Exhale, Outer Banks [ 1 ]

023. GRIEF

"That wouldn't happen to be a pot brownie, would it?" Cordelia asks, mostly joking.

"Nah, sorry. Don't think pizza places do that." Fletcher says, a small smile on his face.

"Yeah, cool, whatever." Cordelia mutters.

"What do you wanna do tonight?" Fletcher asks.

"Right now, eat pizza." Cordelia says, grinning as she walks past him and into the kitchen. She opens the box and takes a slice out.

"You think our brothers are ever gonna figure out about our little meet ups?" Fletcher asks, finishing his brownie.

"Not unless JJ follows me or something. Unless I slip up, I guess." Cordelia says. "You think Topper will?"

"No. He's too deep in his own personal shit." Fletcher says.

"Aren't we all?" Cordelia scoffs.

"From what you've told me, kinda seems JJ is more worried about you than himself." Fletcher says.

"Yeah, well, that's JJ. Worried, overprotective, annoying, pain in my ass." Cordelia lists.

"I'm sure he's doing his best." Fletcher says.

"Yeah." Cordelia mumbles, thinking of her brother. She does feel guilty for lying to him about her whereabouts. She used to never lie to him... and now she does it at least half the days out of the week.

"Change of subject." Cordelia says. "You bring that board game you bought the other day?"

"Yep. It is awaiting us at the coffee table." Fletcher says, holding his hand out in the direction of the living room.

"Well, let's not leave it to dust any longer." Cordelia says, skipping to the couch.

She does her best to avoid her grief, only dealing it when she absolutely has to. Sure she's less positive and she's definitely lost some energy. Especially since practically half -- if not almost all -- of the people in town stare at her and the pogues because of their connection to John B and Sarah.

She usually saves her crying for when she knows JJ is either gone or asleep.

She's gotten closer to Fletcher in the short time, her feelings only growing for the brunette over time. She's falling quick and hard for him, and despite wanting to stop it knowing that it's practically modern day Romeo and Juliet, she also doesn't want to stop the feelings she has.

She wants to kiss him and hug him. She loves spending time with him and wants to be around him all the time.

But she knows he probably doesn't feel the same.

+++

Cordelia wakes up to her phone ringing. She slightly opens her eyes, squeezing them shut when the sun shines in her face. She lets out a small groan and reaches out for the ringing device, muting it.

Cordelia looks at the contact, her eyes widening when she sees her brother's face filling her screen. Soon enough the call ends and she sees that JJ's texted and called her plenty of more times throughout the night.

Cordelia looks at the time, seeing it's almost 8 AM. She looks around, realizing she's still in the abandoned house.

"Fuck!" Cordelia yells.

Fletcher -- who was asleep in the arm chair in an extremely uncomfortable position -- jolts awake, falling out of the chair.

"What? Wait, what-- what's going on?" Fletcher asks, looking around, attempting to wake up more.

"We slept here. Fuck." Cordelia says, whispering the curse word to herself.

"Oh, shit." Fletcher mutters.