In which a Kook gets in the middle of a Pogue mess.
ADVENTURE, ROMANCE, SACRIFICE, FRIENDSHIP.
{slowburn}
jj maybank x female oc
(Season 1 - Season 4)
Outer Banks - JJ Maybank fanfiction. I don't own anything related to Outer Banks. I only own my ch...
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Thunder rumbled overhead like a warning shot from the sky, low and heavy, rattling through the ship's hull. Outside, the wind howled without mercy, carving swells that smacked against the vessel with angry rhythm. The night had swallowed the horizon whole—no moon, no stars, just a blanket of black stretching in every direction. It was the kind of darkness that made people feel small.
They were alone in every sense of the word.
Avery stood near the helm, the dull red lights of the cabin flickering above her as John B and Pope huddled over a navigation monitor, their voices low and tense. The air was thick with pressure—of the storm outside and the weight of decisions that had to be made. Rain lashed the windows in sheets, and every creak of the ship made her stomach twist tighter.
She didn't speak. Didn't pretend to have answers. Avery didn't know the first thing about captaining a boat—much less during a storm like this—and every part of her was already on edge.
"Okay, something's wrong with the engine," Pope muttered, leaning back from the console.
The words were like a punch to the chest. Avery's breath hitched, dread blooming fast in her ribs. She pressed her lips together to stop them from trembling. Of course the engine's down, she thought bitterly, because tonight just keeps getting worse.
For a moment, she considered that maybe she never should've left the lower deck. The storm was terrifying, but at least it didn't cut her as deeply as what she'd seen below—JJ barely upright, practically lost inside himself, his breath smelling like liquor, his eyes hollow. She couldn't take being near him like that. She needed space from the heartbreak, and instead, she'd run straight into fear.
"I gotta check downstairs," Pope said, already heading for the steps. "You good here?"
"Go," John B answered, his voice taut but focused.
Avery hesitated, glancing from one to the other. "Maybe I should go too," she offered. She wasn't useful up here, and at the very least, she could be with Sarah and the girls. John B nodded once, distracted, and that was all she needed to start down.
The ship groaned beneath her feet as she made her way to the lower level. But before she could even reach the next landing, alarms blared—a jarring, metallic wail that set her teeth on edge. All the lights flickered once... and died. Darkness surged in.
Her heart hammered. The only illumination now came in slivers—lightning flashes outside the portholes, brief and stuttering. The entire ship was without power.
Avery finally pushed through the door to the common room, soaked to the skin and breathless, her hair sticking to her face. Water clung to her clothes in heavy patches, and her arms trembled as she leaned against the nearest wall. Sarah, Cleo, Kie, and Pope were already there, gripping whatever furniture they could to stay upright. JJ was slumped on a mattress in the corner, arms lazily hooked around the frame to keep from being tossed by the storm.
