You let yourself get lost in the kiss. You wouldn't admit this out loud, but you're positive this is the best kiss you ever had. You felt like the world stopped spinning, like everyone else taking up space on this planet was gone, and it was just you and JB. You felt like if you never did anything else ever again that'd be okay. The way his lips meet yours is a mix between reverent, passionate, and possessive. You're surprised you're not mad at the last one, but in reality, it just makes your stomach flip. You both break apart from your kiss when there's someone clearing their throat behind you, with wide eyes, you both turn to look at where the noise is coming from. You don't know who the person is, but it seems JB does, he laughed a little awkwardly before scratching the back of his head and speaking, "Sorry, Mr. Jankins, but the pumps are still down, unfortunately."
"Damn hurricane. When is this town going to get its ass in gear and get electricity to the whole island? Of course, they don't care; figure 8 is already mostly working, and the parts that don't have generators."
"You're telling me," He said in agreement. "Well, uh, we'll get out of your way now, though. Have a good day!"
John B went over to the steering wheel, turned on the boat, and started steering away. It was awkwardly silent after the kiss. God, what a good kiss,' you thought as you sat down. But you didn't know what to do. You didn't think you were going to be there for a long time, so it wasn't as if you could start a relationship with him. You tried to tell yourself that you two could just have fun together, but you didn't know if you could actually do that because you actually liked the guy, you really liked him. Plus, you've never been the type to just hook up with someone with no strings attached. In fact, you've never done that once. You had one serious boyfriend who was your first kiss and a few other firsts, too, even though you didn't go all the way with him. Other than Jeremy, your first boyfriend, John B, was the only other person you've ever kissed. You were feeling him before the kiss, but now you liked him even more. You knew if you weren't careful, you could fall hard and fast for him, just like you knew it'd be best to tell him you wanted to back off, to keep it strictly friendly with him, so that was what you were going to do.
"My mom will show up soon, and I'll have to go back home with her," came out of your mouth instead of what you planned. Oh well, you supposed it got your point across, it made it clear you weren't planning on being there for long.
Your heart hurt when John B snapped his head toward you, and you could see the pain in his eyes, "So you're planning on leaving soon?"
"That was the plan." You didn't mean to emphasize the word was, but it seemed like your body wasn't in agreement with your brain.
"And now?" He asked, leaning toward you, you didn't realize until it was too late that you leaned back. At least you were too far apart for your lips to touch again, even though it was clear you both wanted to.
"And now? I don't know. Everyone keeps telling me my mom isn't coming back that she would have by now if she wanted to or could. And… and I don't want to leave you, err, leave you guys, you're some of the best friends I've ever had, and I couldn't imagine walking away from that."
You didn't realize he was slowing the boat until he let go of the wheel and walked over to you, that was when you noticed the boat was completely stopped. When he made it to you, he rested his hands on your hips, and every cell in your body told you to lean in, to take more, to get as much of him as possible. But you stopped yourself from listening to your body, no matter how much you were coming to care for your friends, to love them, you knew if your mom showed up, you'd have no choice but to follow her, even if you didn't want to. So, there was no reason to get even more emotionally involved with JB than you already were, even if you really really wanted to. So you stayed still, keeping your distance, even if you weren't able to manage pushing him away like you knew would be best. So you stayed still, didn't push him away, but you didn't lean in.
It seemed he understood your predicament. He didn't push you; instead, he took his hands from you with a mischievous smirk, "It's okay, Sunshine. You can keep your distance, but eventually, you'll give into the inevitable."
"The inevitable?"
"Us." He said, putting his attention to turning the boat back on and driving you two away. His voice was calm, sure, when he continued, "You want me as much as I want you. You care about me as much as I care about you. It's okay; I can wait until you're ready, I'm not going anywhere."
