"Damn, you look awful," Lane remarks to JJ as she walks into Heyward's the next morning after the big fiasco at the outdoor movie. She has her bag slung over her shoulder as she stands by the counter with Pope, Kiara, and JJ. Still no John B insight. She figured he was still sulking so she'd head over there to check on him later.
"Speak for yourself." He has a worried look on his face as he points to the marks on the sides of her face where Rafe grabbed her the night before.
"Don't point," She pushes his hand away, "They're going to be a bitch to cover up for Midsummer later." She sighs deeply, running her fingers through her hair.
"You're working Midsummers again?" Kie asks her.
"I always work Midsummers," Lane reminds her, "Ever since I learned to ask 'Would you like another Cosmopolitan, Mrs. Cameron?" She rolls her eyes, "I dread it every year but the tips are decent so I will suffer through."
"Hey, Pope!" Heyward interrupts their conversation, walking into the store and gaining his son's attention, "There's someone here to see you." He points behind him and Lane's heart drops into her stomach as she sees the Officer walk into the shop.
"Evening, Officer," Pope says, his eyes filled with fear.
Deputy Shoupe starts to approach Pope, "I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property." He hands Pope's dad the warrant as he walks toward the scared teenager, his hands reaching for his handcuffs. "Hands where I can see 'em." He requests.
Pope looks back at JJ for help and JJ just shakes his head, mouthing for him not to say anything, "Stop, you can't do this." Lane holds her hand up.
"Out of my way, young lady." Shoupe pushes past her and starts to handcuff Pope/
"What did he do, Shoupe?" Heyward asks in disbelief. Pope had never done anything bad in his life and here he was in front of his eyes getting arrested.
"Take a look at the warrant," Shoupe says simply, arrogantly.
"You're arresting him?" Kie asks in shock, her tone laced with attitude. Everyone is shouting as Pope gets dragged out of the store by Shoupe. His dad is wondering why in the world his son is getting arrested, JJ is yelling about them obviously paying Shoupe to go through with this. It all blurs together, everything that they're saying. That is until they get out to the police car, and JJ's voice breaks through everyone else's.
"It wasn't him." He shouts, making Shoupe pause and turn to him, "It was me." He says seriously, pointing to himself.
"JJ..." Lane tries to stop him but he walks past her, his face straight with determination.
"He tried to talk me out of it," JJ continues, "but I was mad because he had just been beaten up. I was sick of those assholes from Figure Eight that I lost my shit." He approaches Shoupe directly, "I can't let you take the blame for something I did." He turns to Pope who looks just as shocked as Kie and Lane. "You've got too much to lose." Lane rubs her hands down her face. There was no way this was happening.
"JJ, what are you doing?" Pope asks him.
"I'm telling the truth," Is all JJ responds with, turning back to Shoupe, "For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna tell the truth. I took his old man's boat, too."
"What the hell?" Heyward pipes up.
"JJ, come on." Pope pleads with his friend, not wanting him to take the fall for him.
"Just shut up, Pope!" JJ shouts at him as a warning, "Just shut up." He says, a little softer, "He's a good kid. You know where I'm from."
"That's the whole truth?" Shoupe turns to Pope, pretty much believing that JJ was capable of doing this.
"Whole truth, swear to God-" Shoupe cuts JJ off.
"I know what you think, damn it, I'm asking Pope." Lane rolls her eyes. This guy was the biggest asshole she had ever encountered.
Pope and JJ share a long moment of eye contact as if for JJ to say that it's okay, he can take the fall for it, "Yeah, that about covers it." Pope finally says.
Shoupe takes the handcuffs off Pope and moves them to JJ's wrists, "Don't..." The word barely makes it out of Lane's mouth because her throat is so choked up with tears. JJ looks back at her one last time before he's ushered into the police truck and the door is slammed behind him. "Son of a bitch!" She shouts, tugging at her hair.
"Lane-" She doesn't listen to Kie's gentle tone, she's already headed in the direction of where she expected to find John B. If he was still hiding away in his house because of this fucking gold and JJ was out here getting arrested, she was going to have some words for him.
