Mady smiled at the memory and listened as the radio blared something out.
"Suspects have just left Station 26 in a small boat. Need marine patrol to respond." A mans voice spoke through the radio and Mady rolled her eyes.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and glanced at the screen. It was blown up with text messages and calls from a handful of different friends, family and random numbers. A Find My iPhone notification occupied the bar across the top, and panicking, she decided to throw her phone into the ocean.
She chucked it overboard, and John B gave her a weird look.
She shrugged before he could say anything. "If anything my mom said about them tracking me is true, might as well stop that now."
John B nodded understandingly as he focused on his driving again.
If JJ were here, he'd made fun of me and say something along the lines of, 'must be nice to be rich.' I would almost prefer that over John B's silence.
"Weather advisory for tropical storm Danielle expected to make landfall in the Outer Banks and surrounding areas within the hour."
"That doesn't sound good." Mady acknowledged. She now sat in the seat beside John B but they were nearing the docks.
"No kidding." He joked. "Might be a bumpy ride."
"You don't have to go through it though, right?" She decided to double check to be safe. "Taking an open boat into a tropical storm? Bad plan."
John B didn't say anything, only shook his head.
Mady sat up straighter and snapped her head in his direction. "Wait... that's not what your doing... right?"
He shook his head again. "No-no. Sorry-I'm distracted. No i'll miss the storm, I'll go right by...." And suddenly he trailed off. His eyes narrowed, then widened.
"Dude, what?" Mady spat out nervously as she watched his expression change.
"John B!"
She heard faintly.
No fucking way.
Mady shot up in her seat and stood beside him, squinting in that direction. She had to stand on her tiptoes, as the top of her head only came to his shoulder, but her eyes quickly locked on to what he was seeing. "Oh, my god." She mumbled to herself.
"Current wind speeds are 65 miles per hour... and rising..." The radio continued to speak.
"Sa-Sarah!" He shouted.
They watched as she sprinted down a dock, but it wasn't her own.
"What are you doing at the Landry's?" Mady shouted, realizing immediately that it was very irrelevant right now.
John B glanced down at her and furrowed his eyebrows, before focusing on Sarah again.
"John B! Mady! Wait!"
"Sarah!" Both teens in the boat called out.
John B killed the engine, and they quickly pulled up to the end of the dock.
"Guys," She cried, jogging towards them quickly.
Mady helped the boat dock, and gave her friend a hand as she stepped into the boat.
Before she could turn around, Sarah engulfed her into a massive hug.
"I've been so scared," She whispered in her ear. "Can you believe it?"
Mady closed her eyes as she squeezed her best friend tighter. "No." Was all she could squeak out.
The last time she'd seen her, was at her window with Kie, but that was only for a few seconds. Before that, they were at the airport together, and hadn't had a chance to speak about it yet.
Mady couldn't hold it back anymore, and the tears came running out of her eyes.
"Are you coming with us?" Sarah asked into her ear, but it was muffled by the sound of her thick, dark hair.
"No," Mady whispered. "I'm going home."
Sarah flinched, and she pulled them out of the embrace with both her hands on Mady's shoulders.
"Home? Why?"
Mady explained as best she could while John B pulled the blonde into a hug next.
"I just need to know what's going on with him so I know what my next move should be. I need to know if were missing something. Like maybe there's someone else or they had a reason, or...or... I don't know. I thought about it, but I can't come. Not right now at least." She stuttered nervously.
John B and Sarah both eyed her carefully.
"But you watched them shoot her..." Sarah whispered softly.
"I know, I know that. I get that part. I just need to know more. I need to know how they've been following us, if anything my mom said was true-,"
"You saw your mom again? What?" Sarah blurted.
"At the hospital. But that's a conversation for another time." Mady rushed her words as the wind whipped through the open boat. "Anyways. I just can't come right now. I want to know how they've been keeping tabs on us, how they found the gold...what happened to Big John..." She whispered the last part as John B made eye contact with her.
Sarah nodded understandingly, then gave her full attention to John B for a moment. "What are you doing?" He asked her while pulling her into a tight embrace. "I didn't think you were coming. You weren't at the dock."
"You were just gonna leave without saying goodbye?" Sarah asked him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
They both chuckled and pressed their lips together, which had Mady looking away pretty quickly.
