07 . 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 .
𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 to explain just how Charlotte Collins felt at 11:30 a.m, Monday morning, as she sat on the blue picnic bench in the courtyard of Kildare High. There would never be enough time to explain her emotions, or her thoughts, or there wouldn't be enough ways to describe just how much a few messages impacted the rest of her life, or how much it was affecting the cacophony that was her heart in the moment everything occurred. In the moment where everything changed.
Her heart had fallen from her chest, slipped out from behind her ribcage and collided with the floor at the sight of what she'd read. It seeped into the concrete and fell somewhere below that. But not in a bad way— in the best way possible. And it was kind of an unfamiliar feeling, because for the past two months, her heart had only dropped out of fear, sadness, and dread. But in that moment, at 11:30 in the morning, it didn't palpitate for those reasons. It constricted and throbbed because John B was alive— not because he was dead, or because he was "lost at sea", or because he was in harm's danger.
It didn't matter where he was— even though he'd let out on the groupchat moments later that he was laying low in Nassau— because just the sure knowledge that he was alive, was enough. She couldn't believe that he was on the other side of that screen. She longed to see his face, to feel his skin beneath her fingers, to stare into his eyes and feel his hair, for real now. Before, she'd reminisced and yearned to see him again every day, but that was back when she thought he was dead— and dreaming for something you think is long gone is something different. Now she knew he was alive, and craving didn't seem so impossible anymore.
As she sat at the picnic table, she felt this feeling slide up from her feet and into her chest, and she could barely focus on it from all the shock coursing through her veins. But eventually it set in, as Kiara wrapped her arms around her shoulders— she felt almost whole again. When he'd gotten "lost at sea", he took a piece of her with him. And she thought he was dead for the longest time, so that little piece was thought to be gone forever and ever in the seabed. But it was somewhere in Nassau now, just waiting like they were.
Her cheeks were stained with tears when JJ brought her close, her head buried in his chest and his arms tightly wrapped around her shoulders as he laughed uncontrollably. She hadn't heard him laugh so refreshed in a while, or smile so widely and with such effortless ease. It made her happy, as did everything else in the day, to see him and Kiara and Pope genuinely happy for the first time since the middle of summer. When they all hugged one another, in the school courtyard, she felt her heart beating through her shirt with overpowering joy, her eyes foggy with tears of relief and elation, and her mind flooded with a million thoughts. Soon, the five of them would be hugging again, instead of just four, and she knew that for certain— no matter what it took.
Simply put, the four of them were emotional together, feeling every doubt and every little bit of sorrow from the last month drift away into thin air. They didn't have to stay up at night, crying because the silence felt so loud, they wouldn't have to distract themselves with other things when he came to mind, and they didn't have to laugh softly to lighten the heavy mood. The boys could wrestle on the couch under lantern light, Kiara and Charlie could play the ukulele under the stars, they could all dip their feet in the water on the docks while sipping on cold beers, and they could all stay up until daylight again. At least for a little bit. Soon.
They knew that it would all feel even more perfect when he was back— however he was going to get back. They were on their tippy-toes, on the edge, anticipating how they would clear his name and welcome him home. He was in Nassau, but he would be back soon. She knew that.
She felt just a little bit stupid that the whole time, she was convinced her boyfriend was dead. But he wasn't, and so all those nights she spent crying seemed so far away now. She felt like the last month of her life was a blur, that none of those dreams she'd had were even real anymore, because he was alive somewhere, the whole time. She wondered how he was going to react when she would get to tell him everything, from the agents at her grandparent's house, to moving into the penthouse for a month, and wishing every night she could see him again, all while thinking he was gone forever. She was waiting for when she could look into his eyes and tell him how much she missed him.
The world seemed to lighten with a golden aura that day after the news. Like everywhere she looked got brighter and brighter with the more it sunk it. Everything was sort of jumbled in her mind like a big maze, but she knew what the most important thing was, and it all revolved around that. She couldn't stop thinking about everything at once— how he was going to get back, if he was going to come back, how they would clear his name, what she was going to tell her grandparents, and how Charlotte would stay unnoticed by Ward and Rafe through all of it.
