MEET LAURA BROOKE ROUTLEDGE. Or as her friends called her, LB. Her and her twin brother, John B, were practically orphans at this point. Their dad had gone missing at sea a few months prior to now. The teens found the circumstances odd, but neither were going to give up in proving that their father wasn't dead.
Their uncle was technically their legal guardian but he was off God knows where doing God knows what with God knows who. Neither twin knew but that didn't matter.
They were still on their own.
LB worked at a small diner unlike her brother, who worked for the Cameron's. Laura had previously worked at a dance studio before it shut down due to the lack of business.
It had been rough for her, but she was tough. Her father had always taught her to be that way and she was grateful for it.
Currently she was on her way to meet up with her friends. LB had just gotten off of work and had to walk over since John B had the van and didn't want to go pick up his sister. It was a pretty typical thing for her and her brother to bicker over so she was used to it by now.
"Oh look! She's alive!" JJ yelled playfully when he caught sight of, as he would say, his favorite twin.
Laura rolled her eyes playfully, then grabbed a beer from the cooler beside Kiara, who was standing a few yards from Pope. She carelessly climbed up the ladder to make her way over to sit next to the blonde, taking his hat and placing it on her own head.
The blonde beside her snickered and lightly smacked the brim of the hat so it moved closer to her temple rather than where it should have been.
The brunette playfully glared at the boy and fixed the hat, putting it back in its original spot on her head.
She then cracked open the can, taking a sip of it, before her eyes got stuck on her brother standing on top of the building, right on the edge.
"You dumbass!" She yelled at John B, before he dropped his own can.
"Of course you did. A-plus." JJ said. The two sitting down looked at each other and laughed at the other's behavior.
"Hey, uh, security's here." Pope said, looking over the railing at the car. Laura groaned due to the fact she had just arrived, before standing up and tossing her barely opened beer to the ground below.
"Let's wrap it up."
"Boys are early today."
"Humpty Dumpty, let's roll!" JJ said, rolling to stand up.
"Let's go, boys." Kiara said. Laura climbed down the ladder first, taking her sweet time to piss off her friends.
"Gary! Good to see you man!" JJ yelled over the railing then almost ran right into Laura. With a tipsy JJ following right behind her, as well as her brother, the group quickly packed up their stuff and made a run for it. "LB come on!"
"You're asking for it." Kiara said with a smile, before the five of them started running through the building to not get caught.
They were yelling random things and laughing, as this was their usual evening. The majority of the group had just fled the property, with the exception of the twins who were falling a bit behind.
Laura's foot got caught on something and she immediately fell into her twin brother."Come on, Laura!" John B said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up. The two continued running and made their way to the van with Kiara.
The girls hopped in the back area, leaving the door open so JJ and Pope could hop in quickly to get away, and John B found himself in the driver's seat.
They drove to catch the other two boys, before they jumped right in, the guard continuing to run after the van.
"Check out Gary, gunnin' for a raise." Pope said.
"Come on, Gary!" JJ continued on.
"Slow down, you're going to give him a heart attack." Laura said sarcastically to her brother. She continued to laugh, before pulling herself up to sit on the seat.
JJ leans out of the van, talking to Gary as he waved a beer can in his face tauntingly. "You're so close. You can do it. There you go! They don't pay you enough bro."
"JJ, stop. Stop." Kiara said. Laura silently agreed with the only other girl in the group and gently pulled JJ backwards by his shoulder to keep him from leaning out of the van.
"Oh, come on. That sort of initiative is just begging to be punished." Everyone continued laughing as they kept driving down the road.
~~
"John and Laura, it's come to our attention that you are unemancipated minors living on your own." Laura began picking at her nails, letting her brother speak for the both of them.
She thought these meetings were a load of bullshit. So what if they were minors? They were only about one and a half years from turning eighteen and were both fully capable of handling themselves.
He scoffs. "No... No." The woman at the desk in front of the siblings gave a look, raising her eyebrows as if she didn't believe John B. But by the way he said it, who would? "No."
"John, I need honesty from you. You too, Laura. That's what we all want, right?" The social worker continued.
"Yeah. I'm being honest."
"Okay, then when was the last time either of you spoke to your uncle." Laura sighed, looking out the window to avoid the question. It was more of boredom than of avoidance, in all honesty.
