Torn ~ JJ Maybank

Chapter 9

All of us Pogues remained in silence as we set off from the dock of the motel and began heading back to the chateau I assumed - Pope and Kie looked at us with questioning looks when we hopped back on the boat, but clearly picked up on the tension, so decided to keep quiet amongst themselves. It wasn't until we were finally a way out on the water until somebody decided to speak up, however I didn't expect that somebody to be JJ, seen as he was the one who instigated the silence in the first place. 

"Well that was fun." JJ sighed, causing my eyes to grow wide and shoot up from the ground to stare at him, however his gaze was avoiding mine from across the boat. I was confused at JJ's comment, as I wondered what he meant when he said the word fun. Was he talking about our moment earlier? However - I doubted this when I thought over how sarcastic his tone was when he said it. "You could've warned us a little earlier." JJ continued. 

"We would have, except Pope was on the math team." Kie defended herself, clearly an inside joke that JJ, John B and I wouldn't understand. 

"You were on the math team?" John B asked Pope in disbelief.

"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." Pope spoke seriously. "Did you guys find anything?"

"Did we find anything? No, I don't think so." JJ stood up and faced the group shaking his head, before he dug his hands in his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash and the gun that had almost blown our cover earlier, "Oh, yeah, we did."

"What the hell?" Pope stood up and yelled out at JJ, placing his hands on the back of his head in panic.

"Dude, what?" Kiara looked shocked as well.

"Dude, chill. Come on." JJ tried to calm them down, well Pope in particular. I decide that it is best that I came clean about my theft from the motel too, so I stand up and position myself next to JJ as I sigh and pull out the two wads of cash from my pocket.

"Seriously?" Kie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope yells at the two of us. 

"Better than cops having it." JJ tries to defend our actions. 

"You serious?" Kie scoffs at his response. 

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope begins to freak out. 

"Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh. sh, sh." JJ tries to calm Pope by placing one hand around his shoulder and placing the gun that is in his other hand over Pope's lips to try and hush him, "At least you have us, right?"

"I'm living the nightmare." Pope pushes the boy away and goes back to his seat next to John B in the boat as JJ raises his hands up, as if asking what he did wrong. I just rolled my eyes at the boy and went and sat down back at my original spot on the other side of John B, who sent me a sympathetic smile as I did so. 

The boat was once again filled with silence, until we docked on the mainland and headed out to where some of our other friends were gathered under a canopy and hovered there for a while. I sat on a table with John B, whilst Pope leant on it the other side - Kiara sat on a rock just opposite us, whilst JJ stood up on some rubbish on the ground and held onto the top of the roof of the canopy on the edge of where we were all gathered. I glanced over at the boy who was staring out into the distance: I internally sigh at how distant he is being about what just happened between us. I would rather we just joked it off like we always do, and carried on with our normal group dynamic, but for some reason, neither of us could address it, because I think we both felt that the situation felt too real. JJ and I always make sexual jokes, but we have never acted upon it, let alone ever find ourselves in a situation like we were just in. Still, I wished JJ would just get over this hot and cold bullshit so it wouldn't feel so awkward.