𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡, obx . discontinued

𝟏𝟗 ;; 𝐀 𝐏𝐔𝐒𝐇.

"sarah?" nalani leaned against the railing of john b's dock, the wind blowing through her hair. "i think- y'know what? never mind." she stumbled over her words, cracking her knuckles.

"c'mon, don't be like that." she nudged her slightly, the puffy eyes from her tears creasing as she smiled.

nalani sighed heavily, her stomach twisting in a knot. "i think i like oscar." she furrowed her eyebrows, staring at the water. "like, my stomach goes all funny when i'm with him and i don't wanna be away from him ever."

"hm." sarah giggled, looking down at her little sister. "sounds like you do. you should tell him."

"what?" she scoffed in response, rolling her eyes as she looked away from sarah. "i could never do that, it's embarrassing."

"no, it's not!" sarah laughed in response, turning her body completely around to face her little sister. "imagine in fifty years, you're sat in a house with a greasy husband who sits on his recliner, watching the football while drinking beer."

"so...george cooper?" nalani furrowed her eyebrows.

"sure." she shrugged her shoulders before shaking her head, "that's beside the point, nala! imagine sitting next to him and regretting that you didn't tell oscar."

"but what if he doesn't like me back!" nalani huffed loudly, slamming her hands down by her side. "i would literally die if that happened to me, i'm deadly serious."

"he does." sarah reassured her, "and even if he didn't, that would be his loss."

nalani nodded her head, turning back around to face the ocean. she listened to the sound of the waves hitting the wooden dock while thinking about what sarah had said, trying to ignore the tightening feeling in her chest.

she just needed to be confident, which was hard because that was something she ever hardly was. she just needed a push.

-

oscar had gone with pope to find out if heyward had anything to do with the key, so nalani decided to tag along with sarah to see if they could meet up with wheezie.

she was excited to talk to her in a place that wasn't always full of horrible memories and listening parents. nalani was excited for sarah, too, because she hadn't seen wheezie in nearly two months. apparently, they had spoken on the phone but that's nothing like the real thing.

"wheezie?" sarah called out onto the dock, looking around for any sign of their sister. "c'mon, wheeze."

"she probably wasn't able to get past ward." nalani looked around the corner of the hut, spotting a car sitting in the parking lot. "he's been really strict with her lately. not with me, though, because i don't think he cares."

a couple seconds later, rafe appeared from behind one of the boats, staring back at the two girls. nalani's stomach dropped instantly, her excitement to see her twin sister no longer there. maybe, if this was three months ago, she'd be excited to see rafe. that hurt, too.

"nah, not wheezie." he chuckled lowly to himself.

sarah stepped back, placing a hand on nalani's shoulder. "where the hell is wheezie?"

rafe smirked, approaching them quickly. "don't worry about it." he jumped over the edge of a boat, "listen, it's all good...i-i- i just, i just needed to talk to you, like, a little bit. is that okay?"

"don't come near us." sarah said, her tone firmer than ever before.

nalani looked up at rafe, her eyes glossing over with tears as she stood behind her big sister. every time she looked at him, it felt like her insides were being turned into scrambled egg. she just wanted everything to be normal again.