TO Eden, the motel looked just as sketchy as she thought it would.  Her eyes were met with its slightly broken down sight, showing it had been standing for many years.  It's paint was chipping, and it looked due for a new roof.  Definitely the place for a serial killer to hide out. 

As the HMS Pogue pulled closer to the motel, JJ let out a slow whistle. "I thought the Chateau looked bad."

"This place is a shit show." John B. agreed with the blonde, eyeing the tipped over sign in the front yard.

"I swear, a serial killer lives in that room right there." Eden spoke, pointing towards a random area of the motel.

"Motel or meth lab?" Kie asked.

"You be the judge." Pope responded, slightly glancing at the girl who'd spoken.

"Doesn't look like a place somebody with a Grady-White stays." John B. stated, turning the boat into the channel that led up to the building. 

"No. Looks like a place someone with a Grady-White would get killed." Pope concluded, looking at John B. with weary eyes.

"Serial Killer." Eden said yet again, giving a look towards Pope.  The boat then fell silent again, all of them unsure about what other comment they could make about the sketchy motel.  It definitely didn't look like a place where someone would park a Grady-White, that was for sure.  It looked too shabby for that.

"All right, here we go." JJ muttered, grabbing the anchor.  He put his free hand up to his mouth, acting as if he was holding a radio—just he had earlier—and made his voice sound the same. "This is your captain speaking.  HMS Pogue comin' in for landing."  He then jumped off the boat with the anchor—as it had gotten close enough to land—with a small cheer.

"We good?"

"Yeah, we good."

"All right, here goes nothing."

JJ held out a hand, and Eden took it, stepping out of the boat with a small sigh.  She wasn't quite sure why she spoke up and said she wanted to go with the blonde and brunette boys.  Truly, she'd rather stay away from the sketchy motel, but maybe her curiosity was getting the better of her today.  Surprisingly, both boys had allowed her to tag along, so here she was.

"Your majesty."

"Such a gentleman, J." Eden shook her head at his dramatic words, ruffling his hair as he passed her and stood next to John B. waiting for Eden to follow.   She was about to, finally ready to see what was inside the motel, but got stopped by Pope.

"Don't let them do anything stupid."

Eden was the peace keeper, and was usually put in charge of keeping the others in line, and that applied here.  She wouldn't be surprised if JJ tried to steal something, or John B. got caught away in something else.  That's another reason she tagged along.  To keep them in check before they got themselves in trouble.

"Oh, we will.  Eds can't stop us from everything." JJ smirked, stepping fore ward and slinging an arm around the brunette girl.

"Wanna bet?" Eden countered, slightly smiled as the boy backed up again.

"No, your majesty."

"I can't really make any promises." Eden looked back at Pope.

"Yeah, I know." Pope pursed his lips, already knowing she'd reply with that.

Kiara spoke up next, looking over at John B. with the same soft eyes as earlier.  Eden noticed the shift in demeanor when she spoke to him, the change in tone as she looked him in the eyes. "Uh, be careful." She handed him the keys, looking at him again. "I mean it."

"Yeah." John B. looked back at her twice before finally walking towards his friends.  Eden looked at JJ, who'd already been looking at her with a raised brow.  Okay, so she wasn't the only one who'd noticed the shift.

"Let's go." John B. took Eden's eyes away from the blonde, and she quickly looked back at Kie and Pope, waving before turning to follow John B. and JJ.  "Why are all these mattresses out here."  Eden probably would have tripped on one if it wasn't for John B. mentioning them in front of her.

"After a hurricane, they ditch 'em 'cause they're moldy." JJ responded.  Eden didn't know how he found that one out, but she honestly didn't want to know, either.  They walked in—surprising—silence, until they were walking down one of the halls.

JJ snaked an arm around the brunette boy, even going as far as to hold his chin. "Just be so careful, John. B."  Eden could tell he was mimicking Kie's actions, finding them rather funny.  Eden pushed ahead of both boys, almost getting pushed into the wall as John B. got out of the blonde's hold.

"God, you're so weird." the brunette boy muttered, trying to shove his friend away from him. 

"What was that about?"

"I don't know. Maybe she wants us to be careful." John B. responded.

"I don't agree.  She only said be careful to you." Eden shrugged, looking back at the brunette with a knowing look on her face. "And Kiara's my best friend, I know when she's acting different to people."  

