𝐒 𝐄 𝐕 𝐄 𝐍 𝐓 𝐄 𝐄 𝐍
for now, friends?

When Meredith was a younger girl, she would go everywhere with her father. She would be by his side when he took business calls or when he was sorting troubles out with his hotel. She was there for all of it. Sometimes, he would even bring her to work with him, and she would get to see what his life was like every day. Other times, she was just with her father for the sole purpose of not wanting to be near her manipulative mother. Of course, she was too young then to notice her mother's obsession with bedazzling the family name. But now? Oh, now, it almost was insufferable.

When she had first let the pogue into her house, she couldn't help but think how stupid she was being and how disappointed her parents would be in her for being so reckless and betraying their rules, Kook rules.

But, as time went on and they shoved their rivalry under the rug, Meredith didn't feel the need to he so hateful towards him. Sure, he was a pogue, but maybe, she realized that her parents and fellow kooks like twisting stories.

After all, that was their strong suit: twisting stories and crafting lies.

All day, she had spent it with JJ Maybank, Island's most reckless pogue, and she didn't mind enjoying it.

Meredith slid her cat eye sunglasses over her head, letting them rest carefully atop of her hair so it didn't mess up her newly styled hair.

It took them at least five minutes to enter her father's office due to the overly excited employees and large building.

When they officially entered her father's office, Meredith ordered JJ to begin his search immediately. They couldn't waste any time if they wanted to make it back to their respective homes from the mainland before Midsummers.

"Where does one hide a letter?" JJ mumbled, rummaging through the file cabinet while Meredith took the space at the desk.

"That's a great question," She shrugged. "How does one keep a secret all day when someone else is so kind to help them?" Meredith retorted snarkily, giving the blonde a mischievous smirk as he rolled his eyes.

"Alright," JJ pursed his lips. "I see how it's gonna be."

She chuckled amusingly before looking back down at the drawers lined with paperwork. She knew that if they wanted to get this done, it would be helpful if her father didn't leave his desk a mess.

Nevertheless, she ignored that thought for the moment, eyes leaving JJ's. She ignored the butterflies invading her stomach, tossing aside a useless packet of payments towards the hotel firm.

"Hey, Meredith..." She looked up at the sound of the blonde's urgency, watching as he pulled out a single paper.

Getting up from her spot on the chair, she also watched as he dug into his back pocket, retrieving the letter he had been carrying around all day. "Come here."

She followed his order, hovering beside him as she held the two letters beside each other. They were identical. They had done it. They found the translation copy.

"Holy shit," She let out a shocked breath, lips turning up in a smile. "Here, let me see."

She took the copy from his hand, flipping it over to reveal the translations on the back in italic letters. She could practically feel the smile plastered on his lips but chose to ignore it.

"Well?" JJ broke the silence as she read over the paper, brows pinched in utter confusion. "What's it say?"

"Uh, it's in gullah," She cleared her throat, moving her eyes back to the top of the page. "I'm assuming you already knew that?" She looked up at him for confirmation, his head nodding.

"Yeah," he assured. "I did. Sorry."

"No, you're good," Meredith shrugged, licking her lips as her eyes left his and went to the paper. "Alright, uh.." Meredith cleared her throat. "... dated 1844, 'to my beloved son, Robert. I am awaiting the hour of my public murder with great composure of mind and cheerfulness, knowing I am soon bound for glory.' What?" She scrunched her face up in confusion, the blonde pogue meeting her eyes with the same puzzlement.

"He was lynched?" JJ's statement came out as more of a question, but then he nodded in affirmation. She chose not to question him, knowing well that he knew more about it than she did.

She dropped her eyes back to the translation before continuing. "'Do not nurse grief to vengeance, but instead trust in God with all your heart, for He doeth all things well. Until we meet again in Heaven, your loving father, Denmark Tanny.' Wait, what?!" She quickly shot up at the name, having recognized it from her father's storytimes as a little girl when he would tell her about the Royal Merchant ship wreck and share the story about the lost gold rumored to be on the ship. If only she knew that it wasn't just a childish story.

"Dude, what?" She raised her voice, forcing JJ to slap his hand against her lips, causing her to fall silence.

