𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄
𝟔:𝟒𝟎 - 𝟏𝟏:𝟑𝟎
𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 » 𝙟𝙤𝙖𝙣 𝙟𝙚𝙩𝙩

∞

"Hurricane Agatha continues it's steady march towards Kildare Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina." The women on the news informs with her usual monotone voice.

"Holy shit." John B gasps, stepping back slightly in surprise, apologising to the elderly woman he accidentally bumped.

"It's our lucky day, brother." I smirk over at him happily, the words leaving the news reporter's lips making my day.

"It sure is." He grabs my wrist and back aways from the TV screen, shoving gently through the crowd onto the dock, where John B pulls out his phone quickly.

"What's their number again?" He asks, biting his lip as he peers up at me with fingers hovering over his phone.

I roll my eyes, snatching the phone and entering the number before handing it back to him. He sends me a thanking nod before pressing the speaker so I can listen too, both of us leaning closer to the phone, the noise of the boats obstructing our hearing slightly.

"Department of Child Services. How can I help you?" Finally, someone answers and both of us let out a sigh or relief.

"Yeah, uh, I think we're probably gonna have to reschedule."  He holds his hand up and I give him a joyful high five while he quickly tells the lady our information.

Man, we're so fucking lucky.

~~

John B and Pope had left JJ and I in the chateau because the pair of boys wanted to go do something; I'm presuming surfing, but they refused to tell me. I step out into the porch, the rain and wind whipping my face. I hold my cigarette out of the rain, preventing it from becoming soaked and useless.

Ever since I younger I've found the rain somewhat comforting. The only time the weather is so bad in Outer Banks is when there's a storm, so I make the mos of it while I can, squeezing my eyes shut and throwing my head back, allowing the drops to fall down my cheeks.

"Why you stood out there?" JJ asks, leaning on the door frame, his eyes inspecting me curiously.

I visibly flinch, causing him to chuckles as I turn around to face him, leaning against the beam, "It's refreshing." I reply loudly so he can hear me over the storm.

"Well, get back inside before you get— fuck. What's it called?" He purses his lips, running a hand through his hair in annoyances "New.." He tries, his eyes now trained on the wooden flooring.

My face softens in realisation, "Pneumonia, J. It's called pneumonia."

"That's the one." He clicks his fingers, "I totally knew that." He takes a swig of his beer, smirking slightly, "Get back inside before you get pneumonia."

"Yes, Captain." I salute jokingly as I walk past him and lay comfortably on the sofa-bed, patting the space beside me.

Without hesitation, he takes the offer, jumping down, shaking the bed slightly and I chuckle as we both manoeuvre to get more comfortable, "Where's Kie?" He questions, his head turned to me.

"I presume she's at home with her family." I shrug, taking another hit from my cig, breathing slowly while he watches me carefully as I exhale and wave the cloud of smoke away from our faces.

He rolls over onto his front, using his elbows to prop him up. His face is way too close to mine and I can practically smell the alcohol laced in his breath, "So, we're alone." He licks his lips, nearing even more.

"We are alone, yes." I nod, already feeling my cheeks burn a bright red and I curse silently at myself.

"So, we could have sex right now and no one would know." He clicks his tongue, throwing his empty beer bottle onto the floor carelessly.

"We could have sex right now and no one would know, yes." I sigh, lowering my head, "Do I want to do that? No."

He scoffs and pushes up on one arm so he is slightly above me, "I know you're lying." He presses a single finger under my chin, lifting it so our eyes meet once again.

"No, you don't." I snap, unsure of why he thinks I'm lying.

"I do. I know Pope says your a great liar. and overall you are. But, I know you better then him." He says, "You do this thing."

"What thing?" I rush, my back straightening in confusion.

"Your right eye twitches." He taps the cheek just under my right eye, causing me to rolls my eyes in frustration.

I throw my head back, "That's just because I have a lazy eye."

He shakes his head, laughing, "You don't have fuckin' lazy eye, A. Bro, it's so obvious." He snorts, tapping my thigh in reassurance, sending shivers up my spine.

There are a few minutes of silence while I just stare at his hand resting on my leg and contemplate his theory. Shit. What if he's right?

