EDEN watched from the hot-tub as Pope lowered Kiara down in a bucket.

After a night full of comforting JJ and making sure he was okay, the group met up—well more so made their way, as everyone spent the night at the Chateau—in the front yard of John B.'s place, watching as Pope showed off what he'd done when everyone was sleeping in.

A bucket was tied to a tree with a rope connected to it, basically creating a pulley system.  He insisted that Kiara helped him by sitting on the edge of the bucket so Pope would have some weight to pull, as well as so he could see how much the bucket and rope could hold before breaking.

Eden saw right through Pope and left him to his awkward flirting with Kie, instead sitting with the Maybank boy on the edge of the new hot-tub—which, now that all the anger and tension because of it was gone, wasn't a terrible investment.

"So, like...." JJ spoke up, slightly glancing behind him at the two teens who were working on the winch.  His voice was quiet as he stated, "....is it just me or is Pope flirting? Like trying to flirt with Kiara."

"Well, you stated it yourself at the motel; you guys all have a thing for her, or had in John B.'s case.  If you won't open that closed door, then maybe Pope's knocking on it and waiting for her to answer." Eden shrugged before adding, "It is a weird sight though, gotta admit."

JJ grumbled, "Definitely."

"I don't know how much more I can see of you guys trying to get with her." the Bexley dryly added, thinking back to when she watched John B. impulsively kiss her, only to continue third wheeling as she friend zoned him. "First JB, now Pope.....for all I know, you're gonna make a move next."

The Maybank didn't reply, causing Eden to raise a brow. She was no romance expert, but was JJ jealous? Jealous that Pope—the nerdy, know-it-all, valedictorian who'd never had a girlfriend—could possibly score Kiara instead of him? 

Eden decided not to press, just as she didn't with Pope. The last thing she wanted was to involved with romance drama between her friends.

So she changed the topic instead, "Where d'you think John B. is right now, anyway?"

JJ set his beer bottle down in one of the hot-tub cup holders, "John B. pullin' a Houdini."

"Yeah, where is he? I got my scholarship interview tomorrow morning.  We've gotta get this done." Pope asks, slightly worried.  The later John B. was out, the further back they'd have to go get the gold, meaning he'd get less sleep, meaning he wouldn't be on top of his game. 

But, just as Pope says his final sentence, the Routledge boy appears in his back yard, silently crossing over to his house.

"Speak of the devil. Hey!" JJ called out brightly towards his friend, whose face was set in a tense expression.  Eden's brows furrowed at how silent he was—if she returned to her house to see a hot-tub, lights hung around trees, and Kiara in a bucket, she'd be questioning. "Dude, I set up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything."

"No, he did not." Pope shook his head, "I did that."

Kiara smiled, "Hey, John B.—"

The brunette boy didn't speak let alone show any emotion as he entered his house. 

Confused, JJ asked, "Okay, that's it?"

Pope and Kiara crossed towards the Maybank and Bexley, the Heyward boy questioning, "Uh....what's that all about?"

JJ stared back at him, "I was gonna ask you the same question."

Eden took her feet out of the hot-tub, hopping down to the ground, "Someone's a little cranky, I guess.  Maybe Ward didn't feed him breakfast."

The four all entered the Chateau, the sound of clattering and clinking filling the house.  John B. was rummaging through his cabinets in drawers, clearly in search of something—something important by the speed in which he was looking.

Eden's tone was generally concerned as she asked, "Hey, JB, you good? Do you want to talk it out or something?" 

John B. was rarely so unsettled, even in the worst of situations, he tried to keep his cool.  The last time she'd seen him like this has been the day Big John was announced  missing—the boy hadn't stopped moving and pacing until the Bexley practically forced him to sit.

"You all right, man?" Pope walked over next the Routledge, the boy swinging open a cabinet only to close it moments later.

Kiara questioned, "What are you looking for?"

"Bro, what's going on, man?" JJ asked as the boy flipped over a couch cushion.

John B. pulled out JJ's gun, causing the four teens to grow more weary than they had before.  The Routledge hated that gun, and there could only be so many reasons as to why he would need it—and why so desperately at that.

"Yo, John B. what do you need the gun for?" the Bexley's eyes were slightly widened.  He was being erratic, and she wanted to stop him before he made a choice he couldn't fix. "Hey, John B., think it through—"

"Talk to us!" JJ tried to get the Routledge boy to focus, but the minute he got close enough to try and take the gun away, he was thrown on to the couch with force. 

Kiara shouted, "John B., chill! What are you doing?"

"What, are you JJ, now?" Pope made an attempt at speaking, only to get harshly shoved into the table by John B. 

