Closed Door • JIARA •

- 38 -

Kiara's POV:

I sat on the beach all day while JJ slept on my lap. He looked so peaceful. Pope came over and sat by me and said, "You seem happy."

"I am... Are you?" I asked

"Yeah, I just want to get home."

"We're working on it." I replied

"Kiara, I don't mean to sound like I'm telling you what to do, but please don't date JJ."

"I'm not dating him right now but what if I was? You can't tell me what to do, Pope. You like Cleo so why does it even matter?"

"It just does.." He said walking away

JJ came and sat by me and asked, "Why does Pope look so pissed?"

"Because he doesn't want us to date..." I said playing with the sand trying to avoid the conversation I knew we had to have

JJ tensed up and I could tell he was nervous and he asked, "Do you want us to date?"

I laughed, more of a nervous laughter. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't tell him yes because we were on this island and we were the only two single ones. He might just want someone to hook up with. Getting back together with him scared me. I knew I'd never lose him as my friend, but if we dated again, I could lose him if we broke up and I don't think our friendship would recover.

"Honestly, I can't answer that question while we are on this island." I said trying not to say anything to hurt him

"Yeah, no, uhh I totally get it. This island is kinda making me crazy too. We can be friends and see how things are when we get home and back to normal life.." JJ said quickly as I laid my head on his shoulder

He wrapped his arm around me and said, "I'm sorry for kissing you when you were unconscious."

I laughed and this time it was a real laugh and she said, "First of all, don't apologize because that wasn't a kiss. Second, I had been up for about twenty minutes talking to Sarah she made a bet with me that I couldn't keep a straight face. By the way, when you're unconsious, you can still hear everything everyone says."

The next two days passed and my wound was pretty much healed. I mean it had scabbed over and we kept cloth over it. We had gathered up lots of supplies for the raft but the raft was slowly deflating and we didn't know if it could get all six of us home.

The girls were put in charge of getting water from the freshwater stream about a mile back in the woods. I went with Cleo and Sarah. On our walk there, we noticed the dark clouds coming in. It was going to storm.

We went back to the boys and Pope had a cut on his head and a bloody lip. JJ had bruised knuckles and John B had a black eye.

"What the hell?" Sarah asked

"Pope went after JJ and I tried to stop it.." John B admitted

"Pope, what the hell is your problem?" I asked him

"JJ!" He said standing up and looking over at JJ

"Why? You guys are best friends. So what if I dated him?"

"Kie, you guys broke up. He cheated on you. He hurt you. Then somehow we got together and it was good. Kie, I still love you. You don't get that. He will never love you the way that I can love you and take care of you. I will go to college and get a job as a forensic pathologist. I will have money and we can build a nice house on Figure Eight and have kids. Those kids can grow up with two parents and four loving grandparents. Kie, can't you see it? JJ can't give you any of that. He isn't going to college, he isn't going to have money for a Figure Eight house, he won't have kids with you, and you wouldn't want your kids around his dad anyway."

"Nice, Pope. You're a great fucking friend.." JJ said clapping and walking away which turned into a jog and soon he was down the beach

"Fuck you, Pope. We both know our relationship was a mistake. You have Cleo who you kissed the other night. Nothing happened between me and JJ because I didn't want this. You deserve someone who loves you like I love JJ. That's Cleo, Pope she is crazy about you. Don't lose that over this because we both know there is nothing here but a friendship." I said

"Kiara, you need to think about what you really want in life.." Pope started out again and I stopped him

"I want JJ.." I blurted out and everyone just heard that

"And I want you Pope, so let them be happy." Cleo said but I was already running after JJ

I ran to JJ and he was sitting on the beach, clearly in a mood. I ran towards him and he turned and looked at me.

He didn't say anything and neither did I. I sat down next to him and I didn't know what to say. I mean, I knew I what I wanted to say but I couldn't find the right words.

"J..." I said looking at him and he looked back at me and I got lost in his perfect ocean blue eyes

I leaned in and I kissed him. It was a short kiss and he pulled away first.

"Kie, what are you doing?" He asked confused as I told him I didn't want anything with him

"I love you, Jackson James and I should have done this a long time ago. Of course, I want to be with you no matter where we are, on this island, in OBX, or on the surf trip."

He got the biggest smile on his face and my heart melted. He grabbed me and kissed me again and we were making out on the beach.

The kiss broke and he said, "I love you, Kie.."

We were both laughing and he asked, "Wanna sneak away to our spot?"

"I'd love to.." I said he helped me up and we walked back to the main campsite so we could get to the spot

We came back holding hands and JJ stopped and kissed me in front of everyone.

"It's about time.." Sarah said

"We're going to go on a little adventure for tonight. Give Pope some time to calm down." I said

"Way to be discrete.." Pope said just like JJ had said when I left with Pope

I smiled at them and JJ and I went to the waterfall. He grabbed my hand and lead me to through the woods to the waterfall. It started raining hard and we were both soaking wet when we got to the spot. JJ and I were dancing in the rain and then he pulled me close to his body and kissed me.

JJ and I were trying to pull off wet clothes and we were both laughing. He grabbed me and kissed me.

I pulled back and looked at him and said, "Not to ruin the moment, but it's starting to hail.."

We were getting hit with hail the size of a marble and the rain picked up. We ran to the small cave that made up the waterfall.

"Is this even safe?" I asked laughing

"The storm? Or us?" He asked joking

"Shut up.." I said kisisng him

He laughed and I was so in love with this boy. Things got heated in the cave fast and he said, "Storms seem to be our thing."

I laid in JJ's arm in the cold cave and we listened to the storm outside. He had a fire going and he said, "I love you, Kie. I can't ever lose you."

"You won't, never again... I love you, Jackson James Maybank."

He looked at me with his perfect blue eyes and asked, "What do we do about Pope?"

"Nothing, I've talked to Sarah and Cleo and he is totally into her. He just doesn't want us together and I really don't care. He has Cleo and they are happy. We both deserve happiness. Pope can grow up and learn to accept it."

"I still feel guilty..." JJ said changing the tone of his voice and I could tell something was bothering him