"Guys... I think there's a boat down there." Pope says.
"No way-" Kie exclaims, standing up and rolling her eyes.
"No, no, guys. I'm serious." He says, bending over and pointing to the figure of a white boat beneath the water surface. "There's like a boat down there, for real!" He says.
Everybody furrows their eyebrows, quickly getting up and walking over to him.
"Holy shit! There is a boat!" Melia says excitedly, grinning at Pope. "Let's go!" She calls out, tying her hair up into a messy bun before jumping into the water.
"Do you think there's a dead body down there?" Pope asks. Everybody had jumped in now.
John B swims under the surface and Melia takes a deep breath in and goes under. They all swim down to the whereabouts of the boat, trying to look inside without getting too much water in their eyes.
But after a while they were running out of breath, Melia pushed herself back up to the surface, gasping for air.
"You guys saw that?!" JJ yells excitedly.
"Yeah, I did!" Melia says, everybody agreeing.
John B and JJ climb back onto the boat first, then Pope, then Kie. JJ offers out his hand to Emilia which she takes gratefully, hopping onto the boat and sitting down, still catching her breath. She picks the shirt JJ threw off earlier
up and pulls it over her body with a shiver.
"That's a Grady-White." JJ says, wrapping his arm around Melia excitedly, pulling her closer to him. "A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy!" He says, smiling widely.
"That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge! Maybe it hit the jetty or something-" John B says, running his hand through his wet hair.
"You surfed the surge?" Kie asks worriedly, frowning slightly.
"And didn't invite me and Jay?" Melia asks, furrowing her eyebrows.
"You two were cuddling on the couch, and don't act like you aren't shit scared of storms!-" John says, defending himself.
She just rolls her eyes and sighs, laying her head on JJ's shoulder.
"Wait, wait. Do we know whose boat that is?" Pope asks, walking back over to the edge of the boat to glance into the water.
"No, but we're about to find out." John B says with a wink, bending down and grabbing the anchor from the hold.
"Dude, it's too deep." JJ says, shaking his head.
"Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ." John B says with a grin, pulling the anchor up.
"Well, I'm not resuscitating you, just making that clear up front." JJ says, his face upturned with disgust.
"Retweet." Melia says, fake gagging, making JJ laugh.
"Thats fine-" John B says with an eyeroll.
"John B-" Kiara says, looking up at him with a a worried look in her eye. He hums slightly in confusion, tilting his head.
"Diver down, fool." Pope says with a laugh.
JJ and Melia look at each other with a mischevious grin, nodding at one another.
"Yeah he is!" They both call out, pushing him into the water with the anchor, causing him to sink.
JJ and Melia laugh as they watch him swim down. She sits down, stretching slightly. She keeps an eye on John B, making sure he isn't dead or whatever. Not like she cares. (She absolutely does care.)
After a while everybody glances at each other with worry, especially Melia. "Should we go get him..?" She asks quietly, biting her nails.
JJ rests his hand on her bouncing knee. She literally felt her breath hitch and butterflies swarm in her stomach.
Fuck. Its the blow to the head, making her crazy. Right?
Gasp.
John B has appeared back above the water surface, shaking his head to get his hair out of his face.
"Oh my god, that took forever!" Kiara yells, Melia just sighs in relief.
"Ah jeez, any dead bodies?" Pope asks, a slight grin on his face.
"Looting potential?" JJ adds on.
"No- no. I found this motel key." He says, pulling himself back up onto the boat as JJ pulls the anchor back up.
"A key..?" Pope says, slightly disappointed.
"Yes, Pope, a key." John B snaps slightly, shaking his head and sighing.
"Great! We salvaged a motel key..!" JJ says, rolling his eyes and slumping back down next to Emilia and wrapping his arm around her shoulder
"Guys, we should really report the wreck to the coast guard-" Kiara says, rubbing her forehead. "Maybe we'll get a finder's fee?" She suggests as they drive back.
"Yeah, and not work all summer." JJ says with a grin.
"Thats the dream-" Melia says with a smile, laying her head back on JJ's shoulder.
"Thanks, Agatha, ya batch!"
—————————————————
They all walk in to the coast guard office, but it's swarmed with people and the guy is occupied with a woman shouting about her dogs diabetes?
"Canine diabetes is very serious-!" The woman yells.
"Uhm, excuse me?" Melia asks, trying to get the guys attention.
"Excuse me!" John B yells, standing infront of his sister, finally catching the man's attention. "Hey, man, we- we found a boat." He tries to explain, but the woman yelling about her dogs diabetes is louder. He ignores him.
"Dude- you're really gonna wanna hear this!" He yells.
"Hey! Calm down." The man yells at them, Melia flinches slightly and backs up.
Melia lets out a sigh and just shakes her head, mouthing a small 'lets just go'.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Well, that was successful!" Kiara exclaims, shaking her head as they walk off.
"So, what's the plan?" JJ asks, resting one arm on John B's shoulder, and the other around Emilia's waist.
"I- I think I know how we're gonna find the guy who owns that boat." John B eventually says with a smirk, holding up the motel key he salvaged from the wreck.
—————————————————
They're slowly approaching the 'motel' in the HMS Pogue, Kiara's face is evidently disgusted.
JJ whistles uncomfortably, "And I thought that the Château looked bad.." he says quietly, staring at the state of the place.
"Motel or meth lab..?" Melia asks, looking at all of the broken down cars scattered around and the mouldy mattresses just layed out on the ground.
"You be the judge.." He replies uneasily as they approach it.
