𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

021. Royal Merchant.

THE GIRL arrived at the same time as Pope and JJ to the beach, "hey!" JJ smiled widely at Josie who smiled back. "Hi, boys." She waved at them before joining their side and running towards the water with them. "Hey! Save some waves for us!" JJ shouted.

"Hey, where you been?"

The boys and Josie join John B and Kie in the water where they surfed many waves and had fun all together as a group. Josie and Kie sat on their boards nearby as Josie watched the boys with a wide smile on her face.

"Are you sure you only like girls? I mean, you stare at JJ like... I don't know," Kie said suddenly making Josie look over at her right away. "What? Oh... I-I mean, for a while I did think I might've liked both guys and girls... but with JJ, it's nothing but platonic love, you know?" She says as she looked over at JJ who waved at her while he was surfing a wave making Josie giggle. "He's... a really good friend..." She says and Kie just stared at her while she watched JJ.

Josie now looks at Kie who smiled softly, looking away. "Plus... I don't think he sees me that way." She shook her head, smiling faintly and Kie shrugs. "Sexuality is a spectrum, Jo... And he does all those little things just for you, brings you your towel, picks you up in the HMS Pogue when you don't have a ride, looks at you to see if you laugh at his jokes." Kie says and Josie just glanced over at her.

"You really think he sees me anything more than a friend?" She asked and Kie nods. "JJ might be what you call, a player, but if you asked, he'd probably stop seeing all those girls just for you." She says and Josie glanced away, over at the boys with furrowed brows.

Does JJ actually like her?

That evening, they all laid in the hammocks, John B and Pope on one of the hammocks across one another with the two girls together side by side with JJ across them on the other. "You really think it's out there? Like, no bullshit?" Pope asked out loud suddenly. "My father thought it was." John B says.

"But do you?" Pope asked as the thunderstorm rumbles. "After hearing his voice on that tape... I think I do." John B merely says. It's quiet for a moment, just crickets chirping and leaves rustling with each wind gust. "Only one way to find out." Pope said and reached out, doing their bro handshake. "Look, we're gonna find it, you know?" Kie said, smiling.

"Yeah. Even JJ believes." Josie said as she looked over at the blond boy with a smile on her face. "Oh, my God, JJ, do you really believe?" John B says as Kie smiled widely as well. "Totally." JJ nods, looking at Josie then over at the boys in the other hammock. "Wait. Are we talking about four mil?" He asked.

"Four hundred mil." Josie, Kie and Pope say at the same time. "Jinx." The curly haired girl says before the other two could. Josie just smiles, glancing at Kie then over at JJ who moves to get comfortable. "I'm gonna dream about shipwrecks." He said as he laid his head back. "Goodnight, Bird." JJ added.

"Goodnight, bird shit!" John B calls back and JJ merely chuckled, raising his middle finger towards the other as Kiara turned towards Josie and cuddled into her side. Josie turned her head to see Kie close her eyes. She stared at her for a couple of seconds, her heart beating fast in her chest before she closed her own eyes, growing more comfortable with Kie laying against her and tries to fall asleep.

The next morning, they ventured out on Pope's dad's boat to the location of the coordinates. "Alright, JJ. Pin it here." John B called out. "Roger that! X marks the spot." JJ says as John B took out the drone. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen." He says, looking at Kie and Josie. "To going full Kook." He then lowers the drone slowly and carefully into the water.

Kie slowly lowers the tether as Pope controls the drone, John B was on a tablet where the map was and Josie just stood idly by Kie, watching her do her thing. "Alright, JJ, we're right over it. Ten seconds northwest."

"Got it! Ten seconds northwest."

"One hundred feet." Kie says to the boys when she saw the mark on the tether as she keeps lowering it. Pope loudly gasps so Josie rushed over. "What? What, what, what, what?" John B said as he rushed over as well. "It was nothing." He quickly says and John B groans, walking away. "Sorry, I thought--" "Don't do that to me, man." JJ called out to him.

Pope continues to lower the drone, "and to quote the Hobbit, down, down to Goblin Town, down, down, you go, my lad." Pope says as Josie stayed by his side to watch the camera at all times. "Four hundred feet!" Kie says and Josie glanced over at the girl.

"The tide's turning."

"Hey, JJ?" John B looks over and Josie looks over at them. "Yup?" The blond boy merely said. "Ten seconds easy, alright? South-southeast." John B tells him. "Copy that!"

Josie glanced down at the screen showing the camera's view. "JJ, 20 seconds mid-speed, alright? South." John B says to him. "Copy that! Aye, aye." JJ continues moving the boat around. "Keep the tether out of the prop!" JJ shouts. "I'm trying!" Kie shouted so Josie goes over to her to help her as best as she can.

"JJ, keep going!"

"John B, is that good?"

"We're good, we're good!"

"Okay, 700 feet!" Kie says to them as she writes down another line onto the railing next to the other six marks she had marked down before. As the thunder rumbles loudly, Kie looked over at the wind direction indicator behind Josie who glanced behind her, seeing how fast it was going. By now, waves had begun hitting their boat and making it row slightly.

"JJ, hold it steady!"

"Okay, 900!"

"JJ, we're gonna turtle in this storm."

"920!"

"Crank it north by northwest! Ten seconds!" John B says as Josie goes over to Pope and John B. "Pope, how are we doing here?" John B looks at the other teenage boy. "Almost there." Pope says. "John B, there's too much current! We're gonna lose it!" Kie shouts as she pulls onto the yellow tether. "South, southwest, JJ! Hard!" John B shouted to the boy.

"Half speed. Steady at this bearing, JJ!" He shouted next after looking at the tablet. "What do you got, Pope? Come on, man. What do you see?" He then asked when he saw they were right over where the wreck should be. "Nothing. A whole lot of nothing." He says. "Come on, you should be right above it, brother." John B says, pushing his hair back.

"Kiara!"

"960. 970! 980!" Kiara says as she keeps letting out more of the tether. "I'm at the bottom! I'm at the bottom!" Pope shouts. "Okay, steady here, JJ!" John B calls out. "Steady here. Quarter speed, alright?" He added.

"You should be seeing something, man."

"I know! Wait, wait," Pope said and then they all grow quiet as Kie had joined by Josie's side. "Oh, good God." Pope said softly. "See anything?" JJ shouted, looking over his shoulder as John B chuckled softly. "It's the Royal Merchant." He said as Pope uses the controls to drive the drone towards the shipwreck displayed on the screen.

AUTHORS NOTE
first time watching obx i went: 🤨 they found the gold already?? it's only ep 3... but turns out they didn't 😭😭 lmfao