Chapter Eight:
It's A Very Bad Idea
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
"Woah, careful there." JJ teased, reaching forward and stopping her from toppling onto the dock as Fallon's foot caught on the rope.
"Uh," Fallon blushed as she straightened her back, brushing herself off and looking up at him. "Thanks, JJ."
"'Course." JJ winked, "Can't let my Fallon drown, now can I?"
"Uh, no you cannot." Fallon giggled, "Speaking of drowning, did you know it takes longer to drown in saltwater than freshwater? Yeah, I know, kinda weird. But it's because of, like, I don't know, the difference in salt for your blood and shit so it puts a strain on your immune system. Kinda crazy-"
"That's super cool. Sounds terrible, but cool." JJ grinned, glancing over at John B, Kie, and Pope as they kept their eyes trained on them, clearly annoyed with having to wait for them.
"What do you guys think it is?" Kie asked, drawing Fallon's attention away from JJ and over to her. She caught Fallon's eye and gestured for her and JJ to join them.
"Oh, right, right. Right, yes." Fallon muttered, hurrying over to stand beside Kie. "I hope it's money."
"Definitely gotta be money, right?" John B agreed, looking up at Fallon as he unzipped the bag.
"That or a couple of keys with street value to the to mid mills!" JJ grinned, leaning over and nudging Fallon as she shook her head. "Right?"
"Totally." Fallon nodded in agreement, clicking her tongue as he shifted nervously. "Duh-"
"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope said quickly, interrupting Fallon's sentence. She turned to him, shock crossing her face at her sudden outburst.
"Wow, Pope." John B said slowly, shaking his head as he shared a look with the other three, "That's a rare outburst of emotion.
"Okay, you guys are literally killing me with anticipation!" Pope spoke wildly, gesturing to the bag. "Just open the bag!"
"Okay, okay, jeez." JJ laughed, his eyes widening at Pope's outburst.
"We almost died over this!" Pope grumbled as John B slowly unzipped the bag and reached inside, only to pull out a smaller bag.
"Is that a fucking water bottle?" Fallon scoffed, crossing her arms in disbelief. "No way did I almost die for this."
JJ chuckled, causing Fallon to blush as John B carefully opened the canister. Fallon leaned forward in anticipation as John B tipped the canister over, his eyes widening as a compass fell into his hands. "A compass."
"Oh, wow! Yup. That's about right." Pope said sarcastically, standing up straight and rolling his eyes in disbelief. "Good job, everybody, we found a compass."
"A cool compass." Fallon trailed off, resting her hand on John B's shoulder comfortingly.
JJ huffed, pulling his hat from his head as he watched John B study the compass in his hand. "Dude, what? It's not worth anything."
"This was my father's."
~~
"I'm just saying," JJ started, "I don't understand why you don't at least try with Kiara. She clearly likes you! She's like Oh! John B!"
"Is that what she does?" John B rose his eyebrows, glancing over at JJ.
"She's sketching about you diving and then she kissed you, bro!" JJ insisted, shaking his head at him.
"She kissed me on the cheek." John B pointed out. "It's not like we were making out or something."
"Low-hanging fruit, bro. Don't pretend you don't notice." JJ said, gesturing to his eyes before he spoke. "I see it in your eyes. You're like, I kinda like that, you start blushing and shit."
"I blush?"
"Yeah!"
"Really?" John B rose his eyebrows.
"Like a fucking tomato, bro." JJ snickered, stretching his arms confidently.
"Okay, but what about you and Fallon?" John B countered, snickering as the smirk was wiped off of JJ's face and replaced with a nervous smile. "Look who's the tomato now."
"Don't know what you mean." JJ muttered his heartwarming at the thought of the girl. "There's that rule, anyway."
"I don't think any of us care." John B rose his eyebrows, "I think you should just go for it, man."
"Just go for it?" JJ repeated, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Just go for it." John B confirmed, "She clearly likes you. Clearly."
"Whatever you say, man." JJ scoffed, reaching forward and pulling the compass from the dashboard.
