X Marks the Spot
John B and Kie floated around on their surfboards just enjoying the motions of the waves beneath their boards. They'd met up after Kie's dad released her and thought to catch some waves while waiting for the other half of their group to get done delivering groceries. They were running late.
"Do you remember when I wanted to kiss you?" Kie asked John B nervously.
"Yeah, yeah I remember," John B said trying not to be awkward. He was very unsure where she was going with this.
"Did you tell JJ?" Kie asked.
"Um.." John B looked at her guiltily but not wanting to explain his and JJ's growing feelings yet when they hadn't even talked about it themselves. "I had to. I mean, Pogues don't lie to Pogues right?" He explained lamely.
She frowned and looked down at the water.
"Why do you ask?" John B inquired, hoping she wasn't mad.
"Just wondering. It's not.." she shrugged it off, trying to be nonchalant.
John B watched her, unsure what to say. He thought maybe he shouldn't question her further.
"Hey! Save some waves for us!" He heard JJ's feminine voice call out from the beach as her and Pope made their way towards them on their boards. He thought it sounded a bit strained, but he figured it was probably just the distance. He met JJ's grin with a grin of his own.
"Where you been?" Kie called out happily, previous conversation forgotten.
Pope and JJ just shrugged, already having cleaned the cuts from Pope's face leaving no evidence for John B or Kie to question, and they all spent the rest of the afternoon taking turns shredding waves and showing off. As usual JJ left them all in awe of her skill and once again John B wished she was dealt better cards.
Later that night, the four found themselves laid out in the hammocks outside the chateau for bed. John B and Pope shared one with Kie and JJ in the other. John B would have liked JJ to be with him, but he didn't think he'd be able to keep his hands off of her.
He was pulled from his musings of JJ by Pope. "You really think it's out there? Like, no bullshit?" He asked, referring to the Royal Merchant and the gold.
"My father thought it was," John B replied, "I think I do."
"Only one way to find out," Pope said, and John B thinks there might be a little less doubt in his voice than before. They bump fists at Pope's new found optimism.
"Look, we're gonna find it, you know?" Kie says from her and JJ's hammock. "Even JJ believes," she adds humorously, seeing that JJ was dazed and not paying attention.
"Oh my god, JJ, do you really believe?" John B joked catching on and widening his eyes in exaggerated excitement as he looked toward where JJ was laid out across from Kie smoking a blunt.
"Totally," JJ responded automatically to John B, then paused as she she considered what she just agreed to, "Wait, are we talking about four mil?"
"Four hundred mil," John B, Pope and Kie all corrected at once.
"Jinx," Kie stated right after.
"I'm gonna dream about shipwrecks," JJ told them and Kie giggled at her.
"Goodnight bird!" JJ called to John B as she put out her blunt.
"Goodnight bird shit," he called back making her laugh and flip him off. She saw Kie and Pope had already closed their eyes so she looked over in John B's direction and saw he was already looking at her. She smiled sweetly at him and he mouthed goodnight to her again. They turned into their respective sleeping spaces and joined their friends in sleep.
The next morning, weather seemed to be in their favor so they all piled into the HMS Pogue and drove over to Pope's dad's shop to borrow Heyward's fishing boat and headed out to the coordinates from the map.
"Alright JJ, pin it here," John B directed to JJ who was driving the boat, as he looked at the tablet conveying they'd reached their mark.
"Roger that! X marks the spot," she responded as she brought the boat to a stop.
John B and Pope connected the drone to the tether and prepared to put it into the water.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen. To going full kook," John B declared, then lowered the drone down into the water. The tether kept going as it sunk deeper and deeper towards the bottom.
Pope fidgeted with the controls on the drone maneuvering the camera, anxious to see get low enough to find the sunken ship.
"Alright JJ, we're right over it. 10 seconds northwest," John B directed to JJ at the wheel.
"Got it! 10 seconds northwest," JJ repeated back as she followed his order.
"100 feet," Kie called out as she continued adding tether to the drone in the water.
Pope watched the video feed intently and was startled by a squid that raced across the feed.
"What?" John B said impatiently. "What what what?"
"It's nothing," Pope dashed John B's hope, causing him to groan. "I'm sorry, I thought-"
"Don't do that to me man. Come on bro!" John B told him agitatedly.
"My bad. I just thought I saw.." Pope drifted off deciding it would be better to just go back to watching the feed as it continued it's descent towards the ocean floor. "And to quote The Hobbit, 'Down, Down, to Goblin Town. Down, Down, you go my lad."
John B stared at him weirdly at his odd mutterings.
"400 feet!" Kie called out. Thunder was heard from overhead. "The tide's turning."
John B watched the red dot on the tablet beeping. "Hey JJ?"
"Yeah?" She responded, not looking away from the wheel.
"10 seconds easy," he told her. "South- southeast alright?"
"Copy that!" She said back as she turned the boat south- southeast.
A second later, John B called to her again, "JJ, 20 seconds mid-speed alright? South."
