Pilot: Brothel

Our decision to check out this janky motel has me feeling all sorts of ways, especially since this place looks shady as hell. I don't really have a good feeling about this, but I also still feel like crap from JJ squishing me so I'd rather not argue with my hard headed brother about going home. I can see that determined look in his eyes; the one where no one can change his mind. It's always his way or the highway.

JJ lets out a whistle, snapping my out of my thoughts, "I thought the Chateau looked bad."

"This place is a shitshow." John B keeps his focus on pulling the boat up to the shore so we can park.

Kie looks around with a disgusted expression, "Motel or meth lab?"

"You be the judge." Pope mutters before glancing at me, I give him a thumbs up so he won't keep worrying about me.

"Doesn't look like a place somebody with a Grady-White stays."

"No. Looks like a place someone with a Grady-White would get killed." Pope deadpans, I chuckle at his reluctance to be here either.

"Looks like a brothel would go down here." I joke, causing everyone to turn to me with shocked expressions, "What?"

"How do you even know what that is?" JJ laughs, "You aren't wrong though."

I shrug, "I don't know but this place gives off 'I'm going behind my wife's back to book a night with a prostitute' vibes."

Pope scrunches his face in disgust while everyone else laughs, "That is disgusting to think about, Willow."

"Then don't think about it." I giggle, "I was just pointing it out, you don't have to imagine what goes down in the rooms."

Pope glares at me before huffing and turning away, guess I struck a nerve.

"Alright. Here we go." JJ stands up, leaning down to kiss my head before walking over and grabbing the anchor, "Stay with Pope and Kie, Princess, we'll be back." 

"This is your captain speaking." John B announces, "HMS Pogue comin' in for landing." 

JJ jumps off the side and hooks the anchor into the mud on the bank. 

"We good?"

"Yeah, we good." JJ responds back to my brother while double checking the line. 

"Alright. Here goes nothin'." John B kills the engine, leaving the keys in the ignition for a quick getaway if need be. 

"Hey." Pope leans on the rail above the steering column.

John B turns to him, "Yeah?"

Pope points to JJ who's standing with one foot up on a piece of debris, "Don't let him do anything stupid."

JJ smirks, "Oh, we will."

"I'm not making promises." John B shakes his head at JJ, knowing he will definitely find something to do that's considered stupid to Pope.

"Yeah, I know." Pope grumbles while plopping back down in his seat.

My eyes track Kie when she crosses the boat to stay in front of John B, "Be careful." She hands him the key while giving him a concerned look, "I mean it."

He awkwardly chuckles while his cheeks turn bright red, "Yeah... Yeah." After a weird moment of silence he jumps off the boat and walks towards JJ, patting his shoulder when he passes him, ignoring the amused look he's giving him, "Let's go."

I sigh and lay down on the front of the boat, draping a towel over me again, not even five seconds go by before I feel a tap on my shoulder, "Don't fall asleep, Willow," Pope softly tells me, "at least until we know you won't start having other symptoms."

"I'm awake. The suns just out to get me today."

"So you're with JJ now?"

I know he probably could care less but wants me to stay awake, making me chuckle at his awkwardness.

"I don't know, Pope. We're figuring it out as we go. It's all super new, so we don't want to rush it."

"Having sex right away sounds rushed, doesn't it?"

I sit up, keeping the towel on my head so it shields some of the sun from my face, "He's not a stranger, Pope. It wasn't like I randomly hooked up with a touron or something, he's been apart of my life for years."

"I know, I'm just making small talk." He holds his hands up in surrender, "You're right, just be careful, you know how he is with girls. I want to believe his intentions are good but relationships are foreign to him so I don't want to see you get hurt while he figures out his feelings."

"I know."

Kie gives me a sympathetic smile, "What's your biggest pet peeve?"

I silently thank her for changing the subject.

"People ignoring someone who's clearly struggling."

"Good one." Pope smiles at me.

Kie sighs, "Mine is giving one percent to the environment."

"What's wrong with that?"

Oh here we go.

Kie gives him a look like he's stupid, "We only have one earth, Pope. We should be giving it 100 percent, bare minimum."

"Right, but that's not fiscally sound." Pope rolls his eyes at her scrunched face.