"Since she heard you're being threatened with exile, she's just been like—" JJ put his hands back on the boy's shoulders, beginning to tease him yet again. "Oh! Be so careful, John B.,—"

John B. smacked his arms away, "Get off."

"—oh, just give me that John D already.  When are you gonna swoop in on that, man?" JJ finished his sentence, causing Eden to let out an unexpected laugh at the name. 

"That was so gross, but I laughed, so I'll give you that one." Eden turned to look at them again, giving JJ a small smile before continuing to walk, listening to the conversation. 

"Bro, you know the rule. No Pogue-on-Pogue macking." John B. gestured towards the boat, looking at JJ. 

"I'd call whatever you two are doing, macking, so, you've already broken the rule." Eden slightly laughed.

"And you obviously don't mack with Eden, so, it's not just talking." JJ added.

"Well, not shit.  She's my best friend, that would be gross—" John B. sighed, frustrated. 

"Is Kie not your other best girlfriend?" Eden asked.

 John B. sighed in frustration before pointing at JJ, trying to change the topic off of himself. "You're the one always hitting on her."

"Dude, of course I'm hitting on her." JJ replied casually, as if John B. should know this, "She's a super hot, rich, hippie chick slumming with us.  Why? I can't figure it out either, but who cares, bro?"

"You should be happy I'm not telling Kie all these wonderful things." Eden muttered, knowing the couldn't hear her as she crossed her arms over her chest.  Eden was glad that none of the boys flirted with her—she'd made that clear once they all hit puberty that she wasn't interested in them—because hearing the way they talked about Kie, it made her cringe.

"I know that door's locked because I've tried it.  Have you?"

"You need help." John B. shook his head, "Not a little help, you need a lot of help.  It's like every girl who has a heartbeat, you're like....'Uhh!'"

"Not, every girl.  You don't see me doing that with Eden do you?—"

"Lover boys, is this us?" Eden stopped at a door, narrowing her eyes at them as she spoke.  John B. and JJ looked at each other before the brunette looked down at the key, looking back at Eden afterwards.

"Twenty-Nine?"

"Twenty-Nine." Eden rang, tapping her foot as the boys approached her.  JJ came over,  stepping right in front of the brunette girl to knock a small beat on the door, saying 'House Keeping' in a very high pitched and squeaky tone, that Eden couldn't help but smile at.

"Should we try it?" John B. asked.  

"Yeah." 

Eden held out her hands, and John B. tossed them to her, allowing her to fiddle with the key.  JJ began speaking Spanish behind her, before changing back to English, "No power. No security cameras. No one's gonna know."

Eden finally heard a click, and turned the handle to open the door, revealing a dark room—the only light filtering in from the window shade cracks.  John B. turned to Eden, gesturing towards the bed. "Check the bag, see if there's a name on there somewhere."

Eden walked over, unzipping the bag and skimming through it, trying to find something that could lead to finding out who owned the boat.  She picked up a pair of shoes, slightly glimpsing inside to see if there was a name. "Here's a pair of slides, unnamed."

"A jacket." JJ spoke up, looking at something across from Eden. "No name on the jacket. It's a nice jacket though."

John B. came beside Eden, shining his flashlight over the pair of shoes she was holding, "He's definitely over fifty, those are New Balances."

"That doesn't mean anything, JB." Eden replied, dropping the shoes back in the bag as they meant nothing towards the search for the person who owned this motel.  

"How many teenagers do you see wearing those? Exactly, none." John B. retorted.

"Yo, guy's, come here." JJ spoke up, causing both brunettes to stop talking and look over in the blonde's direction. "Maybe this is where they were fishing."   Both teens walked over to him, looking down upon the papers he was shining his flashlight on.

"No, dipshit, that's off the continental shelf." Eden looked at JJ, noticing his confused look.  "Hello? The Big Swell? Nobody fishes there, at all."

"Okay..."

"But this—" Eden picked up a piece of paper with the digits 6-1-6-6-6 written on it, handing it to John B. "—could be useful.  Go try it in the safe that I'm pretty sure is in that table that's holding the TV."  John B. followed scanning for the table she was on about.

"Since when'd you get so smart?" JJ asked.

"Well, someone has to be the smart one, right?" Eden responded, coming up next to  John B. to see if her theory was right. 

