CHAPTER THREE
"so a wifi connection and a dream?"

WHEN SARAH HAD OFFERED for Evelyn to join herself and Topper on a boat ride, the girl had happily declined the idea. Of course she was a little more tactful when it came to saying no, offering up some weak excuse about needing to fix some things up around the house. In reality, her plan is to sit around and watch movies all day.

The backup generators that Alex had insisted on having are being worked overtime at the moment, the air conditioning helping to cool the air down. She cannot exactly understand why Sarah wanted to go out on the water on such a warm day, it isn't Evelyn's idea of a fun time.

The girl grabs a can of soda out of the fridge and some chips from the cupboard before practically throwing herself down on the couch. Now comes the part she dreads every time she does this, trying to find something she actually wants to watch. Usually she'll have Sarah to help her out with the choice, the blonde more than happy to scroll through the movies until she finds a good one.

A small smile pulls at her lips when she sees Clueless, still a little annoyed at the fact Sarah had switched it off on her a few days back. It's then the decision is made and she settles in to watch one of her favourite movies.

"This... stupid... trust her?"

Evelyn frowns, sitting up a little straighter. The voices aren't coming from the TV, nor are they coming from her backyard, they're coming from near her front door.

"She's cool—" A familiar voice states.

"She's a kook!" A feminine voice responds.

Evelyn walks to the front door and stands on her tiptoes so that she can see out the peephole on the door. Her eyebrows scrunch together in confusion when she sees the four of them standing on her doorsteps — JJ, John B, Pope and Kiara.

She opens up the door and the four of them cease their conversation instantly, each of them looking as if they've been caught doing something wrong. Evelyn offers them a hesitant smile, a small amount of concern flowing through her at the sight of them. For all of them to turn up at her house, unannounced mind you, there must be something up.

"Hey," Evelyn greets, eyes flicking from one pogue to another quite quickly. "Is there a reason you're on my doorstep?"

"Maybe we just missed you, sunshine. There isn't always an ulterior motive," JJ shrugs with a grin.

"Mm, right. What can I help you with?"

Evelyn notices the way John B and JJ share a glance, Kiara looking the furthest thing from happy at the entire situation and Pope just looks like his naturally awkward self. Eventually it's John B who steps forward and speaks to her.

"This is uh, a little awkward, but you have power right?" John B asks.

"Yeah I do. Alex has the generators out the back," Evelyn replies. "Oh, did you guys want to come in? It's pretty hot out here,"

"Well, we actually—"

JJ rolls his eyes. "Can we use your internet?"

Kiara slaps his arm lightly, clearly taken aback by the abruptness of his question. He has no shame about it though, simply shrugging his shoulders in response.

"Um, sure. I can get you my laptop," Evelyn replies. "Come in, you can go sit down in the lounge room if you want,"

The Pogues file into her home, the girl closing the door behind them with a confused expression. Evelyn shakes it off and heads up to her bedroom, grabbing her laptop off the bed and returning to the group of teenagers in her home. She sits down beside Pope, opening up the laptop and putting her password in. She doesn't bother actually closing the applications she's been using, instead just clicking on the browser.

The girl holds it out and John B is the one who grabs onto it, rather gently which Evelyn appreciates. JJ watches what John B is doing as he types away on the computer, Kiara and Pope sitting on the other couch with Evelyn and unable to see what ever is going on over there properly.

"Did you guys want something to eat? Or drink?" Evelyn asks, suddenly remembering that she is the host in this situation.

"A drink would be great," JJ responds, looking over to her. The others agree and she nods, pushing herself upwards. "Pope will help you. Won't you, Pope?"

Evelyn looks at the boy who had been sitting next to her as he sends JJ a glance that she can't quite decipher. The blonde merely grins in response as he watches Pope follow Evelyn out of the room and towards the kitchen.

Evelyn grabs some glasses from the top cupboard, placing them down on the kitchen counter as Pope stands by the entrance a little awkwardly.

"You can come closer, you know? I don't bite," Evelyn smiles, prompting the boy to move. She grabs one of the large jugs of water from the fridge and pours it into each of the cups. "So, what exactly do you guys need the internet for?"

Pope's response isn't immediate, Evelyn can tell he's trying to figure out what to say without adding in too much information. The girl doesn't push as he continues to struggle, trying her hardest to not make him uncomfortable.

