SEVEN
❝ Did you just give us permission to hook up? ❞
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POPE SNATCHES THE STACK of money from JJ's hand before sitting back against the headboard of John B's bed, "For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband in it. . . it probably belongs to someone else."
With her shorts still slightly wet, Ava shrugs in her seat as she raises her legs onto the bed, her arms crossing behind her head to support her neck, "Who cares?"
Kie hums in agreement, "Minor details."
"They could be looking for it," Pope continues sternly, shooting glares towards the two careless girls, "Taking it would be catastrophically stupid," He slaps the money down on his leg, and JJ reaches forward, snatching it back roughly.
"Right," The blonde sighs, leaning forward slightly and spreading the money out in front of his face as he smiles up at Pope, "Stupid things have good outcomes all the time. All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal."
"Right," Pope clicks his tongue, "And How exactly do we do that? We aren't the most normal people ever."
Kiara rubs her palms together, "Kegger?"
Her friend's head snap in her direction install, each of them smirking at the idea. John B shoots up from his seat, shaking his sister's shoulders in excitement until she eventually shoves him away, laughing quietly while the teenagers quickly rush from the room, collecting everything necessary for the kegger.
*ೃ༄
THE BONEYARD holds lots of memories for the Pogues. It's an area of beach planted between both sides of the island, and it's the only one place you will ever find Kook, Pogue and Touron teenagers mixing and having fun, that's if there's enough alcohol to satisfy both groups.
After the Pogues spent a while prepping the beer, it didn't take long for people to begin to show. First other Pogies arrived, bringing some of their new part-time Touron friends, and after word went around about the Kegger, a few Kooks arrived, displeasing most others.
With a red solo cup filled to the brim with frothing beer, Ava steps through the large crowd, nodding and smiling greetings at the usuals. From his seat around the campfire, JJ watches as she does so, everyone she smiles at copying the expression with genuine emotion. Stepping over a log, she spots him around the fire, and while a girl witters in his ear, he holds up his thumb to make sure she's doing okay, and she nods in answer before Kiara's dragging her away.
"I have someone here you might want to meet," She beams, leading Ava through a group before stopping in front of a boy, who's shades are hiding his eyes and even though the sky above them is dark, he's wearing a hat, shadowing his face, "Ava, this is Charlie Clifton. Charlie, this is Ava Routledge."
Taking another swig from her cup, Ava glances the boy up and down before sending him a smile, which he attempts to return.
Ava completely rotated her body to Kiara, her jaw clenched and eyebrows raised, "Why did you think I'd want to meet him?" She whispers, making sure that the boy is speaking to someone else as she speaks.
Kiara rolls her eyes, patting her friends bare arm, "Just get to know him. He's someone I met in the Kook academy last year."
"So, he's Kook?" Ava tilts her head, "I seriously don't understand why—"
"Hey, I can hear you, you know," The boy chimes in, causing a delighted smile to break out across Kiara's face as Ava robotically turns to look at the boy once more, "Would you like to go sit somewhere quieter, so we can shit talk other people apart from me?"
Ava chuckles, biting her lip as her finger taps anxiously against the cup in her hand, but eventually she nods in acceptance, "Yeah. Come on," She motions away towards the tree line, "I know a perfect place for people watching. I'll be seeing you later Kiara Carrera."
Kiara nudges her friends playfully, before they begin to walk away from her. She raises a hand to cup her mouth, shouting to Ava, "Love you."
Ava glances over her shoulder, sending her close friend a dirty look before she's once more distracted from the boy beside her.
"Are you the same girl who dated Rafe Cameron for a year?" He questions, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut for a few moments in hold in an internal groan.
Lowering herself down onto a log just before the tree line with the sea a few metres in front, Ava slides JJ's cigarette packet from her pocket, "Do you mind if I smoke near you?" She asks.
He shakes his head, "Not if you give me one."
She smiles gently, passing him a cigarette before flicking JJ's lighter open and using it for both of their cigs, "And, yes, I am the unlucky girl who dated Rafe Cameron. If all you're going to talk about is him, then I might just have to drown you. His name is all I've heard the past few months."
He laughs, breathing out a cloud of smoke and wafting it away from their faces quickly, "Oh, god no. Don't worry. The last thing I ever want to do is give Rafe Cameron more attention."
Narrowing her eyes, she turns to look at him, her eyes running over his sunglasses and hat once more, "So, you're one of the mysterious boys, who tries to lure girls in with their charm and not looks, huh?"
He glances over at her, and she watches his eyebrows move slightly above his glasses, "How'd you figure that out?"
"Hm, I don't know," She taps her chin quizzically, "It's dark out, and you're wearing a hat and sunglasses."
"I'll happily take it off it's making you feel too intimidated by me," He moves his hands to his cap, but she waves him off with a laugh.
"Hey, for all I know you might look like Deadpool under that," She teases, glancing back towards the kegger with a faint smile, "Plus, I like mysterious men."
"Is that so?" He asks, tilting his head as he peers over at the side of her face.
Back over in the bustling Kegger, JJ watches as Kiara steps over the log to sit beside him, making sure to send a grimacing look towards the blonde attached to his other side. His brows furrow as he glances around the surrounding group, searching for a certain dirty blonde, who's most likely smoking and mixing it with beer.
At no sight of her, he drops his gaze to Kiara, "Hey, Kie?" He calls, pulling her attention away from the girl she was talking with, "Where's Ava? I haven't seen her in a bit."
She hums, a small faint developing on her face at the memory of where her friend is, "She's with Charlie," She turns, pointing through the crowd towards the tree line, where her two friends are perched on a log laughing with one another, "That's my attempt at getting her a boyfriend."
