SIXTEEN
❝ I know I said dad was dead,
but I don't think he'll be here. ❞
*ೃ༄
WITH YET ANOTHER cig hanging from her lips, Ava's temple is leant against the cold back window of the Twinkie as she stares out at the darkness. They had been on the road for a while, John B being quite secretive about the final destination. JJ was trying to have a nap in the very back of the van, his hat pulled over his eyes. Pope and Ava had tried to play I-Spy for a bit, but it became difficult to find new things after a while, and Kiara quickly became annoyed with their arguments over who won.
As her phone vibrates in her short's pocket, Ava pushes away from the window, takes the cigarette from her mouth and blows the smoke away before she digs her mobile out. She presses accept without even bothering to look at the contact and raises the phone to her ear.
"Hello?" She mutters, her face straight with boredom. She was too tired to speak to someone.
"Ava, it's, uh, it's me."
Her brows furrow, "Nice and I'm not psychic. Who is me, exactly?"
From the seat behind her, JJ slowly wakes from his nap and he sits up slightly, removing his hat as he shuffles silently closer to her when he notices she's on the phone. Pope rolls his eyes, but he too moves along the seat to her. She glares over at him, still not seeing the blonde boy listening in behind her.
"For fucks sake," Now she knows who it is when she hears a proper formed statement, but the person on the other side still reveals themselves, "It's Rafe."
Ava's eyes fall closed with a long sigh and she puts her cigarette out before throwing it into the make-shift trash can by her feet. She runs her hands through her hair, causing JJ's brows to furrow further.
He wants to nudge her, and ask her who she's talking to, but due to their current status, he feels like she wouldn't appreciate that much. So instead he continues to try and eavesdrop, waiting for her to address the person on the other side.
"Oh, okay," Ava finally breaths out, "Hey, Rafe."
As the Kook's name leaves her lips, JJ's nostrils flare and his jaw clenches, while Kiara whirls around in her seat and Pope's eyes widen in surprise. John B looks at his twin sister through the rear view mirror, his brows cinched together in confusion. Each of them knew about her past relationship with Rafe Cameron, and none of them liked it.
"Are you busy?" Rafe questions quickly, and she can tell he's pacing by the continuous footsteps clicking on his kitchen floor in the background.
"Yes," Ava states, peering around at her friend's once she feels their quizzical eyes burning into her, "I am. But I doubt you care, so say what you need to say. Get it over with, please."
"I— I just wanted to ask you would you, y'know, be free to come hang, or something, tomorrow?" He rushes out before he sniffs roughly, causing her to roll her eyes.
"You're high, Rafe," Her hand moves up to pinch the bridge of her nose, "You'll regret this tomorrow, you realise that?"
"Just answer," He snarls.
She bites her lip, "Okay, calm down. Sure, I'll come speak to you tomorrow."
At her decision, JJ's anger slowly forms into confusion as he stares at Ava's face. He thought she was done with the Kook Prince.
"Yeah, yeah, okay. That's perfect. I'll see you tomorrow, then," He hangs up quickly, giving neither of them to say an actual goodbye.
Ava slowly lowers the phone from her ear and stares at her home screen in a slight daze before she drops the mobile into her lap. The Twinkie falls silent for a moment, while she tries to grasp onto what she just agreed to go do tomorrow.
"What? What did he say?" Kiara asks urgently, being the first to break the antagonising silence.
As she remembers she's with her friends, Ava's head snaps up as she manoeuvres around to shove her phone back into her pocket, "He wants to hang tomorrow. Fuck, I don't know why I said yes."
"You can always cancel," JJ mutters, a slight tinge of spite in his tone as he lies back down, pulling his hat over his face once more.
"Why does he want to hang?" Pope questions, grabbing Ava's attention quickly from the sulking blonde, "That's weird."
"I have no clue," She shrugs, her eyes fighting to keep on Pope while she can feel the anger practically radiating off JJ.
"Say no," John B states simply.
Ava glances over at him, "Why?"
"The only reason you need is that he's Rafe Cameron," John B says to her as the van rolls to a slow stop on a gravel road by a line of dark trees, "Plus, we're here now. Rafe can wait another day."
JJ is the first to hurry out of his position and jump out of the van, but for once he doesn't bother holding the door open for Ava, or offering his hand and speaking in the stupid accent, instead he leaves Pope to hold the door for her as she steps out. She looks over at the blonde, brows furrowed in confusion but his gaze quickly snaps from her to their surroundings, causing her to sigh.
