always been you- outer banks jiara fanfic // EDITED

poguelandia. 4

pope pov:

jj gets up and walks over to the other beach, where kiara went a few minutes ago. i watch as he walks. why is he following kiara?. i have a feeling there's something going on between the two of them, they've both been acting different towards each other since we got on the boat to get the cross and sarah back. i look at john b, cleo, and sarah who are all laughing and talking. cleo smiles at me. "you good?" she says. i nod. if there is something going on between jj and ki, i will be jealous, and probably pissed, but i don't want to hold a grudge for too long. there's other fish in the sea. "would you rather... have no fingers, or have no toes?" sarah giggles. "no toes for sure" i say. "i use my fingers way more than i use my toes". "same" john b says. "wouldn't it feel weird having no toes though?" cleo says. "it would feel weirder having no fingers" i say. "fair enough" cleo laughs. "cleo, would you rather, be back on your island, with a home and a family, or be here with us?" john b says. she pauses for a moment. "be here with you guys" she says. i smile. "you guys are the closest thing i've had to a family since terrance". "yeah, and we love you" sarah says, hugging her. after a few more minutes, jj and kiara come back over. "it's late" kiara says. "we should probably get some sleep". i nod. "yeah okay" john b says, we all get up and get into our beds. sarah and cleo go over to kiara's bed and they talk about something, but us boys can't hear from here.

kiara pov:

"what happened?" sarah whispers. i look over at jj, and he's already looking at me. "nothing" i shrug my shoulders. "chica you can't lie to us" cleo says. i look away from jj and turn to sarah and cleo. "nothing happened. seriously. we just talked about how he almost died" i whisper. that's it?" sarah whispers. "oh, i'm sorry, is that not good enough for you!?" i raise my whisper a little. "yous are taking it so slow" cleo says. "like you and pope aren't" i say a little too loud. she widens her eyes at me. "sorry sorry sorry" i say, putting my hands up. "it's true though" i go back to whispering. "at least me and john b aren't" sarah whispers. "dude! you guys are together! that's so different!" i whisper aggressively. "well if you and jj, and you and pope" she points at cleo. "got together, then it would be the same wouldn't it!?" she says, way too loud. me and cleo both hit her arm, not enough to hurt her, but enough for her to know we're annoyed. "you know, you're not being very discreet? like at all?" john b says, we look over and all three of them are staring at us. i shake my head and slap face with my hand. "you see what you've done?" i say to sarah. "you gotta learn how to be quiet!" i say. "like you were!" sarah says. "well i wasn't as loud as you"- "ey ey ey" cleo interferes. i look over at jj and again, he's already looking. he smirks. i sigh. "i'm gonna kill you" i whisper to sarah. "not if i kill you both first" cleo says, as she walks away towards her bed, and sarah follows her. i roll over so i've got my back to everyone and i close my eyes.

jj pov:

"if you and jj... got together, it would be the same wouldn't it!?" sarah's words replay in my mind. "got together" like wtf? does this mean kiara likes me? does this mean she finally feels the same? no.. she wouldn't like me. that door is locked. plus she can do better than me. i look up at her, she's got her back to us.

i wake up in the middle of the night to hear giggling. i slowly open my eyes and roll over to see john b and sarah getting up, and beginning to walk away. "now you're the ones not being discreet" i hear a whisper, i look over at kiara who's looking at john b and sarah. they pause when they hear her. they stare for a second and kiara laughs. "have fun" she rolls her eyes, still smiling, and lies her head back down. seeing ki smile makes me smile too, it's like her smile is contagious. john b puts his fingers to his head and does a little salute goodbye, and him and sarah walk away. kiara laughs again then looks at me. she realises i'm awake and she pauses. "you good?" she mouths. i nod. "you?" i mouth. she nods. we both lie opposite each other, moving around and occasionally looking at each other. it's pretty obvious that we can't sleep. i stand up and being to walk off, the opposite direction sarah and john b did. i don't wanna see them doing anything. i sit on a rock and kiara follows me. she sits next to me. i sigh. she gives me a confused look at the fact that i sighed when she sat next to me. i shake my head. "not you, just tired, but i can't sleep" "neither" she says. we sit in silence for a few seconds. "hey, uh, what was sarah on about earlier? when she was talking to you and cleo?" i say. she closes her eyes. "they think i like you, and we think cleo likes pope" she says. i laugh. "we all kinds think cleo likes pope, and that pope likes cleo" i say. she laughs. "but, about erm, about us? what's going on between us at the moment? because i don't know if it's just me but i've definitely been feeling something..." i say. she looks down. i know as soon as i said it that it was a risky thing to say. she shrugs her shoulders and looks at me. "just... just see how it goes?" i say, she nods. "yeah" she says.

after about an hour i would say, of me and kiara just sitting and talking, we decide to go back again try to sleep. john b and sarah are still gone when we get back, so kiara gets in john b's bed, which is next to mine. after a little while, i finally doze off.

"you are a worthless piece of shit!" my dad yells. "no wonder your mama left! it was you! all your fault!" he punches me across the face. i fall to the ground and he kicks me. "all your fault!" he yells. "all you! worthless! stupid!" i gasp and jump to half way towards a sitting position as i wake up. "hey, hey hey" kiara whispers. she's sitting behind my head, looking over me. "you're okay" she says. her hand strokes my hair, and she puts her other one on my chest. "you're okay" she repeats. i breathe slowly and being to calm down a little. i don't take my eyes off her the entire time. she moves forwards a little and i lie my head down on her lap. "i'm right here, you're safe" she says, wrapping her arm around my head and hugging me. i close my eyes in relief. it was just a nightmare. i'm okay. i'm here with kiara. i'm safe. "sorry"- i shake my head. "don't apologise, it's okay. you're okay" she says, stroking my hair again. for a moment i wish i could stay like this forever. here, with my head on her lap and her hand in my hair, it's perfect. at least i'm not the only one having nightmares, kiaras been having a few, sarah has, john b has had one or two, i mean we've all be through so much so it's no surprise. its okay though because we all have each other. kiara is a really light sleeper so she wakes up from basically anything, so she's there for everyone the most. she's the only one that's been there when i've had them, and shes been there for john b's, and everyone has been there for sarah's, hers are the worst so she gets really loud and everyone wakes up. and i've been there for all of kiaras i think, sarah's been there for a few of hers too, since she sleeps right next to her so she hears her, not that sarah sleeps much anyways. but we all comfort each other. that's
what makes me feel safe.