𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡, obx . discontinued

𝟐𝟐 ;; 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒.

"Wheeze?" Sarah called out throughout the house, "Nala?" She shouted.

Nalani jumped off the couch, quickly heading around the corner to find Sarah. She immediately grabbed her hand, her eyes serious. "I need to show you something, quickly."

"What?" She asked, her voice full of confusion.

Nalani led her all the way upstairs, through the winding hallways, until they eventually reached the room-the island room. The wallpaper was ripped off and thrown all over the floor, revealing the painted walls underneath. Nalani had no idea what they meant, just that Limbery was interested in them, so it must've been something to do with the gold.

"Limbery came in here last night and tore it all up." She explained to Sarah, who was standing still with a bamboozled look on her face. "They told me to go up to my room and closed the door so I couldn't do anything, but if it has something to do with Limbery then it has something to do with us."

"Oh my God," Sarah held her hand over her mouth. "What do we do?"

"Rose took my phone because I wasn't home last night or something, which is stupid because I was, just not when she wanted to." Nalani rambled, her voice speeding up as she droned on. "So, you should message John B and tell him we might have something."

"Nala, no." She shook her head. "We broke up, you know that, right?"

"Please." Nalani sighed loudly, desperation shining in her voice. "Just do it for me. You don't even have to speak to him, just call him and I'll talk to him. Please, this might help us find the cross and then things can go back to normal."

Sarah pursed her lips into a thin line, looking down at her baby sister's face. She just couldn't stand to look at her, the disappointment, the sadness as she looked deep into her eyes. "Fine."

- 🌊 -

After a long bike ride, Sarah and Nalani finally reached the chateau. Nalani's head was racing a hundred different thoughts at the same moment as they leaned their bikes up against the Twinkie, walking towards the sounds of laughter. She was nervous. She hadn't spoken to Oscar yet, and she didn't even know if he was still going to talk to her, and she hadn't told anybody. Not Sarah, not John B.

"Well, hello, princesses," JJ said as they entered the porch. Nalani eyes scanned for Oscar, but he wasn't sitting with the rest of them.

John B clocked it almost immediately. "He's inside, you can go in. Sarah, shouldn't you be on figure eight taking polo lessons?"

"Yeah, in a second." She replied, shooting a glare at him, inadvertently telling him to shut up. "We actually have something to contribute to your gold hunt, so if you could please stop bickering like children for one damn second." Nalani turned to Pope, "I think I found the island room."

"What?"

"Where is it?"

Nalani spotted Oscar through the window and decided to go and talk to him, leaving Sarah to talk to the others. She slowly walked into the living room, closing the door behind her, and smiling softly at him. "Hi."

"Hi." He said back, playing with an empty can of root beer in his hand.

"You good?"

"Mhm."

She stood there in silence for a moment, contemplating whether it was awkward because of last night, or if he never wanted to speak to her again. "We might've found the island room. If we have, it's in Tannyhill."

"You're kidding." Oscar chuckled breathlessly, crunching down on the can in his hand. "We've been wondering where it was and you've been sleeping within ten feet of it?"