✓ 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑, 𝘫. 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬 ¹

59

chapter fifty nine
"pogue style"

———

"DUDE, WHERE IS HE?"

LYNN gazed over her shoulder towards Kie, who had been pacing back and forth on the dock for the past ten minutes. Pope was finishing the rope tying up front, where Lynn was nervously reorganizing the canned goods for about the third time.

John B was late, he was extremely late.

The entire group were anxiously waiting for the boy to just appear already, and the fear that he was caught slowly started to creep more back more into their minds.

"Give him a second, he'll be here," Pope answered firmly.

"He's coming, he'll be fine."

Lynn nervously nibbled on her bottom lip, which JJ seemed to notice, so he quickly wrapped his arm over the girls shoulders to pull her closer to him. Smelling his strong smell of beer and salt water immediately seemed to calm Lynn down.

The crew then froze in their steps as they heard a police siren, and they all gasped as they saw the familiar white and blue car pull up.

"Oh, shit," Lynn grumbled, standing up from her seat on the small captains chair.

"Hey, yeah, get back on the boat! Untie it!" JJ hollered, making both Pope and Kie started to scramble in order to get off the dock. "Wait...no way."

Lynn let out a small gasp as she smiled brightly, relief filling her boys as she saw who climbed out of the drivers seat.

It was none other than John B.

"You're fucking joking," Lynn chuckled, jumping off the boat onto the wooden dock.

"No effing way."

"Shoupe let me take it for a spin," John B grinned, throwing his back pack onto his shoulders while walking towards his best friends.

"Okay, that's believable," Kie said in disbelief, letting out a laugh with a bright smile. "I'll buy that for now."

"God, you idiot," Lynn stated, skipping a few of the wooden steps to envelope John B into a huge bear hug.

And she lingered there for a second, knowing this would be the last time she would be hugging John B for who knows how long.

"It wasn't easy, bro," JJ spoke up as the two separated, where he then took Kie's embrace next. "But I got the Phantom for you, and she runs like she was made yesterday. You ready to go?"

"Where's Sarah?"

The lighthearted, happy moment seemed to be ruin by the sudden fact that Sarah Cameron was no where to be seen.

"She's not with you?" Kie questioned, a bit of worry could be heard on her tongue.

"No, no, we got separated in the swamp," John B explained quickly. "She said she'd meet me here."

"No, we haven't seen her, man."

"Okay, well, I'm not leaving without her," John B replied, his anxious eyes landing on each of his best friends.

Lynn felt terrible that John B wouldn't be able to leave with the love of his life, but the matter was simple. He's a wanted man, for the murder of the sheriff, he needed to get the hell out of dodge, with or without his princess.

"John B, look at me," JJ spoke up through the silence of no one knowing exactly what to say. "I know you feel bad for leaving, but there's no time, man. You've got plenty of gas, plenty of food. Once you get around that point, it's a straight shot across the sound to Dismal Swamp, okay?"

John B's face expressed that he was about to burst into tears at any moment, but Lynn didn't blame him. If she was in this situation, she would've been crying minutes ago.

"Once you get there, lay low, alright?" JJ continued, placing a supportive hand on John B's shoulder. "Hang our for a couple of weeks and then go overland. cross the border at Brownsville, you got that? Brownsville. Hey! You got that?"

JJ placed a hand on John B's neck to pull his attention from him staring at the water, just waiting for Sarah to appear out of thin air, saying it was all a prank and that she was here.

"Yeah, yeah," John B nodded, blinking a few times to make sure tears wouldn't fall. "Brownsville."

"Alright, saddle her up, saltwater cowboy, let's do this."

The crew, excluding John B, all slightly backed up on the wooden dock to give the space John B needed. He hopped onto the boat, careful not to trip or fall, and made his way over to the wheel, but he stopped in his tracks.

"I'm sorry for basically...throwing us off a cliff with this whole treasure hunt thing," John B stated, a tear slipping down his freckles cheek as he spoke.

"Hey, JB, it's okay," Lynn smiled towards the boy, trying to hide the fact tears were ready to fall out. "I've always wanted to go cliff jumping."

John B let out a laugh as Lynn cracked the joke, and smiled brightly, he was going to miss Lynn's humor a lot, not that he was going to admit it.

"We were bound to run off a cliff at some point, right?"

"Yeah," John B chuckled, letting another tear loose, which made the wetness in Lynn's eyes only worse.

"At least we did it together, though," JJ continued, glancing over to his girlfriend and best friends standing beside him. He pulled them all into a sideway hug, which they all raised their arms to match. "Pogue style."

"Pogue style."

"Get out of here! Please," Kie smiled through her tears, signaling towards the boat so John B would take off.

"We'll see you in two months, down in Mexico," Pope waved off, flashing a smile towards the brunette.

"We love you!" Lynn yelled as John B threw his backpack onto the seat in the boat, and as he placed his hands on the wheel, she could tell he had more to say.

"Hey, wait a second," John B mumbled, probably because the louder his voice was the more likely it would crack. "Tell Sarah I said goodbye, okay?"

The teenagers all nodded towards John B, and Lynn raised her hand to wipe her eye, not wanting to show she was actually crying.

"Don't forget, cross the border at Brownsville, okay?" JJ reiterated, and Lynn almost rolled her eyes at how much JJ had repeated himself.

"Got it."

The three all patted the boat in hopes of a safe trip for John B, and they remained on the wooden dock with tears in their eyes and still in the sideways huge until the Phantom couldn't be seen in the distance anymore.

a/n: i'm sorry if there's any spelling mistakes in this! im gonna edit any chapters i updated today when i'm finished up :)