IN WHICH Joel Pearce just wanted to move on and be happy again.
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OUTER BANKS | SEASON 1 - 3 | JOHN B x MALE!OC x JJ MAYBANK | JOEL PEARCE STAND ALONE | ONGOING
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"Are you sure you're okay?" Joel asked for what felt like the hundredth time, his eyes tracing over the bruises on John B's face.
"I said I'm fine, Joel." John B snapped lightly, sick of being asked the question. He ran his hands through his hair and faced the others. "Look, I'm callin' it off. All right? Peterkin said, if I stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with DCS."
"And you believed her?" JJ scoffed.
"Yes, I believe her, JJ."
"An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop." JJ couldn't believe what he was hearing and roughly threw a rock at the nearest tree.
"All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out. It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."
"You know what I should have done? Just let Topper drown your ass."
"Topper was gonna drown me?" John B said dead-panned.
"Yes, John B, he was." Joel said bluntly.
"Have you looked in a mirror?" JJ stood up and walked over to John B, both of them looking angry. "They always win, don't they, man. Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win! Goddamn!"
"Look, it's okay!" Kiara said.
"No, it's not okay!" JJ yelled. "It is not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh. That means there's something valuable down there, and you know it. I know you do. And I understand why you don't wanna go." He gestured to Pope. "You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk. And you..." He turned to Kiara. "I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?" He turned to Joel. "And you don't like doing anything that could put your precious John B in danger." He turned to John B. "But you and me, man, we got nothin' to lose! We really don't, all right?"
"JJ." John B sighed.
"And I know it didn't use to be that way for you."
"I don't want to talk about this. I don't want to talk about it." John B walked past them all, trying to get away from the conversation.
But JJ wasn't going to let him go that easily. "So that's it?"
"Just get out of my way, bro."
"John B, listen to me. I have a plan. You got the key to Cameron's big boat, right? There's scuba gear. We borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what's gonna save you, man. You don't see rich kids going into foster care, do you?"
That seemed to be enough to convince John B.
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Kiara looked over the scuba tanks John B had stolen. "This is empty. You took empty tanks?" She narrowed her eyes.