"Meredith, be quiet." He demanded, causing the girl to shove his hand off of her mouth.

"Okay, okay, shit, sorry." She muttered, sighing. "What does that even mean?"

"Is that all it says?" JJ questioned, moving to her side and examining the paper.

"Well, there's a postscript." She informed, causing the boy to perk up in concern. "It's just a planters log, though."

"Hey, can you read it, actually?" JJ suggested, watching as she gave him a skeptical glance, but nodded anyway.

"Uh, 'matters applicable to the property of the estate. Bacca, cotton, corn tomato. But lastly to Robert...'"

"His son," JJ confirmed.

"Yeah, his son," Meredith nodded in agreement. "Okay, 'harvest the wheat near the water in parcel nine forthwith.' That's it." Together, the two teenagers looked up, meeting one another's eyes. JJ sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"That's it?" JJ furrowed his brows. "Okay... So, on the day he dies, he writes a letter to his son? Telling him to harvest wheat?"

Together, they began replaying the information on the letter, hoping to solve the meaning. "Yeah. Wheat. It's weird. But, look," She muttered, pointing at a small wheat symbol inscripted in the old paper, JJ's eyes following her finger.

"Wheat is code for gold..." JJ spoke, and he had realized that he had spoken out loud.

"Gold?" Meredith repeated in shock, watching as his eyes looked up at hers in realization.

"Yeah, that's what John B said," the blonde pogue affirmed, realizing that there was no point in hiding the secret from her after not only promising her he would confess but helping as much as she was. It wasn't easy for her to go against her father, but she did it for him anyway.

"Okay, what is all of this about?" Meredith finally demanded answers, placing her hands on her hips defiantly. "JJ."

"Okay, okay," he sighed. "Fine. We're, uh... we're on a treasure hunt." At his words, a giggle immediately escaped her mouth unvoluntarily, and soon enough, her giggles turned into laughs.

If she hadn't found the situation so serious, she would've continued laughing, but by the seriousness radiating off of the blonde, she knew it wasn't something to joke about. Oh, shit! Stop, you're joking."

"I'm not joking," he scoffed. "I'm serious. We're on a treasure hunt for the Royal Merchant gold."

At the news, her jaw dropped open in shock, eyes widening and studying his face for any hint of tease, but she couldn't find any.

"Shit!" She laughed. "The Royal Merchant, wow. My dad always told me stories about the gold and how the ship sunk, but I always figured it was just for fun. JJ, what?!"

"Yes, I know!" He nodded. "It's insane, I get it."

"How did you guys even find this out?" Meredith was now radiating excitement, her eyes selling her calm demeanor. He smiled at the sight of her smiling like a little child.

"Here, take that," he motioned towards the copy of the letter. "Come on, it's a long story. I'll explain it on the way, but we shouldn't stay here."

"If this is your attempt to get out of answering my question, you're wrong," Meredith reminded chipperly, but JJ ignored her, walking out of the office with the letter.

"Hey, come back here!" She called out towards the blonde, who had stopped outside of the doorway for her. She smiled upon noticing that he had waited, and when he saw her closing her father's office door, he smiled back. "You can't just leave me. What if someone saw you walking around? They don't exactly know you."

"Yeah, whatever," JJ shrugged, walking side-by-side with the girl. "I'm not worried about it."

She let out a humorous laugh before looking over at him. "So? Continue."

"Meredith," he warned, lowering his voice to a slight whisper. "There's people around. Unless you'd like to hide out in a closet, make people think we were being quite inappropriate."

"Ugh, sick," She groaned, despite the smile that had formed on her lips and the rose tint on her cheeks. "You're so immature, Maybank."

"You shouldn't have said anything, then I wouldn't have -" Before he was able to finish his teasing sentence, a loud voice called out from behind them, forcing the two to whip around in confusion. 

"Hey!" Their eyes met with two men sauntering their way with formal uniforms with labels on the sleeves that read, 'security.' "You can't be in there!"

Clearly, they had seen the two exiting her father's office and had been startled by the thought of intruders. Quickly, JJ grasped for her hand, wasting no time to run down the large, busy hall.

"Come on!" He called after her, still holding onto her hand in case she couldn't keep up. She ran after him, the sound of the demanding security guards sending fear through her body.

