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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘅𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲: 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀

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After fleeing the Coastal Venture, the Pogues had crash landed on an island they found once the engine died out. They had no idea where they were, but they had nowhere else to go. At least the engine had died out when they were close to land and not in the middle of the sea.

Cassie wouldn't have to worry about the force of the ocean anymore.

The girls sat on the sand as the boys pulled the lifeboat back to land. "That's good, that's good," John B grunted and the boys dropped the boat down, panting a bit.

"Good job, guys!" Sarah called out encouragingly.

"Good job!" Kiara and Cleo added.

Cassie kept quiet, looking down at the sand beneath her. She had taken her shirt off to let it dry, revealing the bikini top she thankfully put on when she stole Kiara's clothes. She knew always coming prepared with a bathing suit underneath her clothes would come in handy someday even though the circumstances under which they came in handy weren't ideal.

She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that JJ had almost just died. They could have been sitting on this deserted island without him. What would she be doing? Denying it? Crying? Raging? She had no idea.

But he was still here. She had to remember that he was here and she shouldn't be dwelling on the what if's when they were negative. Nonetheless, it was hard to do so. Especially when they've all come so close to death.

"Whoa," JJ breathed out and she looked up, seeing the boys walking back toward them.

"JJ, you all right there, buddy?" John B asked in concern.

"Yeah. Still a little dizzy," he answered nonchalantly.

"Maybe you should sit down," Cassie piped up weakly and he met her eyes, giving her a lopsided frown. He could tell something was eating away at her, but he didn't know what. It could have been a million different things because of all the shit that went down in just the last two days.

He would have to find some time to talk to her. Alone.

"Okay, anybody know where we're at?" He asked nobody in particular.

"Deserted beach. Unknown island," Pope replied as he sat down.

"All right, I'll take that as a no." JJ scratched his head, looking out to the ocean. "Plan A, huh, Pope? That went well."

"This is the lowest we can go." Pope shook his head. "We literally have nothing else to lose. The cross, gone."

"The gold...gone," Sarah added with a frown.

"Seriously, if we had a nickel for every time we got beat up, I'd say we're at a dollar fifty," JJ guessed, leaning against the tree as he started to carve something into it with the knife he had on him.

"That's more than I got on me," Kiara pointed out.

"That somehow doesn't make me feel better," Sarah voiced.

"Yeah, you're right. But, I mean, we've..." John B shrugged. "We've had some good stuff happen, right?"

"Like what?" Cassie deadpanned.

"Yeah. Name something," Pope said.

"Um...Oh, the boiler room," John B came up with as he looked at Cleo, and she furrowed her brows. "What? I mean, if the boiler didn't explode, Kie and I wouldn't have gotten away from Rafe. We couldn't have gotten the Zodiac and gotten us out of here," he continued, pointing at the lifeboat.

Cleo shook her head, "That wasn't luck. That thing was gonna blow the second I stopped feeding it."

"Stealing my thunder, Cleo."

"Sorry."

"Okay, Pope...you're related to Denmark Tanny. That's crazy," John B tried again.

"And I lost all his inheritance," Pope shot him down with a stone-faced look.

"You know what?" John B began, standing up. "Guys, this is it. This is the Pogue life. We are in the Caribbean. It's our own little slice of paradise. With my best friends, with my family. I don't know. I wouldn't wanna do it with anyone else," he expressed.

Cassie took in the boy's words. He wasn't wrong. This really was the Pogue life. But she had something different in mind when picturing it.

She pictured the Pogue life to be running around the Outer Banks with her friends, getting up to mischief and mayhem and scurrying out of trouble. Then once the day was over, she'd go back home and sleep, anxiously awaiting the next day's adventures.

But this wasn't the Outer Banks.

And she had no home to go back to.

And by home, that meant the Château.

Her real home wasn't a home anymore. It was just a house filled with her things with a monster living inside it.

It hadn't been her home in a while.

"Look, and while you guys were complaining about every little thing...JJ?"

"Hmm?" The blonde boy hummed, stabbing the knife into the tree.

John B pointed past him, making JJ look over his shoulder at the waves. "I was looking at those burly lefts," John B pointed out with a grin.

JJ turned to him and gave him a smile. "There's some slabs out there."

"Just a few. Kie, see that? I know you wanna get out there," John B urged.

"No boards," she replied with a shake of her head.

"Well, we can bodysurf till we make some boards," John B suggested.

"Lame."

"Pope? Come on, man."

