~Kie's pov~
With everything that happened I completely forgot about Rafe. He still didn't know his dad died so he was going to look for us soner or later.
He also promised me that he'd see me again and that I'd be sorry for taking his boat. I didn't even tell anyone about my meeting with Rafe and that the boat I came with was his. I didn't want to worry them and in that moment this wasn't my first priority. We had other things to worry about.
We got to the ferry pretty quickly, hiding inside some containers on the boat, Sarah's idea, and sat on some boxes. On the way to Charleston my mind started drifting off again but this time I managed to focus on some parts of the conversation as well.
"Would you rather have teeth instead of nails or nails instead of teeth?" asked Sarah suddenly.
"How the hell did you come up with this question" asked Cleo.
Sarah just shrugged. "So? What would you pick"
"Teeth instead of nails" said John B, making a disgusted face at the question.
"Me too, I can hide it with some cool rich people gloves" said JJ.
"I'll take the gloves over having to have nails instead of teeth" added Pope.
"Cleo?" asked Sarah again.
"Neither" she simply said.
"You have to pick that's how the game works"
"I'm not picking either of these"
"Just pick one of the two things"
"Alright fine, I'll take the teeth instead of nails"
The conversation kept going even if my attention flew away until I felt a tap on my leg, snapping me out of it.
"What will you pick?" Sarah asked when I finally turned my head towards her.
"Between what?" I asked.
"Teeth instead of nails or nails instead of teeth" Cleo said.
"Teeth instead of nails probably" I answered still not focusing on the game.
"Good choice" nodded Sarah. "Next question"
"No, enough of this game, we've been playing for thirty minutes" Pope said.
"Maybe we can play an actual game when we get back" said Cleo. "Like monopoly or something"
"We do not play Monopoly" said JJ, in a serious voice.
"Never" John B added in a serious voice as well.
"Why not?" asked Cleo.
"Pope and Kie are sore losers" said Sarah, pointing with her head towards us.
"That's not true Kie is the sore loser" Pope said.
"He's the one that can't lose, not me" I said at the same time with Pope.
"Kiara threw the board in John B after he won" said Pope.
"Yeah cause he was cheating" I said.
"I wasn't cheating" John B defended himself.
"You moved your character when no one was looking from seven to ten so you wouldn't risk getting in jail" I snapped.
"It was on ten already" John B argued.
"It was not on ten" I said before taking a deep breath and turning towards Pope. "And I'm not the one who's reading all the rules whenever someone makes a slightly wrong move"
"The rules are important" Pope said.
"Reading them once is enough, you don't need to read them so many times and you always tell them complicated so no one would get it and you'll win"
"I don't do that" Pope argued back.
"Yes you do" said JJ.
"Yea that's true" Sarah added.
"Well what about when Kiara" Pope started but Cleo interrupted them.
"Alright alright no Monopoly" Cleo said. "We will find another game"
"Still, Kiara is too competitive for any kind of game" JJ said, knowing that this would get a reaction out of me.
And even if I knew that the asshole was only trying to piss me off I couldn't not argue back.
"I am not competitive" I said.
"See? She's trying to win this argument now" JJ said.
"Alright we will figure out a game to play later" Cleo said, stopping them.
After a while, the silence took over us again as well as the heat that was inside the containers.
Suddenly I felt JJ's hand resting on my knee in a way I knew it meant that he was willing to make peace after our small argument from earlier. I put her hand over his, interfering our fingers together and letting my head fall on his shoulder.
We stayed tangled up in each other until we finally arrived in Charleston.
On the way to the place where we were supposed to change the gold in money, I noticed that some stores were Christmas decorated.
That's when it hit me.
It was the end of November and soon everyone was going to start decorating their houses and buying presents.
Every year on Christmas, my parents and I would decorate the house together, making cookies and watching Christmas movies.
On Christmas we'd wake up and start the day with opening the presents together then I'd help my parents get ready and cook all kind of dishes and appetizers for when my family was gonna come.
Every year around eight, after I gave and opened my presents again with my whole family I'd take some leftovers then sneak out and go see JJ to have our traditional picnic on the beach before we'd go see all of the pogues.
This year Christmas was gonna be different.
I'd no longer make cookies and watch Christmas movies with my parents and I won't see my whole family together or play stupid games with my younger cousins. I don't even know if we'd celebrate Christmas at all this year.
Here I was again, being selfish and thinking about what I missed instead of thinking about how my friends were feeling right now.
Sarah, JJ, John B and Cleo didn't even have a family to celebrate Christmas with. JJ never even had a whole Christmas experience apart from what the pogues and I were doing and John B's and Sarah's dads just died a few days ago. Sarah loved Christmas the most out of us all and normally she'd start trying to get everyone in the Christmas mood in November but now I wasn't sure she realized that it was almost December either.
"Sup" JJ suddenly said, making me jump at the sudden voice that appeared next to me.
I looked in front of me and noticed that the others were walking further away from us. John B had his arm around Sarah, whispering something in her ear that finally made her laugh for the first time in the last three days.
