbles Pope again, because he's talking the two of us into more and more shit right now.
"One night?" says John b upset. "you're not gonna tell me you fucked my sister, are you JJ?" He looks at his best friend with a very serious look.
I've never seen that look on John b in my entire life. This can't be true.
"Easy, John b." says Kiara from the side.
"Dude it was just-"
"Is that a yes?!" yells John b to his best friend, who is completely overwhelmed. "You're kidding me, right?"
My heart is beating faster, and I just don't know what to say.
"Bro, it was just one night and we-" begins JJ.
"You slept with my sister!? My sister!" John b looks at JJ with wide eyes expectantly.
"Chill, man, I barely knew her then. It was nothing special!" says JJ, which only hurt me even more. But he probably just doesn't know how else to explain himself.
"you better tell me it was the only time or I-"
"yes it was. The only time, I promise." JJ lies.
I do everything to shut my mouth so I don't ruin everything.
"Promise me it won't happen again." John says seriously.
"I- yeah, I promise."
But that was also a lie.