𝓔𝓶𝓸𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵 | Outer Banks | JJ & Kiara

Fuck Sleep

JJ Maybank

I'm zoning out once again, drifting to a soothing, peaceful reality. I feel my shoulders relaxing as I exhale, leaning my back on the backrest of John B's old sofa-bed. Kiara lays by my side, her head weighs heavily on my tights. She carefully touches the healed cut above my right knee with her fingertips, while complaining about high temperatures at night letting her dizzy.

"Are you sleeping?" I check up on her, a while after her grumbling speech on how North Carolina's extremely warm weather harms her health.

"No." She answers me, shifting her head trying out for a more comfortable position. "Are you?" I just asked her something. Damn, she should quit smoking weed for her own good.

"Fuck sleep. I'll never sleep again." I say, not minding her incredibly dumb question. I take one of her poorly braided hair strands between my fingertips, undoing it. Kiara unsuccessfully fights against a yawn. "I'll take you home. C'mon."

I abruptly jolt her body to force her getting off my legs. Kiara shifts her heavy head to the top of my belly, closing her eyes while facing the wood ceiling of the Chateau.

"I don't want to." She whines. "Can I stay here with you?"

"Don't be stupid." I mutter, closing my eyes as well. "You have to go home."

"I will. In the morning."

"Whatever." She snorts, sounding too exhausted to properly chuckle.

"Can I ask you something?" I calmly open my eyes, catching her gaze towards me. I mutter a No under my breath, knowing she's going to ask it anyway. "Why are you living here?"

"I can smoke weed everyday." I lie.

"JJ." Kiara lifts her body from the uncomfortable mattress, sitting on her heels. Her dark brown eyes watch me attentively, trying to take off more information from me. "What happened?"

"He kicked me out. Literally." I say, instantly regretting telling her the truth when I see a gloomy look on her face. I shift my body, uncomfortable.

"Just like that? Why? Has anyone seen it?" I catch sight of her voice cracking while elaborating me concerned questions.

"Well, I stole his boat." I reply, trying to humour her. Kiara can't even assimilate my playful comment, as she's thinking to herself.

"JJ." Her left hand grabs my wrist. She's struggling to comfort me, while being too afraid of crossing any boundaries by holding my hand. "He can't do that. He can kick you out, you're his son." A lonely tear escapes from her eyes, falling in my hand.

"What do you want me to do? Tell the police?!" I ask, moving my arm away from her. I won't call the police on my own family. "I don't know how things work for the Kooks, but I'm not a snitch. And I don't trust the police, either."

"God, JJ! It's not about being a snitch." Now Kie moves away from me, shaking her arms above her head. Her shoulders are too shrugged, giving away that she's anxious right now.

She's nervously walking in circles as I light a candle near John's sofa-bed. I can't see shit and we're out of electricity.

"So they can send me to an orphanage?! No way." I say. Kiara sits next to me. Her eyes look empty and I know she's carefully meditating on what to say next.

"You can stay with someone until you turn eighteen!" I sarcastically chuckle at her proposition.

"Who, Kie? Who would want to stay with me?!"

"I would! You can stay with me!" We both sit in silence. Kiara waits nervously for my reaction to her dumb proposal.

"No way. Don't be stupid." I try to get up, but she blocks me. "Your parents won't even let me visit you, Kie. Why would you think they'd adopt me?" I shout, sarcastically.

"What do you mean?" She frowns, with her head slightly leaning to the side. "You went to my house and they didn't let you in?"

"Uh, no, I mean..." She abruptly stands up. "I was saying that they wouldn't let me in if I ever tried to visit you." I lie.

"You're lying." She sighs, frustrated. "I thought you were purposefully ignoring me. But they didn't let you see me."

"Well, yeah. But then I actually decided to ignore you when you'd try to reach me. So... It's not a big deal."

"I know you were just trying to avoid this." She says, resting her small hands on her hips. "You made me think you didn't give a shit about me so I wouldn't find out that they were being assholes to you!"

"What makes you think I'm that altruistic?" I ask. Kiara sits besides me, biting her lower lip.

"Because I know you. You do dumb shit like this all the time." Ouch.

"Don't go off on them. They were just trying to protect you, Kie. They're good parents."

"They're great parents, JJ. But they're not good judging people, and they certainly misjudged you." I can help but crack up a smile.

That was an honourable accomplishment.

After all, it's not exactly easy to have Kiara saying nice things about me, since I fuck up with everything all the time.

"Maybe..." I snort. "Maybe they were just worried that you and I would be making out in your bedroom." Kiara rolls her eyes, barely holding back a smile.

"Why do they let Pope be in my bedroom, then?"

Because they know he won't do what I would do.

Not that I would do anything. Again, I don't step on anyone's toes for a girl. Besides, we're talking about Kiara. She's the least feminine woman I know, she's practically one of the guys now.

A brother, with an amazing body and a very sexy wild hair.

"Pope is a good guy."

"You're right. He is." She bumps her head, amused by the mention of him. Boy, she's in love. "Besides, my parents know you used to hit on me all the time. They're wary about your intentions."

"Yeah, let's forget about that." I awkwardly ask. "Well, to be fair, you would totally flirt back."

"I would not!"

"Totally would." She smacks my head with her hand, and we both lay down side by side in John B's squeaky sofa-bed, sharing laughs and memories of the old times.

•••

So, this chapter was shorter than the first one. I didn't want to put much information on it, but I hope you enjoyed the content.
Thanks for reading!