Sea You Soon // An Outer Banks Fanfiction

39- Okay?

The next day, I came back from the hospital. I was too embarrassed to see anyone after my excursion on the boat, so I asked John B to run everyone out of the house when I got home.

The doctors told me that I should take some time to rest, so I went straight to my room to lay down. Almost immediately, I heard arguing coming from the living room. At first, I figured that it was my brother and Sarah, but I heard a second male voice. I internally groaned when I realized that it was JJ.

"JJ, just leave her alone. She's been through hell the past few days, and the last thing she needs to see is your fucking face," John B quipped.

There was a pause before JJ responded, "Fine, I guess you're right."

I crawled out of my bed and quietly opened the door. I normally would've yelled at them, but for once in my life, I was too tired to be mean. "Hey guys, can you please keep it down. I'm trying to go to sleep," I said, giving them a slight, close-lipped smile.

John B looked over at me and just let out a chuckle, "Sure, whatever you say, princess."

JJ and I both fixed my brother with a glare in almost perfect sync.

I went to close my door, but JJ interjected, "Wait, Paisley. I need to talk to you." Out of the corner of my eye, I could see John B dramatically roll his eyes.

I let out a small sigh. "JJ, I'm exhausted in every possible way right now. Can we please do this later?"

JJ's face fell, and he shrugged his shoulders. "Of course," he said quietly, his voice breaking slightly as he headed toward the front door.

My heart ached to hear him sound so upset. I was scared that if I tried to talk to him right now, I would say something that I didn't mean. I didn't want to mess things up even more than they already were.

I flopped down on my bed, my mind a muddle of memories that JJ and I shared. I thought about that first night that he kissed me as we were sitting in the kitchen and I cleaned up his face after the fight. I thought about the first time that JJ showed me the cove. I remembered the way that his face lit up because he was so excited to show me his favorite place. My eyes welled up with tears, and suddenly, I wasn't tired at all.

I quickly got out of bed to see if JJ was still lingering around the house. No one seemed to be around, and it was eerily silent, which was unusual. I went out to the front yard to see JJ laying in the hammock, playing with his lighter. I could see the tracks tears had made down his face, and his eyes had a pink hue. My heart ached as tears started making their way down my face.

I walked toward him, his glistening eyes meeting my own. JJ turned over in the hammock to lay on his side, no longer facing me. Once I was standing next to the hammock, I reached out to lightly brush his shoulder, "JJ, can I please talk to you?" He flinched and pulled further away from me.

"Please?" I barely whispered, choking back tears.

JJ turned around to face me and said, "I thought that you needed to sleep, bug." A look of pain flashed across his eyes as he used the nickname that hadn't crossed his lips in days.

"I do, but I can't sleep. I can't stop thinking about you and how it was before all of this," I said desperately, throwing my hands in the air.

I paused for a second before muttering, "I miss you...I miss us."

His lips quirked upward, "I do, too."

He continued, "How are we going to get past...all this?"

I let out a shuddering sigh and said, "Why don't we start with you letting me explain what really happened with Braeden?"

JJ opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but instead, he closed it and nodded.

I hesitated before speaking, trying to plan my words in a way that didn't sound accusatory. JJ gave me a small smile of encouragement.

"Well, you and I were supposed to spend time together that day to try to patch things up after the pregnancy scare. I felt super distant from you, but I knew that we would be able to fix things because we both wanted to. It really hurt my feelings when you were so quick to run off to go help my brother and I was left alone. Braeden just happened to be in The Wreck, and he was just trying to comfort me. He knows that I only see him as a friend, and he wasn't trying to cause any problems."

JJ sighed and reached for my hand. "I'm an idiot, Paisley." He shook his head. "I guess a part of me is still insecure about the whole Braeden thing, especially since you guys kind of used to go out. Plus, he's way hotter than me."

I raised my eyebrows, giving him a smirk. "JJ, I understand your insecurity, but there's no reason for it. I love you so much, and no one is ever going to get in the way of that."

JJ just nodded as I continued. "You've got to get over this whole Braeden thing. He's my friend, and he respects our relationship. Also, you're way hotter than he is. Why do you think I ditched him and started dating you?"

JJ jokingly folded his arms like a toddler throwing a tantrum and said, "Oh, so you only like me because you think I'm hot?"

His hair flopped down over his eyes, and I brushed it aside before responding, "Yep. I'm glad that you finally figured it out. You have absolutely nothing going for you other than your looks." My voice was dripping with sarcasm.

JJ caught my wrist in his hand and pulled me down on the hammock, my back pressed against his chest. "Are we good now?" he whispered in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine as he planted a kiss behind my ear.

I turned around to face him, our noses brushing together as I moved closer to him. "I think so," I whispered back.

"You think so?" JJ questioned, raising his eyebrows playfully.

"We're putting all of this behind us, and things are going to go back to the way they were, okay?" JJ said seriously, his eyes fixed on mine.

I nodded my head and responded. "Okay."

JJ wrapped his arms tightly around me. The faint smell of Old Spice Fiji, lingering cannabis smoke, and salt water filled my senses. Before now, I never realized that JJ had such a distinct smell, but after days and days of not being around him, I realized how much I missed it.

After a moment of peaceful silence, I started drifting to sleep. Right before sleep took me, I mumbled, "You know I love you, right?"

JJ placed a gentle kiss on my forehead and said, "I love you, too. I never want to be afraid of losing you again."

With that, sleep completely washed over me.