TWENTY-EIGHT TOUGH GUY

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Driving down the highway at high speeds made the feeling in Norman's stomach much worse as they continued on. He tried to trust the people around him, but his gut was telling him this was all wrong. He had never stepped foot in a pawn shop before today (when you're rich already, it's not a place you frequent) but even he had a feeling they didn't keep money in a warehouse in the middle of nowhere.

"So, they keep money out here?" Kie asked, sounding about as sketched out as Norman felt.

Pope shrugged, "That's what she said."

"That's what she said," JJ repeated with a chuckle earning a chastising from Pope. Even then, the blond continued to chuckle to himself. Norman wished they would take this seriously.

"I've never even heard of Resurrection Drive," Sarah added, sounding lighthearted but still confused. So, maybe Norman wasn't the only one with a bad feeling.

Norman nodded, "Yeah, me neither. I mean, we've all lived here our whole lives, how are there even roads we don't know?"

"It's 'cause you guys are rich," JJ said with an easy shrug as he went to pull out a blunt. Norman was so stressed he had half a mind to ask him to share, but he decided against it.

Kie sighed, her eyes glued to the scenery out the window, muttering, "There's nothing but weeds out here."

JJ scoffed, clearly still going along with this for some reason, "All right, just 'cause it's just weeds doesn't mean it's like--"

He was cut off by the sound of a siren going off behind them. Norman was fairly sure Sheriff Peterkin never sent her men this far out on the island, not with such little civilization.

Kie furrowed her brow, clearly having the same thought process as Norman, "Cops? Out here?"

"God, are you kidding me?" JJ exclaimed, hiding his weed under the seat with an exasperated groan. Of course, that's what he was worried about out of all the weird things going on currently.

"What did we do?" Sarah asked as she looked back, confused as ever.

"Stash that," John B exclaimed, referring to the gold, "Did you bring the gun?"

"Oh, Jesus Christ," Norman muttered, "We're doomed."

"No, I didn't bring the gun," JJ exclaimed, clearly getting frustrated, "Everybody told me to leave it back at the place."

Kie sighed, "Thank God."

"Okay, put everything else in your bag," Pope instructed. Norman watched carefully as the door to the car that pulled them over opened the door. They stashed the bag under the seat right as Pope said, "He's walking up!"

"Sir--" John B began as he turned to face the window but was met with the barrel of a gun. Norman froze while his heart was beating a mile a minute from the passenger seat.

"Why don't I go ahead and see them hands in the air," the masked man spoke, but it wasn't a question. A demand. "All y'all, hands in the air!"

They all followed instructions as the masked man demanded that John B gets out of the car. Great, Norman gets a boyfriend and he immediately gets murdered. That's just great.

"Let them out!" he instructed but John B didn't move except for stepping forward. God, Norman did not like this plan one bit, "What are you waitin' on? What are you waitin' on? Let them out!"

After a moment, John B walked over to the other side of the van and opened the door while everyone crawled out, shaking with their hands up. JJ muttered something leading to the man to start screaming at him to shut up, threatening to blow JJ's head off. Norman's breath hitched as he tried not to make any noise. They all began following the man's instructions to get down on the ground, but Norman wasn't going to go quietly. He just had to think of a plan.

"It's a set up guys," Kie muttered.

"The old bat shanked us!" JJ exclaimed as he began hitting the ground frustratedly, "Damn it!"

While the man was searching the car, John B stood up and began heading towards the robber's car. The man found the gold he was looking for as he still hadn't realized John B was missing, muttering for them to stay where they were until he drove away. Norman had a feeling that wasn't going to go as smoothly as the man hoped. They saw the struggle the moment John B attacked.

Moments later, the boy came out the side of the car, exclaiming, "Guys, I got the gun!"

JJ and Norman got up and ran over to him to help. Norman wasn't a fan of violence, but the moment the man threw Kie to the side harshly he landed a nice blow to the side of the man's head. He stumbled enough for John B to hit him in the back with his gun.

"Guys, I got the gold!" Pope yelled, coming out of the passenger side of the car while they tried to keep the guy on the ground. The guy crawled over to grab Sarah's leg, but she took the car door and bashed it against the guy's head a number of times. Like her or not, Norman had to admit that was smarter than he would have given her credit for.

"You son of a bitch!" JJ exclaimed as he pulled the mask down, "I know this piece of shit! He's a basehead!"

"Probably knows my brother," Sarah groaned as they all stared down at him.

"Sells coke to my dad," JJ explained, landing a swift kick to the guy's legs.

"Listen, I couldn't hurt anyone of ya!" the guy reasoned, sounding injured and out of breath, but he didn't get to finish his statement before JJ got him in the chest with the handle of the gun. John B went to hold JJ back, but the anger on his face was prominent still.

"Come on let's get outta here," John B said, but JJ wasn't finished. He pulled the man's wallet out of his pocket and looked at the ID.

He threw the wallet back and pushed John B aside, announcing, "We got one last stop!"

"JJ, no," Norman intruded, trying to hold him back as he went for the van. With surprising strength, he pushed him away.