You sat there speechless. You didn't know what to say, not only did he just roundaboutly admit he cared about you and wanted more with you, but he said he knew you felt the same way and he was willing to take his time. Fuck, that only made you fall harder, you shook your head no, you told yourself, you couldn't give in no matter how much you wanted to. No, you were going to hang out with your friends, help them in their mission, and not let yourself get so close to any of them to the point where it broke your heart to leave them. You had a sinking feeling it was already too late, even though you were able to push that thought away quickly.
"Oh yeah?" You asked, trying to sound confident while incredulous at his words, but you had a feeling it only came out as hopeful.
"Oh yeah, Sunshine. You're mine, even if you don't know it yet…" He mumbled something you couldn't quite make out, but you had a feeling it was something along the lines of, 'just like I'm already yours,' although you didn't let yourself think too deeply about that.
"What's with you calling me sunshine?" you asked, trying to sound annoyed by the nickname, but it really made your heart flutter.
"What? You don't like it? You're like living, breathing sunshine, so bright, so kind, and so hot, it's the perfect name for you. What, you want me to stop?" He asked with a smile that said he already knew your answer.
"No.." You mumbled, getting a little angry with yourself.
"Good then, come on. We still have a mission to handle."
You nodded mutely, unsure how that conversation ended how it did. You had mixed emotions about it but decided for now John B was right, it was probably best to focus on the plan and your friends. He seemed unbothered about you wanting to keep things simple between you two, and you really didn't want to mess up any of the friendships that you had, so that was what you were going to do. The ride to the Chateau was mostly quiet, not uncomfortably so. The rest of the Pogues were sitting at the end of the dock waiting for you and hopped into the boat as soon as it slowed to a stop.
"Yeah, I knew we could count on you, Peach!" JJ said, wrapping his arm around your shoulders and pulling you into a hug.
You laughed and nodded your head. "As if I'd ever let you down, JJ."
"Better watch what you say there, sweetheart, those kinda words could make a man fall in love." He said with mock seriousness.
You didn't miss the quick, angry side eye John B flashed you two, and JJ didn't either, it just made his smile grow wider. Pope joined in, "See Kie, I told you she'd come through."
"Why is she still here?" Your eyes widen, surprised at the harshness in Kie's voice. You knew she wasn't your biggest fan, but you didn't think she disliked you that much.
"Because she helped, and she's our friend, she's involved now." John B said calmly while steering the boat toward where you assumed the sunken boat was, they didn't tell you that was the plan but it was common sense.
"No, she's not in this; she's a Kook, and we said this is Pogues only, P4L, remember?"
"Come on, Kie, she's no Kook; it's as clear as day, it doesn't matter where she lives. Plus, we wouldn't be here if it weren't for her." Pope, ever the voice of reason, said.
Kie huffed and crossed her arms for a few moments before getting up and making her way over to the tanks, after looking at each of them, she looked between you and JB, huffing, "This is empty. You got empty tanks?"
"I… I might have got a little distracted when we were at the air station," He flicked his eye to you quickly without Kie noticing, but the other boys did, their eyebrows both shot up simultaneously.
"The air tanks still didn't have power," you corrected, "We're stuck with what little we have, unfortunately."
Kie picked up another one, "This one has a quarter tank," she said before picking up the last one, "This one too. So it's enough for two of us to go down there."
You looked over the side of the boat and were proved right when you squinted; you could see the Grady White. JJ, ever the optimist, said, "I love it when a plan comes together."
"Does anyone even know how to dive?" Kie asked.
The Pogues all looked between each other, and when it was clear none of them knew what they were doing, you slowly raised your hand. JJ smiled, "And Peach coming in for the win!"
"I mean, I'm no expert, but I've done it enough times to know the basics."
"Okay, so we got our first diver, who's going in with her, who else has some experience?" Pope asked, you had a feeling they'd never get anything done if they didn't have Pope keeping everyone on task.
"Anybody?" Kie asked again when there was a long silence.
"It's kind of a Kook sport." John B said before turning to you, "No offense."
