"FELL BACK TO SLEEP, I GOT DRUNK BY NOON,
I'VE NEVER FELT LESS COOL."
- harry styles, from the dining table

"Who's that?" John B asked as the Pogues watched a man be wheeled on a stretcher off a fishing boat. A distraught dark haired woman who Avery had never seen before ran up to him, immediately beginning to cry into the man's chest.

"It's Scooter Grubbs." The blonde sitting on the picnic table next to Avery said. "He was out during the storm."

"I'm not even from here and I know that's stupid." Avery mumbled, the other girl pulling out her phone and showing it to the Pogues.

"Check out this pic I got." She bragged. "Dead body."

"Holy shit." John l B replied, but Avery could only grimace at the girl's actions. A man had died, sure, a very avoidable death, but still, and she took it as an opportunity to snap a few pictures for attention from her friends? Seemed a little messed up to the Decker, but what did she know?

"What type of boat did he have?" JJ asked, pretending to be clueless to the whole situation, despite all of the Pogues knowing that Scooter was most likely the owner of the sunken Grady-White in the marsh.

"Somehow that dirtbag copped a brand new Grady-White." The blonde confirmed their suspicions. "Everyone's out looking for it."

Avery glanced between JJ and John B, the two boys sending her a look of uncertainty. They had tampered with a crime scene. The motel key in Avery's back pocket was burning a hole there, and the thought of the handgun and the wad of cash JJ had taken from the room sitting in the back of the Twinkie made her feel nauseous.

"I have to go home and... call my dad." Avery said unconvincingly as JJ gave her a sideways glance.

"Since when does Lennon care if you're alive or dead?" He asked bluntly.

"There was a hurricane last night, JJ. He probably wants to know if the house made it through." Avery snapped, JJ furrowing his brows at the Decker as the Pogues all started towards the van. She knew she was lying, Lennon probably hadn't even checked the forecast to see that there had been a hurricane in the Outer Banks, let alone that the surge was going to sweep right through his house.

"What's going on with you?" He mumbled in Avery's ear, the girl biting her lip as she and JJ stopped walking.

"JJ, you stole a couple grand and a glock from a crime scene." Avery enunciated. "Not to mention we broke into a dead guy's motel room and the key is in my pocket right now- JJ, that's a felony!"

"I know it is, Ave." JJ said through gritted teeth. "Just- Avery, give me the key."

"What? No!" the brunette protested, but JJ had already reached into the back pocket of her shorts, putting the metal loop of the key ring around his pointer finger like a ring.

"Now it's not in your pocket." He quipped, Avery rolling her eyes at his smartass tone.

"You get caught with that and we're all going to jail." She deadpanned, JJ shrugging.

"So I toss it in the ocean." He said simply, snaking his right arm around her waist and pulling Avery towards the Twinkie with him, the Decker sucking in a small breath at the contact of JJ's calloused fingertips on the skin just above her hip. "Besides, Lennon can wait a couple hours, can't he?"

"I also need to go wash where my legs got cut open." Avery mumbled as the duo climbed into the back of the Twinkie, JJ's jaw clenching as he remembered the essentially raw flesh on the back of Avery's thighs.

"Then let me come with you." He muttered, Avery shaking her head reluctantly.

"I'm a big girl, JJ, I can handle myself." She whispered matter-of-factly. "Besides, I'll come over later, I assume you're all going to the Chateau?"

"Yeah." JJ replied begrudgingly. "I was just kinda hoping you'd go too."

Avery smiled a little at the boy's words. She wasn't used to feeling cared for or like she meant anything to anyone, but JJ always took the time to make sure Avery knew that she was important to him. Even if it was small gestures of stolen pens, rocks he found while surfing that he thought were pretty, pictures he sent her of bracelets and other assorted cheap jewelry typically sold to tourists to ask if she would wear it if he bought it, which she always did.

That was how she ended up with the silver rings on her fingers, the bands wrapping around her skin always making her heart feel a little fuller. Despite her wealthy upbringing, gifts as a child were typically given as a way to purchase the Decker's love. JJ, on the other hand, would rather show avery that she was someone important by buying her little assortments of knick knacks, collecting pretty shells for her, thrifting baseball caps for her to wear when she tanned, and helping her with home improvement projects.

