Sea You Soon // An Outer Banks Fanfiction

4- Tides

When we arrived at the dock, I could see Braeden already sitting at the end, talking to two people who I didn't recognize at first. On a second glance, I realized it was Pope and Kiara. I pointed this out to JJ and he said, "Shit, let's run before they see us," while closing the van door. 

"JJ, stop being immature. It's not like we're not going to see them ever. I mean, they live in this town, too," I scolded.

"I know, but I like to try to avoid awkward situations as much as possible," JJ defended.

"No shit," I said, looking at him. "Let's just get our stuff out and start walking down there. They'll probably be gone by the time we get to the dock."

We went around to the back of the van, and JJ unloaded our surfboards, handing both of them to me. "It's bold of you to assume that I'm going to carry both of these, sweetie," I said sarcastically.

JJ closed the back of the van and turned to me. "Obviously I'm not going to just make you carry both of those," he said, throwing a couple of towels over my head. "You can carry these too." 

"Screw you, JJ," I said, setting the boards down and pulling the towels off of my head. 

"I'm just kidding," JJ chuckled, grabbing both boards off the ground.  "I know how to treat a lady," he teased, overexaggerating a wink. 

"JJ, wait," I called out. He was already ahead of me. "You don't have to carry mine," I shouted.

"Too late," JJ called back, jogging toward the dock. "Just grab the towels!" 

I started jogging to catch up with him. By the time we reached the dock, I was out of breath. That's embarrassing. I'm hanging out with these two really ripped dudes, and I can't even jog 50 feet without running out of breath. By the time we were on the dock, Kiara and Pope had already left. Braeden was sitting down, waxing his surfboard. He looked up when he heard mine and JJ's feet pounding up the wood of the dock. He gave us one of his breath-taking smiles. "Hey Braeden, I'm so glad you could come! Sorry I didn't get the chance to introduce the two of you earlier, but this is JJ. And JJ, this is Braeden."

They stood up and bro hugged each other. Maybe this was going to go better than I expected. All I want is for the two of them to not hate each other. I took off my shorts, JJ took off his hat, and Braeden took off his tank top and we set our stuff down on the dock. With that, we were ready to hit the waves. 

After surfing for a while, Braeden and I couldn't find JJ. We knew that he had gone off to surf one of the bigger waves that we were both scared of, but neither of us could see him. "Braeden, where the hell did JJ go?" I asked, concerned.

"I have no clue, he was just over there," Braeden responded, pointing.

As soon as he said that, we saw something emerge right where there had been a huge barrel wave moments before. "Holy shit, I think that's JJ," I yelled, laying stomach-down on my surfboard and beginning to paddle toward him. Braeden quickly followed my lead, and reached JJ before I could. He grabbed JJ and began to drag him back toward the dock. Luckily, we weren't too far out. When I finally reached the spot where JJ had been, I grabbed his surfboard and started back.

When Braeden and I reached the dock, I helped him hoist JJ over the edge, although he definitely did most of the work. When we laid him down, Braeden knelt down next to him to check his pulse. He bent over and listened by JJ's mouth. "Paisley, he's not breathing," Braeden said frantically.

"Oh shit," I muttered. I knelt down next to JJ and immediately started to give him CPR. My mind flashed back to middle school health class. I think I was supposed to do 30 compressions to two breaths.  After giving him a couple of breaths, I waited for a second. I had never done CPR in real life, I had just seen it in a movie a couple of times. I didn't know how long I was supposed to do this, and I had no clue how often I was supposed to give him breaths.

"Should I call an ambulance?" Braeden questioned calmly. At least one of us wasn't having a complete mental breakdown. He started walking toward the spot where he had set his stuff.

I leaned down to give JJ a third breath when he started coughing and spat out a bunch of water. I instantly flung myself over his chest and hugged him, starting to cry. 

"JJ, you dumbass, don't you dare do that to me again," I choked out between sobs. 

He sat up, bringing me with him, and hugged me back. "Hey, it's fine," he said softly, stroking my hair. After a moment, he spoke again, "I'm fine." He waved his hand at Braeden, indicating that it wasn't necessary to call an ambulance.  

JJ looked up at Braeden, "Hey man, thanks for helping me out back there. I probably would've drowned if it wasn't for you. Paisley would've been too weak to bring me back to the dock," JJ laughed.

I just slapped JJ's chest as Braeden smiled and said, "No problem."

I let go of JJ, and stood up. "Okay, I think I'm done surfing for tonight, do you guys want to head out?" Both of the boys agreed, and we collected all of our things. Braeden had walked to the dock from his house, so I offered him a ride. When we got to the van, the sun was already setting rapidly, and it was starting to get cold, especially since I was soaking wet. I dug around in the back seat of the van until I found one of John B's sweatshirts that he had left in here. I pulled it over my head and turned to JJ. "Give me the keys, I'm going to drive."

JJ started to argue with me, but I told him that he was in no condition to drive. Pouting, he slumped down into the passenger seat while Braeden sat down in the back. Braeden directed us to his house, and in about 10 minutes, we pulled in front of an attractive, decent-sized house. The house was a lot nicer than the ones on the Cut, but it wasn't nearly as extravagant as the ones on Figure Eight.

"This is me," Braeden said, as the van came to a stop. He began gathering his stuff, thanking us. 

I got out of the driver seat and walked over to Braeden. I hugged him tight and thanked him for coming along with us.

"I'm really glad I could come," Braeden replied. "I hope that we can spend more time together sometime soon."

"I hope so too," I said, lightly kissing his cheek.

He blushed as he turned away and started heading for his garage. He slightly turned around and said, "Drive safe," with a wide smile.

I returned his smile and assured him that I would.

As soon as I got back to the van, JJ started in on me. "Holy shit, Paisley. You're so into that guy. Do you know what it means to be subtle?" He was laughing obnoxiously.

"Wow, even almost losing your life can't humble you. JJ, he's just my friend. Why do you have to overreact about literally everything?" I said firmly.

"Whatever, Pais. I saw what I saw, and I think that you guys have a thing for each other." JJ was obviously teasing me, but I couldn't help but notice that there was a little bit of an edge to his voice.