John B looked at his fake watch, before answering the question. "Uh... 34 minutes ago." He said, smiling towards the social worker.
"When's the last time you saw him?"
"Two hours and... 43 minutes ago?" John B said, more as a question than an actual statement.
"John, we're going to come out there tomorrow to talk to your uncle. If he's not there, we're gonna move forward to foster care. I want to assure you, we're going to find a safe and loving home for you two." Laura murmured words under her breath, before storming out of the office, no longer wanting to be part of the conversation.
~~
The pogues were currently having a hurricane party, as they had absolutely nothing better to do during this hurricane. It was just their small group. The Outer Banks hadn't even seen the worst of the hurricane yet.
Every time they heard there was a bad storm, they had to live it up. That's obviously how they were. That was the way of living they knew. Either getting stoned or absolutely wasted.
Kie had to go home at some point since her mom wanted her home for the hurricane, as did Pope. Later that was going to leave John B, JJ, and Laura alone for the rest of the night. They were probably the closest three in the group so it didn't bother any of them that much.
"For you, m'lady." JJ said with a british accent, walking over and holding out a beer to the girl sitting on the wood bench outside.
"Thank you, kind sir." She responded, also with a british accent, taking it with a smile resting on her lips. The two sat together, listening to the rain continuing to fall harshly on anything standing in its way.
Laura grabbed the hat sitting on her friend's head, and placed it on her own. "Are you going to always take my hats?"
"It's tradition at this point. Every time I see you I have to take it." Laura responded, laughing at JJ. A yawn escaped her lips, cutting off the laughter. "Alright, maybe it's bedtime." She stood up, setting the can down next to JJ and making her way inside.
"Lame!" He yelled, causing Laura to throw up the middle finger jokingly towards him.
Laura had slept in due to the hurricane that had hit. She slept well through bad weather. It was oddly comforting for her and for some reason brought a state of peace to her mind.
"LB! Wake up and let's go!" She heard JJ yell at her. Laura groaned and turned over, covering her head with a pillow in hopes of blocking out her friend's calls. "LB we are not doing this, this morning." he pushed on, grabbing the pillow she was using and throwing it across the room.
"Alright! Fine, fine. I'm awake." She said, sitting up and letting her eyes adjust to the natural lighting. JJ left the room, leaving Laura to get dressed.
She wore her usual bathing suit with a button up over it and jean shorts, and her normal necklaces and bracelets already on. Laura put on her flip flops, before making her way outside.
"Are we going or what?" She yelled towards the boys sitting out by the boat.
"What about DCS? Wasn't that today?" JJ asked the twins.
"Please. You think they'll get on that ferry?" Laura responded, walking over towards the two.
"Come on, think about it. It's God tellin' us to fish." John B continued on for his sister. Laura smiled at her brother, before climbing in to help him get branches out of the boat.
"Who cares about DCS? Let's have a good day, yeah?"
Eventually after picking up Pope and Kiara, the group continued driving out farther on the boat. With everyone having a nice time, and enjoying each other's presence, JJ decided to become the center of attention.
"Let me show you a party trick." JJ said, standing and walking over to the edge of the boat.
"Terrifying."
"Hey Pope. Can you go a little faster please?" Everyone immediately knew something bad was going to happen. When it came to JJ, things always seemed to go downhill for him.
Especially when he was trying to show off, like right now. He then shows the other's his so-called 'party trick' holding his beer up, trying to drink it with the wind blowing past him.
"You're getting beer in my hair." Kiara complains. This caused Laura to laugh, before standing up and walking over to the edge of the boat to JJ, trying to take the beer from his hand. But there was no winning with him. She wasn't going to be getting that drink.
"JJ, give it to me!" She laughs loudly. Everyone is telling him to stop, but he wont listen as he continues to turn to avoid the small girl trying to grab the drink. But all the fun comes to an end when the boat crashes, causing the two to fly off the end of the boat and into the water.
Laura flipped, falling head first into the water. She came back up, hearing the rest of her friends immediately asking if the two who fell in were okay. She took a second to catch her breath, before swimming over to the side of the boat.
"I think my heels touched the back of my head." JJ mutters. "You good, LB?" he asked, trying to catch his own breath.
"You could say that." she snapped.
This was only the beginning of a very eventful summer.