Hurrican Agatha hit like a raging bitch. Power and cell towers were out across the island. Of course, people in Figure Eight had generators so they weren't as worried. But for people on the cut, it looked like they would be cleaning up the mess in the dark and summer heat for the rest of the season.
Lane steps into her backyard the morning after, surprisingly before noon. "Jesus," she observes all the fallen trees and branches all over their land. Lawson was back there, starting to clean up already, "Any damage to the house?" She turns to start walking around the perimeter of their tiny house.
"Not that I can tell, which makes us one of the lucky ones." He wipes some sweat off of his forehead and stands up straight, "You working today?" He asks. Lane worked as a barista at the cafe on Figure Eight, something she had to train herself for because it required her to get there at five in the morning. But if she could pretend to be a morning person for a couple of hours and get some decent tips then she could live with it.
"No, I don't have a shift but I'm gonna go pick up my tips." She slides her hands into the back pockets of her shorts, "Then I'll probably meet up with my friends."
"Of course you will." He mutters under his breath.
"You know, you don't have to be such an asshole all the time." She snips at him, "It's summer and I want to hang out with my friends it's not a crime, Lawson." She starts to head back inside so she can grab her bike off the porch and leave.
"Some of those friends of yours are going to lead you down the wrong path and you know it." He tells her, "All you guys ever do is fuck shit up and get in trouble, trouble that I have to bail you out of." He's raising his voice a little bit.
"I have never asked for your help when I'm in trouble." She whips back around to face him, "I can take care of myself. All I need is for you to sign my permission slips."
"Yeah like you won't drop out of high school within the next year." She rolls her eyes and stomps into the house angrily.
"Screw you, Lawson." She snaps before she slams the door closed behind her. She's fuming her whole bike ride across the cut. He never used to be like this, when she was younger she thought he was the coolest guy to walk the planet. Other than her dad, of course. But he was sweet and caring and always snuck her candy. Now he just tried to control every move she made and judged her when she made one he didn't like. Maybe mom and dad dying had more of an effect on him than she had realized. Still, he had to stop being a total prick all the time.
She's riding her bike past the Chateau when she hears a whistle, making her stop and turn her head over her shoulder, "Hey hot stuff, where you going?" JJ calls which earns him a smack from John B.
"I'm headed to the cafe to get my tips." She calls to them
"Oh come on, you have the day off?" John B gasps, "We're gonna go pick up Kie and Pope, do some fishing. Come on!" He nods his head toward the HMS Pogue. She really needed to grab her tips...but she could always do it tomorrow.
She drops her bike, "Yeahhh atta girl!" JJ claps his hands together as she jogs down to the boys.
"Wait, you." She points at John B, "Wasn't DCS supposed to come to check on you today?" She asks him, a concerned look washing over her face. The subject of John B leaving to go into foster care was always something at the back of Lane's mind, she didn't think she could handle ever losing him.
"Nah, they're not getting on a ferry today." He assures her and she gives him a skeptical look, "Come on, Lane, it's God telling us to fish."
"Okay okay," She holds her hands up, "Let's go." She starts helping him take the various branches and debris off of the Pogue so that they can actually utilize it. Soon enough, they're on the water heading toward Pope's place. "Look at this place." Lane shakes her head as they survey all the damage from the night before.
"Agatha, what did you do?" JJ gasps dramatically as he stands in the middle of the boat while John B drives.
"She is a crazy lady." John B adds.
"Yeah, we're definitely gonna be cleaning this all summer." The island was a complete mess, more than Lane had seen it in a very long time. Worse than after the hurricane where her parents died.
"That is my nightmare." John sighs. Poor Pope was standing at the end of the dock, looking so sad as he hosed off some pink buckets, "Well look who we have here." He says in a nasal voice. "We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory." John B cups his mouth to make it sound like he's talking through a walkie talkie.
"I can't. My pop's got me on lockdown." Pope says, not knowing his dad is right behind him. And apparently JJ doesn't realize that either based off the next series of events.
"Oh come on, man." JJ cups his mouth in a similar way to John B, "Your dad's a pussy. Over."
"JJ-" Lane smacks him but it's too late.
"Oh, I heard that, you little bastard." Hayward scolds JJ.
