𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 {𝚓𝚓 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔}

𝚜.𝟷 𝚎𝚙.𝟹 -𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛-

"there is no punch line anybody can tack on / there are loose ends by the score / what did I come down here for? / you. / you."

~

"So, Tate, how's Rafe?" Kiara asked, not bothering to turn around from the front seat of the van as she asked.

Tate looked up in unpleasant surprise as JJ and Pope's heads turned to see her reaction. "Wouldn't know," she said shortly.

"So you guys aren't together anymore?"

Tate pulled a face and looked out the window, wondering exactly how long it would take to get to the salvage yard. "I don't think we were really together in the first place. Although I heard he got a motorcycle."

"Oh, you should swoop on that," JJ said, and then winced slightly.

Tate shot him a critical look before John B murmured from the front seat, "Don't encourage her. We don't need that again."

"Although a motorcycle might be nice," Pope chimed in. JJ and Tate both looked at him with amused smiles. He held his hands up in mock surrender. "What? If you're gonna date a Kook, at least date the richest one."

"We weren't dating!" Tate protested.

"That's even worse," muttered Kiara.

Tate rolled her eyes. "Can we change the subject? Pope, you wanna complain some more about stealing the drone?"

"Yes, actually I do. We-"

"Pope," John B cut him off, "we're not stealing the drone. We're borrowing it.

Pope let out a deep sigh and stared out the window. "Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality," he said sagely.

"Wait, did you come up with that?" John B asked, sounding almost impressed.

Tate watched JJ roll up a joint and lick it to seal it shut. She reached into her pocket and quickly remembered that she left her pack of cigarettes back at John B's house. Her mood instantly soured. "Albert Bernstein came up with it," said Pope, sounding exasperated with them for not having known that themselves. "-but it applies to this whole treasure-hunting thing."

There was a long silence, broken by John B's disappointed, "oh."

"So, which is it?" Pope prompted, turning in his seat to look at the back of John's B's head. "Fantasy or reality?"

"Why are you so weird, Pope?" JJ asked, not looking up from the joint he was finishing rolling.

Kiara was looking at Pope with something close to admiration in her gaze . "It's fantasy," she said seriously, "but possible reality."

"Fantasy," Tate said, refusing to let herself get her hopes up about the money.

"Reality," John B said certainly.

"Virtual reality," said JJ, and Tate moved forward slightly to kick his leg. JJ looked up and winked at her, moving the joint to his lips and pulling out his lighter. Just before the flame could reach, however, Pope plucked the joint from his hand and tossed it out the window.

Both Tate and JJ looked at him in disappointment. "Keep the signal clear," Pope said, not caring at all about their dismay. JJ glared at him and shut his lighter, extinguishing the flame and Tate's hopes to smoke before their heist at the salvage yard.

At last, they pulled up on the side of the road and John B put the van in park. "You know what your problem is?" JJ asked Pope as Kiara climbed out the door.