F O U R T E E N
JJ'S HANDS WERE ON HER HIPS. She could feel his breath on her neck as he shifted her stance, wedging his feet between hers to spread her legs further apart in a good distance. Juliette could feel his front pressed against her back, and suddenly she was hyper aware of every inch of skin that held physical contact with his.
"Okay, now, let's fix your hands," JJ murmured, trailing his hands down her arms to wrap around her hands that held the gun, gently repositioning her fingers so they were in the correct spot.
Juliette's breath caught in her throat, moving her head ever so slightly, finding him focused to watch her hands. He was so close to her, she could see the curve of his lips, the lashes on his eyes, and she could smell the faint cologne on him. It wasn't like Rafe's expensive scents or even his aftershaves — this one smelled like sea salt and vanilla.
"Now, you're gonna want to raise it level to your line of sight," JJ's voice was lower than usual, his hands still holding hers with his arms around her as he positioned her to a shooting stance. "Don't close your eye — keep both open when you aim and pull the trigger. Deep breaths before you take the shot."
"Yes, sir," Juliette said as he stepped away from her. "Like this?"
JJ's lips curled to a faint smirk as he appraised her. "Just like that," he said, reaching forward to adjust the headphones on her ears to keep her eardrums safe. "Shoot when you're ready."
Juliette nodded obediently as she held the gun firmly in her hands, concentrating on the teddy bear sitting on the log further ahead. It was old, stuffings spilling out in random spots. Standing like this with a weapon suddenly made her feel powerful — badass.
Then she pulled the trigger.
She flinched at the recoil and the resonating echo of the gun. The bear wasn't where it was on the log, and Juliette squinted to see it had toppled over. She gasped when she realized she'd managed to shoot a bullet through its ear.
"JJ, I did it!" she squealed, spinning around to face him excitedly. She made to fling herself at him but was cut short by the blond pointing at the gun and stopping her.
"Woah, woah, woah — you're forgetting something."
"Oh, right." Juliette clicked off the safety and laid the gun aside.
JJ grinned widely as he opened his arms, catching her as she jumped into them. "Good girl," he praised, doing a little spin as he hugged her tightly before placing her back to her feet.
Juliette's eyes were staring right into JJ's as she rambled, "God, the adrenaline rush — my heart is beating like crazy. But holy shit, that felt good!" She had went on and on talking about how she wants to learn more things from JJ, when she noticed he hadn't said a single word.
She trailed off, her voice slowly dying in the back of her throat as she observed him. He was watching her — his hands still loosely holding her as he had that half smile on his face. The same on Rafe had whenever he watched her fondly. JJ had that look right now as his blue eyes seemed even bluer than usual. She watched the way they flickered down from her eyes to her mouth.
Her heart stumbled.
"Guys," a voice interrupted them, and JJ and Juliette practically yanked away from each other as they avoided the other's gazes. It was Pope, and he looked like he just swallowed something bitter as he made his way to them anxiously. "They know."
Juliette shared a look with JJ, the previous moment forgotten just like that. "What?" they chorused at Pope in confusion.
"They know," Pope repeated, pointing at somewhere behind him. "I just saw Rafe and Topper — they know."
"Oh, they dropped me off here at the cut like thirty minutes ago." Juliette furrowed her eyebrows and frowned. "Where'd you see them?"
"At Heyward's, they had this look on their faces. You should've seen it, they mad dogged me. I know they know."
JJ strode forward to meet his best friend directly in front of him. "All right, chill, bro. All right? They don't know shit."
"Topper knows I sunk his boat."
JJ pursed his lips, leaning against another cut log, crossing his arms as he watched the way Juliette was deep in thought at what Pope said. "How do you know they know?"
Pope threw his hands in the air. "Did you not hear a word I just said, bro?"
JJ sighed. "Will you calm down and get a grip, man? They don't know shit."
Juliette was biting the nail on her pinkie as Pope paced up and down, the most stressed out she's ever seen him be. "They have cameras — they could've seen me."
