CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Milwaukee beverage
‿︵‿︵‿︵
(PRESENT)
Catastrophically stupid was the wording Avery was looking for.
For the last few hours, the Pogue's had been trying to convince Pope and Avery about their plan. The girl was not as reluctant as her friend was, the only thing on her mind was being caught be her father. She wanted to join in on every dumb plan they created but she couldn't risk everything, not right now.
Which was why she decided not to join the rest of the crew at the Boneyard. Although it took a lot of convincing, mainly JJ and John B, and willpower. Her best friend's were forgetting about the potential risks and was consumed with the hope that they could just have a good time together, like they used to. But they came to realise that they couldn't win the argument, remembering how stubborn Avery was, and for her own sake.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" JJ asked once again, twirling around in the doorway to face the blonde. She playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head lightly. He sighed, "I can stay, I don't have to go. We can stay here and-"
"Stop acting like you would willingly chose me over a party full of beer and girls" She snorted a laugh and gave him a weak nudge, making him step backwards and over the threshold.
"Shut up, you know I would chose you over everything else. Okay, maybe not weed, I'd have to think about that one" His lips tugged into a smile as he watched her scoff, grasping his biceps and turning him around.
"Come on, Maybank, go do what you do best and enjoy the party" Avery grinned goofily. She had missed the boy's usual attics more than she had thought.
"Avery-"
"JJ," She cut him off, letting out a sigh as he turned around with a familiar look in his eyes. Avery crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the doorframe, "I know you don't want to leave because of what happened. I get it. But you don't have anything to worry about. I'll be here when you get back, ready to baby your lame drunk self. Okay?"
"Okay" He mumbled, trying his best to trust her and convince himself to leave before the trio left without him.
A smile spread across her face, Avery let him drag her into his embrace. She felt his chest fall as his long breath tickled her face and left a trail of goosebumps down her neck. Hugging back, she wished that they could stay in the moment for a little longer but John B spammed the horn, causing them to break apart and Avery finally shoved JJ down the porch stairs. She waved them off, standing on the edge of the porch against the banister as the hippie van slowly rolled out the driveway.
The sun was beginning to set and the Boneyard was full of teenagers. After a few drinks, JJ had started to worry less about his best friend that was stuck at the Chateau. Yet the thought of her still sat in the back of his mind, as always, not even an excessive amount of alcohol could change that.
Standing in a group of tourons, the blond boy challenged the pretty girl's to multiple drinking games. His arm was currently linked with a brunette that had little plaits in her hair and painted turquoise nails. The small crowd cheered as she smacked down her empty cup, beating JJ by seconds. He couldn't help but cheer along with them, quite impressed that she had downed it quicker than he had. Only Avery had beaten him at that game.
"How about another? I wanna see where this goes" The brunette blatantly flirted. Her hand was resting on his bicep and she titled her head to the side, her lips were shaped into a kittenish smirk.
JJ was stumped at the strange feeling that settled in his stomach. For months he had wrapped random girls around his finger, neither of them were more than a hookup that lasted a night, sometimes a few hours. It wasn't the best coping mechanism but he found that it eased the pain for some time and got addicted to the feeling it gave, falling into a habit. Now, she was back and he couldn't bring himself to even think about anything like that again.
"It was lovely meeting you all. Great match," JJ glanced around at all the unfamiliar faces before flashing a wonky smile at the brunette, "I should get back to attending my friend. You know how it goes, gotta make sure he gets the girl and all that jazz!"
Without his acknowledgment, John B was walking over to the small crowd. He couldn't help but chuckle shortly at his friend's awfully awkward attempt to escape the situation. His hands flew up in front of him and grasped JJ's shoulders, making the blond turn around too quickly. John B laughed as he gripped a little tighter, noticing JJ had gone dizzy from the sudden movement that definitely wasn't sensible to do when alcohol was in his system.
"Pinning over her," John B smirked. He was more than sure on his friend's crush and was going to tease him about it every opportunity he got. "Screw the rule. Screw the super hot, surfer chick instead"
The brunet barked a laugh as JJ didn't hesitate to give him a shove, making himself stumble too. He was making it too easy. John B innocently smiled and threw his hands up in defence before chuckling, throwing an arm around JJ's shoulders and tugging him along with him, rejoining with Pope and Kiara who were refilling their red cups at the kegger.
After sunset, the sky had darkened and stars were peeking through the navy blue blanket above them. JJ stumbled, dragging his boot cladded feet through the sand, with two large red solo cups in his hands. The coastal wind was blowing his messy blond locks over to one side, occasionally falling into his vision which wasn't helping his tipsy navigating.
"Oh, wait. Hey, hey. Hey, Sarah!" JJ put on a smile, leaning back slightly and carefully to get a better look at the Kook princess that was wandering past. He called out, "Sarah, can I interest you in a tasty Milwaukee beverage?"
"No, thanks" Sarah Cameron dismissed. Her tone weirdly wasn't hostile, a thin layer of confusion and possibly nerves underlined her voice but she was being fairly genuine.
"Come on. Is it not fancy enough for you?" JJ teased, his playfulness could easily be taken as sarcasm.
"No, we were just leaving" Sarah dismissed the other blond's smirk and kindly declined again.
"Hey, you know what? I'll take it. Thank you, man. I appreciate it" Topper Thornton, the Kook prince and Sarah's douchey boyfriend butted in snarkily.
"That's nice but I didn't ask you" JJ caustically responded, pulling the cup out of reach. "Nah, if you said pretty please, maybe. But you didn't"
Unfortunately the scene grew more tension. Topper stepped forward and smacked the cup out of the Pogue's hand, causing the liquor to flick up and into JJ's face. The action immediately triggered the blond and he didn't hesitate to launch himself at Topper, balling his shirt as he harshly pushed him back. John B was quick to step in and forced his friend away from the bustle, trying to calm him down.
"Dirty Pogues!"
AUTHORS NOTE!
so, sarah has just been introduced and i'm already planning on her and avery's development!