riptide- outer banks

twenty-three | low tide

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Logan couldn't stop the tremor from consuming his hands, his palms anxiously tapping on the steering wheel. It was dark out, a blanket of stars entangling itself in the night sky. He didn't know where he was going or how long he'd been gone, but he didn't care. At all.

It had to have been at least two in the morning by now and he could bet his phone had countless text messages from his dad wondering where he was. But it's like he said— he didn't care. He'd left his phone at home, sitting on his bed when he decided to leave five hours ago.

He couldn't be home anymore. All it did was make him think of Sarah. It'd been two days since the night of the storm— when she and John B had been pronounced dead. So if he didn't have to be, Logan wasn't home. He could barely stand being there without his big sister, his rock.

His jeep rolled to a stop, finding its place in the empty boneyard parking lot. Logan opened his door, stepping out into the cool breeze, letting it rush through him. The last of summer and he'd spent it mourning his dead sister.

Nothing. That's what he felt.

Everything. That's what came crashing down on him.

He couldn't do this without Sarah. She was the only person who'd ever cared about him and now she was gone. And he knew exactly who to blame. It was the same person who'd caused his anxiety to worsen the past few days if not years. It was the same person who'd lied repeatedly to him. And it was the same person who'd killed his sister.

Logan's feet kept him walking forward, but he felt as if he didn't have any control over his movements. He was just doing it, drowning in an endless riptide of grief and heartache. He made it around a bend of trees, the familiar crooked palm tree entering his view.

But that's not all that became enraptured in his sight.

A billow of smoke floated up into the air, his gaze falling on Kori. Her long blonde hair was damp, water dripping down onto her oversized jacket that was open, revealing a black bikini top underneath. She didn't have shorts on either, her surfboard laying in the sand just a few feet from her.

The sand crunched underneath his feet as he took another step forward. Kori turned back to him, lifting her head up to lock onto his eyes. The green in her gaze glinted under the moonlight as her expression remained the exact same.

It was no coincidence they were both here. They'd both lost someone, coincidentally causing the two teenagers to take a walk along the beach or a night surf to clear their heads.

"I don't really have the energy to tell you to screw off, so..." She trailed off, lifting her blunt in the air.

Logan didn't say anything as his fingertips brushed hers and he took the weed from her. He sat down and took a drag of it, smoke escaping his mouth as he let out a breath. He handed it back to her, the blonde mirroring his actions.