008 !! TOURON

Being ignored and practically shooed-off at the Coast Guard tent was definitely not something the group had anticipated.

Being forcefully tagged along to check out the motel and therefore, encover the Grady White's owner's identity was certainly not something that Georgie had signed up for.

She'd protested, yelled, come so close to screaming at John B and her beloved brother for their stupid stupid idea.

But nothing shook them.

So now, as she sits in the boat arms crossed and eyes throwing sharp glares at the two boys, she finds herself being more concerned than angry.

"Alright. Here goes nothin'", JJ hops off the boat just as they reach land.

John B moves to follow the blond when a voice stops him.

"Hey".

He turns back to the source of the sound — Georgie, naturally — and cocks an eyebrow in her direction.

"Yeah?".

"Don't let him do anything stupid", she gestures towards her unnecessarily enthusiastic brother.

"Oh, we will", JJ perks up.

John B laughs quietly, "I'm not making any promises".

The two are about to leave when Kiara's eyes catch John B's.

"Uh, be careful".

He looks back at her, his stare full of light astonishment — and affection? — while she stares right back not caring about the surprised looks they're getting from their friends.

Especially Georgie.

"Yeah", he nods holding her gaze.

"I mean it", she blinks.

"Yeah", with that he follows JJ leaving the three to sit back in the HMS Pogue and serve as lookout.

Georgie, for a while, silently stares at Kiara's side profile.

She tries helplessly to decipher the brunette's expression, to find out what's going through her head.

The slight betrayal that descends upon her is not greeted with surprise but is instead happily accepted, hugged even as she tries to find out just what kind of feelings she harbours towards her childhood friend based on the ten second interaction she just had with someone who Georgie is sure she's meant to end up with.

Eventually, she turns her gaze to the duo quietly chatting and making their way over to the designated motel room.

She watches JJ knock the door and John B stand back allowing him take the lead for a few seconds until he's whipping out the room key and unlocking the door.

Georgie breathes deeply when both John B and JJ disappear into the confines of the room letting the door shut behind them.

"If this blows, I'm killing JJ", Pope remarks.

"You don't have it in you", Kiara replies shrugging.

Pope glances at her offended.

"Yes, I do".

"No, you don't".

"Georgie, don't you think I have it in me to kill JJ?", he turns to the blonde.

She shrugs.

"You're too nice for that, Pope".

He gasps, brows being pulled together in a frown.

"Am not".

"Are so", Kiara narrows her eyes.

Georgie looks away from them turning her attention to the road, she soon finds herself tuning out their conversation.

Her mind runs over the events of the day.

John B flirting, the others taking a dip in the ocean, the motel key, John B flirting again, the Coast Guard failure, Kiara making her insecure, the boys taking off and now this.

The part which she runs over and over is simple — John B flirting with her.

It's strange to her how since the advent of the summer, she's found herself noticing more and more the brunet boy's comments aimed at her.

There's a huge part of her that feels like it means something.

Something more.

And yet, she's scared of getting disappointed.

There's one event in particular that happened an entire year ago that she keeps going back to over and over.

It makes her sad.

It makes her feel worthless.

Yet she still often finds herself thinking about it.

She remembers the day as clear as yesterday.

She'd been cooking breakfast for JJ and herself — Luke had left the house two days ago and not yet returned. Where he had gone and what he was doing, neither of the siblings were aware of — when the knock had come.

She'd run to open the door and what had greeted her was a disheveled John B.

He'd still looked good though.

He always looked good.

He'd begged her to tell where JJ was and when she'd informed him that he was napping on the couch, he'd ever so graciously entered the living room and shook his best friend awake.

Georgie didn't want to pry so she went back to the kitchen.

Mid-way between buttering up the toast, she'd started paying attention on their conversation happening just the room next door since they weren't exactly trying to be quiet.

Or discreet.

What she'd heard, had her almost dropping the butter knife and struggle to catch herself.

She'd clutched the kitchen counter and hunched over, putting her head in her hands.

She was sobbing but she was sobbing quietly.

She'd felt like her entire world has just shattered.

As if she'd just been told that everything she ever believed was a lie.

John B had lost his virginity to a Touron.

It had been fun and uneventful.

But to Georgie, it was everything she feared.

Despite being each other's first kiss, the duo had never been anything more.

Never tried to turn their friendship into anything more than what it was.

But Georgie still had hope.

And that day, she knew that waiting for John B was a mistake.

She could still be in love with him and try to find comfort somewhere else.

Maybe one day she'd hit the right place and won't be in love with him anymore.

A year later and she still had feelings for John B.

And now, Kiara seems to crush on him too?

What is happening.

Suddenly, she spots police cars on the road.

In an instant, she snaps out of her trance and whisper yells to gain her friends' attention.

"Hey, hey, cops", she nudges Pope.

Both Pope and Kiara look back, a state or urgency quickly being assumed by the trio.

"Shit".

"Call them", Kiara tells Pope who shakes his head with wide eyes.

"I can't. Towers are down".

The three of them immediately launch into panic mode, running their eyes back and forth between the police car and the motel room door.

"Fuck", Georgie curses under her breath as the cops make their towards the Motel entrance.

"If I lose my merit scholarship, I'm gonna kill someone", Pope's wide eyes stare at the cops deliberating their next move.

"Maybe they're not going up", Kiara scratches the back of her head chewing on her lip.

"Yeah, maybe they're looking for a room.....", Georgie doesn't even get to finish before the cops start ascending the stairs and the trio swears under their breath.

"They're going up", Pope confirms grabbing the back of his head as the anxiety weighs him down.

Georgie fidgets around the boat, hands shaking in panic.

"Okay, do something", Kiara nudges Pope who, in response, grabs a pebble from the nearest grass stump and aims for the window barely missing it by a few inches.

"Didn't you ever play baseball!", Kiara hisses.

Pope turns to her, the panic slowly and gradually catching up to him.

"I was on the math team!".

When even after a few seconds, there's no sign of either JJ or John B, Kiara starts pacing the boat.

"Should we peel?", she frantically glances at both Pope and Georgie.

Georgie shakes her head taking a deep breath and fixing her gaze on the window.

"You never leave a Pogue behind", she ascertains sparing Kiara's anxiety stricken face a glance.

"No, seriously, should we peel?", this time the question seems to be directed towards Pope.

"Maybe", he mutters eyeing the window.

Suddenly, the window opens and out come — crawl, more like — John B and JJ. They flatten themselves on either sides of the wall and look down at their friends with wide eyes.

Georgie harshly rubs a hand over her face.

"What are you doing?", she whisper yells but they both shake their heads signalling for her to keep quiet.

Sensing the cops moving closer to the window, Pope pulls the boat a little farther away and they sit down on the deck trying to act as inconspicuous as possible.

One of the cops stares out of the window, turning his head from side to side to catch a glimpse of anything 'out of the ordinary'.

All of their breaths get caught in their throats.

When he finally pulls back after not having noticed JJ and John B at all, they all breathe a sigh of relief.

The two boys perched against the wall immediately jump down into the boat and Pope steers the boat away as quickly as possible.

What the fuck was that.

***
i'm literally shitting myself rn because i'm planning to apply for this scholarship at this really incredible school for arts and i haven't told any of my irls ( parents included ) about it coz idk i just feel like they'd discourage me maybe? even tho i might have a chance? but omf if i get that scholarship i will actually actually pass out because it will quite literally SET the course for my ENTIRE future so wish me luck bffs and pray for me pls 😿❤️‍🔥