Breathless | JJ Maybank

16. SKEETERS

Outer Banks, the Wreck
July 18th, 2020
12:38pm

"So you're living with Sarah Cameron," Kiara breathed out, desperate, as I walked closer, finally joining them.

Luckily, my parents were already at work when I had woken up that morning, so that I didn't have to deal with screams and reproaches as soon as I jumped out of bed. I had left them a note saying I was back and was fine, just in case and so they'd stop harassing me with calls, but I knew it would be far from enough to have their anger to calm down. JJ had told me to join them at the Wreck, since they were all gathering there, including John B.

"Who's living where?" I asked, pulling John B in a soft hug, as I reached them. "Hey God I was so worried, how do you feel?"

"Good, just a small concussion and now I got a plaster on my arm," he shrugged, which made me purse my lips in a line, feeling sorry for him.

"John B, he's living with the Cameron's," Kiara explained, her hands on her hips to show her discontent.

"Okay, look, the only reason I'm living there is because her dad bailed me out, right? And it's way better than foster care, which, by the way, is where I was about to go if Ward didn't-" John B began to explain but it didn't make any sense at all.

"Do you have like a membership to the club now?" Pope broke in.

We all laughed as John B shrugged, him and Kiara apparently a little bit less amused than the three of us. "I don't know Pope," he almost groaned.

"What about the little golf carts they drive around? Do you get one of them?" JJ asked.

I giggled and winked. "I have a thousand for you, in case you want to become a Golfing boy one day," I quipped, which didn't fail to grow a smile on his lips.

"Look, you promised, you said you weren't with her," Kie deplored.

I bit my lip, feeling so sorry for her, but at the same time John B was in a complicated situation, and it wasn't easy for him either. I knew how it felt to love someone your friends hated, because when I had announced to Kiara that I was dating Rafe, she had ignored me for almost a whole month. "That's just.. like so weird," I expressed, lost in my thoughts.

"Look, if you wanna hang out with her, that's fine. But I'm letting you know now that I'm not doing anything with Sarah," Kiara warned her friend.

"Do you guys see her here? No. Right, okay a little focus would be fantastic," John B almost ordered. "We've got the map right?"

"It's out of whack 'cause the guy was ganja'd when he drew it," JJ voiced.

"It's cause the coast has changed," I contradicted. "Do you ever listen?"

"So we just have to look for landmarks that haven't changed," Pope stated as if it was obvious and would even be easy.

"What about the old forts?" John B asked.

(...)

Outer Banks, The Cut
July 18th, 2020
3:49pm

"Why are you being so quiet?" Kiara asked me, as we got in the van after we had headed over to Battery Jasper.

We had found the parcel the map indicated and John B told us he'd drive us, which was honestly very exciting. This whole treasure hunt thing seemed a little surreal to me at first and since I didn't really have anything to lose, I had faked believing in it, but it wasn't like this anymore. I knew there really was a treasure and how much it mattered to John B since it was his legacy, so I was ready to fight for it, since it was right.