Ocean Blue [jjpope]

the call

Nassau, Bahamas

"John Booker Routledge, you're stupid."
Sarah Cameron was watching in disbelief as three men passed right besides her and her boyfriend, cursing and visibly mad.
Could they ever catch a fucking break ? They had gotten off the boat only 2 hours ago.
And their current situation had nothing to do with bad luck. Just when they had arrived in the Bahamas, John B had the great idea to try and steal a phone, money and supplies from their saviors, which she had found both extremely stupid but also rude and ungrateful, especially considering they could have stolen stuff from literally any small shop on the island. But no, John B was dumb and he had thought he would go away with stealing the crew's stuff under their very eyes, and now here they were, miles away from their home, supposed dead and probably soon to really be.
"Sarah Cameron," John B whispered, breathless from their run. "I must say your words quite hurt my feelings."
As an answer, Sarah hit him on the top of the head.
"You are literally so freaking dumb," she murmured angrily as John B moaned overdramatically. "You just made us runaways here too, when we could just have had a day without worries.
- What can i say ? I guess i just love running."
Sarah cursed in a whisper as John B gave her a friendly nudge.
"Hey, it's not so bad. (he pulled out a phone from his pocket.) At least, now we can give our friends the facetime of their lives."
Sarah wanted to stay mad. But John B's little smirk as he waved the phone under her eyes made her smile uncontrollably.
"Fine. But i get to hold the phone."
John B smiled, the very John B smile, impish and kind of childish Sarah had fallen in love with.
"Anything you want, Sarah Cameron."
They were about to kiss when they heard screams a little further away from them, recognizing the voices of the boat's crew.
"But first, let's get out of here."

Pope woke up feeling like shit.
He had no idea when he had fallen asleep, neither did he have a clue how long he had been sleeping. The only thing he knew was that his eyes were dry and his butt hurted like hell. This was the last time he ever slept sitting on cold hard floor. Ever.
He got up, his face twisted as his back reminded him he had been in a bad position for hours.
He tilted his head left and right, cracking his neck, and jumped back, repriming a scream, as he saw a face very close to his.
"Relax, it's just me," Kie said, not really caring about scaring the shit out of her friend. "Had a good good sleep, sleeping beauty ?"
Pope looked at her, too numb to even care about her sarcasm.
"How long have you been watching me sleep ?
- An hour. Two, maybe.
- Psycho."
Kie laughed.
"Come on. I barely masturbated while looking at you snoring like a pig."
Pope laughed.
"How nice of you.
- I took a lot of pictures though. Don't worry, it's for personnal uses only.
- That's so gross !"
They both laughed, and Pope suddenly felt lighter. He was forever grateful for how well Kie and him were still getting along, like nothing had happened between them. They were still the great friends they had always been, and it made him feel so happy.
"You really look like shit though," Kie stated.
"Yeah."
Pope felt the glimpse of happiness he had just felt fly away. Of course he looked like shit, JJ had just casually rejected him, and he had been sitting there like a dumbfuck, not even able to say anything. He wasn't mad at JJ at all, he was just feeling like a failure for not even trying.
He could feel Kie's worried eyes on him.
"Want to explain ?
- Not so much.
- It's alright. But i'm here, wherever, whenever, if you ever wanna talk it off.
- I know you are."
Kie smiled softly. She was such a glue for the group, always so strong, caring, holding her shit together when the boys were too chaotic to do so. Pope had always admired that in her.
"Maybe we should get inside," she said, laughing. "JJ's going to believe we're dead otherwise."
Pope smiled and took a huge breathe.
"Yeah well, this is what he gets for almost dying."
Kie shrugged.
"Fair enough."
She opened the door, looking at Pope. Gathering all his courage, he followed her inside.

