Alone Together • JJ Maybank

Thirty Seven.

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With a happy spring to my step I skipped over to Kiara and Sarah who were sitting in John B's van together. It was already mid-morning, and after waking up with JJ still wrapped warmly around me in the hammock, I had gotten myself ready and popped to the store with the money Nana left me for groceries.

"I got snacks." I threw a big bag of chips for Kie to catch when she looked up at me approaching the open van door. They were looking at the diagram that Pope had been drawing this morning, showing the pulley-system he had come up with. I leant on the outside of the van as I opened another bag of chips for myself, glancing down at the sketch as Kiara continued to explain it to Sarah.

"Who drew this?" Sarah chuckled as she studied the drawing that looked like a 5-year-old had drawn.

Kiara giggled in response. "Who do you think?" We looked over to where Pope and John B were sat further out in the yard. Pope must have sensed us all watching as he looked in our direction immediately, causing the three of us to laugh a little louder at his expense.

I was glad that the good mood we were all in from yesterday was clearly radiating through all of us again today. I turned back to the girls, catching both their eyes as their smiles mirrored mine.

"Kie, this better work!" JJ caught my attention as he walked towards the van, throwing the bars of gold to the floor by my feet and leaning on the other side of the door. "We can't pawn this if there's a giant wheat symbol on it." He glanced over at me after talking to Kiara, with a small smile growing on both our lips before he turned his attention back to her.

Sarah caught my eye when I followed his gaze back into the van, a smug smile clear on her face. I bit my lip to stop my smile from growing, hoping I was able to control the blush from appearing on my cheeks. John B and Sarah had shown up at the Chateau bright and early this morning, walking up the yard to find JJ and I cuddled together asleep in the hammock.

John B shook the hammock, scaring us both awake in a panic, which resulted in JJ jumping out and chasing him into the house. That left Sarah outside with me, teasing me at how cute we were together and begging for the details. I was vague, but even the smallest of details were enough to make her squeal in excitement, completely unaware that anything was going on between the two of us until now.

"It's gonna work." Kiara lifted up a small blow torch with a big grin on her face, bringing my attention back to the plan for the day.

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Somehow the plan of melting down the gold had actually, kind of, worked. As much as JJ would disagree. We were armed with it now molded together, so piled into the van to drive to the pawn shop. I sat in the back between JJ and Pope, conscious not to get too close. It wasn't that we were intentionally hiding anything from the others. If anything, everyone already knew small details from the past few weeks leading to last night, but we were busy with the plan for today and didn't have time to get all blissed out on each other just yet. Even if we were finally in the best place possible with each other.