𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐅𝐓𝐎𝐏
[JJ Maybank x fem!oc]
"how badly is this gonna hurt?"
he looked up at her, his hair blowing in
the breeze, hesitating for only a second.
"how badly do you care?"
- or in which jj always won...
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Picture this: Athena Priactia, the former surfer queen of San Clemente, California, packing up all of her favorite clothes the day before she leaves her hometown for the entire summer. She could not have been more enraged with her mother as she slammed shorts and tank tops into her tiny suitcase. Her father, both estranged and distanced, had no say in this matter and therefore received no anger from Athena's end. He was living it up on the other side of America and had given up any say in parenting the second he signed the divorce papers. New York City seemed to be treating him nicely, or at least his Instagram account made it seem so. Athena maintained minimal contact with the man. Not by her own accord, but he didn't really care much for texting and she didn't really care much for phone calls.
And so, on the last day of her Junior year of high school, Athena was boarding a plane, by herself, and heading straight for her grandmother's house. She was excited, just slightly, but was already plotting just exactly how she was going to get revenge on her mother in September.
The hardest part wasn't leaving behind her friends, or the family dog, or even her room; no, the hardest part was actually leaving behind the surf. She couldn't possibly be more nervous about the waves in OBX. This wasn't a huge surprise to anyone. Athena had been a beach baby since she came out of her mother's womb. She apparently learned to surf at the ripe age of one and a half, through her father- one of California's many surfing legends. Among many brand deals and partnerships, he was sponsored by Rip Curl itself at one point. Which brings us back to his Instagram account.
Athena never minded much that her dad was so far away or that they barely talked nowadays. He wasn't the greatest of fathers. Nothing dramatic or horrible ever happened between them, but he just didn't seem to care very much about being a dad. He loved her, that was overall obvious, but at the end of the day, he would clearly rather be surfing full-time than be a father at all. The act of parenting, by him anyway, wasn't viewed as an honor or something he got to do, but a chore, something he had to do. Athena didn't blame him because she felt the exact same way. Surfing came before anything. He was the man that had taught her to paddle out, how to stand, how to surf. He gave her everything she loved.
But what did bother her was his life's portrayal on social media. Online, he was a great father. His one point five million followers would attest to that. They idolized the absolute shit out of him, even though Athena was only on his account yearly for birthday posts and the one day of the year when they saw each other, which was usually Christmas or Thanksgiving, plus the occasional reposting of her surfing highlights on his instagram story. But it was all fake. Athena and her mom both could see right through it the whole time, and frankly remained unsure of why they were seemingly the only two people who could do so.
Athena's mom, on the other hand, was great. She tried so hard to balance life as a single mom. Even before the divorce, which was inevitable from the start, she could've been classified as a single mother. And she was great at it. Ultimately, she was rendered into giving up surfing, but she didn't mind. She didn't care for it the way Athena and her father did, she cared for Athena that way. Plus, she loved the baking aspect of being a mom. Baking made giving up the ocean worth it. There was always a fresh batch of cookies or cupcakes or something sitting on the counter in the evening, golden California glow. The house always smelt like it belonged in a fucking pottery barn magazine. Needless to say, Athena hit the jackpot in the mom department.
"... Please stay seated until we come to a complete stop. And, as always, thank you for choosing to fly with Delta."
Athena shifted uncomfortably in the seat. A window seat. She couldn't fly in any other kind of seat because she absolutely despised planes. Looking out the window tended to help though.
Being from California, and living in one of the greatest towns for surfing, she and her mom never had any real reason to go on vacations- with the exception of visiting Athena's grandmother, who moved to the Outer banks three years ago- five months after the death of her husband. Athena had been to this new house a total of seven times, including once with her mother before they finalized the buy. It was one of the biggest houses this specific sixteen-year-old had ever seen, even considering the fact that she was literally Cali born and raised.
Athena and her parents (dad included here), had money, but not from the start. Her parents met in the first grade and both grew up poor. Then, her dad had his big break around twelve years old. Sponsorships and earnings flooded in. Money was made. His life changed around the age of twenty-one. They no longer had money, but a surplus of such. With the baby on the way though, the cash flow stiffened. When Athena was two, her mom was forced into the bland submission of a real job. Her father continued to surf on his own, but the traveling lead to their divorce two years later. He moved out of the house when Athena was five, out of San Clemente when she was nine, and out of California when she was twelve. He still surfs and is apparently better than ever. Refusing to watch any of his competitions out of spite for him not watching any of hers (besides on Instagram, which doesn't even count because he had the money to fly out for at least a quick weekend and actually watch her live and in-person), Athena would like some of the money to prove it, but we both know that would never happen unless she asked. And she didn't particularly want to go out of her way to do so.
Athena never really had much after her dad left. He didn't believe in child support. His daughter didn't seem to notice though. In all honesty, if she was near the water, she actually didn't seem to notice much of anything.
Until she met the man of her dreams, JJ Maybank, that is.