There were countless times when Avery first moved in to her house and JJ was sleeping on the couch that during the day, Avery would sit propped up on his shoulders while she hung up posters, string lights, and put new curtains on the rods. JJ and Avery had practically converted Lennon's Outer Banks home into a place of their own.

Plain white decor became colored under the glow of rainbow christmas lights strung across the ceiling. White throw pillows became colorful shaped ones JJ found online and showed Avery, the brunette immediately ordering them and having JJ help her pick out their location on the couch. Colorful throw blankets, fairy lights over blackout curtains that had fabrics of teal and coral dimly lit the upstairs living room, but it was exactly what the two of them liked.

Fancy coffee and end tables turned into thrifted whicker, as did the swing on the front porch, which Avery replaced with a tanned couch with worn out cushions. By the time Avery and JJ had finished with the house, there were assortments of random wildflowers in mason jar vases on the tables, random geodes Avery had found on the beach and JJ had cracked open with a sledge used to decorate the entertainment center, paintings done by the Pogues at random sleepovers, and other odd items strung about the house.

Those were all little ways that the two showed that the other was important to them. Avery let JJ come around and decorate the house like it was his own, a feeling he had never felt in his own home, and JJ helped Avery live out her fantasies of her dream house and what she wanted for her life in general, something Lennon and Talia had ignored about their daughter for years.

And yes, the other pogues came over to Avery's house all the time, they all hung out at John B's house all the time, but for the most part, it was just JJ, Avery, and what the two teens saw as a completely blank canvas they could decorate to their liking, which was exactly what they had done to the house.

"So I'm taking you home?" John B asked Avery, the girl nodding in reply, the smile still etched on her lips from JJ's previous comment. Maybe she read too much into the things he said, but for the first time in her life, Avery Richelle Decker felt as though someone enjoyed her company and wanted her around. She never fit in with any of her so called friends back in Texas, as she didn't care about any of the same things they did.

Rather than being wrapped up in expensive designer brands and how much of her father's money she could spend in one weekend, Avery cared more about getaways down to Galveston where the surf was always amazing, there were reefs to snorkel in, and she could go to some random seafood boil hosted by the locals that night for dinner rather than book a reservation to one of the five-star restaurants she was so sick of constantly eating at.

But it seemed like JJ was always happy when avery was around, and Avery was happy when JJ was around.

"What're the plans for tonight?" Avery asked, finally pulling herself from her thoughts as her cocoa colored eyes glanced around the van looking for an answer.

"Nothing as of right now." John B replied shortly as he turned down the road that went to JJ, Avery, and John B's houses. it was by some insane miracle the three had ended up living on the same street, but they were all grateful that fate chose them to be in those three houses. "That could change, though. JJ can drop by your house tonight if they do."

"He's gonna be at my house tonight anyways, what're you talking about?" Avery asked with a laugh, JJ knocking the brunette on the shoulder at the comment. "Or do you have another couch you're sleeping on that I don't know about?"

"Everyone knows he sleeps in your room." Kiara teased, smiling at Avery the whole time, the Decker smiling back and running her tongue across the top row of her teeth. John B smirked at the duo in the rear view mirror as he stopped in front of Avery's driveway.

"Thanks, Johnny Boy." The girl exclaimed, voice chipper as she practically skipped around the front of the van, she and John B flipping each other off the whole way around.

JJ gazed out the window at Avery's retreating figure, the girl walking backwards towards her door. He couldn't make out the remark she called out to the brunette in the drivers seat, but it was enough to make John B yell something about how he could actually get a girlfriend, to which Avery turned on her heel and ran up the steps to the second floor entrance, blowing a kiss towards the van as she stepped through the white screen door.

John B just resumed driving as though nothing had happened, starting up a conversation with Kiara and Pope, but JJ's gaze was fixed on the pale gray house that the brunette girl had just disappeared into. Maybe she had gone inside and immediately started playing music. Maybe she had climbed out the skylight above the dining table and gone on the roof with her favorite book. Maybe she was in her room stringing shells and assorted beads into string to make new necklaces for herself and Kiara.

Maybe she was thinking about him like he was thinking about her.

