Sunshine State Of Mind ☼ JJ Maybank

Chapter Three: The Storm

"go where you feel most alive"

It had been three days. Not that I was counting. Not at all. In fact, I had resigned myself to stay busy beside my parents and learn to somewhat enjoy the art of unpacking and the joy that came with organizing. Or at least that's what my mother called it. It had been three days of boxes. Three days of pure Lou, a laughing hazard down the markets of Outer Banks as she wanted to indulge herself in as much island life as she could (and she dragged me along for every bit of it). And three days of watching the small P4L vanish on my wrist.

It wasn't that I wanted Pope to show up outside my window with the promise of another Pogue night. But I wanted exactly that. I wanted to hear John B tell JJ to shut up in the way that lifelong friends do. I wanted Kiara to invite me to make some of the friendship bracelets that adorned her arm. I could even, and maybe especially, go for an hour long talk about whatever Pope was hyper-fixated on at the moment. I would've even settled for hearing pure statistics about the rate of acceptance for his internship at the current point I was reaching. And I would have sat happily as he went over the possibilities and the logistics and his anxiety over it.

The only one of them I'd seen out was JJ, who worked as a server at the Island Club. I did the dumb thing people do when they get scared, I hid. Right in the palmed plant near the entrance of the building. My mother finally coaxed me out when I could no longer spot him weaving through the crowd and we were able to carry on with our dinner, but it held no hope for me.  I didn't want him to be right about my parents or my status on the island. I wanted to not care what he thought at all. But I did care. I ached for his approval. For him to guide me back towards the Pogues. I didn't want him to see me dressed up in shiny bracelets and clean polished nails with a summer dress on. I wanted to slap sneakers on and rung alongside his dirt bike (which I had silently watched him drive away when his shift ended).

I'd always liked nice things, and from an outside perspective JJ had shown little to no niceties to me at all. And yet...

I was deciding it was nothing when the storm came and the Pogues came back into my life.

Hurricane Agatha you work in mysterious ways.

☼___________________☼

My parents were usually pretty relaxed in most senses, but not when it came to a hurricane that could ruin their new house. Which meant it was the perfect time to get out of the house while my parents (and Lou) were boarding up the windows and fine china as they dealt with their new onset of storm-related paranoia.

The first thing I did was call Dale, which I did at all signs of boredness, lack of decisiveness, danger, and just because I plain love her and need her to tell me if I'm being crazy (or not) in all walks of life from time to time.

I walked out onto our wrap around porch, glancing suspiciously at the storm clouds and wind forming from just beyond and called the phone as I leaned on one of the wood pillars. Dale picked up on the fourth ring, as usual (she was either always in the middle of something or her phone was hooked up to some charger after being dead for several hours), and I smiled immediately as I heard the receiver pick up.

"Hey Sunny girl," Dale chirped, crunching on something (possibly Doritos) on the other side of the phone, an elated tone dancing in her voice.

"Sunny girl is not feeling so sun-shiny right now-" I sighed, and started to pick at my nails as I talked. They were painted green days ago and now had chipped into their own tiny fingernail islands. I spotted the P4L on my wrist, it too faded, looking like broken continents.

Dale interrupted me, "Want me to call you Rain Cloud?" She laughed at her own joke, and although we both knew it wasn't that funny hearing her laugh brought me some joy.