MI MILAGRO, JJ maybank

Chapter 2 - Be our guest

They finally arrived at the club, where a very long table full of guests awaited them. At one end of the table were the adults, the possible future contacts, the wolves of wall street, where Elisabeth and Javier sat.
At the other end of the table were the children, the heirs, mommy's favourite boys, daddy's little girls, the outcasts and the disappointments of the family, looking at Maria as if she were a piece of meat and they were hyenas that wanted to devour her.

She sat in the only chair that was free, in front of a beautiful blonde girl with dark brown eyes (a combination envied by Maria), next to a boy with brown hair, blue deep eyes and a Leo Dicaprio haircut, and diagonally across from a blonde who was sizing up the blonde in front of Maria with his eyes, like in the cartoons when the characters have hearts popping out of their eyes. Maria assumed he was her boyfriend. Either that, or they would have to take out a restraining order against this guy.

"Hi! You must be Maria, right?" the blonde asked, in the sweetest and friendliest way.
"That's me! And you are?", Maria tried to make conversation, so as not to focus on the fact that the boy next to her was looking at her in such a way that she felt deeply uncomfortable. She didn't know if it was because his eyes were intimidating or if it was because she was nervous since she didn't know anyone, but that glance made the hairs on her arm stand on end.

"I'm Sarah, this is my boyfriend Topper and that's my brother Rafe."
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Listen, I was planning on going shopping tomorrow, if you feel like joining me? I could show you around, tell you where the best food is served, etc" asked Sarah.
It was as if she had known Maria all her life. She would never ever ever say no to shopping, it was her favorite hobby. Having grown up with the likes of Blair Walford, Serena Vanderwoodsen and Carrie Bradshaw, it was only to be expected that she would develop an addiction to raiding the stores. Shopping was her daily cardio, and the credit card was her treadmill.
"You've read my mind," she smiled at her, and for a few moments she forgot the strange feeling she had of not belonging to the little sect she was being pushed into.

When it was time for dessert Rafe, who had a few beers on him, put his arm around her shoulder in an all too natural and too intimate way, considering that he had not even known of her existence for less than 2 hours. He got dangerously close to her face and said, with a somewhat egocentric attitude, "So you're Elisabeth's new stepdaughter". Maria shifted uncomfortably in her chair, removed his arm from her shoulder and, with a polite smile replied,
"I wouldn't say stepdaughter but yes, I guess I am".
"That's where JJ works, isn't it?"
"Uh yeah, I met him today."
Rafe threw his head back, let out a chuckle, and moved even closer to Maria.
"I'm going to give you some advice, and for free because you have a pretty face. Stay away from the Pogues, they're nothing but trash."
Maria again moved a little away from Rafe, frowned and asked the group as a whole
"What's a Pogue?"

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After what seemed like the longest dinner of her life, she told his father that she felt like taking a walk before returning home.
During the walk, she tried to recapitulate the evening and mentally analyze the people she had met. What struck her as most curious of all was the explanation of the way the island was divided, of the Kooks and Pogues feud. Rafe had painted a pretty bad picture of those Pogues. Was it true what he said about them? Are they so bad?

While the questions were going around in her head she felt a sudden, horrible thirst, so she decided to go into a cafe she saw nearby, called "The wreck".

As she entered she saw a young girl, about her age she assumed, with long curls, behind the bar talking to a boy also about the same age.
"Coffe coffe coffe please!" she said to the girl, sitting down at the stools. She took a look around the premises. She loved the way it was decorated, the atmosphere, the music playing, the smell of the food... it was as if Bob Marley had thrown up and pulled this place out of his guts.

The curly-haired brunette appeared again with three cups of coffee, which greatly confused Maria.
"Three coffees", she put put three cups of coffee in front of her
"Oh no, I'm sorry i only ordered one"
"You said coffee coffee coffee, didn't you?"
"Ha ha no, see i said 'Coffee coffee coffee!'"
"Right..."
"As in i REALLY need coffee coffee coffee, you know?"
"No"
"'Coffee coffee coffee' is a saying, like an exaggeration. It's a funny, desperate cry for caffeine. It's just my thing, cause everybody knows I drink a lot of coffee, so they day can't start until i've had my jolt. It's a bit... my bit. It's not a particular bit unless you know me, then... you know what? three coffees would be great, what do i owe you?"
(Please tell me someone got the gilmore reference)

The brunette smiled at her, shook her head slowly, and leaning closer whispered,
"You know what? It's on the house, but don't say it around, they'll think I'm giving out free coffee all the time."
Maria thanked her, and decided to ask her what was tormenting her all night long
"Excuse me but, if you don't mind me asking, why is there so much enmity between Pogues and Kooks?"
"Gosh, how long have you got?" laughed the guy who was talking to the brunette earlier, "Howdy, I'm John B and this is Kiara."
Maria extended her hand to both of them "Hi! I'm Maria, I just moved in". Kiara and John B smiled at each other, looked at Maria with a face she couldn't decipher, and said at the same time.
"Yes, yes we know who you are."

How was this possible? She had moved from another country and had been on the Outer Banks for less than 24 hours. Were there already rumors about her? Had her Instagram been stalked? Maria prayed to all the gods that it wasn't the latter, because there were some very embarrassing photos she had uploaded in 2016, when mustache necklaces were all the rage, and when Tumblr filters were sweeping the internet.

Seeing Maria's confused face, Kiara confessed her source of information to her.
"You see, it's possible that JJ mentioned you."