— ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ —
HOW NO ONE FOUND OUT OF HER ESCAPADE yesterday is beyond Oakley, but she decides against dwelling too much on the thought and simply lets it be as she carries on with her life as a mischief. The next morning she wakes up late, at about twelve o'clock or perhaps just a few minutes earlier, and when she does come back to life, realization dawns upon her like a punch straight across her face.
She'd told JJ to come by, and she was dead asleep.
Grabbing the phone in a rush, the girl finds five missed calls and thirteen text messages from the blonde as she slaps a hand on her forehead and pulls at her hair harshly.
"Shit," she mutters, jumping off her bed.
Bali stands up when the girl suddenly gets on her feet at a desperate pace. She runs into her walk-in closet and eagerly slides her body into a bandeau black top, denim shorts, her vans, and a short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt to put over— topping off the outfit with a red bandanna tying two strands of her hair behind her head as the rest of her hair flows freely on her back.
When she's all cleaned up and bathed in her tropical berries perfume, she dials JJ's ID and puts in on speaker as she forces her feet into the shoes. However, just as the line rings once, an incoming call from Pope intercepts with the signal, and the processing call to JJ's phone is cut.
Oakley's eyebrows furrow as she answers the phone.
"Oak?"
"Hey, Pope,"
"We have kind of a code red. JJ and John B are. . . sort of stranded in the marsh. Engine failed and they need a tow,"
Oakley sighs as her foot finally slips into the shoe.
"Okay, and why do you guys need me?"
She hears Kie behind him say something along the lines of 'I ask myself the same thing' before Pope interrupts.
"You're the only one who can predict the weather,"
Oakley's face scrunches in sheer puzzlement and Pope's eyes widen at the realization of his miserable excuse, making quickly supply a change in the subject.
"Uh, I- we- I'll be outside in two, be ready,"
And then the line dies and Oakley blinks at the wreck that the call was. She slips her other foot onto the shoe and stands up, giving little jumps to get her soles used to the shoe inserts and walking to her mirror. She gives herself a look over and sighs before walking towards her balcony and peeking to see the HMS Pogue approach her dock with a low hum.
Today Arthur works til late, Rowan goes golfing with Rafe, Stella has friends over and Jackson joins Bea to run some errands— granting the middle child the freedom she needs as she sneaks out of her house, climbing down the ladder, and landing on the dock.
She sprints towards the boat and jumps in.
"What was that phone call, Pope?" Is the first thing she says when she jumps in.
Kie stands next to the wheel and Oakley makes herself comfortable by laying on the bow, legs crossed and elbows keeping her body upright.
"I was in a rush," he replies and the girl rolls her eyes, "John B and JJ are up in the Alp,"
Oakley widens her eyes and huffs.
"Couldn't have chosen a better place to conk out,"
She diverts her attention to Kie, patting the space next to her as the girl skips to her side and sits.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
"Can't you guys do anything without us?"
The HMS comes to a stop next to the stranded boat as the two girls get ready to hop onto the vehicle to fix whatever they claim has stopped functioning.
"Seriously. I don't mean to be ungrateful or anything, I love that you guys can't picture your human survival without us. But it's kinda worrying, you should get it checked out,"
Standing on the edge, the girls climb onto the other boat and walk into the cabin to find both John B and JJ crouched next to the engine, trying to fix something Oakley can't quite see.
"What happened?"
"Uh, the alternator's, uh, not alternating anymore," JJ explains.
Oakley's mouth falls ajar as she watches the shirtless boy. His stomach is marked with abs and coated with a thin layer of sweat. His hair is messy and wet from either his own skin's discharge or having dipped into the ocean. His arms are large and manly strong, veins trailing his skin with a purplish-blue every time he applies pressure. With a body like that, Oakley doubts she'll ever need better protection. Her eyes devilishly trail down his whole person as she forgets to show her indifference and simply does not hide the fact that she is irretrievably fascinated by the whole of him.
Her eyes regain focus when the boys stand. Her heart beats rapidly as JJ's sweaty body moves towards her as the two move to leave the cabin and let Kie do the job. But as John B walks out, JJ doesn't leave before grabbing her chin and tilting to place a quick kiss on her cheek. Her cheeks flush madly as her lips break into a smile that only gets wider when the boy's body grazes her own as he walks past her to the bow of the boat.
"Alright, Juliet, come help me," Kie says as she kneels next to the engine.
Oakley rolls her eyes with a shy smile and kneels next to her.
"Uh. . ." she says when she notices something off.
Kie looks up at her as they share a look.
