Everything was simple before Sarah came into the picture.

Pogues and Kooks never normally fraternized with each other unless it was to start drama, tolerate each other’s presence in the same place or for work—nothing too crazy.

That was until John B found himself and the rest of the gang wrapped into a treasure hunt adventure. The only thing is, he let Sarah in on it because she helped him.

Sure, it was difficult to accept at first but Kiara warmed up to her. And you? No one was really sure where you stood on that.

Growing up, John B always considered you second in command with his title as ‘leader’ of the Pogues crew and with the ‘no pogue on pogue macking’ rule, he never saw you as anything more than that.

Yeah, he thought it was a bit weird to think of you as anything further than a close friend so he strictly kept it as such to not ruin the dynamic you two had.

As John B remained oblivious to how falling in love with Sarah seemed to hurt you, he kept asking you to play nice for the sake of things working out.

He was so sure they were getting somewhere—hopefully close to finding out what happened to his dad too.

What he did notice was how distant you became. You might’ve been physically there with the crew but there were a few times where he saw you weren’t so mentally present and on top of that, your avoidant behavior.

He didn’t have time for games so, he texted you one afternoon saying that there was a Pogue meet up at the dock. A ploy to get you to meet him alone, a chance for you two to talk.

When your form came into view, John B took his hands out of the pockets of his shorts and smiled. “Looks like we’re the first ones here,” he said, playing into the act, leading you down the dock to sit down.

Ten minutes passed, each second filled with silence—he could tell you were getting antsy about where everyone else was. Now was the time to stop messing around.

“Look, no one else is coming.” He turned his body to face yours. “I know you'll be mad at me for baiting you out here but what’s going on with you? You’ve been avoiding me like I’ve got the plague.”