Avery had, in fact, called Lennon once she got inside her house. Unsurprisingly, he had had no idea about the hurricane. He didn't ask Avery if she or the house was okay, she had to tell him that herself. He did, however, take the time to mention that he and Gabriella had booked their honeymoon to the Caribbean and that he was 'so sorry he forgot to ask if she wanted to go'. Talia, on the other hand, was pleased that her daughter had called, but was more focused on when she would be coming back home for the summer.

"I don't know, never?" Avery suggested, putting her phone on speaker and setting it on the bathroom windowsill as her mother let out a dry chuckle. Avery didn't return the gesture, her suggestion being entirely serious.

"Oh, honey, what am I gonna do with you?" Talia asked, her voice slightly bitter at her daughter's reluctance. Avery shrugged, despite knowing the woman on the phone could see her as she shimmied out of her shorts, reaching into the cabinet under the sink to grab a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a bag of cotton balls.

"I'm happy here, mom. I know you were hoping that I would be miserable and dying to come back by the time the divorce was settled, but I hate to break it to you, I'm not." Avery told the woman firmly, biting on her lip so hard she feared it would bleed as she dabbed the clear liquid onto the backs of her thighs.

"Avery, you're sixteen years old. You don't know when you're happy." Talia replied dryly.

"Oh, I don't?" Avery asked, tossing the cotton ball that was now stained red into the trash can next to the toilet. "Because I know that here I have friends I can tolerate being around. I have people who enjoy my company and who I'm not rolling my eyes at every time they speak. And these people want me around, it's nice to have people who want me to be friends with them rather than the ones who threw a party when I left."

"None of those people are gonna mean shit to you after you go to college, Avery. they don't mean anything."

"Will you stop saying that?" Avery yelled, pouring more rubbing alcohol on another cotton ball and propping her foot onto the sink so she could more easily wipe down the back of her leg. "You say that constantly and I feel like it's more of a reflection of your childhood and the fact that all of your high school friends went to the same college without telling you and then all your sorority friends ditched you when you became, essentially, a gold-digging wine-o."

"Avery Richelle!" Talia snapped, Avery hissing in pain as she touched the cotton to her leg, but it went unnoticed by the woman on the phone. "I don't like what these new friends are doing to you. I've seen your posts on Instagram, they seem filthy."

"Oh, I'm sure your poor first-class beliefs are croaking at the sight." Avery replied sarcastically, wincing at the touch of the alcohol on the last bit of bloody skin before tossing the cotton into the trash can. "A real shame for white suburban women all over the world when one of your daughters starts to rebel- am I gonna make it into a post for the Facebook group?"

"That's nough." Talia snapped angrily. "I do not care where you live, you are still my daughter, and you are coming home this summer!"

"Hm... let me think on that one and I'll get back to you, I have all sorts of obligations here, mom." Avery quipped sarcastically.

"Oh, really? Like what?"

"I work, mom, I have a job." Avery snapped as she grabbed her phone, taking it off speaker and putting the device back up to her ear. "I can't just leave whenever I want to, my boss isn't a multimillionaire."

"Who're you working for? I'll call them and get your days off." Talia assured.

"Oh, yes, that's very big girl of me, having my mommy call to get my days off." Avery retorted in a sarcastically enthusiastic tone, putting her phone back on speaker and placing it on her dresser. "Honestly, it's my decision whether I want to go back to Texas this summer or not, and I don't want to."

"I don't care what you want- you're a dumb teenager, you don't know what you want."

"Am I really?" Avery asked. "Which one of us talking had a baby when she was sixteen? wasn't me, so..."

The line dropped, Avery smirking in satisfaction. she peeled her still damp bathing suit off, hanging it over the back of a chair before grabbing a similar one in light blue. Covering it up with one of John B's button down Hawaiian shirts he had left at her house, the Decker fastened the wooden buttons as she strolled out of her bedroom just in time for JJ to burst through the front door.

"Ave!" he yelled, Avery rounding the corner and raising her brows. "Shit, sorry- we're having a kegger, grab your shit."

"I don't want to." Avery whined. "I didn't even get a heads up, I don't have time to get ready."

"You look great- let's go!"