JJ's face falls at the girls words and he manoeuvres his body around until he's finally able to see Ava in the distant, nudging her elbow into another boy's side while she presumably teases him. Just like she did with him daily.
"Who's she with, Kie?" JJ questions harshly, his eyes never pealing from Ava.
Kiara brows furrow at the intensity in his voice, and she tilts her head, fully rotating her body to look at him, "JJ, are you. . . jealous?"
His jaw sets and he finally flicks his gaze over to her as he shakes the blonde girl beside him off. He leans forward slightly, closer to Kiara, "Who is she with, Kie?"
Rolling her eyes, Kiara sighs, "Jesus. He's called Charlie. An old friend of mine. They're practically the same person. I thought they'd be good for each other."
JJ laughs as if it's a stupid thought while he shakes his head and straightens up once more, brushing his palms on his knees before standing up. Kiara's eyes narrow at his movements, and her shoulders hang in realisation.
"JJ, come on, dude!" She calls, as he pushes through the crowd roughly towards Ava, complete ignoring his friend's attempts to get him to leave the flirting pair alone.
Turning her gaze away from Charlie and back towards the raging beach party, Ava's eyes land on her a certain blonde making his way over. Charlie follows her line of sight, tilting his head, "This your boyfriend?" He asks, the blonde still too far to hear them.
Ava shakes her head, "He wishes. He's one of my closest— if not best friend," She straightens up slightly, putting her cigarette out on the log beneath her as she smiles over at the blonde, "Hey, J. You okay?"
"Mhm. Perfect," He hums, not even bothering to stop as he grabs her arm and lifts her from the log gently before guiding her back into the trees, and pressing her back against one.
He peers around the trunk, rolling his jaw when he notices Charlie's eyes on them. He rotated them further around the tree, his pumping chest pressed against Ava's as she peers up at him in confusion.
"A Kook, seriously?" He scoffs, hands falling to squeeze her waist.
She laughs, throwing her head back causing the wood as she realises what the source of his anger is, "You jealous, hm, playboy? That's why you just dragged me away? Because you're jealous. Stop acting as if you didn't just have some blonde chick attached to your hip."
He smirks, pressing his tongue against the inside of his cheek in an attempt to from doing anything stupid and impulsive. But as his eyes flow down to her pink lips, he can't help but raise one hand to hold her cheek as he leans down, pressing his lips against hers. Ava freezes against him for a split second, before relaxing and raising a hand to place it on the back of his scalp, massaging his hair, causing him to moan against her lips.
"JJ," She breathes, attempting to break away from the kiss, but he keeps moving closer, his starving lips never parting from hers. Her eyes fly open as she raises a hand to his chest, pushing him away slightly and finally he meets her gaze, a smile in his lips, "J, really?"
He nods firmly, his lips dropping to her exposed neck hungrily, "Really," He mumbles against her skin, his hand squeezing her waist.
Trying her hardest not to throw her head back and allow him more access, she now raises her hand to his chin, raising her head back to her level, "You're drunk."
He shakes his head, pressing another kiss to her lips with a smirk, "This is the most sober I've ever been," He leans forward for one more peck, but she turns her head, causing his lips to hit her cheek.
"JJ, look around us for a second," She says, and he does as told, rotating his head to peer around at the looming trees, "We're in the middle of some dark scary ass trees. I am not having our first make out session—"
"Second," He chimes in.
She glares up at him, "That was hardly a make out session."
He shrugs, "Believe me, when you're ten, a single kiss counts as a make out."
Ava Routledge and JJ Maybank were each others first kisses. He'd sneaked away from John B during a sleepover, and 'by mistake' ended up in his sister's room, where the both of them played truth or dare, which then led to them both kissing each other.
She rolls her jaw, "But you see my point, yes? If you wanna hookup, we can do that anytime in the privacy of our homes. But not in some creepy ass forest," She snaps, wiggling free of his grip and turning on her heel as she begins to head back to the kegger.
"Did you just give us permission to hook up?" JJ calls after her, and she nods over her shoulder, causing him to groan and lean forward, pressing his forehead against the tree while his gaze drops to his crotch, noticing his erection through his shorts, "Fuck."
Rolling her shoulders back as she steps out from the tree line, Ava notices a familiar boy with sunglasses and a hat walking along the water alone. She curses to herself before jogging towards him, wiping her lips in an attempt to get rid of how red they are before she lands at his side.
"Sorry about that," She says before he's even able to look at her, "Well, about him."
Charlie waves her off, shrugging carelessly as he digs his hands into his short pockets, "So, I'm taking it he is your boyfriend, then."
Ava shakes her head, burying her own hands in the back pockets of her shorts, "No. JJ's my brother's best friend. We flirt, have been doing since we were old enough to know how. But, it's weird."
"Hm," He hums, coming to a stop as they turn to one another, "Seems like it. Look, I really should get going. My parents are extremely strict and might just lock me in my room for eternity if I get home after nine."
She tilts her head, fishing her phone out from her pocket and checking the time. It's eight o'clock, but she doesn't bring it up. Instead she just nods and says, "We don't want that, do we? I'd like to speak to you again."
Charlie laughs quietly, stepping past her and speaking over his shoulder, "Don't think JJ would approve," He walks away, and she watches as he does so, her face falling flat as she lets out a long sigh.
Running her hands over her face in annoyance at herself, Ava begins to seek out another cup of beer. Stepping over kissing couples, and crying teenagers, she finally reaches the beer pump. She kneels down in front of it, pulling a cup from the pile before trying to pour herself a beer. But, all that falls from the pump, is a single drop of alcohol, causing her to groan and drop back on her bum.
. . .
this is a chap that is very different to the og