"John B!" Lane drops her bike on the ground outside the Chateau, yelling her friend's name as she marches up to the front door, "John-" She pushes the front door open and the second she steps inside she knows something is off. The house was empty, John B wasn't in his room, or sulking on the couch. He was gone. "John B?" Panic starts setting in as she makes her way into the kitchen, still no sign of life other than herself.
"He's not here." Lane whirls around to see who just walked through the front door and to her surprise and anger it's Deputy Shoupe.
"You sure work fast." She crosses her arms over her chest, "Didn't take long to book JJ, did it?"
"He knew the process, didn't take long at all." Shoupe says smugly, "John B isn't here. He got picked up by DCS yesterday." Lane's arms fall to her sides and her heart starts to pound in her chest. "Don't worry, your friend managed to getaway. They have me stationed outside in case he comes back." She smirks to herself. Of course, he got away. "You wouldn't happen to have any idea where he is, would you?"
"If I did I wouldn't come here, would I?" She rolls her eyes at the officer, starting to make her way past him and out the door, "You're not going to get him. John B will be rolling around in his grave before he lets someone take him away from his home."
"He doesn't have a choice." Shoupe tells her as she's standing in the doorway, "His dad is gone, he doesn't have anyone to take care of him."
"And foster care is so much better?" She snaps at him, "According to my brother who spent a couple of years bouncing around different houses where he was neglected, abused, and traumatized he would have been better off fending for himself." She walks back into the house and stares him down, "So maybe instead of trying to ruin mine and my friend's lives by doing the Kooks bidding, why don't you find out who murdered my parents?" She was done bullshitting with these people in authority who acted as they cared about the people on The Cut. Sure, she was only a sixteen-year-old girl, but she was a sixteen-year-old girl who had a hell of a lot of built-up anger and once her temper got shaken enough she was bound to explode like an atomic bomb.
Shoupe's face says it all. He had no idea she knew, or that anyone knew outside of the force. "Cover your bases, Officer," Lane continues with a sting her voice, "I don't think you want many people finding out about that." She turns back around and slams the door behind her.
Midsummers was something that Lane dreaded every year. She hated working it because of the people, but she loved working it because of the money. And then there was the dumb uniform she had to wear. Tight black skirt, white button-up, black vest, and a freaking bowtie A bowtie. She despised it and yet here she was, another year helping set up the event with a fake smile plastered on her face as she fills up the ice buckets at one of the many bars. She keeps an eye out because she knows Pope should be arriving soon to help his dad with cooking and Kie was attending with her parents as a guest, no matter how much she didn't want to be.
"Can I get a scotch, please? Neat." Lane rolls her eyes as she looks up at Topper who has a smug look on his face as per usual.
"I would ask for your ID but I already know it's fake." She mutters, going back to setting up the glasses behind the bar. "Why are you here so early? Couldn't wait till later to be an absolute pain in my ass?"
Topper scoffs, rolling his eyes, "I'm supposed to be walking in with Sarah and her family so I didn't want to be late."
"Oh well isn't that just so nauseating." Lane says sweetly, "You know you two aren't going to last, right? You're just one of her phases." To be fair, no matter how much Lane didn't like Sarah, she wasn't slut shaming her. She just knew that Topper was the type of guy that Sarah did not need in the long term. He couldn't tame her even if he tried his hardest.
"And what? You and Maybank will?" Lane's head snaps up and she glares at him. She had been doing a lot of that today and it felt damn good.
"Don't talk about JJ." She hisses at him, "He got arrested just because your precious new toy got wet. Your parents will make that money again in a month and forget all about it, meanwhile, this will follow JJ for the rest of his life." She wipes down the top of the bar angrily, "And if Pope had gone to jail instead, his whole life would be ruined. He'd lose his scholarship, everything he has worked toward would go down the drain because you want to throw a tantrum." She places both her hands on top of the bar and leans forward, "Get over yourself, hop on one of the three other boats you own, take the stick out of your ass, and stop trying to ruin our lives." She slaps the towel down, "Get your own damn drink."
Topper is left a little speechless as she walks away from him, but his jaw clenches and he reaches over the bar to grab the bottle of scotch and pours it into a glass before anyone can see.
As the guests start to flow in, Lane gets really busy delivering drinks. Technically she wasn't allowed to be handling the alcohol because she was only 16 but rules didn't matter if Kooks needed their third glass of wine after being here for five minutes. She does get a moment to slip away and go talk to Pope over by the grill, though, which she's very happy about. She tucks her tray under her arm as she approaches him, "Hey, Pope," His face switches when he sees her.