She didn't know what she was going to tell her grandparents, and when. She knew automatically that she had to, it was one of her secondary thoughts, because the family of three vowed to no longer keep any secrets from one another after that summer. They knew everything about the whole John B and Ward issues, all minus the one common factor— the gold. Caroline and Daryl were in the running about exactly what happened, because Charlotte told them everything, and it would be sort of, well, out of trust if she failed to mention the fugitive was actually alive and not deceased like they thought he was. She was going to have to tell them eventually, it was just a matter of how and when.
As of right then, the only thing that mattered was her friends. She would worry about her grandparents later, although her mind was such a mess that she didn't know if she was even capable of worrying anymore, or if all she could do now was worry. Learning that John B was somewhere breathing sent her mind into orbit, it spiraled everything out of control and she knew she would have to take the reins of it soon enough. But for now, she focused on her friends, hugging them until the shock wore off, and until her cheeks were stiff with tears.
It was crazy how much chaos could arise from only a few sentences.
"Just for the record," JJ was saying, as Kiara pushed open the back door of The Wreck. "I never doubted him,"
It was late in the afternoon, a few hours after school ended. They'd gone the rest of the school day, restless in their seats, thinking about everything until the bell rang. Simply put, Charlotte felt like she couldn't sit still for the rest of the day, listening to her teachers talking, and she didn't care that it was her first day of public school anymore— her mind was too preoccupied with far more important things.
She had called Caroline, because Caroline and Daryl didn't know what texting was even though they had smartphones, and told that her and the Pogues were going to The Wreck for supper, to "celebrate" the new school year. They thought it was a great idea, and it didn't matter that she wasn't home for the evening because they were stuck at the motel anyways, swamped with work and getting things back to normal after a month of letting employees keep the place up.
The Pogues had sat in the restaurant, and if she hadn't just learned that John B was alive, she would have felt overwhelmed with all the memories that the old place held. They ate food that Kiara made for them happily, sharing the same smiles and laughs, and talking about how crazy of a day it was. They could not stop talking about John B since he was the only thing on their minds, quite literally, because they were still talking about him on the way out of The Wreck.
"I owe you five bucks," Kiara answered, her voice cheerful, as she hopped down the wooden steps that led off the back exit.
"You bet five dollars on whether or not our best friend was dead," Charlotte commented with her eyebrows narrowed, as she held the door open for JJ behind her. "Were you in on that, Pope?"
Pope shook his head.
"Hey, Kiara, I do need those setups done by five!" Kiara's mom, Anna, called from inside the restaurant, her voice reproachful.
"Y'know there are other people that work here!" she shouted back, barely giving a glance.
Charlotte looked up to her side, catching eyes with JJ and he smiled. She knew what that smile meant, they were all looking at each other like that the whole day. She let out a laugh, and he shoved the side of her arm as she walked on between him and Pope on the wooden docks.
"But ain't none of them my child!" Anna responded.
"I feel that. On a deep, emotional level, I understand," Pope was saying, as Kiara let her backpack fall onto the built-in bench.
"I only worked for my grandparents for, like, two days, but same," Charlotte said, shrugging. "I guess."
"So, we goin' to the Bahamas or what," JJ asked, casually, as he leaned his elbows on top of the bench, beside Kie.
Charlotte moved to sit in between Pope and Kiara, who both sat on the back support of said-bench with their knees folded up, while she actually sat on the seat below them.
"Dude, there's no way we're getting to the Bahamas," Pope replied, obviously.
"John B's gonna get nabbed sooner or later— so if we're gonna clear his name, we need to have done it, like, yesterday," Kiara said, looking to all of them individually.
"I'll tell you how we do it," JJ spoke, confidently, and stood up— Charlotte was glad to see him back to his normal, sarcastic self again.
"Oh, so you have it all planned out," Pope said, sarcastically, watching JJ as he walked over to his side.
Charlotte watched, her teeth biting on the inside of her lip.
