Lust // John B // Outer banks

Chapter 24

Laila's POV

"Laila, somebody's here to see you. A rather apologetic person, might I add.." Payton yells through the door, causing my panic to worsen. Me and Topper got into an argument earlier over me being dumb and not wanting to post a picture of us, so that's probably him here to apologize.

I'm too fed up with it right now, so I reply with "Let him in my room, I'll be out of the bathroom in a second." and take off my clothes, slipping on my bathrobe to make it look like I just got out of the shower. I tie the robe tightly around my waist, while gasping in pain while the fabric touches my open cuts, and pick up a towel and completely wrap it around my dry hair, covering it all so you can't tell.

I open the door and do a double take. That, is not Topper. Instead sits John B on my bed, looking at me, and it's obvious that he's been crying. His face is tear stained, and he looks sad. Somehow despite looking so sad, he still looks amazing in his shorts and button up t shirt, with his perfectly messy hair.

I breathe in deeply, knowing it'll be a lot harder to get rid of him than it would've been to get rid of Topper, like I was planning on. "What're you doing here??" I ask him, trying to sound as emotionless as possible while I walk out of the bathroom and into my bedroom.

"Laila I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be such a dick. Truth is, I'm just scared of commitment and ruining things. Ever since my dad disappeared I've struggled with commitment and keeping people around, and I got ahead of myself and scared.." He says to me, looking down at the ground while talking to me. I can hear the raw emotion in his voice, and I can tell that he means it.

I tell him that it's alright, forgiving him instantly because of how much I missed him, and because of how difficult things have been for me. He asks me for a hug, and I hesitate while thinking of an answer. What I really need right now is to bandage up everything and change clothes, to avoid risking anything. "Hold on a minute." I tell him, and turn to walk towards my dresser to grab some clothes.

"What's that..?" He asks from behind me, panic rising in his voice. "What's what?" I ask him, whipping my head around to see what he's talking about, and he points at my robe. "Is that blood?!" He asks me, while I look down to wrist portion of my robe. Fuck. This isn't good, this is fucked. I think off of the top of my head for an excuse.

"Oh, that? It's just a stain because it got washed with some red shirts." I say, faking a laugh to reassure him, while his face relaxes and he sighs. The thoughts inside my head are running at 500 miles per hour, as I grab some black leggings from my dresser and a long sleeve shirt from my closet, and excuse myself to the bathroom so I can "change" and bandage up myself.

John B's POV

Words can't really explain how good I feel right now knowing that she didn't reject me. Not talking to her for so long made me realize that I took having her for granted, and that she only wanted to be here for me and help me.

My heart is still beating abnormally fast, given that I looked at her white robe and it looked like there was blood seeping from one of the arms, but I think that it just looked like that because I was on edge and didn't get a good look at it, and she probably thinks I'm dumb now.

She comes out of her bathroom after a rather long time, dressed in some black leggings and a gray long sleeve with a surf shop logo on it. It's rather hot outside so I don't really understand the whole need to dress like that, but maybe she hasn't been outside today.

"So, can I get my hug now?" I ask her, and she smiles and gives me a hug. Something still seems off with her right now, but I guess that can be expected because I did some messed up stuff to her. My plan was to invite her to come stay the night at my shack, because JJ was staying with Kie and Pope and I just didn't feel like staying with them tonight. Laila's more important.

I ask her, and she replies with "If I can convince my parents that I'm staying with Topper..", causing me to frown as soon as his name comes out of her mouth. She looks at me apologetically, and I sigh as she tells me to wait up here while she goes downstairs to work things out.

After she walks out of the room, I let myself into her bathroom to take a piss, and can't help but to notice blood on the counter, looking like somebody had tried to wipe a lot of blood off but didn't get it all, and a bunch of blood soaked tissues in the trash can.

I use the bathroom and come back out to be faced with her telling me that she can go, but I just give her a concerned look. "Where did the blood come from?" I ask her, and her face is unreadable. It takes her a few seconds longer than I would've thought she would've needed to reply to me, but I shrug it off.

"Oh, a nose bleed haha" She says, walking past me to shut the bathroom door. Something seems so off right now with her vibe, but I can't put my finger on it. I don't really know what to say because what she said is plausible.

Laila's POV

I came close to him finding out yet again, which makes my heart rate spike. I snuck him out of my house, and we walk to his car parked down the street, climbing in. He takes me back to his place, and we just hang out for a little bit.

I can tell that he's trying hard to make things between us as comfortable and cheerful as possible, and it lightens my mood at lot. He teaches me a few games to play with a deck of cards, and he even fixes us both some ice cream.

I missed this, I missed the goofy energy that he radiates too. Things are okay now, and I can breathe a little more comfortably. We spend the rest of the night talking about random things and taking turns asking questions to get to know eachother a little more.

By the time the clock on the wall reads 12am, I know a lot about him ranging from his family history, to his favorite animals and things to do. I yawn, which causes him to yawn and then playfully yell at me for it.

"Care to sleep with me, kook princess?" He asks me, joking around with the name he called me when we first met. "Of course not, your majesty." I reply back to him, and we end up going back to his bedroom.

We lay down in the bed with our hands intertwined, not overdoing it by cuddling tonight. I'm sweating to death in my clothes, but I can't take them off. Earlier when I went to the bathroom I peeled off most of the bandaids, given that the cuts were kind of dry. I noticed that the ones on my stomach and thighs were extremely deep, I must've gotten carried away.

I feel stupid for it, regretting it now. I fall asleep in the warm room, just talking to him.

A/N 25 votes for next chapter as usual