P4L | Outer Banks | JJ Maybank

Realization

That night, JJ had laid her down on the couch of the Chateau (no John B to be found) and she fell asleep within minutes.

The next morning, JJ had insisted on tending to her wounds.

"I don't think I can take one more hit," Cory joked, referring not only to this incident, but the type she dealt with back at home. JJ grimaced, not quite laughing at her joke as she had wanted him to. "It's funny, you can laugh." Then she frowned. "But if my dad finds out about this boat thing..."

JJ stopped what he was doing, putting a hand on her face. "I won't let anything happen to you." Her eyes looked so sweet and soft from this angle. JJ froze. Oh no.

"JJ?" she eventually asked and he realized he had been staring at her eyes for several long moments. He coughed, pulling away and returning to the cut he was bandaging.

Did Cory hallucinate that? She could've sworn something was different as he was looking in her eyes. But... no, it couldn't be.

JJ gently washed the dried blood off of her face, tending to the cut underneath. His hands we're starting to shake. She was staring at him. Those eyes... He could feel them watching his every move.

He put the ointment on the last cut, stepping back and averting his gaze.

"There you go," he mumbled.

"Thanks, JJ," she said, hopping down off the counter.

"Don't thank me," he dismissed, turning and opening the door.

"Why not?" Cory asked, following him through the doorway.

"I just–" JJ threw his arms up, pacing around the house with Cory following close behind.

"You do too much for me, Jay," Cory said.

"No, don't say that," he mumbled.

What was going on? He couldn't keep his thoughts straight. His mind was going left and right. The fight. Cory's eyes. Mister Katz. Her lips...

Oh fuck.

JJ stopped, a rambling Cory bumping straight into his back.

"Oof!" she grunted, stumbling back. "What, JJ?"

JJ turned to face her. "What do you mean, what?"

"What is wrong?" She asked. "Why do I feel like you're not really here?"

He gestured to the space between them. "I am right here–"

"I meant mentally," Cory snapped. "Of course you're physically here but I feel like you're somewhere else."

JJ averted his gaze. He wasn't good with confrontations.

"I'm here," he mumbled.

Cory rolled her eyes, taking a step closer. JJ felt every inch of distance between them.

"Take me with you," she said. JJ's eyes snapped back to hers. "Where are you right now?"

JJ's mouth fell open slightly and for a second he felt like admitting...

Admitting what? There was nothing for him to admit to her. That he liked her? Pshhhh...

...

Shit.

JJ gulped.

He liked her.

JJ not only thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world, from her head to her toes, but she was his best friend. Where was John B now, he thought. They hadn't seen him in days.

But here Cory was, taking punches like a champ just to get Rafe off of JJ.

Cory was his best friend. And for christs sake he liked her. Just looking at her standing before him, those eyes filled with the ocean itself, and her hair in perfect–albeit messy–golden ringlets, he was in awe.

She was currently looking at him like she was about to scold him for not putting away his laundry, but somehow that only enhanced the growing urge to grab her face and pull her in as close as he could.

But what would she say?

He couldn't... He couldn't be thinking these things. She would punch him in the face for just thinking these things.

And so, despite his wishes, JJ turned around.

He swivelled on his feet and began to walk, walking right out the front door of the Chateau.

JJ figured he had caught her way off guard because it took her a minute to follow him outside.

"What is your deal?" She was yelling. JJ wanted to ease her fears. To tell her that he wasn't mad at her. "What did I do?" But he couldn't.

"Nothing," JJ said, sitting down on a lawn chair.

"Nothing," she repeated, hands placed firmly on her hips.

"Look, Core," JJ started. "Could I just... have a minute?"

Cory stared at him blankly for a second. Then the look on her face changed from anger; her eyebrows slowly furrowed in confusion rather than aggression, the burn in her eyes softened to a light glow, and her mouth slowly dropped open.

"Please, Core?" He asked again.

Cory glanced away from the boy. She had no clue what was going on. But... it was the first time JJ was ever expressing his emotions in a rational way. Ever. Literally ever.

And so Cory pursed her lips and looked back into his sweet eyes.

"Sure, JJ," she said, starting back to the Chateau. "If you need me, I'll be inside."

"Thanks, doll," JJ called back before the door slammed shut.