"Is this a joke?" Kie calls out to the mischievous two, "There are no plugs, like, at all,"
Oakley hears two splashes and immediately jumps to her feet, sprinting to the edge of the bow and looking down at the swimming boys with mouth wide open and eyebrows furrowed in fury.
"John B! John B, let me out!"
But it only gets worse when she recognizes that acute voice with an annoyingly loud pitch. Her eyes close and her body slowly turns around to see Kie crouch in front of the floor-door. Quickly moving to her side, the two girls slide the door and their faces fall at the sight of a familiar blonde.
"What? Wait. . ." she pulls herself out of the hole as Oakley walks back and looks up at the escaping boys.
"What the hell?" Kie exclaims, running to the bow, "Guys!"
Oakley follows after her, anger making her fingers twitch.
"You are not coming out of this alive!" She screams.
"Are you serious?! Are you joking?! Get your asses back here!"
Oakley rubs her eyes harshly until she sees stars.
"We can't. Not till you three figure it out," John B replies.
"Figure it out? Why the fuck are you including me in this?!" Oakley gestures her hands in confusion.
"Because she's your cousin! If Kie and Sarah try to kill each other you'll be there to help!"
Oakley's chest racks with agitated breaths as she glares daggers at the boys' eyes.
"I will kill every single one of you!"
"Y-you can't just leave!"
"There's food in the cabin, and JJ rolled a blunt,"
That at least makes Oakley somewhat relieved, knowing she won't have to deal with the continuous childish bickering of the two girls without being high.
"Hydroponic!"
Oakley looks at her blonde boy.
"JJ Maybank you're gonna regret the shit out of this!" She warns slowly and the boy's smile falters.
She knows just how to punish him.
"This is ridiculous," Sarah complains as she quickly starts to take off her shorts.
"Well, I would rather drown than stay here with you, so. . ." Kie bites back.
Oakley groans as it hasn't even been a minute and they're already on each other's necks.
"You're both gonna drown and then you'll have to deal with each other in hell," the blue-eyed says and rolls her eyes as she slides down to the floor.
The girls argue, and argue, and argue, and then Sarah jumps off the boat, desperately calling for the boys to come back. All Oakley can do is rub her forehead and blink back the stress that makes a debut at the back of her skull.
"Love you, guys! Sorry, Oakie!" JJ.
She simply raises her middle finger, without moving from her spot sitting on the floor with her back against the short-wall railing of the boat.
The next thing that catches her attention is a squeal and splashing, making her stand up. Sarah could be the most pestiferous mosquito that buzzes in your ear, but that gave no excuse for Oakley not to care about her after all.
"What?" Kie asks coldly, disgust in her tone.
"I got stung by jellyfish! Shit!"
Oakley rolls her eyes, thinking it'd be something rather worth it to squeal about.
"Dramatic," Kie mutters and Oakley widens her eyes in approval.
When the blonde climbs back up to the stairs, cursing and close to tears, Oakley does feel slightly bad as she goes over and helps her into the boat, however pulling back when she sees the bright red rash that covers her side.
"Oh, God. I can't see this stuff," she turns away and rests her forehead on Kie's upper arm.
"It stings," Sarah expresses.
"Well, you swam right into a man-o'-war, I don't know what you thought would happen,"
Oakley pulls away from the curly-haired girl's arm as she shakes her head, blinking away the image as she keeps her gaze away from her cousin's stomach.
"Thanks for your help," Sarah says ironically as she sits on the ground, gripping her side.
"Does it hurt?" Kie teases.
"Hey, Kiara. You know what they say. . ."
"No. Mm-mm-"
". . . about curing jellyfish stings? You have to pee on me,"
Kie immediately declines the proposal and the helpless blonde turns to her cousin.
"Oak?"
The girl furrows her eyebrows and chuckles, vigorously shaking her head as she crosses her arms over her chest.
"I have a better idea," Oakley suggests.
And a minute later, the three of them sit together, with Oakley in the middle to ease the tension and the metal container in her hand. She opens the small box and takes out the blunt, raising it towards Sarah.
"It's for the pain," she informs.
"JJ, bless,"
She takes the blunt and places it between her lips, bringing the lighter to the tip and inhaling as much as she can before pulling it away from her mouth, her face twisting slightly at the strong hit. Kie extends a hand out to her but she takes another hit— a helpless addict already. Her face scrunches as she keeps inhaling for long seconds, making Kie grow concerned.
"Enough," she says as she pulls the blunt from her mouth, caring about the girl's wellbeing.