"Sorry, I almost forgot that you think I'm a 'super hot, rich, hippie chick' in your eyes." Avery retorted, JJ rolling his eyes but following the brunette down the stairs to the stack of Converse next to the front porch door that was slightly propped open to let air in, a sliver of golden sunlight beaming off the hardwood floor.

"I'm never gonna hear the end of that one, am I?" JJ asked, plopping onto the staircase and propping his elbows up on the step level with his shoulders as Avery sat down criss-cross in front of the shoe pile, already untying and pulling off her purple Converse to swap them out for white ones.

"Nope!" Avery replied with a wide grin. "You guys already get a keg and a tap?"

"Yeah, they're in the back." JJ assured. "need me to grab anything?"

"Yeah, get my phone from my room and bring me a hair tie." Avery instructed as she laced her second shoe, pushing herself to her feet and following JJ up the stairs. she reached onto the floor of the bathroom for her shorts, taking her phone and hair tie from JJ as the two bounded down the steps of her house, both climbing into the back of the Twinkie.

"What took so long, you making out in there or something?" John B asked sarcastically, Avery rolling her eyes as she pulled her hair up.

"You're just jealous it wasn't you." She replied, winking at JJ as she did. John B made a remark to the girl about how he would rather have his leg sawed off by a crocodile than go out with her as he stopped the van just off the beach at the boneyard. The Pogues all filed out of the van, carrying cups, a tap, and the keg down to the beach before settling on a spot in a semicircle of logs.

"Spray it, spray it!" Avery insisted to JJ, who sprayed the first pump of the tap at John B's face, the boy attempting to catch the beer in his mouth, but instead it ran down his face.

JJ filled a cup, passing it to Avery as John B filled one, attempting to pass it to Pope, who immediately shut him down. JJ then poured a cup for himself, Kiara also getting a cup of the frothy liquid as teens began to congregate around the keg.

"Hey, you want a beer?" John B asked a tanned blonde, the girl smiling at him as the brunette boy passed him a cup, the girl taking it as the two of them strolled off.

"How do we always get conned into staying at the keg?" Avery wondered out loud to JJ, who had replaced John B on her right.

"I dunno." JJ mumbled, filling a cup and passing it to a brunette boy Avery had never seen before, more than likely a tourist.

"I personally-" Avery started, but was cut off by Kiara.

"What is she doing here?" The Carrera asked, Avery and JJ following her gaze to where a blonde girl was perched on top of a washed up buoy.

Sarah Cameron.

"Good for her." Avery stated bluntly as a bleached blonde boy approached where the girl was pointing at something in the distance, practically begging her to come down. "I bet he's fun at parties."

JJ stifled a laugh at the comment, he and Avery both turning back to the keg as another line had formed next to the gray barrel, this one mostly Kooks who had more than likely come to see why everyone was congregating at the boneyard.

"Here you go, please don't invite your friends." Avery was telling a blonde boy, who rolled his eyes at her as the Decker smirked back.

Night eventually fell, the keg getting down to the foam and the tap straining to get any liquid out with every use of the nozzle. John B walked over by JJ, who was holding one of the last good cups of beer from the barrel in his hand.

"Hey, man, you want this one?" JJ asked, his words slightly slurred. Avery had volunteered to be the designated driver to give Pope a chance to let lose a little for once and get a drink or two just so he could relax.

"For me?" John B asked the Maybank, pretending to be a bashful teenage girl at the question, JJ egging him on, but the sight of a blonde girl walking past him pulled him away from his mockery of John B.

"Actually- Sarah! hey, Sarah!" JJ called to the Cameron girl, who was walking past the keg with Topper, Avery mindlessly scrolling on her phone, not even flinching at the thought of JJ hitting on Sarah Cameron. After all, like John B had said multiple times before, JJ would go after any girl with a heartbeat. "Can I interest you in a tasty Milwaukee beverage?"

"Uhm... no thanks." Sarah replied with a smile pasted on her face, Avery almost gagging at the polite tone lacing the Kooks voice as she talked to JJ. she was probably only being polite because his best friend worked for her dad.

"Come on, is it not fancy enough for you?" JJ taunted, Avery pocketing her phone and looking up at the scene, JJ and John B standing side by side across from Sarah and Topper.

