❝DADDY ISSUES BANDWAGON.❞
third person.
the pogues and morgan climbed into the twinkie, john b claiming he had figured out the secret behind his father's compass during their time in the chicken coop.
"i mean, he had to know it'd come back to us, right, sage?" john b tried. he was currently attempting to convince the group that big john was trying to send a message to his kids.
"john b, maybe he was trying to talk to you, but he sure as hell wasn't trying to talk to me." she deadpanned.
"sage, come on, are you serious? can you let it go? yeah, he didn't show up for you a couple times, so what?" john b spat, suddenly angry, sage scoffing and rolling her eyes.
"the only thing dad taught me was what a parent shouldn't look like. it was his fault mom left, not mine, but guess who took all the blame for that." sage replied, turning to the back where everyone was looking at her, eyes slightly widened.
"he loved you." john b said quietly after everyone sat in silence for a moment. "he loved you, he just didn't know how to show it."
"i can tell." sage deadpanned, crossing her arms and looking out the window.
"this is tense." jj commented, leaning back in his seat.
"everyone climb aboard the daddy issues bandwagon." sage said shortly, morgan raising her hand.
"i've been waiting twelve years for the cigarettes and chinese food, can i join?" she questioned, sage nodding.
"everyone in this van besides pope is eligible at this point." the blonde replied, leaning back in her seat.
"john b, it is possible you're concocting wild theories to help... process your sad feels." pope explained.
"you know how i process my sad feels." jj started, sage turning around.
"weed, weed, and weed, we know." she deadpanned, the twinkie stopping short in front of redfield lighthouse. "i hate this place more than anything else in this world."
"can you stop being a bitch for five seconds and give this a shot?" john b said shortly, not even waiting for an answer before climbing out of the van, the rest of the group following.
"if no one's gonna say it, i will." sage said flatly, turning to jj. "you should sit this one out."
"no- absolutely not!" jj tried, but was quickly shot down by everyone around him, pope spewing some nonsense about independent and dependent variables.
"how about this." sage interjected, pointing at john b and kiara. "you, you, go inside. the rest of us will babysit jj because we all know i'm not equipped to do it myself." she pitched, jj opening his mouth in protest but sage clamped her hand over it before he could say anything. "kapeesh?"
"kapeesh." john b breathed, he and kiara turning to walk toward the lighthouse, jj grabbing sage's wrist and pulling her hand away from his face.
"you're a real asshole, y'know?"
"i thrive on asshole-ery." the blonde girl replied with a smile, adjusting the white bandana that was holding her hair back.
"can we get on the roof of the van?" morgan asked as jj and pope walked away from the girls to bicker about something.
"yeah, i go up there all the time to tan." sage explained, grabbing the surfboard rack and using it to pull herself up, grabbing morgan's hand, lacing their fingers together and pulling her onto the roof with her.
"my dad used to take me and john b here all the time when we were kids." sage explained. "i hated everything about it, walking up the stairs to the top, hearing the same thing every time, about how he thought it was somewhere over there, or there, whatever he was feeling that day was where the boat was."
"do you miss it now?" morgan asked hesitantly, but sage quickly shook her head.
"not at all, if anything, i hate it more now." the blonde replied. "it's just a constant reminder that he cared more about that stupid shipwreck than his own kids- well, me, at least. john b was his pride and joy, i was simply there."
"does john b know?" morgan asked hesitantly, sage wrinkling her eyebrows at the holcomb girl.
"what do you mean?" she asked, morgan nodding towards the lighthouse.
"does john b know how you feel about your dad? do you guys talk about it?"
"absolutely not, it's like a taboo." sage explained. "see, dad and john b were super close. he taught him everything a father should teach his son, he had no idea how to raise a daughter and didn't want to learn, so he didn't bother. when he disappeared, john b's whole world crumbled. he still had me, sure, but it wasn't the same as having dad, i wasn't a role model to him."
sage missed her father deep down, despite never admitting it to anyone. she certainly didn't love him. after all, he had been so shitty to her her whole life, but he was still her dad. he had still given her a roof, food, and clothes. sure, he had done the bare minimum for her, but he could've walked out.
she thought of jj and his dad. she was the one the maybank came to after a run in with his father, she had seen firsthand what luke maybank was capable of, how much he could do to his son when drunk, high, or both, and it made sage's dad look like a saint.
sure, sage had spent her life wishing big john would pay more attention to her, but her mind kept going back to jj. the blood, the bruises, the heavy hoodies on the hottest days of the year, showing up to school late and not looking anyone in the eyes, sage waking up to her door slowly creaking open at two am, jj's tear-filled eyes shining brightly in the moonlight as his lip would tremble, waiting for the routledge girl to pull him into a hug and reassure him that he was safe with her and that he couldn't get hurt anymore as long as he was at the chateau.
so, while she was aware people had it worse than her- people she loved and cared for- she still wished she had had the part of her life that she had only heard about from john b after he would return with big john from a fishing trip or treasure hunt that had lasted weeks while sage was left to take care of the chateau.
