Lust // John B // Outer banks

Chapter 21

Laila's POV

I gulp as I glance to the left in the kitchen that was behind the door, while tears are still rolling down my face. Topper. Of course, he'd be here. I turn around to grab the door handle to leave, but Rafe stands between me and the door.

"I'm not going to hurt you, tell us what's wrong." Topper says, standing up and walking towards me, causing me to cower in fear, and to cry more than I already was.

Topper walking towards me makings me stand tehee and wait to be attacked or hurt, but to my surprise he wraps me in a big hug. "Jesus.. She's shaking.." Topper says to Rafe, talking about me as if I'm not present in the room and can't hear.

He extends the hug rather than backing away, making me feel an odd sense of comfort because I was on the verge of having an absolute panic attack. After he lets go he guides me to Rafe's living room while Rafe answers a phone call, and I end up opening up to Topper about everything that's happening.

"That, is why you don't mess with Pouges. I'll fuck him up if you want?" He offers to me, but I shake my head. I don't want any more drama, I want it to be left alone. I obviously wasn't what he wanted, nor enough, so that's whatever. Onto better things, I guess. It was my fault for getting attached after such a short time frame. Love at first sight really doesn't exist.

"Did he do that to you.?" Topper asks me, brushing my hair that had fallen out of my bun behind my ear, pointing at my neck. I let out an annoyed groan as soon as he mentions it, and reply with "Now I wish he hadn't..", Which makes him chuckle a little bit.

He gets up and tells me to follow him, so I do. We go to the kitchen where Rafe is no longer to be found, and he pulls out a spoon from the freezer. "Me and Rafe keep spoons in here constantly, for this reason." He tells me, and without warning places the spoon against the two hickeys on my neck, making me flinch from the temperature.

After holding it there for about a minute and a half, he leads me to a hallway bathroom and instructs me to look in the mirror, and to my surprise, there's no trace of any hickey, just a big read splotch where the cold temperature made my skin red.

I still feel really down about just getting ditched like that, but atleast I'm not crying over it anymore. It's partly my fault for letting myself get so attached so quickly, but due to my loss of parents, I've pretty clear and expected that I've got attachment issues. Any form of positive attention I receive, I will cling onto. That's just how I operate.

I guess Topper can still tell that I'm really upset or John B, because he keeps going out of his way to make me cheer up. Either I still seem sad or he's trying to kiss up for our misshapen at the party the other night. I'm not sure though.

"Wanna get him back? I know how." Topper tells me, after I tell him that I wanna punch John right now. I ask him how, and he asks for my phone and the passcode, and I give it to him without question, watching him intently so that I can snatch my phone away from him if he does something I don't want him to.

The first thing he does is open my instagram and follows himself, and then goes to the instagram camera. "Come here." He tells me, and motions me to follow him to what I assume is the guest room, because the room doesn't look in use and it looks like a bedroom.

He lays down on the bed and has me lie right up next to him and tells me to pretend like i'm asleep on him, so I do that and he snaps a picture. He tags himself in the picture and puts a heart there, uploading it to my story, and hands my phone back with a smirk.

"There ya go." He tells me, making me giggle. Technically this is what John B deserves. Two can play at this bitchy game, and I'm a rather competitive person. I thank Topper and he tells me no worries, that he'd be here for me no matter what, even if we got off on the wrong foot.

I notice that I'm still cuddled up to him how I was for the picture, but I don't bother moving. Im not necessarily uncomfortable, but it's weird because this definitely isn't me. Cuddled up with a pretty much random dude, more or less my sisters best friends ex boyfriend. Nice.

John B's POV

I wake up from a nap around 7pm, just to be feeling lonely all over again. It's my fault though, I probably just fucked everything up between me and Laila, but it was probably for the better. I roll over and pull my phone out to look at some Tik Toks or something to pass the time, since nobody's texted me to try and hang out, and I can't really hang out with Laila at the moment.

I scroll through my instagram feed, and see Laila's instagram story suggested on my home page, and as soon as I click on it I'm filled with so much rage that I punch my bed board, letting out an aggravated yell.

Is she fucking stupid? She's hanging out with the guy that pretty much tried to rape and take advantage of her the other night while she was drunk off her ass, like it's just some small deal. Does she know that it was him? Was she too drunk to remember?

I let out a pissed off sigh and try to call her, but just as I let her calls ring through earlier, my calls just ring all the way through, and then go to voicemail. What if he tries to hurt her again? What if this is all my fault because I had to ruin things. If it weren't for me, we'd still be hanging out together right now.

A million thoughts run through my head right now as I dial Payton's number, and she picks up on the first ring. "Where's Laila?" I ask as soon as I know she's answered, and she tells me that she doesn't know and she hasn't been home yet, and asks me why.

"Take a look at her instagram story, and figure out where she's at." I tell her, ending the call and running my fingers through my hair. I'm stressing over something that's out of my control, and I need to chill out. It's not my problem.

If she wants to hoe around with people she knows better than to be with, then that's her fault. It's my turn to turn off my emotions and cut her off since she wants to pull that shit. Sure, this all might be my fault, but maybe I'm bipolar because I really don't give a shit right now.

A/N 25 votes for next chapter :-)