Dirty Laundry
JJ woke to an empty bed. She sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes, and made her way into the kitchen. John B wasn't there so she walked outside. She noticed the HMS Pogue was gone. After raking her brain for a minute, she remembered he had to return the scuba equipment.
She went to take a shower while she tried to come up with something to do to kill time. Once done, she wrapped herself in a towel and walked into the guest room to change, where she realized she was short on anything clean.
Guess I'll clean today, she decided.
She managed to find clean undergarments but had to borrow one of John B's button downs, not bothering with pants. She turned on an old battery-operated radio as loud as it could go and started gathering the laundry, including John B's to set next to the washer for when the power came back. Then she busied herself with collecting trash from around the house.
2 hours earlier
John B had just pulled up along the Druthers and lugged the scuba gear over into the bigger boat.
He entered the cabin and froze when he saw Sarah Cameron inside sleeping. Shit.
He crept inside, trying to be quiet, but the floorboards creaked and the equipment clanked with every step.
"Wheezie shit up," Sarah grumbled, without opening her eyes.
Clang!
One of the tanks hit the wall and John B cringed. Sarah startled and opened her eyes. "You're not Wheezie."
Busted. He sighed. "Correct. Yeah. I'm sorry. "
"What are you doing?" Sarah asked, closing her eyes again.
"Uh.. I'm just dropping off some scuba gear," he answered, hoping she wouldn't find anything suspicious in that. "What are- what are you doing.. here?"
He mentally slapped himself for sounding so nervous.
"It's our boat," she said, giving him a look that said 'duh.' "It's also the only place with air conditioning."
"Right." He said dumbly.
"Did you uh, top off the tanks?" She asked. Sitting up.
"Uh…." He struggled for a response. "No. No, power's down, so the compressors were off."
"So you're sneaking onto our boat at 5:00 am to drop off empty tanks?" Sarah asked, and he can't lie, it sounds stupid. "I'll make sure to tell Ward."
"Okay. Okay," he shrugged. Not okay. "Cool. Cool." He turned and put the equipment down on the floor. "Just drop these off.."
"Yeah, yeah the middle of the room is fine," Sarah muttered sarcastically.
"Yeah, this is pretty much what he told me to do," he relied. He feels like he's digging a grave for himself, as he starts to leave.
"Bye," Sarah waved. He internally groaned as he decided he couldn't leave it at that.
He turned around. "Actually, you know, what- what exactly were you gonna tell your dad?"
He chuckled nervously.
"Nothing much," she said, as if she's talking about the weather, "Just that you poached our scuba gear."
"Okay, fuck. I borrowed it for a few hours. Okay? And then I brought it back intact and unharmed," he explained, hoping she'd just give him a break. No point trying hide it at this point.
"Without air," she chipped in.
"Look, please don't tell him," he pleaded. He really needs this job. "Okay? He'll fire me."
"What are you gonna do? Pull a gun on me?" She said. Not completely fair but understandable.
"I didn't know JJ was gonna do that," he told her.
"That's convenient to believe," she scoffed. "Maybe you should get better friends."
Hell no. He narrowed his eyes. "Maybe you should get a better boyfriend."
"Like one who doesn't poach?" She bit back, enjoying riling him up.
He's tired of this back and forth, so he pleads one more time. "Look, please, just don't tell him. Okay?"
"Relax. I'm not gonna tell him anything. You're secret's safe with me, John B," she smiled at him. Maybe she's not so bad after all, he thinks. "Okay, you can leave now."
"Right. Yeah. Uh.." he turns to leave, still coming to terms that Sarah fucking Cameron, the kook princess, agreed to help him. "I'll leave- I'll leave that right there."
"Bye," Sarah chirped as she laid back down to sleep, turning away from him.
"Later," he called back and exited the cabin. He climbed back into the HMS Pogue and went on his way. He didn't see the small brown haired girl come out from where she had hidden on the stairs leading down to the lower cabin, eavesdropping.
John B arrived back at the chateau feeling pretty good about how the morning went so far. He tied off the HMS Pogue to the pier and made his way toward the house. He could hear music blasting inside. JJ must be up.
He noticed three full trash bags on the porch that weren't there when he left.
He opened the door to go inside and had one foot in, when he stops. He feels all the blood in his body rush downwards at the vision he just walked in on.
JJ is facing away from him, hips swaying, as she wipes dust off a shelf with an old wash cloth.
She's wearing one of his shirts and as his eyes move downwards he sees she's not wearing any pants. The shirt is long on her, coming down just under the curve of her ass. Her smooth slightly-tanned legs were on full display.
He's seen her in a swim suit before which is even less clothing and he's always acknowledged to himself she's attractive, but seeing her in his clothes, acting all domestic in his house ignited a whole new level of feelings in him. He couldn't look away.
He's fucked, he thinks as his brain malfunctions and it takes every ounce of will power to not walk up to her, spin her around, and claim what's his.
That thought alone was disturbing as since when did he start referring to JJ as his? He groans internally. He is so fucked.
The door loudly shut behind him, causing JJ to turn around swiftly, startled. Oops, he must've let go of the door handle. Her blue eyes are wide in surprise and her full lips are slightly parted.
"Hey," she greeted with a smile once she realized it was just him. Why'd she have to smile right now. It just made things harder.
"Hey," he breathed huskily, mentally shaking himself to snap out of it. He looked around, needing to look at anything else that wasn't JJ. "I see you've been busy."
"Yeah, I thought I'd kill some time. I ran out of clean clothes so I borrowed this. I hope you don't mind," she asked innocently, tugging at the shirt.
"I don't mind," he assured her, avoiding eye contact.
"Well, Kie's house has a generator and she said I could do some laundry there so.. im gonna head over there," she informed him awkwardly, while slipping on a pair of shorts laying on top of the basket.
He nodded, thanking god S she grabbed the basket and left the house. He felt his eyes droop and decided a nap would do him some good, so he laid down on the couch and drifted into a not so dreamless sleep.
He was woken a few hours later by a rapid knocking at his door. "DCS! I know you're in there!" boomed a deep voice that cracked on certain words.
John B sat up blearily. All of a sudden, JJ jumped down in front of the glass window behind him slapping the glass.
He jumped, startled. "Woah."
JJ laughed. "Gotcha!"
John B fell back onto the couch exasperated as he wipes the sleep from his eyes. JJ continued laughing outside the window. "You should have seen your face!"
She stands up and joins John B inside, dropping the laundry basket in the middle of the room. John B bent his legs up in an attempt to hide the tent that was his lap.
"So I was thinking about going to see Mrs. Lana today," John B told her. Trying to sound nonchalant.
"I'm in," she agreed quickly, not wanting him to go alone.
"Great, Twinkie in 10, then," John B nodded, glad JJ agreed to accompany him. JJ carried the basket to his room to change into her own clothes, while he relaxed and groaned into a pillow. Get a grip, John B.
He pulls himself together, and grabs the keys to start up the Twinkie, contemplating his growing feelings for his best friend, and trying to pinpoint exactly when they changed. He doesn't really know the answer and pushes it to the back of his mind for now. He's got other fish to fry, as he pulls his father's compass from his pocket to set on the dash.
He prayed Mrs. Lana had the answers he desperately needed. He was determined to find out where his father was no matter what. His father's compass made its way to him for a reason. He just needed to figure out what it was.