𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 {𝚓𝚓 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔}

𝚜.𝟷 𝚎𝚙.𝟸 -𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚟𝚎-

"and maybe I should tell you / that I've villainized my body for too long / would it help you find excuses to move on? / like I need more excuses to be strong"

~

Tate had Pope drop her off at The Wreck instead of John B's house to avoid suspicion. She'd worked there for so long, nobody would think twice about her showing up to put in some extra hours every once in awhile. They pulled up just in time to see Kiara's dad's truck peeling out of the parking lot. "Must've gotten caught," Pope said, pulling into a spot and turning to stare after Mr. Carrera's truck.

"Think they're in much trouble?" asked Tate. She was more worried about John B getting in trouble with the DCS than anything. They were both walking on thin ice.

"They'll be fine." JJ moved to take her hand again, but she pulled away and opened up the van door.

"I'm gonna put in a few hours and meet up with you guys later," she said, not meeting JJ's eyes. "I'll try and figure out what happened from Mr. C when he gets back."

"Alright..." JJ said, eyeing her carefully. He was so confused. One minute Tate seemed interested in him, and the next she was freezing him out. "Well, if anything happens come find us."

"If not, we'll catch up tomorrow," said Pope.

Tate nodded and hopped out of the van, pulling the door shut behind her. She took the steps to The Wreck two at a time and entered through the kitchen door. She felt immediately calmed by the familiar senses. Tina, one of the other long-time employees, was frying shrimp and slicing peppers at the same time on the far side of the room. "Hey, honey," she called over her shoulder. "How's everything?"

"Everything's fine," Tate lied, leaning against the counter next to Tina and swiping a slice of bell pepper, popping it into her mouth before Tina could protest.

"Yeah? Heard you're having some problems with the DCS."

Tate frowned. "Nah, that's all John B. I'm doing fine." She pulled her blonde hair into a ponytail and pulled a server's apron down from the shelf. "Where's Mr. C?"

Tina gave her a dark look. "Having some problems with Kie. Can't control that girl, you know."

Tate forced a laugh. "Hope everything's okay," she said lightly, and pushed open the door to the rest of the restaurant.

She'd only been working for about fifteen minutes when the door swung open again and a very angry Mr. Carrera stepped through, followed by Kiara. Tate looked up as though surprised to see them. "Hey, Mr. C... Kie," she greeted them as she wiped down a table. "What's up?"

"What are you doing here?" Mr. Carrera asked. "I don't have you scheduled until tomorrow afternoon- right?" He looked to Tate for confirmation.

She shrugged. "I got bored. Anything I can help out with?"

"You can get my daughter in line," Mr. Carrera muttered.

"I'm... not the one to ask for that," Tate laughed. "What's up, Kie?" Kiara glared at Tate, but waited until her father disappeared into the kitchen to say anything.

"The hell was that?" she said in an angry whisper. "You promised to stay on look out and then just ditch us? Like dude- I know you've only been hanging with us for a few days, but-"

"I'm not the one who wanted to ditch you," Tate murmured, her voice cool. "I'm not a shitty person just because I'm not a Pogue." She went back to wiping the table even though it was already much cleaner than it needed to be.