"We just found some of John B's dad's old stuff is all. He wants to look into it, to be closer to him, you know?" Pope finally manages to say.

Yeah she does, she gets it better than most would.

"Yeah, I get that. I'm the same with my mum," Evelyn responds. "I'm glad he's found a way to stay connected to him,"

"D-did she have a whole office of research?"

Evelyn chuckles and shakes her head. "No, I just take care of her garden. Was her pride and joy so now it's my job to keep it alive,"

"The flowers out front?"

Evelyn looks at him again and nods her head, Pope watching the way the happiness seems to sparkle within her eyes. It's not hard to get a smile from the girl, he's hardly ever seen her without one, but to see the utter joy in her expression — well it's something different entirely.

"So, a wifi connection and a dream?" Evelyn asks, shifting the conversation back to what they are doing here in the first place.

"Something like that," Pope answers.

Evelyn is trying her absolute hardest to stay out of their way but there's obviously something going on that they don't want her involved in. She can respect that, perhaps a little more if they didn't keep shooting her suspicious glances, but all the whispering is admittedly starting to get on her nerves a little.

However, just like normal, she doesn't let it show in her expression. She looks relaxed to those around her, the group not even noticing the way she fidgets her fingers slightly.

"I'm just going to go and put my phone on charge," Evelyn says suddenly, standing up and heading to her room to escape the tension.

She heads moves up the steps rather quickly and plugs in her dead phone, knowing that Sarah has likely messaged her at some point since it ran out of charge. Falling back on her bed, Evelyn waits for it to turn on again which is does after a few seconds. Just as she expected, several messages from her friend show up on the screen.

'You should've come with us!'

'Also, why didn't you tell me that JJ & Topper had a fight outside your house?'

'Info you definitely could've shared'

Evelyn rolls her eyes slightly at the last two messages.

'I'll tell you about it later'

Her head snaps up when there's a light knock on her bedroom door, eyes connecting with Pope's as he stands there. "Uh, just wanted to let you know that we've finished with the computer,"

The girl nods her head. "No worries. You can leave it down on the couch,"

"And uh, we wanted to know if you'd like come have lunch with us? You know as a thank you and that,"

Evelyn sits up and tilts her head slightly, her lips lifting up rather unconsciously. The boy seems to return it just as easily, Evelyn getting off the bed so that the two of them can walk downstairs together. The other Pogues are standing near the front door in a quiet discussion, their eyes straying to the duo when they hear the footsteps.

"Sunshine! Joining us?" JJ asks, dramatically holding his hand out so that he can help her down from the bottom stop. With a little grin, the girl grabs it and jumps to the floor, letting the boy drag her out the front door.

As she's being pulled away, she turns around and pulls something out of her pocket. "Pope! Please lock my front door!" She yells over her shoulder as she throws the keys in his direction.

JJ drags her into John B's van which he refers to as 'The Twinkie' , allowing her to sit down in the back with him and Pope — Kiara sitting in the front seat instead. Pope opens his hand up and reveals her keys, Evelyn reaching over to grab them and ignoring the way Pope almost bashfully looks away when their fingers touch.

"Thanks Pope!" Evelyn says.

"So Evie, you ever been surfing before?" JJ asks, leaning back in his chair and watching her.

"Of course I have. I'm just not very good at it," Evelyn admits sheepishly. "When I go to the beach I just spend most of the time taking photos,"

"Oh yeah, Pope told me that you like photography,"

Evelyn looks over to Pope who gives JJ what looks like a death glare before softening it and looking over to the girl instead. She misses the smug expression on JJ's face as he sits there.

"Pope is not so bad at it himself. He took one on my camera the other day and it was pretty good," Evelyn compliments. That seems to grab the attention of the other three who look at her — John B thankfully choosing to look through the mirror for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the road.

"He did, did he? Well Pope, you never mentioned that," JJ says.

"Yeah Pope, when did that happen?" John B adds, struggling to keep the smile off his face.

"Yeah Pope," Kiara decides she wants to join in as well.

They're teasing him, that much Evelyn can tell but she can't exactly place why. The boy looks as if he wants to open the door and jump out just to get away from them all, his eyes looking anywhere but at Evelyn. The girl tilts her head before finally looking back to the blonde who is sitting on her right, his eyes already on her with a grin on his face.