You shrugged, and Pope rubbed the back of his neck, "I've… read about it."
"Great. Pope read about it, and Peach went down once or twice. So, somebody is gonna die."
"Look, you put the thing in your mouth and… breathe, right? How hard can it be?" JJ said.
"Well, if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood," Pope advised.
You nodded in agreement, "The bends."
"The bends like…" JJ pushed his ass out and gave it a shake or two, causing you to giggle. "Like you bend over?"
"Like you die. The bends kill you." Pope cut the humor out of the situation.
"Right," JJ said, seeing the seriousness in it now.
JB raised his hand, "I— I can dive, I'm not letting Peaches go down there by herself."
"Letting her?" Pope asked but was mostly drowned out by JJ.
"Yeah, you can dive, I'm cool with that," JJ said easily.
"Since when can you dive?" Kie asked incredulously.
"It's fine; Peaches will keep me safe, won't you, sunshine?" He looked at you with his signature smile that had a way of making your stomach flip.
In low voices, both the guys repeated while looking at each other confused, "Sunshine?"
You smiled, "Sure, I'll make sure to keep you alive, but on one condition."
"Oh yeah? And what's that?" His smile turned into a smirk.
"I'm all in here, guys. I've already broken I don't know how many laws and stole from the people housing me to help you. I want details, information, I want to know what we're doing and why we're doing it after we go raid this sunken boat for whatever treasure it's hiding." You put your hands on your hips, completely serious. You weren't going to keep this up if you didn't know why you were doing it. You didn't even particularly care about the reasoning; you just wanted to be trusted enough to know it.
They all looked at each other, doing that thing they did where they had a whole conversation without saying a word. You hoped one day you were close enough to them to be able to join in. You knew right away Kie was against it, and John B was all for it. You knew JJ well enough by now to know he'd vote for letting you in while Pope was a wild card. He lived life and made decisions with logic, and right now, you didn't know which way logic would take him.
Apparently, they voted, and the decision was made because Kie broke out, "No! No, no, no, no. She's not one of us; we can't trust her!"
"Then we'll just have to make her one of us."
"What the fuck?" Kie sounded betrayed, and you decided enough was enough.
"Hey, Kie, I have to bring these tanks back sooner rather than later. Seems to me it's three against one, so how about this, after we get this diving expedition over with, me and you hash things out. I really have no idea why you hate me so much."
"I—I don't hate you," She studdered, surprised at the forcefulness in your tone and your taking charge.
"Okay, good. Then we agreed. JB and I will go diving, then we'll go back to the Chateau so you guys can explain to me what all this is about, and after, Kie and I will get drunk and talk things through."
"I like the way you think," JJ said, walking over to you and patting your shoulder. You noticed John B zeroed in on the contact. You had a feeling he'd be the possessive and protective type if you'd let him. Your stomach gave another pleasant flip at the thought, but you quickly shook it off.
"Good. Ready to do this, JB?"
"I was born ready." He said, and you rolled your eyes.
"Let me do some calculations real quick," Pope said, pulling a pen and piece of paper out of nowhere, you had a feeling he carried them around with him for situations like this. "So that boat is about thirty feet down, so it's give or take 25 minutes at that depth. This means you need to make your safety stop at about… ten feet. Alright? For two minutes." He made eye contact with both of you, making sure you understood.
"Yeah, yeah, ten feet, two minutes, got it," JB said, and then you heard a splash in the water and realized Kie was missing.
"Where did she go? What was that about?" You asked.
"I don't know, but I liked it. A lot." JJ said, watching the spot where she jumped in, you couldn't help but laugh.
"Alrighty." John B said, getting up to put the equipment on, ignoring his leering friend. He held out his hand to you to help you up, and after a second's thought, you grabbed it.
"Yeah, uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold. When you do, you stick this thing inside, then twist and pull, okay?" JJ said helpfully.
