chapter 30.
in the back of my mind,
i'm still overseas.

୨୧

SOMEWHERE IN THE
MOROCCAN DESERT.

It takes longer than he'd like to admit for pope
and cleo to pull josephine ashore after they are shipwrecked.

she fights against his hold, heels digging into sand. "are you fucking crazy? they're still out there, we can't just leave!"

"sit the fuck down, josephine." pope orders. he's soaked from fishing her from the waves; she'd dived back in the moment they washed ashore. he's tried, and grieving, and simply fed up. "are you crazy? did you not see the size of those swells? you can't even swim!"

"did you not see jj and sarah literally go overboard?" joey shoots back angrily. "they're gonna drown if we don't—"

"they're already gone." rafe mutters dryly. "no way they survived that."

"shut the fuck up, rafe." pope snaps. cleo hums in agreement. "yeah, not helping."

john b stumbles up over the dunes, doubled over as he pants. "i looked everywhere." josephine's heart sinks into the sand at the boys defeated expression. "i couldn't find them."

jo goes silent after that; they all do. no one speaks again until the sun has set and they set a small fire at the center of their camp, sitting unhealthily close to its flames. "maybe they just washed up further down the beach." john b swallows thickly. "we just gotta keep looking."

kiara nods, face set in a frown. "we'll look at first light."

but first light comes and josephine doesn't move. she can't. she lay in a pile on the dunes as cleo gathers supplies washed up from the shipwreck and pope finishes building shelter from driftwood. she doesn't even stir when kiara gasps, shooting to her feet with hands shielding her eyes from the mid-morning sun.

it's a good thing, too; the brunettes hope fades from her features as quickly as it had arrived and she frowns, sinking back to the sand. josephine rolls over, back facing the others. such amateurs. she thinks. don't they know how dangerous hope can be?

an optimist until death, pope looks between his friends. "they're gonna turn up." there it is again. hope. he jabs a piece of driftwood into their sizzling fire pit, wiggling the coals around. "they'll turn up."

jo would murmur her own personal (pessimistic) opinion if it weren't for the brick in her throat. she hears a collective shuffling as the four friends rise to their feet for the second time that day. she wishes they'd just end their misery already.

"i'll go." john b offers and jo watches his footsteps retreat, face still lying on hot sand. a moment passes and cleo nudges her with a foot. "c'mon, rude gal. enough moping."

josephine looks over one shoulder with a snarl. she parts her chapped lips but no words come out; cleo doesn't give her time to retort, anyhow. "no, seriously. look." she points just beyond the dunes and josephine begrudgingly climbs to a standing position, unsteady on her feet. she cups a hand over her eyes, squinting against the midday sun as john b rushes towards a familiar figure.

wide eyed, josephine scans the rest of the beach for a second body. when she finds one, she takes off down the dune, sand kicking up behind her. "jj! j!" she speeds past the reuniting couple, nearly taking sarah with her as she races past.

"jj!" the blonde boy walks slow, unsure if his sister would greet him with a hug or sucker punch. both were likely, given their last encounter.

josephine barrels into her older brother, throwing her arms around his neck with such force he almost toppled to the sand below. "oh, jesus."he's slightly taken aback with this greeting; jo is an intense grudge holder. she didn't forgive very easily, and she never forgot.

but this was different. this was her big brother, whom she had been separated from for four years and had spent the past twelve hours grieving on hot sand. she couldn't lose him.

despite his initial surprise, jj soon melts into the rare affection from his sister, tightly wrapping his arms around her torso. he holds her close, breathing her in as if trying to mentally map out this exact moment, carve it into his memory.

it's a beautiful, peaceful reunion until josephine harshly yanks herself from his grasp plants both hands on the older boys shoulders, violently shoving him backwards. "fuck!" jj gasps as he stumbles into the sand. jo hears john b exclaim from behind. "oh, shit!"

josephine bends in half, rearing back an arm and socking jj in the shoulder as hard as she could possibly manage. "shit, jo!" he flinches, other hand immediately cradling the victimized arm. "what the hell was that for?"

"what do you think?" she raises an eyebrow, offering a hand which he takes, although it's mainly him doing all the work to pull himself up. "you're a dick, jj." jo shakes her head with a scoff. "but i knew that already, so, my bad i guess."

"yeah, but i'm also your big brother." jj exhales breathily. he slings an arm around her shoulders as they cross the beach, trailing a ways behind sarah and john b. "which means i should've been there for you, and i'm sorry."

jo feigns a gasp of shock. "jj maybanks sorry?"

"yeah, yeah, don't push it."

𓇼 ⋆｡˚ 𓆝⋆｡˚ 𓇼

Jo settles comfortably into the sand beside her brother, kiara on his other side. it's late, the sun having already set over the horizon. minus a lone rafe the teens sit around the fire, overjoyed to have been reunited. they felt whole again.

john b breaks the comfortable silence. "i think next time we take a trip, we should maybe plan ahead."

"maybe we can stay in a hotel next time." kiara adds. "like, with a shower." sarah hums in agreement. "yeah, i smell awful."

"yeah, i smelled myself today, and—"

sarah chuckles, interrupting john b's confession. "you weren't the only one who smelled you."

the group laughs softly, enjoying each others presence. jj looks to his right, smiling at the brunette leaning against his shoulder. "hey, uh, you know what's a good name for a baby?" he looks down absentmindedly, brushing a loose strand of hair behind his little sisters ear as her head rests in his lap. "jj. goes both ways actually; if it's a girl, if it's a boy."

"no, no." his sister chimes in tiredly. "if it's a girl, josephine. or just josie. if it's a stupid boy, then jj would be a good fit." jj rolls his eyes playfully, gently tugging a strand of wild blonde hair.

pope looks around in confusion. "what baby?" cleo shares this lost look, propped against his chest.

"oh, that's right." sarah realizes. she reaches out, interlocking her fingers with john bs. "you guys don't know."

"no way." popes jaw goes slack and cleo gasps. "a poguelet?"

"mm-hmm." sarah hums in confirmation.

"you?" pope points to the blonde girl in disbelief. she nods again and he turns to john b. "you're gonna be a frickin' dad?" he lunges forward, tacking his best friend into the sand as the others look on in laughter. cleo rushes to embrace sarah, smiling so wide jo begins to wonder if her mouths stuck like that.

josephine's so focused on her brothers beating heart and her friends joyful laughter to even think about bacteria; she's sure this will come back to bite her. it always does. they were in a foreign country, in the middle of the fucking desert, and her belt bag (and bandages) were officially lost at sea, never to be seen again. but alas, a freak out would have to wait, because it's not like having a breakdown would get them away from this god forsaken sand (bacteria breeding ground) any sooner.

evie speaks !
the last couple chapters have been extra short bc we're nearing the end of this book and i'm trying to stretch it a little to make it as many chapters as possible!! but don't worry there will be a pt2 when s5 comes out, so it's a ways away but at least josie's story isn't over yet :))