"We need your son." John B scolds.
"Yeah, and island rules. Day after a hurricane is a free day." There was no actual rule but it was unspoken.
"Who the hell made that up?" Hayward demands.
"Uh...Pentagon?" Lane offers, "We have security clearance." She pretends to feel in her pockets, "I have a card..."
"Dad, I'll do it tomorrow." Pope promises, "I promise. Tomorrow."
"No, no." Hayward shakes his head as the HMS Pogue starts to cruise on by, "Hell. No. You're doing it right now."
"Get in the boat." Lane cups her hands around her mouth and whispers to Pope.
"Make a run for it."JJ adds.
"Boy, if you get in that boat-" But Pope does indeed, get into the boat despite his father's protests. "Bring your ass back up here!" He calls as they drive away.
"Damn Pope you can't ever go home he's gonna kill you." Lane chuckles when they're far enough away that they can no longer hear Hayward's curses.
"Kinda reminded me of how you and Lawson were fighting this morning." John B remarks as he drives the boat in the direction of Kie, their next victim.
"Don't remind me." She sighs, pulling her shirt over her head as the sun starts to beat down on her shoulders and she just wants to be in her bikini.
"Yeah, what was that about?" JJ asks her, sneakily admiring her newly exposed skin. The curve of her hips, the slight sunburn on her chest that she got the other day. Unlike basically everyone on the island, Lane didn't tan very easily. She burned and burned a lot before it even came close to turning into a tan, regardless of the amount of sunscreen she put on.
"Same old shit." She shrugs, "He thinks that I'm gonna turn into some washed-up drug addict or something just because I hang out with you guys." She grabs her sunscreen out of her bag and starts rubbing it on her face, "Like he's something special? He works construction and never went to college why does he think I have some big expectations to live up to?" She's ranting so intensely she doesn't manage to rub her sunscreen in all the way.
"Lane-"
"What?' She snaps at JJ
"Woah there, tiger." He laughs, walking over to her with his hands raised in surrender, "You missed a spot." He stands in front of her and rubs the rest of the sunscreen in on her nose and forehead, "Your brother's a dick." He assures her, taking more of the lotion and spreading it onto her shoulders, "But try to forget about that for a little while and have a good time, yeah?" He places his hands on either of her cheeks and squishes them.
"Okay," Lane mutters through her squished lips.
"That's my girl." JJ smiles down at her and walks back to the edge of the boat as they pull up to the dock where Kie is approaching with a red cooler in her hand.
"Top of the mornin to ya." John B greets the girl as she approaches the boat carefully.
"Good mornin, Boys, and Lane." The girls grin at each other as JJ helps Kie into the boat.
"Whatcha got? You got juice boxes?" Pope asks, referring to the cooler
"You know just some yogurt, some carrot sticks." She says slowly, setting her stuff down.
"What about my kind of juice box?' JJ asks her, and as if on queue she hands him a beer
"Yeah.'" She grins at him and grabs one for herself. Lane reaches down and grabs one for her and hands one off to John B since Pope was going to take over driving. She takes a seat next to Kie as Pope steers them in the direction of the marsh.
JJ and John B are talking about something and laughing as JJ slides his tank top off, which makes it almost impossible for Lane to not stare at his back and his abs when he turns around. Kie nudges her, "Huh, what?" Lane snaps out of it, licking her lips as she turns to look at her best girl friend.
"You were staring again," Kie whispers, giving her a knowing smirk.
"I was not." She hisses, taking a big swig of her beer. Kie knew that Lane had lingering feelings for JJ even if Lane didn't really know it herself. Their kiss meant more to Lane than she originally thought but she tried her hardest to keep it on the down-low, especially since JJ probably didn't even remember it and he had moved on many...many times.
"Let me show ya'll a party trick." JJ interrupts her thoughts, pushing her to the side as he climbs up onto the bow of the boat, "Pope, can you go a little faster?" He requests.
"Oh jesus, not this again." Lane stands up and moves towards the back of the boat.
"here we go, I'm movin'" John B joins her at the back, "It doesn't work!" He calls to his best friend (Lane would argue that she sometimes took that role over JJ but another story for another time). "You've tried this like six thousand times."