"There was no power, Pope," JJ said again. "How could they have seen you?"
"It's Figure Eight! They got generators." Pope's nostrils flared as a muscle feathered on his jaw.
Juliette winced at the anger in Pope's voice as she said, "Hey, no, I'm sorry, please don't feel guilty. That was my plan in the first place — "
"Yeah, but I was the one who went through with it, Julie. I was the one who took action. I sank the boat. They don't give scholarships to kids who vengefully sink boats. It's not a good look on my transcript — "
"Enough with the regret, bro!" JJ cut Pope's ramblings off. Silence followed as Juliette watched the blond rise to his feet, coming to stand directly in front of Pope. "They caved your face in. They hit us — we hit them. It's the law of the jungle."
Pope said nothing, neither did Juliette. Both transfixed at the words spilling out of JJ and the firmness of his voice. With JJ, everything just sounded like reassurance — Juliette knew it gave Pope comfort.
"Now, if any Kooks come up to you and ask if you had anything to do with it, you walk up to 'em — " JJ took a step forward, " — look 'em right in the eye — " he grabbed the back of Pope's neck as he gestured his own his eyes with two fingers, "and . . . ?"
Pope mumbled, "Deny the living shit out of it."
"That's right," JJ said, and then stepped forward so he was now in front of Juliette. Her breath caught in her throat when he placed a hand on the crevice where her neck met her shoulder. She was wearing a tank top — she could feel the cool metal of his rings as he lowered his head to meet her gaze. "If Rafe or Topper ask you about the boat, what do you do?"
For a moment, Juliette didn't say anything because she was suddenly dizzy at the close proximity between her and JJ. She was distracted with the way his fingers were pressed against her skin. She found her voice a second later, "Deny it."
"Good girl," he said again, a corner of his lips tugging up to a devilish smirk. He turned to face Pope again, his hand slipped down to casually rest on the small of Juliette's back. "Deny — deny — deny."
JJ opened his palm for Juliette, jerking his chin to the direction of the gun that was next to her as she picked it up and handed it to him.
"But just for safety," he said, "we don't go anywhere without protection. Right?"
Pope nodded and JJ reached over to give him a pat on the cheek.
"All right, Julie — get back in position. Let's do one more, and try to aim closer to the bear's body."
𓆉
"Popcorn gets in my teeth, that's why I don't really eat it when I watch a movie," Juliette said, walking amidst JJ, Pope, and Kie with a picnic blanket tucked in her arm. "I wonder what movie they'll be playing tonight."
"Me too," Kiara said, throwing Juliette a glance as she led the way to a good spot on the grass with the other Kooks. "I'm so glad that they're still doing this."
"Yeah, for real — I thought they'd cancel it. Thank God they didn't."
"Keep calm. Carry on. Back to OBX life, you know?" Kie shared a grin with Juliette as she said, "Aren't you boys glad we made you come?"
"Ecstatic," Pope said in a voice that showed otherwise.
JJ sent Juliette a deadpan look, clearly not liking having gone here. "I can't believe you convinced me to come here," he mumbled under his breath for only her to hear.
Juliette slowed down her pace so that Kie and Pope were walking ahead of them. She grinned at him and said, "Well, I did say you didn't have to if you didn't want to."
He made a face at her, playfully sticking a tongue out, an act that made her laugh. "See now, if you didn't go, then I wouldn't have either."
"Too bad, Maybank, suck it up."
"Yes, ma'am," he said in faux grumpiness. "Watch your step." His arm shot out to latch around her waist, holding her steady as he pulled her back from nearly stepping over someone's ice cooler on the ground. JJ chuckled, shaking his head to himself as he walked with her to where Pope and Kie were already waiting for them, keeping his arm around her.
"Pope, you good?" Juliette asked in a quiet voice as they both neared the boy.
"We're out of the green zone, you guys," he said, panic lacing his tone. "We're in the middle of Kooklandia. This is the last place I wanted to be."