"Neither is destroying the planet we have to live on." Kie sasses.

I've always appreciated her passion for caring about the environment, but there are times where she can be a bit extreme about it. I guess that's not a bad thing, but when you're constantly being lectured to do better by earth, it gets a little tiring. Especially since more than half our group could care less about it, so she is constantly yelling at the boys to recycle, use less plastic, etcetera.

I quickly look around when I feel like someone said my name, uneasiness settles in my stomach when I see Pope and Kie still engrossed in their own conversations.

"Did y'all say my name?" I wearily ask, "Like literally a second ago?"

They both shake their heads, concern written all over their faces when I wildly look around again after something whispers in my ear. What was said, no fucking idea, but it's scary as fuck.

"Hey, are you okay?" Pope moves to sit next to me on the bow, his hand lightly grasping my shoulder.

"I.. um, yeah I'm good." I lie, "I'm just tired because the sun, and my head is still bothering me."

I jump when I feel something moves close to my ear, "Willow."

"Okay... something is going on with you," Kie quietly comments, "what is it?"

"I keep hearing things." I whisper, "Do you guys really not hear my name being said?"

Pope and Kie share a look, before turning back to me, making me feel super self conscious about this. 

"I think you hit your head pretty hard," Pope reassures me, "concussions can cause hallucinations and confusion."

I wince when I shake my head, "No--"

"Hey, hey, cops." Pope whispers, his hand coming up to point at the parking lot where there was a white and blue police truck parking near the motel office.

"Shit." Kie jumps off the boat, Pope trailing her while telling her to call JJ or John B, "I can't the towers are down."

"If I lose my merit scholarship, I'm going to kill someone."

I nervously glance up at the motel room the boys are in, hoping JJ and John B can get out in time so they don't get arrested for breaking and entering, or tampering with evidence if it's a crime scene. Kie and Pope duck behind debris and run along the side of the building, stopping once they get under the windows of the room the boys are in.

I stifle my laugh when Pope struggles to throw a rock at the second story window while Kie scolds him, I can assume she's making some form of comment about him being a nerd. She ends up taking matters into her own hands, throwing a rock directly at the window, they both start jumping around when the blinds flicker open.

I hold my breath when JJ and John B jump out of the window onto the small steep roof below while clinging to the side of the building, as soon as Kie jumps in the boat she sits down at the steering wheel, "Should we peel?"

Pope looks back at her, his forehead creasing when he pinches his brows together, "Never leave a pogue behind."

"No, Kie. We're fine down here." I shift my gaze back to the boys right when JJ slips and drops something metal from his waistline.

Was that a gun? The fuck.

Thankfully JJ regains his balance and squishes himself against the wall when the blinds flicker open, revealing Officer Shoupe's face, we fearfully watch as he looks out for a long moment, seconds drawing out into minutes, his eyes roaming the cluttered courtyard of the motel. I didn't realize I was holding my breath until the blinds flickered shut, causing me to breathe out a shaky sigh.

JJ looks super excited to be doing something reckless while John B looks like he's hating his life right now. I can't help the smile that crosses my face, I love how enthusiastic JJ always is, even when he's seconds away from being arrested, he finds something to be happy about. Part of me knows that its a coping mechanism since his homelife is horrible, but it still makes me happy that he gets to be himself when he's with us. I have no idea what his life would look like if he didn't have our group, if he had to stay at his dads house everyday and be abused more than he already is.

Kie sighs, "Oh my god these boys."

After the cops finally leave, we signal for the boys to come back, they quickly jump down from the roof and run over to us with wide smiles. Pope frantically gets the anchor in as if the cops will come back and arrest us any second, even though they already drove away.

JJ sits down next to me and pulls me into his side, "Hi."

"Hi." I smile softly.

"Well that was fun." He laughs while looking around at everyone, "Could have warned us sooner though."

"We would have but Pope was on the math team." Kie tells us, while giving Pope a weird look.

John B turns to him, "You were on the math team?"

"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." Pope ignores them, "Did you guys find anything?"

JJ pulls away from me and reaches for his waistline and pocket, "No, I don't think so," His face turns to a faked surprised expression as he pulls a gun and a wad of cash out, "Oh yeah, we did."