"I got this, it's gonna work." Sure enough, Pope speeds up and JJ holds the beer in the air, just a couple inches from his mouth and tilts it back-his goal was to land the beverage in his mouth but it was really just going all in his face.
"You're getting beer in my hair." Kie groans
"Alright, alright. You're done." Pope holds his hand up to keep beer from getting in his eyes as he drove. "Stop!" He calls to JJ.
What happens next is something that was going to change all of their lives and they didn't even know it.
The boat runs into something in the water, forcing it to stop and send the teens flying onto the ground and JJ flying into the water. Everyone groans, John B putting his hand on Lane's back as she holds her head, having hit it on the side of the boat when she fell, "You okay?" He asks her, quickly looking her over for any injuries.
"Yeah I think so. You?" He nods slowly and Lane stands up, making sure Kie and Pope are okay before walking over to the bow, looking over the edge, "JJ?" She calls softly as she sees him floating on the surface, "Are you okay?" she asks, truly concerned.
"I think the heels touched the back of my head." He groans. Lane sighs, scooting forward to offer him a hand and help him up but he's taking a minute, just floating there. "Pope, what did you do?"
"Sandbar. The channel changed." He explains.
"No shit." JJ starts to swim over to Lane who leans over a little further, ready to help him up.
"Ugh. This is probably gonna mess this whole place up." Lane's eyes catch something under the water and her brows furrow together.
"Hey, I saved the beer though."
"Congrats, JJ." Her friend's banter kind of fades out as she focuses her eyes and it clicks as to what is actually under the surface of the water.
"Guys..." She trails off, "I think there's a boat down there." she says slowly.
"Shut up." John B shakes his head, passing it off as some wild joke that she would be the only one to understand.
"No way." Kie adds.
Pope comes up behind her to look and JJ tries to catch a glimpse at it from where he is still in the water, "Guys she's serious. There's a boat down there." Pope points exactly to where Lane is looking but she's way ahead of them all, sliding her shorts off and diving into the water. A Grady fucking White just sunk in the middle of the marsh? There wasn't much exciting onboard but it was still crazy to even think of this happening, let alone for them to be the ones that discovered it.
They all emerge on the surface soon enough, all in the same amount of shock, "Y'all saw that right?' JJ gasps
"Yeah, I did." Kie laughs as they all start to swim back to the boat.
"That is a Grady White. A new one of those is like 500 Gs easy." JJ informs them all while they make it back to the boat, "That is a primo rig."
"Yeah." John B starts, looking as if he's in his own little John B world, "That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge."
Now THAT grabs Lane's attention, "Excuse me?" She raises her eyebrows.
"You surfed the surge?" Kie asks him, more concerned than angry like Lane.
"That's my boy, pogue style." JJ walks over to give him a high five which Lane immediately smacks him on the arm for. If John B had gotten hurt or drowned when he was out there, who knows how long it would have taken someone to find him in all this mess.
"Wait, wait. Do we know whose boat that is?" Pope asks, being the logical one as always.
"No," John B opens the cupboard where the anchor is kept, "but we're about to find out." He starts to pull the anchor out and Lane shakes her head at him. This kid was actually on drugs.
"Dude, it's too deep." Even JJ doesn't think he should do it as he crouches down on the bow, looking down into the water at the boat.
"Oh for the weak and feeble, JJ." John groans as he pulls the anchor out.
"Or the dumb with a death wish," Lane mutters under her breath. "I'm not resuscitating you,' She holds her hands up, "just making that clear upfront."
"That's fine." He says, standing up with the anchor to his chest.
"John B..." Kie says it slowly like it's a warning or something. She looks right at him, with a lot of worry in her eyes.
"What?" He laughs because obviously he knew he would be fine.
"Diver Down, fool." Pope solutes him.
"Diver Down," John B salutes back.
"Yeah, he is." and with a hard shove from JJ, John B is plunging deep below toward the Grady White
"JJ-" Kie sighs, leaning over the edge to watch for him and she's soon joined by the others.
"If it was me down there would you offer to resuscitate me?" JJ asks Lane as he stands, bent over next to her.
"Mmmm," Lane thinks about it, "Yeah maybe." She nods, looking over at him and smiling, "and then once you were back to breathing I'd strangle you myself because you're a fucking idiot."