She hadn't even noticed their intertwined fingers as they dodged and swerved people, the two tall men no doubt hot on their trail. "Oh, my God!" As serious as the situation became, she let out a laugh, whether it be from the adrenaline or pure excitement she wasn't sure. But, when JJ laughed along with her, it only fueled more laughter to surface.

"You gotta keep up," JJ called from just seconds ahead of her, his feet much more prepared for this. Clearly, with his history, it wasn't foreign for the Pogues to he running from discipline left and right.

"I'm trying!" She chuckled, realizing just how reckless she was being. "I'm not exactly wearing the right shoes!"

"Hey!" One of the men called out, watching as the two reached the door and wasted no time to bolt from the large building with laughter louder than before.

They left the guards behind, out of breath and disappointed. As JJ slowed his running, Meredith had halted completely, hands on her knees in an attempt to catch her breath.

"Holy shit!" She panted, taking large breaths through her mouth. "I am not cut out for this. Did you see his face?!"

From above her, JJ chuckled, waiting for her to steady her breathing. "Yes, I did." Slowly, her lungs didn't feel like they would collapse, so she stood straight, pulling down her dress that had ridden up slightly from kneeling down.

"Oh, god..." She panted, shaking her head and fixing her hair. "I'm gonna be in so much trouble. My dad's gonna kill me." She no doubt had began realizing the severity of the situation, and the horrible outcomes had begun invading her mind. Noticing the worried expression on her face, JJ's smile fell, no longer laughing in excitement like she once was.

"Hey," he muttered, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to look at him. "He's not gonna find out."

"The second the security alarms went off," She mentioned the blazing alarms that invaded the hotel air. "He found out."

"Okay," he chuckled, shaking her slightly to force her eyes to look into his. "Look, it'll be fine. They don't know who we are. At least, I think."

"You aren't helping," She dead-panned, walking down the sidewalk, JJ following at her side. They began walking back to the Volkswagen, the two's breathing finally settling. "Like, at all."

"I'm sorry," he sighed in content. "Hey, at least we got the letter translated."

"Speaking of which," Meredith remembered, looking over at him. "You're explaining everything. Go."

With a sigh, JJ nodded, knowing he was never getting out of this. But, as much as it surprised him, he didn't want to get out of it. In fact, he didn't want to part ways in less than an hour. He wanted to spend the rest of the day with Meredith Waters if he could, despite her need to return home for Midsummers.

It was wishful thinking, but that didn't mean he couldn't wish.

JJ Maybank had spent the whole ride back to Figure Eight explaining the recent events that the Pogues underwent. From the sunken ship in the marsh to now, where they translated the letter. He explained all of it to her, and for some reason, he didn't regret it or felt hesitancy towards sharing the truth.

Meredith, on the other hand, could never have been more shocked in her life. Sure, she was utterly shocked when she found out her father was most likely involved in it, but it didn't beat the moment JJ revealed everything to her.

The only thing the blonde pogue was regretting was parking a block away from the Waters' residence where they would part ways and go back to how it all was before today.

They sat in silence, and the van parked a street away. Meredith had almost forgotten they were still wearing matching outfits until she looked over at the blonde to see his shades on the bridge of his nose.

"Why did you come to me?" Meredith finally broke the comfortable silence, JJ's ring-clad fingers stopping their beat against the steering wheel.

"What do you mean?" He questioned, brows furrowed.

"For the letter," She reminded. "Why did you come to me? Why couldn't you just pull out a dictionary, or even better, use Google translate?" She joked, but he didn't laugh like he usually did.

Truth was, JJ Maybank didn't quite know himself. Sure, he could've done what she suggested: get a dictionary, never involve her. Then, she would never be forced to be brought into his life and their risky hunt. But, perhaps, that's why he went to her. He didn't want to just walk away like nothing happened. "Honestly, I don't even know."

She watched him shrug, then turn to look at her. When he turned to look at her, he realized she had already been looking, and he couldn't build up the courage to pull his cerulean eyes away from her ebony ones.

"There's gotta be a reason," Meredith tried prying the answer out of him.

"John B told me to, I guess," he spoke as if it was more of a question than an answer, and she didn't even know she had become disappointed until a sigh escaped her lips. "Why? Did you not want to do any of this?"