Eden gasped at his behavior, watching as the brunette boy stormed away, leaving the four Pogues utterly confused. 

"Shit—are you okay?" Kie asked Pope, placing a hand on his shirt.  She steadied him for a moment before storming out after her friend, Eden sparing a glance at JJ to make sure he was okay before following. "John B., what the hell are you doing?"

Rushing outside the two girls—as well as JJ and Pope, who followed—watched as John B. hopped on JJ's motorbike, revving the engine.  The four ran down the few entrance steps to get closer to John B., the Carrera still yelling, "John B., what the hell?"

"John, stop with the silent treatment and tell us—tell me—why you need that fucking gun and what the fuck is up with your attitude!" Eden stared at him with an incredulous look, words full of anger and distress. "You can't just show up and start shoving people around with no reason! Talk—"

"Ward knows about the gold!" John B. cut her off. His voice was hoarse and distraught, and he turned towards his friends with a pain filled expression, "He killed my dad."

The boy didn't give any more of an explanation before speeding off on the bike, gun still in hand.

"What?" Eden exclaimed in shock and in confusion. Now, she never fully trusted Ward Cameron—she didn't trust most Kooks to begin with—but she never thought of him as a murderer.  He was Sarah's dad after all. 

The Carrera girl chased after the boy, "John B.!"

"Shit!" Pope yelled.

Eden let out an exasperated breath, "He's impulsively doing this. John B. hates that gun.  We—we have to stop him before he gets himself into deeper shit than he can manage." She knew the others understood what she meant. 

There was a reason John B. had the gun, and it was only a matter of time before he impulsively pulled the trigger.  Until he fucked up big time.

After a few hours of planning and trying to call the Routledge boy, the Pogues decided to split up and look for him—to make an attempt at reeling him back to the Chateau.

Kiara, Pope, and JJ all hopped on the HMS Pogue to head to the Cameron's deck to search for John B. there.  With the small bit of information he'd revealed to the group, they decided if he was anywhere.....there was a good chance he'd be at the Cameron Estate, waiting to pull the gun on Ward.

Eden hoped he hadn't. 

The Bexley herself was sitting on the couch of the Chateau, making bracelets—as she did.  Night had fallen and barely any light poured in through the window behind her, leaving her no choice but to use her phone flashlight as her light source so she wasn't utterly blind within the powerless house.

She hadn't been making bracelets all night.  The girl had walked around Figure Eight calling John B. because if he was at the Cameron Estate he had to have service, but after many missed guys and left un-read texts, Eden gave up and returned to the shabby old house she was calling home for the weekend to wait it out there instead.

Eden had grown worried over the hours, and the later it got, the more worried she grew.  There was so much John B. could have done with a gun in his hands and she prayed that he had thought it through and called his panicked and angry ideas off.

 If Ward really killed Big John.....he'd get his karma.  Eden just didn't want to see John B. get in trouble for it—to see him come home with bloody, shaky, hands, regretting his actions. 

So, sitting cross legged on the Chateau couch she'd been sleeping on for the past few days—John B.'s spare room bed was not comfortable whatsoever, and honestly, she couldn't tell you the last time those sheets were cleaned—Eden tried to contain her worry by anxiously bracelet making, (she'd found her kit, finally!)

She tried to think that maybe John B. was safe with Sarah.  That the fact that no police had shown up at the Chateau, or that she hadn't heard the desperate knocking of one of her friends on the door to show her the breaking news was a good sign.  That maybe since everything was calm, that the Routledge boy was okay.

Thank god, she'd be right.

The sound of the door rattling took the Bexley from her tenth bracelet of the night—she wasn't even sure how many she'd made in a spree of anxiety—and the brunette girl quickly looked towards the entrance, watching as a bright light flickered on.

"Eden?" Eden quickly straightened at the sound of her best friends voice, heart fallen at his shaky tone.  He sounded on the verge of breaking—just like JJ had the previous night in the hot tub. "Pope? Kie?"

And, just like she was with JJ, Eden was going to be there for John B.  She always was.

Eden got up and off the couch, moving her bracelet kit to the side, "John B.?"

The boy came around the corner, and Eden felt her heart shatter even more at his expression.  His cheeks were tear stained, and his eyes were puffy,  his chest hitching at every breath to show he'd been crying.  

To show Ward had killed Big John.

The Routledge's lips trembled, "Eden."

Moving so she was in front of him, the Bexley girl doesn't hesitate before she engulfs him in a tight, protective embrace—an embrace that showed she was there, that he was going to be okay.   An embrace that John Booker Routledge really fucking needed right now.

