stevie | outer banks | JJxOC

45- JJ, you will be missed

After leaving the room with Heyward, Stevie knew she had to find JJ. JJ was everything to her and there was nothing more she wanted to finally actually be able to call him her boyfriend.

Softly she wandered out onto the pier, sticking out into the ocean with a messy blonde perched on the end, blunt in mouth. He watched the moon ripple across the water completely at peace in his mind, which was rare for him. He smiled softly to himself, "Evie i know you're watching" he said before turning his shoulders unsurprised to see her gawking at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You just looked so beautiful," Steview smiled walking closer to the end of the pier, a small smile on her face that only JJ saw.

"You sound like me," JJ chuckled at the cheesy comment as she slowly came closer, now standing just next to him.

"Yeah, now you know how corny you are sometimes," Stevie laughed, taking the blunt from JJ's hands and taking a breath inwards. "Who knew The JJ Maybank could be so sappy?"

There was a lull in the conversation, a comfortable silence as the two watched the sea ripple back and forth.

"I love you, you know that, right?" JJ smiled, despite all the shit that had happened in the last year and the shitty cards life had dealt him, he was happy, Stevie was his happiness.

"I know," She smiled back, kissing the corner of his mouth. Finally, she plucked up the courage to ask him, reassured by his worlds of love, "But JJ?"

"Yeah?"

"Is there a reason you haven't asked me to be your girlfriend?" She asked quietly and shyly, JJ almost might not have heard but he had become an expert in interpreting Stevie's quiet voice. He sighed rather dramatically, making Stevie's heart drop, worried she had said the wrong thing.

"I wanted to take you out on a date," JJ said, biting the inside of his cheek, slightly embarrassed that he still hadn't managed to take her out. Stevie's heart smiled at the silliness of it all. "I wanted to save up and take you out to a fancy restaurant and let you get starters and drinks and anything you wanted, then I'd pay for it all at the end."

"You know I'd probably hate that right?" Stevie thought it was cute that he'd try and put all the effort in, even if an expensive fancy restaurant wasn't really her thing.

"Yeah," JJ laughed at himself, "I just wanted to do something perfect with you,"

"Anytime spent with you is perfect,"

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" JJ asked, emphasising the want, sounding slightly insecure and undeserving.

"JJ, I wouldn't be asking if I didn't want to," Stevie couldn't look at him, feeling shy that she just admitted her feelings, like saying 'I love you' all over again. JJ's face lit up, brighter than the moon on the sea, and launched from his perch on the and of the pier, taking Stevie in his arms as he spun her around in happiness.

"Stevie Olivia Routledge," he beamed, "will you be my girlfriend?"

"If I say yes will you tell me what JJ stands for so I can say your full name back?"

"I love you so much, but no," JJ smiled, knowing that it annoyed her.

"Well then, maybe I won't say yes," Stevie laughed internally as JJ's cheery expression dropped, "I'm kidding, of course, I will be your girlfriend."

Looking out from the window, Heyward smiled at the two smiling before turning the downstairs light off and heading upstairs.

...

"Mr Heyward." Mr Sunny interrupted the silence of the class, drawing attention to the stranger in the doorway of their classroom. "It's for you."

As Pope stood up he quickly looked over to his friends sitting next to and behind him all four looking slightly confused. Stevie swore she heard one of them say the Vanderhorst Foundation, ringing bells back to Pope's failed scholarship.