what now? | outerbanks

• fifteen •

Kie

"Okay, for once, JJ, I'm not going to yell at you for speeding. So maybe just- I would take advantage of that." I snap at JJ while he's driving, throwing my arms out to the side. It's seven-thirty in the morning, and each of us is frantically hoping we didn't miss our coverage on the news. JJ, now, is swerving in and out of lanes, honking at cars, doing everything he can to get us to the Wreck as fast as possible.
We walk up the front ramp and into the restaurant, where we're met by my mom.
"Oh, wow. How nice of you guys to show up." She's sarcastic and bitchy, and I instantly roll my eyes at her words. "Don't you roll your eyes at me, young lady." JJ looks at me with raised eyebrows for confirmation, but I don't want him to intervene. Not yet.
"Mom, God, I'm not here to argue. Okay? We just need to see the news."
"Well, you guys can go sit outside, then. I don't want you all in here."
"No problem, Mrs. Carrera. Thank you," Sarah says with her ever-sweet smile, and I'm glad at least one of us is polite. The six of us relocate to the back patio at a table in front of a TV. It seems like we've made it just in time.
From the TV, "And we received news late last night of a successful treasure hunt, didn't we, Laura?" I'm painfully impatient, and it seems like the news anchors are stalling as much as possible.
"Get on with it." Cleo whines.
"We sure did; a group of six teenagers, five from right here in OBX and another picked up on their heist, has found the lost city of El Dorado." A group picture of us is pasted on the screen, and we all look around proudly at each other. At this point, everyone else in the restaurant has stopped their breakfast as well and is watching the screen just as attentively.
"Securing themselves over sixty-five million dollars in gold, the young pack has followed in their friend John B's father's footsteps. Many of the locals know that the friends have been on this hunt for years now, and it is finally coming to an end. We can't wait to follow up on this story throughout the next couple of months. Until next time, this was WUOB." It takes us a minute to process, but after a while, I can't help but laugh out loud at how crazy this all is. The others join me in laughter, and John B. opens his arms widely to all of us. I hug him first, the others joining quickly.
"Thank you, guys," John B. breathes out emotionally through our hug. His gratefulness is tangible. The few people around us clap and whistle, and I feel on top of the world.
    I'm brought back down by the sound of my mother's voice, again. "Kiara Jane, is this true?" The sound of my full name out of her voice makes me writhe. Of course she would like to know.
    "Yes, mom, it's true."
    "Oh, baby, I am so proud of you." She pulls me into a hug, and although I hug back for a second, I quickly remove myself. "Honey." She looks at me with expecting eyes, like I'm supposed to give her something in return. My cheeks get hot and my hands start to shake, and before I know what's happening, my hand has echoed off of her face. I slapped her.
    "Excuse me! I am your mother. This is not how a young lady acts!"
    "You were my mother. Were. But not anymore. Not after everything that's happened. I don't need you anymore. Goodbye." Jj grabs onto my shoulders and directs me out of the doors. I'm grinding my teeth and biting my lips feverishly, doing anything I can before I start crying.
"That was super badass, Kie. Hot as shit." He whispers closely in my ear so that only I can hear him. I push his face away, and it makes me laugh slightly.
"Shut up, JJ," I can't help but smile as I speak his name. He rebounds back to me and slides an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to his body. He looks me directly in my eyes, and it grounds me in a weird way. The blue of his eyes is intoxicating, like the first surf break of the summer. When you can tell just by the look of it that it's going to be a day for the books. He's everything perfect; everything good.
"You know, I'm really proud of you, Kie." He kisses me lightly and quickly on the forehead. I flash a closed-mouth smile at him in place of a thank you, and I know he understands. "But I can't help but be worried that I'm rubbing off on you," JJ says in a facade of worry.
"Oh no! Whatever will we do!?" I say, in a fake Australian accent that he claims to hate but I know he secretly loves. Now, I'm walking backwards down the ramp, arms wrapped completely around his body and faces fixed in front of one another. I can tell he's going to kiss me, and I excitedly plan on kissing him back, but I'm quickly broken out of my trance by a flirty whistle coming from behind me. I can tell it's Sarah. I turn to see that everyone else has made it to the Twinkie and is now watching us walk down the ramp.
"Get a room!" John B. yells.
"Oh, yeah. Like you're one to talk, married man," JJ quips back. I unhook my arms from his warm body and walk the rest of the way with eyes low and cheeks pink. When I make it to the Twinkie, Sarah slaps me on the butt, "Atta girl," she says giggly. I kick her in the shin, and Cleo laughs loudly.
    "Where to now?" John B. asks with anticipation.
    "Um, I think Cleo and I might go talk to some people about the build and work on getting some supplies. If you could drop us off at my pops' place, that would be great." Pope explains.
    "I say, y'all do that, and we go get a cold case from down the street. Good old Pogue day."
    "I think JJ's right. I could use a cold one." John B. adds, and I give him a high five. We're all on the same page, and it isn't long before we've got our feet kicked up on the dock with our beers. 