"Look, Lane, I'm so sorry about JJ-" she frowns at him and cuts him off.
"Woah, dude, why are you apologizing?" She places her hands on his shoulders, "This is not your fault, Pope." She says seriously, "I know you feel bad because that's who you are, you're a good person. But none of this is your fault, JJ did what he did because he wanted to help you, and I know for a fact he is not going to hold anything against you." She wraps her arms around him and hugs him tightly, "Don't be so hard on yourself."
"I just hope he's okay." Pope whispers to her as she pulls away.
"I know," She takes a deep breath, "Me too."
"Excuse me, sir," Pope and Lane frown at each other when they hear a British accent speak up from behind them, "Do we have to shuck these ourselves?" When they both turn to look, it's to their delighted surprise that Kie is standing there in her purple silk dress with a flower crown on her head, "Cause it might mess up my costume."
"We wouldn't want that, now would we?" Pope chuckles as they both do their handshake.
"That accent was bad." Lane tells her as they do their own handshake.
"It was. I was gonna let it go." Kie says in her normal voice again, "You ever seen so many Kooks in one place?" She asks as the three of them look out at the crowd.
"Yeah," Pope says, "Last year." Lane snorts. Aint that the truth.
"We're in the lion's den," Kie says, eyeing Topper and Kelce with disgust.
"Excuse me, young lady," Lane sighs, turning to look at the old man tapping his glass and raising his eyebrows at her like she wouldn't be able to understand him if he used his words and asked for a refill like a normal person.
"I gotta go back to work," Lane rubs Kie's shoulder gently before walking away, "Right away, sir, so sorry!" She plasters on her customer service smile and grabs his glass from him, going to fill it up.
She hears clapping after she gets back to the bar and looks up to see the Cameron's walking in. To her amusement, Topper did not walk in with Sarah, probably to his surprise as well. She straightens up as Ward Cameron starts to walk over to her, a fancy medal around his neck. He was awarded something tonight but for the life of her, she could not remember what, "Good evening, Mr. Cameron," She smiles at him, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. It was so damn windy outside that not even her tight braid could contain her hair, "what can I get you?"
"Hello, Fallon," He smiles back at her, "I'm just going to start with a glass of Pinot for Rose and I'll take an old fashioned, please."
"Coming right up." She grins, starting to prepare his drinks like a pro.
"Am I mistaken or is there no way you are old enough to be handling this alcohol?" Lane chuckles at his observation.
"I think you and I both know that Midsummer calls for all hands on deck, sir." She pushes the glass of wine towards him.
"Please, call me Ward." He waves a hand at her, "I knew you were growing like a weed but I refuse to believe that you were already over 18." Ward smiles fondly at her, "I remember when your father used to bring you by the house when you were just a little toddler." That tugs at Lane's heartstrings and her hands start to shake a little bit as she makes his drink, "You looked a lot like him then but I think I see more of your mother now." Lane's dad briefly worked for Ward Cameron, doing some work on Tanny Hill when they first moved in, mainly preserving some of the historical artifacts that were found in the house.
"Thank you." She places his drink in front of him, her smile more forced than at any other point tonight, and that was saying something.
"Make sure to remind your brother to reach out to me if he ever needs work." He reminds her, "And take care of yourself, Laney."
She nods politely at him, "I will, thank you, sir." He gives her a look, "Ward, sorry." She corrects herself with a chuckle.
Ward Cameron had always been nice to her, but there was something about him that always gave her a chill down her spine, like the guy was hiding something deep behind that southern charm facade that he put up. Either way, he tipped well. It's getting dark now, the dance floor is full of people in their nice dresses and fancy headdresses. Lane is over at one of the abandoned tables, cleaning up the lipstick-stained glasses when she feels a tug on the end of her braid and a familiar face appears across the table from her in a uniform very similar to her own, "Need any help with those?"
Her face breaks out into a relieved smile, "JJ." She lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding and it's the first real smile she has given anyone all night, "Oh my god," She wraps her arms around his shoulder and he wraps his around her waist, hugging her back and lifting her off the ground a little bit, "I was so worried." She whispers in his ear before she pulls back just enough to see his face and her smile falls instantly, "Did they do that to you?" She demands, examining the new bruises on his face.
