After the hurricane died down the next day, Nathan woke up and walked down stairs to meet his mom and sister for breakfast.

"You finally woke up! I didn't want to wake you in case you couldn't sleep last night." His mom said already preparing a plate of French toast for him.

"Thanks, mom." Nathan says, voice hoarse. He crosses the breakfast bar and meets his mom, giving a kiss to her forehead. He walks back and does the same to Katelynn saying a brief 'good morning' and sitting down. She looked just as tired as he did. He rubbed his eyes and gave a good stretch before reaching for his fork.
Nathan's  mom was right, he hadn't gotten much sleep last night. He couldn't stop thinking about JJ and the prospect of liking the boy. Nathan wasn't quite comfortable with that idea. He didn't want to have feelings for anyone, not now. Not when his mom had control over every aspect of his life. He could just see her face when she finds out. The disappointment. It wasn't that she'd be disappointed that her son might be gay, she wasn't a homophobe. 'Thank god' Nathan thought. But it was the fact that JJ was a pogue- A low life in her eyes.

Nathan shook his head. Who was he kidding? It's not like JJ would ever even feel the same. Nathan remembers the countless conversations he had with him where JJ would boast about the next girl he was gonna lay. To Nathan's knowledge, JJ was a hundred percent straight.

Nathan let out a sigh.

"What's wrong with you?" Katelynn piped, scrunching her brow.

"Nothing, nothing. Just tired."

He doubted she would believe him. One thing about his sister that he hated, was how observant she was. She could spot a lie from a mile away. It's no wonder she was studying law.

"Mhmm." She retorted, but didn't say anything else. Just went back to eating her food and got up a few moments later, putting her plate in the sink and walking off to her room. Nathan tilted his head. She seemed a bit off. But he didn't pay it any mind. His mind was still filled with blue eyes and beachy blonde hair.

After eating and sharing short conversation with his mom, Nathan walks back upstairs and opens the door to his room only to jump
in surprise. Outside his window was the boy who occupied most of his thoughts.

Nathan hurries to his window, making sure to shut the door behind him. "What the hell are you doing here?!" Nathan whispers with bite to his tone. "My mom is down stairs!"

JJ just shrugs, sporting a grin. "It was worth the risk. We're going crabbing, I thought you might want to come."

Nathan tried to hold back a smile. JJ came all this way for him. He couldn't help but be delighted by that fact. "Okay. Okay. I'll be down in a second." He makes to close the window but stops. "And make sure my mom doesn't see you guys, I'll meet you by the dock." JJ nods, making his way to climb down. Like most homes in the outer banks, Nathan's house had a dock, but his family stopped using their boat after his dad died and eventually sold the thing.

Nathan walks back down stairs to his mom, who was seated in the living room watching tv.

"Hey, im gonna go crabbing with some friends if that's okay?"

Elizabeth looks at him in surprise. "Okay, hun. Just make sure to be careful."

Nathan smiles, excited. "Thanks, mom!" He kisses her cheek and heads for his back door.

"And be back before eight." She calls behind him. Nathan just raises a thumbs up and heads out. He runs to the boat he sees at the end of the dock and climbs in.

"Ready, Cinderella?" JJ says putting a hand over Nathan's shoulders.

"Yeah." Nathan chuckles and John B starts the boat.

Nathan was glad that he was finally out of the house, but what he didn't know was that his mom was looking out the window as they drove off.

Kie sits next to Nathan, handing him a beer. Nathan looks at it debating wether or not to take it.

"Oh come on. Don't tell me you've never had a beer before." She chuckles.

"Okay, I won't tell you." He laughs.

Kie smacks his shoulder. "No way! Okay now you have to take it." She smiles.

"I don't know."

"Come on, pretty boy! Why don't you live a little?" JJ laughs, taking the beer from Kie and grabbing Nathan's hand, planting the beer in it.  Nathan looked down at where JJ's hand had been and smiles.

" Look let me show you a party trick. Hey, Pope! Go a little faster please." JJ asks as he stands at the front of the boat, beer in hand.

"It doesn't work! We've tried this like 6,000 times." Pope shakes his head but goes faster.

"I got this. It's gonna work!" JJ insists and raises the beer in front of his face and it goes into his mouth without him having to raise it to his lips.

Nathan laughed but stopped when the beer was spraying him.

"Oh my god! You're getting beer in my hair." Kie exclaimed.

"Alright. Alright you're done! Stop!" Pope yells.