Her head tilts back and her eyes close as she releases the smoke, feeling her organs tendering and weakening already. Kie takes the time to take a hit of the blunt herself.
"Jeez. I knew you were an addict but I didn't know you were a suicidal one," Sarah mutters and Oakley shoves her face, making the girl shove her back.
The blonde reaches for the blunt when Kie extends it out to her.
"Actually. . ." Kie teases, pulling it away from Sarah and taking another hit.
"Really?" Sarah exclaims in disbelief and Kie hands it to her.
Oakley watches in amusement as the girl takes a long ass hit. Her face twists into a mix of disgust and a strange variation of pain as a scoff leaves her lips.
"Trynna be like her cuz I see. . ." she mutters.
"Go easy," Kie tells her, but the girl doesn't listen.
As always.
"It's JJ's cousin's Cripple," Kie informs as Oakley raises a hand and snatches the blunt from Sarah's lips with a roll of her eyes.
And just like she thought, she falls into a coughing fit, and Oakley can just drop her head back and enjoy the fool she's making out of herself. The blue-eyed girl closes her eyes, sighs, and continues smoking.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
Oakley wishes one blunt would've been enough to send her into another orbit, but unfortunately, it wasn't, and neither was it for Kie. The girls had grown so used to inhaling the drug on a daily basis, one blunt shared between three people was simply not enough to grant them the numbness they need to bear through Sarah's obnoxious high laughing.
It's been hours. Hours Oakley's had to bear through the blonde and the raven's idiotic squabbling and hours Kie's had to bear through the cousins' stupid arguments over things as minimal as food or insults thrown at each other. It's truly embarrassing how childish the girls manage to be when they argue, but their resentment extends to their own degree, and some have it tougher than others.
Cough, cough, Kiara.
And now the night has set. The Outer Banks sleeps with the void that encloses the island accompanied by the tired singing of birds and the distant noises of various types of bugs and creatures hidden in nature.
Interrupting that lullaby is Sarah's laughter.
"Hey, guess what,"
Oakley closes her eyes and bangs the back of her head against the railing of the boat.
"I was imagining you like this just now and it was pretty funny. Would you ima- would you rather. . . have nipples for eyes or eyes for nipples. Imagine if you get really old and your nipples- your boobs get saggy, and your nipples, if they were your eyes, you could see if your shoes were untied,"
Oakley raises her head and shares a look with Kie while Sarah chuckles at her own joke.
"Is this like your first time smoking or something?" Kie asks.
Sarah looks away in embarrassment and shakes her head.
"No," she says shyly.
Oakley scoffs.
"Yes, it is,"
"It's not,"
The blue-eyed girl laughs bitterly and turns away, silence falling upon the three again.
"Hey, Cherry?"
Oakley fights the need to slam her head against the nearest metal and drown in the ocean and simply closes her eyes.
"Yes, Sarah?" She says, mocking her tone.
Sarah sighs.
"What's your problem with me lately?"
Oakley turns her head towards her.
"My problem? You know, Sarah, you expect people to give you everything on a silver platter,"
The girl watches her with doe hazel eyes. Her head tilts slightly and her eyebrows unconsciously knit as she hurts with her words.
"Cause it's always been about you. You fuck up, over and over again, but you act like nothing's happened and no one holds that against you. And that way, you do nothing and you get exactly what you want,"
The blonde turns away and shakes her head.
"That's not true—"
"You think I don't remember having you publicly humiliate my friends at the table? Or- or trying to brainwash me into ditching them and 'Cleaning myself up a little'?" Oakley leans away from the railing, voice growing louder and more passionate as she finds the opportunity to speak.
And when Oakley Moon speaks, the world shuts its mouth and listens.
"John B might've not been there to hear all the barbarities you said about him and you might use that to your advantage to pretend you never opened that pretty mouth of yours— but I was there throughout all of it, and I'm not gonna forgive you that easily,"
Sarah gulps back the lump in her throat and looks down. Kie places a hand on her best friend's shoulder and gives it a light squeeze as she leans back again.
"I'm sorry," Sarah whispers feebly, "You know. . ." she starts, struggling to speak on the subject, "Ward has always compared me to you,"
Oakley's eyes slowly relax from their ire as she turns to look at Sarah.
"When we were little, he'd always mention how you were better at sharing. When we were kids, he'd tell me I had to draw just like you because 'You were a little Picasso'," she chuckles dryly, taking a second, "And then I thought when we grew up, he'd settle with me not being you. But it just got worse,"
Oakley shakes her head.
