Outer Banks ~ JJ Maybank

<21>

I woke up the next morning in JJ's arms on the couch. "How are you?" I asked, seeing that he was already awake. "I'm okay. I'm realizing how stupid I was buying all that shit." "It's okay. Just maybe we should think before we shop." "Good idea." He said, giving me a kiss. "Wow, your breath smells like alcohol. "Yeah. I had a lot of champagne." "I saw. You were pretty wasted when I got here." "Where were you by the way?" "Kie's. I was all sad and shit and I didn't want to risk seeing that asshole Rafe so I went to her house. I figured she would understand the most. Fun fact, did you know that Kie has no kissed all of Big John's kids." "Wait, you and Kie kissed?" "We were playing truth or dare and it lasted for like 2 seconds. You didn't miss anything special." "I don't know, it still sounds pretty special to me." He said with a wink. "Glad you are feeling good enough to be a perv." "I never fail to amaze." "You can say that again." I said, kissing his jaw. "So you are going get your stuff today right?" "Yeah. I've gotten good at timing when he'll be passed out on the couch so I'll go and grab some stuff and head back here." "I'm glad you are taking me up on my week long trial run." "I don't even know why we are calling it a trial run. I basically live here anyway." "Yeah but you haven't started living here since John B left for Kookland." "So fr like two days?" "Shut up." "Make me." I giggled and kissed him. We started to make out and he laid me down on the couch. "Gabbie!" I heard John B call from the back porch. I quickly shoved JJ off of me and onto the floor. "Yeah. In here." He walked in dripping wet. "You need to come with me right now." "What?" "Don't ask questions." He said grabbing one of his old shirts and walking away. I looked over at JJ and shrugged. "Gabbie. Come on." "I'll see you later." I said, quickly kissing JJ and running out after John B.

"Miss Lana's house? You were all fired up to go to Miss Lana's house." "Would you just stop being snarky fro five fucking minutes and think that there might be a serious reason behind all of this." "Jeez. Sorry." I said rolling my eyes and getting out of the car. He knocked on her door and she opened it and looked surprised. "John B and Gabbie. Hello. Um come in." "I need you to tell me the truth, what happened to my father." "John B!" I exclaimed. "I know you know what happened and I need you to tell me." "Are you for real Bird." "I'll explain later. Miss Lana, I really need you to tell me the truth." I looked at both of them in complete confusion. "You kids might want to sit down for this. It's kind of a long story."

She told us everything. How on the day Dad went missing, Ward called her husband crying because he "didn't mean to hurt him" and how it "was an accident". Turns out, Ward had joined my Dad in his search for the royal merchant late in the game and Dad didn't think a 50/50 split was fair. They started to get in a fight and his head hit the side of the boat and he began to bleed and passed out. Ward took Dad's map and then dumped his body in the water. On the day of the hurricane Ward told Miss Lana's husband to go look at the one place they hadn't looked. He found a small remote island and he had found our Dad's compass, turns out Dad wasn't actually dead when Ward dumped him. He had tried to survive on the island but he ended up dying long before Miss Lana's husband got to the island. "I'm so sorry." She said. John B stormed out, tears falling down his face. I stood up and wiped off some of my own tears. "Thank you." I said before following after John B. 

We got back to the car and I barely had gotten in before John B took off. "John B slow down!" "I'm gonna kill him!" He exclaimed, making a super fast turn. "John B. Please." He didn't listen, he just kept driving. "John B. I'm serious." I said, starting to feel tears well up. Still no reaction. "Bird." I said, putting my hand on his arm. He shook me off and drove to the house. He stormed out of the car and into the house, grabbed JJ's gun and walked back out. JJ watched him and ran out to meet us. "What the fuck is going on?" "Ward killed my dad. Now I'm gonna kill him." He said before taking off on a dirt bike. "What?" JJ said, looking down at me. He noticed me starting to cry and said, "Holy shit. Are you okay?" "He's dead. He's really dead." I said, shoving my face into his chest and crying hard. "Oh, it's okay. You are gonna be okay. I'm right here." He said, hugging me close.

We walked into the house and he sat me down on the couch, never letting go of me for a second. "I thought you knew he was dead?" "Yeah. But a little part of my hoped that he was still alive. I know it sounds crazy as fuck." "No it doesn't." He said, holding my hands in his. "It just seems so real now, ya know. Like, knowing he is really dead is making me feel all the emotions I should have felt when I signed the papers." He nodded and opened his beer. "I'm here if you need to talk about it." "Thanks JJ." I said, getting up to go change out of my clothes form the day before. He stopped me by softly grabbing my hand. "You know I love you right?" "You love me?" "Yes." "I love you too." I said, kissing his cheek.