𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲

fifty-two: Worst Thing.

AT HIS house, Kai grabbed some stuff and stuffed them into his backpack before exiting his home and approaching the truck. They were taking Pope's dad's truck and it was only three seats in the front so Kai already said he would sit in the back. He was glad his mom was out at work but he did leave a note for her, telling her that he would be in Charleston.

And as for his dad, Raphael, he couldn't give two shits about what he'd think. He hopped into the back of the truck, leaning back against the truck as he closed his eyes, Pope drove off. At Kie's, they wait as she tells them they were leaving to Charleston. When she started yelling about boarding school, he glanced over with furrowed brows as JJ got out the truck so he can make space for Kie to get in.

"Look at your life right now! Look at your life!" Her dad now shouted at her. "It's good to see ya'll, Mr. and Mrs. Carrera." JJ waved as Pope leans out the car window. "Hi, uh, ma'am, sir, I... I promise to have her back at a reasonable hour and safe." He said as Kie looks at him. "What are you doing?" She asked him.

"Kiara, listen to me. You wanna go, then you can go. But if you don't come back at the proper time, then don't come back at all!" Her mom says and Kai raised his brows. "Your mom's scary." He whispered and Kie looked over at her. "I'm gonna sit in the back with Kai." She tells JJ, getting up by using the back tire as JJ simply got back into the truck and Kie sighed.

She leans against Kai, "this shit would be so much easier without parents." She says and he smiles softly. "I know what you mean... I mean, my mom's not trying to send me to boarding school, but you know..." He says, looking at her before looking away, shrugging.

JJ kept glancing back at them as Kai looked at Kie, sighing. "Have you even thought about giving him a chance? Your dad, I mean..." She suddenly says and he glanced away. "I don't think I've told you, have I?" He looks back at her and she simply shook her head.

"He was a Kook... much older than my mom when they first met. She was, like, 17, when they first met, he was 20, back from college on a break, she was friends with his younger sister, and then when she turned 18, they... hooked up, I guess, and to stay with her a bit longer for the... sex? I guess. He lied to her many times, that they'd be together forever, he loved her. All kinds of shit, but once she told him she was pregnant with his baby, he ran off, back to college." He says and she furrows her brows.

"Well, that's pretty shitty of him..." She says and he sighs. "Yeah, I know." He bites the inside of his cheek, glancing away. "She doesn't want me to end up with someone like him. That's why I never told her I was with Sterling." He says as he looks at her again.

"He even told her they'd leave OBX, move away from here together..." He says and she just looks at him with a worried look on her face. "Does she at least know you're gay? Or with JJ?" She now asked and he glanced away, nodding softly. "Granted she doesn't like it... but she knows." He shrugs and she nods softly.

On the ferry, Kie explained the whole situation with her parents when Pope asked about it, especially the boarding school part. "My parents are so paranoid of me being a Pogue, like it's the worst thing that could ever happen." Kie tells them as she was sitting across where Pope was standing while JJ sat on top of the truck as Kai was sitting beside Kie.

"Hey, I heard they got good weed at boarding school, though." JJ says and Kie looks at him. "I'm not by oing to boarding school. They're gonna have to kidnap me, tie me up, and throw me in a van." She says and Kai glanced at her. "Well, I say..." JJ got down, inhaling before holding it out, "we just crumble some herb right now." He says and Kai takes it, rolling his eyes before he took a drag from it.

JJ sits down, "hey, Kie, have you tried to hit John B back on that number yet?" Pope asked as Kai held out the joint to Kie who takes it. "Like, twenty million times." She says and Kai looks at her. "That's quite a few times." He says and she looks at him, raising her brows before looking away. "Some random lady at a hotel keeps answering." She tells them.

"Well, until we hear from them again, we gotta try and clear his name." He says and raised the paper in his hand. "Right now, this letter's our best bet." He says. "Right. Stay on task. That's why I love ya, Pope." JJ says as he clears his throat and Kie got up, holding out the joint. "What Pope are you gonna be today?" She asked the boy who looks at the spliff before glancing up at her, "I'm good." He refused, looking down at the letter in his hands.

"I'm gonna try to focus." He says and Kie looks away. "Good Pope. Boring Pope." She sighs as she sits down beside JJ. "I'll take that." JJ tells her and she hands the joint over to JJ who chuckles. "Um, do tricks now! Roll over boy!" He jokes around. "Sit." Kie laughs.

Kai glanced between them and looked away. "Sit." JJ laughs as Kie raised her hand. "Try to catch a fish. Catch a fish." She says and Kai looked around. He never realized how close they were to begin with. He got up suddenly and went over to his bag, sitting down and crossing his legs together. "Kai?" He looked over at JJ who was holding out the joint to him.

He takes it, took a hit from it and handed it back over to Kie pretty quickly before he turned back towards his backpack, taking out his phone. He ended up playing a phone game for a while. "In Charleston, we can't have someone sitting in the back," Pope looked at Kai.

"I'll just lay down, no one will see me. We'll be good." He says, looking away. "Got it." Pope simply says and Kai just looks back down at his phone, tapping away at it.

 

  

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

   

    

AUTHORS NOTE
can't wait for them to reunite with their besties, i really missed them all together <3