"No, we're actually just leaving." Sarah told JJ bluntly, but the boy insisted further that the Cameron girl take the plastic cup.

"JJ, stop it!" Avery said firmly, but it was too late, and much to everyone's displeasure, Topper had involved himself in the situation.

"Y'know what, man? I'll take it!" The Thornton boy exclaimed. "Thank you, man, I'll take it!"

"That's nice of you to suggest, Topper, but unfortunately, I didn't ask you." JJ teased, Avery rolling her eyes.

"I hate him. I hate him." She mumbled to herself as she rubbed her temples.

"Now, if you had said pretty please, maybe." JJ continued.

"Oh, pretty please?" Topper confirmed. "Pretty please?"

"Yeah, but you didn't." JJ said bluntly, turning his attention back to the blonde girl in the purple dress. "So, Sarah-"

"She doesn't want it-" Topper cut JJ off, smacking the cup out of his hand and showering the Maybank boy in foamy liquid, Avery rounding the keg and placing herself between Topper and JJ.

"JJ, you're drunk, stop it!" she reprimanded. "Topper, walk away, please."

"Come on, Avery, lighten up a little." Topper mocked. "I always knew you were a little uptight, it's the Kook in you, y'know?"

"I'm not a Kook." The Decker replied through gritted teeth. "Now do the right thing for once and walk away."

"Walk away like you did last September?" Topper asked, Avery furrowing her brows in confusion.

"What're you talking about?" She asked flatly. JJ had previously been held back by John B by the shoulders, but at Topper's words, he turned back to the scene unfolding between the Thornton boy and Avery.

"Oh, do the little Pogues not know about that?" He asked, Avery's eyebrows only knitting themselves impossibly closer. "Little Avery had me take her home after a weekend party on the Eight and kissed me on her way out. I couldn't believe it, but I'm not complaining."

"I never kissed you, you lying little bitch!" Avery yelled. Sarah was looking between Topper and Avery with her jaw slightly agape.

"Oh, so you wanna lie now?" Topper asked, Avery staring at him in shock.

"Are you seriously trying to make me sound like one of your random hookup girls because my friend drunk-flirted with your girlfriend?" Avery asked, Topper scoffing and rolling his eyes.

"You're gonna actively gaslight me? You're gonna act like you have no idea what I'm talking about?" Topper asked, eyebrows raised. "You're really, really delusional, Avery. I've gotta hand it to you."

"I never kissed you!" Avery yelled. By now, the whole beach had turned their attention to the scene unfolding by the water. "I never went to a house party on Figure Eight last September, you never took me home, and I never kissed you!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Decker." topper replied, patting the girl on the shoulder, but he didn't pick his hand up. Instead, he clamped it around her arm, and when Avery tried to pull away, his grip only tightened.

"Topper, let her go." Sarah said, voice dripping in anger behind her boyfriend. Avery couldn't tell if it was directed at her or topper, but she knew the blonde was pissed.

"Not until she admits she's a liar." Topper mumbled, Avery only glaring up at him. "What's the matter, Avery?" He asked, lowering his voice to a whisper so only she could hear. "Are you afraid none of the Pogues will sleep with you now that i've twisted the story a little bit?"

"There's no story to twist." Avery replied through gritted teeth. "Take your hand off my shoulder, you lying sack of shit."

"Back the hell away from her." Someone said loudly, but oddly calm from behind Avery.

JJ.

"No, I don't think I will." Topper replied, he and Avery's eyes never leaving each others. "I think I'll actually get up close and personal with her."

It was faster than Avery could process it, but Topper had taken the hand that wasn't gripping the girl's shoulder like iron and used it to smack her across the face so hard her head snapped to the side. She sucked in a deep breath at the contact, and Topper finally released his grip on her arm. The Decker fell onto the wet sand, clutching the side of her stinging face as an arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Shit- RiRi, you good?" John B asked in a mumble, pulling her away from Topper. Before Avery could answer, John B had let go of her and ran back over to where JJ appeared to be trying to beat topper to death. The Routledge grabbed his friend by wrapping an arm around his chest, the gesture catching JJ's attention long enough for Topper to land a harsh punch to his jaw, causing JJ's head to snap backwards.

"JJ!" Avery exclaimed, pulling herself up and watching and John b shoved the Maybank away from him.