The Bexley still remembers the day that Big John had been reported missing.  Her and John B. had been sitting on the couch together watching some sort of movie—probably Titanic  for the 80th time, if it's Eden we're talking about.  

A few days prior, the boy had fought with his father and he'd wanted time to forget about it—to forget about the fact that his dad hadn't come back in days, to forget that he'd taken all their rent money to search for the Royal Merchant—and Eden was someone who could do that.

She remembered the loud banging on the door—Eden had answered it assuming it was JJ—the way her brows furrowed at the sight of Sheriff Peterkin and Deputy Shoupe and some other officers and agents.  She remembers the way they solemnly asked for John B., the way he started pacing around the house after hearing the news.

And, when she herself heard the news out of John B.'s panicked lips, Eden vowed that she would stay at her friends side until Big John was found.  That she wouldn't leave him alone, or decide her priorities were bigger.  That she would be there whenever he called, or texted, or asked. 

And Eden really wasn't going to break her vow right now.

At his friends touch, John B. finally lets himself break down because he really can't contain his emotions anymore.  Ward, a man who gave him an escape from DCS, a man who he saw as a father figure, had killed his dad and left it a secret for a year.  Ward had killed his dad and Sarah didn't believe him.  No one would believe him—not against Ward fucking Cameron.

"I miss him." the Routledge sobs into Eden's shoulder, unable to contain his cries.  Sure, Big John may have been shitty towards the end, caring more about finding a stupid shipwreck over his son but he was his dad. He'd been all John B. had left. "I really miss him."

Eden held tightly on to him, "I know, I know."

"I didn't believe him when he was looking for the gold." John B. sniffled, "I—I called him a shit father and then he went......he died. I didn't get to say goodbye."

The Bexley's stomach dropped at the truth.  Of course the thought of Ward killing Big John had been in her head all day, but John B. was finally revealing it to her.  It made her feel sick knowing the Kook man had done such a deed and was still being praised—it was a secret, but it made her sick to know that she too had once praised Ward fucking Cameron for climbing his way to the top.

It was a sensitive topic, and Eden decided not to question until the boy wasn't sobbing in her arms.  Instead, she took his final words and suggested, "We could say goodbye now? Now that we know he's....." she trailed off, not wanting to state the elephant in the room, "......maybe we could give him a funeral of sorts? Just you and me in attendance.  I know it won't make up for any guilt you feel, but—"

"No." John B. sniffled, cutting her off.  He pulled out of her embrace and nodded at her, speaking truthfully. "No, that would make me feel better.  I need to finalize that he's really......gone." While Big John had been 'gone' for a year, being missing and being dead were two different things and Eden understood.

"You still have that tiny boat you made as a kid, right?" Eden recalled a small boat that Big John had taught him how to construct in their childhood, how excited John B. been to show his creation off.  As the boy slowly nodded, she continued, "We could give him, like, a viking funeral of sorts?"

John B. tried his best to give a smile, "He—he would have really liked that."

"I know." Eden sadly chuckled.

The two then separate to find necessary items before returning to the deck outside the Chateau.   Eden had a photo of Big John in her grasp, and John B. had a blow torch, a candle and the small boat the Bexley had mentioned beside him.

In utter silence, John B. placed the candle inside the boat, Eden setting the photo against it.  The Routledge then lights the candle with the blow torch, watching as the light started flickering around the image, reflecting on to the two teens faces.

John B. picked up the wooden boat and stared at it for a few seconds. Eden puts a reassuring arm around him, listening as he finally mutters two words. A final goodbye. "Goodbye, Dad."  The boy leans forward and sets the boat into the water, the waves beginning to move it further and further out. 

The Routledge boy lays his head on Eden's shoulder, and the Bexley lays hers on top of his. 

 The two teens stay just like this for hours.

mara's misc

in matt sturniolo fashion; sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry—

i know it was a john b. only moment in the show, and like eden's supposed to be with the others having the scholarship argument and what not but like ever since i watched the show, i pictured eden—i planned her in like s1e2—there with him to comfort him in this scene.  with the help of surf-style i chose to stick with my og idea (but, eden would be team pope should take the interview bc like he deserves to get a good education).

we're honestly getting towards the end of act one believe it or not.  this is episode eight out of ten, and with most of the scenes revolving around jb and sarah now......there's not much left for eden.  BUT we still got two episodes left and i'll try to make the most of it.

also??? guts?????? i listened to the whole album in school and it ate. personally, i think i love sour better (guts eats but sour devours) but either way olivia knows what she's doing. i loved logical, (two plus two equals five and i'm the love of your life???) but overall, it's a bop. 

also me updating on my own accord?? once in a blue moon event. 

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 23