— ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ —
OAKLEY WAS ONLY 6 WHEN SHE fainted for the first time. It had been at a doctor's visit along with her siblings, the three were in need of a blood test because of a virus that was spreading through the island. The room smelled of chemicals and a fresh breeze of latex aroma that haunts her to this day. Her mother had tempted her to go first, claiming how it'd be faster and she'd be done with it quicker. And so after many complaints, the girl had finally agreed and sat her scrawny body on the chair.
The nurse wrapped the strap around her upper arm and turned it palm up. Oakley still remembers clearly picturing the way the thin needle was gonna break her vein and stab into it, and how that was gonna be the way her blood would start leaving her body and filling the tubes that rested next to her hand. Her visualization turned into a thought blinded by dread and the mere thought of blood coming out of her body turned into the concept of bleeding out.
Her thoughts had been so jumbled and terrorizing that she was too late when she focused back on her arm and noticed the thin transparent tube coming out of her arm now had dark red blood traveling through it and filling the containers like water fills a cup. The sight had made her panic so much that her breathing had picked up drastically and her hands had begun to sweat.
When Beatrice noticed, she quickly asked her child if she felt alright. The nurse raised his gaze to check on the young girl and noticed as she began to grow pale and disoriented. Quickly, he'd pulled the needle out and placed a colorful bandaid on top of it before coming to her aid.
Oakley wanted to escape, though, and her first instinct once the needle was out was to jump to her feet and seek the comfort of her mother. However, just as her body lifted itself from the chair, she felt her vision sway and black spots blind the corneas of her eyes, making her head spin and pound before she was falling sideways to the ground.
Her body hitting the floor was the last thing she remembered.
Her body hitting the floor is always the last thing she remembers.
Her senses take a while to come back, first her hearing. It's like a broken machine in her dreams, it beeps, beeps, beeps. She tries to find it, it frustrates her. It smells familiar, latex and chemicals. It's like the scent of a distant dream, but she can't quite place a location to it and the damn beeping won't let her think straight!
Eventually, when her reasoning comes back, she realizes it's just the heart monitor. Beep, beep, beep. But whose? She looks around, but her surroundings make no sense because her eyes aren't open. Her fingers twitch as a translation of her struggle, and slowly, her eyelids pry open and her eyes take on the burning white light of the morning and the hospital.
With a weak groan, Oakley tries to open her eyes fully, but her eyelids are puffy and her eye bags feel too heavy to allow her the privilege of sight. Beatrice, who happens to be sitting next to her bed, perks up at the movement, and her eyes snap up.
"Oakley,"
The girl's ears wake into life and she gets slightly startled, moving her eyeballs tiredly to see her mother watching her with concern written all over her face.
"Come on baby," the woman says kindly and Oakley releases a lazy breath, blinking slowly.
"Mor,"
The woman gently rubs her cheek and strokes a strand of her daughter's hair behind her ear.
"I'm right here,"
Blinking one more time, Oakley takes in her surroundings, noticing herself tucked under some thin blankets in a comfortable mattress she recognizes way too well. The hospital— with its dizzying aroma and eye-burning white lights. Her eyebrows furrow and her tongue slowly slides across her lips.
"How—"
"Were you gonna tell me?"
Confused, the girl blinks one more time and takes in a deep breath that sends a sharp pain to her delicate abdomen, making her groan and tilt her head back.
"God it hurts,"
Beatrice nods.
"Welcome to the world of untreated stab wounds," the woman states in an almost scolding tone.
Everything comes back like a tidal wave and Oakley's face falls as she turns to look at her mother.
"Mor. . ." the woman simply stares at her daughter, lips unconsciously pursed in slight frustration, "How did I get here?" the girl asks fearfully.
"The Routledge boy brought you here before fleeing," she replies, an unfamiliar venom added to her voice.
Oakley internally panics.
"John B? Where is he?"
Beatrice scoffs and turns away, placing her palms in a praying manner and pressing them against her mouth as she shakes her head.
"On the run, that's where he is. You really don't remember? Do you not want to tell me, Oakley?"
The girl's eyebrows dip in a puzzling confusion and her eyes fill with concern. Slowly, she sits up on the bed with quite a struggle and shakes her head perplexedly.
"What are you talking about?"
"God Oakley, stop it with the dumb act! For being good you turn out stupid! How can you keep defending him after he did this to you?!"
Oakley opens her mouth to ask her meaning yet again, but as her words connect, no audible reply comes out of her mouth as her face pales and shivers run a marathon from her head to her legs, making her fingertips run cold and her legs tingle. They'd blamed John B for her injury?
Turning her head with her eyes wide in fear, the girl's breathing becomes agitated, "Who told you that?"