"Just go! Leave it!" He was saying, but Topper wasn't done.

"Dirty Pogues!" He shouted. Apparently, that was all it took to set off John B, because avery watched as the Routledge flung himself at the Thornton boy.

"You okay?" Avery asked, moving JJ's face with the palm of her hand. The force of Topper's punch had shoved JJ's bottom teeth into his upper lip, and there was a steady stream of blood pouring down his face.

"I'm fine." JJ snapped, shoving off the brunette's hand, immediately sending her an apologetic glance at his outburst.

The two turned their attention back to where John B and Topper now had clothes that were stuck to their skin and transparent due to the fact they were rolling around in the water.

"Come on, Topper!" John B screamed, the two of them ignoring Sarah's pleas for them to stop.

"Kick his ass, JB!" Avery yelled, almost positive that the blonde in the water had left a significant red mark on her face where he had hit her.

The two boys continued to brawl around in the water, whoever had the upper hand constantly changing and sometimes unidentifiable. That was until Topper had climbed on top of John B, shoving his head into the water.

"He's drowning him!" Pope exclaimed from across the beach.

"Topper!" Sarah screamed. "Topper, stop!"

"Topper, that's too much!" Avery yelled.

"Not so big and tough now, are you?" Topper taunted, Avery rolling her eyes and turning to JJ, whose eyes were fixed on the scene in front of him in a state of glazed over horror.

"Do something!" Avery exclaimed. The Maybank immediately turned on his heel, running back up the beach as Avery turned her attention back to John B and Topper.

"Topper!" Sarah yelled. JJ shoved between Avery and the random girl on her right, something in his right hand. The sound of a gun safely clicking silencing the crowd as he pressed the metal of the gun to Topper's head, the boy immediately removing his hands from John B.

"Yeah, you know what that is." JJ seethed, a hint of insanity mixed with the anger in his voice. "Your move, broski."

Avery bounded forward, practically pulling John B away from where Topper and JJ were currently having their own dispute.

"Hey- hey, John B!" Avery insisted as she attempted to sit the Routledge boy up, but his dead weight was a struggle for her to handle.

"We're good! We're good!" Topper was telling JJ. The crowd on the beach had cleared out significantly since JJ's arrival with the gun, but there was still a fair host of bystanders in addition to the Pogues, Sarah, and Topper.

"Alright, everyone listen up!" JJ screamed, holding the gun over his head. "Get the hell off our side of the island!" He fired off two rounds with the pistol, the few remaining locals who had stayed to see the fight between Pogue and Kook royalty scattering as the shots echoed through the night. Kiara and Pope were quick to get on JJ's case, but Avery was focused on the stirring Routledge leaned against her body.

"Hey- hey, John B, you okay?" She asked, the boy only looking at her with a dazed gaze, his eyes fogged over like a feverish child and his skin a sickly pale. the brunette fell backwards into the ocean again, Avery scrambling to attempt and pull him out of the water.

"Stop yelling at JJ and help me!" She practically screamed at the Pogues, who turned their attention towards the two brunettes in the water for the first time since Topper had backed off the Routledge.

"Shit." JJ mumbled, he, Kiara, and Pope dashing over to the sand to help the boy up.

"Where're we taking him?" Pope asked.

"The Twinkie, then he can go to my house." Avery mumbled, digging the keys out of the Routledge's soaking back pocket, walking slightly off the course back to the van to grab JJ's backpack for him, as the last thing the boy needed was the cops going to investigate the site where Topper Thornton reported a gun being pulled on him just for them to find JJ's backpack stuffed with weed and all of his sources of I.D.

"Are you sure?" Kiara asked.

"I'm not leaving him alone when he might be concussed, Kie." Avery snapped, pulling the back door of the Twinkie open.

"Do you just wanna walk?" Pope was asking the Carrera, the girl nodding. They said their goodbyes to JJ and Avery, the Decker climbing into the back seat while jj drove.

"How is he?" The Maybank asked anxiously as he turned down the road to get to Avery's house.

"Alive." The brunette girl deadpanned. "Some water and painkillers and he should be right as rain."