"Oh this got to be a joke."
Sarah and John B were breatheless when they finally found a small place to hide, far away from their pursuers. And just when Sarah thought their troubles would be over, she had pressed the power button of the phone John B had stolen, only to find out it was out of battery.
"Look, let's just get into a store, okay ? We just have to steal a charger. No biggie."
Sarah turned her head to look at John B slowly.
"No biggie ? Yeah sure, John B, of course we can steal a charger no biggie. And i bet there are a lot of outlets in Nassau's streets for us to plug it in."
John B looked in the void, probably because he had not thought of this, which did not surprise Sarah.
"Yeah. Fair point, okay."
He got up, and Sarah looked at him, raising a brow.
"Where are you going ? (she looked at him with worried face.) Don't tell me you're going to steal another phone now."
He smiled, shaking the dust off his pants.
"Sarah Cameron, in case you didn't know, there are external batteries that do not need to be plugged. They are very common technology so i thought you would have known."
Sarah bit her lip, feeling stupid. She was glad John B had thought of this, but she also knew it meant he would be teasing her about it for the next couple hours.
He offered her a hand and she got up.
"And i thought you were the Kook here," John B said in a laugh.
"Shut up, okay ?
- No biggie, Sarah. I won't tell anyone you didn't know what an external battery was. (he took a very serious voice.) Your secret is safe with me."
Sarah rolled her eyes, punching his arm gently.
"I bet you had not thought about it neither at first," she said, frustrated.
"True. But i still thought about it before you."
They went into a small shop, run by a fat, impressive man with two breads. John B pointed out his hair was tied by butterfly elastics, and it took all of Sarah's strength not to laugh.
"Hi kids," he said, his voice deep. "Can i help you ?
- We're looking for an external battery. My girlfriend's phone ran out of battery and we need to let our parents know we're safe."
The man nodded.
"Yeah, one minute please."
He went behind his counter, and just when they were oit of his sight, John B rushed to the snacks display, putting tons of chocolate bars and chips in his pockets.
"You two are lucky, it was the last one-"
The man stopped, looking at them with a suspicious face.
"You two good ?" he asked, looking at John B intensely, from face to toes.
"Perfectly fine, thanks," John B answered, hands in his pockets, trying to cover the stolen food. "What about you ? Business is doing great with all the tourists ?
- Could be better. There are a lot of stealers."
The man's glance was cold and locked in John B's, causing Sarah's heart to beat faster. John B was perfectly still, calm, not letting out any emotions, and Sarah wondered where those acting skills came from.
John B faked a mad face, cursing.
"Those ungrateful tourists, huh ? Coming to our beautiful lands and looting poor, innocent merchants. This is the kind of things that make my blood boil !"
The man did not move, probably not buying shit from John B's performance.
"Okay, listen up, you little shits," he said finally, giving Sarah a jumpscare. "I know teens like you. I see them everyday, coming in all smiles and when they leave stuff is missing. So i'll only be asking you once : give back what you took, and i'll let you go."
Sarah was watching, silent. She looked at John B, who was still perfectly unbothered.
"Okay, man," he started, "i know how it feels like. I really do, i actually have a shop of my own too..."
He stopped, seeing the man was loosing patience. John B sighed, closing his eyes, and after a moment, he gave the man a Snickers bar from his pocket. Sarah realized she had stopped breathing, watching in fear.
"Can we... Can we still have the charger ?"
The man's fist flew brutally, and John B stooped just in time to dodge it.
"John B !" Sarah screamed.
Swift as the wind, he grabbed the battery out of the merchant's hand.
"Sarah, run !"
Sarah ran as fast as she can, making her way out of the store. She shot a look behind her shoulder, as John B was knocking down shelves on his way to stop the merchant.
Passing next to her, he grabbed her hand and they started running together, John B slightly dragging her since he was faster than her.
"Is he still after us ?" John B asked between two breathes.
Sarah looked behind her shoulder. The man was trying to make his way between the shelves, tripping on groceries. She felt bad for him.
She shook her head, looking in front of her again.
"No.
- Great. Now let's find a safe spot."