JJ and I slept in, so we had to run to the dock. We told the others we'd meet them there early, but we're already 20 minutes late.
We finally make it there out of breathe and they all give us a disappointing look. JJ and I look to each other and laugh, not realizing we start to just stare at each other.
"You guys kissed didn't you!" Pope blurts out.
"Pffft, what no?" I try to play it off cool, but it sounds like an obvious lie.
"Oh my god, you guys totally did kiss!" Kie walks up to us, arms folded and angry looking.
"Pope you snitch, I'm so getting you back for this. How could you even tell. We were legit just standing there." JJ scoffs.
"It's so obvious by the way you were looking at each other, you guys broke the rules."
"So did John B." I say, John B looks back at me and flips me off.
"Okay lets just call it even and forget about it, okay?" JJ says, heading towards the equipment.
"Okay." The rest of us agree.
I stand with JJ and Pope, looking at the screen. We can clearly see John B and Kierra swimming. This thing is so cool.
-
Things have only been a little awkward between JJ and I since last night. So we're gonna talk about it before he goes to help Pope make some deliveries. I wait for him on the front porch, when he shows up he looks extra happy.
"What're you smiling at sunshine?" I ask
"You did not just call me sunshine."
"What're you gonna do about it, sunshine?"
"Shut up, you're sunshine." He sits down beside me and rubs his hand in my hair, purposely messing it up. I push his hand away and fix my hair.
"Aw did I mess poor Dellah's hair up? Sorry princess"
My jaw drops. "Call me that again and you're dead, now we need to talk."
"I agree, now what exactly are we talking about."
"What you said to me last night and the kiss. Duh."
"Okay well I don't know, Dellah. I really don't think I am ready for a relationship. Like what if we break up and our friendship is ruined. I can't lose you."
"You're right, I can't lose either. It's better if we just stay friends, but to do so we have to follow the rules. No pogue-on-pogue macking."
"Alright that settles it. Friends."
"Friends."
We shake hands, JJ gets up to leave. As he's walking off he yells something.
"Our little bet is still on! Don't be staring at my ass as i'm walking away!" He calls out to me.
I laugh at him, then take one quick look at his butt. I mean who wouldn't?
-
JJ and I are walking to John B's together. Everyone is hanging out tonight.
"Hey Dellah, can I tell you something? But you seriously have to promise to tell no one, also nobody can know I told you."
"Jesus, JJ who did you kill? But yes you have my word, it's a secret."
"Rafe and Topper jumped Pope today. So we sunk Topper's boat."
"What! Is Pope okay?"
"Yeah he's fine now, just seriously don't tell a soul."
"I won't I promise, poor Pope he doesn't deserve that. Rafe is such an asshole."
"Yeah he is."
A wave of guilt rushes over me. How could I have hungout with someone who would hurt one of my best friends. Pope may have gotten his revenge, but I need to get mine.
-
Today is the big day. We're taking the drone out to see if we can find the royal merchant. JJ is driving, man does he ever look good driving the boat. Wow. Pope is looking at the screen, Kie is in charge of the rope. John B and I are kinda just sitting around.
The wind starts picking up and the rope is going crazy, so I rush over to help Kie hold it. It's going down fast now and we still haven't found anything, I'm starting to lose hope at this point.
"Good god." Pope says, I walk over to him to look at the screen. There it is, the royal merchant. Pope keeps looking, but there's no gold in sight. Nothing.
"Fuck!" I yell, kicking a can.
"Let's just go back." Pope says
JJ takes us home, we're all super disappointed so our goodbyes are short.
-
I'm hanging out with JJ, watching him shoot at a poor helpless teddy bear, he's been so obsessed with this damn gun lately.
Pope comes running to us yelling JJ's name.
"Dellah I have to talk to JJ privately." He looks to me, so I start to gather my things. JJ takes off his ear mufflers and puts the gun down.
"She knows Pope, I'm sorry I had to tell her."
"JJ you promised you wouldn't tell a soul."
"It's Dellah, I had to."
"Fine. Rafe and Topper know."
"What?"
"They know!"
"Chill bro, they don't know shit."
"They know! Rafe and Topper posted outside of Heyward's and mad dogged me. They know."
Pope is pacing back and forth naming every terrible outcome possible, JJ is yelling at him to calm down saying they don't know anything and that he's fine.
"C'mon Pope, what'd you if a kook asks if you had anything to do with it?"
"Deny the living shit out of it."
"That's right, deny deny deny."
"Yeah just like you do with your feelings towards Dellah."
This is where I step up, I stand up and walk towards the boys. JJ and I look at each other, not knowing what to say.
"Seriously what is going on with you two?" Pope asks
"We don't know, Pope. It's really complicated okay we don't wanna talk about it." I step in.
"Dellah is right, we don't know what's going on between us so we're just gonna stay friends. We wouldn't want to break up and hurt the group."
"Why do you guys think you'd break up even? Like it would hurt the group more for you to get with other people, you guys obviously both know how you feel about each other. Rules are rules I guess, but it's up to you guys. I gotta go, I'll catch up with you later." Pope walks off, leaving JJ and I alone.
We stand there awkwardly staring at each other.
"Dellah what do we do?"
"I don't know JJ, I really don't know."
-
Kie dragged JJ, Pope and I to some outdoor movie theatre. Pope is freaking out because of all the kooks here, JJ and I would rather just be anywhere else. Kie goes to get us some drinks and I set up the chairs. Kie comes back and hands us our drinks.
"Just saw Rafe and he said, and I quote 'Tell your boy I know what he did.'"
JJ and Pope turn around then start talking to themselves, JJ holds up his bag, I'm assuming it has the gun in it. Kie and I look to each other and roll our eyes.
"I'm sorry JJ, please tell me you did not bring a gun here." Kie says
"Yeah JJ what the hell are you thinking. There's kids here." I say, backing Kie up.
"Seriously you guys what is going on? No secrets between pogues."
"Kie, It might go down tonight." Pope says, looking her dead in the eye.
-
In the middle of the movie, JJ and Pope get up to pee, I'm a bit worried because they're alone and Rafe might go after them.
Kie and I hear yelling, so we look at each other and run to them, Kie grabs JJ's bag just in case. Behind the screen, there's a huge fight going on. Topper is beating Pope up and Rafe has JJ in a headlock. I try pulling Rafe off of JJ, but he's too strong. Topper knocks Kie over and that's when I get really mad.
I run to Topper and start pounding on his back, he turns around and hits me right in the face. I don't think he knows it was me, even if he's such a huge ass he wouldn't punch a girl in the face.
"Topper you're dead!" JJ yells, still in the chokehold. Kie is rummaging through JJ's bag and pulls out a lighter. She lights the screen on fire and the kooks go running. Kie runs to check on Pope, leaving JJ. He's on the ground, looking pretty beat up.
I get down beside him and help him up. He pulls me into a hug and whispers in my ear.
"Dellah please don't ever jump in on a fight. Not even for me."
"JJ you know I would do anything for you, now please stop getting into fights."
We pull away from the hug and he puts his hand on my face, lightly brushing his finger over the spot Topper hit me. He frowns then pulls me into another hug.
God am I really starting to lose this bet.