"They do look pretty tasty," Pope admitted.

"Oh, yes, they do."

"There's nobody around. We could squat here for a bit. Kind of belongs to us now, huh?" Pope assumed as he stood up.

"You got a point," John B agreed, giving him the Pogue handshake.

"Seven-way split."

"Poguelandia. I claim thee Poguelandia," JJ suddenly said in a posh accent. "I like the ring of it. I'm gonna make a flag. It's gonna have a chicken on it. With a coconut bra, smoking a J...in Crocs," he detailed in a normal voice, making them all laugh.

"I could use a J," Kiara spoke up, starting to stand up from where she sat.

"Yeah," Cassie breathed out, looking down at the sand once more. She could have really used a shot right about now. Or a few.

"Can we vote on this?" Sarah questioned, her eyes squinted from her smile.

"Shall we get to work?" Pope asked John B.

"Let's get to work. Let's start working on provisions. Set up shop." The Routledge boy walked over to his girlfriend. "Sarah. Till death do us part?"

"Till death do us part," she repeated with a grin.

"Welcome back to the Pogue life."

"Full Pogue," she replied as he helped her up.

"Full Pogue. Ooh."

Pope went over to Cleo and grabbed her hand, helping her up. "Welcome to the Pogues," Pope said to her.

"Thanks," Cleo responded. "What is a Pogue, anyway? What is that handshake you do?"

JJ grabbed Kiara hand, helping her up as well. "Going full Pogue," she said after letting go of his hand, giving the boy a smile.

"To going full Pogue," JJ nodded.

"Cece, you comin'?" Kiara asked since Cassie was still sat on the sand.

"Y'all go ahead. I'm kinda tired," Cassie told her and Kiara nodded slowly, joining with the others.

JJ looked at the girl, his stomach twisting at how down she looked. He glanced back at the others, who were walking off down the beach. "Hey, guys? Think I'm gonna sit down. Rest a bit," he said to the others and Cassie glanced up at him.

"Okay, buddy," John B responded as he sent him a subtle wink over his shoulder, making JJ glare at him. John B laughed before he turned back around, slinging his arm over Pope and Sarah's shoulders.

"Hey, you okay?" JJ asked as he sat down next to her. "You wanna go with them?"

Cassie sucked in a breath, staring out into the ocean as the waves crashed onto shore. "I might just wait here for a little bit. Let time pass."

It was weird. Those same waves that could have taken JJ from her were now comforting her. Maybe it was because his ocean eyes were still here, next to her.

JJ furrowed his brows in concern. He had never seen her look so melancholy, not even when she cried those times before at the Outer Banks. "Hey, hey, come on. Talk to me," he said gently.

Cassie tore her gaze away from the ocean and met his ocean eyes. Seeing them made her lip tremble. "JJ...I thought I lost you," she whispered. "I thought you...died."

"Well, I'm here now, right? Unless...I'm actually a ghost and this is like the Sixth Sense?" He joked, to try to make her feel better, as he pretended to feel around his body

"JJ, it's not funny," she shut him down and his grin faded. "I already lost my dad. And yeah, he may have been an abusive piece of shit, but I didn't know that when he died. He was just my...dad. And then almost losing Pope and now you...I can't take anymore."

"Cass, hey, hey, hey. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I scared you," he apologized and she sucked in her lip, looking away. "But Pope and I, we're here. We're fine."

"But what if you weren't? What if...you died back there and we were forced to live with it? I don't think I...I don't think..." She trailed off, shaking her head.

I don't think I could live with it.

That wasn't just because JJ was in danger of death. If it had been any one of the Pogues, she would have been saying the same thing. Death wasn't new to her, but dealing with it hadn't gotten any easier.

And if JJ had died, her entire world would have burned down around her and she would have turned to ashes with it.

Every new step she took forward since her father had died would've been eradicated on the spot. Every new thing she learned about herself would have been tarnished.

Because JJ had been the reason for that growth. Without him, her blooming soul would have died with him.

JJ looked past her, seeing that the Pogues had disappeared down the beach somewhere. He still wanted to respect her wishes of keeping their relationship a secret so when he saw they were no longer there, he reached up and grabbed her chin to face her toward him.

"Hey. Look at me," he began, feeling the way her chin wobbled in his grasp. "Don't focus on the what if's. Focus on the now. We're both here, right? We're both here on this island with no one to bother us. We can do whatever the hell we want."

