After last night's boneyard bash, we ended up all crashing at John B's. I woke up with a pounding headache. The memories of the night came to me in a blurry fashion. I take in my surroundings. Me on the couch. Kie next to me still past out. Pope on the floor, slowly coming too as well. JJ and John B are probably in the other room. I start to recall everything that happened. Truth or drink. Jamie. The fight..... JJ. I felt a blush creep on my face and a wave of nausea.
I stumble up from the couch and began to walk towards the front door. After everything that happened, I just want to go home and try to process. On my way to the front door, I see John B walking out of one of the other rooms. I wave as he notices me.
"Hey, you feelin' better?" He asks.
"Yeah, sorry again. I'm really not a violent person."
"Don't worry about it, we all have our moments." He really does remind me of Luke.
"Hey, things are still a little blurry from last night. Catch me up?" I gotta see if he saw something.
"Well, we played truth or drink but nothing really happened. You beat the shit out of Jamie, and you and JJ talked in the car. That's about it." He explained.
"Gotchu..."
"It looked like JJ helped you out," John B smirked. Oh shit. Okay, two people can play this game.
"Yeah, did Topper see you and Sarah sneak off?" I say. John B's smirk quickly turned to a concerned frown.
"Fair enough. Where are you heading off to?" He changes the subject.
"I'm gonna go home. I wanna be with my dad for a bit." John B nods and walks off to check on the others. At least he didn't seem disappointed in me for what happened.
As I got home, my dad was on the porch looking out at the marsh with a coffee in hand. He's been doing this a lot I've noticed.
"Hey dad... How ya doin'?" I ask, sitting next to him.
"I'm doin' good, kid, I'm doin' good." We sit in silence for a while.
"Still waiting for another wave on the horizon to surf or have you found one?" I ask him. Hoping he'd remember what he told me all those years ago.
"Still waiting. But let me tell you, I feel a good one coming. She'll be worth the wait." He says, smiling out at the horizon.
"Dad... are you happy?" I ask, my voice cracking.
"Sweetheart, I'm doing fine. I wanted to tell you the other day that I found a good job interview. A good fishing job for the mornings. You know, that was my first job as a kid growing up here. It'll surely bring back lots of memories." He smiles.
"That's great, dad. I'm so happy for you." I hug him tightly.
"I might be gone more often, especially in the mornings, so don't miss me too much." He says with a chuckle. "And I wanna meet these friends of yours soon. They sound like a good bunch."
"They are, I think you'd really like them." I nod. I get up to take a shower cause I smell like a kangaroos ass.
As the afternoon came rolling in, I headed on for my shift at the wreck. Kiara was there with her dad who was also working at the time. She waved and smiled as she saw me.
"Hey! I wanted to talk to you about something." She starts. I nod for her to continue.
"Did you happen to notice something weird with Pope last night? Especially with that game." I listen intently. "And JJ keeps asking him if he has a thing for one of us, I'm starting to think he might." Oh no, Pope would freak if Kie got distant because she thought he liked her.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it. I know he and Heyward have been getting into a few fights recently, he's probably just stressed." I reassure her.
"I just wouldn't want to hurt him, ya know? He's my best friend, I don't want to lose that. Especially if it's over some stupid crush he had on some girl." I smile. She doesn't have a clue.
"I get you. I really wouldn't worry too much." After last night, I know Pope was angry with me because he thought I had told JJ and the probably Kie about his confession. I'm gonna have to straighten that out with him after work.
My shift today was short, Kie's dad sent me home early since we were slow with the income of customers. I headed towards Pope's house along the dock. Pope was helping his father gather another run of groceries. He saw me and made his way over.
"What are you doing here, Kodi." He asked dismissively.
"I wanted to talk to you. It seemed like you were mad at me last night." I start.
"Well, I have a right to be. You clearly told everyone! Now JJ is going to make it weird between me and Kiara and I'm gonna lose her and it's all gonna be your fault!" He burst.
"You're wrong, Pope! I didn't tell anybody about our conversation. JJ is being the annoying shit he can be. I even stood up for you. Kiara told me at the Wreck today that she noticed you acting weird and thought something was up so I told her there wasn't anything to worry about. You're welcome by the way." I say. Pope looks at me with a regretful expression before he ran his fingers through his hair.
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry Kodi. I just, I was freaking out and what JJ said after I told you, I - I just flipped out and went straight to the conclusion that you told him." I hugged him and told him it was okay. "Did Kie happen to tell you anything else earlier?" Pope asked hopefully.
"She said she didn't want to lose you as a friend. Something I feel like I've heard before from someone else." I say. He sighs and continues to run his hands through his hair under his cap.
John B's POV
After Kie and Pope left to go to work for the day, JJ stayed at mine because he was in the middle of a fight with his dad. We were sitting out in the HMS Pogue on the water sippin' on beers.
"So, what was up with you and Kodi after that fight in the boneyard?" I ask. I could tell JJ had something on his mind and I figured it might be the kiss I saw or his dad. JJ let out a sigh as he took a big gulp of his beer.
"I don't even know, man." He kept his gaze out on the water.
"Well do you like her?" I ask. JJ meets me with his conflicted eyes.
"I- I don't know man! She and I sorta connected this one day on the surf after she and Jamie had a fight and it was nice. I almost told her about my dad even. Things are just... weird and I don't know how I feel man, I don't."
"Well... "I awkwardly rub the back of my neck, "did the kiss help you figure it out or something?" I ask. JJ scoffs and looks at me.
"Does it look like it helped? John B, it wasn't like your magical kiss in the rain with the kook alright. What about you, huh? You like her?"
"Sarah? Yeah, I like her." I smile. "She makes me happy man. I don't even know how to explain it." JJ smiled and chuckled.
"Ok lover boy, I don't need to know all the details." I laugh too.
"So what are you gonna do about Kodi?" I ask.
"What do you think I should do?" He asks. I think for a bit.
"I think you guys should talk. Figure it out together, ya know? I'd keep it from Kie for a bit. You know how she is about the no Pogue on Pogue macking rule and I think Kodi's officially a part of that now." JJ nods.
"Speaking of keeping things from Kie, how long are you waiting to tell her about you and your Kook girlfriend?" I cringe at the future lecture I'm going to get from Kie. I know she's going to kill me once she hears about Sarah.
"Well, Sarah said she really wanted to hang out with the group. Especially because she apparently cut it off with Topper. So, I kind of invited her to go out on the boat with us tomorrow."
"Dude what?? Kie is gonna freak!" I nod. "Well, here's an idea. Instead of putting us all on a death boat ride, you bring Sarah to the wreck and tell Kiara in public so that she can't legally murder us. I'd say we should do it tonight so if by some miracle it goes well than the boat ride can still happen."
"Yeah, that sounds a lot better," I admit.
"No kidding." JJ scoffs.
"So, back to you and Kodi," JJ groans, "You gonna try to hit that? I'd say it's safe to say she feels something for you after that kiss. She was all like 'Oh I'm fine, JJ here helped me feel all better'." I say in a girly voice. JJ laughed at my impression and punched my arm.
"I don't know bro, she's so hard to read. She hasn't even made a move except calling me hot when we were on the surf." I shot him a smile.
"She called you hot? To your face? Ah... direct. I like her." I laugh. JJ blushes slightly and puts his arms behind his head flexing a bit. Enjoying the ego boost from both Kodi and Me.