Breathless | JJ Maybank

32. THESE ASSHOLES

Outer Banks, the Dock
July 22nd, 2020
3:04pm

I finally reached the dock after dropping the speaker at my mother's workplace quickly and making sure the cops didn't follow me. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was that the Phantom was already gone, and how everyone was there besides John B and Sarah. Kiara ran to me, so relieved I was there, but relief wasn't what filled up my body in this exact moment. "Hi, you're here, we were all so worried," she whispered in my ear while she pulled me in a warm hug.

"No, no no," I gently pushed her away from me, placing my hands over my head.

They all stared at me like I was crazy and I ran to the edge of the dock, to try and get a glimpse of the Phantom, so that maybe John B would see me and realise his name was cleared. I teared up when I noticed that the little black dot on the horizon was probably the Phantom and that I had failed miserably, once again. Because what was the point in giving them the evidence if John B was already in Mexico or wherever he was going.

"John B's gone," Pope felt the need to precise but it was already clear enough.

JJ's arms made their way around my body, as he hugged me from behind, and I breathed in an out, trying very hard not to express my sorrow. "I'm sorry baby, I'm so sorry," I apologised, knowing just how sad he was, to the thought of having his best friend leaving the island to escape the authorities.

Even if it wasn't forever, knowing that we had no other option than seeing John B leave for no reason, towards the other side of the ocean, broke all of our hearts. I turned around and stared closely at JJ, locking his blue eyes in mine, as tearful as they were. I felt even more awful that he gave me the silent treatment, because even though I knew he didn't mean to make me feel that way, it led my guilt to grow inside of me.

"JJ, I'm so sorry," I repeated, my voice cracking. "Please, talk, say something"

He looked away and then brought his eyes back to my face, but his stare was cold, somehow. "What do you want me to say?" he asked.

I shrugged and bit my lower lip, hard, trying not to cry in front of him because it wasn't my place. "How you feel," I brought my hand to his cheek and caressed it, cupping it to prove him he was so precious to me.

He pressed a tender kiss on my lips, making me feel loved in return. "Now I'm okay," he teased which led me to roll eyes.

I threw a rapid glance at Kiara before resting my head on JJ's chest, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw her and Pope kissing on the other side of the dock. A frank smile grew on my lips, because even though she had told us hours earlier that she wasn't interested in dating Pope, I could just feel how they both enjoyed this unexpected kiss. "JJ, look," I whispered while his arms found their way around my body, hugging me close.

He turned around and when his eyes laid on his two friends, a chuckle, or more a scoff escaped his mouth. "No Pogue on Pogue macking right?" he mocked Kiara, which made me thump him gently.

"Jeez, just let her live," I tempered, stepping aside and taking his arms off me, which didn't last long.

His arms found their way around my waist so he pulled me back closer, while I wrapped mine around his neck no matter how hard I wanted to fight against his touch, giggling. I loved how he could make me forget about everything else that mattered, all of our struggles, just by holding me. "You should stop getting on my nerves or this is not going to end well for you," his hoarse voice breathed in my ear.

I giggled even more. "I'm curious, how is it gonna end?" I inquired.

He bit the inside of his cheek and just when he was about to respond, we heard sirens coming closer from us, making me unwrap my arms from around JJ's neck. We both turned around to stare at whoever was coming towards us, even though we already knew who it was. When the police's car parked a few meter away from us, JJ clenched his jaw and grabbed my hand, pulling me behind him while a second car parked right next to it.