★★★
★★★
We all went up to the dock to report our findings to the coast guard but little did we know they would be absolutely no help to us. We made our way to the building where John B. and about a thousand other Kildare residents went to deal with the aftermath of the storm. We waited outside for him, but he didn't take long. He came outside looking frustrated as ever as we all sighed.
Finder's fee wouldn't be happening, I guessed. "What's the plan?" We asked him, and he reached into his pocket. He fished out the motel key, holding it up and jingling it around. "We're gonna find the owner of the boat," He said.
"That key could be anyone's, how do we know it's Mr. Grady-White's key?" I asked, and John B shrugged, "Finder's fee. Just sayin'."
That was all it took to convince me, so I gave in. Pope seemed unsure, but Kie gave incentive, "Come on, I'll be lookout."
"Come on, bubba," John B. said and we headed back to the boat. "Where are we going, there like three motels on the cut," Kie spoke up. JJ had the key, so I held my hands up, signaling for him to throw it to me, which he did. I looked at the tag attached to the key, identifying the motel to my friends. We took off towards the motel, but when we arrived, it was a mess.
"Holy shit," I breathed out, surprised at the condition of the motel. "I thought the Chateau looked bad," John B. said while JJ let out a whistle. "This doesn't look like the kind of place a person with a Grady-White stays," Pope said, and I scoffed. "It looks like a crack house," I added.
"Motel or meth lab?" Kiara joked, and I laughed. She handed me the string bracelet she had been working on and I picked it up with my fingers, weaving the multicolored strings in and out to continue the pattern.
"Hey girl scout, when am I gonna get one of these," JJ said, pointing at the strings I was weaving back and forth. I looked up at him and squinted, "I feel like I'm ten but what colors do you want?"
He smiled and picked at his fingers, presumably thinking about it. "Green and white," He said, and I looked at Kie to make sure we had those colors. She simply nodded and I gave JJ and thumbs up. "Your order has been confirmed," I said with a simple nod. JJ laughed lightly, leaning his head down and running a hand through his hair.
I blushed at this simple reaction, not realizing that I had done it, and Kie gave me a look that made me regret everything. I mentally face-palmed, but we had docked at the motel and John B. and JJ got out. JJ tied up the boat so we wouldn't drift, and I tossed the key back to John B.
The two boys decided to go up to the room, but I stayed on the boat with Kie and Pope. We were lookout, but once John B. and JJ were out of earshot, Kie whipped violently around to look at me, her eyes wide and trained on mine.
"Can I help you?" I asked, confused about her sudden outburst. "Explain yourself," She demanded, but I cocked my head to the side. "Explain what?" I chuckled. She took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose, "What's going on with you and JJ?"
"What do you mean? Nothing's going on," I said truthfully.
"He's always flirting with you and I saw you blush before!" She said with an excited giggle, but I kept my composure. "I think he likes you," Pope added, and I held up a finger. "No, no. He does not like me like that, and I do not like him like that. We're friends. That's all," I protested.
"No, you're friends with John B. You're friends with Pope. You're not just friends with JJ," Kie said. I thought back to the night JJ and I spent high in the hammock. I thought about what he said, but dared not bring it up. It would only complicate things.
I had friends now, I was finally happy, and I would be damned if a little crush got in the way. "What about the rule, huh? No Pogue-on-Pogue macking?" I put out there, sure they would back down after I said it. "Doesn't count, you weren't always a Pogue," Kie said, and Pope nodded from behind her.
"That's a technicality," I whined, but Pope and Kie were set on making me uncomfortable today I guess. I ignored the rest of their middle school-like conversation and got up to get my book, which I left on the back of the boat. I bent down to get it, but when I got up, I saw a cop car pull up, light flashing.
"Guys, guys," I hissed, and they looked to where I was now pointing. "Oh shit," Kie said, and I nodded, eyes still trained on the police car that had arrived. "If I lose my merit scholarship, I'm gonna kill someone," Pope groaned, and I could tell his brain was working in overdrive trying to come up with an escape plan. "Should we peel?" Pope asked, growing antsy and nervous.
"We never leave a Pogue behind," Kie said. The cops began to advance towards the room our friends were in, and I was pained by the coincidence. "No, seriously, should we peel?" Pope asked again. "Pope, shut up," I urged,
"What do we do?" I frantically asked, but it didn't seem like anyone had any ideas. "Wait, okay, follow me," I said, getting off the boat as the cops passed and running underneath the window of the motel room John B. and JJ had gone into. We began throwing rocks at the window after Pope pitifully missed his first attempt. We all kept throwing until enough rocks had gotten their attention.
They soon realized what we were pointing to, alerting them about the cops, and they jumped into action. They hoisted the window open wide enough so they could both shimmy out and balance on the ledge underneath it. My heart rate sped up as I watched the two try to keep their foothold right outside the window that either one of the officers could look out of at any given moment.
