Denial || An OBX Story

Chapter Twenty-One

"Pope, we're not stealing the drone. We're borrowing it." John B defends their idea as they drive their way to the yard JJ's dad had previously worked at.

Kiara and John B were sat in the front, Pope was pouting in the back with his arms crossed as he tried to change the Pogue's minds. JJ was rolling a blunt and Madeline was scrolling on her phone.

"Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality." Pope states as he stares out the window.

"Pope, I know you did not just come up with that." Maddie groans as her eyes remained locked with her phone screen, scrolling through a few Kardashian's pages.

Pope sighs again and rolls his eyes. "Albert Bernstein came up with that, but it applies to this whole treasure hunting thing."

"Oh." John B mumbles under his breath.

Maddie smirks to herself before looking up at the miserable nerd across from her. "You actually suck, Pope." She makes eye contact when he looks up at her, clearly preparing to try and defend himself.

"I do not suck." Was all he could scrap up. "Just because you're the most oblivious one here doesn't mean you get to come at me when I address all of your idiocy."

"Wow, Pope. Just when I thought you didn't have any fight in you." Maddie couldn't help but smile as she watched Pope get fired up from Maddie's simple comment. "Didn't mean to get under your skin, kid."

Pope's eyes roll yet again. "Don't call me..." Pope stops himself. She knew as well as he did that even if he had the best comeback in the argument, Maddie would walk out the winner. Pope wasn't good at arguing. Madeline was a little too good at it and all he was doing was feeding into her entertainment. "So, which is it? Fantasy or reality?"

"Why are you so weird, Pope?" JJ asks, making Madeline smile and point at him in agreement.

Kiara had to give in. The assholes in the back of the Twinkie were done with Pope's thoughts before they'd even started. And they were going to make it known that they didn't care. "It's fantasy, but possible reality."

"Reality." John B smiles softly at Kiara, getting lost in her eyes for a good second before turning back to the road again.

JJ pulls out his lighter and spins it in his fingers. His freshly rolled blunt was between his teeth as he flick's it, lighting a flame. "Virtual reality."

Pope doesn't even hesitate to pull the blunt from JJ's lips. "Keep the signal clear." He proudly smiles as he flicks the blunt out the window.

JJ slams the lid shut and looks up at Maddie who curls up her knees and lays against the seat, going back to her phone.

John B finally brings the van to a stop, Kiara getting out of the front seat pretty quickly. "You know what your problem is?" JJ asks Pope as Maddie stands up to get out. Pope responds with a sarcastic comment, telling JJ he was the problem. "No! It's that you need to relax, man. You're always so tense."

"I'm not too tense."

"Both of you shut up and move." Maddie tells them as she climbs out of the Twinkie, making her way to stand next to Kiara.

"Hey, don't worry. You got this." John B smiles at the two girls.

Kiara takes a step back and smiles, looking into the back window of the beaten up van. "It's not me that I'm worried about."

Maddie realizes that she'd been daydreaming and turns around to see that Kiara was already in her other car. She jogs, getting into the passenger side of the vehicle with a smile. "Is this gonna work, Kie?"