One of Two // JJ Maybank

my druthers: two

kie and pope were off somewhere while i heard john b and sarah arguing. me and jj sat on the porch of the chateau with beers in our hands, talking silently. until i heard footsteps stomp by and it was john b. "john b, wanna shogun in the name of freedom?" he asked. john b didn't respond and slammed the front door. i furrowed my brows and looked to jj who did the same.

sarah walked ny the front porch and i smiled. "sarah, you wanna-"

"no." she replied in the middle of my sentence. 

i scoffed and threw my head back. "teenagers these days." i joked, taking a sip of my beer. jj snorted and ran his hand gently on my legs that were thrown on his lap. 

before he was able to respond to my snarky remark his phone rang. i looked at the contact and it was guffy. i bit my lip as he looked to me. "why would guffy be calling?" he asked. i shrugged as he answered. i heard talking from the phone but i couldn't figure out what he was saying. jj eye's widened and he shot up. "we'll be right there."

i stood up and started following him towards kie and pope. "jj, what's going on?" i asked.

he didn't respond but i kept following him. he stopped in front of kie and [pope who were hugging awkwardly. they turned toward us quickly with a confused look and i shrugged. "pope, we got a call from guffy." jj said quickly. "something happened to your pops."

my face dropped as i looked to jj with a shocked look as kie and pope did also. they dropped everything and started sprinting towards they heywards. "sarah, john b!" i shouted as they looked pissed but confused as they ran, following behind us.

it didn't take us long to get there after sprinting till our legs fell off. pope's dad was sitting on the dock as sarah grabbed a first aid kit an started to clean his face. right above his eye there was a wound. "let me know if it hurts." sarah said gently as she tended.

heyward shook his head, letting her continue. "you're doing fine." he replied. i stood next to her with my arms crossed and sighed. "thank you, darlin'."

i bit my lip as sarah nodded, still gently taking care of heyward. "pop, what happened?" pope asked as we all listened. 

i watched as sarah took the rag away from heyward's face as he shook his head. "i should've known better." me and jj both furrowed our brows and looked at each other with confusion, as the others did also. "he came in just as i was about to lock up. caught me by surprise."

i think we all had a suspicion about the key pope  had told us about when me, sarah, ans john b arrived home. he told us that he found it in his grandma's apartment, or something like that, but it was linked to denmark tanny. which i thought was extremely odd. "once he had me down, he put his knee on my chest, and he asked me about that... that... that keyfrom that... that drawing you showed me." he looked to pope, who looked angry, but shocked. "in case you're wondering, i didn't tell him nothing. did you track it down?"

i looked to pope who nodded quickly, sitting next to his father. "i found it in mee-maw's old apartmentabove the pharmacy just like you said." he answered. right, 'mee-maw'.

pope's dad scoffed and placed a hand on his knee. "shit, boy." he said. "you should've gave this to me. i wouldn't have had to take a beating." i saw jj move his mouth and i smacked his arm, telling him to not even think about saying anything remotely stupid. "what's the big deal? it ain't worthanything. why they want it so bad?"

i took a deep breath and closed my eyes. oh this was gonna be fun hearing pope's explanation. "i don't know. first, i get this letter telling me that i need to go to charleston." he started. "and then i meet a rich ladywho wants me to give her a key that i didn't even know was in my family. none of it makes any sense."

"well, don't y'all just sit herewhining about it." heyward said sternly to all of us. i was a little taken aback, but not really, it was heyward. "figure it out!"

we all sat in silence for a couple of minutes, listening to heyward and pope go back and forth until he finally agreed to see his mee-maw.