JJ was helping Juliette spread out the blanket on the grass when he hissed, "Shut up, Pope."
"I'm gonna go get something to drink," Kie piped up, unaware of the conversation that just took place. "Julie boo, come with?"
"Yes, coming." Juliette left JJ to finish setting up the blankets and snacks as she hurried along after Kie to loop arms with her.
𓆉
Rafe was watching them from the distance. He watched the way Jules was smiling and laughing with that Pogue. He watched the way he put his arm around her waist to keep her from "tripping" over an ice cooler, even though it was so obviously far away from her. He watched the way she was comfortable around him.
Most of all — he watched the way they looked at each other.
It was almost similar to the way he and Jules used to look at each other. Almost. But not quite.
"She seems happy with them," Topper murmured from next to him, his eyes constantly shifting from Jules to Rafe as he took note of the way a muscle feathered on Rafe's jaw and his fingers balling up to fists by his sides.
"It's a phase, Top. Give her a week before she gets bored of them," Rafe said in a strained voice, his chest constricted when he watched her spread out her picnic blanket with the Pogue. It was the same picnic blanket she used with Rafe when they'd lay out under the stars.
Topper hesitated. "I don't know, man. She really does look like she's having fun." Rafe's hard gaze swiveled to him. "No, yeah, you're right — we'll give her a week." He suddenly perked up, lightly slapping Rafe's arm with the back of his hand. "Kie and Julie are going to get drinks. Go, go, go."
Rafe adjusted the cap he had on backwards atop his head before striding over to where the love of his life stood, linking arms with Kiara as a smile painted on her lips. His heart clenched every time he saw her — he wished things went back to the way they were soon.
"Hey, Jules," he called out, unable to stop the way his lips tugged up. He went to stand directly next to Jules, watching the way her neck craned to look up at him. "Hey, Kie," he threw in at the last second, briefly glancing at the curly haired girl whose face hardened at the sight of him. He focused his attention back to Jules, gently touching her forearm as he spoke in that soft murmur of his he knew she loved, "How are you?"
Jules swallowed, blinking rapidly as she avoided his intense gaze. Her cheeks were flushed as she coughed out, "I'm fine, Rafe. You saw me not too long ago, you know."
"Good, good," he said, watching her poke her tongue against the inside of her cheek. He resisted the urge to smirk, knowing fully well he still had that effect on her. She can hang around with that Pogue all she wanted, but he can never make her feel the way Rafe can.
He nearly forgot his purpose for coming here to approach them, were it not for Kie who loudly cleared her throat.
As Jules grabbed a couple of soda cans from the concession stand, Rafe met Kie's gaze as he said, "Listen — tell your boy that we know what he did."
Kie blinked, not even fazed at what he'd just said. This piqued Rafe's interest, because it seemed as though Jules was more involved in the little situation than Kie was. "Sorry, what boy are you talking about?"
Rafe chuckled humorlessly. "He'll know."
Kie scrunched her nose, making a face at Rafe before beginning to walk away. "Come on, Julie."
"Coming," Jules called back at the girl, her hands full as she made to follow, only to stop again when she neared Rafe. "Uh — here," she reluctantly said, handing him a Dr. Pepper. She avoided his gaze as she murmured, "Enjoy the movie, Rafe."
Jules made to walk away, but Rafe's hand latched around her elbow. "Hey, hold on a sec," he mumbled low enough for only her to hear. He gently reeled her back into his proximity, adoring the way those green eyes of hers stared up at him. "You — uh," he hesitated, unsure of how to word things so she wouldn't get upset at him again. He just wanted one normal conversation with her. "You've been doing okay, right?"
He watched the planes of Jules's face smoothen, and he knew he'd said the right thing. "Yeah," she said quietly, nodding as she reached up to lay a hand over her heart. "I've been taking care of myself. I promise."
This seemed to lift a weight off of Rafe's shoulders — he was always the most concerned one whenever it came to her heart. "Okay, good." He let out an exhale. "I miss you, Jules."