You didn't mention that everyone knew how a key worked because everyone seemed focused and in no mood to joke. John B repeated the directions as he put the gear on while JJ came over and helped you with yours, "Stick in the hole, twist, and pull, okay."
"Yeah!" JJ said as if proud. "My dad moved some weight back in the day…"
"Who didn't?" Pope cut in.
Kie made her way back onto the boat, "Hey, hey, I tied my t-shirt on the line about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop."
"Cool, thanks," Both you and John B said at the same time, you looked at each other really quickly before turning your attention back to the task at hand.
Pope grabbed the gages to each of our air tanks, "Alright, keep an eye on this, you need to make sure you have enough air left to safely decompress."
"How much do we need?" JB asked, for the first time sounding a little worried.
"Unclear," Pope reluctantly admitted, "Just breathe as little as possible."
Zen. Think Zen, you know?" JJ chimed in with his words of wisdom.
We both nodded, as ready as we were ever going to be. "Hey, if we get caught out here in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so… better get a move on."
"Yeah." You agreed before stepping over to the edge of the boat.
John B walked next to you, you turned to look up at him. He asked, "Diver down?"
"Diver down." You agreed, reaching over to take his hand without thinking about it. You felt yourself relax a little when he squeezed your hand. A second later, you both put on the masks and jumped in. As you were on your way down, jumping into the water, you heard one of the guys say, 'Did you see that? What was that about?' You weren't able to hear more as you were fully submerged.
It was pretty dark under the water, but you could see well enough as you both made your way down to the boat. You didn't let each other's hands go until you needed both to swim. When you made it to the boat, you were the first one to find the cargo hold, so you reached to grab hold of JB's arm, getting his attention and pointing to show him the locked door. When he opened it, you could tell he made a sound of excitement by the extra bubbles leaving his mask as he pulled out a black bag.
You realized it was just in time because the guage said that you were quickly running out of air, you were so low if you didn't make it up to the safety stop now, you'd run out before your two minutes were through. You held your guage out to show John B and saw his eyes widen before he pointed up. You nodded, and both started swimming. You breathed a sigh of relief when you made it to Kie's t-shirt because you saw you had exactly two minutes of air left. He reached over and took your hand again and squeezed it, this time in victory.
You floated there smiling goofily at each other until John B looked up and noticed something, making his hold on your hand tight and tense. You looked up and saw the shadow of a second boat. It took you a moment to realize why that was a bad thing; you weren't supposed to be there right now, the cops were out searching for the sunk boat and didn't want anyone else in the water. You looked down at your air gauge and saw it was blinking red; you had seconds left of air. You worked hard not to panic, that'd only make you breathe faster. So you tried to calm yourself and did a pretty good job, too, that was, until you tried to breathe and realized you couldn't. Then, the panic set in.
JB's hand left yours, and he grabbed onto your shoulders, spinning you to face him, your eyes opened wide when you realized he was in the middle of taking his mask off and giving it to you. You frantically shook your head; no, you weren't going to be responsible for your friend suffocating, but he didn't give you much of a choice, pulling you close and basically shoving it on your face. You took one long, deep breath, then another, the dizziness that had been building and the black along the outside of your vision lessened dramatically. You quickly pushed it off your head and gave it back to him; he'd been holding his breath too long, too. You continued in this fashion for a while, looking up and waiting for the other boat to pull away. Just as you started to calm down, thinking the situation was okay, his air tank ran out.
Thankfully, finally, finally, the boat pulled away, and you two swam up to the boat as quickly as you could. You each took long gulping breaths when you reached the air, barely registering the cheers from your friends and questions asking if you were okay. They grabbed each of you, pulling you back up on the boat, you laid down still, catching your breath and waiting for your adrenaline to calm. The first question that you actually comprehended was from JJ, "Where the hell are your masks?!"
You and JB looked at each other, a small smile ticking up on your lips. You sat up and looked at him, "I ran out of air."
"The fuck? How long ago? Are you okay?"
