CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
and like the moon, we all go through
phases of emptiness to feel full again.
THE CREW MINUS KIARA SAT OUTSIDE OF the mixed girls house in heywards car. pope had stole it so they could use it to get to Charleston as fast as possible.
the pogues didn't know that yet though, he just told them to go back to the chateau and wait there until he came and when he did, they jumped right in and began their journey.
Bambi was cuddled into JJs side, her head on her shoulder as she stared at the house in front of her. she couldn't be bothered with any conversation at the moment.
kiara walked out, her bag on her back and her parents following her. she stopped at the steps, giving the pogues a clear view of them. they couldn't hear anything though.
"looks like they're taking it well." JJ started a conversation, deciding he was bored of sitting in silence. still looking straight, he spoke to pope, "how'd you get this rig? i know your old man didn't let you have it."
"i undid the intake valves on the carburetor. made it start pinging." he told the boy who nodded along.
"and now your just gonna take it to your cousin jeff's house. just gonna get it fixed." JJ listed exactly what he was going to do.
"crash over night." they spoke at the same time.
"i think im rubbing off on you, pope." JJ realised, "lying to your old man, stealing his truck. kinda sounds familiar."
Pope didn't say anything back to the boy, instead he looked at Bambi, "can you control your boyfriend?"
Bambi let her eyes leave kiara and her parents as she raised her hands in defence, "i don't know what you want me to do, my job is to just sit here and look pretty."
the blonde wrapped an arm around the girl, kissing her head, "and your doing a good job at it too."
Bambi smiled and looked up at the boy, pouting her lips as she silently asked for a kiss in which he gave her. pope rolling his eyes at them.
"ide say we have about eighteen hours until he absolutely looses his shit." Pope carried on the conversation about the car, "so as long as we get it back before then, i think we're good."
their conversation was stopped when kiara stormed down the stairs, on about something about not going to a boarding school.
she rounded the car, JJ opening the door and Bambi following so the girl could get in and sit in the seat beside Pope.
"look at your life right now, look at your life!" kiara' dad shouted, the girl shrugging in response. kinda ironic since he was a pogue.
"it's good to see y'all, Mr. and Mrs. Carrera." JJ waved to the older couple, the pair not saying anything in response.
pope was next, he stuck his head out the window, raising his hand, "hi, uh, ma'am, sir. i promise to have her back at a reasonable hour and safe."
kiara sent a glare at the boy, "what are you doing?"
Bambi thought it was weird how she came adosa rude to him. he was only doing what JJ done, plus he meant no harm.
"kiara, listen to me. you wanna go? then you can go." the woman pointed at her, "but if you don't come back at the proper time then don't come back at all!"
kiara looked at her mom, having nothing to say. sure she always disobeyed her but she had never threatened to kick her out before.
"she's bluffing." JJ said quiet enough just for the group to hear, earning a nudge from Bambi.
as soon as kiara got into the car, Bambi followed her, ready to put the heaters on and get nice and cozy. she even wanted to have a little nap.
"y'all have a good day." JJ saluted the couple, getting in the car as well, closing the door.
"this shit would be so much easier without parents." Kiara sighed, talking to nobody in particular.
if only she knew.
THE POGUES WERE ON THE FERRY, ONE step closer to getting to Charleston and one step closer to clearing John Bs name.
Bambi didn't get the chance to nap in the car, it was way to cramped, expecially with her not being able to bring her legs up.
she was now sat in the very back of heywards car, kiara sat not far in front and JJ beside her on the roof. Pope, being to stressed and still trying to figure out things, stood outside of it, leaning his arms against the car for support.
Bambi was smoking a joint she had just rolled, taking a couple of pulls before passing it to JJ, the boy smiling at her as a thanks.
"my parents are so paranoid of me being a pogue, like it's the worst thing that could ever happen." kiara sighed, bringing up the topic about her parents again.
"hey, i hear they've got good weed at boarding school though." JJ shrugged, taking a pull of the joint in his hand.
