DIVER DOWN
"Let me show you a party trick." JJ said as he made his way to the front of the boat. "Hey, Pope can you go a little faster please?" He stood up onto the nose of the boat with a smug smirk forming on his face.
"Oh, God here we go. I'm movin'" John B said as he moved away from JJ to sit down. "It doesn't work we've tried this like six thousand times." He grabbed River's wrist and pulled her away. So that she didn't get covered in beer.
JJ watched the small interaction between the pair and reminded himself that he had no right to be jealous. He noticed the way that John B's arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest.
"I got this. It's gonna work." JJ shouted as he held the beer up in the air and opened his mouth.
"Oh my God you're getting beer in my hair." Kie exclaimed as she quickly stood up and moved away. She scrunched her face up in disgust at the boy.
"Oh my God." Pope shook his head in disbelief.
"JJ that's gross, quit it." River said, pulling herself away from John B and making her way to JJ and slapping the back of his leg gently.
"Alright, alright stop." Pope said as the boat jolted and came to a quick stop, making JJ fly forward and into the water.
Her eyes widened as she watched his body hurtle towards the warred. She was flung forward slightly, her back slamming against one of the chairs, she was almost positive that it was going to leave a bruise.
"JJ." River shouted, noticed the way that the blonde boy quickly resurfaced. The girl let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding once she knew that he was okay.
"Jesus, Pope." Kie said regaining her balance. She looked towards River and offered her a small head nod, silently asking if she was okay. River nodded in return.
"You okay, JJ?" John B questioned as everyone turned to look at the boy curiously.
"I think my heels touched the back of my head." JJ groaned in pain as he just floated in the water for a minute.
"Kie, R.C, are you okay?" John B asked the girls. He cared deeply about both of them. They were his family.
"I'm alright." Kie nodded.
"Yup, all good here." River groaned, sitting at the front of the boat.
Her back was aching, but it wasn't nothing that she could deal with. She was more concerned about JJ, despite him being seemingly okay.
"Pope what did you do?" JJ questioned, swimming back towards the boat. He noticed the way that River was watching him carefully, and couldn't help but smile.
"Sandbar. The channel changed." Pope answered with a shrug.
"No shit." JJ rolled his eyes in response.
He was thankful that he didn't have anything remotely valuable on his person, otherwise that would have been lost in the marsh.
"Ugh this is probably gonna mess this whole place up." John B said looking around the marsh, it would probably take them a while to figure out a route that wouldn't send someone flying overboard.
"Hey, I saved the beer though." JJ smirked holding up the beer. He was so proud of himself. It wasn't like he was going to drink it, but he still managed to save it.
"Congrats, JJ." John B mumbled.
JJ held his hand up for River to help pull him up, which the girl did almost immediately, she wrapped her arm around his wrist in attempt to haul him back up onto the boat. But before the girl even got a chance, she noticed the way that JJ smirked, his body not moving a muscle.
"Don't you dare, JJ." River warned. "JJ. I mean i-"
JJ quickly pulled the girl into the water with him. Luckily enough for her she was already in her blue bikini top and shorts. He let go of a loud laugh, his eyes flickering between her eyes and her lips as she came back to the surface.
"Fuck you, JJ." River shouted, pushing her hair out of the way. She swam next to JJ and quickly dunked him under water, although she wasn't anticipating JJ's arms to wrap around her waist and pulled her down with him.
River resurfaced and coughed out any water. JJ laughed and pulled her closer to him. Her arms wrapped around his neck and her head rested on his. His fingers traced patterns on the small of her back as her legs wrapped around his torso. He liked how close they were.
"Guys. I think there's a boat down there." Pope said squinting as he looked into the water.
"Shut up." John B said not believing the boy. His eyes flickered over to River and JJ, who were just bobbing up and down in the water.
"No way." Kie shook her head.
"No. No. Guys I'm serious. There's a boat down there. For real." Pope said pointing into the water. John B and Kie both rushed to the front of the boat. "It's a boat."
River looked around, wondering if she could see it from where she was, unfortunately, she couldn't. The water was just murky to her, there wasn't even an outline of a boat.
"Holy shit. He's right. Let's go." Kie said as she took off her denim shorts. River took her shorts off while in the water and threw them onto the boat, hoping that the sun would dry them out a some point.
"You think there's a dead body down there?" Pope questioned as John B and Kie jumped into the water. "Guys wait up."
"Hey, get your ass in here." JJ shouted, his arms unlinking around River as they all swam to where the boat was.
"Come on, Pope." River shouted as he jumped into the water. The girl took in a deep breath before swimming down to the boat.
River's eyes began to sting due to the dirty water but she didn't seem to care too much once she reached the boat. She looked at the others and John B motioned for them all to go back up.
She couldn't believe that there was a boat down there. She wondered who it belonged too and if there was a body on it. She hoped that there wasn't.
The blonde gasped for air as she resurfaced, her eyes scanning around the water to make sure that everyone came back up. She let out a small breath in relief once she saw everyone.
"You guys saw that, right?" JJ questioned in shock, he just wanted to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.
