The Outer Banks, paradise on earth. The sort of place where you either have two jobs, or two houses. Two tribes, one island.
The younger girl survived because of her friends. For them. The first five or six months after her father disappeared were...
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The girl had fallen asleep after her outburst at her brother, letting out soft snores as he dove back down to the boat and retrieved the only thing he could find of some importance, a motel key. The Pogues had decided to let her rest, the two light haired boys telling the others just how much she needed her rest after her lack of sleep the night before.
After Kiara's suggestion to report the boat was unsuccessful, the girl found herself waking as the boat slowed down next to a trashed building.
"Motel or meth lab?"
Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, the brunette sat up, stretching out the ache in her neck. "This place is a shit show."
The friends turned to face her, talking over each other as they filled her in on what she had missed.
"This doesn't look like a place somebody with a Grady-White stays." Said the girl as her eyes flickered over the motel key her brother had found in the boat. "No," said Pope, "It looks like a place someone with a Grady-White would get killed."
Murmurs of agreement came from the friends, but they didn't hesitate, JJ hopping onto the bank to tie the boat up.
"Alright. Here goes nothin'." John B joined him on the bank, his sister following right behind. The boy opened his mouth to argue, but quickly shut it as he saw her raised eyebrow, knowing it would be pointless to try and tell her what to do. A hand on her wrist made her turn to face Pope, who stood with a serious look on his face.
"Don't let them do anything stupid."
"Oh, we will-" replied the blond, before the girl cut him off. "I'm not making promises."
The three made their way towards the motel, Liv and JJ giving each other a strange look as Kiara called for John B to be careful.
"Just be so careful, John." The blue eyed boy grabbed his best friend by the face, speaking in a breathy voice. The Routledge boy shook his head. "God, you're so weird."
"What was that about?" Liv piped in from behind them. The girl knew that her friend cared about them, but she also recognized that recently Kie had seemed to care just a little extra about the sandy haired boy.
"I don't know," said John, "Maybe she wants us to be careful." His response didn't fool the two around him, JJ shaking his head. "Since she heard you're being threatened with exile, she's just been like, 'Oh! Be so careful John B. Oh, give me that John D already!' You don't see her saying that stuff to Liv, so when are you gonna swoop on that man?"
The mentioned girl grimaced at JJ's inappropriate joke, not wanting to think about her brother like that. "Gross."
Her brother ignored her, smacking JJ's hand off his shoulder.
"Bro, you know the rule. No Pogue-on-Pogue macking. You're the one always hitting on her."
JJ shrugged. "Of course I'm hitting on her. She's a super-hot, rich, hippie chick slumming with us. Why? I can't figure it out either, but who cares, bro? I know that doors locked because I've tried it, but you haven't." He glanced behind him at the girl trotting along. "Still bummed about that rule though."
