The Ice Surfer

Chapter 5 "A Weird, Hippie Van"

After a while of hanging out with Pope, Fili wandered off again to talk to some new girls. Alcohol made her everything she usually wasn't; vulnerable, happy and a social butterfly- so you couldn't really blame her for chatting to basically everyone that night.

JJ's eyes searched the swarm of people thoroughly, and finally after several minutes of looking, he located the green-eyed girl. She was by the kegger, one hand leaning against it for support, the other gladly accepting yet another beer given to her.

He huffed out in annoyance before stalking over to stop her. How much could one girl possibly drink?

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The hours passed by quickly at the boneyard, and suddenly it was 2 am. The beach had almost completely cleared of people now, the only ones left being the Pogues and Fili.

She was sat a bit away from the others, humming quietly to herself while entertained by the stars on the dark sky. When she heard footsteps, she looked up to see JJ standing in front of her with a little smile.

"Sooo, Fili, where you gonna crash tonight?" He said, crouching down in front of her.

"Prolly just here on the beach or something." Fili replied with a small smile, but sighed internally. Fuck. She hadn't thought about that yet.

"What? No, you can't sleep on the beach."

"Well actually yes I can, see?" She patted the sand beside her, "Nice and comfy."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Look, if you don't have a place that's fine. You can crash at the Chateau if you want. You can't sleep on the beach alone."

A playful smirk formed on her lips. "You worried about me, JJ?"

"Nah, I guess I just have a thing for damsels in distress." He retorted, satisfied with his answer.

"Oh, so you have a thing for me now huh?" She giggled. JJ rolled his eyes.

"Look seriously, I'll be fine here, okay? See you guys around." She said with reassuring eyes, hoping to convince him. She had to be independent.

JJ only rolled his eyes. "Hard way, then." He approached her quickly, and before she could reply, he had picked her up and thrown her over his shoulder like he'd done earlier with Kiara.

"Dude, the hell are you doing? Put me down!" she whined, trying to wriggle free from his grip.

"Chill, I'm just taking you to the van. Stop fighting so much!" JJ replied, voice full of amusement.

"The van?! What, you're kidnapping me now?" She wasn't scared, but merely annoyed.

Wasn't rocket science that the boy obviously was pretty harmless.

The girl knew she wasn't in any actual danger. Sure, JJ towered over Fili and outsized her indefinitely, but she had an advantage too. Fili was sharp and quick, good at lying. She could get herself out of any situation, especially this one if she really wanted to.

Yet, Fili didn't find herself searching for some lie. Something about JJ made her feel a twinge of joy. The blonde was bubbly and funny, and gave Fili and her wits a run for her money. It was enjoyable. JJ was kind of enjoyable. So, Fili found herself giving in to the boy, smiling slightly to herself.

"Shit, I meant the Twinkie. It's the Pogues van, John B's actually-" his voice faltered at the name. "Look, I just don't want you to crash at the fucking Boneyard. All kinds of weird people are here at night, wouldn't be right to leave you here."

She swore at herself for giving in so easily.

"Fine, fine, I'll go just, put me down." He set her down gently, just as they had reached the Twinkie. Fili opened the door to the van, only to find Kiara sitting there, glaring at her.

"She's coming?"

"Yeah, she didn't have a place to stay." JJ said from behind Fili.

"Oh, I didn't know we were a shelter for runaways.." Kiara snarled, gesturing to Fili's backpack.

"And I didn't know childish rivalry between girls was still a thing. Guess we were both wrong." Kiara opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by JJ.

"You see now why I like her Kie?"

The ride to the Chateau was weird, kind of awkward actually. Here she was, in a van, with a bunch of teens she barely knew, heading to a place she didn't know. It didn't worry really Fili though, it almost kind of excited her. She liked that thrill of not knowing what was gonna happen. Just like on the waves.

She thought of Alaska. She wondered if her father knew she was alive. That she was here, in the Outer Banks, hiding in plain sight. Fili didn't even want to think about what would happen if he found her. But she had finally escaped. Finally escaped him. Finally escaped her haunting past life. But it was only a matter of time before it all caught up with her.

Her trance was suddenly broken by Kie.

"Helloo? Earth to Fili! We're here dumbass, get out."

"Yeah yeah i'm coming."