"For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it, it probably belongs to someone else. They could come looking for it." Pope exclaims to the group. "Taking it would be catastrophically stupid!"

For the past 2 hours, they were debating about what to do with the information they had and the possibility of stealing illegal contraband from a possible smuggling boat. So far everyone but Pope and Nate were on board. Pope didn't want to lose his scholarship and Nate didn't want to disappoint his mother.

JJ reaches for the money in Pope's hand and spreads them out in his own. "Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time. All we need to do right now is just figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then we just lay low. Just act normal."

"Right. And how exactly do we do that?" Pope retorts.

"Keggar?" Kie pipes.

The group nods in agreement, but Nathan shakes his head. "No. No. No. If my mom even gets a whiff of alcohol on me, I won't even be allowed to come out of my house anymore."

Kie laughs and puts her arm around Nathan. "Oh come on, Nate! It's just tiny party, what's the worst that can happen?"

"Yeah. Do you really wanna be the guy that's never gone to a party?" JJ asks, actually making eye contact with Nathan.

Nathan looks at him surprised. JJ hadn't spoken to him or even looked his way since they had that weird moment.

"Not really, no." He responds.

"How about this." John B chimes. "You only drink like... one beer and we'll get you back before eight no problem." He claps his hands.

Nathan rolls his eyes. "Ugh fine. I'll go."

"Great!" John B exclaims getting up from where he was seated next to Kie. "Let's throw a keggar, shall we."

JJ hates the pang of jealousy he felt at the fact that John B was the one who convinced Nathan. He just needed to get out of his head.

——————

"Ready to try your first beer?" John B asks Nathan as he pours the brown liquid into a red solo cup.

Nathan wraps his arms around himself and smiles sheepishly. "I guess."

John B laughs and hands Nathan the beer. Nathan stares at it, swirling the liquid around.

"Don't think too much about it. Just take a swig. You won't regret it.Here. Look." He pauses and walks to Nathan, taking the cup out of his hands and taking a sip. He lets out a satisfied sigh. "See. Delicious." He winked, giving Nathan the cup.

Nathan ignores the flutters he felt at the sight and just takes a gulp of the beer, but spits out some of it once the taste settled on his tastebuds. JJ, Kie, and Pope burst out in laughter. Coughing, he manages to get out, "What the hell! That shit's nasty."

"Yeah. Well, you don't really drink beer for the taste, sweetheart."JJ teases and grabs the beer that John B has ready for him. "It's an acquired taste, but you'll get used to it."

"Yeah. Three beers in, you won't even notice the taste anymore. Just keep drinking and let loose. It's a party, that's what you're supposed to do." Kie says and grabs a beer for herself.

Nathan just rolls his eyes and takes another sip. This time it was able to go down his throat easily now that he knew what to expect. They were right. He just has to get used to it.

JJ comes up behind Nathan and grabs his shoulders pushing him along. "Come on! Let's mingle." He smiles and Nathan returns it.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes." JJ says seriously and then laughs a second later.

Nathan just rolls his eyes and follows JJ's lead. 'This boy will be the death of me.' He thinks.

——————

A few hours later and five drinks in, Nathan sat miserable on a log staring at JJ who was flirting with some blonde chick. The rest of the group were also flirting with the tourists so he was alone.

Based on the way he was feeling at the moment, Nathan assumes that he was probably a sad drunk. He guessed his mood was apparent on his face cause a few moments later a random girl plops beside him.

"What's got you so down?" She asks. When Nathan didn't answer, she follows his line of sight. "Ahh so a classic case of unrequited love. Went through that last summer, it was the worst."

"Look I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not really in the mood to have small talk right now." He says actually turning to look at her.

"Well you don't look like you're having much fun just wallowing on this log, so how about instead of just sitting around doing nothing, you actually have a good time."

"And how do you suppose I do that?" He smiles sarcastically with his eyebrows raised.

The girl gets up and offers her hand. "How about you dance with me?"

Nathan looks at her and then her hand. He knows she's right. He probably looks like an idiot just sitting there, and it was his first party. He might as well enjoy it. He takes her hand and laughs. "Sure."

"Great! I'm Sabrina by the way." She says guiding him to the group of people who were dancing to the rap music playing on a speaker someone brought.

"Nathan." He replies, letting her guide him.

