𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 | | 𝘫𝘫 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬

𝘴𝘪𝘹 － 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨

— • — • — • — ꧁꧂ — • — • — • —

— • — • — • — ꧁꧂ — • — • — • —

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱 — 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔

SOMEHOW, AND LEILANI wasn't really sure how, the Pogues had gotten an unconscious John B into the van safely. Leilani drove with Kiara beside her, making stops at everyone's houses. They drove to Figure Eight to drop off Kie, and then back to the Cut to Pope's house. It was quiet in the car as Leilani drove to the Chateau, JJ and John B in the back of the Twinkie.

John B started to wake up as Leilani parked the van in front of his house, and her and JJ helped him walk into the living room, where he passed out again on the sofa pull-out. "Can you get him some ice from the cooler?" Leilani asked JJ, flipping John B onto his back.

JJ nodded and quickly put the ice into a bag and handed it to Leilani who delicately placed it on John B's swollen eye. "He's gonna be okay, right?" JJ asked, hovering behind Leilani, unsure of what to do.

She nodded. "He might have a headache when he wakes up, but he should be fine." Leilani stood up after smoothing back John B's long, brown hair.

JJ walked outside to the hammock and after taking her converse off and replacing them with her sandals, Leilani joined him. They sat on opposite ends at first, until Leilani noticed how uncomfortable he looked. She sat up, shifting so her head was level with JJ's. "What's up?" JJ asked, confused at her sudden location change.

"I'm not mad at you. I was at first, but I'm not. You did what I couldn't have done, and I'm glad that you did." Leilani said, finding herself losing her focus from looking into JJ's ocean blue eyes.

The blonde boy smiled, gazing over at her. "That was exactly my plan." JJ said, resisting the urge to pull out a joint and smoke it. He knew Leilani wasn't a fan of smoking, and that her dad would kill her if she came home smelling like weed.

Leilani chuckled, letting her head fall to JJ's chest, peering up the trees the hammock was tied to. "I got to go home." Leilani said a while later. JJ's arm was now over her shoulder, and had been listening to her rant the whole time they were outside.

"How are you going to get there?" JJ questioned, looking down at her exquisite brown eyes.

"Walk, I guess." she sat up, grabbing her bag from the ground.

JJ frowned, sitting up as well. "No, you're not walking. It's dark out, I'm not letting you do that." he said, and Leilani smiled to herself as JJ stood up.

"Well, what would you suggest? I'm not going to hijack the Twinkie and leave John B with a car." Leilani said while JJ offered her his hands, pulling her up gently.

"I'll drive you. I'm staying here tonight, anyway." JJ said, grabbing the Twinkie keys from his pocket and advancing towards the van, leaving Leilani with no choice but to follow him.

"Are you okay to drive? You're not drunk?" Leilani checked as she buckled herself into the run-down van, JJ turning the car on.

JJ nodded. "I never was. What was Topper saying to you before I got over there?" JJ asked, driving onto the road out of the Cut.

Leilani sighed. "He's my neighbor and his mom is friends with Rachel, which means he thinks he can just start randomly talking to me like we're best friends." she explained. Topper had been just as aggravating as Sarah for the year Leilani had lived in Figure Eight. They were part of the reason Leilani rarely spent her spare time at her house.

"He seems really comfortable with you." JJ continued, unsure if something was going on between the two of them.

The girl scoffed. "Please. He's so delusional he makes Rachel look sane," Leilani joked. "But thanks for jumping in. It meant a lot." JJ smiled at her words, nodding.

When he turned onto Leilani's quiet street she directed him to the house she lived at. He had only been there once with the Pogues to help move her surfboards when her and Kai first moved in. "I'll see you tomorrow?" JJ said, hoping that Leilani's previous offer still stood.

Leilani nodded, opening the door to the van. "Yeah, of course. Come over anytime and I'll drive us to the center." they performed the typical Pogue handshake before Leilani stepped out of the car, waving JJ goodbye. He didn't leave until she had unlocked the front door and shut it behind her.

Kai and Rachel were in the living room, and Scout barked when he heard the door open, rushing over to Leilani as she kicked her sandals off in the middle of the entryway. "Hey," Leilani greeted, dropping her bag to the floor and walking into the kitchen. "Generators came on?" she said, noticing the hum of the freezer and the intensity of the lights.

"Took them long enough to get them working." Rachel complained as Leilani bit into an apple.

She frowned at her step-mother's comment. "Hey, Dad. Remember during the last hurricane when we didn't have power for weeks and had to practically steal food from the grocery store every day because we had no place to put it?" Leilani said, and Kai sighed.

"Yes, I do. It's late, so why don't you go to bed before work in the morning." Kai suggested, and Leilani rolled her eyes, disposing of her apple core and calling for the Scout, the two of them retreating to her room.

Leilani practically fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow after she showered and changed out of her bikini and shorts, exhausted from the long day she had had. Scout curled up at her side and they slept all night until dawn, when they went surfing as usual.

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