Remember When {JJ Maybank}

1

Magnolia Green sat against the side of a house that was currently being constructed on. Tilting her head up, she saw one of her best friends John B on the roof, balancing on one leg with a beer in his hand.

“That’s what, a three- story fall to the deck? And onto Maggie? I give you both about a one-in-three chance of survival.” Pope called out from her side, looking up at the boy. “Should I do it?” 

“Yeah do it, put me out of my misery.” Maggie said before taking a swig of her beer.

“They’re gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers.” Kiara walked out of the empty structure, disgust written on her face. “This used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about the turtles, I guess?” 

“Kie, we all know out of all of us JJ can’t have cold towels.” Maggie grinned at the blond headed boy who raised his beer in the air, sending a wink in her direction.

“Can you please not kill yourself?” 

“Don’t spill that beer. I’m not giving you another one.” JJ shouted to John B, immediately after that the boy lost his balance, the can falling from his hand and down onto Maggie's leg. She pulled her leg up to her chest, rubbing the sore spot, “Shit JB.” "Sorry Mags!" He called down from the height above her.

“Hey uh, security’s here, let’s wrap it up.” Pope called out, leaning over the balcony. Maggie stood up from her spot as she wiped the dirt off her butt. JJ got down from his spot as he held onto her hand, pulling her through the house.

The group of friends laughed and giggled with each other as they ran through the abandoned rooms. JJ and Maggie held on tightly to each other as they dodged one of the security guards, Maggie slipping and nearly falling. “You’re not getting caught today Green.” JJ called out, pulling her down to avoid another security guard reaching for her.

JJ, Maggie, and Pope easily hopped over the fence and ran straight into John B’s van. Maggie laughed with her friends as they watched the guard, Gary, run after them.

“You’re gonna give him a heart attack.” Kie called out to John B who put more pressure on the gas pedal. JJ hung  half his body out the open door with a beer in his hand, “You’re so close! You can do it. There you go.” He teased the man before throwing the can up in the air for him.

“JJ they don’t pay him enough to chase us, leave him be.” Maggie chuckled, pulling the boy back inside the van.

“The Outer Banks, Paradise on Earth. It’s the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses. Two tribes, one island. First, there's the Figure Eight, the rich side of the island. Home of the Kooks. Then there's the south side, or the cut. Home of the working class who make a living busing tables, washing yachts, running charters. Natural habitat of the Pogues. That’s us. Pogues, pogies, the throwaway fish. Lowest member of the food chain. The downside of Pogue life is we’re ignored and neglected. But the upside of Pogue life? We’re ignored and neglected, which means we do whatever we want, whenever we want.”

The group of friends piled themselves onto the HMS Pogue boat. Maggie laid herself down next to John B as she watched the sky change colors due to the sunset. JJ looked at the two before throwing himself on top of them, only to be joined by Kie and Pope, making it one big pile.

Everyone stripped themselves down into their bathing suits. Maggie straddled the ledge of the boat with JJ who happily held out his THC juul for her to hit. She leaned over and took a hit of his device, clearly seeing JJ scan her chest with his eyes. Maggie exhaled and blew the smoke into his face, laughing as he choked on the smoke, “my eyes are up here prince charming.” 

“JJ Maybank. He’s been one of my best friends since I moved to this island back when I was 9. He’s about as local as they come. Biggest flirt there is, he's attractive and he knows he is. Latest in a long line of fishing, drinking, smuggling, vendetta-holding salt-lifers who made their living off the water. Best surfer John B and I know, but don’t tell him that. It’ll only boost his ego even more. Mild kleptomaniac and future tax cheat.”

Kie passed Maggie a beer, clinking their bottles together. Maggie never new how to braid hair since her mother never taught her, so Kie was always one to offer. Plus she just liked playing with her friends hair. Kie sat against the ledge, Maggie on the ground, placing herself in front of her legs. Kie got to work using her fingers to brush her hair back. Slowly but surely, braiding Maggie's hair into a Dutch braid.

“Then we have Kiara, or Kie as we call her. When she’s not saving the turtles or listening to Marley, or getting a dolphin tattoo, she hangs out with us. We don’t really know why, though. She’s a rich kid, fun fact. Foot in both worlds. Her family owns The Wreck, this Outer Banks institution. Total cash cow with the tourists. We honestly don’t know how her parents feel about us. Everybody had a thing for her, hell including me. There was this one time where Kie and I got so drunk we ended up kissing. That was a story the boys have never let us forget.”

Pope joined Maggie on the floor with a small bag of M&Ms in his hands. He extended his hand towards her, a portion of the candy in his hand.

Instead of taking it like a normal person, she opened her mouth and waited for him to throw them in her mouth. Pope threw the candy towards her, going anywhere that wasn't her mouth. "Jesus, Pope your aim sucks." Kie muttered.

“And then we have Pope, the brains of any and all operations. Finalist for the Lucas T. Vanderhorst Merit Scholarship. Little bit of a weirdo but we all love the kid to death. His father is this legendary character named Heyward. Anything you wanted on the island, Heyward could get it for you. None of us know if Heyward knew what to make of his oddball son, but it didn’t matter. He was a pogue, just like the rest of us.”

"Throw one into her top!" John B called out from behind the wheel of the boat. Maggie rolled her eyes, "Haha very funny John B." Grabbing  an M&M she threw it from her spot. He leaned forward and easily caught it in his mouth. "Show off." She grumbled, standing up from her spot and walking behind him. She untied the bandana that was around his neck before tying it to hers.

“And finally we have the leader of it all, John B. He practically took me under his wing when I first moved here, in fact he was the one who introduced me to JJ.  John B is one of the most carefree yet loving guys I know. He could fight someone if he had to but he had a complete soft spot for his friends. Ever since his dad disappeared 9 months ago, he just gets thrown off in the little things. I told him I went through the same thing when my father went missing back when I lived in New York. It really does mess with your head, but this kid is one of the strongest fighters I know.”

“So that’s my crew, and I would do anything for them.”