"Cute." She smiles and grabs his hands, placing them on her waist. "Now dance." She says looping her arms around his neck.

The two groove to the music when a more upbeat song comes on. Sabrina smiles and lets go of Nathan. She starts dancing stupidly to the music and Nathan laughs and follows her lead.

He has to admit, this was incredibly fun.

Suddenly, Sabrina pulls him towards her and whispers in his ear. "Just so you know, that guy you're hung up on is staring over here and he doesn't look the happiest." She shifts so that Nathan could look in JJ's direction without being obvious and she was right. JJ was looking at them He had a girl practically hanging on his arm, but he wasn't giving her an ounce of attention. "Now pretty boy is the one wallowing." She laughs and Nathan laughs along with her and just continues dancing. His mood definitely lifted since she turned up. He was more than grateful.

After awhile, they stop dancing and sit on the sand talking about pretty much everything. There was now doubt that Sabrina was into Nate. Honestly, Nathan couldn't say he wasn't attracted to her. She was new, and she was interested. The same can't be said about JJ and Nathan needed to get over that. He was coming to terms with the fact that JJ will probably never feel the same.

"She doesn't want it!"

Nathan and Sabrina turned to JJ grabbing Topper aggressively.

"No, no, no, no!" John B exclaimed keeping JJ away from Topper. Nathan immediately gets up and runs to them.

JJ and Topper keep on yelling each other.

"Dirty Pogues!" Topper yells.

Nathan got there just as John B runs to Topper and punches him in the face.

JJ tries following John B's lead, but Nathan holds him back.

Topper punches John B and throws him onto the sand.

JJ gets even angrier at the sight and Nathan has trouble keeping him back. After all, Nathan was way smaller than JJ, it's a miracle he's kept him back this long.

The fighting going on behind Nathan distracts him and JJ breaks free to cheer John B on. Nathan sees Sabrina watching the fight and walks towards her.

"These are your friends?" She asks.

"Yup." Nathan replies and looks at the boys, worried out of his mind. He wasn't used to this feeling. The last time he could remember feeling this way was when his dad was in the hospital.

"Stop! John B!" Kie exclaims but the boys don't listen.

"Come on, Topper! Let's go!" John B yells. "Come on!"

Suddenly, Topper throws John B into the shallow water and holds John B's head down.

"Oh my god. He's drowning him!" Nathan could hear Sabrina next to him. Nathan felt so helpless, he didn't know what to do.

Nathan looks to JJ and sees him taking something out of his bag. It took a second for him to realize it was the gun. Sabrina sees it at the same time as he does.

"Oh my god! I have to go!" Sabrina yells panicked. Nathan barely hears her, he was already starting for JJ who was holding the gun to Topper's head, but she grabs his arm forcing him to turn to her. "Look for me another day?" Nathan just nods distractedly and shakes out of her hold running towards the group.

JJ finally let's go of Topper, but he raises the gun over his head. "Alright! Everyone listen up! Get the hell off of our side of the island!!" He yells and shoots twice into the air.

"JJ!" Nathan yells and Kie pushes JJ's side.

"Are you crazy?! You idiot!" Pope seethes. "Why would you do that?"

"I'm saving his life, okay?!" JJ screams.

"You're gonna jeopardize everything!"

"Stop!" Nathan yells getting in between them. "Calm the hell down! The both of you!"

Pope backs off and walks off in a rage. JJ seems like he was going to go after him and pick a fight, but Nathan gets in his way and grabs his head, making JJ look at him. "Hey! Hey!" When JJ meets his eyes, Nathan speaks softer. "Calm down, okay. Breathe." He pauses, waiting for JJ to listen to him. "Breathe." He repeats. Finally, JJ calms down and he just moves his head forward, laying it on Nathan's chest. Nathan wraps one arm around JJ and grabs the gun with the other. Kie comes around and takes it from his hand. Nathan wraps his other arm around JJ and draws him closer.

"It's all gonna be okay. Just breathe." He whisper into JJ's hair. "John B is safe now. You're safe now." Nathan could feel JJ shaking in his arms. He never thought he'd ever see the boy who was always so confident cry. He definitely didn't think JJ would be crying in his arms. This day was full of surprises. But he was glad to be there in that moment, with JJ wrapped in his arms.

Hey, lovelies!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Took me a while to write it cause I wanted it to be perfect. Hope you all are having a good day! Byeeeee!!!