Jules was quiet, she looked as though she wanted to say something but instead let loose a long sigh. "Rafe," she started, but Rafe didn't want to hear whatever it was she was going to say, in fear of it being something that'll disappoint him.
Before he could consider against it, Rafe reached forward, wrapping his arms around her as he pulled her in an embrace. He loved the way she felt against him — the way she fit so perfectly in his arms. She smelled like the sea and black licorice.
She stiffened for a second, and then she seemed to relax as though she yearned to have things back to the way they were again with him.
Then Rafe glanced up — and he found JJ staring hard at their direction. Unable to help himself, Rafe smirked at the Pogue as he held his Jules in his arms. That's right, bitch, I still win.
Jules pulled away a second later, taking a step backwards with her eyebrows knitted as though she couldn't trust herself to be around Rafe. "No, Rafe, you can't just go around hugging me like that anymore," she said quietly. She couldn't seem to look him in the eyes. "We're not . . . we're not together anymore, Rafe. Okay?"
Rafe knew she was thinking back to that one specific day from last year when they'd broken up through FaceTime. This was when Jules was in Russia — she'd officially called things off between them right before she underwent her transplant. She'd been so scared that something would go wrong, and had broken up with him so that he wouldn't be pulled down by her.
With that said, she turned around and walked over to the other three Pogues. Rafe watched her hand JJ a can of Coke, sitting next to him on the blanket. He felt as though someone had stabbed him in the heart, and Rafe hated the Pogue more and more by the second.
𓆉
"Just saw Rafe," said Kie as she and Juliette situated themselves back with the boys. "And he said, and I quote, 'Tell your boy that we know what he did'. What is that?"
JJ and Pope shared a not-so very discreet exchange of panicked glances. Well, panic in Pope's case. JJ looked over again to where the concession stand was situated, but didn't find him. "Where is he?"
"He's back there," Juliette said, jutting a thumb behind her to where she could practically feel Rafe burning a hole at the back of her head.
Both Pope and JJ spun around to check, and true enough, found Rafe, Topper, and Kelce standing back there. Kelce was busy watching the contents of his cup, Topper was having fun at the frightened looks on their face, and Rafe was taking a sip from his Dr. Pepper as he glared at their way — particularly at JJ.
Pope whimpered. "Great, the whole death squad."
JJ reached over to twist Pope's head back to look forward. "Don't stare, bro. Just warning you, bro, if they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay?"
Juliette drank her Coke as she listened at their conversation, partly amused and partly worried on how tonight will play out. She hoped the Dr. Pepper she'd given Rafe earlier served as a olive branch.
"Slice and dicin'," Pope said. "I'm on edge right now."
"If that doesn't work — " JJ picked up his tan colored backpack. "I got this right here."
Juliette rolled her eyes and yanked his hand down. "Y'all are being way too loud right now."
Pope threw in, "We just gotta stay in the group. They can't get us if we're in the group."
"Like a school of fish," JJ offered.
"Stay in the school. Can't leave the school."
"I'm sorry, JJ," Kie suddenly spoke up, laughing to herself in disbelief. "Please tell me that you did not bring a gun here. JJ, there are kids."
"No, Kie!" he exclaimed before gushing back down. "I didn't bring the gun, alright? Everything's fine, okay?"
"Oh, wow, thank you. That's really convincing. I love that, JJ." There was a short pause that followed where all three of them hung their heads low and shared looks with each other as Kie chastised them. "Founding principle, you guys — no secrets amongst Pogues. And that includes you now, Julie. So what is Rafe talking about?"
Juliette guiltily sighed, kicking herself to the curb for not telling the other girl earlier before coming here. It was Pope who replied in the vaguest manner ever, "Kie, it might go down tonight."
Kie blinked once — the most dumbfounded expression Juliette has ever seen on her face. "What does that mean? 'Might go down tonight.' What did y'all do?"
As though rehearsed, both Pope and Juliette turned to JJ who whispered under his breath, "Deny, deny, deny."