"i'm not going to boarding school." kiara told him firmly, "they're gonna have to kidnap me, tie me up and throw me in a van."
"don't jinx it." Bambi smirked at her, "we've had bad luck a lot recently."
JJ stood up, passing the joint to kiara before moving to take a seat beside bambi. the girl reached up to take his hat, putting it on her own head whilst he fixed his now messy hair.
"hey, kie." Pope looked at the girl, getting her attention, "have you tried John B back on that number yet?"
"like twenty million times." kiara sighed, "some random lady from a hotel keeps answering."
"well, until we hear from him again, we have to try and clear his name." he raised up the letter in his hand, "right now, this letters our best bet."
"right, stay on task." JJ nodded aggressively, "that's why i love you pope."
kiara stood up, walking over to the boy and placing the joint in front of her, "what Pope are you gonna be today?"
pope looked at her and at the joint before shaking his head, "i'm good. i'm gonna try
and focus."
"good pope." kiara nodded, walking over to Bambi and taking a seat beside her, "boring pope."
Bambi noticed the way popes face saddened slightly as he turned away from them. Bambi stood up and jump down.
"come with me, pope." Bambi told the boy who looked at her confused.
"where are you going?" JJ asked the girl who had already began walking away.
"i'll be right back!" she shouted back to him, pulling pope behind a corner so she could talk to him without anyone hearing.
"why have you brought me here?" the boy asked, still confused with the girl.
"because you are kiara are driving me crazy and i can't handle it anymore." she adjusted JJ hat on her head, running a hand through her hair.
"has she said anything about me to you?" Popes eyes lit up with a hint of hope for a second, "because she's giving me nothing."
bambi could tell the boy was hurt by the girls actions. anyone would be. she was leading him on without even realising it.
she shook her head at the boy, "i'll speak to her tonight though. just don't take anything that she says to heart and don't smoke weed if you don't want too, trust me, it's cooler."
"why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" pope blinked at her slowly, "yesterday you said you would throw me out of a car."
"yeah, out of anger." she shrugged, "we all say things we don't mean out of anger."
the taller boy nodded slowly at the girl, trying to understand what exactly was going through her head to make her bring him here.
"anything else?" he asked slowly, suggesting that he wanted to go back to the group.
"hey! i was just about to give you a heartfelt speech and you want to leave me?" the brunette placed her hand on her hips.
pope raised his hands in defence, a small chuckle coming out of his mouth, "my bad."
"look, pope." bambi began, "your my best friend, kiara is my best friend. you are all my best friend and hopefully as your best friend it is my job to make sure you don't get hurt."
"is that all?" pope asked again, earning a smack on the shoulder from her.
"yes that's all but don't expect me to be nice to you ever again!" Bambi scoffed, following him as they walked back to the car.
she knew he was just joking and probably was thinking about what she said as soon as she stopped. he was sensitive, kiara needed to understand that.
THE POGUES WERE BACK IN THEIR CAR and on their way to charleston. bambi was over this trip already, wishing she was back in her bed.
she had the letter in her hand as she leaned her head on JJs shoulder, his arm wrapped around her as his body heat warmed her up.
she couldn't wrap her head around the letter, what did a random woman know about her twin brother?
finally giving up on trying to figure it out on her own, she sighed deeply, "i've read this thing like a thousand time. the limbreys own like half of charleston, what does that have to do with any of us or John B?"
JJ nodded, agreeing with her and looking at pope, "yeah. why you specifically, that's the other creepy thing."
"please come alone." kiara read out, "that's hella sus. why do they want you?"
pope nodded, "i was thinking the same thing. i think it's because-"
the boy stopped talking as way to much smoke began coming from the bonnet of the car, easily making the crew panic.
"oh my god, stop the car, i can't breath!" Bambi pulled her tshirt over her nose, trying to keep the smoke that was coming in out of her lungs.
"pull over!" kiara told him, "that's a lot of smoke, even for your dads car."
JJ began coughing as he rolled up his window, locking the smoke out, "pope! i got sensitive lungs man!"
the group began shouting things as pope slowly came to stop the car, muttering words to himself about how he was dead.
