"Seems like whatever you guys are looking into is pretty serious if home invasions are on the agenda of stuff you guys have to deal with." Collins pointed out warily. 
Things were quiet between them after that because Collins didn't want to pry and JJ didn't really want to reveal anything more. But silence never lasted long when JJ was around, so it had passed pretty quickly. "So, uh, before we had to sneak out of a window and hide in a chicken coop, you said you came over to check on JB... Was that the only reason?" JJ raised his brows at her, expectantly waiting for her answer.
He wondered if there was a part of her that had wanted to see him, and checking in on John B was just an excuse to talk to him again. Maybe he'd actually done something right that night at the Boneyard and hadn't totally scared her away. The thought made him feel happy, and pretty pleased with himself if he might add. But then the idea also crossed his mind that Collins may really have come to check on John B, or worse, that she actually liked John B. Crazier things have happened and JJ couldn't ignore the possibility that his best friend had a better chance with Collins than he did. 
While all of this was going through JJ's mind, Collins's didn't seem to be as ridden with frantic thoughts as the boy's next her did. She shrugged her shoulders and looked around at the scenery like she didn't have to think too hard about it. "I mean, yeah," Collins replied absentmindedly, "he was in pretty bad shape and I knew he wouldn't have gone to the ER. He could've suffered from a brain bleed, or a fractured rib poking into his lungs. I really should've checked on him sooner."
The look of disappointment was nothing if not obvious on JJ's face at her response. She didn't give him much to go off of. He'd been hoping that she would throw in the insinuation that she'd been eager to see him as well, that way he'd know for sure that he wouldn't have to compete with John B for her attention. But JJ would benefit from realizing sooner rather than later that Collins was oblivious to the male gaze. For as observant and as smart of a girl that she was, she could not for the life of her detect anything that wasn't blatantly obvious flirting, and she didn't really know how to reciprocate it when she did.  
But yeah, thank God John B turned out okay. He supposed he should've been grateful for that, too.
"Taking it like a man, Pogue style." JJ proclaimed, kicking the dirt with his shoe and creating a cloud in the air that dissipated once he'd walked through it. "You weren't scared that night, were you?"
Casting him a small shrug of her shoulders, Collins wrinkled her nose. "Kind of, I guess. I honestly thought that John B would pummel Topper in a fight, but--"
"Sorry, I meant, were you scared of me? Like, when I had the gun and all?" He said the last part more quietly than the rest while he stared intently at her, trying his hardest to figure her out. His friends had been so pissed at him, and so was Charlie. He thought for a moment that Collins must've been, too, only he wanted to hear it from her if she did. She didn't seem like she wanted to push him as far away as possible, so that was a good sign?
Taking a moment to think her answer through, Collins held her bottom lip between her teeth before she finally had her response ready. "I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, I didn't like what you did. And I despise guns, the sound just makes my heart jump out of my chest and I'm afraid of where the bullet goes. But you? I wouldn't call what I felt towards you scared, just... unsure."
"I guess that's better than the alternative, eh?"
"You probably still shouldn't have done it." Collins added for good measure, ensuring that JJ didn't take her response as approval for his actions, because they were pretty stupid. "What about you, though? Were you scared when we were in the chicken coop and you had to... had to do what you did?" She didn't want to say the words outright because it was still pretty fresh. "I heard John B say that you loved the rooster."