Devotion | Outer Banks

12: The Movie

"I'm so glad they're still doing this." Kie says, linking her arm in mine as the four of us walk out onto the lawn. "Keep calm, carry on. Back to OBX life. You know? Aren't you guys glad I made you come?" She turns to the boys who are dragging their feet behind us.

"Ecstatic." Pope clears his throat.

"My couch was pretty comfy, I'll be honest." JJ comments. The four of us stop to set out our blankets and lawn chairs.

"Yeah, but did your couch have this?" I walk over to JJ, grabbing his face and giving him a kiss.

"You got me there." He leans down again as I smile into the kiss this time.

"Could you two get a room?" Pope interrupts.

"Don't be jealous, bro." JJ jokes.

"We're out of the green zone, man." Pope's voice sounds panicked as he changes the subject.

"Dude, tranquilo, okay?" JJ reminds him.

"We're in the middle of Kooklandia. This is the last place I wanted to be." Pope whines, taking his backpack off. I walk over to help Kie spread the blanket out.

"Shut up, Pope." JJ replies.

"Hey, we're gonna go grab some drinks, okay?" Kie turns to the boys who simply nod in response. The girl pulls my arm towards the concession stand where we wait in line. "So, I see you and JJ are doing well." The girl chuckles, starting conversation.

"Yeah." I smile, looking back at the boy. "How are you and John B?" I turn the conversation on her.

"Can I get two Pepsis, please?" Kie orders from the guy at the counter, handing him some money before turning back to me. "I, uh, sort of friend-zoned him." She answers. Before I can respond, Rafe approaches us.

"Hey, Jules. Kie. What's up, ladies?" Rafe greets. I roll my eyes and look in the other direction. "How are you?" Rafe is directly next to me now as he puts a hand on my shoulder.

"We're fine." I look at him, my face remaining expressionless.

"Good, good. Um..." He shoves his hands in his pockets as he gets in my face, "tell your boy that we know what he did."

"Sorry, what boy are you talking about?" Kie speaks up from behind me.

"Oh, he'll know." Rafe answers Kie, though his eyes remain glued to mine.

Kie grabs the Pepsis off the counter, pulling me away from Rafe as I snap out of whatever weird eye contact thing we had going.

"Bye." Rafe mutters, a smirk growing on his face.

"Douche." Kie responds.

"Who the hell does he think he is?" I scoff, turning back to her.

"We just ran into Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'Tell your boy that we know what he did.'" Kie says to JJ and Pope, handing them the drinks. "What is that?"

"Um, where is he?" JJ asks, the two boys starting to look on edge.

"Right there." I look behind JJ where Rafe, Topper, and Kelce stand. The three are staring at our group.

Pope and JJ turn their heads around quickly to look back at them. Rafe's eyes rake up and down my body as he licks his lips and I lean down towards JJ, pulling his face back towards me as I kiss him roughly. The boy pulls me onto his lap, oblivious to the fact that Rafe is watching the two of us.

When we break apart from the kiss, I send Rafe a smile over JJ's shoulder. The boy clenches his jaw, his eyes darting away from mine quickly.

"Great, the whole death squad." Pope comments, "Ah!" He yells when JJ grabs his head and turns it back around.