JJ paused for a moment with his back turned to them, and then he swiveled around. "As a matter a' fact, I do. We kidnap Rafe."
Charlotte felt her heart skip a beat as if someone poked it, at the mention of the name. She still hadn't told the Pogues yet about her rules and staying away from the Camerons.
"I'm sorry, what?" Pope narrowed his eyebrows.
"We kidnap Rafe, tie him up, and stick the gun in his mouth," JJ said with perfect certainty and confidence, using his hands as gestures. "And then just wait til' he starts squawkin'."
"Okay, anything but that," Charlotte scoffed. "Literally anything else but that would work."
JJ made a face at her.
"Y'know, torture's a war crime," Kie suggested, speaking with salt.
JJ shrugged. "I thought it was a good idea-"
"Yeah. So, how exactly do you plan on clearing John B's name from a prison cell?" Pope said, rubbing his hands together. "Because that's a felony."
Charlotte placed her forehead in her hands.
"All right, well, what do you got, Pope," JJ sat down, "I was just tryin' to keep it simple, y'know, one stop and we're done," he folded one leg over the other, leaning back and squinting at them with one eye closed.
"One stop and the rest of our lives in jail," Charlie said with sarcasm, through her hands.
"Guys, all we need is a material witness," Pope was suddenly explaining, sounding sure. "We saw Ward's plane fly right over our heads— hell, Charlie you were literally on it for a minute," he looked at her. "He didn't fly it. So somebody else was there, on the tarmac, they saw Peterkin get murdered,"
Charlotte felt her stomach flip when an image of Peterkin slid into her mind, that day on the Tarmac.
"We just have to find whoever that was and get them to confess on record," He said, strongly, and confidently.
"Holy shit," Charlie breathed out, her eyes widening a bit.
"How do we do that?" Kiara asked, confusion in her voice.
Pope paused for a bit, until a small smile was pulling at his lips. "A little light espionage," he shrugged, delicately.
JJ put his hat on, sliding his tongue over his teeth, "A little ghost recon," he smiled with enticement.
They all looked at each other, smiles growing on their faces.
"Woogity, woogity?" Pope put his hands out, twiddling his fingers.
Charlotte felt her veins rise with happiness as she lifted her hand to touch his, and put her other out to JJ.
And the smile grew uncontrollable on her cheeks when JJ twiddled his fingers, shouting, "Woogity woogity, baby!" And their voices rose in pitch, and their laughs echoed on the dock.
It wasn't long before she found herself sitting in the backseat of Kiara's green car, staring out the window as they crossed the bridge. It felt unusual to be sitting in the backseat, because her spot in the van had always been the passenger side— and she longed to be there in the van again, now that it was a possibility. The radio was playing in the background, and JJ was ruffling through his bag as the windows were rolled open, letting wind swift through her hair. They'd found out who had flown Ward's plane that day on the Tarmac, thanks to Charlotte's good memory, and now they were headed to his house.
"If this guy flew planes for Ward then he's gotta be pretty tight-lipped." Pope was saying, from the passenger's side.
Charlotte stifled a giggle and turned to look at JJ in hopes that he was going to make a 'that's what he said' joke, but her smile fell when he pulled out the gun.
"So then direct approach gets my vote," he said, as he slid the bullets into place, emitting a clicking sound.
"Oh my god!" Charlotte looked at him with annoyance, but her heart was racing at the fact that she was that close to a loaded gun. "Put it away, now."
"JJ! No," Pope exclaimed over her voice. "No!"
"Wh— guys," JJ defended himself. "He—"
"No!" Kiara turned around, her face tensed, "What?!"
"Put the gun down, man," Pope ordered, pointing at his blamefully. "Put it down!"
"Take it away, please," Charlie demanded, and tried not to look at the gun. JJ glanced to her for only a second, saw that she was trying her best to steer as far away from the weapon as possible, and then he placed it out of her sight in the midst of complaining.
"Guys!" he shouted, defending himself.
"No way," Kiara looked back to the road.
"All right," Pope gave up, and turned back around in his seat.