Just a little further from Sarah and John B, Pope was watching Cleo spinning the knife between her fingers, ending up taking it from her and doing a horrible representation of what Cleo did.
And then there was JJ, who slowed down a bit to get closer to me, trying to match my speed and kicking some rocks on the way.
"Hey" was all I said and for a while neither of us said anything until I added. "It's almost Christmas"
JJ hummed in agreement.
"I knew it was almost Christmas when I saw the Christmas wreaths on some doors and some people carrying a couple of fresh cut trees in the back of their trucks" he said.
Normally I would have started ranting about how they should've just gotten an artificial tree and reuse it every year instead of cutting a couple of trees every year and then throwing them away.
One time when I was around eleven, my parents got a real tree cause my mom said that the smell from a real tree was unmatched and it'd bring more Christmas spirit. That day I refused to get in the house for the whole day until my parents finally agreed to change the new tree to our usual artificial Christmas tree.
"Whoever has me this year, I just want a copy of the" JJ started, breaking the silence but I interrupted him quickly.
"Don't you even dare say anything about C.H.U.D" I said, turning to face him.
"Oh come on" JJ protests. "It's a great movie"
Like out of nowhere, Sarah appeared next to us, or maybe we just caught up with their speed. She turned towards us, still holding John B's hand that was thrown around her shoulders.
"What great movie? Maybe we can see it on taco's night" she said.
"We have a taco night?" John B asked.
"We do now" Sarah replied, waiting to hear the movie's name.
"Why can't it be a pizza night?" asked John B.
"Because I already said it's a taco night"
"I vote for the pizza night" JJ says, raising one hand.
"I think taco night sounds better" Cleo chimes in, slowing down with Pope so they'd be closer to us.
"Alright alright we'll have a taco night tonight and a pizza night tomorrow" Sarah says. "So what's the movie?"
Before I could warn Sarah that asking was a big mistake that most probably would result in JJ telling her the whole movie if she hadn't seen it, which I was pretty sure she didn't.
"C.H.U.D, the greatest movie that was ever invented" JJ started but was interrupted by Pope and John B's protests.
"Not that again" Pope said.
"I thought we were done with this movie JJ" John B said, throwing his head back exasperated.
"I don't think I've seen it" Sarah said, amused at their reactions.
"Me either" Cleo said.
"See? It's a great opportunity to see it tonight" JJ said, smiling in triumph.
"There's no way I'm watching that movie again" I said.
"It were the longest hours of my life" John B added.
"I should get y'all this movie as a gift on Christmas" JJ said.
Before anyone could say anything, we were interrupted by a loud gasp that came from Sarah.
"It's almost Christmas" she said, the realization hitting her.
"Well it's the end of November so we still have time for decorations and all" John B said.
"We barely have time, by this time I would've already gotten the gifts and have the decorations set up on colors and the room they should go into" Sarah said, and I was glad to see a glimpse of my Christmas obsessed friend.
"We should get the money in a few days so while we're waiting we can do the Secret Santa thing and clean a little around the house" I said.
"And we could search food recipes and make a list with what we need" Cleo said, trying to make Sarah relax and ignoring the way JJ and John B complained at the mention of cleaning.
"Yeah" Sarah nodded, looking a little more calmer than earlier. "Yeah we got this"
"Well y'all know what to get me" JJ said, a sheepish smile spreading across his face.
"No one will get you that movie" John B said.
"Alright here it is" said Pope suddenly, stopping in front of some small place. "It's better if we don't go all in just to be sure we don't get too much attention"
"I will stay outside" said Cleo, leaning against the wall while playing with her knife.
"Me too" said John B.
"I'll stay too" said Kie, sitting on the stairs of the other shop.
"Alright then the rest of us are going in" said Sarah, getting inside.
"Just knock on the door if you see Shoupe or anyone" said Pope before following Sarah.
JJ stopped in the door frame for a few seconds, giving me a small smile before getting inside, following Pope and Sarah.
"So" John B started as soon as JJ got inside, sitting on the stairs next to me. "You and JJ"
Sarah probably told him about what she saw this morning, not that it wasn't obvious before too.
I turned to look at Cleo who was pacing around, playing with her knife, not too far away from us.
"And Pope and Cleo" I said trying to change the topic of the conversation.
"It's not gonna work, they already teased us on the way here" Cleo said, turning towards us. "It's your turn"
"It's not like we didn't notice since you two were all cuddled up on that boat" John B added.
"And that you two went together at his place the next day" Cleo added.
"We don't want details on what happened there" John B said.
I looked at Cleo who mouthed a quick "I do" before turning back to John B.
"Yeah" I said, a small smile appearing on her face. "JJ and I"
"It was the damn time for it" Cleo said.
"Just don't get all touchy with eachother around us" John B added.
"Like anyone could be worse than you and Sarah" I scoffed.
I was so glad the pogues didn't have a problem with me and JJ. It wasn't like it would've changed anything between us but it made things much easier.
Maybe everything is starting to be okay.