"But what if Savannah and-and Ward find us? What if they—"

"Hey, I said stop with the what if's," he interrupted her and her eyes flitted downwards, so downcast. "We can't worry about that because it hasn't happened yet. We're free from them and we're free from people telling us what we can and can't do. We should make the most of it."

Cassie stared into his eyes, sky blue meeting ocean blue. He was right. As far as they knew, none of those people on the ship knew where they were. They were safe and free to do what they wanted. No Kooks, just Pogues. No treasure, just life.

Perhaps it could be nice.

Her face softened a bit, the worry dissipating for a moment. "Okay. Okay, you're right."

JJ raised his brows, starting to grin a bit. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's just us."

"It's just us," he repeated a bit quieter, bringing his thumb up that was on her chin to trace over her bottom lip.

Her stomach formed butterflies. Even though it had been days since they established they liked each other, it still felt new every time he would do something to her.

"Kiss me," she said.

JJ blinked at her. "But the others—"

"Aren't here right now," she finished for him. "You said make the most of it, right? So kiss me."

JJ started to smile before he brought her face to his, their lips connecting just like how the skyline connected with the ocean.

Extraordinary.

Later in the night once the Pogues all reunited and the boys caught some fish, they created a bonfire and sat around it as they roasted their fish.

They talked, they laughed, they shared stories. It was peaceful, calming. It was just the seven of them on this island and it really hadn't set in that they were completely stranded just yet.

So somehow, it felt like being back in the Outer Banks at the Château.

Just seven Pogues, living the Pogue life.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

It had been days since the Pogues crash landed on the deserted island, but they had been making the most of it.

JJ was the best fisherman out of all of them, so he had been catching most of the fish. Pope knew a lot about wildlife and knew which things were safe to eat or use and which were not. And Cleo was extremely resourceful for always living out in the world and never really settling down in one place.

So with those three skills combined, the Pogues were able to live as peaceful as they could. Sure, the bugs and no beds were annoying, but everything else was fine for now.

Well, maybe for some of them.

Cassie wanted to get the hell off of this island despite telling JJ she would make the most of it. It had only been a week or so and she was already tired of eating fish and coconuts. She was tired of sleeping on the sand. She was tired of the bugs. She was tired of not having a shower. She was tired of everything!

Even though she hadn't been in the Outer Banks all her life, she still grew up as Kook as they come. Big house, big room, big bed, big everything. She wasn't used to living like this and she was slowly going insane. Well, maybe more insane than she already was

The only thing that was keeping some of her sanity, however, was JJ Maybank.

They had come up with a system since they were still keeping their relationship a secret from the others. Every few nights or so when the rest of the Pogues would fall asleep, they would sneak off with each other and talk, or do more than talk, until their hearts content.

This night in particular, they were both lying on one of the ocean rocks below the cliff that no one had jumped off of yet surprisingly. JJ had been aching to do it, but apparently it had to be at the "perfect time," whatever that meant.

Thanks to the bright moonlight, it was a bit easier to see in the dark. Their backs were pressed on the rock, staring up at the night sky. Some of the waves would splash up onto them and wet their skin, causing them to shiver a bit before the air outside would quickly heat them up despite it being nighttime.

"What's that one?" JJ pointed up at the night sky. They were currently searching for constellations since the stars had been so bright.

Cassie squinted her eyes, trying to see. She had taken an astronomy class back at school, but never thought she'd actually be trying to find constellations like this. Guess that's what happens when you run out of things to do when you're stranded on an island with no phone.

"I think that's...Cassiopeia," she said, seeing the way the stars formed a 'W' shape.

"Hey, it kinda sounds like your name," JJ realized and Cassie grinned a bit, shrugging. "What does that constellation represent?"

"If I remember correctly, it's supposed to be Queen Cassiopeia sitting on her throne," Cassie recalled.

"Queen, you say? So, in other words, princess?" He teased as he nudged her with his elbow, making her giggle. He then propped himself up on his elbow, looking down at the girl. "That reminds me...since, you know, we're still just this secret thing...what can I call you?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, also propping herself up on her elbow to face him.

"Well, I can't call you my girlfriend because we're not there yet. So there's gotta be something else," he voiced as he reached out to twiddle with her braid that was sat over her shoulder.

"Why does it matter? We're not telling anyone anyway," she pointed out, glancing away as JJ kept the braid in his hand.

"Well, like, just for us. Our own thing," he explained and Cassie thought about, nodding a bit. "How about, like, 'my exclusive, secret partner who is a girl'?" He came up with, letting go of her braid.

