The previous strangeness JJ had exhibited towards the girl was gone and replaced with a new sort of weirdness.
In all reality, something about the situation weighed on him. While they were nothing more than friends who slept together occasion, he was JJ Maybank and she, well, she was Amber Byrne. Thee fucking Amber Byrne. She was a girl who used to be nothing more than one of the girls he followed on Instagram and would await another image so he could only imagine what her life contained and who she was.
Even if she didn't want to be that girl anymore, she couldn't just turn it off. She was a princess, and she would always be deep down. And JJ knew he wasn't good enough for her. He would never be.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Skye had worked the morning at the Wreck, arriving back at the Chateau around 5 in the evening.
Everyone was already loading up the Pogue to go out on it. Skye had changed into some comfortable shorts as well as a t-shirt. She then headed out of the room, JJ waiting in the living area for her.
Skye smiled, walking alongside JJ towards the door. JJ sort of wanted to grab her hand, but it felt wrong; he hadn't a clue what him and Skye were, and Skye didn't really make her wishes known at all.
JJ hopped onto the Pogue first, Skye following with the assistance of JJ. John B and Pope were still getting things in order, Kiara not having come out of the home yet.
"Hey, Blue?" JJ questioned, the two seated next to each other on the boat.
"Hm?" she called in response, her eyes locked on the water. Her mind was never at peace, her body never in a state of relaxation. She always seemed ready to jump up. Her back was always straight.
JJ hesitated for a moment. "Never mind." He kept his glance locked on the front of the boat.
Skye sighed, turning to JJ. "JJ, what is it?" she questioned, her hip pressed against his. She looked at him expectantly.
"I just..." he trailed, taking a breath. "What are we? What are we doing?"
Skye now sighed again. She was dreading the question. It wasn't due solely to her commitment issues, as much as the overall upheaval she felt looming. She knew now that since JJ knew the truth, it was going to be hard to stay in the Outer Banks much longer. Besides, the last relationship she was in ended so tragically.
"JJ, you know I really care about you-" Skye began, doing her best to not hurt the boy's feelings.
She knew she had already when he spoke. "I feel the 'but' coming."
"There isn't a 'but,'" Skye explained, shaking her head. "I just wanted to warn you, is all. I don't know how much longer I can stay at John B's. Once they find me, I have to go. And I'm a lot more than it seems like, JJ. I have a lot of problems. And I'm a really shitty person."
"Oh, that's a relief," JJ explained, "I'm an asshole, too."
She let out a dry laugh at his bitter humor. "Seriously. I don't want to hurt you."
He shook his head. "Don't worry about me."
"Why do we have to call ourselves anything? Can't we just be two people who care about each other?" Skye glanced over at him, grabbing his hand.
He squeezed it, giving her a nod. "That's okay with me."
Kie has begun to head towards the Pogue. JJ pulled his hand from Skye's.
Skye didn't respond, simply glancing over at Kie. Pope and John B followed closely behind.
JJ rose to his feet, grabbing the cooler from Pope before he got on to the boat. The other three loaded on, JJ heading into the cooler immediately.
He pulled out a fruity looking drink, passing one to Skye.
"What are these?" she questioned, glancing at the bottle. She didn't care, alcohol was alcohol. She was just curious.
"They're the best, trust me," JJ returned, pulling one out for himself.
Skye rolled her eyes. "I hate that expression."
"Why?" Kie questioned, grabbing one out for herself. Pope and John B untied the boat from the dock, getting ready to go.
Skye laughed bitterly. "I almost drowned when someone told me that."
"You can't just say that and not tell the story," Pope explained, joining the group that was sitting.
Skye shrugged. "I mean, there isn't much to it. I had this friend. In hindsight, she was a really shitty friend. Anyway, she had these two guy friends that I had never met. She told me to 'trust her, it would be fun,' so I did. We go out on one of their speedboats into the middle of the ocean, which I already thought was a bad idea. They then proceeded to play a game where they would drive towards buoys as fast they could and try to narrowly dodge them. They were most definitely trying to impress me and my friend.
"Well, after having too many drinks and just being a terrible driver overall, of course he hit one. He was going well over 50 miles per hour is this small boat, and hit this pole straight on. The boat went flying up, tipped over, dumped us all off and all of our stuff. We were stranded in the middle of the ocean for like seven hours. Some old man saw us at like, 5 am."
"That sounds like a fun game," JJ said, as if that was the only thing he got out of the story.
"That's terrifying." Kie shook her head. "How far out were you?"
Skye shook her head. "Ten miles, at least. We went out from a bay. They said we should swim back, but there was no way we would make it."
Skye simply shook her head, laughing lightly. Somehow, it was one of her least traumatizing stories.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
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