"Dude what." Kie exclaims in a raised voice.

"Oh, Jay." I lean back on my hands and watch Kie and Pope panic.

"What the hell." Pope whisper shouts, "Why would you take that from a crime scene?"

John B starts to silently laugh while driving us away from the rundown motel.

"Better than the cops having it."

"You serious?" Pope panics. "I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship."

"Hey, hey, hey," JJ carefully pulls away from me before getting up to hold the gun to Popes mouth, "Sh, sh, sh, sh. At least you have us, right?"

"I'm living the nightmare." He drops down next to John B and glances at me, "You're cool with this?"

I shrug, "It's not the end of the world, Pope. JJ having a gun isn't surprising to me, and as soon as he touched it, he had to take it, or his fingerprints would have been on it when the cops took it as evidence."

He raises his hands and drops them, letting them smack on his legs, "Of course you're fine with it. You're going to end up just like him now."

JJ tenses, his face dropping for a second before he puts on a face to shield the low blow.

I pull him down to sit with me and kiss his shoulder, "Don't listen to him."

"He's right," JJ says in a low voice, not meeting my eye now, "I'm not good for you."

"Jay, stop. Yes you are." I lean into his side, but he brushes me off and stands up.

I frown while he crosses the boat and grabs a beer after sitting down near John B and Kie. My heart sinks watching him chug his beer down and avoid looking my way.

I don't know why everyone always has to pick on JJ, he tries so hard to be a good person, but then he gets talked down to for being enthusiastic about things or making mistakes. My body moves to lay back and curl up under my towel, letting myself get lost in thought while they all make small talk.

I'm starting to get freaked out by the voice I keep hearing. I don't know if I'm going crazy or what, but it scares me. It sounds so real, almost like someone is next to me, but I know I'm not like hearing ghosts or something, because it's the same voice every time, it seems to demand my attention, but I have no idea what it wants. The only ghost that would ever have a reason to talk to me would be my dad if he was actually dead, but I don't think it sounds like his voice. 

I am seriously losing it.

~~~~~

"Willow, wake up." John B pokes my face, "Come on."

I groan and bat his hand away, "Go away bro."

"Fine, we'll leave you here then."

My eyes pop open, not wanting to be left behind while my crazy brain tortures me with scary voices, John B laughs and helps me sit up. I glance over to see JJ avoiding eye contact from the dock while Kie and Pope argue about something a few feet away from him.

Slowly, I get to my feet, draping my towel around my shoulders before climbing out of the boat, silently I follow everyone until they stop near a shack next to the coast guard tents, where a few of our school friends are sitting. I didn't understand why everyone was intently staring off in the same direction until my eyes landed on the dead body laying on a stretcher with a local woman crying next to him.

"Who's that?" John B asks the girl closest to us.

"It's Scooter Grubbs, he was out during the storm." She pulls her phone out and turns the screen towards us, "Check out this pic I got, dead bodyyy."

My stomach twists when my dads face flashes in my mind, as if he was the one laying on the stretcher, his body bloated from being in the water far too long. 

"What kind of boat did he have?" JJ asks while letting his eyes trail down to her chest.

Jealousy burns through me when she smirks at him after he finally looks at her face again, he fearfully glances over at me, clearly catching on that I caught him checking her out. I'm the quiet type, the suffer in silence and avoid confrontation sort of person and so I don't do anything but chew on my lip and turn away because it's not like the girl did anything wrong and he isn't tied down to me, I knew he was a player, so my feelings aren't really valid. Whatever. 

This day went from amazing to horrible. Life can be so annoying sometimes.

"Somehow that dirtbag copped a Grady white, everyone's out looking for it."

That was enough for me, my hands grasp the metal chair I'm on, pushing myself up to my feet, my eyes stay on the boat the entire time I walk away, my ears trained on my surroundings, wondering if anyone cared enough to follow me, though I know they won't. I'm always left to handle my problems on my own.

I was dumb for thinking JJ and I would be anything more than sex, he's clearly finding a way to pull back from me. He's already avoiding me and looking at other girls, right in front of me at that, like he doesn't care if I get hurt. 

I can't believe I let myself think I'd be important to someone for once.

I mean I'm clearly struggling and no ones cared to check on me yet, the minutes have been ticking by, I'm sure it's been thirty minutes or so now of me sitting alone while they all joke around with that girl. JJ and John B casts glances my way sometimes, but that's it, they're all in their own world together, per usual, then there's me. The youngest in the group, always pushed aside or forgotten about, hanging in the shadows watching them be happy. 

That girl is super close to JJ, for my sake I wish he'd move away from her, even if he only wanted sex from me, he could at least respect me enough to be more subtle about being interested in other girls again. We've been friends most of our lives, that has to mean at least something to the point that he wouldn't intentionally hurt me, but then again he doesn't really owe me anything just because we fucked. Besides he's technically only John Bs friend, he just puts up with me because he has to if he wants to be apart of the crew. 

My shaky hands wipe my wet tear streaked cheeks after I notice everyone finally coming my way, I'm quick to lay down, shielding my face with my towel before they all drop down into the boat, they're oddly quiet, the boat starts up a few seconds later, the only sound is the wind while we head home. 

Well I think that's where were going anyways.