When the cops finally left, we all dashed to the boat, escaping as quickly as possible. When we were all on the boat, we had to ask. "Did you guys find anything?"
"Did we find anything? No, I don't think so. Oh, yeah, we did," JJ said. He then pulled a gun from out of his back pocket and we all froze up. He had really done it. JJ had finally tipped the iceberg from minorly angry and a little bit crazy, to full-blown flight risk.
"You've finally lost it," I said, eyes wide and mouth agape. "Why would you take that?" Kie shrieked, and Pope simply turned around with a hand on his forehead. "I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship," Pope muttered, and I chuckled. No matter what, Pope's constant anxiety was always funny. I could tell Kie was holding back a laugh too, and JJ threw an arm around his shoulder, "Sh, sh, sh, no, no, no."
"At least you still have us," He said and Pope sighed.
"I'm living my nightmare," He said simply. "Hey, you two are adorable, really, but we should really get the hell out of dodge," I suggested, and John B. pointed to me, agreeing.
We peeled away from the motel as fast as we possibly could without the cops seeing us, and soon we were back at the dock. There was some commotion by a local beat-up fishing rig that we decided to check out. I leaned up against the wall of one of the buildings by the scene, but once I saw the cops, I tensed up.
Next to me, JJ discretely touched my arm, "Relax. They're not here for us," he whispered. I took a breath and calmed myself, once again having a maintained composure. I stopped worrying for a second and simply observed, trying to figure out what was happening.
Nothing prepared me for the fact that we had just broken into the motel room of a dead guy. "Shit," I whispered, looking at the picture some girl was showing us. We debated what to do and it was decided that we would have nothing to do. We would fade to black for a little bit, we knew nothing about the late Scooter Grubbs and we had nothing to do with any of it.
We had illegal contraband, sure, we had his gun, but nobody knew that. "Kegger?" JJ suggested, and we all nodded. We needed normalcy, and this was the perfect chance to get that back. JJ, John B., and I went back to the Chateau so we could all get clean clothes on.
I had ended up giving JJ a few drawers to keep stuff in since he stayed over so much, and I didn't want to force him back to his dad's when he didn't have clothes. I wouldn't want to go back to Helen, so he just kept stuff here. I went to my room, grabbing a gray muscle tee, and I threw it to JJ, which he changed into right in front of me.
I didn't let it bother me, even though it was difficult not to look. He didn't notice when I whipped myself around to fish for my own clothing, though, and I pulled out a pair of flowy black pants I hadn't worn that week along with my favorite tank top. It was light brown and fitted, but not restricting material, and it came up right above my belly button. I put a few necklaces on and some blue stone earrings. I never took off my multitudes of bracelets, so they were already on my wrists.
I slid on my duo-strap sandals that were by the door and went over to the mirror in the bathroom. I hardly ever wore makeup but put on a little bronzer, highlighter, mascara, and tamed my eyebrows with some clear gel. I took a small elastic and tied back two small pieces of my hair to make myself look sort of put-together.
I huffed exasperatedly when I was done, this was the most effort I had put into my appearance in a long time, and it was only a boneyard party we were having. I left the bathroom and waited by the front door, looking at my imaginary watch and sighing. "We were supposed to meet Pope and Kie twenty minutes ago!" I called and the boys finally came to the front door.
John B. went to the van where the keg of beer was, trying to mess up my hair but failing when I dodged his hand, slapping it lightly. JJ stopped before leaving though, and for a second I swore he almost looked... nervous? "Everything okay?" I asked, looking at him for a second, and he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
"You look... uh... you look pretty," JJ said, and I held my breath momentarily. What did I even say to something like that? "Pretty?" I managed, but it came out in a weird way. I appreciated what he said, and I wanted him to know it especially because he didn't usually talk to people like this. "Sorry, forget I said anything," he rushed out, his cheeks heating with what looked like embarrassment.
"We better head out," I said, and he nodded, both of us leaving and getting in the van. We arrived at the boneyard shortly after and we got out, placing the keg in the sand nearby. People started arriving and soon it was a full-blown intermingled party. Every group was there, which was something rare, but nobody on Kildare Island would ever pass up free beer.
I decided that after the amount of insanity I had endured recently, I deserved a drink. I knew I didn't drink, but a beer wouldn't hurt. I sat behind the keg with John B. and grabbed a solo cup from the stack, extending my arm and asking him to fill it up.
He looked at me funny but had already had a few beers, so he filled up my cup without asking any questions. I drank it quickly, refilling shortly after, and soon JJ was walking towards me.
"Man, what the hell, you let her drink?" JJ barked at John B.
★★★
Ooh, the party scene. I like this. Some shit's about to go down... This chapter was kinda long but kinda also not because it's like the same word count. I don't know, I felt like I was writing it for like days! Anyway, ready away!