An hour and a half later, darkness settled in as everyone sitting on the grass was sucked in deep into an oldie suspense film. Juliette was enjoying herself, leaning against JJ who was resting his chin comfortably against the top of her head. She wouldn't be too surprised if he actually fell asleep in the middle of the movie, but she was more surprised to see he didn't.
Juliette shifted a bit against him, twisting her neck slightly and she felt him draw his head back. She looked up at him to see the dark bags under his eyes and she whispered, "If you're sleepy, we can go."
JJ paused for a moment as though to ponder this. Then he asked, "Are you enjoying the movie?"
She nodded.
"Then we don't have to go."
Juliette opened her mouth to protest but he placed a hand on the crown of her head, shifting it so she was facing the screen again as he rested his chin back atop.
"JJ," Pope said under his breath, moving closer to them.
"What?"
"Gotta take a piss."
Juliette turned and whispered, "Do you wanna just leave? Because we can all go — "
"No," JJ interrupted her before saying to Pope, "Hold it."
"I can't hold it," Pope said. "Julie gave me too much soda to drink."
"Sorry, my bad." Juliette grinned sheepishly at Pope and flashed him a peace sign.
"It's too exposed," JJ reasoned. "They'll totally see us."
"I gotta go," Pope insisted as he turned to where Rafe, Topper, and Kelce all sat.
Juliette peered over JJ's shoulder and found the latter two absorbed in the movie except for Rafe who was scowling at her and JJ's direction. Rafe turned away when he saw them looking at him.
"They're blocking the bathrooms."
JJ was suddenly looking off further up front where the tarpaulin screen was and he beckoned Pope to follow him. "Come here. I know where." He gave Juliette's shoulder a squeeze. "Wait here for me — I'll be right back."
She nodded as both boys rose to their feet. Kie finally tore her eyes away from the movie as she asked, "Hey, where are y'all going?"
JJ shrugged. "We gotta wring it out." Juliette couldn't stop the snort that left her.
A disgusted expression flashed across Kie's face. "What — you gonna hold it for each other?"
Juliette was laughing by now, covering her face to conceal the sounds as she buried her head against Kie's shoulder. "Oh, God, that's fucking hilarious yet scarring at the same time."
Kie was snickering, holding her friend as she tried to help subside her chortles. "I mean, come on, think about it. When we go to the bathroom together, we just don't like to go alone. But boys don't give a shit and usually go on their own, right?"
"No, yeah, you do have a point. I never went to the bathroom in restaurants without Sarah."
She noticed the way Kie's grin faded at the mention of Juliette's best friend. "Right," Kie murmured, avoiding her gaze as she stared at the movie.
"Hey, what happened with you and Sarah?" Juliette asked, drawing her legs up to her chest.
Kie hesitated. "It's whatever, you know? Just some stupid thing that happened years ago."
Juliette opened her mouth to ask another question, but the words died in the back of her throat when she realized Pope and JJ still hasn't gotten back yet. She frowned, turning around to check the three Kooks — and froze when she couldn't find Rafe, Topper, or Kelce anywhere.
"Uh, I'll be right back," she blurted out to Kie, scrambling to her feet as she hurried off to where the boys had walked over to earlier. "Guys?" she stage-whispered, striding away from the crowd as she approached a large tree next to the tarpaulin set up.
Juliette's blood ran cold when she laid eyes on the scene before her. Amidst the darkness, she could see fists flying and arms locking around each other's necks. Kelce was trying to grab hold of JJ who kept squirming in his grip as Rafe advanced forward intimidatingly. Pope was bent over, his back repeatedly jabbed by Topper's elbow as Rafe urged him to keep going.
"What the fuck are you guys doing?" Juliette cried out in panic, running over to place both hands against Topper's chest as she gave him a strong push. He stumbled away from Pope, and she quickly helped the boy up to a standing position. "You okay?"
Pope whimpered in pain.