"JJ, get out, quick!" bambi panicked, trying to get her boyfriend to open the door, "it's gonna blow up, it's gonna blow up."
"it's not gonna blow up, bambs. it's okay." JJ told her, getting out the car nonetheless, "you probably unhooked the radiator, pope."
pope rounded the front of the car and opened the bonnet, waving his hands to try and get the smoke away as much as possible.
JJ walked over to part of the car that fell off, "i haven't seen this before. you knocked the entire hubcap off! whoo!"
"well there goes our ride!" Bambi sighed, sitting down on the grass, "and our lungs."
"you might wanna reschedule your meeting tonight, pope." jj stated the obvious, walking over to the boy.
kiara ran her hands through her hair, stressing, "plan b? we could, um..public transportation, we could hitch hike, we could rent bikes."
"rent bikes?" Bambi raised an eyebrow, "with what money?"
JJ looked at the car, clearly knowing a lot more about them then Pope, "yeah it's the radiator."
"my dads gonna kill me." Pope said abnormally calm, already knowing what was going to happen when he got back home.
JJ nodded, "yeah. he might."
BAMBI SAT CURLED UP IN THE BACK OF A random truck that one of the engineers had. she felt way too cold being in the breeze.
she had JJs flask in her hand, taking small sips of the alcohol inside of it whilst he and Pope spoke to the man about the car.
usually, she would be there right beside them but since she knew nothing about cars, there's was no point in being there.
her head turned when the car door slammed and she smiled at kiara who sat inside, a deep sigh escaping from her lips.
"you okay?" Bambi asked the curly haired girl, a concerning look on her face.
she nodded, running a hand over her face before looking at her, "how come you took pope somewhere on the ferry, what were you doing?"
Bambi shrugged, living her feet on the seats to get a little more comfortable, "i just spoke to him, i don't think he listened though."
"about what?" kiara asked curiously, not knowing that the topic was on her.
"you." the twin told her, kiara furrowing her eyes in confusion, "well, about you and him."
kiara blinked a couple of times, biting the inside of her cheek. she didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, "what about me and him?"
bambi ran a hand through her hair, "kie, i know you don't realise it but your leading him on. your kissing him one minute and then calling him boring the next for not smoking weed."
"i don't get you." kiara was quick to defend herself, "i'm not learning him on."
bambi raised her arms in defence, "i'm not coming for you, okay? i'm just letting you know before one of you gets hurt by it."
kiara looked at the boy who was still talking to the man for a couple of seconds before looking back at bambi, "i didn't even realise."
bambi smiled in sympathy at the girl, moving up one seat so she could sit beside her, "that's okay though because now you do. the best thing about mistakes is that you can always fix them."
HEYWARDS TRUCK WAS NOW FIXED AND their journey continued to Charleston. the one thing they needed to get through first though was the night.
a good night sleep was well needed for bambi routledge and even though she wasn't in her nice warm bed with JJ cuddled into her, the back of the truck was an ok replacement for the night.
her head was on her boyfriends chest as she cuddled into him. him being warm blooded helped keep her that little bit more warm.
his arm was wrapped around her, keeping her close and his hat was over his eyes, making sure the moonlight didn't get into them.
he was asleep, bambi could tell. his breathing had come a little bit more even and the tight grip around her stomach had loosed a little.
"goodnight everyone." Pope spoke, letting the crew that were awake know that he was finally going to try and sleep.
bambi kept her eyes closed, pretending that she had already fell into her deep sleep. kiara and pope hadn't had one minute alone since her talk with them both and she wanted to see if her words actually meant anything.
she let a small smile slip onto her face as kiara bent down a little, giving pope a small kiss on his cheek before getting ready for her own sleep.
"good night."
she could tell pope would be one happy boy.
ELLIE TALKS¡
next chapter!!
this one is honestly just a filler but the next chapter or the one after that will probably be when john b comes back.
so excited!!
NOT EDITED!!