tides | jj maybank x oc

ep. 13 ~ listening in

luna b couldn't quite explain what she was feeling. it wasn't enough to constitute as betrayal but she certainly felt pained by kie's sudden rebuttal of her friendship. she did feel guilty for pushing kie out, even if she hadn't noticed she'd been doing it, but above all she was just sad now. sad that she seemed to be loosing what she'd just gained. sad that she never seemed to be able to keep people around very long. sad that she couldn't go and cry to her mum about her friend troubles.

kie was starting to realise she had acted a little rashly and had likely been unfair to b in that action. but she couldn't quite bring herself to feel bad about it. after all, she was still feeling a little marginalised by her friend group.

jj was frantically trying to understand the b / kie situation and offer whatever comfort he could to the small redhead at the same time. he didn't like that she was upset and he was confused about why and how kie was the one to upset her.

john b had tentative hope in his heart; hope for his dad, hope for the treasure, hope for the life he should be living. too much of it to think very far beyond that hope.

and pope? pope really just wanted to get out of the graveyard now.

~~~

( b )
i was too focused on john b's cautiously hopeful face, too focused on that soft level of hope that i was starting to share with my new brotherly figure, to notice the headlights swinging into view. but jj noticed.

"code red. code red! square groupers man, we gotta go!" he was whisper shouting as he came at us, arms flung wide and breaths already coming in short pants. he practically crashes into the whole group but it's effective. it's only a few seconds before we're all running round the side of the tomb, voices clamouring in hushed confusion as our brains catch up.

hunkered down with the cool stone of john b's great great grandma's tomb pressing into my back i will my heart to stop racing, my brain to catch up with the current situation.

it can't.

it's like my brains only operating in half power right now and i can't make it go any faster. everyone's yelling about lights and staying hidden behind the tomb that i almost don't hear jj's quip of "bet you're glad you don't have a flash light now huh birdy?" and can only register his hand in mine before we're running across the open stretch between the tomb and the gate back to the twinkie. i let jj pull me, almost a dead weight at the end of his arm as my breath shakes and i fight to pull myself back into my body. i can't.

somehow we make it over the gates and into the twinkie, managing to only suffer the small loss of pope's shorts in the process.

my breath is still trembling, along with the rest of me, and it's only jj's hands on my shoulders keeping me somewhat grounded. if they, the so called square groupers, tell my mum they've seen me around and mixed up in all this shit... she might actually skin me alive. and that would be her being nice.

jj doesn't question me, or maybe he does and i just don't register it, and simply pulls me into him. he rests his arms round my torso, hands on my back, mt waist, pulling me impossibly close.

i'm grateful. it allows me time to breath, helps me feel my body again. and i'm largely okay by the time we make it to château and jj leads me inside, sitting me on the pullout sofa, by the kitchen in amongst the remnants of the previous 'raid'.