XI. she might just be my everything

      It was extra hot outside that day. Which meant everybody had their boats out on the marsh. Dylan laid on her stomach at the front of the HMS Pogue, her arms crossed comfortably under her head. To get to Figure Eight without driving, you have to travel by boat across the water.

She heard JJ whistle. "You guys see that? That's the Malibu 24-MXZ, the world's finest wakesetter. Number one in luxury, quality, and performance."

Dylan lifted her head looked over to see what he was talking about. She saw a boat coming the opposite way and she squinted, seeing that it was Topper and Sarah.

"200k, easy."

Pope shook his head. "We picked the wrong parents." He uttered.

"I hate to break it to you guys, but that's Topper and his girlfriend." Kiara said bitterly.

Sarah lifted up her sunglasses and looked them up and down as they passed by.

"You don't have to act like you don't see us, bitch."

"Her bathing suit's cute." Said Dylan.

Kiara rolled her eyes.

"So is yours, DJ. Really shows off your figure," JJ replied and winked at her.

She flashed a cute smile. "Are you flirting with me, JJ?"

He smirked like an idiot. "Why, is it working?"

"No."

He snapped his fingers. "Damn it. Worth a shot,"

Pope rolled his eyes. John B kicked him with his foot, sending him a smirk. He rolled them again. "Shut up."

They finally arrived at the hotel where JJ worked. "All right, keep a look out. We're behind enemy lines," he spoke and pulled the gun out of his pocket.

"Yo, come on, man. Just put it back," John B interfered.

Dylan's eyes widened. "Jeezus, JJ."

"You can never be too careful."

"Hey, I predict that bringing a weapon to a four star hotel will likely cause more problems than they solve," Pope said fiercely.

"And land all of us in jail for an having an unregistered weapon and underage possession of a deadly weapon." Dylan added in.

He motioned to her.

"Thank you, Pope and Dyl." John B said from the drivers seat.

Kiara poked her head between them. "I swear to God, I'm going to throw that thing in the ocean, JJ. Put it back!"

John B grabbed the gun from his hand and put it down. "You can't grab a gun like that," said JJ.

"Okay, come on honey. We gotta go," Dylan urged him out of the van.

"Can't forget my badge. Professional busboy."

"So, where are we going now?"  Pope asked.

"We're getting on the internet because only rich people have electricity right now," JJ informed. "This way!"

Dylan frowned at his words and he led all of them into the hotel kitchen. "Andrew! What's up, bro?" He greeted his coworkers. "See, they got the backup generators going? Kooks don't miss a beat."

JJ led them into a room where all the computers were.
"Sweet lord, the internet! I've missed you," Pope exhaled and ran to the computer.

"Let me get in there. I gotta check on my insta models."

Kiara shook her head. "We don't have time for that,"

"Hey, hey, hey, so for the map!" John B said in a hush tone and pulled out the map from his bag.

"Coordinates, please?" Said Pope.

"34, 57', 30 North. 75, 55', 42 West."

They gathered around him as he typed the coordinates into the computer.

"Boom, continental shelf right there!" John B pointed out when it showed up.

"Okay, well, if it's off the deep end, it's not gonna be much of a treasure hunt, is it?" Pope inquired. He moved the curser around and the screen started to move, showing the coordinates further. "Shit, it's only on the high side. It's only 900 feet."

"Only?" Dylan repeated.

"That's not too deep," JJ stated.

"Is that doable or something?"

"Yeah, totally doable."

"Yeah, if we were mermaids." Dylan said sarcastically.

"Will we be taking your personal submarine?" Pope asked, equally as sarcastic.

"How do you know this, Mr. Five Master?" John B asked JJ.

"The salvage yard. They got a drone that can drop 1,000. It has a 360 camera and everything," JJ explained. "It's for like deep dives and stuff. It's exactly what we need,"

"And can your dad get his grimy little lands on that?"

"Well, my dad's grimy little hands got his ass fired. I guess the salvage captain frowns on showing up shitfaced, turns out,"

Dylan frowned at his words.

"But the drone's there. It's in the impound yard out back." JJ added, getting rid of his sorrow.