"Coffee." JJ spoke in a very bad accent, trailing his flashlight around the room to see if anything catches his eyes. "Standard. Tissues for when you get lonely...." He then walked to the next room over, "Ooh!"

"Did you find anything?" John B. asked.

"A really awesome Dopp kit that you and Eden won't let me steal." he responded.

"Yeah, 'cause we're not stealing shit. " John B. replied in annoyance, opening up the cabinet like Eden had told him to do.  He slightly smiled, looking up at her. "You were right, Eds."

"Like usual." she replied, urging him to try the code. "Now, try the code. Maybe I'll be two for two."

"I'm gonna try some random numbers first, who knows if that's it." John B. replied, beginning to type in some random numbers on the combination keypad, hoping that something would work.  Eden rolled her eyes, knowing this was just stalling time.

"Punching shit at random." JJ came back into the main room, crossing behind the two brunettes, "That will....definitely work."

"JB, just try the damn code on the paper." Eden spoke after a moment, slapping him against the back of the head.

"Fine, fine." John B. sighed, pulling out the sheet to look at the numbers written upon it.  Eden stood, waiting, tapping her foot as she heard the buttons click.  JJ then began ranting about something to do with the coordinates, but Eden barely paid attention to his words.

"I don't know. I don't know about the second one.  These coordinates, they....Wait. My cousin said you could catch swordfish here—"

"Six, one, six, six, six." the brunette boy muttered.

"Nah, that wouldn't make any sense. What about a surf spot? That could possibly be it.  Or shoals.  Is this a surf spot? Have you heard of Shoals—"

"Would you mind shutting up and coming over here, J?" Eden stopped the blonde's endless rant, making him walk over to the two brunettes silently.   John B. pulled out a thick wad of cash, holding it up to catch the blondes interest, which it did.

John B. moved back, allowing the blonde to take a look inside.  But, instead of just looking, JJ grabbed hold of the gun inside the safe, causing both brunettes to sigh.  "You grabbed the gun.  Of course he grabbed the gun." 

"This is a SIG Sauer." JJ's voice was filled with excitement, as if he'd just received the best gift on Christmas Day.   Eden narrowed her eyes, giving a look.  She had no knowledge on guns, and had no clue what it meant, but with JJ's smirk, it must have been a good thing.

"JJ, put the gun back. You're gonna shoot your damn eye out."  Eden sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head back.   It felt as if JJ was a child and John B. and Eden were the tired parents just waiting for him to mature.

"This is a fucking spendy gatt, man. Just...Bam! Bam!" JJ ignored his friends words, beginning to act as if he was actually using the gun, sound effects and all.  Eden sighed, putting her fingers on the bridge of her nose, waiting for JJ to get serious.

"We are not stealing anything." John B. grabbed the blonde's shirt, speaking through gritted teeth. John B. looked at the other brunette, pleading for her to use some of her calmness to get JJ to put the gun back where he found it.

"J, you're gonna shoot your eye out or something." Eden looked over at him. "Just put it back."

"Ralphie didn't and he was like, nine!" JJ exclaimed, before letting out a small sigh as his friends eyes continued to give him a dead panned stare.  He pulled out his phone, tossing it over to Eden, "Just, take a pic of me, Eds."

"Take a photo of you? Right now, seriously?"

"Yeah."  JJ got into a pose, holding the gun as if he were modeling with it. "Like—"

"Making our own incriminating evidence? Is that what you're talking about?" John B. clarified. 

Before anyone could say anything else, a light tap on the window caused the two brunettes to look in that direction, before looking at each other for clarification.  The noise could have been anything, but Eden felt as if it couldn't have just been a coincidence. 

Both Eden and John B. rushed over to the window, opening it to reveal Kie and Pope, arms up and mouthing the words 'cops!' over and over again while pointing towards the hallway.   Eden squeezed her eyes shut, "Shit, shit shit!"

"What is it?" JJ asked, watching as the brunette boy ran to the side window, peeking through a crack to see how much time they had until the cops arrived at their door. 

"Cops." John B. muttered, causing JJ to spiral back towards the safe, grabbing a wad of cash and shoving in his back pocket, trying to hide it from his two scolding friends.   Eden was already at the window with John B. trying to find a way out before they were caught.