JJ notices the uncertainty in my eyes, "You're worried about a certain someone. It's Rafe, ain't it?" Slowly, his hand moves off my thigh and rests on the bed between us instead.

"Yeah." I mumble, feeling like I've said something wrong, "We dated, remember."

"It must of slipped my mind because of how fuckin' awful it was." He snarls sarcastically, turning away from me slightly.

"What does that mean?" I raise an eyebrow, my eyes searching his slightly hidden face.

"You were miserable constantly. Ava, that wasn't a good relationship, you must know that." He chuckles over at me, "What did you lie to him about, anyway?"

"You're so nosy." I grumble, "It doesn't matter."

"Bro, it does matter. He might come here while you're sleeping and cut your eyeballs out." His eyes widen and he sits up, his legs crossed.

"What?" I laugh, shaking my head in disbelief at the absurd statement, "Why— why would he do that?"

"It's Rafe. He's fucking crazy." He taps his temple before twirling his index finger in a circle.

I smack his chest, "Don't say that."

His mouth drops open before a loud laugh explodes from it but his eyes lock onto mine, causing him to calm down again, "You still fuckin' like him, don't you?"

I clench my jaw, glancing away for a split second, "No."

JJ grabs my chin gently and turns my head to him so our eyes meet once again, "You still like him, don't you?" He repeats sternly, his grip on my face tightening to keep me in place.

"No." I lean forward slightly, our faces centimetres apart as our eyes burn into each other, "I do not still like Rafe Cameron."

He smirks, letting go of my chin before rolling away from me and dragging a pillow closer to him for comfort, "You're an idiot sometimes, Ava."

Rude.

~~

"Ava!" John B hisses, smacking my face and causing my eyes to shoot open in a hurry, swatting his stabbing fingers away.

"What now? What is it with you and waking me up?" I snarl angrily before yawning into my hand.

He doesn't reply and just flicks his eyes to beside me. Slowly, I twist my neck to see JJ has his arm slung over my waist and his face buried in my back. I watch him for a moment, staring at his relaxed features and shivering each time his warm breath his my back. I swallow after realising how long I've been staring and snap my head back to my brother.

"He has his shirt off." He grumbles, his hands on his hips.

I shrug, standing up slowly trying not to wake JJ, "Maybe he was hot, I don't know. We didn't do anything." I motion down to my body, "I'm still fully dressed."

"Whatever. The hurricane hit hard last night." He says, walking around the sofa bed, "No service and no power." He taps JJ's butt while passing, "Yo, JJ, you been outside?"

JJ groans, not bothering to open his eyes but instead waves his hand for us to leave, "I have polio, bro. I can't walk."

I roll my eyes at his lie, following my brother outside into the back porch. The devastation from the hurricane coming into full view. One of the main tree's has fallen down, exposing all of it's roots, along with most of the other bushes, leaving our garden looking like a tip.

"Oh man," John B yawns and put his hands on the back of his head, "That's not good."

I groan, patting his bare shoulder before walking around the house, leaving him to mourn the tree alone, "Shit." I swear at the sight of the other tree that's tilted slightly, squashing half the garden.

"Agatha did some work, huh?" JJ asks, standing on the front porch steps drinking a deer casually, his shades thrown on to cover his tired eyes.

My gaze shoots up to him, and I roll my eyes, "It's like nine in the morning and you're already drinking."

"Get's me going." He smirks before burping loudly, "Don't act like you don't smoke at 4am."

"How'd you know that?" I raise an eyebrow at him, smirking, "You stalking me, Maybank?"

"Who wouldn't stalk you, Routledge?" He laughs, slowly making his way down, "You're hot as fuck."

"Could you stop hitting on my sister, JJ?" John B walks over, a grimace on his face as he glares at us before grabbing random tree branches out of the HMS Pogue and throwing them to the ground. I jump into the boat to get rid of the smaller twigs, helping him.

"Whatcha thinking?" JJ questions, leaning on the bow, running a hair through his messy golden hair.

"I'm thinking that storm surge pushed all the crabs out on the marsh maze. All those drum are gonna chase the crab." John B says, smiling over at me.

"Great fishing opportunity." I smirk and he nods at me, lips pursed.

"What about the DCS? Wasn't that today?" JJ raises an eyebrow of confusion, his eyes flicking between my brother and I.

