ONE FOR THE MONEY - rafe cameron

chapter eight

"hey." jj's eyes stares into gina's eyes. it had felt like a laser being burned into her delicate skin.

"hey." her eyes fluttered in attempt to hide her true emotion.

"soo, who's ready to get drunk?" john b drags the cooler he brought next to gina and sarah's spot.
"me!" sarah opens the cooler and takes out two beers, offering gina one.

gina grabs it. "thank you." she gives a small smile and immediately opens up the bottle, taking a large gulp.

all gina could think about was how she was going to avoid jj. but she knew he'd try to talk to her.

gina sits down and so does everyone else.
"so, gina. where are you from?" john b asks her.
"here. i live like a block away from sarah."
"so you're a kook?" pope raises his eyebrow.
"pope, stop. literally sarah and i are originally kooks." kiara gives him a look and sarcastically throws his hands in the air.
"sorry?"

"ignore him. so what do you like to do for fun?" kiara shoves pope and gina giggles.
"i like to read, surf and i used to do competitive swim. but ever since i graduated i just hang out with my friends most the time."
"really? competitive swim?" john b tilts his head.
"yeah..?"
"i think football is better."

"okay, john b, literally nobody asked." sarah says, and john b gets defensive.
"i'm not trying to be rude, i'm just making conversation!"
"whatever."
"my cousin forces me to watch football. i think it's alright." gina still felt jj's eyes on her and it made her more shy in a way. but she tried her best to not look into them.

her ex boyfriend was right there, and nobody had a clue, so it made her seem introverted when she was usually extroverted.

"who's your cousin?" pope questions.
"topper."
"topperrr?"
"thorton." pope and john b give eachother a look. their eyes wide, and their friendly smiles drop.
gina didn't really know what to do, or what that meant, so she stayed quiet.

"oh shit." john b says.
"what's wrong with my cousin?" gina furrows her eyebrows and the two get closer and start whispering.

they separate and look at gina once again, gina had a confused expression on her face and the silence was loud.

"he beat the shit out of pope." john b moves pope's face to the side and shows a huge bruise.
"with rafe. dumbasses." pope mutters the last part under his breath, but loud enough for gina to hear.

gina and sarah give each other a look, knowing exactly what they were gonna do after hanging out with the others.

"i'll talk to them." gina uncomfortably crosses her arms over her stomach.
"yeah, me too." sarah adds.

things had gotten a little awkard, but gina knew she wasn't the one who was gonna break the silence.

"so, gin.. how are you?" jj stares waiting for a response, but gina gave him a blank look.
they were in their thing, so they didn't notice everyone staring at them wondering if they knew eachother previous to this interaction.

"i'm good, thanks." she forces out. she wasn't good, she was in fact still in shock he was there and that she was interacting with him for the first time since their breakup.

"this got really weird. let's do something fun." kiara gets up and wipes some sand off of her.
"cmon guys!" she waves over for everyone to follow her, and that's what everyone did.

"where are we going?" pope asks, walking behind kiara. "we don't have our surf boards, so i have another idea." they were all at the beach next to the boat dock.

pope walks a little closer to gina.
"hey." he says.
she looks up at him and squints her eyes, the sun blinding her.
"hi."
"i just wanted you to know i dont have anything against you."
"thanks?" it came off more mean then she intended, so she tried to soften her expression a bit. "i know i wasn't really acting it, but i do want to be your friend."
"i want to be your friend too." a smile grows on both of their faces and pope throws his arm around her.

"i do appreciate you saying you'll talk to your cousin though." he chuckles and gina faces towards the front of her, continuing to follow kiara's path.
"anytime."

everyone steps foot onto the boat dock and starts passing by the large yachts.
"holy shit, i get shocked by these boats everytime i step foot on this damn dock." jj blurts out and recieves a laugh by everyone, but most importantly gina.

he looks behind himself, and at gina. they make eye contact and jj throws out a grin, hoping to see her give the same energy.

in the spark of the moment gina forgot about their past. the crying, shouting, hateful words, and grinned ear to ear.
which made his heart skip a beat.

jj did notice pope's arm around her, but didn't let it get to him.

kiara stops at a boat and everyone starts getting on.
"who's boat is this?" gina questions as she's helped on. "my parents." kiara picks up the cooler and places it on the boat.
"it's nice."
"thanks."

sarah looks around til she finds, and picks up a speaker. she plugs it in and starts playing bob marley.

everyone starts talking, drinking and jokingly dancing around. besides john b, because he was driving the boat.

a little while later things start to dim down. everyone was getting tired, and laid around the boat. the girls laid at the front and the guys were doing whatever in the back.

"it was really nice meeting you, gina." kiara had her eyes closed, you can tell by just her body language she was very relaxed and in the moment.
"it was really nice metting you too, kiara." the girls giggle softly and a nice quietness fills the area.

til the dreaded moment she had been thinking about all day started to become a reality.

footsteps come closer to the three girls.
it catches their attention so they sit up and look behind them.
jj made his way through the boat and walked up to them.

"can i talk to you?" he says, making eye contact with gina. kiara and sarah look at eachother, then get up and walk to the back of the boat. jj sits next to gina.

"what's up?" she asks.
"i've been thinking about how i was gonna start this conversation all day."
"you have?"
"yeah.. gin, i fucked up."
"jj-" he cuts her off.
"i know what you're gonna say. but i want you to know, there hasn't been a day i didn't think about you, about us." jj's eyes start tearing up.

"same here, if i being honest. but we can't get back together, you know that."
"i haven't been drinking as much, i kicked my dad out, i've been trying so hard to better myself. just please give me another chance." he whines and gina takes a deep breath.

"you shattered me when we were together." gina tries to keep her emotions to herself but jj sees right through her.
"i know, i'm so sorry. but, i can't do this without you. i took you for granted and i want you to know i'd never do that again." he goes to put his hand over hers but she pulls her hand away.

"jj."
"yeah?"
"i'm seeing someone."
"what?" his face drops.