Ava squints through the night, noticing many grey slabs of stone behind a tall black fence, "A graveyard. John, you brought us to a fucking graveyard. I know I said dad was dead, but I don't think he'll be here."
He throws a torch her way roughly, and she grunts as it smacks her in the chest. He doesn't bother saying anything else before he motions for the group to follow him through the cemetery.
"What are we doing? This place is scary," Kie licks her lips anxiously while following quickly after John B.
"Shush," He hisses, "You know how you're trying to remember a song and you can't remember who sings it?"
"Yeah. . ." Kiara's brows raise slowly.
"So, Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right?" He continues, glancing quickly between each of his friends as he makes sure they're following him.
Ava groans, "What are you trying to get at here? If it's some riddling shit, I'm not taking part."
He ignores his sister, "It's not a place—" A triumphant smile works it's way onto his face as they walk up to a massive tombstone. He raises his torch, illuminating the wiriting craved onto the front. Redfield, "—It's a person."
"Voi-effing-là" JJ mumbles, moving the position of his head torch in an attempt to get it comfortable.
"See, Ava, our great grandmother; Olivia Redfield," John beams at his sister, who just stares at him in confusion, "That was her maiden name."
There's a long few moments of silent while the friends look up at the massive tomb in shock at the size.
"So, what are we here for exactly?" Ava asks her brother, starting to feel slightly uncomfortable with the long silence as they all stand in the middle of a creepy cemetery.
"Just help me open the door. Come on," John B nods his head towards the tomb, motioning for the boys to help him.
The three of them put all of their strength and weight into pushing against the door, but it doesn't even move a single millimetre, let alone open. Kiara and Ava watch them from afar with their arms folded over their chests.
"Great," Ava huffs, "We can't even get in."
There's a harsh hiss and a snake slithers from the small broken hole in the door of the tomb and it drops to the floor. The boys jump back quickly in surprise, and instinctively, JJ places himself in front of Ava, his hand held out behind him and resting on the dip of her waist.
Ava tries not to pay attention to his hand, and keep her eyes on the snake slithering somewhere near their feet, but the soft palm resting on her waist is too distracting. But just as she starts to relax into his touch, he pulls his hand back once he realises what he was doing.
"Whoa," He coughs out, trying to ignore the small moment between them, "That's a moccasin, alright," He whistles.
The group watch silently as the snake slivers away peacefully, clearly not at all interested in the strange teenagers staring at it. But JJ Maybank, being JJ Maybank, he feels the need to do something. He steps forward, bending down slightly and then he starts barking loudly at the animal. Ava can't help but laugh and she shakes her head in disbelief.
"Shut up, JJ! Shut up!" Kiara hisses, smacking his back desperately as he follows after the snake.
"You're gonna wake the dead, man," Pope disapproves.
"Dude, they're afraid of dogs. Everyone knows that, man," JJ finally straightens up once the snake is gone from his sight, "I'm just saying. If there is one, there's probably dozens." He moves towards the hole in the tomb and starts barking once more into the darkness.
"JJ," Ava calls, and he glances over his shoulder at her, "Stop."
He nods slowly, stepping away from the tomb and wiping down his shirt to calm his own nerves.
"Look, John," Pope whispers, noticing his silence, "We're not gonna get in there, alright? It's not budging. We should probably just go."
"I can get through," Kiara declares, shining her torch through the small hole while she examines it.
Ava steps next to her, nodding her head in agreement, "Same. We could both go through and look for whatever it is. Four eyes are better than two."
JJ bites his lip, trying his hardest to stay silent but he can't help but say, "No, no, no and no." His eyes never leave Ava, insinuating that it is just her he doesn't want going inside the tomb.
Her expression hardens and she looks at him in shock. Any other time and he would be backing up her ideas for her to explore. He swallows when he notices her slightly creased forehead and his eyes dodge hers.
"I agree with JJ," John B speaks up, "You both think you're gonna fit through the hole? That hole?"
"Jesus christ," Ava throws her arms into the air at the clear distaste towards the idea, "Be thankful we're even offering in the first place."
"Plus, this is about your dad, John B. And honestly, I really don't believe in it, but you deserve to know the truth," Kiara folds her arms over her chest.
Ava hums, "We'll do i—"
"No."
Taking a deep breath, Ava returns her glare to the blonde boy across from her, "What the fuck is your problem? You literally have no right to decide whether I do it or not. You can't ignore me for a whole day then suddenly stop me from doing shit 'cause you feel like ruining my fun."