"you hear that?" morgan asked suddenly, sage peeking up as a police siren neared the lighthouse, the sound getting louder by the second.
"yes- jj! pope, come on!" she yelled, jumping down from the twinkie and offering a hand to morgan who followed her off the roof, the two girls getting in the front while jj and pope climbed
into the back, sage steering the twinkie down the road and away from the lighthouse, watching in the rear view mirror as john b and kiara ran out of the lighthouse.
"you can't turn around, sage." jj told the girl, reading her mind as she sighed, looking forward at the road.
"they'll be okay." morgan assured the blonde, who glanced over at her and nodded.
of course they'd be okay, they had to be.
morgan went with the pogues to heyward's, where john b was bound to find them at some point. after all, the group wouldn't have been at the maybank house for long if they had been there to begin with. they left the van at the chateau, walking down the street to where sage had met morgan and taking the holcomb girl's car to heyward's.
john b flung gravel up as he pulled the van into the driveway of they heyward family's livelihood, stopping abruptly and motioning for the others to get in.
"let's ride." jj said, strolling to the van and climbing in the front seat, sage opening the door for morgan who climbed in behind her. sage sat on the bench, morgan on the floor, leaned against sage's knees.
"so what have you done since we left you unsupervised?" sage asked, john b glancing back in the rear view mirror at his sister, his eyebrows raising at the sight of her and morgan, which sage definitely didn't miss, covertly flipping him off as best as she could.
"i burnt a bunch of shit in our house- my shit! calm down!" john b immediately backtracked when sage opened her mouth to protest.
"my honey bun stash had better be intact when i get home." she deadpanned.
"they may not have survived the great routledge bonfire of 2020." john b said nonchalantly. "i guess you'll just have to see when you get home."
the van stopped at the wreck, pope climbing out to go inside and retrieve kiara, morgan immediately turning to sage.
"am i gonna be an issue?" she asked, sage rolling her eyes.
"she thinks everyone's an issue, she's also just incapable of keeping her mouth shut." sage added, looking out the window as pope walked out of the restaurant.
"she says she's not coming!" he called, the blonde routledge in the back shrugging as though he had told them the sky was blue.
"whatever will we do?" she asked sarcastically, morgan giggling from her seat on the floor.
"what did you do to her, john b?" jj was asking as john b piled out of the twinkie.
"please don't tell me you took my chance on calling her out for being a fake bitch." sage yelled after her brother as he retreated into the wreck, jj turning to her as pope got into the back.
"why are you always such an ass?" he deadpanned, sage raising her eyebrows at him.
"me?" she asked. "as in i?"
"yes, you. kiara hasn't done anything to you." jj retorted, making sage roll her eyes.
"y'know, you're right. kiara never did anything to me personally, but i also wasn't the one grieving for the nine months she was off getting chummy with the rich." sage spat. "so please, forgive me if im not willing to take her back after she abandoned john b when he needed her more than ever."
"sage, holding onto a grudge isn't a good thing, especially with one of john b's best friends." pope pointed out.
"to be fair, she hates me because sarah didn't invite her to her fifteenth birthday party and that is, apparently, entirely my fault." morgan mentioned from the floor, sage nodding and pointing at the redhead.
"see? has it ever occurred to you that she's the problem?" sage asked, but the slamming of the screen door of the wreck pulled them all from their thoughts. "and this is where the shit hits the fan."
she was right, of course, sage was never wrong. kiara froze as soon as she pulled the back door of the van open and saw morgan sitting on the floor, both her and sage grinning at her.
"surprise!" sage exclaimed with false enthusiasm, kiara turning to john b.
"no. immediately no." she said. "why didn't you tell me she was here?"
"because quite frankly no one cares if you end up coming or not." sage deadpanned, kiara rolling her eyes and yanking jj's door open.
"sit in the back." she gritted, the maybank boy climbing into the backseat so he was sitting next to sage, their biceps touching as he sat almost directly next to her.
"okay, i'm getting the sense that someone in this car is pissed." sage stated, kiara turning to the backseat angrily.
"if you weren't such a bitch who's only goal in life was to piss me off, i wouldn't be!" kiara yelled, sage rolling her eyes.
"oh- get over yourself!" she shouted back. "honestly, kiara, you can cry me a river, build me a bridge, and get over it. because honestly, i don't care about what you have to say to me. i have listened to damn near a year of fake ass apologies from you, and i'm sick of it. morgan is my friend, the only difference with me being acquainted with kooks and you doing it was that i didn't leave everyone else behind to do so."
"can you both shut up!" john b yelled. "look, i was wrong about the lighthouse. i was wrong about a lot of things. but i do know one thing. our dad is trying to tell us something."
"whatever you say, indiana jones." sage deadpanned, her brother giving her a fake smile in the mirror.
it was gonna be a long night.
kens speaks 🪐
me updating euphoria?? what??
i got sooo much motivation to finish this chapter from the lovely giovrafaelle and her comments, so she is to credit for this update