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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JJ wasn't always known to be the most attentive person, though Pope had certainly expected him to pay more attention considering it was his own plan. Instead, the blonde sat next to his friends at the front of the boat, lost in his own thoughts. God, he had to control himself; Liv wasn't making it easy on him though. He had been playing around when he had said that stuff to her at the back of the boat, but she had thrown it all right back at him with her snarky-yet-suggestive comment. Now he found himself looking anywhere but at her. At Pope, at Kie, at his best friends ugly face, just not...
A hand waved in front of his face. A hand attached to the very person that occupied his mind. The girl with the freckled cheeks raised her eyebrow at him. "You alright there, Jay?" The boy nodded numbly, unable to stop himself from staring at the girl. Her eyes were a gorgeous shade of hazel, legs long, strong, and tan from surfing, making the deep emerald green of her bikini pop. God, he liked that colour. He decided it was his new favourite. Pope elbowed him in the side, following his gaze. He chuckled to himself. "Cat got your tongue, JJ?" Embarrassed, the blond tried to play it off cooly. "Nah, man, just thinking about my next master plan."
"Maybe for your next master plan you should remind John B to get scuba tanks that have actual air in them," Kie retorted sassily, "They're all empty except this one, which is only a quarter full." "It's enough for one of us," said Liv. She knew Kie was right, and they should have thought of that, but she also didn't want John B to feel bad. "Does anybody know how to dive?"
No responses came from the group, though that didn't really surprise her. "Anybody?" She pushed. "It's kind of a Kook sport," said JJ, shrugging. "I... read about it." Pope spoke quietly, silently hoping his friends wouldn't actually hear him. "Great," said Kiara, "Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die."
"Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" But even JJ didn't really believe the words leaving his mouth, and Pope's next sentence proved he shouldn't.
"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood and you get the bends."
"Bends like, bend over and..." "Uhhnn" Liv let out an overly exaggerated moan at JJ's words, the blond bursting into laughter as the rest of the crew stared at them.
"The bends kill you." Pope said, unamused.
"Right," said Liv, "My bad. Just trying to diffuse the tension." She paused. "I can... I can dive." Protests broke out from the group immediately, all four of them always looking at her as a younger child. "Hell no you can't." said JJ, shaking his head. "No way. Not happening."
The girl let out an exasperated sigh. "Guys, come on, someone has to do it."
"I'll do it. It's fine." There was absolutely no way John B was going to let his little sister go down there alone, and since there was only enough air for one person that just sealed the deal. "I'm going," he said, seriously, "You're not. And they all agree with me." He pointed to their friends, who looked at the girl sheepishly, nobody wanting to argue. "Yeah, he can dive," said JJ, "I'm cool with that." Huffing, she sat down next to him, arms crossed against her chest. She muttered under her breath as Pope did safety calculations and Kie left a marking at the safety spot. Nobody would tell her, but her reactions only made her seem more childlike to them.