~~~~~

"Willow." Kie's soft voice pulls me from my dreams.

My eyes crack open, her blurry face watches me while she holds the towel away from my head, "Yeah?"

"We're back at the Chateau," She helps me sit up, "we dropped Pope off at home so he could apologize to his dad, JJ and John B went inside already."

I glance over at the house, frowning when I remember JJ is back to being cold towards me, "Oh, okay."

"JJs being weird now."

I turn to her while slowly nodding, "Ever since Pope said I'd turn out like him, he's been avoiding me, then he was all over that girl earlier."

"He was just sitting next to her, Willow, I wouldn't consider that all over her." She tugs her shorts up her legs, standing so she can slip them on all the way, "I noticed how sad he looked before he put on his 'nothing bothers me' mask after Pope made that comment."

"I feel bad for him, Kie, he always gets looked down on because he's carefree and a little wild. But he's not a bad person, you know?" I shift my gaze back to the house when I hear the boys on the porch, catching JJs eye when he looks our way, he continues to watch me while he lights his blunt.

I want to run up there and be held in his arms, I need him right now because I feel like my head is a heavy bowling ball and I'm worried about being like haunted or something crazy like that, but he clearly doesn't need me or want me and that hurts really fucking bad. 

"Pope shouldn't have said what he said," She agrees, "and it's not fair for him to judge you now that you're with JJ."

"I'm not with JJ. All we did was have sex and have a conversation afterwards, Kie." I grumble while turning away from JJs stare, "After I told him I didn't want him to feel like I was asking him to be a different person since he doesn't date, he told me he doesn't want to mess things up. Does that mean he doesn't really want anything more than have sex, or is he just saying he wants to go slow and see where it goes?"

Kie pinches her lips together while she thinks of a response, "Well he's an impossible person to read, so it's hard to tell, honestly. He is known for his lack of commitment, I know you want more and maybe he does too, but I don't think he's going to just turn into this romantic guy, Willow. Not that he wouldn't be a good boyfriend, he probably could be since he's the protective type, but he has a lot of childhood trauma to work through before he can be this stable sweet person you want."

"He's not that hard to read, but I know all that. I'm not trying to change him, I want him to be himself, but without the self-hatred and idea that he'd ruin me or whatever. And he does have a really sweet side, I know that's hard to believe but I saw it last night."

She smiles, "I believe you, I do, but like I said, he's got shit to work on before he's going to be the guy you've envisioned standing at the alter at your dream beach wedding."

"Stop!" I lightly shove her away, "I'm not trying to run off and marry him right now. I just want him to want me, and actually be with me and only me." 

"He'll come around, he's been drooling over you for so long, I doubt he can resist you now that he's had a taste of you."

"Kie!" I laugh when she stands up so I can't push her again, shaking my head while getting to my feet, "He's back to being cold towards me, so I don't think he enjoyed last night as much as I hoped he did, it was probably just regular ole sex for him while it meant everything to me."

She wraps her arm around me, walking down the dock together, "I'm sorry he's being like this."

"Oh well."