"I'd die happy." JJ sighs happily and Lane shoves him. Luckily her fresh sunburn was hiding her blush.
"Should we go get him?" Pope asks after it's been a while. But, just as the words leave his mouth the man resurfaces, coughing a little.
"Oh my god, that took forever." Kie gasps but she looks relieved.
"Any dead bodies?" Of course, that was the first question out of Pope's mouth.
"Looting potential?" And, classic JJ.
"No, no." John B holds up a key, "I found this motel key." Highly underwhelming to say the least.
"A key." Pope expresses all their disappointment.
"Yes, a key, Pope."John B seems exasperated because he was the one who just risked his life to find...a key.
"Great, we salvaged a motel key." JJ helps his friend onto the boat.
"Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard." Kie suggests after the group starts to drive away from the scene of the wreck. Lane is sitting next to JJ, examining the motel key like it holds more information than it actually does, "Maybe we'll get a finders fee."
"Yeah, and not work all summer." JJ exclaims, "Thanks Agatha, ya batch."
"There's no way anyone from the coast guard will listen to us today it's the day after a hurricane, they're swamped." Lane speaks up, "I say we put this key to use, find out who that boat belongs to." She hands the key over to JJ and he has to admit, her mischievous smirk was kinda hot.
"Hold on, we don't know who's room that is." Pope speaks up, "It could belong to anyone."
"I'm in." JJ winks at her
"Come on," Kie smiles at Pope, "We'll be the lookout."
"Hey, yeah, and that way you'll only be considered an accomplice." John B points out as he changes the direction they're headed in.
"Come on, Pope," Lane stands up and rests her hands on his shoulders, shaking him a little, "finder's fee." She sings.
"Alright, fine," He gives in, "But I'm just a lookout."
"Of course," Lane holds her hands up, "JJ and John B will go check it out."
The motel they pull up to is far from what the crew was expecting to find when they think of someone who owns a Grady White, "Yeah, this doesn't look like where someone with a Grady White would stay." Lane shakes her head as JJ is tying up the boat, "It more so looks like somewhere they would get killed."
"Thanks for that reassurance, Fallon." John B sighs as he starts to make his way off the boat.
"Hey," Kie stops him, "Be careful." She says, handing him the key with genuine concern in her eyes, "I mean it."
"Yeah." He chuckles before hopping off the boat. Lane watches them walk away before she makes herself comfortable on the bow of the boat, laying out in the sun. They were all worried about John B getting sent away ever since DCS had gotten heavily involved, but Kie was holding him the most accountable. She knew the more trouble he got in the harder things would be for him in the long run.
Lane tried really hard in the beginning, but the thing with John B is you couldn't really tell him what to do, he was gonna do what he really wanted regardless. Plus, if he was going to get taken away anyway, Lane would want their last moments together to be crazier than ever and they had to take risks to do that. She tried not to think about it, though. John B was the glue holding their group together and without him and the pogues, she wasn't sure if she could handle life.
"Biggest pet peeve? Easy. Giving one percent to the environment." Lane tunes back into the conversation between the other two people on the boat.
"What's wrong with that?" Wrong answer Pope.
"We only have one earth, Pope," Kie tells him, "We should be giving it 100 percent, bare minimum."
Lane lulls her head to the side and looks through the fence that leads into the parking lot. "Uhh, guys," She sits up when she recognizes the all too familiar blue and white truck pull into the motel parking lot, "Cops."
"Shit." Kie hisses as the three of them slowly stands up, still crouching low to the ground as they get off the boat.
"Call them." Pope says
"We can't," Lane reminds him, "Towers are down." She hops off the boat and hurries over to hide behind the large sign that had come down with the storm
"If I lose my merit scholarship I'm gonna kill someone." Pope mutters as him and Kie follow the smaller brunette, "Maybe they're not going up there." He says hopefully, "Maybe they're just...looking for a room."
"He's pointing. They're pointing.' Kie says, "They're going up." Lane waits until the officers have their backs turned before they run over below the window of the room the two boys are in. "Okay, do something," Kie tells Pope and he searches for a decent-sized rock.
"Stand back." He says, winding his arm up for what is supposed to be the perfect throw to the window...but it falls short and barely reaches the roof.
