Things Aren't the Same •JIARA •

3

Kie's POV:

Quinn and I were laying under the same blanket on the beach trying to fall asleep when she asked, "Why'd you leave the pogues?"

"I didn't have a choice. My parents forced me to go to boarding school. How'd you join the pogues?"

"That sucks... It was super random. I've been on the mainland my whole life. My parents got divorced and my mom got a new boyfriend and my dad moved to the cut. I love the Outer Banks so I moved in with him. I met John B and Pope at a party and they brought me back to the chateau to hang out with them. Cleo and Sarah were there too and we got back and JJ was drunk. Apparently, he just broke up with his girlfriend. We instantly clicked and we started dating a few weeks later." Quinn said smiling as she played with a stick in the sand

I realized that she joined them the day after I left. I can't believe JJ got over it so fast. I guess it didn't really matter to him. Just another one JJ Maybank's girls.

Quinn must have noticed that I was trying not to cry and she said, "I get it, I'm not trying to replace you. For what it's worth, they all missed you the whole time you were gone"

"I just hate that I had to leave. How's JJ been?" I asked trying not to show that I cared

"He's been fine. He drinks a lot and has no plans for anything. He talked about going on a surf trip but it wasn't a good time"

"I'm going to California to go to UCLA to get my degree in marine biology"

"What?" I asked shocked

"Jeez, calm down" Quinn said back

"I'm going to UCLA for the same thing" I said shocked and we both didn't believe each other it was way too crazy

We tolerated each other in the fakest way. She hated me and so hated her. We talked about UCLA and then we fell asleep.

The next morning, we continued walking to some secret storage unit and snuck in, and realized the gold wasn't at this location. We started making the journey back and we didn't say much to each other.

We were the first ones back and the others didn't have any luck either. We didn't tell them about UCLA yet. Sarah had some luck with locating another clue. She talked to a security guard and found out Ward hired some shipping company a few weeks ago and moved the gold. We hit another dead end.

I noticed that JJ was acting super weird. He was in one of his JJ moods. I asked Pope what happened and he said he didn't know. We were eating pizza on the beach that John B went to get and I whispered to JJ, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, leave me alone" He snapped back at me and I walked away from him

That night, we were all awkwardly in bed and I was woken up by JJ lightly shaking me. I opened my eyes and he whispered, "Can we talk?"

We both got up and went outside to the beach. We sat next to each other on the beach chairs where you're basically laying down and I asked, "So what's up?"

"I saw my dad when I was with Pope"

"Wow, what was he doing here? Did you talk to him?"

"I have no idea why he's here on this tiny island. I haven't seen or talked to him since he left the island." He said clearly really upset

"I'm sorry, J... You deserved so much better than him. Any father would be lucky to have you as their son. But in a way, him leaving was the best thing for you. It means you're safe from him." I said trying to comfort him

"He was with a girl and they kissed a few times. There was also a little boy there. He was little, around one or so. He moved on and he left me to start a new family... My mom left me and so did my dad. My own family fucking left me to find better kids" JJ choked out as he started crying

I got off my chair and I sat next to him and I hugged him. He cried into my shoulder harder than I've ever seen before. He held onto me and my heart broke for him.

"Fuck him, seriously... Your parents have no idea how incredible their son is. You are amazing, J. The best person I know and they have nothing to do with how amazing you are, it's all you."

JJ stayed quiet and I didn't move away from him. Eventually, he spoke, "Kie, I need to tell her about him. I can't let him abuse her and I sure as hell can't let that little boy go through what I did. I'm going back tomorrow morning to talk to them"

"Okay, do you need someone to go with you?"

"No, I need to do this alone. I need you to keep this a secret. I don't want the others knowing about this."

"I promise" I whispered as I laid my head on his chest and I realized this reminded me of that one night my parents took me to boarding school and JJ was thinking the same thing because he said, "This brings back memories"

"Yeah" I whispered as I fell asleep in his arms and woke up to the warm sun and to my surprise JJ was still here

I lightly woke him up and we snuck back into the hotel room just before everyone got up for the day. We all were packing up and JJ said, "I'll be back, there's something I need to do"

"I'll go with you" Quinn said grabbing his arm and kissing his cheek

"No, I'm going alone. If something happens and you need to leave, go without me" JJ said grabbing his backpack

"Dude, you aren't going alone. Let Quinn go, or Pope, or Cleo and her knige or me.. No going off on your own" John B said

"I said I need to go alone" He said moving towards the door

"What do you need to do alone?" Cleo asked making an inappropriate joke

"Yeah, JJ, Quinn is here you know" Sarah teased

"Fuck off, it's not like that. I just need to do something in town" He said leaving and we all looked at each other and everyone followed him outside

"JJ!" Pope called stopping him and he turned around and it was obvious they weren't letting him go alone

"I'll go with him" I said walking towards him and JJ didn't object

He waited for me and we walked back into town. I knew the pogues were pissed at me for going but I didn't care. He didn't say anything to me as we walked into town. We arrived at a small beach house and he knocked on the door. The woman opened the door and smiled and said, "Hi"

"Hi, is anyone else home?" I asked before JJ could speak

"No, my boyfriend is at work and my son is sleeping," She said

"I'm Kiara and this is JJ Maybank, Luke's son. We just wanted to talk to you about Luke" I said and she slammed the door on us and JJ was pissed at me. We turned around to leave when the door opened.