"Kildare County Sheriff's Department!"

"Hurry the fuck up, JB!" Eden muttered, tapping her foot in anxiousness as John B. pushed up the window they'd looked out of, stepping outside and pressing himself against the wall.   He held out a hand and Eden took it, taking the small place right up beside him.   JJ then came out, going on the other side, smashing himself chest first against the wall, shutting the window just in time with the help of his friend.

After a moment of silence, John B. wrapped an arm around Eden, keeping her put right next to him as he peeked through the window behind her.   She looked over his arm to see JJ looked behind at the boat, smirking as his eyes met with Pope and Kie.

She looked behind her to see Pope's mouth moving, but she was too far away to actually hear what he was saying.   Instead, John B. used his free hand—the one not still around Eden—and placed a finger to his lips before looking right back at the wall, waiting for the cops to disappear.

Eden peeked inside the window, watching as the two cops knelt down to the safe, one taking a wad of money and holding it up to hand to his partner with a smile.  Eden looked at JJ, who was whispering in shock.  "What the fuck?"

"That's so messed up." Eden responded, looking slightly back at John B. next to her, who had the same raised eyebrow expression as the other two.  John B. gave a small nod, tilting his head to the side to look at the blonde.

"Do you believe—" JJ began to mutter, but got stopped when he turned and the gun he'd brought out with them—despite John B. and Eden's words to put it back—clattered loudly off the roof, banging into something and echoing loudly back to Eden's ears.

JJ immediately pressed himself further against the wall—almost in shame—and John B. did the same, eyes tightly shut as he bit his lip in frustration.  Eden pressed her head against the brick wall, John B.'s arm following, and scrunched her hands into fists, "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Eden could hear the window curtain slightly open, and almost of instinct, she grabbed John B.'s hand.  The brunette could admit, she was scared.  For once, she was actually scared.  If the cops caught her and the boys, they'd all be in deep shit.   Not only were they breaking in to a room that wasn't their own, JJ had stolen the gun—and some money that neither Eden or John knew about yet.

John B. could sense the rush of fear that had run through his friend—she wasn't too touchy, he'd learned that many years ago—and he could almost feel her hands shaking.   He looked over at her, noticing her tightly shut eyes, and her bit lip.  Her chest felt all tight, and she was sure if she opened her eyes, she'd feel slightly nauseous at the height they were at.

"Hey, hey, Eden, just breathe. Breathe. They aren't gonna find us." He whispered, slightly squeezing her hand.  She took a breath at his words, but the anxiousness didn't leave, though knowing he was there slightly helped.

After a few minutes of stress filled silence, the fear of the officer spotting one of the three looming in the air, the officer stepped away from the window, muttering a small, "No one's here. "

Eden let out a small sigh, finally opening her eyes.  The three then waited for Kie and Pope to give a thumbs up—signaling that the police were gone—before having John B. open the window back up, and allow them all inside, the brunette boy holding on to his friend until he was sure she'd calmed down.

"Thanks, for that." Eden slightly smiled once he'd let go, opening the door to the hotel room.  The police had cleared, and they were free to report back to the two remaining Pogues on the boat.  

"Yeah, I'm always here for you when you have attacks like that, y'know." John B. smiled back, following the brunette out.  He'd always been there when she had anxiety attacks, or even small panic ones, always there to keep her focused on something, or to help her breathe.  "I don't plan on leaving you."

"Like I could escape you all." Eden replied, toying around with one of the many bracelets around her wrists.  She then slightly smirked again, mentally apologizing to Kiara for this one, "Technically, Kie's a Kook.  If you really wanna go for her, I guess you wouldn't be breaking Pogue-on-Pogue macking rules."

"What?"

"I said, technically, Kiara's a Kook." Eden replied, looking back at John B. as they continued to walk down the hall, JJ messing around with something behind them—hopefully, not the gun, as they'd both told him to put it away a final time before leaving.

"So? You're on the brink of being a Kook, but I don't go for you."

"Like you said, we're best friends. It would be very weird, and awkward. We're better off platonic,"  Eden responded, "Just take my blessing, dude. I, Eden Bexley, give you, John Booker Routledge, permission to date my friend, Kiara Carrera—"

"Okay, I see your point, Eds." John B. replied, walking ahead of his friend to leave the relationship talk.   JJ then approached, tapping on Eden's shoulder to get her attention.  