You were touched by his worry, "Like five minutes ago."
"What? That's impossible; you wouldn't survive that." Pope added.
"John B saved me; he shared his air with me." You swore you felt yourself blushing a little bit.
The people that were waiting on the boat all exchanged weighing looks at each other and you two. Pope decided to change the subject after realizing you both were okay, "Yeah, the cops were out here, but uh, we took care of them."
"My bad," John B apologized, but you didn't really know why.
"All good."
"Okay, enough talking, we've gotta get out of here!" JJ reminded.
"Hey guys… Hey, bogie, two o'clock." Kieara said a little worriedly.
"What?" You asked as you all looked back to see what she was talking about. There, in the distance, was a boat with two big men on it, they didn't look particularly friendly. They seemed to know everyone on the island, so you asked, "Do you recognize that boat?"
"I've never seen it," Kie said. There was a chorus of agreement from the guys. "What are they doing out here? The marsh is closed."
"I don't know, but let's not sit here and find out," JJ advised.
Everyone agreed silently, starting the boat and pulling up the anchor while John B and you quickly took off the scuba gear. They were coming right for you, and the closer they got, the more scary-looking they became. Pope was waiting on JJ to pull up the anchor completely, but JJ yelled at him with panic clear, "Don't wait for me, go. Go!"
So Pope started driving, and you walked over to JJ and helped him pull the line up. Those guys did not give off good vibes at all, and they were clearly after your boat. Ever the optimist, John B said, "Maybe they're fishing too?"
"No way." You said you weren't sure how you knew, but you just knew.
JJ hadn't stopped his constant, "Go, go, go, go!"
"I'm going into the marsh," Pope said just in time to miss the boat catching you. Your fears were confirmed when they swiftly turned to follow you.
"Go!"
"I'm going! Act natural, act natural." Pope was less talking to everyone else and more to himself.
The boat that was following you started to speed up, scaring you. You had no idea what the fuck was happening, what the fuck your friends got you into, but you didn't like it. You didn't get scared easily, but the hairs on your arms were standing up.
"Hey guys, they're following us," you said the obvious.
"Oh god, this can't be good," JB said, coming next to you and resting his arm on your shoulder. It seemed to calm you both a little.
"Go faster!" JJ urged Pope.
"Okay, okay, I'm trying."
"What the fuck is happening?" You couldn't help but ask.
But no one had an answer for you. The boat was going as fast as it possibly could, everyone who wasn't driving kept looking back at the boat behind you, unsure what to do or how to get out of the situation, definitely not acting natural. You grabbed onto John B during a particularly rough turn on the boat and felt safer when he wrapped his arms around you. That was when a gunshot rang out, you all ducked down out of instinct, even though you didn't actually believe that someone was shooting at you. It had to be someone in the distance, right?
You turned to look at the guys behind you and realized you were wrong, "What the fuck!"
"Holy shit!" Kie yelled.
"Pope, get down!" JJ ordered.
"We're going to die!" Pope screamed exactly what you were thinking.
After another gunshot rang out, you hit the ground again and felt a heavy weight on top of you. You looked and saw that John B was trying to cover you. If you weren't in such an insane situation, you'd have thought it was sweet.
You looked over and saw JJ was doing the same thing to Kie, but she pushed him off of her, "Shit, JJ, move."
"No fucking way."
"Seriously, I have an idea."
Reluctantly, JJ moved. And your eyes opened wide when she stood up confidently and started walking to the back of the boat, ignoring all your screams to get back down. She grabbed a net and threw it into the water behind you, and a second later, you heard the sound of the boat getting stuck on it and slowing down to a stop. Cautiously, you sat up, John B. taking the hint and getting off you in the process. You saw that their boat was completely stopped and, thankfully, was getting smaller and smaller as you sped away from it. It seemed like you and your friends simultaneously breathed a collective sigh of relief.