When we get to the porch Kie lets me go and falls into a conversation with my brother while JJ just watches me sit alone on the couch, he doesn't even offer me his blunt like he normally would so I know he's still being weird, though I don't understand why he even cares to look my way, it honestly makes me want to cry which is annoying. 

A small huff blows out my nose when I shove myself off the couch and head inside, JJs laughing about something my brother said that I didn't care to listen to, though they go quiet after I leave. The house is stuffy and hot since the power is down from the storm, my room feels like a sauna when I close my door behind me, but I don't care because the white pills in my hand have all my attention now. 

Oxy. The substance that melts away pain, which sounds perfect right now since my head is killing me, so I pop one in my mouth, washing it down with water from the bottle on my nightstand. I only have a few leftover, so this is a temporary fix to my pain, but I'll take what I can get for the time being. 

After staring at myself in my body length mirror for far too long, I finally snap out of my depressing thoughts and force myself to leave the room, snagging one of the throw blankets off the couch when I pass it. Everyone eyes me when I come back out, but they don't ask me about my absence so I quietly tuck myself into the porch couch and look out over the marsh in the distance. 

"Okay, so um.." Pope bursts through the porch screen door, starling me, "we didn't see anything. We don't know anything." I sigh and roll over, pulling my blanket over me even though its hot as hell today, "We need to have total and complete amnesia."

"Actually, Pope's right for once." JJ speaks up first, "See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny.""Guys, we can't keep that money."

"Okay." JJ sighs, "Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara."

"We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma."

"We can't just show up and hand her wads of cash, dude," I don't move the blanket from my head, though they all shut up to listen to me for once, "that's super obvious that we snooped around his motel room, which she probably doesn't even know about, so she's gonna question how we have that kind of money and why we aren't using it for ourselves."

"Exactly." JJ agrees with me. "Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too." Pope adds, "We gotta go dark.""If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree.""I don't agree." John B chimes in, making JJ scoff, "Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin'."

"Can we go fish?" Pope pleads, "I need to let off steam or I will go into a full blown panic over this nonsense."

Everyone starts to shuffle around so I finally remove my blanket, seeing JJ hanging back while the rest of the crew heads to the dock, he still doesn't say anything while walking with me, though he's staying close to my side with a fishing pole in his hand, so maybe he feels bad about what happened between us. 

Once we reach everyone I sit down on the ground near JJ, listening to all of them talk about our summer plans, but every few minutes JJ taps my leg with his foot so I'll look up at him through my smoke from my blunt, his eyes linger on my features for a moment and then he'll go back to focusing on the water. 

I hate that we're back to the hot and cold moods, this is worse than how it was before though, because I know how good it is to have him close to me now, which makes being alone feel ten times lonelier.

"Alright, so think about it, Pope." John B pops up on the railing, "How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?"

"Prostitution."

"That'd explain why he was at the brothel looking motel." I mumble through my smoke. 

"Square groupers, bro." John B flails his hands around to be dramatic, "Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean?" He turns our way, "JJ?"

"They were straight smugglin'." JJ answers him, his hand slowly reeling his line when it goes taunt.

"Smugglin'." John B repeats in a serious tone, "And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck."

"Hell, yeah." JJ calls out, "Fish on!"

"I'm tired, I'm gonna go inside." My fingers flick the end of my blunt into the tin can we use as a trash can before pushing myself up to stand while JJ and Pope reel their lines all the way in. I make my way inside and crawl into my bed, only to groan when everyone follows me in and finds spots around my room to sit down.

"For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it," Pope snags the wad of cash from Kie, "it probably belongs to someone else."She kicks her feet up to rest on my bed while settling into get comfy in my reading chair, "Minor details."

"They could come looking for it. Taking it would be catastrophically stupid." "Right," JJ leans across me, grabbing the cash from Pope, before sitting down next to me, resting his hand on my hip, "well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time. All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal."Pope sighs dramatically, clearly fed up with the conversation, "And how exactly do we do that?""Kegger?" Kie and I speak at the same time making us both laugh.

"I'm down to party."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Pope gives me a pointed look, "because of your head."

"I'm good, y'all go get the kegs, pick me up before you go to the boneyard." I climb over JJ and grab clothes from my dresser, "I need to shower first." 

-