𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃─𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

fifty three.

─☼☼☼─

"𝙃𝙊𝙒 𝙇𝙊𝙉𝙂 𝘿𝙊𝙀𝙎 it take to go two miles and back in a car?" Pope wondered in exasperation, his eyes desperately scanning the swamp for any sign of their two missing members. "I feel like they're takin' a minute. Should I go look for them?"

John B shook his head, biting down on the bandana that sat around his neck as he thought for a moment. "I don't─I don't know just give me a sec."

"Damnit! Every time!" Pope exclaimed, throwing his arms up. "Why do we gotta send Kiara and JJ, the slowest people on Earth?"

"They'll be here." Charlotte assured from where she sat atop the Twinkie, Sarah seated next to her. "They'll take ten years but they'll show up eventually, I'm sure."

"You and I should have gone." Pope argued, letting out a deep breath. "We woulda been at the damn church by now."

Charlotte rose her brows, watching as he turned and waded through the water, still cursing their luck. "Okay, here's something I think we can do." He let out a laboured breath, leaning against the Twinkie once he reached them. "We can find something to leverage the Twinkie, and then you can drive it out."

John B contemplated for a moment before nodding. "Let's do driftwood."

"Driftwood will work." Pope confirmed before the two of them engaged in their little handshake, telling one another to be safe. 

"You guys want some help?" Charlotte wondered from the dry spot she currently resided in.

"Nah." John B dismissed with the wave of a hand, "You two stay up there, keep an eye out for danger."

A snort came from Sarah as she shook her head, "That's all we're good for apparently."

Charlotte gave her a look, "You wanna get down and dirty in that swamp? 'Cause I sure don't."

"Fair point." Sarah agreed, a grin coming to her face as she leaned back on her hands, watching as John B waded further away from them in search of driftwood. Pope had gone in the other direction, leaving the two girls alone. 

With her eyes darting between the once-couple, Charlotte addressed the tension that hung in the air between them. She was certain they had broken up, but she had yet to receive any actual confirmation of that. "You two over?" She wondered, nodding toward John B slightly. 

Sarah pursed her lips, letting a deep sigh out through her nose before nodding. "Yeah...and he's kinda being an ass about it."

Call it the older sister instinct, but Charlotte could tell that Sarah had been dying to speak to someone about everything that had happened. 

"What happened?" Charlotte asked softly, her eyes studying Sarah's expression. 

The two had always had a close bond. Since Charlotte and Rafe had started dating five years ago, Charlotte had become the older sister Sarah had always wanted. She was kind to her when Rafe wasn't, included her when he didn't want to. In Sarah's mind, she truly did have an older sister, and in Charlotte's she had another two younger sisters in the form of the Cameron girls. They didn't replace Kiara, not at all, but there was always room for them in Charlotte's heart.