JJ didn't say anything, just hummed in response. and he stayed silent when they carried John B inside, Avery getting the Routledge to stay awake long enough to drink part of a water bottle and take a couple of Ibuprofen, gently shutting the door of the downstairs guest bedroom where the Routledge was asleep before she had even stepped towards the door.

"He okay?" Were the first words JJ asked when Avery got upstairs, the boy leaned on the counter of the kitchen. Avery nodded, pulling the fridge open and grabbing a gallon of milk, taking two cups out of the cabinet and setting them on the counter.

"He'll be fine." She reported bluntly, filling the glasses about an inch from the top, passing the red-capped jug back to JJ and reaching into the bottom cabinet for the bottle of chocolate syrup, drizzling a bit into each of the cups.

"Did we run out of the little bead straws?" JJ asked in dismay as Avery stirred a spoon around the first glass.

"Unfortunately, you used the last one a couple days ago." Avery told him, stirring the second cup and turning to JJ. "Here's he deal, you've gotta let me clean that lip before you get any chocolate milk."

"You're evil." JJ whined, but was already reaching into the cabinet under the kitchen sink for the small clasp-lidded box Avery had purchased a couple months ago. The Decker girl smiled at the boy's childlike mannerisms as she knocked the spoon on the rim of the glass a couple times before tossing it into the sink.

JJ had already opened the box and sat on the edge of the counter, waiting impatiently for Avery to open the little packet the alcohol wipe was in so he could be done with the situation.

"Okay, brace yourself." Avery told him as she began to wipe the dried blood from where it had run down his chin, propping his head up with her index fingers to catch the stray rivers of scarlet that had almost made it to JJ's neck, but not quite. she tossed the wipe into the trash before grabbing another one to blot the actual cut on his lip, the boy's knuckles whitening as the gripped the countertops. Typically, he would look at Avery's face when she did this, but today, he had apparently become interested in the cabinets.

"What's on your mind?" Avery asked quietly as she tossed the wipe into the trash can, turning to grab the two glasses of chocolate milk and passing one to JJ, who sipped it warily. He seemed to be getting more sober by the second, and was definitely more aware than when he had offered Sarah a drink, but he was still somewhere else.

"Was Topper lying?" The boy asked quietly.

"Yes." Avery said immediately, her voice firm. "I never kissed him, he was using it as a ploy to get you guys to hate me."

"Oh." JJ whispered, taking another drink from his glass. "Did he hurt you?"

Avery shook her head. "Nah, I've been through worse."

"He still hit you, Ave." JJ told the girl as though she hadn't been the one to experience it.

"I know. And he hit you too." She told him, pushing the hair in his face back, something JJ loved her to do. To him, the gesture showed that Avery was paying attention to him and what he was saying and that she considered it to be important.

"I can take it, though." JJ insisted. "I shoulda' stepped in, you never shoulda' gotten hurt."

"It's bot your fault." Avery said abruptly. "JJ, Topper was trying to get under my skin and I let him, he's just annoying."

"I could've stopped it, though." JJ mumbled. Avery set her now half-empty glass on the counter, placing her right hand on JJ's shoulder and using the left to cup his face.

"You did great." Avery mumbled, but it was sincere. "I don't care what anyone else says about you, JJ, you are the most caring person I've ever met, and you refuse to see just how much you mean to people."

JJ stared at Avery, the feeling of her hand on the side of his face bringing him a sense of comfort unlike any he had ever felt from another person.

"And I know that you don't come from a good place," Avery continued, mocha eyes locked with ocean ones, "but you won't end up like that. I know it. And personally, everyone who doesn't take the time to get to know you is really missing out."

"I pulled a gun on someone, Ave." JJ told the girl, who again began to brush the hair out of his face. "I mean, what does that make me? I could've pulled the trigger tonight, I could've killed him."

"You didn't." Avery reminded him firmly. "And that means more than anything. You could have, but you didn't. Y'know why?" JJ shook his head, still staring at Avery. "Because you're a good person, JJ."

The Maybank on the counter didn't say anything, he just stared at Avery.

"And I don't care what I have to do to prove it, because you deserve it. You deserve the whole damn world."

kens speaks 🪐

holy shit this is 6k words + change

anywho i really hope you guys are liking this book bc this took me almost a week to write

gotta keep the jjavery content coming