As it turns out, there was an end of things to do. A period in a sentence followed by a pause and the possibility of regrowing another sentence. With fun things to do on an island full of everything possible, Kaia Johnson hardly ever ran out of things to do. Right now was somehow different as she sits surrounded by boredom. Her thumb slides against the screen of her phone, no notifications alerting her of people making plans. She was inside alone, curled up under a blanket with the television turned on as background noise. It wasn't the best circumstances the day after a huge hurricane, but everybody was working hard outside to get everything organized to the way it once was. And this was better than running around following her parents' commands.
Whenever she was home, she was used to her house being quiet. She didn't have any siblings who would lighten up the silence, but her friends coming over unannounced helped with the walls being filled by nothing. She often spent time outside too, but the hurricane restricted things to do both outside and inside. As mentioned before, quite accurately was there nothing to do.
In Outer Banks, there was always something on the agenda. However, Kaia found herself alone with the help of anybody who she could think of being pulled into helping workers by the order of their parents. She was let off easy, but she couldn't say the same for the workers of whom her father was barking orders at outside. Especially with the island being divided into two separate sections, the Pogues and the Kooks, the latter being the side of which she belonged.
Kaia wasn't a diehard and defensive Kook as some of her other friends, having their minds set on the Pogues being worthless people with attitude problems. Her father runs an import and export company on the mainland, making her and her last name's successes well known across the entire island. She wouldn't ever hang out with the Pogues alone, their reputation creating a vivid image of what would follow.
She stands up, suddenly not caring if she showed up somewhere unannounced, and walks towards the front doors. She tucks her phone into the back pocket of her jean shorts. Shifting her weight in between her feet, Kaia quickly pulls her shoes on. Grabbing a baseball cap, she twists open one of the front door handles and makes her way outside.
The heat outside doesn't change what she felt inside, the air conditioning not working at all. Kaia jogs down the driveway, the stones crunching under her feet as she picks up speed. The wind helps cool her down, but she hardly feels it with the heat of the sun beating against her back.
The Cameron's house is only a few blocks away, so with the motivation of being occupied with something other than boredom, she makes it there in record time. She sees Ward, Sarah's father, on her way in, muttering a polite greeting inspired by his business connection to her father. When she approaches the door, she doesn't bother to knock, especially with all of the chaos surrounding their house with fallen trees and knocked-over decorations.
When she walks in, she leaves the door open for the fresh air to continue getting the breeze from outside. She turns her head from the door to the sound of footsteps rounding the corner. "Oh, hey! I was going to come over now and tell you that there's a kegger in the Boneyard tonight. You're coming, so..." Sarah jabs her thumb into the direction of the stairs, "Let's go get ready."
The Boneyard is like Switzerland. It's the one place where everybody inhabiting Outer Banks keeps a low profile and enjoys themselves. The Kooks and Pogues tried to keep everything minimalistic and focus on having a good time instead of stirring up drama. New faces show up every time they plan something there, the Tourons. Everybody listens to music and socializes with each other, and no fights or arguments have been brought up the last few times they threw something there. Kaia was hoping that tonight would be no different.
"Uh... yeah, okay. I'll be up in a few minutes." Sarah doesn't question her best friend deciding to roam the main floor, so she just shrugs and walks up the stairs.
Kaia follows her, except she turns in the opposite direction of Sarah towards Rafe's room. She stops at the threshold, folding her arms across her chest.
There weren't often any downsides to being close with both Cameron siblings, except whenever they didn't get along Kaia would occasionally be shoved into the middle. It was the same for any of their shared friends, such as Topper and Kelce. When she had first become friends with the pair of siblings, she found it odd that they hung out with some of the same people. Their age difference confused her, but she began not to care seeing as no one else did.
She smiles over at him when he notices her, and he leans back in the chair with a salute. "Hey, there's my least favourite Cameron."
"Oh, how kind of you. I'm blushing." He rolls his eyes, his voice monotone as he turns back to whatever he was doing before Kaia's presence interrupted him.
She smiles over at the boy, even though he doesn't have eyes on the back of his head to recognize her doing so. She walks through his room and drops onto his bed, messing up the job that the housekeepers had done earlier. "Are you joining us in the Boneyard?"
He straightens up in his seat, glancing at her over his shoulder, allowing his eyes to linger over her relaxed body stirring up the sheets. He gulps, watching as her eyes trail along the patterns detailing the ceiling above before speaking "What's going on there?"
"Post-hurricane kegger."
Rafe shakes his head as she intertwines her fingers and drops her hands onto her thighs. "You know that I don't go to those types of things, Kaia."
