The breeze of Kildare was strong and I felt it pushing against me, as I made way for the Chateau.
The night before, John B had texted me and asked me to come over. What for? I'm not exactly sure, but It made my stomach flip in anticipation.
Finally, I came upon the grassy lawn of the house and looked towards the hammock, half expecting to see the boys sprawled out around a pile of beer cans.
But nothing.
"Yo!" I yelled out, hearing no response but the sounds of crickets beginning to emerge for the night and the waves of the stream hitting the edges of the soil.
"Okay, this isn't a joke," I said, annoyance clear in my voice and I crossed my arms. When nothing responded, I quieted down and warily made way for the porch.
Suddenly, someone jumped out at me and made a screaming sound. "Boo!"
"Oh my god, what the fuck JJ?" I panted for breath, looking at him incredulously before panning my view over to the other boys behind him.
"Where's Kie?"
"Parents wouldn't let her out." John B said flatly, as he laid back further into the lawn chair. He and I had been close, since early school days and truthfully, he was the first of the group that I actually hung out with.
Initially, we had fought over this orange crayon because we had both wanted to use it but then we sort of tolerated each other and then all of a sudden one day he was asking me to go surfing with the crew.
Changed my life.
Although, now we were all just a tad bit different and I had noticed the change in form that John B had, especially since what happened with his father.
He... spiraled, to say the least.
He fiddled with the tail of his bandana that was wrapped lazily around his neck and looked off at the stream across the yard. I followed his gaze momentarily, before coming back to him, "So, what's this big news JB?"
"Yesterday, after you had left surfing with Kie and before the bonfire, we found something..." the other boys joined in sitting around the many broken down chairs of the porch, inching forward in anticipation for revealing the news.
"Well?" I asked, tired of the dramatic buildup the boys were making.
John B said nothing, but simply pulled something out of his pocket.
A compass?
"Isn't that...?" I trailed off, and he just nodded, a strand of chestnut hair falling off in front of his face.
The feeling of the porch changed, stunting me and I had to take a moment to sit down. "Where'd you find that?"
JJ's excitement was a sharp contrast to the sheer panic in Pope's face, "We're in some deep shit, guys." Pope brought his hands to the side of his head, going on one of his infamous spirals.
"Well," John B began, a soft sigh delivered from his mouth, "A wrecked Grady White."
"A what? Aren't those things pretty damn pricey?" My eyes were practically bulging out of my head, as the boys nodded to confirm my question.
"Yeah."
"And your dad's compass was in there?"
"Yup, we were going through like normal on the boat and then boom! and all of a sudden we were like ahh! and then John B was all like, 'Oh, I'll save the day!' and he went down and then bam! Jackpot, baby." JJ exclaimed, and he really couldn't tell a story without noises to save his life.
"So, what are you going to do John B? Report the wreck?" My question earned a quick shake of his head, and he put the compass back into his pocket.
"We already tried... after we got what goods we could find. Nothing."
"Damn. Well, why do you think his compass was in there?"
"I'm not sure... we found a key in there," He brandished a yellow gold key and flattened his lips.
"Hmm." He tossed it to me and I took a closer look at the small key.
"A motel key. We could find out who it belongs to."
"No chance, the storm hit and it hit hard. Dude's probably fish smoothie, right now." JJ spoke aloud, earning a slap to the shoulder from me and he looked at me oblivious to how outlandish his statement was.
Moving on, I looked back at the key and turned it around. "This motel is deep in the depths of bad places of Kildare. Are you sure we should turn up at a run down motel, swinging someone's key around JB?"
"No harm in trying." He smirked at me, leaning back into the chair again and pointing his eyebrow up.
"Yes, actually, there is." Pope intercepted, earning a collective groan from all of us. "You guys, I might get a merit scholarship and I'm not losing it beca—"
JJ put his finger to Pope's face, wordlessly hushing his anxious thoughts. "Calm down, bro. It'll be A-Okay." Obviously, Pope wouldn't take this easily and we all silently contemplated just going on our own.