"Doesn't look like a place somebody with a Grady-White would stay." John B states, furrowing his eyebrows.
"No. Looks like a place where somebody with a Grady-White would get killed." Pope states.
They get closer up to the grass and JJ pulls out the anchor.
"This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue comin' in for landing." JJ says, acting as if he's talking into a megaphone. Melia grins at him and pushes his head away jokingly.
They tie up to the grass and decide who's going up and who's staying lookout. Eventually, its decided that the Routledge's and JJ would go, leaving Kiara and Pope on lookout.
"We good?" John B asks as JJ finishes parking up.
"Yeah we good- all right, here goes nothin'." He says with a sigh, offering Melia his hand so she could climb out without falling - which she took gratefully.
"Hey." Pope says, leaning against the stand above the steering wheel.
"Yeah?" John B replies, turning to look at him.
"Don't let them do anything stupid." He says, gesturing towards JJ and Emilia, who were currently arguing over whether or not birds will take over when they evolve.
"I'm not making any promises.." John B says with a chuckle, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, I know.." He says with a sigh, rubbing his forehead.
"Uh, be careful." Kie says, offering John B a soft smile whilst handing him the motel key.
"I mean it." She adds on.
He just chuckles nervously and nods, "Yeah." "Lets go-" he says, patting Melia and JJ on the back. They walk off and begin going up the stairs.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Why are all of these mattresses out?" Emilia mumbles, kicking one of them as they walk past.
"After a hurricane they ditch 'em cause they're all mouldy." JJ explains, "Don't ask how I know that."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Just be so careful, John!" Melia mocks, gripping John B's shirt and giggling.
"God you're so weird!" He says, shoving her off.
"What the heck was that about?" JJ asks.
"Maybe she just wants us to he careful?" He says, rolling his eyes and glaring at the two who were giggling.
"Since she heard you two were being threatened with exile-" He says, quickly shooting Melia a sympathetic look, he knows she hates talking about it. "She's just been, like-" Then he does a fake moan. "Oh! Be so careful, John B."
"Get off." He says, annoyed, shrugging JJ's hands off his shoulders.
"Oh, just give me that John D already!" Melia says, laughing. JJ wraps his arm around her.
"Like when are you gonna swoop on that, man?" He asks, carrying on walking to the motel room.
"Bro- you know the rule. No Pogue-on-Pogue macking." He says with a shrug.
I know damn well he does not care about that rule, none of us do. Emilia thinks.
"Beside's, your the one who's always hitting on her! Literally every girl you see its like your a magnet being pulled towards them!" He says, clearly annoyed.
JJ can feel Melia's body tense slightly and he furrows his eyebrows. "I- no I don't, thats just my personality." He says quickly, trying to brush the subject off.
They walk up closer to the door, luckily saving them from the awkward conversation.
"All I'm saying is that you need to try it with her." He says, and Melia nods in agreement.
"You guys need some help.." He rolls his eyes. "Actually, not a little help, you need a lot of help."
"This is it." Melia says with a sigh, peering through the window to see if anybody's there.
"Housekeeping!" JJ calls with a high pitched voice, knocking on the door. Emilia snickers at the voice, earning a glare from John B.
"All clear." She says, grabbing the key and unlocking the door. She opens it up and walks in. "No power, no security cameras. Nobody's gonna know." She says with a grin.
John B switches on his torch. "Huh, okay." He says, closing the door behind him and looking around the dusty, untouched room. A suitcase lays on top of one of the two beds.
"Check the bag, see if there's a name on there somewhere." Emilia tells John B, the only one who could read properly out of the three.
He nods and opens up the bag, rummaging through it whilst JJ scans the bathroom and Melia looks around the bedside tables.
"Theres a jacket, denim slides." John B calls out, checking the labels. "No names on any of them. Nice jacket, though." He comments.
"Definitely a guy over fifty, there's new balances beside the bed." Melia notes, running her hand through her blonde hair.
JJ comes out of the bathroom and looks at a piece of paper on one of the tables. Melia walks over to a desk and calls out.
"Guys? There's a safe..!" She says, pointing her flashlight at it.
"And I think I have the code-" JJ says, grabbing the piece of paper and quickly walking over to her. John follows along.
John B puts in the code from the piece of paper, pressing the entire button and the safe cracks open.
"Holy-" Melia starts,
"Shit." JJ finishes.
There was piles and piles of cash in there, and laying on top? A gun. An SIG Sauer. JJ and Melia suddenly turn to each other with wide grins on their faces, and JJ reaches to grab it first.
"Dude! You grabbed the gun!" John B whisper yells. "Put the gun back man!"
JJ passes the gun to Melia and she starts posing with it playfully, "Dude! somebody take a picture of me!" She says, grinning. Dodging JB who was trying to grab it out of her hands.
JJ pulls his phone out when something clatters against the window. Her body whips around quickly.
JJ pushes her back protectively, going to the window and opening the blinds and glancing down.
"Shit, guys cops!"
/ / / / / / / /
NOTE FROM EMI: ended it on a cliffhanger both chapters in a row💗 (not really cause its literally the plot of the show...)
IM REALLY ENJOYING WRITING SO FAR SO LMK IF UR ENJOYING READING ‼️
ty if u have stuck w me this entire time and read through it with me! keep note of emilia wincing at the man yelling at them xx
fyi: i know jj and emilia are super affectionate pls dont mistake this for them liking each other yet !! emilia is starting to notice feelings butbshes blind so yall are in for a long ride..