"No, this is my dad's handy-work." He gives her a half-smile.
"I was afraid of that." Her hands rest on his shoulders and then slide down his biceps to his forearms, "I'm gonna get you some ice."
"Wait, Lane," He grabs her hand to stop her, "we've got some things to do. It's John B-"
"I know, he's gone I went to his house earlier-"
"No, no he's back. He's here." He cuts her off and her eyes go wide, "He figured it out. It's a long story, but he knows where the gold is." He grabs her face in his hands, "We're gonna be filthy rich, Lane."
She rests her hands over his, her eyes sparkling, "Don't play with me, JJ."
"You know I'd never do that, Fallon." He grins at her and before she really knows what's happening, he's leaning in and kissing her lips.
This was nothing like their first kiss. It was so much better. Lane had thought many times what it would be like if they kissed again and this was more than she could ever picture in her mind. JJ's lips are soft, softer than they look and they move perfectly against her's as she relaxes in his grasp, her arms sliding back around his shoulders as he keeps his hands on her cheeks, stroking them gently with his thumbs. Before she can get too lost in his touch, he pulls away, their eyes still closed as they live in the moment a little longer.
"I have to do something," He whispers to her and her eyes flutter open, "but we will continue this later." He says firmly.
"O-okay," She's at a loss for words as he slips out of her hold and disappears into the crowd. Her lips twitch into a smile as she touches them with her fingers softly, feeling them tingle at the thought of being against his again. Not only was that moment amazing, but she now knew that John B was safe and he was back. He wasn't going to be on the run for the rest of his young life anymore. Maybe this night wasn't going to be so bad after all.
Maybe her prediction was a little premature considering that when she can finally find Kie a little while later before she can tell her what happened, JJ is being escorted out by security, "Hey, I can walk myself I have legs, can you see that, brother?"
"Oh, God." Lane groans, rolling her eyes at the forcefulness.
"I really appreciate what you did back there. Let me just walk out by myself." Lane follows after them, trying to reason with the man who worked this event every year and took his job way too damn seriously, "Mr. Dunleavy, I see you got your drink. Good, that's really nice of you." JJ stops at a table, grabbing the drink in front of the old man, "I'm actually gonna down that." He gulps the rest of it down.
"Let go of him, Daryl!" Lane pushes the big guy off of JJ, gaining the attention of basically everyone at the party as JJ also lets out a cheer.
"It's okay, everybody!" He holds up his hands, "Do not panic." Daryl grabs a hold of him again, "Let's leave it to the men and women in uniform." He starts clapping sarcastically as he's getting dragged out, leaving Lane in the middle of the dance floor watching in frustration. "Rose!" He points to the blonde, "You look like Lady Liberty. Good to see you again."
"Let go of him!" Lane shouts in one last desperate attempt, "You can't just boot him!"
"I invited him here," Kie speaks up from behind her, much to her parent's dismay but Lane bites back a grin, "I'm a member of this club."
While Daryl is distracted, JJ shoves him away and into a table full of old ladies, "Sorry about that," He turns back around, pointing to Kie, "Hey, mandatory power hour at Rixon's, Kie. Pope, you as well, alright?" He points both fingers at Lane who is still in the middle of the dance floor, "You." He beckons her forward with his hands and she runs toward him, taking her vest off as she does. She jumps into his arms and he swings her around.
"Woohoo!" Lane lays her eyes on John B and a whole nother wave of relief washes over her.
"Colonel," JJ salutes him, "Mission accomplished."
"Captian," John B salutes back and turns to Lane, "Captains mate."
"I was insanely worried about you." She throws her arms around him as Kie and Pope finally join them. "Never go on the run again."
"No promises, Josephine." He ruffles her hair.
And just like that, the Pogues were together again.
I think this was one of my favorite chapters to write so far. I think we got to see a different side of Lane, let me know if you liked it. I think she's starting to get over the bullshit and realize she has to things into her own hands if she wants things to change in the OBX. ALSO...they kissed! EEEEEK. Let me know how you guys liked it. Was it too soon? I don't really care, they're too damn cute for me to wait any longer.