But before JJ could step back, they crashed into something and he went flying.

"JJ, oh my god!" Nathan went to the edge of the boat. Nathan sighed with relief when he saw JJ reach the surface. "Are you okay?"

"I think the heels touched the back of my head." He groaned in pain. "Pope what did you do?" JJ asked as he made his way to the boat.

"Sand bar. The channel changed."

"No shit!" JJ retorted.

"Ugh this is probably gonna mess this whole place up." John B said behind him.

"Hey, I saved the beer though" JJ smiled. Nathan laughed making his way to help JJ up when he noticed something in the water.

"Guys! I think there's a boat down there." He called.

"What?! No way." Kie said.

"No I'm serious. There's like a boat down there. For real!" Nathan points. He quickly takes off his sandals and shirt and jumps into the water, everyone following behind except JJ who was already in the water and who was a little dumbstruck at the sight of Nathan without a shirt.

He was sure he was just surprised that Nathan was finally comfortable with the group. He shook his head and swam to the boat. 'That had to be it.' He thought.

Nathan reaches the boat first and turns back to the others waiting for them to catch up. They all swim down, taking a look at the sunken boat.

After running out of breath, Nathan pushed to the surface, the others following suit.

They all gasped for breath.

"You guys saw that right?!" JJ smiled.

"Yeah I did!"

The pogues laughed. Nathan was a bit confused.

JJ noticed his confusion and explained. "That's a Grady-White! A new one of those is like 500 G's, easy."

"Wow!" Nathan says eyebrows raised.

They made their way back to the boat.

"That's a primo-rig." JJ added once he got on the boat.

"Yeah yeah yeah. That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge. Maybe it hit the jetty or something." John B recalled.

"You surged the surge?" Kie asked disappointed.

"Yeah."

JJ laughs. "That's my boy! Pogue style!" He exclaims.

"Wait. Do we know who's boat that is?" Pope asks. And Nathan nods, wondering the same thing. The whole thing seemed a bit eerie in his opinion.

"No. But we're about to find out." John B says, opening a compartment with equipment.

"It's too deep." JJ adds.

"Oh for the weak and feeble, JJ."

"Well I'm not resuscitating you. I'm just making that clear up front."

"That's fine, Kie will. Right Kie?"

"John B!" Kie warns.

"What?" He sighs and turns to Nathan. "What about you, Nate. You would, won't you?"

Nathan just blushes and nods. He hated that he used more facial expressions than actual words.

John B gives him a wink.

JJ tears his eyes away from the sight.

"Diver down, fool." Pope remarks.

"Diver down." John B solutes.

"Yeah he is!" JJ pushes John B into the water.

They all laugh and JJ turns to Nathan. He smiles at the sight of Nathan looking so care free.

JJ thinks back to the day he first saw Nathan reading on his own. He didn't know what got in him that day, but he just felt the need to walk up to him- to be friends with him. And then, after actually getting to know the boy, JJ felt the need to help Nathan come out of his shell. And so far, Nathan's doing just that.

JJ turns away and shakes his head after realizing Nathan was giving him a confused look.

After they realized John B was in the water a little too long, they all huddled at the boats edge, waiting for him to come back.

"Should we go get him?" Pope asked. John B floats to the surface right then.

"Oh my god! That took forever!" Kie exclaims.

Nathan takes a breath of relief, and once he calmed down, he became distinctly aware of JJ's bare shoulder touching his. Nathan quickly stands up.

"Any dead bodies?" Pope asks.

"Looting potential?" JJ adds.

"No no." John B responds. "I found this hotel key." He says raising said key above the surface.

"A key?" Pope deadpans.

"Yes, a key, Pope." John B retorts.

"Great! We salvaged a motel key." JJ remarks sarcastically.

Once John B was on the boat, the crew started the boat and drove off.

"Guys, we should report the boat to the coast guard." Nathan piped up after some awkward silence.

"Yeah! Maybe we'll get a finder's fee." Kie agreed.

"Yeah and not work all summer! Thanks Agatha, ya batch!" JJ added and looked at Nathan, who smiled in response. JJ didn't think he could ever get over that smile. At that thought, JJ turned away. He asked himself a question he'd been refraining from asking this whole day. 'Do I have a thing for Nate?' JJ turned back and saw Nathan talking to Kie. 'Fuck! I think I do'

Thanks for being patient! I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter. I finally got past ten minutes of the first episode lol. Well anyways, I hope you guys liked it! Byeeeeee!!!!