OUTERBANKS SEASON4

Additiontal Part 19: Keeping Afloat

Hey guys!! New part! Sorry it's a JJ and Maya part again, but just building up some chemistry between these two and filling in more detail for the story. Anyway, with Christmas on its way I may be delayed again with new parts, sorry guys, I didn't think about all the family coming to visit so soon. Once again tried my best, but also trying to get the story out too and eventually come to an ending. Anyway, enjoy!! xxxx

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A light breeze touches his face, and it’s like his world comes to a stand still…

She was expecting…  

…with Rafe… with him-…

…how could this… how could this happen?…

…was she not a pogue anymore?

…how could she do this to them- to the pogues- to all of them?… 

His stomach drops, feeling something twist in his gut, making him feel uncomfortable. He can't let the thoughts go. He kind of feels off- like the kind of off that makes him think he could probably hurl-

Those thoughts whirl in his head like a bad dream- the words buzz at his ears, repeating over and over… and everything else disappears… everything becomes a fuzzy blurred haze… JJ snaps back to reality- hearing the explosion of wood meters away from him, making him flinch. It cuts through his thoughts, and he zones back to the moment, readjusting his focus again to what was happening right around him… and to Maya. It takes a moment later that he hears Maya let out a high-pitched scream. 

It takes JJ a moment to move. He’d frozen.  

His legs stiff and heavy, and his mind impeded by shock… how was he going to move- with Jude on the pier still lingering around, swaying his gun by his side… but somehow his feet instinctively find themselves up, wandering over toward the walk, luckily it hadn't taken Jude long before he stalked off. Everything felt like it was all happening in slow motion- it all felt like wading through thick murky water- his movements sluggish, his thoughts impeded. He finally wakes- his brain working again, he flies over the bridge of the pier- all he can feel is the breeze against his face, ready to propel himself over the edge. The only thing he hears is the thunk of boots meeting the timber planks before he’d hurled himself over, arms flailing in the air as he makes his descent and then meets the water. He plunges into the depth, the cold water envelopes him, creating bubbles that form as he sank.

His vision is obscured by all the bubbles, and when they disperse, his eyes lock to the figure he’d been looking for. He can see she struggles with something in the turquoise haze that made it harder for him to see clearly. He throws off his boots, and moves through the water, cutting through it smoothly, as he draws closer he notices her ankle brace had become caught to some part of the pier. The brace had come half undone and he’d begun to notice that part of the strap had caught onto the layer of barnacle growth bound around the ancient piling poles. 

After helping Maya untangle the material, he winds his arm around her waist and uses his other to pull her up to the surface with him.   

Maya gasps as they break through to the top, the lapping water making it harder for her to catch her breath. The fresh air fills her lungs, and she feels relieved, heaving in deep heapfuls of air to gain her breath back. 

Her arms urgently come up to wrap around his neck instinctively, securing herself tightly into him as they bob up and down in the water.  

JJ flicks his hair back from his face, his bright blue eyes coming back to trail over Maya’s face lightly, taking her in. He’d begun to notice how her body was slightly trembling… and how she was tightly pressed to his own body, their clothes clung to each other like glue, and the warmth of her body seeping through her clothes seeps into him, makes a faint pink spread across his cheeks…