"Didn't you ever play baseball?" Kie accuses him as Lane groans 'what the hell, dude?'.
"I was on the math team." Pope defends. Kie picks up her own rock and attempts a throw but while her's comes closer it still doesn't make it to the window.
"Oh my god, you two." Lane sighs, grabbing the first rock she can find and launching it at the window, sighing in relief when she hears it smack against the glass. John B peeks out the window to find the three teens waving their hands and point toward the direction the cops were most definitely at. 'Cops. Cops!" They mouth, Pope bouncing on his toes nervously. As soon as John B seems to get the message, Lane turns around, "Okay, back to the boat, hurry." She rushes the other two and Kie jumps into the drivers seat while Lane and Pope wait anxiously at the front.
"Should we peel?" Kie asks.
"You never leave a pogue behind." Pope reminds her. They wait for a couple more seconds and there's no sign of anything happening.
"No, seriously, should we peel?" Kie asks again.
"Maybe." Pope reconsiders. But, while they were concerned with watching the front door, John B and JJ had climbed out of the window and decided it would be best to stand on the ledge.
"Oh, my god." Lane groans as JJ looks very pleased with himself. Her nerves are going crazy while she watches them barely balance on the ledge, "They're gonna fall. They're gonna fall and break something." She runs her hands down her face. Something happens in the room that startles them or something and JJ loses something in his pocket, which falls and makes a very loud sound as it does. "Oh Jesus Christ I can't watch." She sighs deeply. The blinds go up in the hotel room and everyone on the boat acts casual on queue when in reality their hearts were beating out of their chests.
As soon as the cops had gotten in their car and drove away, the two boys carefully get down from the ledge, JJ picking up whatever fell from his pocket before following John B back onto the boat, "Well, that was fun." He says as they peel off. "Could have warned us a little sooner."
"We would have, but Pope was on the math team," Kie explains.
"You were on the math team?" John B asks but it's just really not the time.
"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene," Pope observes, "Did you guys find anything?" He asks.
JJ sits up, "Did we find anything?" He reaches into his pockets, "No, I don't think so-Oh yeah, we did." He pulls a huge wad of cash and a GUN out of his pocket. A GUN.
"What the hell?" Pope stands up quickly.
"Dude, what?" Kie is also in disbelief but Lane is just kind of speechless at the sight of the gun. John B is calm with it at this point since he obviously knew JJ had it.
"Why did you let him take that?" Lane nudges John.
"I said I wasn't making any promises." He holds his hands up.
"Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope is very mad at this point and totally worried but Lane couldn't blame him. While JJ did look very hot holding the gun, it was insanely stupid for him to have it. "I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship."
"Hey, sh sh sh sh." JJ holds the gun up to Pope's lips to shush him, "At least you have us right?"
"I'm living the nightmare," Pope says dramatically
And it was only 2 pm.
They were in possession of a dead man's money and gun. They had found a dead man's boat and they had been inside of a dead man's hotel room. Turns out the Grady White had belonged to Scooter Grubbs who was found dead in the marsh. He was out during the storm, which was why they found his boat. What was baffling the Pogues and probably everyone on the island was how did a dirt poor man like Scooter get a brand new Grady White along with all the money he had in that motel safe.
The Pogues had a long debate about it. What they decide in the end is that they're gonna go back to the wreck and find out what was in that cargo hold because the only way Scooter Grubbs was coming into that money was if he was smuggling some serious contraband. But, until they could figure out a way to get back to the boat and down into the cargo hold, they had to lay low and act normal, especially if they were going to keep the money JJ took. How do they lay low and act normal, you ask?
A kegger. Duh.
A kegger at the boneyard was one of Lane's favorite summer activities that they took part in. Get a nice fire going, a big old keg and just get shitfaced. The easiest way to forget about your problems, no matter how big they were at the time. That was if the kooks could keep themselves in check and not start a big drama and ruin the whole night.