"How much did you say was on The Royal Merchant again?" Asked Kiara.

"Uh, 500 million."

"500 hundred million dollars?" She repeated in shock and swiftly got up from the chair.

"No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. No!" Pope denied and guarded the door with his arms.

"Pope! Move."

"Can't we do anything legal for money?"

"Come on, hot shot. Live a little." Dylan said and grabbed his arm, dragging him out the door.

Pope shook his head. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all." He repeated over and over again.

"Think about this way. We're living a real life mystery movie," she said with a bright smile and she bounced on her toes. "You can be the Fred to my Daphne."

His cheeks flushed red and he released a nervous laugh, letting her continue to pull him out of the hotel.

Pope had his arms crossed over his chest the whole way to the salvage yard. His back was leaned against John B's seat and his legs were stretched out in front of him. Dylan was sitting on the seat across from her with her legs stretched out over his. "Pope, we're not stealing the drone. We're borrowing it," John B implied.

"'Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality." Pope quoted.

"Did you come up with that?"

Dylan gave him a weird stare.

"No, Albert Bernstein came up with that but it applied to this whole treasure hunting thing,"

"In the words of my boyfriend Shaggy, 'No Scoob, friends don't quit'!" Dylan quoted and kicked Pope with her shoe.

Kiara laughed. "That's your boyfriend?"

JJ smirked. "You're into stoners? I knew you loved me, DJ."

Pope heavily rolled his eyes. "So, which is it? Fantasy or reality?" He moved on.

"Why are so weird, Pope?"

"It's fantasy, but, possible reality." Kiara answered.

"Reality." said John B and he smiled at her.

"Virtual reality." JJ muttered and started to light his blunt.

Pope grabbed it from his hand and flicked it away. "What about you, D? Fantasy or reality?" He asked the girl.

Dylan pursed her lips. After a second of thought, her eyes lit up. "I heard this theory on YouTube that we each have our own writers and our lives are what they're writing. So it's kinda like their writing our story,"

The others thought about her statement. "My writer must fucking hate me." Said JJ.

Dylan cracked a smile. "I think mine's doing pretty good."

They finally arrived at the salvage yard. After hearing the plan, Dylan instantly objected. "No. Nope. I'm not doing it."

"Come on, Dyl. All you have to do is smile and look pretty." John B pleaded.

"I'm not flirting with a man twice my age!"

"You would if it was Oscar Isaac!"

"Who wouldn't?"

"I'm not exactly up for the idea either." Pope intervened.

"Wonder why." JJ muttered and earned a glare from him.

"Come on, I'll be with you Dylan. If he tries anything, we can kick his ass together," Kiara told her.

"That doesn't make me feel better," Dylan responded. With nerves, she sighed. "Fine. Let's get this over with."

Before she did anything, JJ quickly sat up. "Wait, wait." He crouched in front of her and took the ponytail out of her hair. He fluffed her curls with his hands.  Almost everybody loved Dylan's curls and it was sure to distract the man further. "There ya go. Go get 'em tiger." He said with a smile.

Dylan glared at him and hopped out of the van. She followed Kiara. "Hello?" She called out to the man in the small building.

The girls waved their hands high in the air until the man saw them and he came rushing out. He stood on the other side of the closed gate. "Can I help you ladies?"

Dylan played the part and stuffed her hands in the back pockets of her shorts. She put on her best and prettiest smile. "Hi. Um, my friend and I have a flat tire and we were hoping you could help us."

He looked between them and it made her skin crawl. "Yeah. Yeah." He nodded and went to open the gate.

"Too easy." Kiara whispered to her.

"Men disgust me."

Across the junkyard, the three boys crouched in the back and watched the girls gain access into the salvage yard. Now, they just had to wait. "How's it going with Kiara, man?" JJ asked John B.

John B hummed. "It's not awkward. Weird or anything."

He snorted. "Yeah. Honestly, I did not think you were gonna actually listen to me,"

"What?"

"I was 100% sure she was into you. Pope would agree."

Pope shrugged, not believing it. "Eh."

"So, Kie, she definitely gave you the heisman?" JJ continued.

