𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 {𝚓𝚓 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔}

𝚜.𝟸 𝚎𝚙.𝟼 -𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎-

"i was raised over the phone / your word was a wave then / endlessly breaking."

There's an old saying that goes something like everything will be just fine in the morning. This is rarely true. But when Tate woke up in JJ's arms and realized the skies had cleared and nothing tragic had happened overnight, she felt a little better about everything.

She and JJ had a slow morning, then joined Pope and Kiara in the surf shed. JJ pulled down his board and started waxing it while Tate dealt out cards to teach Kiara how to play poker.

"That's a lot of wax on your board," said Pope, peering over JJ's shoulder. "Put too much wax, it's gonna be slippery."

JJ blinked twice and stood up straight. "Are you telling me how to wax my board?"

"Just saying that's a lot of wax-"

"No, no, you're telling me how to wax my board," said JJ, annoyed. "You kidding?"

Tate caught Kiara's eye and gave her a this-is-driving-me-insane type of look. Kiara returned it gratefully.

"I'm just saying it's a colossal waste of wax," Pope shot back.

Kiara stood up. "Guys, really?"

A car honked a street away. JJ looked over to Tate. "Did you hear that?"

Then, there was a familiar engine sputter and a second later, the Twinkie was rolling towards them over the dirt road. Tate jumped to her feet. "No way."

The door opened and out jumped John B, an enormous smile covering his face. "Guess who's out of the clink, boy!" he said, and bounded towards his friends.

"No fucking way, man!" said Pope, as the four of them ran towards John B.

Tate reached him first, tackling him in a massive bear-hug. The others followed, piling onto them, everyone hugging John B as though they hadn't seen him in years. "We missed you," Kiara murmured, her hands gripping John B's t-shirt.

"I missed you guys too," said John B.

Finally, JJ stepped back. "How'd you do it?" he asked eagerly. "You bust out?"

"Uh, they dropped the charges," said John B.

Pope's eyes widened. "They dropped the charges?"

"That's crazy," Tate laughed. "Dude, we were so worried."

"When'd you become such a mom?" John B teased, giving Tate a playful shove.

She shoved him back. "I didn't, I was just worried."

"So you're telling me I did all that work for nothing?" said JJ.

Tate and Pope both burst out laughing. "Oh, the most elaborate escape plan of all time?"