𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒; JJ Maybank

ten

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A full month has passed since I moved to the paradise on Earth. I admit that at first I was not thrilled whatsoever but I've learned to love Outer Banks, it helped that I made some of the most genuine friendships I've ever had.
Kiara and I were inseparable. Pope is the nicest and since he is super smart, he has been helping me with some school subjects that are a little different from what I learned in Portugal. Topper and I talk pretty much everyday but we haven't hung out since the party last week. Finally, JJ, him and I have been getting incredibly close due to the fact that we have a lot of classes in common and an extremely similar sense of humor.

Kiara was driving me to a unknown place for some type of surprise.
She parked her car in a rocky road and we walked into the backyard of a small cabin. There was a boat docked in front of it and on the side of the boat you could see some letters forming HMS Pogue, I also noticed an extremely fancy hot tub which seemed out of place in the middle of the old and cheap-ish looking things that were scattered allover the place. I started to grow anxious as Kie did not say a word ever since she parked her car. Is this house from who I think it is? Why is she bringing me here?
She opened the door to the small house and once we got to the living room, I saw JJ and Pope both seated in one of the couches.

"We've been talking and we want to tell you what happened last summer." Kie said from behind me startling me a bit.

"I know that you've heard bits and pieces and everything must seem very confusing so just hear us out." Pope started looking up from his hands for the first time since we entered the room.

"Look you don't have to feel pressured to tell me. I understand." I told them.

"We want to because you're a Pogue now." JJ replied still not taking his eyes off of the rings on his fingers.

I nodded and slowly sat down preparing myself mentally for whatever was coming because I knew it had to be a heavy story because of all the rumores that I heard.

They began telling me about who John B and Sarah were and how John B's dad was missing. They proceeded to tell me about their adventure to trying to finding a shipwreck that John B's dad was trying to find when he disappeared and how Sarah got involved. Kie talked about getting close to it and how there were more people trying to find it, including Sarah's dad. They then took a moment before telling me about Sarah's father being the one who murdered John B's dad and then proceeded to frame him for the murder of the town's sheriff which he didn't commit, it had been Rafe, Sarah's brother, who had done it and that was the reason why they fled from the police and ran into a big storm and were never heard from again.

I took a few minutes to process everything. This guys have been through so much in a couple of months and now were here being strong and talking about it. I looked up and saw tears streaming down Kie's face and Pope had a single tear sliding down his cheek. JJ had his hands in his face and I knew it was to stop everybody from seeing that he was also crying. I got up from the chair that I was seating on and cautiously walked to the couch that they were all squeezed in and hugged them.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that." I whispered not knowing which words were the best to use.

"I have to go to the bathroom." JJ said quickly getting up, running to the door and closing it behind him.

"I'm going to go talk to him." I said. I knocked on the door but he didn't respond . "JJ, I'm going in." I said opening the door slowly, closing it once I stepped inside.

He was curled up in a ball, with his knees against his chest and his back against the bathtub. I walked towards him and sat right next to his body allowing our knees to touch.

"You don't have to pretend to be ok in front of them." I said thoroughly. "They know you're also hurting. You don't have to put on this strong facade in front of them." I continued.

"I have to be strong for them. I'm supposed to be the strong one." He said lifting his head from his arms.

" I know the feeling. I don't know if Kie told you the reason why I moved to Outer Banks." I said waiting for him to confirm it.

"She did not." He said looking at me.

"My father was a physiotherapist and uh.. he got arrested for raping and sexually assaulting dozens of his underaged clients." I said gulping. "He's going to be in prison for 30 years and we lost everything. I lost my dad, my home, my friends. Everything. My friends didn't want to talk to me because he was a pedophile and because I became poor. All of our money was in his name and went to the families of the victims. My mom didn't have a job and we took the tiny bit of money that was in my name and got tickets to come here. I never once cried in front of my mom. I never once complained but now I understand how bad that was for me and for her because I was bottleling it all up and she felt like she was too dramatic and too sad which she wasn't. I was the one who was too cold." I said and just when I finished my speech and my voice failed me, I noticed the tears streaming down my face.

JJ took my hand, I laid my head on his chest and we just sat there in each other's embrace letting all the tears that we had piled up run freely.

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