John B quickly reached over, trying to pull the compass from his hands. "Hey, don't-"
"I was just lookin' at it!" JJ protested, yanking his hand away. "I gotta admit, your father's compass in Scooter's boat, that's freaky."
"Yeah, and that's why we're gonna talk to Ms. Lana, figure this whole thing out."
"And I'm sure she would just love to talk to us." JJ said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "It's not like her husband just drowned or anything."
~~
"Sorry, what the fuck?" Fallon blinked, "You're on your way? Right now? Like right now-right now?
"Yeah." JJ laughed, sending butterflies erupting in her stomach at the sound, "I said we were comin' to get you."
"I didn't think you were serious!" Fallon exclaimed, sitting up from her bed and throwing her legs over to the side. Her heart hammered against her chest as she walked over to the window and leaned out, looking at the unfinished repairs on her living room's roof.
"You know I'd never lie to you, Fal." JJ said slowly. By the tone of his voice, Fallon could tell he had a smug smirk on his face.
"There was that one time-" Fallon trailed off, beginning to pace the back and forth, nervously tugging at her hair. "Nevermind, hey, did you know that, uh, that your brain can play tricks on you when you look in the mirror? It makes you see, like, monsters in the mirror. It's called the Troxier Effect."
JJ, paused, glancing over at John B as he knitted his eyebrows together. "That's.. wow, that's actually super cool."
"What is?" John B asked, looking over at JJ briefly as he turned to look at him momentarily.
"The Troxier Effect." JJ answered, "She's rambling again."*
"Hey!" Fallon scoffed, "I so am not!"
"You so are!" JJ argued, mimicking a valley girl accent.
"Wow."
"Wow."
"Are you mimicking me?" Fallon grumbled, sliding on her shoes and leaving her room.
"Are you mimicking me?"
Fallon sighed loudly, "Alright, JJ, see you in a bit."
A loud groan left her lips as she hung up, sliding her phone into her back pocket. "Awesome! Fantastic, great, cool."
Fallon left her room, ducking under a construction worker as he searched for the bathroom, "Second door on the right."
The man glanced at her and nodded. "Thanks.
"Mom!" Fallon shouted as she quickly ran down the stairs, muttering step after each one. "Mom!"
"Yes?" The older woman turned off the vacuum, leaning on it as she turned to look at her daughter.
"JJ's almost here." Fallon said, reaching back and pulling her hair into a ponytail. "And John B."
"JJ.. JJ. Wait, don't tell me. I know this." Her father trailed off, entering from the kitchen. "The black one?"
"No!" Fallon grumbled, "You've met them, like, a billion times. That's Pope, JJ's the pretty blond and John B's the ringleader."
"Ah, yes, of course. JJ Maybank." The man hummed, rubbing his beard in thought."His dad's a piece of work, let me tell you. Complete dick."
The woman gasped, smacking her husband on the chest. "Jacob!"
"What? He is!" Jacob defended, raising his hands in defense. "Come on, Sherry."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The woman muttered, her ears perking up at the sound of an engine. "I think your boyfriend's here."
"Mom!" Fallon gasped, her cheeks coating pink. "He's not- We're not- It's not like that!"
The woman hummed as Fallon turned away and walked towards the door, "I'll be home later!"
"Be safe! I love you!" Jacob called as she opened the front door, closing it behind her. She grimaced as she watched the van pull into her driveway, coming to a full stop. JJ got out of the van, his eyes falling onto her. Even from feet away, she could sense his concerns about her.
She jogged up to him, stopping as JJ met her in the middle of her yard. JJ kept his eyes trained on her, thoughts running through his head like wildfire as he assessed the damage that had been done to her roof. Fallon shifted uncomfortably under his watchful gaze. She cleared her throat, looking everywhere but him. "JJ?"
"Why didn't you tell me?" JJ asked softly, pulling his eyes away from the damaged house and looking over at Fallon. "About that."
