good outcomes, all the time

"The Forbidden Zone"; pt.4

"The only thing that mattered was me, my friends, and the music that played as we laughed together."

After our drone-stealing expedition, everyone was very tired and very hungry. So we went to the only place we could hope to get food, The Wreck.

As we all got out of the car Kiara joked, "Stealing drones makes you hungry."

"What I would do to a beer and shrimp n' grits right now," JJ fantasized.

"It would not be pretty," Pope agreed.

We all laughed lightly and then walked inside the restaurant that Kiara's parents owned.

"Hey, Dad," Kie greeted her dad. "How'd we do?"

The boys and I made our way towards the back of the restaurant. It was basically empty at this point so we essentially had the place to ourselves. After only a few minutes of waiting my cousin was already complaining about his hunger. I looked over to Kiara who was bargaining with her dad and smiled as she gestured toward us. Soon she was walking our way.

"Sit down," She said as she approached.

Within a few minutes, her dad came to serve our table with the leftovers from the day but I couldn't complain.

"Oh ooo yes!" Everyone else was as excited to eat as I was.

The food was so good and soon it grew dark outside and the tourists left the restaurant leaving it all to us. The music of the surround sound in the restaurant was soon the only noise that accompanied us. Kie finished first and got up to dance to the music. She smiled at me and then beckoned for me to join.

"I love this song," I laughed and got up to join her.

Naturally, the boys just sat there staring at us as we danced to the radio.
"Come on boys, don't just sit there," I danced towards their table and pulled my cousin out of his seat first. He reluctantly got out of his seat. Pope was my neck victim, he tried to make excuses but they were ignored as I pulled him up out of his seat allowing him to keep the basket of french fries he was munching on. I turned to JJ and he knew what was coming.

"Oh please don't subject me to this torture," he mock-pleaded.

"Suck it up, tough guy," I grabbed his arm and pulled him from his seat as well. We were all dancing carelessly in the cleared out space the Kiara had made. For a moment, I forgot about the gold, forgot about the treasure hunt, forgot everything. The only thing that mattered was me, my friends, and the music that played as we laughed together.

"In the afternoon

When the sun is strong

I try to close my eyes

I get lost in thought

I get lost in company"

{It's Never Enough by Audiodub}

After our long night, we all decided to get a good night's sleep before testing the drone on the water. So, early the next morning we all rendezvoused at the chateau. Pope and I went out on the docs to check the drone out and soon the rest followed. Kie and John B got in the water so we could test the camera quality and JJ stayed on the deck, unable to keep his hands off of the drone.

"What's this one right here?" JJ asked for what was probably the tenth time.

"Don't touch that," was Pope's answer, "I'm trying to work out this thing."

We looked at the monitor displayed on the drone's control panel. In a few moments, Pope was able to get it working and we saw our friends from underwater. John B and Kiara's heads popped out from the water as they made their way to join us on the doc.

"God bless geeks, Pope," JJ congratulated. "Truly, man. What would we do without you to control the drones?"

"I'm right here," I argued.

"And technically it's not a drone. It's and ROV-"

"Shut up," JJ interrupted, "Shut up, it's too early for that right now."

"Hey, look," my cousin intervened. "Once we get footage of the wreck, we'll bring it to a lawyer in town and file a formal claim."

JJ rolled his eyes, "Dude it's such bullshit we have to do that."

"Well, there is maritime salvage law," Pope explained.

"You can't just go to the ocean floor and scoop a bunch of stuff up," I added.

"I know, I know," he interrupted. "Its just lawyers aren't cheap, bro."

My cousin had an answer for that one too, "well, as soon as they see the footage, they'll work for a comp."

"How do you know all that?" Kie argued.

"Cause, my dad said it, like, a million times."

Kie sighed, "yeah, that's fair."

"This tether is like really long, in the wrong weather, this thing could get pushed around," Pope said as he continued to analyze the drone's abilities.

"Then we'll go at dead calm," John B suggested.

However just as he said that thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Slack tide?" Kie confirmed.

We all nodded. "So now we just gotta wait around for the right weather," Pope said.

We all looked at the sky as thunder rumbled again. "And today is not that day," I said as the thunder continued.

Since we couldn't do anything about the poor weather, I decided to make good use of my empty time and help Pope and JJ with Heyward's grocery deliveries.

"You boys get these groceries over to Figure Eight," Heyward instructed. "Get straight back here when you're done. No fishin'. I promised delivery by this afternoon. Rich folks don't wanna wait for you lazy sons of..." JJ reached out his hands to grab more bags, "Aw JJ thank you," Heyward mocked. I was the last on the delivery boat and probably the only one to hear Pope's dad finish his thought with, "...sons of bitches."

I laughed as I got onto the boat and Heyward called, "You keep 'em in line B!"

"Oh, I will Mr H!" I hollered back.

Grocery deliveries were going by quite smoothly despite the fact that the Kooks having power seriously peeved me.

"Doesn't even look like the storm hit there," Pope pointed to a seemingly unscathed building.

"That's because they got generators, bro. Get used to it."

"And then they say the juice will be out all summer at the cut," I added looking over my shoulder from where I was leaning on the side of the boat.

"It's nice to be a Kook," Pope said, shaking his head.

"Lucky bastards," JJ agreed.

Pope steered the boat to the nearest convenient doc to do our unloading. I decided to help JJ with deliveries in one direction while Pope picked up groceries for another.