FLAWLESS - J. MAYBANK

iii. aftermath

'Uh, will you tell him I'm sorry? I didn't mean to be rude, I was just texting someone when he body-slammed me, so it caught me off guard. And I was wearing all white. But yeah. I'm sorry I was rude. And sorry my brother tried to drown him.'

'I can tell him.'

Maelynn sighed in relief and smiled. 'Thank you. Also, please tell JJ I say that bringing a gun to parties is a shitty idea and he shouldn't do it anymore.'

'I can try, but no promises on that one.'

They laughed together for a few seconds before settling back into silence. Maelynn stood up and brushed herself off. 

'I better be going. Got to help with extra cleaning and shit. Hurricane aftermath sucks ass,' she said with a smile. 'It was nice talking to you. Take care.'

'You too!'

She waved goodbye and headed back to her truck, waving again at Kiara's dad and thanking him for the water. Her drive home was peaceful. She was content with herself for having apologized and gotten more information. Her father would've been proud if she was able to tell him about it. 

That would've been a shitty idea, though. 

ミ⛧ ミ⛧ ミ⛧

'Who told you my full name?' Topper demanded as soon as he saw her. Maelynn giggled. 

'Nice to see you, too.'

'You didn't answer the question.'

'I heard your dad say it one time when we were younger.'

He rolled his eyes and trapped her head under his arm, rubbing his knuckles into her hair. 'You're a shit, Maelynn.'

'So are you, Christopher!'

He clamped a hand down over her mouth. 'Not so loud!'

'What, scared your girlfriend is going to find out your full name?' When he nodded, Maelynn took her chance to escape and start yelling, 'Your name is Christopher! Your name is Christopher!'

'Oh, shut up!' he ran over and hoisted her up over his shoulder. They ran around until he stopped abruptly, tucking them in behind the house. 

'What're you doing?' she hissed. He held a finger to his lips and pulled her down. With one finger still meaning for her to be quiet, he pointed. Sarah and John B were on her dad's boat, talking. She had this way about her that made it look like she was always flirting with people, but given how flustered he looked, Maelynn actually thought Sarah was making moves. 'What the fu-'

'Shh!'

Topper stretched closer to them in order to hear what they were talking about. Maelynn tried, but she couldn't hear jack shit. So she instead waited for Topper to move back to ask, 'So? What's going on?'

'The pogue stole some of your dad's scuba shit. Sarah promised to not tell Ward.'

'Oh. That's far better than what I was expecting.'