"I didn't wanna worry you, JJ." Fallon answered with a shrug, digging the front of her shoe into the dirt. "You've got enough shit on your plate, you don't need mine, too."
JJ's eyes softened as he searched his face, "Fal.."
"JJ, it's fine." Fallon interrupted, shaking her head. "I'm fine, really. This shit happens all the time, right? I'm used to it! Really, I am. It doesn't even bother me, honestly. But this shit is really annoying and why I can't wait to get to New York. No hurricanes in the Big Apple, right?"
JJ's shoulders slumped from the reminder. As much as he wanted her to get everything she could ever dream of, he didn't want her to leave. "You better not forget me when you make it big."
"How could I ever forget you?" Fallon teased, reaching up and nudging his shoulder. "You're unforgettable."
JJ smiled sheepishly, his cheeks reddening as he looked down at his dirty shoes. Fallon grinned, rocking back and forth on her heels. "And I mean that."
"Well-" JJ started, his voice trailing off as he jumped at the sound of a horn honking. He turned his head towards the van with wide eyes, rolling his eyes when he saw John B poking his head out of the window and motioning for them to come over. "Let's go!"
"Way to ruin a moment." JJ muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes with a scoff.
"What'd you say?" Fallon asked, looking up at him as she followed him to the van.
"Nothin' important." JJ said quickly, "Don't you worry your pretty little head about it."
Fallon's cheeks dusted pink as she looked down at her feet, "Hey, did you know that Cuba and North Korea are the only places that you can't buy coca-cola?"
JJ laughed, shaking his head as he opened the van's door for her. "No, I definitely didn't know. But now I do."
~~
"And we were outside like this!" JJ explained, standing from the couch and walking over to lean on the exposed brick, "And all we hear is bam, bam, bam! Knocking paint off the wall, G! From the inside."
"Holy shit." Fallon muttered, her eyes widening as she shook her head. "Sounds aggressive."
"It was!" JJ nodded quickly, "All right? And I'm just looking at him, like.. Wait, first off, look at this shit."
"What are you.." Fallon's voice trailed off as he walked over and leaned down before shaking his hair out. "Ew, JJ, is that-"
"That's dandruff." Kie said, scrunching her nose up and shaking her head in disgust.
"Okay, thank you." Pope reached up, stopping JJ from shaking the dandruff from his hair.
"Look at all of that, all right?" JJ said, gesturing to the flakes covering the table. "That's paint! At that point.. I was just like, I'm waiting for death."
"Oh, okay. So you saw the guys that shot at us, right?" Pope said, raising his head from his hands and staring at JJ in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"Did you get a good description of them?" Pope continued, gesturing wildly as JJ blinked slowly, "What did they look like?"
"Yeah, anything?" Kie hummed. "Anything's helpful."
"Anything we can bring to a police report?"
"Like.. Scars or tattoos or obvious stuff." Fallon continued, crossing her legs as she leaned back on the couch.
JJ paused, pulling his eyes away from the ocean as he looked over to her. "Burly."
"Burly?" Pope rose his eyebrows, scoffing.
"Yeah, you know.. Like-"
"That's not helpful." Kie cut him off, sharing a look with Fallon.
"Okay, well, no, like the type of guy at my dad's garage. I mean, you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers.
"Yeah, yes, no. We know."
"I can tell you with full confidence, these boys, these killers.." JJ paused as he exhaled the smoke, "They're square groupers."
"Well, fuck." Fallon muttered, "We shouldn't have gone to that stupid motel."
Pope's back straightened as he looked over at JJ, "Square groupers? Like.. Narco square grouper? Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?"
"Yeah, man." JJ nodded.
"You guys.. Not everything is a kingpin movie." Kie said as Fallon nodded in agreement.
"Okay, so, what does this square grouper look like specifically?" Pope asked, beginning to ramble as JJ clearly grew more stressed by the second.
"Okay, you weren't there!"
"Apparently, you don't know what to look for!"
