𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 [𝐣𝐣 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤]

𝐩𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩

The 'Welcome to the Outer Banks' sign is what really solidified the idea that I was truly home. There was nothing like driving through the island and seeing all the familiar places and people. Getting back on the Cut was something I never thought I would be so happy to do. When I pulled onto the gravel lot on the side of the house, my happiness grew, and my cheeks started hurting from how hard I was smiling. The front porch light was on, and everyone's cars were in the driveway, a good sign my dad was home.

I anticipated the doggy kisses I would get from Cooper, but I was even more excited to see my dad and Dylan. Despite it only being a month and half since I last saw them.

"She's home!" I heard as I opened the front door. First Cooper came to me as he barked out of excitement, then Dylan came from the kitchen and my dad followed behind him.

"I can smell it. Tell me it's from Heyward." I spoke to my father as we broke out of our hug.

"Well, it's nice to see you too, Lou." My dad said with a laugh and allowed me to follow Dylan back to the kitchen.

"You guys didn't have to stay up for me."

"You just drove eight hours and I'm sure you're hungry. It's the least we could do." My relationship with Dylan had been a little weird as of late. He had been more involved with my life in the last four months than he had in the last year. We were three years apart and when we were younger, he lived with us part time and spent the rest of the time with his mom, so we weren't as close as we could've been. But at some point, he was the closest friend I had. There was even a point in time when he ended up tagging along with me and my friends. I never dared to hangout with his friends though, that was just weird. We hung out up until the middle of last summer when he got a job and stopped having as much free time as he used to. But I hoped now that I was back home, we could hangout more.

I bent down to pet Cooper more. I don't think anyone was as excited to wait up for me as Cooper was.

"So, tell me why all of a sudden you came home. You've had the last 4 months to make that spontaneous decision." My dad asked as he grabbed the plates and moved the food to the kitchen table. While we ate I attempted to tell my dad everything that had happened since midsummers. It was hard to keep everything in chronological order considering how my brain just randomly threw different pieces of the story at me at the wrong time.

I gave the short version, or at least tried to, in an attempt to make my way down to John B's. But by the time I was done it was almost 1 am so I decided to turn in and hope they didn't start the party without me. Cause that's the first thing I wanted to do when we had the time.

The next morning, I got up and got dressed as quick as possible. By the time I made it out to the kitchen it was almost 11 and breakfast was sitting on the counter.

"She's alive!" Dylan said as he walked back in the kitchen.

"Don't you have work or something?"

"Not today, thank you very much."

"It's Monday."

He held up a finger and wagged it in my face, "No. It's Sunday, genius." I made a face at him and sat at the table to eat. I shared my sausage with Cooper but kept the bacon and pancakes for myself.

"Where's dad?"

"Work. He picked up a Sunday since he had off yesterday."

"Oh, but he'll be home later?" Dylan nodded on his way out of the kitchen. I guess our conversation was over.

I chilled around the house until 3, hopefully by then they would be back in. "I'm going to John B's." With no response I walked out to my car. I've never gotten butterflies about going to John B's, but today felt different. I felt like after spending time with everyone in Charleston, JJ especially, there was a change in the air. In the friendship dynamic.

As I pulled into the yard, I watched the boat pull up to the dock in perfect timing. The engine shut off and I took off toward the pier. "Welcome home!" I shouted to them, catching them off guard. Once they noticed me in the yard, their worried looks turned into smiles and my happiness grew. I walked down to meet them on the pier and even though it had barely been a day, it had felt like forever. Like I hadn't seen them in years.

"No way you're actually here." Kie said as her and Sarah got off the boat first and made their way over to me.

"Hell yeah I am." Sarah smiled and I could tell that after yesterday, I was going to drop whatever one-sided beef I had with her. We chatted a bit while the boys docked the boat. Mostly about Kie and Pope, which was something I didn't see coming but apparently it had happened. "I honestly never thought of it, but now that I have I can't unsee it. I approve."

"Right? I said the same thing." Sarah agreed as the boys made their way over.

Everyone paired up and it honestly was cute how everyone had someone. It made things feel alright. "So, what were you guys talking about?" John B asked, causing me to look at Sarah who looked at Kie who looked back at me.

"Uh, nothing. Just how you said I wouldn't make it back here today."

I started walking toward the yard, "That's not what I said." John B called after me.

"That's what I heard though."

We all stood around the yard just talking and catching up some more.

"I'm honestly not looking forward to check-in at home. I'm pretty sure they already arranged my funeral." Kie spoke up.

Pope chimed in too, "I predict unpleasantries at the Heyward household after I left the truck in Charleston." Well, I would expect to get yelled at if I left a car in a different state, too.

Then I heard JJ clear his throat and I can only imagine what was going to come out of his mouth, "No one knows we're here, right?" He looked at us knowing damn well the only people that knew we were here was us, and maybe my dad and brother. But no one who was going to rat them out, "And you two aren't gonna get in anymore trouble for showing up 12 hours later. Am I right, or am I right?" he asked Pope and Kie.

"You're not wrong." Pope answered.

"So that means," He turned his head and looked directly at me. "We have 12 hours to do whatever we want. Huh? A little Pogue fellowship. How does that sound?" I was down for it, but I wasn't sure about everyone else.

"Let shit hit the fan tomorrow." John B agreed, knowing JJ had some good ideas rattling around in his head. Kie and Pope agreed too, the only one who was still skeptical was Sarah. Which I can understand, there was a lot of heat on her and John B.

"The cops could be looking for us. This could be really stupid." She tried to reason.

"Sarah Cameron, you've heard my philosophy, right?" JJ asked making me along with everyone else chuckle a bit, "Stupid things have good outcomes all the time." He said as we all joined in with him. It was the one thing he lived by and it had become his life's motto. "Who's with me?"

I jumped up from my seat and headed back toward the pier, "Let's go get some beer." Everyone followed behind me and hopped onto the HMS Pogue to get the beer. John B steadied the boat next to the dock and JJ climbed out first, extending a hand to help me out of the boat. We jokingly shoved each other as we walked in the store.

"You get yours, and I'll get mine." JJ said as we walked down toward the cooler. We grabbed our choice of brew and took it to the counter. JJ slapped down the money before I got the chance to put mine down, making me raise a brow. "What?"

"I was gonna pay for it."

"I got it." I held my hands up in defense as the cashier smiled and told us to have a good day. When we got out of the store, I held the beer up in victory and JJ waved his around too. We quickly got in the boat and pulled off, JJ found himself back by John B and I went back next to Kie.