The rest of the ride back to JB's house was pretty quiet, other than the occasional 'this is insane,' or 'that was fucking crazy' coming from one person or another. When the boat stopped, you all walked into the house and naturally sat on the couches and the one recliner. It was a silent moment before John B showed everyone what the little diving expedition got you: a black bag. Slowly, JB opened the bag and pulled out what looked like a compass to you.
"Oh wow," Pope said sarcastically.
"Great," JJ agreed.
"Yup, that's about right," Everyone was clearly disappointed to only get an old weathered compass after all the shit you went through, but the look on John B's face made you stop to second guess. It was a look of bewilderment, recognition. Pope continued not seeing the look on his friend's face, "Good job, everybody, we found a compass."
JJ took off his hat in a fit of anger while Kie let out a sound of anger. You couldn't help but ask, "JB, what is it?"
"This… this was my father's."
It was clear that everyone had questions, but he didn't seem ready to answer them. So, instead, he stood up and started to walk away. You stopped him, "Wait. Okay, I think it's time for you to pay up now. Tell me what the hell I've gotten myself involved in."
The Pogues all looked at each other. It was clear Kie still didn't want to tell you, but JJ was the first to speak, "Okay, so there's this treasure…"
"No, no, no, let me tell it, or she's going to think we're all crazy," John B said, and you couldn't help but think he looked at you gratefully for the distraction.
"I'm still not sure we're not," Pope said.
The next half hour was spent explaining everything to you: the Royal Merchant, the 400 million worth of gold, Big John's obsession with finding it, Big John going missing after saying how close he was, and his son wanting to pick up where he left off. You weren't sure how to take it, the logical part of you believed that the gold was a hoax and that Big John died at sea while the dreamer in you hoped otherwise, especially because it was clear how much John B was relying on that hope. Eventually, after a minute to let all the information settle in, you nodded. You were young, in a new place, a teenager with no responsibilities and nowhere to be. What the hell? "Okay, I'm in. What now?"
You couldn't help but think the huge grin that took over JB's face was worth it before you shook that thought off, reminding yourself to keep your distance from him. You weren't here long enough to fall for someone, no matter how hard it was to keep that rule you set for yourself. So you looked at the rest of the group, who looked a little shocked, JJ couldn't help but pipe in, "Really? Are you sure? You agreed to that too fast."
"Yeah, I'm sure," You answered with a shrug and a smirk.
"Really?" Pope prodded, "Some of us Pogues still aren't sold on it."
It seemed JJ did a few 180s from a few seconds ago because he stood up and walked over to you, wrapping his arm around you and clinking beers, "Yeah, she's sure because she is like us, she's a Pogue through and through, no matter where she lays her head, and we Pogues stick together."
Your eyes widened. You knew they were your friends, but you didn't think they'd let you be one of them. You tried to ignore the fluttering in your stomach and the quickening of your heart; you shouldn't want this as much as you did. You looked around a little hopeful, seeing how your other friends would react to JJ's proclamation. John B's smile got bigger, if that was even possible, as he stood up and pulled you from JJ, wrapping his arm around your waist and pulling you into a tight side hug.
"Hell yeah, she is. That is, should you accept it. Being a Pogue isn't all fun and games, and it's lifelong. We have each other's back no matter what, without question. It's not something to take lightly." He looked at you seriously as you stared back.
JJ broke the tension, "Plus, it's a lot of fun and games."
Everyone laughed, and Pope looked between JJ and John B, trying to decide if he agreed with letting you in the circle, eventually, he stood up, held his almost full beer in the air, and yelled, "A new Pogue!"
"A new Pogue!" Both John B and JJ yelled, and before you knew it, you were wrapped up in a big group hug, even more surprised that Kie joined in.
The rest of the night was spent celebrating, drinking, sitting around the fire outside, and joking around with everyone. As you took the offered beer, which would be your fifth, you knew two things: this could be your new family if you let them, and you were going to be hungover in the morning.