"Let's go see where this son of a bitch lives!"

Norman did not like where this was going. The man yelled obscenities at them as they loaded back into the van, this time with JJ in the driver's seat. Norman didn't want to see what an unhinged JJ looked like, but he had a feeling he was going to whether he liked it or not. Before they could drive away, John B pulled the keys to the car out of his pocket and tossed them into the trees, flipping the guy off before getting into the van.

After a few minutes of driving, they pulled up to a decrepit trailer that was a shoddy excuse for a home. Sarah sighed, "Welcome to crackhead wasteland."

"I got a bad feeling about this, Man," Pope muttered as JJ stopped the van.

"Dude, why are we at Barry's?" John B sighed as JJ undid his seatbelt and opened the door.

Sighing, he said, "This'll only take a second, man."

"JJ, why don't you just think about this--" Norman tried to reason with him from the back, but JJ slammed the door and walked away. The boy sighed, shooting a worried look in John B's direction as he hung around the back of the headrest of the driver's seat.

Looking at Norman, John B exhaled, "Yeah, I don't like this, either."

"You know, somebody should probably--" Kie began, but John B picked up what she was putting down and he stepped out of the car.

Muttering, John B responded, "Yeah, I got it."

Sarah sighed from the backseat, "Men are idiots."

"Please, leave us out of that one," Pope motioned to Norman and him with a sigh while Sarah only shrugged. Norman wasn't sure if he was content to just wait in the car, but he did not want to enter that house. Call him spoiled, but he was pretty sure he would get riddled with disease from just crossing the threshold.

Moments later, JJ exited the household as the rest of them jumped out of the van with exasperated expressions. JJ, however, looked ecstatic as he explained, "All right, some quick math tells me we're looking at about forty-two-hundred each as reparations for putting us through that bullshit. Sorry about that, y'all."

Kie looked disappointed as ever, saying, "So that's what we do now? Rob drug dealers?"

"Yeah, JJ, this isn't... this isn't who we are."

"Hey, shut the fuck up rich boy before I lessen your share," JJ spat in a surprising burst of anger towards Norman.

"They're right," Sarah exclaimed, "This Barry guy's gonna find us, he knows who we are. He's gonna come after us."

Pope nodded, "Yes he will. Now is not the time to be wilin' out."

"How'd you like having a gun pulled on you?" JJ asked. John B got in JJ's face, grabbing him and telling him to relax but he continued, "He had it right here on you, bro."

"Look," John B's tone was stern as he was intent on not letting JJ get away with this, "We just gotta get the gold, give me this. We're putting it back."

Before he could grab the money, JJ grabbed John B in a chokehold and slammed him against the van. Norman went to interfere, but John B shook his head.

Instead, he looked in JJ's eyes and spoke, "Bet you feel like a tough guy, huh? What are you gonna do when he comes for us?"

"We punch him in the throat," JJ answered, his expression unwavering. It was almost scary to see him like this. Scratch that, it was scary to see him like this. Norman had never seen the normally chill boy so angry before.

John B scoffed, "Yeah, good fuckin' idea, JJ."

"I'm not putting it back." JJ finally let go of John B, keeping the money to himself as he got in the van. John B sighed, knowing this was a losing argument. Still, Norman had a feeling JJ wasn't keen on splitting it anymore. Not that Norman minded, he had more than enough. He didn't need to steal drug money. "You guys getting in or what?"

Everyone stared at him, no one making a move. JJ sighed, hopping out of the van to ask, "What?"

"We're sick of your shit," John B took a step closer to him.

"Oh, my shit?"

"Yeah, your shit," the boy confirmed.

"Your pulling guns on people shit," Kie added.

"You acting like a maniac--" Pope began to say, but JJ cut him off.

JJ exclaimed, "Okay, Pope, I took the fall for you, man! Know how much I owe because of you?"

This set something off in Pope as he exclaimed, "I'm gonna pay you back! I didn't ask for you to do that!"

"Can we all just calm down, things are getting way out of hand!" Norman exclaimed, trying to form a barrier in between the two of them before things got violent.

"I just did!" JJ yelled in Pope's, and subsequently Norman's, face, except now he looked closer to tears. "Pay it back. Right here, right now, by myself. And Norman? Get the fuck out of here. Just because you and John B are fuckin' boning does not mean you're one of us."

"Hey!" John B exclaimed, pushing JJ away from Norman and Pope. "You need to calm the fuck down before you say something you regret."

JJ scoffed, stepping back and saying, "You know what, John B? I'll just make it easier on everyone. Go off by myself."

With that, he grabbed his back from the van and walked off. Pope went running after him, but John B held him back.

Sarah sighed, "Just let him go."

If things were bad before, they were supremely fucked now. Norman grabbed John B and put his arm around his shoulders as the boy leaned into him for a moment of comfort as they stood, surrounding the van watching JJ disappear with a stolen $25k and the gold. What the hell were they going to do now?

this scene honestly rivals the hot tub scene this is like my #2 sad JJ moment and writing this scene made me wanna cry because of how sad and angry JJ is throughout the whole thing i just love him so much, poor boy deserves everything