"Jules, get out of here!" came Rafe's voice, and she spun around to his direction, only to yelp at the way she was suddenly picked up off the ground and thrown onto someone's shoulder.
"Rafe, what the hell?" Juliette growled, beating a fist against his back before she was placed on the grass further feet ahead. She was glaring at the boy who was frowning at her.
"Stay out of this," Rafe warned, turning around to return to Kelce who was holding JJ steady. And before Juliette could even see it coming — Rafe threw a punch directly into JJ's gut. And another.
"Rafe, stop!" Juliette was pushing herself off the ground, stumbling to run to the boy who was now repeatedly beating JJ up. She jumped onto Rafe's back, hooking her legs around him as she wrapped her arms over his neck and tugged him forcefully. "Get away from him, Rafe!"
"Jules, get down," Rafe was growling impatiently, moving his body around in attempt to make her fall off him.
She could hear Kie yelling at them, trying to get Topper and Pope to stop fighting. Kelce was now tightening his grip around JJ, and Juliette shot the boy a harsh glare as she spat, "Kelce, don't you fucking dare try to pull that shit."
"Rafe, I swear to God, leave us alone and mind your own damn business," Juliette managed to say, still latching onto Rafe who was trying to pry her off of him.
Something was burning.
The strong smell of smoke suddenly filled Juliette's lungs as she coughed raggedly. She let go of Rafe, falling to the ground at the same time he tried to swing her around. She winced at the fall, her eyes watering from the smoke as she broke out coughing. She looked to see JJ's backpack was next to her, and Kie was right there holding a lighter.
Kiara Carrera lit the tarpaulin movie screen on fire.
"Oh, shit, guys, fire!" Rafe was hollering out to his friends, making Kelce let go of JJ and Topper release Pope. He was taking a step backwards to get away, until his eyes landed on Juliette and he made to reach for her. "Jules — "
"Don't touch me," she snapped, worriedly looking over at JJ who was sprawled all over the ground and clutching his stomach in pain. "JJ, I'm coming, hold on."
Rafe stepped forward to her again, reaching a hand over probably to grab her wrist. "No, Jules, come on — you're coming home with me now."
Juliette didn't know what she was thinking.
One minute she was trying to get to JJ, and the next thing she knew, she was reaching into his backpack and sliding out the gun she knew was in there. Before Rafe could even register what was happening — Juliette Starling was holding a gun and pointing it at him with firm, steady hands.
Rafe halted on his feet in an instant, both hands flying up to his sides. "Jules," he started.
"Go, Rafe."
The color drained from Kie's face as she slowly helped Pope up. "Julie, don't."
"She won't," Rafe said, albeit he didn't sound as confident as he thought he did. "She's not gonna shoot me."
"Rafe, come on, man," Kelce was calling for him, he and Topper were further back by now.
Juliette didn't break eye contact with Rafe once. She was wheezing slightly by now from the amount of smoke she'd inhaled, but she kept a strong grip on the gun as she clicked to unlock the safety. "If you think for one second that I'm not pulling on this trigger, Rafe, then you're dead wrong."
A muscle feathered on his jaw as he watched her for a second longer. Then he stepped back and away from her. "Okay, Jules," he said. "Okay. I'm leaving. Just put the gun down, yeah? I'm leaving."
Her heart breaking into a thousand pieces, Juliette watched as the boy she loved with every ounce of her walk away from the gun she was pointing at him. The boy who once claimed she was his saving grace, and the only person in the whole world who would always love him no matter what.
Even as JJ peeled her shaking, clammy fingers away from the gun he stored away safely, Juliette still felt as though that string that once tethered her to Rafe infinitely was now splitting slowly by slowly.
And she didn't know if they were ever going to be okay again.
The terrifying part was that as she stood there, her arms around JJ as they helped each other walk away from the fire — a small, hidden part of her still hoped and ached for all this to be a fever dream, and that she never left Russia, and that her and Rafe were still together.
A/N
new challenge! name the little turtles u see in the paragraph breaks <3