    "Where'd Sarah say she was going?" I ask John B. The four of us were sitting here talking when she whispered something to John B. and then got up and walked off. She's been gone for a good couple of minutes, and I'm sort of starting to get worried.
    "Oh, yeah. She said she was calling her doctor for an appointment. You know, gunshot."
    "Wait does it still hurt?" I'm confused. He's talking to me like I should understand, but I don't.
    "Yeah. Sorry, you were asleep when it got brought up. She's not really sure about it; she said it hurts sometimes even though it's had plenty of time to heal. She just wants to check with a real doctor.
    "I get it. Better safe than sorry."
    "Kie, that, like, totally doesn't go with any Pogue principle." JJ says half-drunkenly, and it makes me laugh. He's true; he's never gone for the safe option. I lay parallel to him, arms wrapped loosely around his waist. I pull my arms away slowly and say, "I'm gonna go check on her."
    "You're gonna leave me here with him?" John B. asks playfully, letting out a dramatic sigh.
    "Shut up, bird shit." JJ yells, throwing an empty PBR can slightly in John B's direction but ultimately missing. I sway my way down the dock purposefully, knowing JJ will be watching me.
"Sarah!" I call out, knowing that she couldn't have gone far; without the Chateau anymore, there's really nowhere for her to hide. As I walk further from the boys, I can see the white of her sneakers hanging from the phone side of the Twinkie. "Sarah, you good?" I can't see her yet, but I can almost make out what she's saying.
"Yes ma'am. Thank you so much again. You have a good day." She hears me coming from around the van as she hangs the phone up and looks in my direction. Her eyes look strangely wide, bigger than they usually are.
"Everything good?" I ask her wearily.
"Yeah, got an appointment in two days. It'll just be a check-up to make sure everything's healing like it should."
"Well, what do you think?"
"I'm sure it's- I'm sure it's fine." Her voice cracks, revealing something she's not saying. I can tell something is off; I just can't tell what it is. I open my mouth to ask her if she's lying to me, but I don't want to come off too harsh, so I close it quickly. Instead, I furrow my eyebrows at her. Her brown eyes lock into mine, and slowly, they turn red and gloss over.
"Sarah?" The girl bites her lip and tries to hold in her emotions, but when I notice, I quickly pull her into a hug. She squeezes me tightly and sobs loudly into my shoulder, teardrops staining my sleeve. "Okay, what's going on?"
    The girl is basically choking on her own tears, and she's obviously struggling to get any words out. When she finally does, I can barely understand her.
    "I'm- I'm so scared." She cries harder, if that's even possible.
    "Scared? About what?"
    "I want to have babies." Her words take me back, but I try not to make too harsh of a face; I've been known to be a little too expressive at times. She moves herself off of my shoulder and holds her face in her hands, using her jacket sleeves to dry her face slightly.
    "Sarah, you have plenty of time. Why are you so worried?"
"I'm scared that when I got shot, something could have gotten messed up. What if I can't give John B. what he wants? What if he stops loving me?"
"Oh, Sarah, he will never stop loving you. Have you seen how he looks at you?" I turn her body so that it's completely facing mine, and then I grab both of her hands gently. "Look at me. Tomorrow, we'll go to the doctor. They'll either tell us that there is nothing wrong or that there is something wrong, but, Sarah, either way, everything will work out. It always does." Her lips pout, and she runs her hands underneath her eyes again before pulling me back into a hug.
"Thank you, Kie." I rub her back gently, swaying side to side as we hug. I'm thankful to John B. for bringing us back together; this friendship is something I will cherish forever.
"Okay, I would love to keep hugging you, but we should probably go make sure those idiots aren't killing each other." Shouts and laughter erupt from down the dock, accompanied by loud hitting sounds. The two of us hold hands as we walk towards them, and we stand there waiting for them to notice us. Sarah clears her voice.
"Oh, hey ladies." JJ salutes. "Didn't see 'ya there." I hit him playfully upside the head, but turn around quickly when I hear a boat rudder in the distance.
"Shit. Bet it's Shoupe. Probably coming to kill us all." John B. chuckles a little, but it's obvious that he is a little scared.
"John B. do not joke like that." Sarah scolds, slapping his knee. At this point, we're all ducking behind the taller portion of the dock. As the boat gets closer, all of my fears wash away, and I stand up happily.
"Pope! We thought you were coming to nab us. Jesus."
"Nope, no nabbing here." Cleo jumps off of the boat and onto the dock, meticulously tying the boat off. She shakes her finger at me while she talks. "But we got us some supplies and phone numbers."
"Operation Surf Shop is a-go."