sweet | outer banks

c h a p t e r / t h r e e

"Yeah, she's really nice." I add, thinking about how comfortable I felt talking to Kie earlier. Normally it's hard for me to talk to new people, especially when they're totally stunning waitresses on the island I just moved to, but Kie and I clicked super fast.

"You said kids. Who else d'ya meet?" Dad questions me further. Damnit. I shouldn't have said 'kids', cause now I have to tell him about the boys, and that was a shitshow and a half.

"Oh," I think of how I can explain this to him in the best way possible. "Yeah. I talked to her friends, too. Kiara's friends. They're all really cool." I say again, trying to be as vague as possible.

"Do they have names, or...?" He's totally starting to get suspicious.

"Uh," Dude, just tell him. Stalling only makes it worse. "Pope, JJ, and John B."

"Jombee?"

"John B." I correct him. "That's what I thought at first, too." I let out a shaky chuckle. Why am I so nervous about this?

"Ah," Dad mumbles, taking a huge sip from his milkshake. "Besides Kiara, these are all boys?"

Right. That's why I'm nervous. "Yeah." Dad has never liked when I'm friends with boys. How's this gonna go over if they really want me to join their group? I told them I would meet up with them again tomorrow, but now it's not looking so good.

"You know how I feel about that, Brielle." Yikes. He brought out the full name.

"I do, but I promise they're total and complete sweethearts!" I quote Kie, wanting so badly to believe her words. "They're super chill, and they think I'm cool. I'm gonna go back tomorrow and hang out with all four of them." I inform dad instead of asking him for permission first.

It's obvious that he wants to be mad at me, but honestly I just think he's glad that I finally found some people here. "I'll believe you for now. But the second you get mixed up in something with them, they're gone. Understand?"

"Understand." I repeat.

"Okay," He agrees. "I won't have a problem with this under one condition."

"That is...?" Uh oh.

"Tell your friend that this is a killer milkshake!" Dad smiles. Phew.

"I will, don't worry." I return the smile and stand up from my stool. Walking around to the other side of the counter, I plant a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Thanks, dad. I love you."

"I love you too, Bri." He replies, sipping up the last few drops of his milkshake.

"Don't work too hard!" I shout as I head back to my bedroom. I hear a faint 'no promises!' as I close my door and change into comfier clothes.

Falling back into my bed, I activate super-secret-brielle-stalker-mode and head to Instagram. I start by searching up John B's name, cause who else on this island would be called that? His page pops up immediately and I briefly look at the few pictures on his feed. Cute.

Going to his following list, I look for Pope. Also a very handsome boy. How did I not notice that when I was sitting next to him at the table? He only has one post, and it's from almost a year ago, but it's of him and his three best friends. They look like a family in this picture, and I can just tell they're all so close to each other. I don't want to ruin what they already have by joining their group.

He's tagged John B, Kie, and JJ in the photo. I go to click on Kie's page, blatantly avoiding blondie's account. One thing I notice, though, is his last name. Maybank. Hot. It totally fits him. I catch myself. Stop it right now, Bri. You just said the last name of some boy who you met two hours ago is hot. Hot? Shut the fuck up.

I shake my head to clear my brain of those thoughts. Kiara's page is cute. It's full of pictures of herself and the boys, and I can tell she updates it regularly. She's absolutely gorgeous. How are those boys not madly in love with her? Maybe they are. I want to follow all four of them, but then they'd know I was stalking their pages. Not yet. I don't even know if I'm actually gonna be part of their group.

I take a deep breath and click on JJ's account that's tagged in a photo of Kiara and himself. It looks like she was trying to take a selfie, but he came up behind her and gave her bunny ears with his fingers.

Shit. This boy is literally so fucking attractive. Sucks that he's such an asshole, though. I take my time scrolling back and forth between the two pictures on his feed, and I only stop when my phone tells me that it only has 20% battery left.

Deactivating stalker mode, I clear the four accounts from my search history and shut my phone off. I try not to think about them, especially the Maybank boy, for the rest of the night. Dad invites me to watch a movie on the TV with him after dinner, and I fall asleep that night feeling excited about the plans with my new maybe-friends tomorrow.