"Don't ever leave me again." She heard Sarah whisper, followed by more kissing sounds.
Normally, she'd fake gag or something, but under the circumstances, she didn't think it would be appropriate.
Instead, after a few long moments of their make out, she cleared her throat and muttered, "Okay, PDA."
"As if I didn't just watch you do the same with JJ," John B shot back, narrowing his eyes at her.
Sarah snorted, and looked at her wide eyed. "I'm not surprised." She said smugly. "We called it, eh?"
John B started the boat up again and nodded, laughing.
"Nice comedic relief guys," Mady clapped sarcastically. "Really."
"Listen, we've gotta make a fast drop off Mady. We're running on borrowed time right now." John B reminded her.
"I know." Mady nodded, the smile fading from her face. The realization that her best friend, and John B-someone who she wouldn't admit, but considers a best friend (on a good day) were about to flee. They were about to leave for Mexico. This is it.
She had 5 docks to go before she was left at her home. 5 docks until she said goodbye to her best friends. 5 docks.
Somehow it was harder now than before. Maybe it was because she didn't know what her fate would be only a few minutes later. Or maybe it was because Sarah was here now, but she couldn't bare to say goodbye.
Sarah placed both her hands on the side of Mady's head, just above her ears. She'd noticed that the girl was struggling.
"It'll fly by." She smiled as her eyes slowly filled with a thin rim of tears. "You'll be okay here with JJ and Kie and Pope, and in a couple months you guys are gonna come find us-even if they've gotta bust you out of somewhere, you'll still get to us. We both know you'll be fine as long as JJ's involved." Both girls laughed, and a single tear ran down Mady's cheek. "We'll sip mimosas on the beach every single day with Kie, and you can help run my cute little sandwich shop." Sarah smiled.
3 docks to go.
Sarah brushed her thumb across Mady's under eye, even though her own eyes were leaking.
"Stay out of trouble while I'm gone."
"Thanks mom," Mady squeaked out, trying to make her laugh.
"I really think you should just come with us. You're in trouble right now," Sarah muttered.
"I can't." She shook her head. "It's hard to explain... but, I just can't."
Sarah nodded slowly.
"Listen, if you have a problem, talk to Lana Grubbs. She's probably one of the only people you can trust to help. If they try to use it against you if you end up in court, talk to her. She'll know what to do."
"I won't have to go to court." Mady shook her head, trying to follow Kiara's beliefs about good karma and all that. "We'll tell them what happened and it'll be okay."
"Just-talk to her if you need to." Sarah smiled. "Take care of Wheezie for me, if you can. She's the only normal one in my house. I think." Mady smiled and nodded at her.
"Keep everyone together. You'll be able to do it, I know. I know how you can be when your alone... so... just make sure you guys stay together and it'll be okay." She spat out quickly, rushing her words out.
1 dock left.
"Lana, Wheezie, together,". She muttered, running through and imaginary list in her head. "Oh! And tell JJ you love him. It's pretty obvious and it has been for a while. We haven't had much time for our girl talk, but, I know. I promise, as scary as it is, tell him." She whispered. "You're gonna need eachother."
Mady nodded, and closed her eyes slowly which sent a trail of tears down her cheeks. She felt the boat motor slow down and they wrapped their arms around eachother again.
"Please be safe." Mady whispered in her ear. "I'll see you soon. Mimosa's, sandwich shops and all."
She felt Sarah smile before they both pulled back sniffing.
Mady turned to face John B, and wrapped her arms around him.
"Take care of her." She whispered to him. "And take care of yourself. You'll be able to come back here soon. We'll deal with it while you're gone."
John B squeezed her tightly, and even he was sniffling as they pulled away.
As soon as the boat was close to the dock, Mady threw an arm around Sarah once more. She pulled her head down to plant a kiss on her temple before leaping out of the boat.
"Be safe!" She called to them, chuckling when she got a memory of Pope and JJ mocking John B for saying the exact same thing.
From axe murderers, to fleeing the country as criminals, one thing no one could ever call them was boring.
"See y'all in a couple months!" Mady called out once more as she waved at them until they disappeared.
Her tears didn't stop flowing, but she wiped them away anyway.
Now here's where the real fun begins.