outer banks *jj maybank*

Chapter Seven

"Josie, Topper! Get down here now!" Ms. Thornton yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Josie had gotten up from her bed, Topper opened his door at the same time, looking at each other.

"What'd you do?" Josie asked him, knowing that she hadn't done anything wrong recently. 

"What did I do, what did you do?" Topper asked as the two toppled down the stairs. 

"Mom?" Topper called out, no reply. Josie looked out of the window above the kitchen sink, and saw her at the end of the dock with a man in a uniform. 

"She's outside." Josie said. She pulled open the sliding glass doors, and they made their way to the end of the dock.

"Care to explain this?" Ms. Thornton asked Topper and Josie, as the man pulled Topper's brand new boat out of the water.

"Wha-what happened to my boat?" Topper questioned. 

"The plug wasn't in." The man said. The Thornton's mom looked at Topper with disappointed eyes and he furrowed his eyebrows together.

"What? Why are you looking at me?" Topper asked.

"Why do you think?" Ms. Thornton asked. 

"I- I did not forget to put the plug in, it's been in the water for a week." Topper defended. Without even a second guess, Josie already knew who sunk Toppers boat, but she chose to stay quiet. She knew that by keeping the Pogues secret, she was risking her relationship with her brother.

"I thought that when you turned 16 you would take a little more responsibility for your actions." Ms. Thornton said, crossing her arms and glaring at Topper.

"Mom I did not do this are you kidding me? You think I'm that stupid? Why is this my fault?" Topper asked, growing slightly annoyed at the situation.

"Because it usually is, Topper." The twin's mom said, starting to walk off. Josie looked over at Topper, who now had sadness written all over his face. 

"Mom he said he didn't do it, so he didn't do it." Josie chimed in, following her mother into the house.

"Josslyn Charlotte, stop always defending him. He needs to take responsibility." She said, digging through her purse for some cash to give the worker. 

"Mom, why do you always blame him? It's like you're out to get him or something." Josie spoke, trying to get an answer out of her mom. Her mom would never tell her this, but when she looked at Topper, she saw her ex husband who had left them.

"Go away Josie." She said with a sigh. Josie stomped up the stairs and put on some workout clothes, grabbing her keys.

"Where are you going?" Topper asked, feeling the anger radiate off of his twin. 

"To workout." Josie said, pulling open the front door. 

"Can I come?" Topper asked, wanting to get out of the house. 

"Yeah, meet me in the car." Josie said, she walked over to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle, and headed out to her car. Topper followed close behind, and they both climbed into the car.

"Rafe just texted me to go to his house to workout, go over there." Topper said. Topper figured after he saw those two at the party the other night, that they were on good terms. Little did he know that Josie was second guessing her entire relationship.

"Why can't we just go to the gym?" Josie asked, trying everything she could to get out of it.

"Why? You don't want to hangout with Rafe?" Topper questioned. He knew something was up with Josie, but he wanted to hear it from her.