The night was filled by waves of laughter and music, games and serious talks, Ernesto Herrera sometimes joined the teenagers to check on them or even play a board game - when it turned into a betting game - but he also gave them space when he knew they needed it, the pogues continued to enjoy their night by dancing and drinking.

"Can you turn your music down, some people here are trying to enjoy their night." The screams were coming from JJ's house, all attention turned to look at Luke, JJ's father, he was walking towards them in a fast pace, even under the dark sky, they could see the anger in his face.

"Dad," JJ's body tensed up when he turned around and saw him "We were just having some fun."

"Hi Luke," Ernesto greeted the Maybank with his most gentle voice "We are sorry about that, we will lower the volume now, would you like to join us and eat dinner? We are having burgers." He continues but Luke just ignored him and looked at all the teens.

"Who had the amazing idea of throwing a party at this time of night? huh?" Luke stared at each of the teens with widened eyes, his eyes falling on Elena, his jaw tightened and his fists clenched "Was it you?" JJ who stood now beside her moved in front of her, his arms holding her back.

"Dad, it wasn't her, we were all leaving anyway, don't worry." JJ's voice was different, it was shaky and scared, he wasn't the same confident JJ they knew, well, the Herrera's already knew this part of the Maybanks, so Ernesto already knew what he had to do if things got out of hand, Luke just sighed and walked away.

"You come home right now." Luke Maybank shouted out, he didn't care if his friends were there, or that Ernesto was hearing him, he didn't care. Elena gripped JJ's wrists from stopping him from leaving.

"Can he just stay to finish his dinner, Mr. Maybank?" Elena appeared behind him, Luke turned around, his eyes shifting from Elena to JJ and back to her, he sighed again and waved them off, Elena took this as a yes. Finally let out the breath she had been holding, leaning her forehead on JJ's back.

"Well, now that he actually mentioned it, it is late and I gotta go back home, care to give me a ride John B?" Pope asked at his friend, picking up the dishes he had used, the rest of their friends helped out as well.

"Care to stay awhile?" Elena asked at JJ, she was still holding his wrist but her fingers were slowly touching his. "You can leave if you want, but you're welcome to come over if you want to as well." Elena whispered at JJ when she said it, JJ looked back at her and smiled.

"Thank you, princess, I'll stay to help you clean up, and then I have to go, I gotta report myself before I get into trouble." JJ answered at her, pulling away from the girl to help the others. Elena felt cold all of the sudden, the warmth of his hand was no longer there, she turned around to see her friends, the vibe had changed when Luke appeared, she knew that if he hadn't shown up, they would still be partying or just having fun.

John B drove Kie and Pope to their places, they all thanked Elena's father for inviting them for the burgers, JJ stayed behind sitting near the fire they had made then the weather slowly started getting colder. Elena was helping her sister on getting some marshmallows and crackers to have some smores, Ernesto left them alone, they didn't turn off the music or the speaker, they just lowered the volume a bit.

"Hey, El," John B called her out, his palm touching her back to get her attention "We are leaving already, you guys take care, I'll see you tomorrow." He smiled at the girl.

"Actually, John B, I forgot to tell you, I won't be able to join you tomorrow, I got some things to do." Elena pouted her lips, John B widened his eyes and crossed his arms against his chest.

"You got other friends than us? How could you?" Elena pushed him away, she laughed at him and shook her head "Don't worry, we will miss you, we will try to not have that much fun without you." John B pulled Elena into his chest and placed a kiss on her forehead before walking away, he turned around and shouted out her name "Remember, no pogue on pogue macking."

"Shut up you ass." Elena could feel the heat on her cheeks, she looked down for a second, she chuckled and returned to the logs where the fire was, she pulled out from the bag a marshmallow.

"What was John B babbling about?" JJ sat down next to her, he nudged her arm and pointed at the bag as well, Elena passed it towards him "Who are you macking?"

"No one, shut up." Elena felt the heat burn her cheeks again, she was happy that it wasn't daytime so JJ couldn't see her flustered face "Just eat your marshmallow and shush."

"Well, I better get going, I will be leaving you the speaker and music for you guys, have a nice night." Melissa spoke up, Elena had forgotten about her presence for a moment, so hearing her voice made her jump back into reality, her sister grabbed her phone and started scrolling on it.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked pulling away her marshmallow from the fire and blowing on it to put off a small piece of burning.