"Oh, come on, Sarah. You're the apple of his eye,"
The girl nods, "Yeah. Yes. I am. But the point is you,"
Her eyebrows cinch in confusion.
"I became jealous of you, Oak," the blonde admits, "All those times you'd. . . run off with the Pogues, or when I'd come across you guys on the HMS having a blast. It hurt. Because I didn't get that. And God forbid that's the only thing I wanted,"
Oakley's eyes soften ever so slightly as she scans Sarah's face, finding in her the same look of honesty the Cameron side of the family shares. And it's easy to recognize the veracity in Sarah when she shares the same expression when she speaks truthfully.
"I covered that envy up with hatred. But then John B. . ."
Oakley nods.
"Yeah. I know,"
The blonde smiles weakly and Oakley turns away again, taking a deep breath. It's all quiet on the Alp as the three girls all get lost in the train of their thoughts. Oakley's mind wanders back to Sarah's confession, Kie's travels to her next move to escape the boat and Sarah racks her brain for a way to start a conversation with Kiara. In a way, the blonde finds herself braver now that she's already spat all these confessions she never thought she'd say out loud to her cousin.
"Hey, Kiara. . ."
"Oh, my God. Enough of the 'Hey Kiara' bullshit," Kie interrupts.
Oakley sighs and Sarah stares at the girl with innocently apologetic eyes.
"Why'd you do it?"
The air grows tense.
"Why did I do what?"
"We were best friends. We- we stole beers from your dad's fridge, we watched movies together, we cried about boys, I joined you guys' family meetings. We even became a trio at some point,"
Oakley chuckles as she recalls the old times.
"And then the next thing I know, I'm watching your birthday party happen. . . from Instagram,"
"It was one party,"
"You invited everybody except me. And then you told everybody I was the reason that the party got busted,"
"Okay, well, who else would've called the cops?"
Oakley purses her lips to suppress a laugh that would definitely not be adequate at the moment.
"You never asked. You just let the rumor go that I was a rat," Kie shakes her head, face scrunched in a mix of disappointment and disgust, "Even Oakley stopped talking to me for a day,"
Oakley flushes in embarrassment.
"I was really enjoying that party," she mutters and Kie nods at her.
"You were my best friend, and then you ghosted me, and I don't even know why! I mean— really— what did I do?"
A breeze of air flies past the girls, ruffling their hairs in a gentle manner that adds a touch of nostalgia to the whole interaction.
"You liked me," Sarah says, almost ashamed of herself.
"What?"
"When. . . people get. . . close to me, I feel trapped," she explains.
Oakley's always known this, but she never thought it was so heavy on her.
"And. . . I bail. And then I blame them for it,"
Kiara licks her lips and looks away, eyes glossy. Oakley grabs her arm and rests her head on her as a sort of comfort. After all, she was there for Kie when she cried herself to sleep from the shame and the pain after Sarah's party. Everyone on the Outer Banks would look at her with disgust or turn away to whisper fake gossip. Oakley had been there through Kiara's heartbreak of the loss of one of her best friends, and it had been tough.
"I'm really sorry. . . to both of you," Sarah speaks softly and Oakley simply squeezes Kie's arm lovingly.
Sarah takes a deep breath, feeling all the guilt and regret dawn on her in one massive onslaught.
". . . and I miss you, Kie,"
Kie looks at her emptily.
"Do you think there's a chance that we could be okay again?" She asks warily.
"Honestly. . ." he tilts her head, "I don't know,"
Sarah nods in understanding, accepting, for once, that things will not resolve themselves immediately when she wants them. And that some wounds take time to heal. And some don't even heal completely.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
Thankfully, Kiara's wound does heal. But she only just realizes that when she lays on the bed of boat, staring up at the ceiling as her thoughts replay the previous conversation like a continuous mantra, leaving her wide awake while Oakley is having the same difficulty next to her and Sarah is trying to let herself relax and go to sleep.
But try all she might, Kiara can't stay quiet.
"Hey, Sarah,"
Sarah takes a breath as she slowly wakes up from her attempt at sleep. Oakley's own eyes open as she looks at the curly-haired girl that lays next to her.
"Promise me that you won't bail on John B," she says.
Two heartbeats pass in the serenity of the room before Kie speaks again.
"He's not just. . . some other guy. And he really, really likes you,"
It's at that moment that Oakley is sure that something has happened between the brunette and the raven girl. Though Kie hasn't had the bravery to tell her and John B has been way too distracted with the whole Merchant deal, Oakley knows the two teens way too well not to notice a strange spark that radiates in Kie's eyes when she talks about him. And it pains her to know what she's truly feeling now that John B is in love with somebody else.
