Looking back behind them, JJ saw his friends gathered outside of John B's house, watching him attentively. Kie threw her hands up in the air questioningly, but JJ just swatted his arm at them to go away and leave him be, before he turned back to Collins.
"You don't have to be nice to me, you know." Collins stated gently. "Like, at the party, you didn't have to talk to me because you felt bad that I was by myself and you don't have to be nice to me now."
Shaking his head, JJ just looked at her with a sort of confused/appalled expression on his face as if he had no clue what she was saying. "I don't know what you're talking about, I was in no way, shape, or form, feeling 'bad' for anyone. This is just me, making sure that you don't-"
"What?" Collins interrupted, furrowing her brows at him. "Tell anyone about what happened? I don't have a clue as to what on earth is even going on with you and your friends, all I know is that I just happened to get caught in it. But your guys's secret is safe with me... except, it's not really like I know of any secret to tell."
JJ couldn't help but admit that he was sort of dumbfounded by her reassurance. There was a part of him that maybe thought she would be freaking out about things more, especially since John B had described her as the quiet and reserved type. Yet, she seemed unsettled but still calm and collected in a way? It was just kind of surprising, that's all. "I mean, that's very comforting to know, but that's not really what I was going to say."
Collins's lips parted before she pressed them together tightly. "Oh." She muttered quietly before waiting for him to continue. It's just that that was the only explanation that made sense to her and it was the first one which popped into her mind. She thought that he was just being nice by walking her home to ensure that she wouldn't immediately go to the police and rat him and his friends out and get them in whole lot more trouble than they already seemed to be in. She thought that if she just got it out of the way from the start, he'd get what he was there for and just leave.
"I just wanted to make sure you aren't just saying that you're okay, when you really aren't." JJ told her frankly. "And maybe because walking you home would actually be the nice thing to do after almost getting you potentially killed."
"It might be." Collins reaffirmed with a weak smile before looking away with a pink tint on her cheeks. "But I think I'll actually be okay and I'm not just saying that."
JJ had a small curve at the corner's of his mouth as he peered down at Collins. She had a sort of shyness to her that he found kind of cute in a way. She didn't say things with the kind of snap and bite that a lot of other girls he talked to had, nor did Collins seem all that assertive when it came to conversation or just in her behavior. She didn't reveal too much about herself but the way she acted emanated something mesmerizing that had somewhat a hook in JJ that he was happily being dragged by. 
"So now that you have my word that I won't be going to the authorities, would it be possible for you to give me at least somewhat of an idea on what just happened?" Collins knew it probably wasn't any of her business, but she did get caught in a home invasion that had left her a little traumatized because of whatever they had gotten themselves involved in. She couldn't leave things unanswered after something like that and maybe she sort of deserved to know why?
Although, as much as Collins wanted an answer, JJ wasn't sure if it was his place to give one. John B had become obsessed with his dad's compass and was concocting these crazy theories that his father was still alive somewhere and Redfield was one of the breadcrumbs he'd left behind. And somehow, square groupers were involved, but that was a whole other theory of JJ's own. 
"It's kind of a work in progress at the moment." JJ told her tentatively, trying to find the right words to say without saying too much. "Mild concocting at this point from John B, but we're helping him through it."