"I'm putting on the mood." Melissa giggled and gave her phone to her older sister, running away from the confused teenagers, the beginning of The night we met started, Elena whispered out a curse when she finally figured out what she was doing.

"What? What's wrong?" JJ asked grabbing another marshmallow and eating it just like that.

"That song she just played is my favorite slow song, I just always wanted to," Elena stopped herself from and sighed "nevermind."

"Wanted what?" JJ asked her, he was now looking at Elena, she shook her head "Tell me, what do you want."

"It's a silly thing but," Elena chuckle looking up to the sky "I've always wanted to slow dance to that song, I know how silly of an idea, but I don't know, it's one of my favorite songs." She turned to the side and looked at the blonde "You can laugh about it, go ahead, I won't be mad."

"Why would I laugh about it?" JJ tilted his head to the side, he stood up and took a few steps away from her, Elena didn't look at him but she felt a bit disappointed, he was probably leaving "So, you gonna sit there or?" His hand was stretched out to her, she just looked up at him, this time she didn't hide her smile.

Elena took his hand on her, she was pulled close to him, JJ grabbed both of her hands and placed them around his neck, JJ gently pressed his on her waist the music continued to play on and the background sound of crickets and wind made them feel as ease.

"I bet you were wishing this was John B instead of me, aren't you?" He whispered against her head.

"Why are you asking stupid questions JJ and ruining the mood?" Elena chuckled, pulling her head back and looking at him.

"I mean, you two were dancing so happily to Whitney Houston, I mean your face said it all, are you macking John B?"

"You really are stupid JJ, stop ruining the mood, geez." Elena rested her cheek against his shoulder, she also wanted to slap JJ in his head for keeping on throwing out there stupid questions.

"This is really nice, I finally got a chance to dance with you." JJ smiles as he said those words, his arms now around her waist, hugging her closer. Elena could feel the breathing of him against her chest, the warmth from his body, the safety that she was feeling. She slowly pulled away from him, her brown eyes sparkling with the light of the moon reflecting on them, the song had changed to Harry Styles' voice singing the lyrics for Falling, JJ slowly leaned in closer to her, his blue eyes looking down at her lips, Elena caught her breathe just as she felt him closer and closer, but, he stopped.

"I, I gotta go." The blonde pulled away from her and quickly backed up, his movements were clumsy as his eyes were searching the ground for something, but he didn't know what he was looking for, Elena stood there, confused about what just happened.

"What?" That's the only word she managed to make out, her arms were crossed against her chest, trying to give back the warmth that was now gone, steps forward to JJ, she didn't say anything else to get his attention, he stopped what he was doing and looked back at her.

"I'm sorry Elena, but I, I just gotta clear something off." Nothing else was said, JJ walked away, not looking back at her and she didn't say anything else to stop him, she just watched the blonde leave her alone, the only sound being heard was Harry's voice, and the lyric that she could relate the most to this moment, and I get the feelin' that you'll never need me again.

The next morning Elena felt without energy, she didn't want to go and see Sarah Cameron, but, she had made a promise, and she was going to keep it, the reflection in the mirror looked back at her, she shifted her pink floral strapless dress, her hair was loosened and straightened, she didn't understand why she had to make an effort and dress nicely to go to the Figure Eight side of Outer Banks, but maybe Elena didn't want them to pick on her for being a Pogue, but she liked being a Pogue too, they just didn't understand it.

"Ready?" Melissa appeared in her bedroom, she was joining her and spend her time with Wheezie, Melissa had made the promise to her mom too and whenever they went to visit her on the hospital, they would talk about the times with the Kooks. Elena nodded her head and grabbed her bag before leaving their house, Ernesto Herrera had stayed home to find a job in the newspaper, he felt ready to go back and help his family, he was sure about his decision and his daughters were supporting him.

"So, Wheezie told me that Rafe is having friends over, maybe Kelce will be there." Melissa wiggled her eyebrows and poker her sister's arm "You and Kelce, huh?"

"There's no Kelce and me, Kelce is Kelce and I don't need that type of person in my life." Elena looked back at her sister for a moment before returning her gaze to the street.

"Right, so you don't a Kelce, you need a JJ in your life, gotcha." Elena thanked that there was a red light, she looked back at her sister and punched her in her arm "What? You don't like Kelce? Why?"

