𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 ᯓ outer banks

chapter fifty-two

Safe to cry and not be rejected. Safe to relax and let out her pain. She felt warm and embraced on every level of herself.

She had cried before, but this time, she let herself cry until she felt spent. Pope's arms felt like security right then. They felt like a warm blanket fresh from the dryer on a cold day.

She had needed to cry, to really cry, and his gift of just being there for her as she did was more precious than getting wasted with JJ and Kiara.

"You're not overreacting," he told her. "You almost lost the one person you had left in your life." Pope rubbed his palm over her back and his face pulled back ever so slightly to meet her tear stained eyes. "You'll see him again and we will do everything we can to clear his name. I promise."

She snuggled back up to the boy. "I'm grateful to have you, Pope. Really grateful."

"I know." He placed his chin upon her head. "I appreciate you, Brooklyn."

—

Brooklyn had never been to Charleston. To be honest, she had never been outside of Outer Banks so driving eight hours to another place was almost exciting for her.

Brooklyn was cramped in between Kiara and JJ, her eyes scanning over the letter once again to find any clues or secret messages but nothing crossed her mind. It almost made no sense. "Guys, I've read this thing like a thousand times. It makes no sense."

"I mean, the Limbreys own, like, half of Charleston. What do the Kook kings of Charleston know about a murder on Kildare Island?" Kiara asked, taking the letter from Brooklyn.

"Why you specifically? That's the other creepy thing. You know?" JJ pointed out.

"Please come alone. That's hella sus."

"I was thinking the same thing. I think it's because—." Suddenly the car started to hiss and smoke began to pour out the front of the car. "Oh, come on."

"Pull over. That's a lot of smoke even for your dad's truck."

"Pope, I got sensitive lungs, man!" JJ coughed while rolling down the window.

"I'm pulling over!" Pope drove the car over to the grass, bringing the car to a halt. "No, no, no, no, no." Pope pushed open his door to let some air in and he quickly began to rush to the front of the car.

"It's gonna blow up."

"No, it's not gonna blow up." JJ assured Kiara. "You probably unhooked the radiator, Pope." Pope pushed himself through the smoke to open up the hatch. "I haven't seen this before. You knocked the entire hubcap off!" JJ applauded.

"You might wanna reschedule your meeting tonight, Pope."

"Plan B?" Kiara said quickly. "We could, um... public transportation. We could hitchhike. We could rent bikes." Kiara suggested multiple things they could do just so they don't miss this meeting.

JJ peered in to take a look. "Yeah, it's the radiator."

"My dad's gonna kill me."

"Yeah, he might. He might."

"Things never go our way..." Brooklyn sighed. She began to type up car repair places near them and noticed one wasn't far from where they were at. "Hey, guys there's a repair place not far from here. We could call o-or push it?"

"Great."

—

"Middle of nowhere." JJ stood across from Kiara and Brooklyn. "Dude's in heaven right now. Gotta know how the calibration point before you do anything with the intake, JJ. You do the—." He then spotted Kiara's face expression was distant. He reached over and tapped the girl's hand. "Hey. You all right?"

She shrugged. "My mom is so worried that I'm gonna be a Pogue that she's willing to send me to boarding school."

"Well, I guess that's what you get for hanging out with the wrong crowd, Kie." JJ brought the flask up to his lips and took a swing.

"I mean, I'm not gonna go." She sighed, looking over at Brooklyn. "It's too late anyway. I already am who I am."

"Ain't all that bad," Brooklyn responded which brought a smile out of Kiara.

"Just look at that guy over there." JJ pointed a finger to Pope. "He would do anything for us. That's a Pogue if I've ever seen one. Bone-deep." Kiara turned her head back to JJ. "That's just one man's opinion, though."

Pope turned to his group as he headed into the shop and flashed them a smile.

Kiara followed him in to pay for the car. They all knew it would be a lot of money but Kiara's parents were already going to kill her so she insisted.

JJ walked to join Brooklyn's side, he handed her his flask so she could drink something. "Thanks."

"Are you okay?" He asked, giving her a nudge.

"I'm okay." She leaned her head into his shoulder, handing him back the flask. "I just want to sleep."

"We can sleep soon." JJ pressed a kiss to her head.

Once Kiara had payed and the car was in good enough shape to get them somewhere, Pope drove them off to a random field to sleep in for the night. Brooklyn was exhausted so the second they parked, she crawled into the back where the blankets were and she cuddled up to them.

She took another swing at the flask to knock her out so she could sleep. She grabbed JJ's arm to pull the boy into her arms.

JJ rested his head on Brooklyn's chest, an arm around her torso. Brooklyn pushed the cap off his head and dragged her fingers through his hair while he slowly drifted off in her arms.

"Hmm. Goodnight, babe," JJ whispered.

She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his head. She looked at each of her friends and said, "Goodnight, everyone."

Brooklyn stayed awake for a little while longer, watching JJ breathe in and out slowly. His arm had now fell from around her torso and was laid across her thigh. She still continued to comb her fingers through his hair. Her eyes peered over at Kiara and Pope to see Kiara leaning over just to press a kiss to Pope's cheek.

The brunette fell back down, a smile on her face. "Goodnight." Brooklyn slumped down, avoiding the look Kiara gave her.