JJ made his way over to River, his arm wrapping around her waist, knowing that she'd be panicking about everyone coming back to the surface but also her mind would be racing about who's boat it was and if anyone was down there.
"Yeah." Pope nodded.
"Yeah I did." Kie agreed. The five of them began to laugh excitedly.
River knew the best way to get over her anxiety was to stay close to those she loved and try to laugh it off, it didn't always work but some times it eased it.
"That's a Grady-white. A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy." JJ said as they swam back to the boat.
JJ pushed River up so that she could climb back onto the boat before pulling himself up. River mumbled a quick thank you to JJ, who then wrapped his arms around the girls shoulder. He brought her into his chest and pressed his lips against her temple.
"That's a primo rig." Pope commented.
"Yeah. Yeah. That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge." John B said confidently. "Maybe it's hit the jetty or something?"
"You surfed the surge?" Kie questioned frustratedly. River pulled away from JJ and went to find her top, wanting to cover up, despite her bikini probably going to soak it.
"That's my boy. Pogue style." JJ bigged John B up and high fived him. River came behind him and smacked the back of his head.
She knew that was trying to act all big and tough, but that's not what was needed. She took in a deep breath before saying,
"You only didn't do it cause you're my little bit-"
"Cause I'm completely and utterly in love with you, angel." JJ said with a smirk and in a jokey tone cutting River off, although Kie, John B and Pope all knew he wasn't joking.
JJ's arms wrapped around the girl, picked her up and span her around. Her hands clasped down on his shoulders so that he wouldn't drop her. He slowly lowered her back to the ground, but his hands still reminded on her waist, pulling her closer.
"What the heck?" Kie questioned John B.
"Wait, wait do we know who's boat that is?" Pope questioned curiously, he didn't recognise the boat at all.
"No. But we're about to find out." John B said as he opened up a hatch.
"Dude it's too deep." JJ said looking at the boat in the water.
River pulled away from JJ to stand beside Kie. Their hands linked together. Kie was one of River's best friends, she knew exactly how to help River cope with her anxiety, so more often than not, the blonde sought comfort from Kie.
"Only for the weak and feeble, JJ." John B muttered as he pulled out the anchor.
"Well I'm not resuscitating you. I'm just making that clear up front." JJ joked, his eyes flickering back to River.
"That's fine." John B said shrugging.
"John B." Kie looked at the brown haired boy warningly. The brunette motioned towards River, hoping that John B wouldn't be stupid and notice that his actions were going to panic the girl.
Everyone cared for River deeply, nobody ever wanted to hurt her and they often avoided things that made her panic. There wasn't anything they wouldn't do for the girl.
"What?" He chuckled, not clicking onto the fact that River clung to Kie's hand so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.
"Diver down fool." Pope saluted.
"This isn't a good idea, John B." River mumbled, she felt her heart racing. She knew that if she didn't speak up, then she'd regret it.
All she could think of was the worst case scenario. What if something went wrong? What if he drowned? They wouldn't be able to help him. They wouldn't be able to get him to ER as quickly as possible. And if they managed to, she knew that John B would be able to pay any medical bills.
"Diver down." John B saluted back.
"Yeah he is." JJ said as he pushed John B into the water.
"JJ!" River quickly ran to the edge and watch the boy sink. She didn't have any time to talk him out of his stupid idea. The girl would have toppled overboard if JJ didn't grab her and pull her back.
The four of them hovered over the edge of the boat, waiting for John B to resurface. The blondes hands were shaking, she hated feeling like this.
"This was a mistake." River mumbled anxiously, biting her nails, which she knew was a terrible habit that she needed to break.
"Should we go get him?" Pope questioned.
River jumped into the water without a second thought, she saw John B slowly swimming up to her. He put up his thumb to say that he was okay. The pair resurfaced at the same time.
The girl didn't exactly think about her actions, she just wanted to make sure that John B was safe. She couldn't lose him.
"Oh my God that took forever." Kie said panicked.
"Don't do that again." JJ said, grabbing River's arms and pulling her up. He looked disappointed in her and her actions. "Not without telling me first."
"He could have been in tr-" River tried to explain her actions. She didn't know how to, but she could at least attempt to.
"Ri, I don't care. If you'd have gotten hurt I don't know how I would've lived with myself." JJ admitted. "I don't think I'd wa-"
"I can look after myself, J." River reassured him, cutting the boy off.
She knew that she needed her friends, but what she didn't need was babying. She was a capable girl, she was able to make her own choices.
"That's not the point, River. The point is-" JJ ran his hand through his hair frustratedly. He didn't know how to tell her that if she was to get injured by diving after John B, that if he lost both of them, that if he lost her, he would die.
"What exactly is the point, JJ?" River snapped. She didn't mean to, but she did.
She faintly heard the others talking about a motel key in the back ground, but both her and JJ chose to ignore it.
"The point is, you shouldn't be so reckless and so fucking stupid." JJ muttered, his nostrils flared as he spoke.
"Fuck you, JJ." River shouted, taking a deep breath and walking off to sit at the front of the boat, with Kie.