Beautiful summer

ten

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" ~Oscar Wilde

"That's not gold." Pope sighed, Skylar glaring at him causing his face to quickly turn into a smile masking his disappointment. "Holy shit. This is from my dad." John b choked out staring down at the envelope that had 'bird' written in bold on the front.

"Code red. Code red. Square groupers! Square groupers!" JJ turned to the group blowing his fumes of smoke away as he ran around in a circle panicking. "It's the guys who robbed your house." He muttered as they ran round the other side of the grave hiding from the vehicle that was coming towards the grave yard.

"Light! Light. Turn your light off, man! John B?Your light!" Skylar repeated herself continuously hitting the boy on the shoulder as he looked down at the envelope in his hands too focused on that to realise his light was still on.

"Do you think it's them?" Kie questioned her and JJ slowly turning their heads to get a better look at the man in the vehicle who was in the middle of talking to someone. "Homie's got a gun." JJ mumbled quickly turning his head away when he noticed he was seconds away from making eye contact with the man.

"Screw this." Kie huffed turning her flashlight back on, grabbing hold of Skylar's hand the pair of them running over towards a gate the three boys following closely behind. "Hurry up!" JJ shouted trying to rush Pope over the fence as he stayed rolling over it for a while, Kie and Skylar already on the other side.

"Guys! Guys! Guys, I'm stuck." Pope cried as the group started to run for the van until they realised Pope was still on the fence. "Pope, come on!" JJ huffed running back over to him. "No. Pope, don't move, okay?" JJ ordered as he grabbed the gun from his pocket aiming it for around where the boy was stuck, John b slapping it out his hands, Kiara running over to help him with it, Pope starting to panic.

"You're gonna rip me." He hissed down at the girl waving his legs around as he tried to wriggle free without loosing a pair of his shorts. "Wait. You're gonna rip me!" He repeated himself Skylar sniggering when she heard the rip of his shorts as he was set free.

"Nice! Come on, dude. It's a little Tootsie Roll." JJ teased as the group all piled into the van laughing at the Heyward boy who closed his eyes with embarrassment.

*********

"That bread had mold on it three days ago." Pope commented as he and Skylar stood in the kitchen grabbing cans of beer from the fridge. "I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism." JJ tried to sound smart but it just resulted in the pair staring at him in concern.

"False. Very false" she deadpanned gurning his face up when he stuffed a load of it in his mouth trying to prove a point but he instantly started spitting it out onto his hand throwing it away. "Your disgusting" she scoffed opening up her beer can, leaving JJ to do whatever in the kitchen while she joined Pope, Kie and John b round the table as he opened up the envelope.

"Holy shit." John b laughed slightly staring down at the map that had coordinates written on it. "Oh. X marks the spot." Pope pointed to the x on the map, Skylar looking over it as if she'd seen it before. Something about it ringing a bell to her, but she stayed silent, deciding now probably wasn't a good time to start blurring out more shit.

"Longitude, latitude."

"Wait, there's somethin' else in there." Sky pointed out nothing there was still a lump in the packaging Big John had left behind. "What's that?" JJ questioned, Skylar rolling her eyes while throwing her head back. "It's a tape recorder, dumbass." She deadpanned making faces at the boy who nodded his head pretending that he already knew.

"Dear Bird." The tape started but was paused within seconds of it playing when JJ interrupted it with another one of his questions, "Who's Bird?"

"That's what my dad called me." John b mumbled before playing the tape again everyone leaning in to listen closer.

"I hate to say, "I told you so," but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either. You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listenin' to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it. I'll see you on the other side."

Skylar's eyes filled with tears looking down at John b who put his head in his hands trying to comprehend what he had just listened to. "Holy shit, he did it! Big John... He found the Merchant..." JJ started shouting as John b stood up falling into the door frame as he started to cry from the shock, maybe coming to the acceptance that his father was dead.

Skylar hesitated for a moment before walking over to John b standing in front of him, wrapping her arms around his neck, bringing him in for a hug. A hug that he'd needed for a very long time.
"Sorry." JJ gulped watching as his best friend cried into the arms of Skylar Conley.

The same Skylar Conley that left them last year. The one that not only broke JJ's heart, but everyone else's when she left. He couldn't watch that happen again. He couldn't watch her come back into their life only for her to run when she realised things were getting serious, when people started to show they cared for her. She would run, she always did, every single time without failure.