Outer Banks ~ JJ Maybank

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I rolled over and rubbed my eyes as water dripped on me from the ceiling. "John B?" I called into the room. "John B?" "Yeah?" "Roof's leaking in my room." "Have you checked the damage outside?" His friend JJ asked from the sofa. "Not yet." John B said pushing open the screen door and stepping on to the porch.

I'm Gabriela Routledge, but my friends call me Gabbie. I live on the Outer Banks with my older brother, John B. We spend most of our days fishing in the marshes or hanging out with his friends; Kie, Pope, and JJ. We are Pogues, otherwise known as the people who work two jobs and are barley scraping by. John B and JJ have been best friends since the third grade and he spends most of his time at our place. His mom is gone and he has a pretty shitty dad. I don't mind having him around though. He is a really nice guy, I guess the world just dealt him a pretty shitty hand. Kie actually from the rich side of the island, but for some reason, she hangs out with us. John B and I live in a run down fishing shack our dad owned before he got lost at sea 9 months ago. Our dad was proclaimed dead a few months ago and he took it pretty hard. So hard in fact, that he refused to sign the papers. He is 10 months older than I am and seeing him like that really was upsetting.

So far this summer had been giving pretty well, fishing and drinking and whatnot. But a few days ago John B and I were called into the DCS office and basically got busted for being minors living without any sort of legal guardian. They threatened to put us in foster care if we didn't pass the examination the next day. Both lucky and unlucky for us, a giant storm blew through that night and they couldn't come for the inspection. But, the storm wasn't kind to us in other ways.

"Oh shit. This is a fucking nightmare." I said following John B outside. "Agatha! What the fuck did you do." JJ said kicking branches off of the porch. "This is gonna take for ever to clean up." "I know." "But, I bet we could get a killer amount of fish today. Fishing's always good after a storm."

After a short trip to pick up Pope and Kie, we were on our way out. "Do you guys wanna see a trick?" "No. Not this trick again." "Come on guys it'll work this time." JJ said grabbing a beer from the ice chest. "If you can do it, I'll give you five bucks." I said, knowing he couldn't do it. "Alright. And if I don't, I owe you five bucks?" "That's how it works." "Alright. You're on." "Why would you do that?" John B said, watching as JJ opened his beer. John B began to speed up the boat and JJ tilted back the beer. The wind began to pick up and the beer began to spill out of the bottle. I honestly don't think he got any in his mouth. It spilled all over us. I stared laughing while everyone else was complaining.

Suddenly, the boat hit something in the water and JJ flipped off of the front of the boat. "Holy shit!" I exclaimed, quickly taking off my shirt and shorts and jumping in the water. he came back up to the surface and everyone flooded him with questions. "I think my heels touched the back of my head." He groaned. "I'm fine though. I saved the beer." He said holding up the empty bottle. "Oh great." Everyone on the boat said, collectively rolling their eyes at him. "I believe you owe me 5 bucks." I said as everyone jumped off the boat and into the water to see what we had hit. "I didn't spill that much." "I don't think you drank that much." "Okay, well, I don't have 5 bucks on me right now so may I pay you another way?" "Your regular payment method I suppose?" "Yes." "Okay. I'll accept it." "Dock at 8?" "Of course." I said sinking into the water to see what we had hit.

"So, today was quite a day." John B said, walking into the kitchen. "Yes. It was." I said taking my hot ramen out of the microwave. "Maybe you should consider something else besides ramen today?" "Can't, don't have time. I have to meet JJ at 8." "Why are you meeting JJ at 8?" "He has my payment." "Your what?" "I bet him 5 bucks he couldn't do the beer thing, knowing he couldn't. He didn't have 5 bucks on him so he is going to pay me with something else." "How is he paying you?" "His normal payment method." "Gabbie, you gotta understand how shady this sounds." "Right. He is giving me weed instead of money." "Weed!" "Yeah." He gave me a condescending look. "Come on John B, what does it matter." "You are like 15." "I turned 16 like 6 months ago. Besides, JJ has been smoking weed since the 5th grade." "If you are comparing your life choices to JJ's, I think you have bigger problems." "You're right. But, as usual, I am not going to listen and go meet JJ after I finish my ramen."

I walked out back and to the end of our dock and waited for the sound of JJ's bike. 8 to him means between 8:05 and 8:15. He was never the punctual one. I heard the sound of his motor turning off and I sat up and took my feet out of the water. "Delivery for Miss Routledge." "Finally!" I said as he sat down and handed me two joints. "Care for a light?" "Yes please." I said holding one joint in my lips as he pulled out a lighter and lit the end. He also pulled out one and lit it. "To dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies." He said taping his joint against mine and taking a hit from his, blowing the smoke in my face. I laughed and blew the smoke from mine at him.

Are JJ and I a thing? In short, no.  But it's much deeper than that. There has always been a little something between us but it never really a thing. Just casual play flirting and jokes. John B hates it though. So much so that he has forbade me from ever dating JJ. I don't know why he made up that rule, maybe bro code or some stupid dude shit like that. But he doesn't have to worry. I would never even think about really dating JJ, let alone act upon said ideas. At least I think so. Besides, the island rules are no Pogue on Pogue macking. So, we are covered. John B says no, and island rules say no. And while I'm a pretty good rule breaker, why would I want to break those.