BABYDOLL // JJ Outer Banks

twenty-two

"i'm so glad they're still doing this," kie chirped as she, hannah, jj and pope made their way through the kook infested lawn trying to find an open spot. "keep calm. carry on. back to OBX life, you know? aren't you glad i made you come?"

"ecstatic," pope grumbled.

"my couch was pretty comfy, i'll be honest."

hannah looked around at the rich white boys sporting khakis and vineyard vines, scrunching her nose in distaste. "i'm way too sober to be here, right now."

pope made sure kie was out of earshot before whispering to jj, "we're out of the green zone, man."

"dude, tranquilo, okay?"

hannah looked at him incredulously. "the fuck does that mean?"

pope didn't respond. "we're in the middle of kooklandia. this is the last place i wanted to be."

"well, you're here, so suck it up, buttercup," hannah snapped.

jj wrapped his arms around hannah and rested his chin on her shoulder. "sh-shh, calm down, babydoll." jj sat them down on the grass with hannah in his lap. "everything's gonna be fine."

"says the guy who isn't being chased by kooks," pope muttered.

"uh, hey guys?" kie said walking back over to the group, "just saw rafe, and he said, and i quote, 'tell your boy that we know what he did.' what is that?"

"um," jj stuttered, "where is he?"

"smooth," hannah mumbled under her breath.

"right there," kie pointed to rafe, topper, and kelce who were glaring at them.

hannah smacked jj's arm. "stop staring, idiot!"

"great, the whole death squad," pope exclaimed.

"just warning you, bro, if they corner me, i'm coming out swinging, okay? slicing and dicing. i'm on edge right now."

"yeah, yeah," pope said.

"if that doesn't work," jj held up his backpack, "i got this right here."

pope nodded. "so, we just gotta stay in the group. they can't get us in the group."

"like a school of fish."

hannah rolled her eyes. "exactly, jj."

"stay in the school. can't leave the school."

"i'm sorry, jj-" kie tried to speak, but was cut off by jj.

"stay in school."

"-please tell me that you did not bring a gun here." jj groaned. "jj, there are kids!"

"no!" jj denied. "kie, i didn't bring the gun. everything's fine, okay?"

"famous last words."

"wow, thank you. that's really convincing. i love that, jj," kie scoffed. "founding principle, you guys, no secrets amongst pogues. what is rafe talking about?"

pope just stared straight ahead. "kie, it might go down tonight."

"what does that mean, 'might go down tonight'? what did y'all do?"

jj ignored the girl. "deny, deny, deny," he whispered, so that only pope and hannah could hear.

"we're so fucked."

...

"jj," pope hissed, "gotta take a piss."

"hold it," jj grunted.

"i can't hold it. i drank too much soda."

"so, what?" hannah interjected. "you guys are gonna get jumped by topper the bottom and his gang of weinies because you need to take a leak? tough break."

"she's right. it's too exposed. they'll totally see us."

"i gotta go," pope turned to see the three kooks watching them. "they're blocking the bathrooms."

jj glanced around. "come here. i know where."

"i swear i'm friends with a bunch of morons," hannah muttered as pope and jj got up.

"hey," kie said, "where ya'll going?"

"we gotta wring it out," jj shrugged.

"beautifully put, jay. shakespeare worthy."

kie gave the two boys a confused look. "what, you gonna hold it for each other?"

hannah choked on her soda at kie's words, unable to hide her laughter, causing multiple people around them to shush her. "oh shush yourself, that was funny!"

kie shook her head as pope and jj walked away. "remind me why we're friends with them?"

"because we've invested too much time and it's too late to back out."

kie chuckled. "hey, i've been meaning to ask you something."

"hm?"

"you know what midsummers is?"

hannah scoffed. "who doesn't."

"well, i was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

an idea popped into the brunette's head, a mischievous grin creeping onto her face. "oh my gosh, kie, i'd love to!" hannah feigned excitement before plastering a defeated look, "wait, but what about no pogue-on-pogue macking?"

kie froze. she hadn't intended for hannah to take her invitation in the romantic sense. "uh, han, i'm sorry, i didn't mean it like-"

hannah burst out laughing, earning another shush from the people around them. "don't worry," hannah spoke in a hushed tone, "i know what you meant. i'd love to go to midsummers with you."

the smile on kie's face fell as she noticed topper, rafe, and kelce weren't in their seats anymore. "oh shit."

hannah's eyes widened when she saw jj's bag on the ground. "idiot," she mumbled, tucking the gun into her jean shorts and sprinting to where the boys had gone.

"take one more step, and i'll rip that prepubescent face off," hannah heard jj say as she ran behind the screen.

the next few seconds were a blur. hannah stood frozen, watching as pope head-butted topper, causing a fight to break out. when she finally managed to snap out of it, kelce was holding jj in place as rafe punched him.

"let go of him, topper, you facist asshole!" kie hit topper in the back with jj's bag.

"seems a bit unfair, don't ya' think?" hannah yelled as she swung her fist into the side of rafe's head, making the boy stumble over. "too pussy to take him on your own?" hannah mocked as she laid another hit into the boy's stomach, watching as he hunched over in pain. hannah's eyes were ablaze with anger as she lifted her knee between the kook's legs, dropping to the ground to continue her attacks.

behind her, jj had released himself from kelce's grip had already knocked him out while kie was crawling her way over towards the screen.

kie took one last look at the scene in front of her before flicking the lighter open and letting the flame envelope the screen.

"let's get out of here!" topper yelled, pulling a stumbling kelce and a beat-up rafe away.

hannah quickly jogged over to her friends to see the extent of the damage the kooks had done when she was swept into a tight hug.

"don't ever do that again," jj mumbled into the fabric of her shirt.

hannah laughed softly. "and let you have all the fun?"

jj pulled back, gripping her shoulders and examining her for any injuries. "i'm serious. if anything were to happen to you, i-i-"

"shh," hannah cupped his face, forcing his worry-filled eyes to meet hers. "i'm okay, i'm okay. and, jay, i can't just stand by and watch someone hurt you. you're the most important person in my life."

jj sniffled a little before pulling her back into his arms. she's okay. she's here and she's okay.