underwater || outer banks- jj maybank

eight - upstairs

eight - upstairs

"Oh, Layla," JJ called, his tone nearly singing, his heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. He appeared in her doorway not a moment later.

Layla looked over at him, tossing her phone down on the bed. "Hey, JJ," Layla greeted, her voice almost saddened. She attempted to conceal it by plastering a small smile on her face at the sight of the boy.

His eyebrows came together in confusion; this wasn't the attitude he expected of his best friend. "What's wrong?" After the fun evening, they had shared the night previous, he wasn't sure why she was so down and out. 

Layla shook her head. "Where's everyone else?" She assumed the Saturday afternoon was similar to Friday. When Layla had woken up, JJ had been gone. She assumed he disappeared to work when she awoke at eight in the morning, and her suspicions were confirmed when he reappeared around five in the evening. 

"JB is working, Kie is also working, and Pope is being a dork somewhere," JJ rattled off. His tone turned slightly serious. "Now, seriously, what's up?" He wanted to address what was obviously heavily weighing on the girl; he racked his brain for what could've been under her skin, but nothing came to mind.

"It's really nothing, JJ." Layla just didn't want to talk about it. The day had been rough from the moment she woke up; it was the 19th of June. 

He knew that if he continued to press, it wouldn't force the girl to confess what was bothering her. JJ and Layla were similar that way—if they didn't want to speak of it, they weren't going to.

"I, uh, grabbed us some dinner from my job," JJ explained over to the girl. She was sad, and he couldn't do anything about it. It sort of pained him; he cared about this girl, and he couldn't ease her sadness. Honestly, Layla didn't know what would ease her sadness anyway.

 She smiled over at him. "Thanks, JJ." He nodded, glancing over at the girl who looked like she just needed a few minutes.

 "Just come down whenever, okay?" 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Hey, JJ?" Layla questioned from her seat on the porch next to the boy. Her and JJ both sat on the top step, their bodies inches apart. Her legs were bent and resting on the next step, while his were laying out along the next three steps. After they enjoyed the leftovers from JJ's place of employment, the pair had elected to watch the boats pass by on the small segment of water behind Layla's house. 

"What's up?" he questioned, glancing over at her. Her gaze was on his shoes, his heels touching the ground at the bottom of the steps.

She swallowed. "Do you have your Juul?" she questioned from beside the boy.

"Uh, yeah," he replied, sort of taken aback by her question. "I always have it." She knew this but still asked to confirm. Layla stuck her hand out in the direction of the boy, gesturing for him to pass it to her. JJ contemplated trying to convince the clearly upset girl next to him that marijuana wasn't the answer to her problems right now, but Layla needed a hit. She just needed a little bit of something to take her mind off of what was sitting on her chest.

JJ said nothing as he fished in his pocket for the device. He placed it into the hands of the girl. "Do you know how to use it?" he questioned, a sarcastic hint in his voice.

Layla rolled her eyes, closing her first around the item he had given her; her eye roll pleased him, this was the girl with an attitude he knew. "Just because I don't smoke usually doesn't mean I never have." As far as JJ was concerned, she didn't smoke. She had never done it around him, so he had always just sort of assumed she didn't.