"I won't," Sarah says softly.
"Promise me,"
Sarah watches the girl over Oakley's body.
"I promise,"
Kiara finds her peace in that promise and can finally turn her head and rest her soul. But there's still something that buzzes in the back of her brain as she sighs in surrender.
"Also, I'm sorry I called the cops,"
Oakley suddenly jumps up on the bed, pointing a finger at Kie.
"I knew it, I knew it!"
The other two girls break into a laughing fit.
"I knew it, you bitch!" Sarah joins.
Oakley tackles her best friend jokingly as the laughter increases and their smiles hurt their cheeks.
"I told you, Sarah!" Oakley says, still tackling the curly-haired girl, "I was about to have the best make-out session of my life, you whore!"
"She should've invited me!" Kie justifies.
"So you called the cops?!" Sarah laughs.
"Yes!"
And as laughter replaces the dull silence of a core-deep grievance, Oakley allows herself to finally feel all right. Of all the knots that make her lungs have difficulty breathing and her heart strive to beat properly, she finds one of them finally untying, leaving space for her body to feel lighter and her mind to rest easier.
John B is a knot she'll deal with later.
It isn't until the laughter quiets down and Oakley snuggles back to her best friend's side that Kie lays back with a small smile on her face and slightly turns her head to face Oakley.
"And you go easy on JJ," she whispers, low enough to hide the secret from Sarah.
Oakley's big blue eyes snap up and her eyebrows dip faintly.
"What?"
"He's been painting flowers over your name for the past three months, bare minimum," she says.
Oakley's cheeks burst into a red hue as her lips curve into a shy smile and her head tilts down.
"And I know you're madly in love with him too. So do something before the boy dies of anticipation, will you?"
She chuckles, nodding her head against her arm.
"I will. Trust me,"
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
When the morning hits and the sunrise illuminates the sky with the most astonishing, ethereal mix of oranges and pinks, the three girls sit on the gunwale of the boat as they watch the HMS approach them with the three brainless morons that had stranded them somewhere in the marsh.
"Uh-oh!"
"You forget your keys or something?" JJ jokes.
"You guys need a tow?" John B comes next.
Oakley watches them tiredly, their jokes completely futile to make her laugh.
"Don't give them the satisfaction of thinking this worked," Kie tells Sarah.
"Listen to her. They'll use that against you for the rest of your living days,"
Sarah nods, "Absolutely not,"
The boat approaches and Oakley catches JJ staring at her, a mischievous smirk curving his rosy lips as his dimples grow on his cheeks.
"John B," Sarah starts.
"Uh, what's that?"
"Mastermind, huh?"
"I'm always planning," he grins.
Though his smile falters when he notices Oakley not even giving him the benefit of a glance.
"Some patriarchal bullshit," Kie stands.
"Yeah, that sucked," Sarah adds, following the lie along.
"I literally can't bear to look at any of you right now," Oakley applies her monologue, although it's partly true.
"You still love us though, right?" JJ smiles, his question mostly directed to the blue-eyed girl that has him on his knees.
"Not me, I'll tell you that much," Oakley widens her eyes, climbing down the boat and jumping on the HMS, not even waiting for Kie to pull them closer.
JJ chuckles and walks towards her, placing his hands on her waist as she rolls her eyes. However, it's the smell of him and the sheer warmth that radiates from his body that makes her unable to hold back a smirk, and even as she tries to act tough and look away, her eyes find themselves giving in to his tenderness as they meet his baby blues.
"I see we're not so mad, after all," JJ smiles at her.
Oakley shoves him slightly, "Shut up,"
When the conversation between the two girls lacks one other, John B turns to the missing golden-haired Pogue.
"Oak? What about you?"
Her smile dies as soon as she looks at him.
"What about me?"
John B notices the look behind her eyes and gulps, looking down as Pope takes the lead of the conversation he's unable to continue.
"Are you? Willing to work together?"
Oakley closes her eyes with a sigh and crosses her arms over her chest. JJ wraps his arms around her torso and pulls her against him, the girl letting his warm grip and delicious smell convince her of doing the job just for him. Because he needs that gold, and she doesn't.
"Fine,"
"You know what? That's victory,"
JJ squeezes her slightly, smiling brightly.
"Yep," he says, extending a hand to Pope.
"Wiggedy-wiggedy-wiggedy!" they wiggle their fingers together, making Oakley laugh and shake her head.
"Alright," John B catches everyone's attention again, "You guys ready to jack someone up?"