𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 ᯓ outer banks

chapter ninety

BROOKLYN HEADS HOME the next morning using her boyfriend's motorcycle after a lot of convincing, only to find nobody was home, not her father nor her brother.

However, Kiara was there, sat out front by the surfboards.

"John B not here?" Brooklyn asks, stepping off the bike and walking over to Kiara.

She shakes her head and replies with, "Nope."

"Is everything okay?" she questions, noticing that something was off by just the way she was acting. Sure, she was always acting off with Brooklyn but something was bothering her, something much more than Brooklyn.

Brooklyn wasn't expecting her to respond with, "Rafe's is back on the island. Sarah saw him."

Brooklyn presses her lips together and huffs, "That's just what I need right now," she groans.

She walks by Kiara to sit herself down but before she can, Kiara speaks again, "She overheard him saying that the cross is coming to Wilmington tomorrow night. Figure he must be trying to sell it."

Brooklyn's head falls into her hands, things could not be getting worse. "Great. Does Pope know?"

"Yeah, Sarah went to tell him," she replies. "I tried calling you to tell you but you didn't... you didn't answer, so—"

"Left my phone here," she says.

Kiara nods her head slowly and continues to talk, "I guess John B and your dad went and got the Twinkie." She holds up a note from John B that Brooklyn scans quickly, frustrated that she couldn't join them but more frustrated they didn't even wait for her. "They're off to God knows where."

Brooklyn throws the note back down. "Yeah, sounds like something they'd do," she mutters.

Brooklyn inhales, exhales and has a thought that she decides to roll with, "If we know where the cross is gonna be. That means it's still here, on the field, meaning we can come in and swoop, right?" She's pacing around, hopelessly grasping at straws in the hopes of getting the cross back. "We gotta just get the gang together and we'll decide from there."

She begins to walk towards the motorcycle, panicking, but she hopes that Kiara can't see that. "Brooklyn," Kiara speaks, and Brooklyn turns her head to see her coming up behind her. "Before we formulate some crazy plan, can we talk?"

Brooklyn really didn't need this now. After all this time of fighting and cursing each other out, she really didn't need or want to talk. She really wasn't in the right head space for this, hence the formulation of crazy plans.

But alas, she says yes because this is the first time Kiara has ever wanted to speak with her.

"Brooklyn, something was happening to us, again and I know you know what I'm talking about," Kiara begins and Brooklyn wishes she hadn't. "We have this... I don't know, unresolved tension or something between us, all the time and... If we can't get rid of it then I can't see us staying friends, okay?"

Brooklyn sighs, wanting to speak but she lets Kiara continue, "You are my best friend, okay? I do care about you. I just find it difficult to see you with... with him, but you know that. But it's not just my fault we haven't spoke, Brooke. You haven't spoken to me in weeks, and the first time we speak properly we nearly..."

"Kiara..." Brooklyn murmurs.

"No, Brooklyn, we nearly did, okay?" Brooklyn finds her eyes. "Something almost happened between us on that boat and yes, I know that's gotta freak you out. You have a boyfriend— a husband, if you will, Brooklyn, and I... It caught me off guard because... We're just meant to be friends, right?"