I shake my head, "They ain't getting on a ferry - not straight after a hurricane."

"Come on, think about it." John B holds up a twig, "It's God telling us to fish."

"Then, let's go, boys." I clap, a large smirk on my lips.

~~

I slide my sunglasses further down my nose, peering over the top of them at Pope as we slow down at the dock that he's working on.

"Well, look who we have here." John B puts on a donald the duck voice, his fingers tapping against the steering wheel.

"Hiya, Pope." I wave and JJ whoops happily, both of us gleaming over at the working boy.

"We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory." John imitates a walkie-talkie, his hands cupping his lips.

"I can't. My pop's got me on lockdown." Pope groans, leaning on the broom his using tiredly.

"Come on, man." JJ mimics a static noise, "Your Dad's a pussy over."

"Oh, I heard that, you little bastard." Heyward rushes over to stand beside Pope, an annoyed expression on his face.

"We need your son." I say, smiling over at the older man.

"Yeah, and island rules," JJ adds, his hands on the top of my head while he stands behind me, "Day after a hurricane is a free day."

"Who the hell made that up?" Heyward snaps, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Uh.. Pentagon, I think." JJ tells him, purposely rubbing his fingers into my scalp, my hair becoming even messier, "We have security clearance. I have a card."

I glance up at him, pushing him away and he chuckles while I shuffle away, turning to face Heyward again, "Same, I have the card too. It's here somewhere..." I sit up straight and pretend to search my pockets.

"Pentagon? Y'all think I'm stupid." Heyward glares at the both of us.

"It was worth a try." JJ mumbles, shooting me a mischievous smirk.

"I'll do it tomorrow. I promise. Tomorrow." Pope repeats, slowly releasing the tools in his hand and edging his way closer to us.

"No, no. Hell no. You doin' it right now." His dad protests, wagging his finger at his disobedient son angrily.

"Get in the boat." John B hisses, motioning for Pope to jump in.

"Make a run for it." I whisper, hiding my lips from Heyward with my hand.

Pope rolls his jaw before quickly jumping into the boat, tapping furiously on the bar above the steering wheel, "Go, go, go." He pleads.

"Bring your ass back up here." Heyward yells, running to the edge of the dock.

"I'll promise I'll do it tomorrow, Dad." Pope yells back, attempting to keep his tone loving and kind.

"When you back you gonna cleans shrimp, you gonna cleanse fish, you'll clean your dirty ass room!" Heyward throws his arms up in fustration,

"Love you, Pops." John B waves back.

"We'll try bring him back in one piece." I laugh, sending the older man a smirk.

"And I don't like your friends!" He shouts angrily, before huffing and trudging away.

We make our way to Kiara's, while congratulating Pope for going against his dad's wishes for once in his life.

"It's boiling." I pant, slipping off my top and throwing it to the side to reveal my bikini. It didn't really help with the heat, as the top was already thin but it allowed the tiniest amount of air to reach my skin better.

JJ looks at Pope, smacking his chest excitedly and I can see a small smirk on his face out of the corner of my eye. Pope grimaces at the blonde's attitude and turns back to the blue water.

"More of that, pleaseeee." JJ chuckles to himself, throwing his head back to hide his lips from me.

"Hey, Kie." I smile as Kiara strolls down to the boat, waving happily.

"Good morning, Ava. Boys." She nods in greetings.

"Whatcha got?" JJ turns his head and rests it on my shoulder so he can see Kie better.

I shrug him off uncomfortably, turning around more, "You got some juice boxes?"

"You know, just some yogurts and carrot sticks." She shrugs while jumping on.

"What about our type of juice box?" JJ motions between him and I, an eyebrow raised and she rolls her eyes, nodding in confirmation.

"Brace for impact." John B says as he speeds the boat up, taking a beer bottle from Kiara as she sits down.

I move from beside JJ to next to Kie so I can retrieve myself a beer bottle from the cooler.

"Am I really that repulsive?" JJ jokes, his lips pouting.

"Yes." I deadpan sarcastically.

He gasps, holding his hand to his heart, "That's so rude. I cannot believe you just said that to me, Ava Booker-Routledge."

"I'm sorry." I stick my bottom tongue out, biting back a laugh, "Now, shut up and drink." I throw him a beer which he kindly thanks me for.