John B nodded. "Oh, no question. Yep."

"Gotcha."

John B leaned forward. "What about you Pope? Are you ever gonna tell Dylan that you like her?"

Pope rolled his eyes. "I don't like her."

"I thought we already established this?" Said JJ with a wave of his hands. "Who are trying to kid here?"

"Why don't you try with her? You flirt with her every ten seconds." He snapped and the jealousy in his voice was clear.

The two shared the same smirk. JJ shrugged at the statement. "Maybe I will. Who knows? Nobody else has shot their shot."

"You don't gotta worry about me," John B assured and reached around, patting him on the back. "I love the girl but we definitely wouldn't work out."

Pope didn't say anything. His jaw set in place, something he did when he was annoyed. He watched Dylan laugh at something the man said, playing along, and her bright white teeth showed. He felt his stomach twist painfully. The kind of feeling you get when you can't admit how you really feel because you're terrified to.

When the guard was distracted, Dylan quickly turned around and gave the boys the signal to go. She whittled back around before he noticed and smiled again.

"I-I got this." The man said with a smile.

"Thank you." Kiara said, also smiling.

He crouched down and started working on the tire and Dylan relaxed. She leaned against the car and tapped her nails against her arm. The guard sneakily looked her up and down, his eyes on her exposed legs, and she felt like she could throw up.

Kiara shifted in front of her slightly and Dylan felt thankful, but it didn't get rid of the yucky feeling that coated her skin like sweat.

Suddenly, a dog started barking from across the salvage yard. "Do you hear that?" The guard asked.

"Hear what?" Asked Kiara, acting like she didn't hear anything.

"Oh, Tebow's got something."

He stood up and Dylan panicked. "I-It's probably a raccoon or something. Or a snake, dogs are usually afraid of snakes." She tried to convince him.

"Yeah." The guard muttered and gave a small smile. He bent down again and continued working on the car.

Kiara tapped her hand slightly and slid around the car to the other side. Dylan leaned against the car, acting as natural as possible.

The man looked up at her and grinned. "I, uh, I like your hair."

Her heart rattled in her chest in the worst possible way. Dylan stiffened and faked a smile. "Oh, thank you." She grabbed a piece of her hair and messed with it, suddenly feeling the urge to cut it all off. Come on guys.

When the guard was done filling the tire with air, he stood up again. He saw that Kiara wasn't around and sent Dylan a weird look. Before she could stop him, he walked around the car to see Kiara letting the air out of one of the tires. "What are you doing?"

Both of the girls panicked. "T-This one looked a little low too,"

His dog barked again and the guard took off running. ""Wait! Wait!" Kiara shouted.

"Fuck, what did they do?" Dylan cursed.

"Come on." She said and grabbed her hand, dragging her away.

They all met inside the van and quickly drove out of the salvage yard. "Everyone okay?" John B exhaled.

Dylan sat in the back and pulled her knees up. "I'm never wearing my hair down again." She uttered and instantly tied her hair up and out of her face.

Kiara went and sat beside her. She wrapped her arm around Dylan's shoulder and let her lay her head on hers. The boys looked at each other, not understanding.

It was dark outside by the time they arrived at The Wreck. "Stealing drones makes me hungry," Kiara commented and they got out of the Twinkie.

"You can say that again." Dylan agreed.

"What I would do for a beer and shrimp and grits right now," JJ said, almost pleading.

"It would not be pretty." Pope declared

They followed Kiara into the restaurant. The lights were dimmed as they were getting ready to close up. Mike Carerra stood behind the counter. "Hey dad. How'd we do?"

"Didn't turn it over once."

"It's probably just bad luck because of the storm," Kiara replied and hugged him.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to tell the banks that," said Mike.He smiled at Dylan when he saw her pass by. "Hi, Dylan."

Dylan smiled back. "Hi, Mr. Carerra."

"Guess it's not the best time to ask for free food for me and my friends?" She asked with an innocent smile.

Mike sighed and looked over at the group of boys. "Look at them. They're greedy pelicans. I thought I told you to stop hanging around these guys,"

His daughter sighed. "Come on dad, you love Dylan,"

He nodded. "I do love Dylan. Only because she doesn't drag you into trouble."

