𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘¹ » 𝐣𝐣 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

𝒊. 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆

chapter one
good time, all the time

ESTELLA TOOK A sip of her beer as she dangled her legs off the scaffolding, laying out in the setting sun.

"that's what? a three storey fall to the deck?" pope told the boy on the roof. "i'd give you about a one-in-three chance of survival." john b stuck a finger in his mouth and held it out to measure the wind. "should i do it? stella what do you think?" asked john b.

stella thought for a moment before answering. "if you do plan on doing it, do a backflip." she answered as jj laughed.

pope picked up a drill and pointed it at john b. "yeah, you should do it. i'll shoot you on the way down." john b looked at pope disbelievingly. "you're gonna shoot me?" he asked. stella sat up to watch the boys on the ground. "pew pew pew." she said as she pointed finger guns at john b.

"they're gonna have japanese toilets with towel warmers." kie announced as they arrived on the deck. "of course. why wouldn't they?" jj said sarcastically. "and i can't have cold towels."

kie looked up to watch john b. "can you please not kill yourself?" the blond boy also turned to look at the boy on the roof. "don't spill that beer. i'm not giving you another one." the wind then blew, which made john b stumble and drop his beer. "woah! oh shit." he exclaims as the beer falls to the ground.

"smooth."

"fabulous job."

"of course you did."

"a-plus."

as john b groaned after dropping his drink, pope looked over the edge of the deck to see a security car pull up in the driveway. "hey, uh security's here, let's wrap it up." pope told the group. jb and jj turned to look at the truck. "huh, they're early today." stella said before john hopped down from the roof. "humpty dumpty,  let's roll!" jj exclaimed as he rolled of the scaffolding.

"gary is that you? it's me!" jj shouted at the security guard. pope shouted for him to get down but the blond ignored him. "gary, good to see you man!" he shouted before finally jumping down. "you're just asking for it at this point." kie said to jj. "you're gonna get caught one day, bub." stella joked to the blond before running through the house with the rest of the group.

the five laughed as they ran through the house to escape the guards.

the group split into two to outrun their pursuers; john b and kie going one way and jj, pope and stella going the other. running through the grass, jj shouted for the other two to hurry and hop the fence.

the bus pulled up just as jj made it over the fence. "bus is leaving!" john b says  as he honks the horn. kie slides open the door  just as the three make it to the van. jj jumps in and reaches out an arm for stella to grab as she pulls herself into the car, not bothering to close the door behind her.

"thank you, jj."

"no problem, star."

star had become the boy's special nickname for her ever since they were 6 years old and found out what her name meant. no one else really knew why he called her that, but they just went with it.

it was no secret the two were closer to each other than the others, as they had been the first to meet. jj was constantly staying over at stella's house because of their family situations. she remembers countless nights where jj would come over and stay the night to escape his abusive father because stella's parents were never around. her parents' marriage had been falling apart for a while, but after one final push, they made the divorce final and went their separate ways.

     stella would constantly show the boy friendly affection, knowing he wasn't getting any from his dad, and jj would occasionally show some back.

pope looks out the side to see the guard running after the van. "check out gary, gunnin' for a raise!" jj makes his way over to the open door. "come on gary! wait slow down." he sticks his head out the window and starts taunting the guard. "you're so close! you can do it!"

stella pulled her body off the the seat and hung out of the side of the van like the blond boy in front of her. "guys, your gonna give him a heart attack" kie interrupts, watching to see what the pair have planned. "don't worry kie, he'll be fine." stella says while reaching into the van to grab an empty beer can and tossing it to the boy in front of her.

the blond turns around and catches the can. "you're so close! you can do it! there you go." he says before tossing the can at gary. "they don't pay you enough man." jj taunts the man. stella laughs at the interaction before pulling herself back in the van. "jj, stop." kie says while pulling jj back in the van. he looks at kie and stella with a laugh, "oh come on, that sort of initiative is just begging to be punished."

bored, jj lit up a joint and took a long drag before passing it to stella. she took a puff and spotted jj staring at her from the corner of her eye. she took this opportunity to mess with him, like she always did.

this time, she took a longer drag and sat up to face jj. upon making eye contact, jj snapped out off his gaze and looked away. to continue messing with him, she brought her hand up to his face and brought their faces together, for her to shotgun the smoke into his mouth. stella pulled away with a smile, and the two continued to smoke, stella chuckling as jj blushed lightly.

"relax, i'm just messing with you." stella smirks.

kie kicked the door shut and the five begin laughing as they drove back to the outer banks.