"No, no, I did," Meredith shook her head. "I actually had fun. For once." At her words, he found himself tilting his head in confusion. He always thought that the life she lived was the best for her, and she could never stoop so low to be around low-lives like him, but after hearing her confession, his view of her kook image changed completely.

"For once?" He repeated, confusion laced in his voice. "Am I just that much fun?"

She laughed at his joke, and it brought a smile to his face at the peaceful sound, but it quickly dissipated. "No, you aren't."

He couldn't help but smile at the way she so effortlessly fit into his life, his personality. He didn't mean to, he didn't want himself to, but his eyes lingered on her styled hair, then towards her eyes that glowed a honey-like color in the sun. She was beautiful, and every time he tried shoving that thought down, it just came back ten times harder.

"What do you mean?" He finally spoke again as her soft laughter died down to a sigh.

"I don't know," She shrugged, nervous to tell him what was occurring in her mess up mind. Not once in Meredith Waters' life had she opened up to anyone about her feelings or, in fact, about anything. She held it all in or swept it under the rug. Whatever was more convenient. Now, sitting in front of someone who actually was interested to know, she didn't know what to say. She couldn't come up with anything, even if he was asking for the truth. "It's just... boring on the other side." She finally spoke up, referring to Figure Eight.

"We all aren't as fun as we look," She smiled over at him. "Kooks put up a front to make themselves look better than everyone else. Hell, I won't lie, I've done it more times than I can count."

JJ scoffed a laugh, both knowing all too well that it was true. Kooks were selfish, wealthy people who thought they were above everyone else. However, when he looked at her, he didn't see that anymore.

"This," She motioned between them. "It was fun."

"Yeah," he whispered, matching her soft tone. "It was. As much as I hate to admit."

She snorted a laugh before letting her eyes trail to the road in front of them, and just when she thought she could have one day without worrying about being the perfect daughter, she noticed her mother's car parked into her driveway from down the road.

"No," She groaned, dropping her head into her hands. At her suddenly worried demeanor, JJ looked around cautiously before looking back at her.

"What?" He spoke, and when she didn't answer, he spoke louder. "What?"

"It's my mom," She sighed, lifting her head. "She's back. She's probably expecting me."

"Oh," he mumbled, worried that it had been more urgent than that. He shrugged, not seeming to understand the direness of the situation. If only he knew how controlling her mother was.

"I should probably go," the sentence she dreaded saying slipped from her mouth with dissapointment.

JJ, who had been expecting it, sighed, but quickly fixed his saddened eyes. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Sure."

"Thanks for today," She smiled, mentioning the free ride he had given her in return for the translated letter. If only she knew how thankful he was of her.

"It's all good," JJ shrugged. "I should be thanking you. You have no idea how much you've helped us out. All of us."

"It's not a big deal," he didn't think he would hear it come from her mouth after such a distraught panic earlier at the thought of betraying her father, but Meredith said it nonetheless.

"Hey," he spoke up, stopping her from getting out of the car completely. "So, what happens with us now?"

Caught off guard by the question, she shrugged. If he was living up to his question, it meant that things wouldn't just be over for them. They wouldn't go back to being worst enemies. Maybe, Meredith didn't hate that idea so much. "Oh, uh... I don't know."

He nodded with pursed lips, but the kook could tell he wanted to say more. "Right, well, is that just it? We go back to hating each other's guts?"

By the look in his eyes, she knew that was the last thing he wanted for them. She smiled because JJ Maybank wanted Meredith Waters around.

"How about this," She cleared her throat, turning back to him from her spot outside of the van. "We can't exactly walk around together, so, for now, friends?"

She didn't know it, but that was exactly what JJ wanted to hear. "Yeah, sure. Speaking of which, if you're up for it... Want me to talk to the others? See how they feel about letting you in this treasure hunt thing?"

Her lips spread into a large smile, and she had to bite her lip to prevent her smile from stretching any farther. "See you around, Maybank."

"Pleasure doing business with you," he joked, sending her a two finger salute. With a chuckle, she repeated the action before walking down the street and forcing herself to enter the real world with controlling mothers, overly priced parties and silk swaddled reputations.