young blood | outer banks | JJ

seventy-four | in the dark

CARSON FELT LIKE SHE COULD BARELY BREATHE as she stared at his destroyed motorbike with him nowhere in sight. "JJ!" She kneeled down and put her hand on her head in distress, slightly in shock at what had just happened. "This can't be happening."

"Maybe he's up on the bridge," Pope said. Carson basically fell onto the ground as she felt physically unable to hold herself up at the thought of him being severely hurt or worse in a ditch somewhere.

"I wish I could say I did that on purpose, but that was the gnarliest powerslide I've ever done," JJ's voice filled the tense silence that surrounded them. Carson wanted to run to him like the others were doing but she just continued to sit on the ground staring at him like she was just imagining him in front of them.

"We really thought you did it this time," Sarah said as she hugged him. Though, he was too busy staring at Carson who had an unreadable expression on her face. Once Sarah released him, he walked over to the brunette and held his hand out towards her. She frowned at him as she slapped his hand away and pushed herself to her feet. He stood still as they held eye contact for a moment, neither of them saying or doing anything until she finally broke the silence.

"I hate you," she said. "Don't ever do that shit again." He nodded his head in understanding, recognizing that what that really meant was that she loved him. She gave a single nod in return before turning to the others.

"Alright, we should really get out of here," Pope said. Almost as if on cue, the cops were shouting down at them to stop.

"They definitely called it in," Topper said.

"Top, turn here," JJ said.

"Don't touch the driver, man," he snapped when JJ tried to lean forward to get him to turn. Sarah and JJ started arguing but Carson just tuned them out. "If I go faster, I feel like that's going to draw attention."

"Yeah, I feel like that ship has sailed as this point," JJ pointed out.

"You guys are a nightmare. Do you argue about absolutely everything?" Topper asked.

"It's part of our Pogue charm," Carson said. They all started to yell at him to speed up again and eventually he must have had enough because he did. The bad thing was he went a little too fast and the whole truck flew up when they hit a bump. The sound of wood against asphalt made him slam on his breaks.

"Stop! We lost the cross," Pope yelled.

"Great, Topper," JJ remarked.

"You guys told me to go faster," Topper defended himself.

"And you listened to us?" Carson said. They all hurried out of the truck to check on the cross to make sure it wasn't damaged and to get it back in before the cops arrived. "Pope, is it good?" He threw open the lid and all they could do was stand there in shock at what was inside because it most certainly wasn't the cross.

"What the hell?" Kiara said.

"Shit. It's fake," Pope said. He leaned down as if he couldn't quite believe it, but it was Rafe. They should have expected more from him.

"Of course we did. Of course we stole a fake," JJ said.

"Pope, I'm so sorry," Sarah said. Carson took a step forward and rested a comforting hand on his shoulder, knowing there weren't any words that would make him feel better in this situation. It just got worse when sirens could be heard in the distance.

"Y'all hear that? Okay, I can't be here. My grandfather's a judge," Topper said.

"Would you relax? They're not gonna think some dude in flip-flops is a part of a robbery, okay?" JJ said. Carson would have laughed at that if their circumstances were different, but there was nothing funny about the fact that the cross wasn't even here.

"Pope, I know this sucks, but we gotta go," Carson said. Cleo grabbed him and pulled him into the truck with the rest of them. Classic good plan gone wrong.

✰

All they could do now was head back to Kildare and hope for a second (or third... fourth?) chance at getting the cross. Maybe now that John B was back, they might be able to try again. Either way, the others had yet to see Big John so that was one thing they could do.

Carson smiled as she watched Big John greet Pope excitedly before JJ ran and jumped on his back. She laughed at the sight of Big John spinning around with JJ clung to his back before glancing over when John B walked out with beers in his hands. He had a look that could only be described as conflicted on his face.

"You okay, JB?" she said up to him, loud enough so that he could hear but quiet enough so that it didn't draw too much attention. He broke out of his daze and looked over at her, seeming to hesitate before nodding his head. He handed her a beer and she took it gratefully, taking a small sip before speaking again. "You know you can tell me whatever, right?"

"Yeah," he said simply. "I know." They then all gathered around to hear what had happened while they were separated, hoping it was something good. "Yeah, so we, um, we went to the archives in Charlestown, and uh... it was, it was a dead end. A dry hole," John B explained. Carson frowned as she watched his face that still seemed uncertain, not quite believing that it was completely the truth but deciding not to call him out on it now in front of everyone when she didn't know for sure.

"So that's the gold, the cross, and now El Dorado," Pope said. "We're 3-for-3, guys. The streak continues. That's great." Each of them started to head out, seeming to have had enough of this shit luck.

"I'm going fishing. Thanks for the beer," JJ said. He looked over at Carson. "You wanna come or stay?" Carson looked over at John B again, trying to read anything from his eyes that indicated he was going to spill what really happened. Instead, he just avoided all eye contact with her and continued to stare at the ground. She didn't want to get mad at him, but the fact that he was going to keep secrets didn't sit right with her. The fact that Big John was obviously doing the same also didn't sit right with her. She thought she was supposed to be their family too but yet they were leaving her in the dark. It's why she stood up and left with JJ.