"Okay, first of all, JJ and I, just friends, we are just friends and that's final," She pointed at her sister and sighed "Second, Kelce is Rafe's friends, you know how he is and I don't need that type of guy in my life, Kelce, he is sweet but not who I want. And please, let's not continue talking about this." For the rest of the trip, neither of the Herrera's mentioned the topic and if Melissa tried to do so, Elena just ignored her or passed the spotlight into her.

"Okay, you want to keep talking about it, answer me this, what's going on with Pope and the shameless flirting? You are almost fourteen and he is sixteen, that is just weird."

"I'm just trying to have fun okay, Pope is a very sweet guy, and when I turn eighteen I will try to shot my shot with him, I mean, Pope is boyfriend material, and that is all." Melissa explained to her sister, of course, she disapproved of this decision but, Melissa didn't care, she never cared about Elena's opinions when it came to boys.

Arriving at the Cameron's Elena looked back to her sister, she wasn't going to fight any more about the subject, she was going to tell her something but decided not to do so, so she just got off the vehicle and headed to the entrance door, knocking a few times before being greeted by Rose Cameron and her smile.

"Morning girls, come inside," The blonde stepped aside, letting the girls in "Elena, Sarah left a while ago, but, she will be coming back, the boys are in the golf course unless Kelce stayed behind and there's a new guy I think you would like to meet," Elena nodded her in response "And Melissa, Wheezie is upstairs in her room, you know your way, I'll be around if any of you girls need me." And with that Rose walked away, Melissa headed upstairs and Elena made her way outside, she opened the backyard door and saw Kelce with another guy, shorter than him, both of them playing beer pong.

"Elena, nice to see you here." Kelce greeted her the moment his eyes fell on her "This is Adrien, a friend of mine from high school." The other guy turned around, his skin was fair with brown eyes and curly hair, Elena had lost her breathe for a second when she saw him, only being able to smile at him.

"Nice to meet you." The British accent matched him perfectly, any girl would melt by his sweet smile and gentle eyes, and Elena was sure she would've been one of those girls.

"Nice meeting you too." She answered back and sat down on a chair, the boys returned to their game of beer pong and occasionally started talking, joking and just being boys, but they also tried to make Elena feel inside the crowd, getting her into their conversations, asking her opinion on stuff and just making her feel welcome, but then questions made to her were starting to get a bit too personal and uncomfortable.

"Okay, so why aren't you dating anyone Elena? Are we Kooks too much for you?" Kelce joked, taking another drink from his cup.

"Man, leave her alone, she already told you why, you are just getting ready to get your ass beat by me and her, of course." Adrien punched his leg, trying to make his friend stop on his comments and jokes.

"It's okay Adrien, Kelce just wants to hear as answer that I am waiting for him to be my date, but that won't happen." Elena rolled her eyes and chuckled, Adrien laughed with her and looked at Kelce.

"Oh, come on Elena, just one date, that is all I am asking, one date." Kelce leaned forward and looked at the girl making his best puppy eyes impression "If you say yes I will stop bothering you with another date, just give me the chance."

"Kelce, the more you bother with it, the more I will say no, so stop please." Elena looked at him and chuckle at the sight of him motioning a zipper over his lips "I'm gonna go and get something to drink that isn't alcohol, I'll be right back" She smiled at both of the guys and walked over to the entrance door "Shit, I'm so so sorry." She apologized when the door had hit something hard on the other side, she peeked through and saw the person she least expected to see "Shit, JJ, what are you doing here?"

"Well hello Princess, it is a surprise to see you here," He chuckled and stepped back letting her come in "I just dropped some groceries in here with Pope, that's all." He explained with a smile

"What's going on here?" Kelce appeared behind Elena, making her jump in her spot turning to face him "What are you dirty Pogue doing here?"

"Kelce, he just came by to drop groceries, that is all, it's fine." Elena placed her hand on his chest pushing him back when he took a step forward. "He was just leaving, you can go back outside."

JJ didn't say anything else, he just nodded his head and walked away, Kelce kept on looking at him suspiciously, Elena could just feel her heart beating fast, her breathe was finally out and she hadn't noticed in what moment she had caught it, but the presence of JJ could've been the reason why.

introducing...
tom holland as adrien hawthorn