The Bad Ones¹, 𝙧. 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙣

𝒗. 𝘗𝘌𝘙𝘚𝘖𝘕𝘈𝘓 𝘉𝘜𝘚𝘐𝘕𝘌𝘚𝘚

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴
𝙋𝙀𝙍𝙎𝙊𝙉𝘼𝙇 𝘽𝙐𝙎𝙄𝙉𝙀𝙎𝙎

      𝘑𝘑 𝘓𝘖𝘖𝘒𝘌𝘋 𝘜𝘗 from where he stood behind the counter at Heyward's Seafood when the bells above the front door chimed.

When Graylin Thornton breezed through, JJ's eyes first dipped down to her chest where her red bikini was peeking out of her cotton button down. Then, they stooped to her bare stomach which the high knot of her shirt exposed. The sixteen-year old had to force himself to look back down at his hands where he was pulling on a pair of disposable gloves while Graylin slowly made her way up to him.

"Do you work here now?" She asked him, drawing his eyes back to hers. It took JJ by surprise that she sounded so laidback when the last time they'd seen each other, he'd held a gun to her brother's head.

"Yeah. I decided to start working here for good." He nodded drearily. "Did you come here to pick up stuff for the restaurant?"

"No, actually, I came to return this." She rose her hand to reveal his hoodie in her grasp. "Also," She continued, dropping her hand back down to her side. "I'm here to settle some personal business." JJ raised his eyebrows at this. "With you." She clarified while intensily watching for his reaction.

"Well, it's gotta wait till I'm off the clock." He nonchalantly brushed off, looking back down at his hands.

"I can wait." The Kook girl adopted an aloof tone now, making JJ look back up at her. "When do you get off?" He spent a few moments admiring her plump lips, high cheekbones, and nearly flawless complexion before speaking up.

"At five."

"That works. Can you meet me in Wrightsville? On the beach?"

"Sure."

"Great." She smiled up at him and JJ nearly stopped breathing. "I'll give your hoodie back to you then. And bring your board." Was the last thing she told him before leaving the store. He had to shake his head a few times to snap out of whatever spell she'd just put him under in order for him to get to work. But there was hardly a moment where he didn't thinking about her up until the moment when he finally got himself over to Wrightsvile with his surf board like she'd asked.

JJ was never the type of guy to go crazy for a girl, but there was something about Graylin Thornton that made him stop thinking the moment his eyes landed on her. He found it pathetic that he became completely hypnotized watching her shrug off her shirt and strip out of her shorts till she was left in the red bikini he'd gotten a glimpse of that morning. It took all the will he had to meet her eyes instead of ogling at her boobs.

He was so thankful that she wanted to surf. The water had its own magical calming powers that made JJ feel right at home even though he was surfing besides one of the most richest girls on the island.

Other than small talk about surfing and performing the sport itself, the two didn't engage with any of the "business matters" that Graylin had brought up at Heyward's until JJ prompted it out of her.

"Did you come for an apology from me? Is that what personal business you have with me?" He asked, breaking the silence that had settled between them as they lounged on their boards in the water while gazing at the sinking sun.

"If I wanted to get you to say sorry, I wouldn't be here trying to have a good time with you, JJ." She told him, not taking her eyes off the horizon.

"Alright, then I'll ask why you're trying to have a good time with me after what happened at the Boneyard." He tried again and this time Graylin looked over at him.

"I could ask you why you agreed to hang out with me when it was my brother who tried drowning your friend."

"Just because your brother did something doesn't mean you'd do the same. You weren't part of the situation. But me? I became part of it the second I drew out the gun."

"Do you know what started the fight?" She asked after a sigh.

"I don't see how it matters." JJ shrugged. "What happened happened. Topper almost drowned John B and I put a gun to his head."

"Topper was the one who started it." Graylin brought up, ignoring JJ's comments. "He was making fun of Pope for the bruises Rafe gave him. Your friend, John B, tried to hold Pope back after my brother's douchey comment, but then, of course, he decided to make another one about them being dirty Pogues and that's when John B lost it." After Graylin finished the story, JJ was surprised to hear that her side of the story nearly matched up with what he had heard had happened from his friends. He was about to speak up and make a remark about being surprised that she wasn't taking her brother's side, but she beat him to it. "None of what I just told you is an excuse for what you did bringing a gun into the situation, but that's not what I'm here to talk to you about– I imagine that you've gotten enough shit from the cops."

JJ let out an amused huff as he reflected on all the shit he'd indeed gotten. "So, what is your business?"

"Topper's never had issues with violence like this." Graylin began. "It's been a different story ever since he started hanging out with Rafe Cameron."

"I didn't realize you had something against him." JJ smiled knowing that Kook against Kook stories were always amusing.

"Just because I'm from Figure Eight doesn't mean I can't hate the way he walks around everywhere like he owns the place."

"Yeah, but you Kooks tend to overlook each other for being narcissistic little fucks." A bitter tone cut into his voice and when he saw Graylin go speechless in guilt, he could feel his facial features softening for her.

"Well, not in Rafe's case." Graylin deadpanned after a few moments. "Someone has to do something to get him in check."

"Are you tryna enlist my services or something?" JJ smirked.

"A little more than that actually." The girl cocked her head while a smile of her own pulled at her lips. "I figured you'd be trying to find ways to get back at him after what he did to Pope. I'm offering you services of intel as a residential Kook that could give you an advantage against him."

This made JJ throw his head back and laugh softly. "A Kook working for the Pogues." He singsonged.

"If you'll have me." Graylin added, making JJ look back at her with a foreign warmth radiating through him that came from her words.

"Of course. I could always use an extra hand." He assured her. "This is gonna be one helluva summer."

"I think we should call it a night, though. If we keep sitting in the water like this, I'm going to shrivel into a prune."

JJ imagined that she'd still look hot. He knew imagining was all he could do for a while until he could wholeheartedly trust the girl. After all, she was a Kook and he could never really tell with Kooks.