different state of mind <<< outer banks

02. cut the bullshit, maybank

Somehow harlyn had zero trouble navigating her way all the way from figure eight to john b's house in the cut, even if it had been seven years. She lived only a few streets away from john b before she moved and her mother would take her for drives all over the island at sunset every sunday, so she sort of knew her way around.

Not much looked different about John B's house. Obviously it had aged a few years and looked a little messier on the outside, but she couldn't stop herself from smiling as she pulled her car next to the bus she saw at the store, only assuming it belonged to john b. She hopped onto the front porch and knocked onto the door. From the inside she heard various voices who were at the door and John b saying 'I'll get it' before he slowly opened the door, one finger over his lips signifying her to be quiet.

She nodded in confusion as she disappeared back into the house. "You'll never believe who is at the door." he said to the other occupants inside.

"Who?" asked a deep voice followed by a few moments of silence.

"John b who?" This voice obviously belonged to a girl as it was much higher pitched than the first. John b reappeared at the door and grabbed harlyn's wrist, dragging her into the living and into the view of two teens, a dark skinned boy and a light skinned girl.

"This is who." he said proudly as if he just performed a magic trick, a satisfied smile sitting on his lips. harlyn awkwardly waved to the two strangers and they waved back, looking equally as confused as she was.

"Who is this?" the boy asked and john b draped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her into his side, squeezing her slightly.

"This is that friend from my childhood that i used to talk about, remember? harlyn this is pope," he said mationing to the boy, " and this is kiara, but we call her kie." he finished, motioning to the girl. The three of them exchanged greetings and a 'nice to meet you' before John b continued. "if you remember correctly, this little son of a bitch moved to california when we were nine, didn't even say a word. Left jj and me devastated." he clutched his heart dramatically like he was just punched in the chest. harlyn elbowed his side and playfully shrugged him off of her shoulder, rolling her eyes at him.

"Speaking of..." she started, gathering her thoughts in her head before speaking. She assumed jj would be here when she came over, she couldn't imagine a world where john b and jj were not friends. They were always connected at the hip when they were younger, constantly getting into trouble with big john and just about any adult there was in the cut and in figure eight. She couldn't tell if bringing up jj was a bad idea, just in case they did have a falling out, but nonetheless, she was curious to know where the blonde haired boy was. "Are you still friends with jj?"

She heard shuffling from the other side of the house followed by the sound of a door closing and footsteps growing gradually louder. "I heard my name?" a voice said before he came into view. Stepping into the living room was none other than jj maybank. His focus was down at his phone before he looked up at the two, his eyes widening and his face dropping. "There's no way in hell."