body language - JJ Maybank

SEASON 1: ONE.

the previous summer

— "GUYS!" Evelyn called out to her friends as she raced down the deck and towards their boat.
    They all looked up at her, startled by her entrance. She hopped onto the boat, taking a seat next to her friend JJ. He reached into the cooler beside him, grabbing a beer can and passing it to Evelyn.

    "Guess what." She smiled, opening the can of beer and taking a sip, wincing slightly at the strong taste.
   "What?" JJ asked on behalf of the group.
   "I'm going out with Rafe." Evelyn frowned when she didn't get the response she expected. She looked around to all her friends, who had disappointed looks on their faces. "What?" She asked when none of her friends responded.

    "Rafe Cameron? Are you serious?" JJ scoffed, shaking his head at her, taking another sip.
   "Come on Evelyn, you know he's a massive dickhead." John B replied from behind the wheel.
   "Guys he's not a dickhead, he's really sweet and he makes me happy." None of them seemed to take her word for it.

    "He may be nice now but that's not going to last long Evelyn." JJ muttered.
    "What is wrong with you guys? Why can't you just be happy for me?" She scoffed, looking around at her friends with a saddened look on her face.
    "We're just trying to look out for you Ev." Kiara shrugged, the others nodding in agreement.

    "Why don't you guys trust me?" She asked, not gaining a response. "You know what, I'm leaving" Evelyn forced the beer back into JJ's hand, standing up and jumping back onto the dock.
    "Well don't come running back to us when he pulls some psychotic shit on you." JJ called as Evelyn walked away.

    Evelyn threw her hand up, sending a middle finger their way; what they didn't in fact know was that the second they couldn't see Evelyn, she had burst into tears.
    She didn't understand why her friends didn't trust or support her, but it hurt. She cared about her friends so much, so the fact she didn't get that same energy back really upset her.

    She made her way down to the Wreck, where she knew Rafe was hanging with his friends. She debated going home, but she knew she probably needed that comfort right now.

     "Hey Ev." Rafe smiled as he saw Evelyn making her way over, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder pulling her close and planting a kiss on her forehead. He hadn't yet noticed that Evelyn was upset.
    "Hey." Her voice was faint, he looked down at her; he noticed her face was red and slightly puffy. Rafe looked at Evelyn concerned for a moment.

   "Are you okay?" Rafe asked, pulling Evelyn away from his friends for a moment.
   "I was just with my friends, and I told them about us and they just completely flipped on me. Just started having a go at me." She managed to say through tears. Rafe pulled her in for a hug, brushing through her hair with his fingers.
   "It's okay, they clearly aren't good friends. You don't need them." He said, his voice soft and gentle.

"I just don't understand what their problem is." Evelyn sighed. Rafe pulled away from the hug, cupping her cheeks with his hands.
"Their pogues Ev, you shouldn't expect any different." This comment got to Evelyn quite a lot but she didn't show it, she hated the stereotypes between kooks and pogues but she didn't need another argument right now.

    "Hey, it's okay. Stop crying." Rafe wiped the tears from under Evelyn's eyes, forcing her to smile. "Listen take a seat, I'll go get you a drink." He led Evelyn over to the table with his friends, kissing her on the cheek before heading inside the Wreck.