"Yo, guys!" Kie called out, causing us to turn around and wave at her. She was truly a breath of fresh air from the boys, sometimes.
"Yo!" The boys said back in unison.
"Alright, let's go." John B said, getting up and heading towards the HMS that was tied up around a weak pole.
"Aye, aye!" JJ followed quickly, and Kie did as well with a look of confusion.
"Are we...?" she trailed off, but JJ answered her with a nod of his head and she walked alongside him.
I looked back at Pope, who looked like he was sentenced with food poisoning. "It'll be okay, Pope. How about you just stay in the boat the entire time?" He shook his head, before walking to my side.
—
"Motel or meth lab?" Kie questioned, earning a laugh from me and a wince from Pope as he looked in disgust at the gray building.
"Doesn't look like a place where someone with a Grady White would be staying, hm?" John B squinted, as the sun shined down intensely.
"Be careful, John B." Kie grasped his arm lightly, before letting go quickly.
My eyes traveled from John B's arm to meet his, obviously in suspicion of the sudden closeness the two had begun to sprout.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, once again and distracted me from the boys leaving the boat.
Aurora
Hey, U coming to boneyard tonight?
Me
Hmm, I'm at a random place in the cut rn. Idk
Aurora
Copy that. Got peach twisted tea if you're feeling it tn
Me
Haha, still recovering. I'll let you know
I put my phone back into my pocket, looking back up to see the boys entering the motel room.
Pope paced back and forth, causing me and Kie to share a look of concern.
"Hmm, need a diaper change Pope?" I teased, and Kie bursted out into laughter.
"Shh!" Pope panicked, bring his finger to his lips and wearing a look of fear.
"Relax, dude, they'll be in and out." I reached out to Kie, who held a joint in her hand and she handed it to me.
"Smoking? Seriously? Khalia, you're gonna make me lose my scholarship. I swear to god—"
"Pope. Well just say we kidnapped you and held you for ransom, chill."
Me and Kie shared a laugh, once again.
All of a sudden, movement caught my eye and I spotted cops moving towards the top floor of the building, where the boys were.
"Shit."
Pope and Kie followed my gaze, matching my reaction and we all simultaneously tried to figure out what to do.
"Fuck." I ran subtly towards the brush on the side, where the window of the room was.
"Guys." I yelled as quietly as I could, but obviously received no response and I began looking for anything to throw at the wall of the building.
I threw rocks, and JJ's face appeared.
"Cops. Go, now! Abort, Abort!" I waved my hands around, and it took him a few seconds to piece each part of it together before he shot up in alarm.
The boys reacted to a sound coming from the outside of the room, scrambling to find the window.
Suddenly, the window popped open and each of them stood on the ledge, out of view.
"Fuck." I ducked under the tall grass, as I eyed a cop through the window.
My eyes glanced off to the HMS pogue, seeing Kie and Pope mirroring my look of unease.
After a while of discomforting silence, the cops turned around and left.
I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding, walking slowly and bumping into John B as he crossed the corner of the building.
"Y'all could have warned us, earlier." JJ said, and my glare quieted him down.
"What the hell? We didn't even expect them."
The boys walked behind me back to the boat and Pope met us with a look of expectancy, "Well did you find anything?"
"Did we find anything?" JJ asked, before he lifted the hem of his shirt to reveal a gun and a stack of bills.
"Holy shit." I laughed out, ignoring the look of terror that Pope had and the quietness of Kie.
"Oh my god, we need to leave... right now. I'm actually living in a nightmare." Pope exclaimed, avoiding the gaze of JJ.
John B seemed like nothing had just happened, playing it off coolly and climbing back into the boat.
"Alright, ready?" John B looked back, before the boat peeled off and we went back to home.
Aurora
So?
Me
Oden's?
Aurora
Yes, Ma'am