"So where are we heading?" Evelyn asks, trying her hardest to draw the attention away from Pope who clearly doesn't want it.

"Uh we just have to make a quick stop first and then we'll probably go to the Wreck," John B states from the front, nervously looking at her through the mirror.

"Ok,"

She doesn't question them about it, it's not really any of her business. However, she is a little confused when they pull up at what seems to be a salvage yard of some sort. Her eyebrows scrunch together, the girl leaning closer to the window so that she can see out.

"Are we about to do something illegal?" Are the words that fall out of her mouth. Pope and JJ both look at her, the former looking a little frazzled by her words. "Or are we getting like spare car parts? Please say the second one,"

"Well I mean, it's probably only considered illegal if we get caught," JJ shrugs, to which Evelyn swings her head around to face him. "Come on Sunshine, live a little! We're just going to be doing a bit of theft,"

"A-a bit of theft!? Are you being serious?" Evelyn stutters out.

"JJ!" Pope hisses.

"Yes," JJ answers her anyway.

"You're insane! Pope, you said we were getting food!"

Pope looks flabbergasted at the fact this has somehow been turned back at him, holding his hands up defensively. "We are! You know j-just after this,"

"Look, if it makes you feel better, you aren't going to be doing the stealing,"

"That doesn't make me feel better JJ!"

"I told you we shouldn't have brought her," Kiara hisses from the front seat.

"She's not going to snitch," JJ says with a roll of his eyes.

Evelyn glares at him slightly because he's right, she may not like being involved, but she isn't going to snitch on them. She doesn't want them getting into any legal trouble, it's the last thing she wants. However, Evelyn isn't sure she can be an accomplice to a literal crime.

"Take me home," Evelyn breathes. "Take me home and I'll pretend I never saw this,"

"No can do, sunshine. Too late for that now," JJ replies.

Kiara gets out of the van and Evelyn sits there, tuning out their conversation so that she can try and act like nothing is happening. It isn't long until all the other doors are opening up as well, JJ stopping just before he jumps out.

"We won't be too long," He salutes her before he's well and truly gone.

Evelyn sits in silence for a few moments, slowly opening the door and sticking her head out. She can't see any of them so she jumps out and begins to walk, her eyes darting all over the place as she tries to avoid anybody and anything. The brunette manages to flee the area relatively easily, the Pogues way too preoccupied with whatever they're doing to bother checking if she was actually still there.

Evelyn knows it's going to be a bit of a trek to her home but it saves being caught up in whatever they've got going on. Walking along the streets, she ignores some of the looks she's gets. It's probably an odd sight, the teenager walking on her lonesome.

Cars drive by her over and over until one starts to slow at her side, the girl giving a small glance to the side and shaking her head when the van comes into view. Eventually it comes to a complete stop, even as she keeps walking, and it's JJ who gets out to give chase.

"Come on sunshine!" JJ calls out.

"Go away, JJ," Evelyn grumbles, speeding up even if she knows he'll be able to catch her pretty easily. His hand gently grabs her wrist which makes her stop. She spins around and glares at him.

"Woah. Evelyn Carter without a smile? Well I never," He jokes but it doesn't ease the glare. "Okay, not in a joking mood. Look, we're sorry we threw you into it like that, okay? Come and get some food with us and we'll explain everything,"

"Food? Right, which illegal activity will we be participating in this time? Breaking and entering?"

"Well I mean John B and I sort of already did that at the hotel— not the point. I promise it'll be actual food this time, sunshine. No crimes,"

Evelyn watches him, trying to decipher whether or not she's actually getting the truth out of him or not. He looks sincere but he did earlier too.

"Please. I'll even buy you food this time," JJ says, holding his hand out for the smaller girl to take. "And I'll take you out on the boat one day so you can take photos on your camera,"

Evelyn's eyes light up at that. Whenever she went out on the boat with Sarah, there was always other people there who got in her way and no good photos were ever taken. JJ grins as he sees her glare dissolve rather quickly.

"Fine but I'm still not happy with you guys," Evelyn places her hand in his for the second time today and allows him to drag her away.

As she gets in the Twinkie, her eyes widen.

"Is that a drone?"

NOTE!

Thank you for reading! That S4 ending was.. well something? If I decide to write this or my other OBX story into season 4 it'll almost definitely have a different ending because that one was just not it.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

made by fireandbloods