𝑻𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 | 𝑱𝑱 𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒌

[6] "JJ, Baby!" | Pilot VI | Tease

"Well, that was fun!" JJ giggled, slinging an arm over my shoulder as we sat down on the bow of the boat. Kie was still perched on the edge, while Pope and John B were in the back. "Could have warned us sooner, though."

I looked at JJ's arm as he dangled on me. Why was he being tolerable now? Was it because I did something illegal with him? Is that what someone needs to do to gain JJ's approval? I scoffed, pushing his arm off of me.

"We would have. But, Pope was on the math team." Kie explained, throwing Pope under the bus.

"You were on the math team?"

"There's such thing as a math team?" I laughed, tipping my head back as I  imagined Pope competing over quadratic functions or the sine law.

"Don't act as if you weren't the captain, Winslow."

Before I could reply, Pope cut me off. "Moving on. They took everything like it was a crime scene. Did you guys find anything?"

"Did we find anything?" JJ faked pondering, tapping his chin as if he was in deep thought. "No, I don't think so. Oh, yeah, we did." He bragged as he pulled out a wad of cash and the gun.

"What the hell!"

"Wait, what?"

Pope and Kie voiced their concerns, moving and leaning closer to get a look at the illegal things in JJ's hands.

"Chill. It's fine." JJ said, trying to calm them down.

"Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope asked him, his voice laced with worry.

"I tried to tell him that!" I chimed in, although my voice was lost in the heating discussion between Pope and JJ.

"Better than the cops having it!"

John B and I were relaxed as JJ tried to explain why him, an immature Pogue would be better carrying a firearm compared to a cop, who already carries one around.

"You serious?" Kie criticized, glancing between the two of us. John B and I shrugged in unison.

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope freaked, his eyes darting between the gun and JJ.

JJ hushed him like a mother soothing her distressed child. "At least you have us, right?"

"I'm living a nightmare," Pope finished, his voice strained as he plopped down next to John B. Me too, buddy. Me too.

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

Somehow, we ended up by the docks, watching as the police pulled in a dead body, believed to be the town lowlife— Scooter Grubbs. I watched in horror as, who I presumed to be his partner, cried over his body. I felt my mouth sweat as the scene brought me back to the day I was in her position, crying over the cold, blue bodies of drowned victims.

"That's Scooter Grubs. He was out during the storm. Check out this pic I got."

I looked away sharply, feeling sicker than I ever have. As I placed my hand against the shack to steady myself, I imagined the feel of bloating skin beneath my finger tips. Desperately, I tried to move around the shack. I knew it was coming. Everyone leaned over to look at that girl's phone. I was shocked by how disgusted and angered I felt as I knocked the device out of her hand, causing her to shout at me. Everything was jumbled though– noises and smells all mixed together. I could only blink as her mouth moved.