𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙧𝙪𝙜, 𝙟𝙟 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙠
all rights for the story of outer banks go to the show, with the exception of Nova and any other...
╔────── ･ ｡ﾟ*.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.──────╗ CHAPTER THREE OPEN SEASON [HIGH HIGHS]
╚────── ･ ｡ﾟ*.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.──────╝
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She smiled at his comment, relishing in the only positive statement in a while. JJ always found a way to make a single second feel like it lasted forever. He made life feel a little more meaningful and she wished she could find a way to thank him.
Nova and JJ had always gotten along, he was her best friend first, not John B's.
She remembers meeting him in the second grade at recess. They were playing tag that day and she was being chased by Topper, God she remembers he just wouldn't give up. So right when Topper was about to tag her, JJ ran and stood in front of her and let him tap him instead. She never knew why, they'd never even talked before. But ever since that day JJ acted the exact same. He was possessive and protective and hated the thought of her getting hurt. She found it funny then, but her heart swells when she thinks about it now.
"Hi Jay," she greeted him sweetly, opening the door to their van and jumping in the back.
"Woah woah Nov, if I'm driving you you're getting up front." He announced, looking back at the girl, watching as she had already made herself comfortable in the back.
"Why JJ? So you can stare at me instead of the road?" She joked, climbing into the passenger seat.
"Watch your mouth Novie." He stated, gripping the gear shift as he put the car in reverse. Nova watched in awe as he glanced out the back window, backing the van out of the driveway.
He didn't miss her staring, smirking to himself while he shot her a playful wink. Nova flinched slightly, her daze broken by his action. She grew red while he smirked at her.
Nova never blushed.
"Seatbelt angel." He told her, driving the car away as he averted his eyes back to the road.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Nova almost immediately put her seatbelt on. She was obeying his actions, odd.
"Since when did you listen to me Nova?" He asked, his tone amused and curious.
She sighed, adjusting her seat as someone much larger than her had probably sat in it previously, "Just a weird day I guess. Do you have one pre-rolled?" She asked, glancing to the back of the van.
"Glove box angel," He answered with a small chuckle, "Are you sure you should be high right now though? You were supposed to spend the night at Prince Charmings, what happened?"
JJ never missed a beat when it came to Nova. The others used to joke that he could read her mind, always announcing her feelings before she even knew she was feeling them.
"You know the little kook princess right?" She asked JJ as she pulled out the joint he had previously rolled.
"Oh miss Cameron you mean," he smirked, looking over at her, his face dropped when he saw what was in her hands.
"That's a spliff put it back" He spoke sternly, his tone firm.
She frowned, glancing at the joint more intensely, "Oh I guess it is, I don't care though" She said matter-of-factly, grabbing the lighter from the glove box.
"Nova put it back." He repeated, louder this time to let her know that he wasn't kidding.
She groaned, thinking to herself about putting up a fight, knowing that he would eventually cave if he tried hard enough.
Being completely honest, she had the boy wrapped around her finger.
"JJ please, it's been a rough day," She begged, giving him her puppy dog eyes in hopes to break something inside of him.
He sighed to himself, looking deep in thought as he began to speak, "Explain, then maybe."
She felt herself melt, shrinking into the seat, looking so small compared to his large frame next to her.
"Do I have to?" She asked.
"Up to you angel, but you're not smoking unless you tell me what happened. I wanna know whose ass I have to beat tonight." He announced, practically feeling the eye roll from the girl next to her.
She glared at him, taking a deep breath before explaining the events that went down at the Monroes. She felt JJ tense while she explained, seeing his eyes grow wide and his knuckles turn white around the steering wheel.
JJ felt angry, his protective instincts appearing the second she breathed out the word cheat. Her voice sounded small, a rare but horrifying thing to happen to Nova Routledge. JJ knew she didn't cry much anymore, he was aware she wanted to but held back. He never knew why, he assumed she just wanted to be strong for someone, pushing the feelings down with alcohol and drugs.
He knew one day she would break, shatter in front of them, releasing everything all at once. He also knew that he would be there to put her back together, he knew life was hard, he knew that sometimes she just needed someone to tell her that they cared. JJ prayed that she knew he loved her, too afraid to utter the words out loud in any way other than platonic.
He was scared of her sometimes, scared of the way she used to be so happy, so innocent and cheery. He was scared because it all changed so quickly, he loved her just the same but he knew that this was dangerous. He wished she would have let herself feel, let herself be sad, but it wasn't something he planned on saying.
He continued to go through the motions of life with the girl. Praying that when she shattered, it wasn't so bad that he couldn't put her back together.
"So yeah, that about covers it." She finished, her voice tiny and rough. Coated with untouched sadness.
"I'll kill him," He joked. Except he wasn't really joking, if she said the word, he would.
"I know you would JJ." She declared, grabbing his arm from the wheel and pulling it towards her.
He laid his hand on her thigh, smiling as she cradled his bicep in her arms, resting her cheek against his warm, tanned, skin.
"Are you okay Nova?" He asked her, looking over at her, rubbing his thumb across her thigh reassuringly.
"I've had worse happen, I'll be fine" She answered honestly, nuzzling her face into his arm, smiling a smile that lit up his eyes.
He hated what she had just said, because he knew it was true.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
No one reads this book yet so writing authors notes is genuinely awkward bc i know that no one will see it but like hope u enjoyed ig
