Together

3. When Kie's Here Things Are Better

It's a clear night when JJ wakes up in his room at the chateau, drenched in sweat. A nightmare. He got them from time to time and it always left him sweaty with a jump scare feeling in his chest. He doesn't remember them very often. Mainly he just wakes feeling scared the way he did when his dad was pounding on his bedroom door, threatening to unleash hell should the lock not hold. Sometimes he yells or screams. That doesn't happen much though.

It's another hour of tossing and turning before he decides to get up, he won't be getting back to sleep like this. He looks at his phone and reads that it's 1:47 am. Perfect time to surf. Not really actually, the water will be far too cold in the beginning of April, especially at night. He doesn't care though. Surfing always calmed him down. It gave him something to focus on, not to mention the high he'd get from completing a particularly difficult run.

He loads his board in the Twinkie and heads to Rixon's Cove. The break is clear, not a soul but his under the moonlight. The waves aren't terrible either. Definitely some good ones.

JJ hits the water and feels the sharp bite of the waves nip his sides as he paddles out. He didn't own a wet suit, kook clothes. Besides, he's done this countless times when he can't sleep and he can handle a little cold if it means he can crawl back to his bed, so exhausted his mind won't have an argument against sleep.

He surfs for an hour before returning to the shore. It's freezing but he sits in the sand and looks at the stars anyway. His mind wanders to Kie. He wished she were here right now.

The last couple weeks had been amazing. He'd pick her up for school, hang out with her between classes, and watch her close the Wreck. He couldn't get enough of her.

It wasn't just her physical presence that had been consuming him, it was the emotional connection as well. He could feel this loyalty to her like she was all he had to tie him to the world. He loves the rest of the Pogues but nothing compared to Kie. While he would do anything for all of them, it was still different with her. He would choose her over and over, and never think twice.

Maybe it was because he felt that loyalty back. Like she would take the same risks for him that he would for her. JJ never felt like that was true of anyone else in the group. They loved him, but nothing compared to the level of recklessness that he was willing to immediately jump to for them. She'd be just as recklessness for him. 

The breeze sends a chill through him and he finally decides he's tired enough to crash. He arrives back at the chateau a little before four and sure enough, sleep finds him. This time the nightmares don't come, replaced with thoughts and dreams of a curly haired girl.

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The Pogues planned to spend the day hanging out on the HMS and Kiara waits for them to pick her up on her dock. She's watching the water, barely a ripple. She can vaguely see her reflection as she leans over the edge of the dock.

She looks back at her house, almost expecting her parents to be watching her leave, ever the disappointment that she returns to the Pogues time and time again. Returns to JJ, over and over.

Kiara and her parents had plenty of conversations over the last two weeks. Okay, not conversations, screaming matches. Mainly from her dad. He was a Pogue at one point and Kiara always thought that would gain some sympathy or even a fraction of understanding. Instead it made him resentful and angry. Like her being with JJ reminded him of his past and for whatever reason he hated that part of himself.

Anna was different. She could yell but it was her biting words that cut like a knife. What happens when he just up and leaves? She had said as Kiara tried to be vulnerable and express how much she loved him. She was crying before that point and the words really didn't sting that much because JJ was done running. He proved that the night of the accident. Even when he blamed himself for it, he didn't run away from her. Still, the fact that her mother would throw that in her face, like she was expecting it, maybe hoping for it, broke her daughter's heart.