"Look— we gotta keep this simple or we'll never get John B off," JJ protested.
"Or," Pope cut in, as he reached into his pocket. "We just tickle the wire," he said, simply, and held up his Airpods case.
JJ had put the gun back in the bag, hiding it from Charlie's view as much as he could.
"Tickle who's wire?" Charlie said, her eyebrows narrowed.
"What?" Kiara made a face.
"Tickle the wire," Pope said again, glancing to Charlotte in the rearview mirror. "I plant," he put one earbud in his ear, "My phone, in his car,"
Everyone watched, their eyebrows furrowed.
"And then we listen in on your Airpods." he finished, sounding confident in his plan. He held his phone up to Kiara. "Say something."
She shrugged, her hands on the wheel. "Something,"
He waited for a second. "Okay, we have audio," he said, happily, and Kie popped her bottom lip out.
The car began to slow down, and Charlotte looked up from picking at her nails to see that they were approaching a one-story house. She stared out JJ's window, at the nice little house.
"Alright, so, honk," Pope was saying as he took the Airpod out and shoved them in his pocket. "Or, uh... or yell, or something, if you see anything suspicious," he was looking at Kie.
"Don't do anything stupid," she told him.
He chuckled. "Come on, I'm not JJ," he said, as he unclipped his seatbelt and pushed open the car door.
"Funny, Pope," JJ said, sarcastically.
"Be safe," Charlotte called, as he walked around the back of the car.
The three of them watched as Pope scurried up to the property, sneaking around to the back of the house with his shoulders low. Once he was out of sight, Charlotte looked away.
The car was quiet, except for JJ's tapping of his foot on the ground.
"So," she decided to say, filling the silence. Her lips formed an 'o' shape, and she rang the word out.
JJ glanced to her.
"Did I, uh, miss anything," she continued, feeling the awkwardness.
"Huh," Kiara glanced to her in the rear-view mirror.
"Like, between you guys," she shifted her eyes between both of them.
JJ looked at her.
"I, just, I dunno," Charlie shrugged, keeping her voice casual. "Is there anything you both would like to, uh, fill me in on," she suggested.
"About what, Charlie," JJ asked, his eyes now focused on his window.
"Jesus, guys," she sighed. "Did anything happen while I was gone, like, anything at all,"
"Yeah, some stuff, obviously," Kiara said, curiously. "Nothing insane."
"Oh," Charlie sort of sat up, "oh," she grinned, "Is that so?" she poked JJ's arm, suggestively.
"Nothing we haven't told you," he looked at her dumbly.
"Wha— no!" she exclaimed, realizing that they weren't on the same page. "No— I meant, like, between both of you," she said, giving up. "Your little, y'know, sum' sum'."
"Don't say sum' sum'," JJ said, and she could tell that his body tensed up.
"Oh," Kiara's face flushed. "That."
"Yeah. Oh." Charlie sat back down. "Oh is right."
Then, she looked to both of them. JJ was bobbing his leg more now, rubbing his hand along his chin, and Kiara's cheeks were tinted with a slight shade of red, but she was trying to hide it. Charlotte smiled to herself— she didn't need them to tell her, because their actions were showing it already. What they'd had over the summer wasn't completely gone.
A comfortable silence took over them this time, no longer awkward.
"So, do you think this'll work," Charlie said, her voice calmer than before. "We can clear his name?"
"That's our mission right now," JJ assured, looking at her. They shared the same smile and glint in their eyes at the thought of it being possible.
Charlotte's face was struck with a broad smile, and she bit down on her bottom lip to contain it. Her whole body was practically shaking with foreign feelings at the thought of John B returning and how they were going to get him back.
Her thoughts about the whole mission were disrupted when Pope came into view, running across the street. They turned their heads to watch him as he sped around the back of the car, the same way he'd left.
He pulled open the passenger door, "Okay. Phase one is complete," he confirmed, sliding into the seat.
Charlie tapped his shoulders once over the back of his seat. "I loved third wheeling, thanks, Pope," she smiled.
He breathed out steadily, looking to them, as a silence took over. "And now we wait."