JJ licks his lips, digging his hands into his short's pockets, "I don't wanna ruin your fun, dude. I'm just saying that it's not a good idea for you to go in there because we just saw a snake crawl through that hole. There's probably loads more, meaning you could get hurt or possibly killed again," He rambles, trying to find as many excuses for his opinion, "Plus, you have a broken arm."
Ava's eyes fall to her arm, and she grinds her jaw before glaring back over at the blonde in distaste, "Fuck you."
"Thank you," He smiles over at her sarcastically, "Kie, you can go by yourself, man."
Ava lowers herself down onto a fallen gravestone and she rubs her free hand up and down her goosebump covered legs while Kiara prepares to writhe through the opening of the tomb. The boys help her through, arguing amongst themselves quietly.
Once she's securely on the other side, she shouts, "What am I looking for?"
"You'll know when you see it," John answers.
Ava stops herself from retorting to his stupid advice and instead lets out a yawn, clearly thrilled to be freezing in a graveyard in the middle of the night searching for something only her bother believes in.
"You alive, Kie? You got, like, a heartbeat and everything?" John B questions in worry.
"So far," She replies, her voice muffled by the thick stone.
"That's— that's good," He stumbles, causing his sister to bite down a laugh at his awkwardness.
"I need some light!" Kiara requests, and John B is quick to hold his lantern through the hole to her.
JJ ducks under his best friend's arm so that he is able to see through the gap in the stone. He squints his eyes, struggling to see what exactly she's doing, "Did you find something? Is there gold?"
"No, it's something else," Kiara passes an envelope through the hole along with the lantern before she clambers back through.
Ava stands up, peaking over her brother's shoulder at the paper resting in his hands.
Scribbled across the front it reads: To Bird. John B's infamous nickname.
JJ steps away from the group, clearly disappointed with the find as he lights himself a blunt to relieve some stress, "Code red! Code red!" He suddenly exclaims, looking through the trees at something in the distance, "Square groupers! Square groupers!" He's quickly running away through the leaves piled on the ground.
The group follow quickly after him, jumping over fallen graves and branches. They skid to a stop behind a large gravestone, and JJ peers around the corner at the flashlights in the distance.
"It's the guys who robbed your house," JJ grinds out, his eyes flicking briefly to Ava, "Y'know, if I wasn't so high right now, I would murder them, for sure."
Praying he's wrong, Ava pushes away from the stone and stands beside him, squinting at the men searching for them, "JJ, that's not them," She lets out a sigh of relief, "That's a golf cart, not a truck. Those men had—"
John's hand clamps over his sister's mouth and he pulls her back slightly before turning around to glare at her. She shoves him away, mouthing an apology.
"Homies got a gun," JJ hisses quietly, putting his blunt out on the stone stressfully.
"Fuck this shit," Ava decides, turning on her heel and breaking off into a sprint back towards the Twinkie.
Instantly, her friends are behind her, and their unsteady flashlights reveal the path to the gate of the graveyard. Once they reach the black fence, JJ's hands subconsciously grip under Ava's armpits and he lifts her up over the wall before jumping over himself. He knew she would need help due to her cast, he also knew she would never ask her it, at least not from him. So the only chose he had was to do it without asking.
As her friend's dash to the van, Ava skids to a stop when she notices one of them missing. She whirls around, seeing Pope hanging on the gate while his arms wave frantically.
"Please, don't tell me your stuck," She hisses, "Pope! Get down!"
"Where's Ava? Ava?" A call comes from behind her, and soon JJ is at her side, "Ava, come o— Pope!" He laughs, finally noticing the dangling boy, "Come on, man!"
"I'm stuck!" He shouts desperately.
Kiara's quick to run over to him and grip his shorts, "I've got you. Calm down."
As the security men near, JJ pulls the gun from his waistband but Ava's quick to smack it down. His head snaps to her in alarm.
"Are you fucking crazy?" She tilts her head, smacking his chest, "Was it necessary to bring it?"
"Obviously!" He argues.
Pope drops to the ground, but as he stands up he realises his shorts are now abandoned on the gate, leaving him in his boxers.
"Nice, dude!" JJ whistles, breaking off into a run again, "It's a little Tootsie Roll."
Laughing, Ava jogs beside Pope, and pats his back sympathetically while his hands are cupped around his crotch to give himself a sense of privacy.
. . .
aaron taylor johnson is so ungodly and leng like i can't describe how fit he is
it's unbelievable
word count,
2378
not proof read