𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐲

XII. Not Leaving You.

JAKE GOT back into the truck, just as Kiara and her parents appear, Anna was yelling at her daughter. "They're taking it really well." JJ says, sarcastically as Jake rolls his eyes, looking down at his phone where he was quickly texting his grandma to update her that his mom will be getting Evie and not him.

"How'd you get this right? 'Cause I know your old man didn't let you have it." JJ asked now as he and Pope were both watching Kiara and her parents. "I undid the intake valves on the carburetor. Made it start pinging." Pope explained to the blond boy. "And now you're jusy gonna take it to your cousin, Jeff's house. Just gonna get it fixed?" Jake asked as he now glanced up at the Heyward.

"Crash overnight." Pope and JJ say in sync. "I think I'm rubbing off on you, Pope." The Maybank says proudly, "lying to your old man, stealing his truck. Kinda sounds familiar." He says as the Heyward looks over at him, smiling faintly before looking away.

"Alright, that was a sore subject. My bad." JJ simply says as Jake now glanced between the two, squinting his eyes a bit before looking back down at his phone. "I'd say we have about 18 hours before he absolutely loses his shit. So as long as we get it back before then, I think we're good." Pope tells the blond.

"Oh, my God. Boarding school? What are you talking about?!" Kie exclaimed as she now came down the steps so Jake quickly looked up. The two adults call out towards their daughter who approached the backseat door behind the driver's side, "look at your life right now! Look at your life!" Mike shouted after his daughter who just looked over at him.

JJ held out his hand outside of the vehicle, "it's good to see ya'll, Mr. And Mrs. Carrera!" He says and Jake looks at him with a confused face. "Hi, uh, ma'am, sir. We promise to have her back at a reasonable hour and safe." Pope said after he leaned out the truck. "What are you doing?" Kie asked him before looking at her parents again. "Kiara, listen to me. You wanna go, then you can go. But if you don't come back at the proper time, then don't come back at all!" The woman yells sternly at her.

"She's bluffin'." JJ says and Kiara climbed into the backseat, shutting the door. "Ya'll have a good day!" JJ stuck out his hand to wave yet again as Jake rolled his eyes before looking at Kiara. "This shit would be so much easier without parents." She said as JJ glanced back at her, then just looked straight ahead.

On the ferry, Kie was just venting to the boys. "My parents are so paranoid of me being a Pogue, like it's the worst thing that could ever happen." She says. "Hey, I heard they got good weed at boarding school, though." JJ tells her and Jake looks at him with a scrunched up face. "I'm not going to boarding school." Kie said right away, looking at the Maybank.

"They're gonna have to kidnap me, tie me up, and throw me in a van." She said as she looked away. "Well, I say..." JJ took a deep inhale, held out the joint to Kiara, "we crumble some herb right now." He says and Pope looks up. "Hey, Kie, have you tried to hit John B back on that number yet?" He asked her.

"Like, twenty million times." Kie says and Jake nods. "Some random lady at a hotel keeps answering." He tells them and Pope looks between the two. "Well, until we hear from them again, we gotta try and clear his name. And right now, this letter's our best bet." He says as he held up the letter from C. Limbrey he's just been staring at this whole time.

"Right. Stay on task. That's why I love ya, Pope." JJ says, nodding his head as Jake just glanced at the blond, a bit confused before glancing at Pope who just looked down at the letter again. "Want some?" Kie asked Jake quietly now, who just shook his head, glancing around. "JJ," she held out the joint to the boy who was quick to take it back.

The rest of the ferry ride, Jake and Kie sat side by side as Pope eventually got into the vehicle so JJ got up too and went to get in. "Is your mom serious... about boarding school?" He asked her quietly and she turned her head to look at him right away, shrugging. "I don't know, Jay..." She says before sighing and leaning her head on his shoulder.

"All I know is, I'm not leaving you..."

In the backseat of the car now after the ferry ride, Kie sat up, "guys, I've read this thing like a thousand times. It makes no sense." She tells the boys as JJ glanced back at the two, seated side by side, like, thighs touching, arms touching kind of sitting which he noticed right away, and quickly turned back around.

"I mean, the Limbreys own, like, half of Charleston. What do the Kook kings of Charleston know about a murder on Kildare Island?" She now asked. "Yeah, and why you specifically? That's the other creepy thing." JJ now asked, looking at Pope.

"And the "please come alone"?" Jake asked as he points to the paper in Kie's hand, the Carrera nodding. "That's hella sus." She agreed. "I was thinking the same thing. I think it's because--" Pope stops when he saw steam coming out of the hood of the truck. "Oh, come on." He says. "What is that?" Kie asked.

"Pull over." Jake tells Pope. "That's a lot of smoke, even for your dad's truck." Kie said right away as JJ coughed, rolling up the window. "Pope, I got sensitive lungs, man!" He says. "I'm pulling over." Pope tells them. "Pope, just slow down!" Jake exclaims. "What are you doing, dude?" JJ asked as the truck now slows down on the side of the road. "Shit."

"No, no, no, no, no." Pope says. "It's gonna blow up!" Kie exclaimed as she goes to get out on Jake's side even though she could get out on the other side. "No, it's not gonna blow up, Kie." Jake tells her as the other two boys hop out of the car as well. "You probably unhooked the radiator, Pope." JJ says as he walked away. "I haven't seen this before." He said as he gestured to the hubcap.

"You knocked the entire hubcap off!" He began clapping before picking it up from the ground. "You might wanna reschedule your meeting tonight, Pope." Jake tells the boy who's just standing there, in front of the truck. "Uh, plan B? We could, um... public transportation." Kie says, raising her thumb, "we could hitchhike. We could rent bikes." She listed them on her index and middle finger as she goes on.

"Yeah, it's the radiator." Jake said as he stood in front of the open hood. "My dad's gonna kill me." Pope says, staring at Jake as JJ turned around. "Yeah, he might. He might." The blond boy says, nodding his head.

authors note
i forgot how annoying ward cameron was. 🙄 rose literally knew something was wrong with rafe, he even asked his father for help and begged him for help, but his father was just dismissing it and telling him to "man up"... like bro??? ur son needed help???
anyways i already did so much brainstorming for outer banks season 3 🫣🫣🫣

+ i'm like full on dived into the obx world now and forgotten all about st so i've pretty much prewritten almost all of part 2 😭