She gaped at him before she bursted out laughing. He joined with her, the two of them just laughing like idiots for a few moments before they died down.

"So, would I call you 'my exclusive, secret partner who is a boy'?" She questioned, still chuckling a bit.

JJ shrugged goofily. "Yeah, I guess so."

She gently shoved his face away. "You're an idiot."

"But I'm your idiot," he countered.

She glanced away, shrugging with a grin, "Yeah."

She then looked back at the boy, gazing into his eyes before JJ brought his hand toward her face, connecting his lips with her's.

She brought her hands on the sides of his face, bringing him forward her as she leaned back and JJ moved to be more on top of her. He slid his tongue into her mouth as he took his hand away from her face, slithering it down her body right where the top of her bikini bottoms rested.

He hooked his finger underneath and traced it along the material before he tugged down just a smidge. "Hey, no," she warned once she pulled away and JJ pouted. "I'm not trying to get STDs. Last time I checked, we both haven't had a real shower in days."

"But what if we're here forever?" JJ questioned. "Not that I'm complaining because it's great here but..."

"Then you'll have to wait forever," she teased, tilting her head at him and reached up to play with his shark tooth necklace that was dangling over her.

"That's gonna be torture when you look this beautiful," he pointed out and her eyelashes fluttered at him, a bit stunned by his compliment. Calling her hot was one thing, but calling her beautiful? Oh, lord. "But I'll wait for however long I need. As long as I'm here with you."

She smiled gratefully, her heart thumping, before she pulled his necklace down to her so she could meet his lips once more, moving her arms around his neck. He immediately kissed her back, bringing his hand up to the side of her face as they kissed.

Their lips worked in sync since they knew each other so well at this point. It didn't feel new to them anymore, just second nature. But the feeling of butterflies in their stomachs, their body heat intensifying, and their hearts pounding still stayed the very same from when they first kissed back in that stupid hot tub at the Château.

Cassie kind of missed that hot tub now. Took it for granted.

He then took his lips away once more. "Why can't we tell them?" He asked, a bit out of breath from their kiss.

"What?"

"Why can't we tell the others about us?"

Cassie felt her stomach twist. She wasn't ready to tell the others, to share her feelings in front of people. She wasn't like Sarah and John B who didn't care to kiss each other when people were watching. Cassie wasn't like that.

She always kept her rendezvouses a secret, romantic or not. The first boy she slept with, Rafe, and now...JJ.

"Because..." She trailed off. "Isn't it fun doing this? Sneaking around with the prospect of getting caught?"

"Okay, yeah, it's fun and it's hot. But I wanna be able to, like, treat you as my exclusive, secret partner who is a girl," she rolled her eyes, "in front of them and not wait until night to treat you like it. I wanna scream it from the rooftops. CASSIE BLAKE IS MY EXCLUSIVE, SECRET PA—!"

She shushed him and put her hand over his mouth, muffling his yell so the others wouldn't wake up and catch them. He licked the palm of her hand to retaliate, making her pull it away. "Ew!" She gaped.

"Seems like you're learning some of my skills," he smirked, referring to that night after the Bonfire, and she gave him a stone-faced look before he focused up. "No, but I'm being serious."

"I know you're being serious, Jay. And I'm serious when I say I want to keep it a secret. Just for a little longer? Please? For me?" She batted her eyelashes at him, giving him a doe-eyed look.

JJ couldn't resist that. Not when she was looking at him and looked so heavenly. "Fine," he sighed and she smiled at him, giving him a quick kiss on the lips in thanks. "Hey, that's it?"

"That's all you're getting tonight. Any more and you might be tempted," she teased, booping him on the nose.

"Trust me, I'm already tempted every day by you," he replied and she playfully shook her head at him before they lied back on the rock, directing their attention back up at the night sky.

They stayed there for a little while longer, their bodies close together and the sides of their heads touching. Neither of them knew how much longer they were going to be on this island.

One hoped it would be forever.

One hoped it could be any day now someone came to rescue them.

But they both laid on that rock with the intention of staying with one another.

Letting time pass.

authors note!
i really hope someone understood the
"i might just wait here for a little bit. let
time pass" quote hehehe. i miss loki
(fun fact, i actually met tom hiddleston!
it was only for a second but he is so tall
and so fine in person lollll) also let's pretend
their breaths don't stank. this chapter
made me feel so single even tho they
technically aren't bf and gf yet 😣 trust
me this plot is important for s3 😈