She nods her head, untangling her hands and lifting herself off of his now messy bed. "Tonight you do! Take a break from the hard stuff." To this, Rafe stands up with his fist clenched and walks over to her, stopping right in front of her. "Don't get defensive and just get ready."
"If I come, will you be quieter next time you decide to bring that stuff up?"
Kaia takes a step back as far as she could, judging how close the bed was behind her. "This isn't a negation. Nice point, though."
She was often creative with the ways in which she irritated him, but she always did it knowingly and purposefully. Seeing Rafe riled up was always entertainment for her, she knew that he would easily survive her teasing. The large hallways always echoed whatever they could, and this time, it may have been a sentence related to his use of cocaine. Kaia didn't judge him for it she found comfort in the matter seeing as she used it occasionally as well.
He runs his fingers through his hair as she steps around him, walking over to his door. "Start getting ready," She says, placing her hand on his forearm and squeezing him gently.
Rafe nods in acknowledgment, not wanting to say anything to further his defeat of protesting him not going. In fact, he wanted to go. As everybody on this island was, he was longing for something to do. And despite his mindset of being too good and rich to attend, he didn't entirely hate the idea of going. Kaia lifts her hand in a small wave before taking a couple of steps backwards into the hallway before disappearing to find Sarah.
She walks into her room and Sarah holds up a flowery sundress. The main colour was a pale blue and white and magenta flowers scattered the fabric. She smiles over at her best friend and Kaia tilts her head.
"Do you want to wear this?" Sarah asks, holding it out to her.
Kaia shakes her head, walking across her room and sitting down on the edge of her bed. "No, but you should. You should also let me snag some clothes." She drags her finger down her outfit, the hat, a loose ripped pink t-shirt and jean shorts. "I didn't really come prepared."
Sarah shakes her head, pointing over to the door that Kaia already knew to lead to her closet. "Knock yourself out."
She lifts herself off of the bed and walks over to the closet. "When is Topper getting here?" She calls out, shifting her fingers along the hangers, seeing what clothes she could snag from Sarah for the night.
"He should be here in ten minutes-ish," Sarah says, not loud enough for anybody else in the house to hear.
Kaia nods, even though she cannot see her and continues looking through the clothes. She grabs a tight-cropped bright orange tank top and a light grey skirt. Not being able to decide whether or not she should wear it, she grabs a pink sundress.
When she emerges from the closet, she holds out the two outfits of clothing for Sarah's eye to either agree or disagree with her choices. "I invited your brother too." Sarah shrugs, rolling her eyes. "...is that okay?"
She nods, "Yeah," She adjusts her loose sleeves and glances at herself in the mirror, "I don't know, I'm just slightly shocked that he agreed to come, you know he hates those things."
Kaia hums in acknowledgement, what Sarah said was true but much like her, there was nothing better to do than to get wasted on a beach. "Yes, well... not tonight," Kaia says, her lips turning up into a smile and holding out the two outfits, Sarah still not helping pick which one she should wear.
Topper walks through the door, not bothering to knock just like Kaia when she arrived. He turns around when he sees Sarah adjusting the dress.
"Hi, Kaia," He says over his shoulder, gifting his girlfriend with whatever privacy she needed.
"Top, I need your fashion expertise," Kaia says desperately, checking her watch and seeing that they only had a couple more minutes before they had to leave. Topper turns around after receiving an all-clear from Sarah that his eyes were able to roam around the room freely.
Her brown eyes fall upon his outfit, a white dress shirt with different shades of blue stripes and mint green shorts. "Okay, maybe I spoke out of hopelessness. You are dressed like it's the first day of kindergarten."
Rafe walks in, chuckling as he slides his hands into his pockets. "Wear the skirt," he says as he pulls out his right hand and drops his arm around Topper's shoulder.
"Okay, great!" Kaia points at Rafe, letting her eyes fall down his body, recognizing a change of clothing as well as the skin of his chest peeking out under the few open buttons at the top. "Thank you, oh reliable one."
As she walks past him to go change in the spare room, she bows and he shoves her shoulder, making her trip over her feet. "I changed my mind, a parka would suit you."
She ignores him and continues out the door, walking down the hallway. The spare room isn't far from Sarah's room, but Kaia doesn't waste time closing the door behind her and changing into the outfit. Apparently, everybody was ahead of schedule and she didn't want to be the one person dragging their plans behind. She doesn't bother to think of a different pair of shoes for her to wear, but she unties her hair from the messy ponytail that she had had it in.
When she exits, she follows her friends down the hallway and the stairs. Topper shoves her in between Rafe and Kelce in the backseat of his Jeep, making them all groan in annoyance with Sarah's ability to sit in the passenger seat without protests.