"Everybody at the kook academy hates me, dad."

"Cause you never have them a chance,"

"I did give them a chance. They got all stuck up on me. I mean, they care more about shoes that surfing. What am I supposed to do with that?" Kiara looked over her shoulder. "These are my friends,"

The three boys waved at the man and Dylan smiled, knowing that Mr. Carerra preferred her over them.

Mike eventually gave in. "Look, well I—I gotta throw it out. Might as well take it."

Kiara gave her dad a big hug and quickly joined the group. Dylan smiled. "Daddy's girl."

Kiara smiled back. "Sit down."

The workers brought out the leftover food from the day and placed it all on the table. Dylan dove right in for the fries. "Now this, this is my heaven," she said in awe and mixed her ketchup and mustard together, dipping a fry into it.

JJ pulled a face. "You are so disgusting,"

"Dn't knock it till you try it."

It's Never Enough by Audiodub played on the speaker. Kiara beckoned for John B to get up and dance with her. He motioned to himself with his finger, a smirk growing on his face.

The two of them started dancing and Dylan while laughing. JJ stood up and held his hand out to her. "M'lady?"

She gasped and out a hand over her heart. "Me?"

"Of course," he said properly and took her hand, leading her to the middle of the room.

Pope watched them dance with a frown on his face. He slumped over the table. JJ twirled her around and she laughed. The sound sent chills down Pope's arms.

"Someone looks a little lonely over there." JJ said to her as they swayed to the music.

Dylan looked over her shoulder to see Pope by himself, eating. She frowned slightly. "I feel bad."

"I know. Too bad I got you first." he shrugged in a joke manner.

She rolled her eyes. "I am not a trophy, blondie,"

He winked and spun her around again. But you are a prize."

Dylan laughed. "Is this how you talk to all the girls you try and get with? Cause if so, I don't know how you pull all of them."

JJ gasped. "You hurt me, Dylan Celeste. I'm going back to fries."

She chuckled and patted his back as he walked away. The song Beyond by Leon Bridges started to play and Dylan gasped. Her eyes found Pope's and reached her arm out, beckoning him to dance with her.

Pope's eyes widened slightly and he pointed to himself. She nodded. He quickly stood up from his chair and walked around the tables, meeting her in the middle. "Dance with me," she begged and dragged him closer to her.

Feeling like his heart was going to jump out of his chest, he took her by the hand. "I'm not a good dancer, just letting you know."

Dylan scoffed. "You're such a liar. Remember the fifth grade dance?" She brought up.

Pope chuckled. "That wasn't dancing. That was us rocking back and forth,"

"Same thing." She shrugged and wrapped one of her arms around his neck. She held his hand in her other. "This is my favorite song."

He nodded. "I know,  it's mine too. She shines me up like gold on my arm,"

Dylan's eyes widened. "Okay, I didn't know you could sing like that,"

Pope shrugged again. "You learn a thing or two when you attend a mostly black church."

"You're not wrong. I love to see her face in daylight. It's more than just our bodies at night," she sang with a bright smile.

His nerves began to slip away the more they danced. Pope spun her around and saw her smile. He kept a grip on her hand. So you think I'm being foolish if I don't rush in? I-I-I-I'm scared to death that she might be it. That the love is real, that the shoe might fit. She might just be my everything and beyond,"

Dylan giggled and pulled him closer to her. They swayed again. "Space and time in the afterlife. Will she have my kids? Will she be my wife?"

"She might just be my everything and beyond." Pope sang and they laughed.

There it was. That feeling in his chest came back but this time it was bigger. Pope's heart started beating faster and faster against his chest. The sight of her laughing and the way her auburn eyes lit up under the lights made him go crazy. The way her hand fit into his perfectly. Their favorite song played over the speaker and they were dancing. It was a dream.

For Dylan, it was something so natural. Being around Pope was so natural and carefree. She didn't have a worry in the world when she was with him. The way they danced like nobody was watching made her heart pound quicker and quicker.

They both knew exactly how they felt for each other, and even though they were scared to say it, they felt it deeply. For right now, that was enough.