Our Secret

Our Secret March Part 9

"Do you have any plans tonight?" Kie asked one Saturday afternoon, in March, as the girls worked together at The Wreck. Filling sodas Coralina placed several on her tray, "Oh yeah. JJ and I are going to the bowling alley to shoot pool. He needs to perfect his game before the tourons start flocking to the island," she said, laughing as she lifted the tray.

"Oh god. He still hustles the pool tables during tourist season?" Kie questioned, laughing when Coralina simply nodded, before taking her tray of drinks to the table.

After checking on all her tables Coralina found herself by the soda machine again catching up with Kie, "So there's been no word on your dad?" Kie asked. "Nothing since Peterkin wanted John B to sign that paper declaring him dead. My brother doesn't want to sign unless we see a body, but the Kildaire County Police don't have the manpower to comb the ocean so a body is probably not going to wash up," Coral told the girl.

"How are you doing with all of this?" Kie asked, concerned. Pursing her lips Coral shrugged, "Some days are harder than others. Uncle Teddy tries but you know he didn't sign up to take care of two teenagers. I hang out with the boys a lot and JJ's got an everlasting supply of weed," she answered, "You know he built a chicken coop in the backyard. He wants to get chickens next month when the weather is a bit warmer," Coral laughed.

"Oh my god," Kie laughed, "I can just picture it now Farmer JJ," she snorted, "What about that guy? The mystery guy from New Years are you still seeing him?" Kie questioned, wiggling her eyebrows.

Biting her lip Coral nodded, "I still see him, yeah. He's a pretty good distraction from my life so there's that too," she replied, laughing. "Are you ever going to tell me who he is?" Kie asked, cocking her head to the side. Noticing one of her tables looking around for her Coral smiled, "You asked that last time and the answers still not telling. Gotta go duty calls," she said before heading over to her customer.

Cashing out at the end of her shift Coralina glanced up when she heard the restaurant door open. Smiling, she waved when she saw JJ. "Give me like two minutes to change," she told him before rushing towards the backroom.

Grabbing her clothes and makeup bag she changed quickly before fixing her makeup. She was just throwing her Wreck apron into her locker when Kie came through the backroom door, "Hey, look at you, hot stuff," Kie whistled, "You sure you're just hanging out with JJ? You look like you're heading out for a date."

Furrowing her brow Coralina glanced down at her ripped skinny jeans tucked into her black ankle boots and her off the shoulder peasant top and just shrugged, "Nope just hanging out with JJ," she answered, "Hey, can you help me clasp this? I can never seem to get it myself," Coral asked, holding out her wrist with her charm bracelet.

"Oh, wow, when did you get this? It's really pretty," Kie gushed, flicking the charms once she clasped it around Coral's wrist. Smiling down at the bracelet Coral told her JJ got it for Christmas for her. "JJ? JJ Maybank, got you a charm bracelet?" Kie questioned, wide-eyed.

"Yep," Coral replied, "Well, I gotta go he's waiting for me out front. I'll see you next shift," Coral said, heading towards the door ignoring the look of disbelief on Kie's face.

"Oh yeah, I know you probably have plans, but next Saturday all of us have off and with the temps climbing every day we were going to go out on the HMS and then have a campfire. If you're not busy," Coral invited her old friend out on their boat. Clearing her throat Kie nodded, "Oh, yeah, I'll have to let you know. Sarah's birthday is this week and I'm not sure what she's doing yet."

Smiling Coral nodded, "Okay, well I'll see you next time then," she said before shoving the back room door open and heading out to where JJ was waiting by the bar.