"Copy that! Aye aye," JJ complied again turning the boat directly south, "come on."
JJ noticed the tether getting close to the propeller and called out to Kie, "Keep the tether out of the prop!"
"I'm trying!" She exclaimed back.
"JJ keep going," John B cut in and JJ returned to listening to John B. More thunder rumbled overhead.
"John B is that good?" She asked him.
"We're good!" He called back.
"Okay 700 feet!" Kie called out.
Thunder crashed overhead and waves were picking up jolting the boat around. JJ looked warily out the window and saw huge gray storm clouds rolling in fast.
"JJ hold it steady!" John's B yelled out.
"900!" Kie yelled out. They only had 100 feet of line left. JJ prayed that was enough.
"John B we're gonna turtle in this storm," JJ said fearfully.
"920!" Kie called out nervously.
"Crank it north by northwest! Ten seconds!" John B directed and she did, all her trust in John B.
"Pope, how are we doing?" John B asked Pope as he bent over his shoulder.
"Almost there," Pope replied determined.
"John B, there's too much current!" Kie cried out in warning. "We're gonna lose it!"
"South, southwest JJ! Hard!" He yelled over the crashing waves, then stared down at his tablet again as she followed his direction. "Half speed. Steady at this bearing, JJ!"
The drone was directly under the boat on the tablet now. "What do you got Pope? Come on man, what do you see?"
"Nothin. A whole lot of nothin," Pope stressed.
"You should be right above it brother," John B told him, desperation seeping into his tone.
"Kiara!" Pope called out to her.
"960!" She yelled back. "…970!…"
John B's heart was beating fast. They have to be close, he begged internally.
"980!" Kie called out again.
Finally, "I'm at the bottom! I'm at the bottom!" Pope exclaimed.
"Okay, steady here JJ!" John B called to her, "steady here. Quarter speed alright?" He then turned back to Pope. "You should be seeing something man."
"I know, I know! Wait.. wait," Pope muttered while continuing to control and monitor the drone to find the ship. Then all at once John B, Pope, and Kie who had found her way over as she was no longer needed at the tether, went silent. Their eyes looked unbelievably at the feed.
"Oh good god," Pope muttered aloud, disbelief coloring his tone.
JJ was impatient to know what was going on as she hadn't heard any new directions in a minute and peeked behind her. Her friends were all silently looking at the screen in disbelief. She couldn't discern if it was good or bad news though.
"See anything?" She cried out eagerly.
John B chuckled lightly still in shock. " It's the Royal Merchant," he said softly aloud, still not quite believing what was right in front of him. His dad was right. He continued to watch the feed as Pope maneuvered the drone closer into the wreckage looking for the gold. JJ whooped as she continued to control the boat, unable to view the feed for herself.
She peeked back a few times and saw when the disappointment in John B's face.
"It's not there," John B sighed downtrodden. "Look, just, just pull the drone up." Thunder rolled again and John B cursed.
"Look, we can do another pass. Recharge the battery. We can- we can go back down!" Pope tried to give him hope as John B walked to the rear of the boat, facing away from everyone.
JJ wished she could go to him but she needed keep the boat from flipping over in the storming waves. She felt her own disappointment settling in her chest, but her worry for John B was stronger and she felt herself lash out.
"We've been through it three times. There's nothing there," she yelled at Pope and Kie, angry that they would try to give John B false hope when they know he's right.
"Shut up!" Kie yelled back at her, anger sparking into her eyes at JJ's tone.
"What? It's true!" JJ reaffirmed, hoping Kie would drop it so that everyone could just accept it and move on, but of course Kie would drag it on.
"It's not! The gold could be buried. We don't know," Kie insisted and JJ wanted to smack sense into her. Thankfully she was forced to stay at the wheel.
"If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay?" She responded more softly, wanting Kie to understand. Her own eyes watered and she kept her eyes straight ahead so nobody would see.
"Somebody beat us to it," John B stared suddenly as he turned around again to face his friends.
"Or it was never there," JJ muttered bitterly as she drove them back to Pope's place. She found she couldn't look John B in the eye, unable to see the disappointment on his face.
She wasn't really angry at Pope or Kie. She was angry with herself. She'd been encouraging John B since day one and look at what had happened. Somewhere along the way she's even started to have hope too. She was tired of of having Hope just to have it crushed and she was tired of seeing John B hurt. And this time she was partially to blame for it.
I'm poison, she thought. Stupid. Useless. Just as her dad reminded her all the time. How could she fool herself into thinking she could be good enough for John B.
John B studied JJ's face that hadn't looked away from the water in front of her and was worried. He made a note to talk to her later but for now he found himself lost in his own disappointment.
As soon as JJ pulled the boat up alongside the dock of Heyward's shop and Pope began tying it off, she leaped over the side of the boat onto the dock without a word, walking right by the HMS Pogue. John B didn't stop her, thinking she just wanted some time to process things by herself. Shoulders drooping, he made his way over to his boat. He felt lost as he made his way back to the chateau.