"Dude. I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the entire time! Man, I was under duress, okay?" JJ spoke quickly, backing away as Fallon's gaze on him softened. "But I can tell you... I can tell you that by the way Ms. Lana was screaming, that these guys are serious, serious hombres, man. It's a heavy vibe right now, okay? I'm not liking this very much. "
"Why do they want the compass, anyway?" Kie piped up.
"Yeah, it's just a family heirloom, right?" Fallon continued, "Not like it's worth a couple million dollars, yeah?"
"It's a piece of shit." Pope confirmed, "You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to. No offense, John B. I know it's in your family-"
"The office!" John B said suddenly, causing Fallon to knit her eyebrows together in confusion. "The office, my dad's office. He always kept the office locked 'cause he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research. We used to laugh at him all the time about it like he was actually gonna find it. But now that he's gone, I've kinda just... I just kept it as he left it."
Fallon nodded slowly as she followed John B through his house. "Right.."
"Yeah, for when he gets back." Kie nodded as John B lifted the keys to unlock the office.
"Yeah," John B whispered, carefully and slowly pushing open the office door.
"I've slept over here like.. six hundred times. And I've never seen this door open." Pope said, looking around. Fallon's mouth fell open in shock as she looked around at the messy room.
"How do you find anything in here?" Fallon trailed off, shaking her head. Kie hummed in agreement as John B pulled a bulletin
"Here, look. This is the original owner, right here." John B pointed to a piece of paper pinned to the board.
"Okay. Robert Q. Routledge." Kie read aloud, "1880 to 1920. There's the lucky compass right there."
"Actually, um.. He was shot after he bought it. Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam." John B explained, pointing to each picture as he spoke
"Let me guess, he died in action, right?" JJ rose his eyebrows.
"Sort of.." John B trailed off, "He was killed by.. by a banana truck. In-In country. Uh, anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to him, my dad."
"Hm." JJ hummed, crossing his arms, "Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here."
"Yeah, um, you have a death compass!" Pope piped up, "You have a death compass."
"You have a murdering compass of death." Fallon pointed out, "Not good, because did you guys know that objects can actually carry and hold onto bad energy?"
"That's cool." JJ nodded, turning to John B. "Now, get rid of it. It's cursed, and it's made your way back to you."
"Look, my dad used to talk about this compartment in here." John B said, fidgetting with the compass in his hands. "Soldiers used to hide secret notes."
"Woah.." Fallon mumbled, watching as John B unscrewed a piece of the compass. "Holy shit."
"What is that?" Kie asked, peering at the engraving on the compass.
"That wasn't there before." John B said, realization flashing in his eyes. "This is my dad's handwriting."
"How can you know that?" Pope rose his eyebrows, shooting John B a look.
"Because he does these weird R's.. with the.." John B trailed off, gesturing to the uniquely written R's. "See that?"
"Can I see it?" JJ asked, causing Fallon to blush as he leaned over her to take the compass from John B's hands. "Red... No, Rout.. No, I think that's an A."
"It says on Redfield." Kie said.
JJ blinked, clearing his throat. "Right."
"What's Redfield?" Kie asked, glancing at the window at the sound of a rooster crowing.
"Besides the most common name in the county."
"Oh, maybe it's a clue. Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding!"
"A clue? Come on, that's-" Pope cut himself off as Kie cleared her throat, shooting him a look. "But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?"
"Yes!" John B pointed at Pope, "An anagram. You need paper."
"How can you concentrate with that thing constantly crowing at you?" Pope asked as the rooster crowed again.
"JJ loved the rooster!" John B countered.
"I love the rooster." Kie continued, looking over to Fallon who nodded in agreement with them.
"I also love the rooster." Fallon hummed, tuning out her friends' playful bickering as she zoned out on JJ.
"Guys.." John B's voice drew her from her thoughts. "Guys! Somebody's here!"
"Hm?" She hummed, looking over at the window. Her eyes widened in panic and her throat dried at the sight of the unfamiliar car. "Oh.. Oh, fuck."
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
{ A/n: do y'all prefer longer or shorter chaps }
{ Edited: No }