"What'd you say?" the blonde asked, speaking quieter than normal, in case John B. was listening in for some reason.

"I told him that technically Kiara's a Kook.  If he wanted to try and go for her, it wouldn't be breaking Pogue-on-Pogue rules." Eden responded.

"You have a point." JJ muttered in response.

Staying in silence, the three then made their way back to the boat.  Pope and Kiara were all ears, wanting to hear everything.  So, when they arrived back on the HMS Pogue, and were sailing away from the motel, JJ started talking.

"Well, that was fun." he began, causing Eden to roll her eyes.  Was it interesting? Sure.  But Fun? No. "Could have warned us sooner."

"We would have, except Pope was on the math team." Kiara replied, glancing over at the boy.

"You were on the math team?"

"Why wouldn't he have been on the Math team? He's Pope." Eden responded, giving a small smile over at Pope. 

"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." John B. brought the topic back to the room, his tone rather serious. 

"Did you guys find anything?" Pope asked, looking between the three teens who'd gone inside. 

"Did we find anything?" JJ trailed off, acting as if it was a tough question to answer.  He stuck his hands in his back pockets, holding them up to reveal a wad of cash and the gun that he'd been asked to return.  But, JJ being JJ, he was bound to take something. "No, I don't think so—Oh, yeah, we did."

"What the hell?" Pope looked concerned when he looked at the stolen items in the blondes hands, watching the boy give a Cheshire cat grin right back at them, very content with what he'd done. 

"Dude, what?" Kie exclaimed.

"Dude, chill. Come on." JJ responded.

"Why take that from a crime scene?" Pope asked, looking at JJ wide eyed before turning to Eden with a more disappointed look, "Why let him take that from a crime scene?"

"I told him to put the gun back like five times." Eden responded, putting her hands up in surrender, "And I didn't know he stole all that cash."

"It's better than the cops having it." JJ responded in defense.

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope spoke up, a look of fear washing over his face as the thought entered his mind.  Like Eden said, Pope was the smart one.  He was going to get a scholarship and get out of the OBX.  He'd have a career, and he couldn't let that hope get taken.

"Hey, hey, hey.  Shh, shh, shh. Shh, sh." JJ wrapped an arm around the boy, pulling him in close before slightly flicking his hat, "At least you have us, right?"

"I'm living the nightmare." Pope responded, pulling away from the blonde and taking a seat in defeat.

On that sad note, the Pogues made their way back to the main dock—or marina—to find it swarmed with Kildare County police.   It was never this crowded, causing the group to perk up in curiosity, and go examine—being the nosy people they were.

Taking a seat where they could get a good view, Eden watched as a body was rolled up on a stretcher, a woman running up to it with a hand over her mouth, emotion written all over her face.  Must have been her husband.

"Who's that?" John B. spoke up, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to identify the man.

The girl who they'd all sat by—Eden vaguely remembered her name being Peeler from school—spoke up, answering the brunettes question. "It's Scooter Grubbs. He was out during the storm."  She held out her phone towards the five, "Check out this pic I got. Dead body."

Eden took a look at the phone, grimacing when she noticed the photo.  She thought it was rather wrong to just snap a photo of the body, and it was also rather gross to her eyes.  But, at the thought of Scooter's body came the fact that he was out during the storm.  On a boat.

"Hey, what kind of boat did he have?"  Eden looked up at the blonde girl.

"Somehow, that dirt bag copped a brand new Grady-White." Peeler responded, "Everyone's out looking for it."

Eden eye's slightly widened, and she looked over at John B. the two of them sharing a knowing look.  This was an innocent game anymore.  That boat belonged to Scooter Grubbs, and the Pogues all knew based on the look they were giving one another.

"Well, shit." Eden sighed, leaning against the wall, not knowing what the heck her and her friends had just gotten themselves into.

mara's misc!

helloooooo!

i actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter, outer banks is so fun to write for tbh.  eden fits in rlly well with the pogues so applause to me. 

john b. and eden>>>>>>>>>

they are platonic soulmates bc i said so.  john b. gets so much hate, and idk why.  i actually kinda like him, (chase and john are different people). 

also, -clairenovak for all her great comments on the last chapter, they really help motivate me <3

hope you enjoyed, see you back with chapter three <33333