People start showing up around dusk and JJ is already having chugging contests with tourists and the kooks were starting to make an appearance. Lane had already scoped out the tourists of the week and didn't see any of the boys that were to her liking so she just makes the rounds, chatting with people from school and drinking just enough to get tipsy and some courage in her. Sarah Cameron and her boyfriend Topper had decided to make an appearance that Lane was especially not happy about. Sarah had seriously fucked with Kie their freshmen year and if Kie hated someone then Lane hated them too because she stood behind Kie no matter what. Lane didn't know exactly what Sarah had done but it didn't matter, Kie didn't hold a grudge if it wasn't serious.
"Oh, hey boys." Lane runs into JJ and John B later that night, carrying three cups in her hands.
"Oh what you got there pretty lady?" JJ says in a deep country accent.
"Thought you fellas might be thirsty." She hands them each a cup, leaving her with one but she suddenly decides to be generous with it when she sees Sarah and Topper approaching, "Oh wait, hey Sarah!" She grins, getting the blonde's attention, "Sarah, can I interest you in a tasty Milwaukee beverage?" She offers her the drink.
"No, thanks." Sarah turns it down in a sort of disgusted tone.
"Oh, come on." Lane pouts a little bit, "Is it not fancy enough for you?" She asks, causing the two boys next to her to laugh.
"Hey, you know what? I'll take it." Topper reaches his hand out in front of Lane. "Thank you, I appreciate it."
She looks down at his hand and then back up at him, "That's nice but I didn't offer it to you." She reminds him, "Now if you said pretty please this would be a different story. But, I did offer it to Sarah-"
"Oh, pretty please? Please?" Topper is getting a little too close and a little too condescending for her liking
"Yeah, so, Sarah. You can have it." Lane offers it to Sarah one more time and before she knows it, Topper is splashing the drink up in Lane's face, spilling it all over her.
What happens next is hard to keep track of, especially with beer in her eyes. But what she knows is JJ really doesn't like what Topper just did so he grabs him by the collar, shoving him back but John B grabs him to try and calm him down, "You're so funny, man!" JJ calls to Topper.
"JJ, it's fine," Lane says softly, putting a hand on his bicep.
"Diry Pogues!" Topper shouts and this puts John B on a rampage. He turns around, swiftly getting to Topper and giving him a harsh shove. Despite Pope's protests, a full-on fight ensues right by the water, Topper getting in the first punch but that doesn't mean John B is down for the count yet. Soon enough, the whole party is watching-people chanting 'fight', JJ cheering John B on, Kels cheering Topper on, Pope, Kie, and Sarah all yelling for them to stop while Pope is also trying to keep JJ back from helping. Lane is in shock, watching as Topper starts to get the upper hand again, saying something about drowning him.
He's holding his head down in the water, barely letting him up for any air. "Topper stop it!" Lane yells, stepping forward to try and stop him but Pope holds her back, "TOPPER!" Her voice was barely loud enough but he was going to kill John B if somebody didn't do something.
Before anyone can notice, JJ is standing over Topper, his gun pointed to his head, and Topper freezes, "Yeah, you know what that is." JJ says. "Your move, broski."
"JJ! Stop!" Sarah yells as everyone else starts to leave the party.
"Did you say something, princess?" JJ asks her.
"Put the gun down." She insists. Lane takes a couple of steps forward, just trying to get to John B.
"We're good. We're good." Topper holds his hands up and drops John in the water. Lane runs to him, holding him up.
"You're okay." She whispers, looking into his eyes and making sure he's breathing.
"Alright everyone, listen up!" JJ steps back up onto the sand, holding his gun up in the air, "Get the hell off our side of the island!" He yells, firing two shots into the air. Kie and Pope are screaming at him, JJ is screaming back but Lane couldn't care less about all the drama at this point.
"John B." She tries to get him to sit up, smacking his cheek lightly to try and get any response out of him. "Hey, guys." She calls to them but they won't stop fucking screaming, "HEY!" She screams, "Shut up!" John B tries to get up but he only falls back into the water, passing out. "Shit, Johnny." She tries to lift him up, "John B!" He was only passed out but who knew what kind of damage Topper had done. "Are you just going to stand there?" She turns to her friends, her clothes soaked with water, her hair and face soaked with beer, "Help me!"
Hey hi! I know this is like the longest chapter but I had a lot that I wanted to unpack in here. Thank you to the two people who have reviewed on this story! It seriously is so motivating to know that people are enjoying it! What do you guys like so far? What is something you would love to see?