"I think shooting Sheriff Peterkin is enough evidence that this didn't happen as an act of magic,"
Beatrice's sentences are now starting to sound like a dizzying combination of words that make no sense whatsoever. The word John B, shot, and Peterkin in that precise order make her physically lightheaded as a million thoughts start running through her head. It couldn't have been him, and he definitely wasn't the one that stabbed a knife into her stomach. They were framing him, and Oakley couldn't even picture everything that must've gone down since last night.
"John B did not shoot Sheriff Peterkin," Oakley states weakly, sounding like a voiced thought.
"Uncle Ward was right there, Oakley. I should've noticed the warning signs— I should've trusted your father,"
Suddenly, a whole new problem is added to her combusting head and her eyes snap into life for the third time. Her chest contracts and anxiety makes a home in the pit of her stomach.
"My father. . . my father, my father. Where is he? Where is he?" She asks desperately, sitting up.
Beatrice looks at her in confusion, "He's in business. In the Mainland. He likely won't be back for a long time, but don't worry about it, I've informed him of all this,"
Oakley feels like it's all a bad, bad dream.
"He just coincidentally took off to the Mainland for who knows how long?" She asks in bitterness.
Beatrice bites back with the same bitterness, "Coincidentally?"
Sheer, raw rage consumes every part of the teenager's body, and her blood bubbles with ire.
"You know who did this, Mor?! You wanna know who did this?! Your husband! My fucking father did this!"
The woman is severely taken aback by the harshness of the girl's words, pulling back when she sits up in the bed and violently shoves the covers off her body.
"What's gotten into your head, child?!"
"What's gotten in yours?! Framing John B for murder and aggravated assault like he's just a criminal that happened to walk by as a misfortune?!"
"I believe in the law, Oakley. I can't believe you're blaming your own father to cover up for a demented kid!"
"Demented?! Demented! Let's recapitulate, shall we? The Royal Merchant, the gold, we found it, we did! Me and my friends found that bullshit and my envious piece of a father couldn't take the defeat. Demented is him, whose stupid ambition was enough to put a fucking blade into my skin! You just won't believe me because a Pogue can never win against a Kook!"
Beatrice looks down as pain radiates in her chest, "Stop it, Oakley. Stop saying barbarities. Please, what's going on with you?"
Oakley's bottom lip trembles and her eyes fill with unshed tears, "How dare you, mor,"
The woman keeps her gaze low and shakes her head.
"How dare you not believe me? You were supposed to know me better than anyone— you were supposed to know them well enough to keep them under your wing when everyone shoved them and kicked them in the dirt," her voice breaks by the end, "Keep your beliefs to yourself, take the side you want, but when the truth comes out— and it will— be careful who you have on your team. They might as well stab you in the back,"
With that, the girl shoves the blankets off her body and bravely pulls the IV off her arm, causing the heart monitor to beep manically. Beatrice jumps to her feet but Oakley manages to shove the physical pain into the core of her body and escape the jail of the hospital room.
"Oakley! Oakley Moon!"
The girl wipes her tears and quickly makes her way down the corridors before the nurses get alerted and run after her.
There's one thing in her mind when she pushes out the doors of the hospital.
Where the fuck is John B.
Meanwhile, outside, the sky is gravitating back towards the night. The air is cooler, the trees louder in their swaying and the loons sing for the moon to come out. Amid the early night, the Pogues ride the Twinkie with a mix of emotions. Having just dropped John B off somewhere in the middle of the road for him to seek a hiding place, now there are only 3 left, with one lost in action and the other escaping from his actions.
Kie sits in the passenger's seat, JJ rides in the back, and a very high Pope drives. Naturally, the only one that isn't having all this is Kie, who watches Pope drive with a blunt between his lips in full disbelief. Their best friend has just been framed for murder and they barely know anything about Oakley's wellbeing and they're acting like children. It's surreal to the girl, but then again, she's grown used to their immature antics.
"Pope, you clocked that car, man," JJ laughs, low hip-hop music playing inside the truck, "Like, that was so bad,"
Pope turns towards the blonde, "I'm just glad I'm not driving now,"
At this, Kie's face falls in utter disbelief as she looks between the two idiotic boys that seem to have lost their brains somewhere along the way. Their laughter strikes a nerve inside her, making her immediately act before tragedy strikes— again.
"Pull over,"
And so Pope does, except it's quite a bumpy stop and a harsh halt that makes all their bodies jolt forward. As soon as the car is settled, Kiara slams her door open and walks out of the truck.
"JJ, this is not funny. He shouldn't be driving," she throws the door shut and rounds the car.
"Mama's mad," JJ mutters.
Kie throws her hands at her sides with an angered look plastered on her face but decides against wasting her breath arguing with a literal six-year-old and proceeds to kick Pope out of the driver's seat and hop in herself.
"Where are we going?" JJ asks and Kie takes a deep breath.
"First we're gonna go break Oak out of the hospital,"
She starts the car and JJ's jaw clenches. The images of her bloodied abdomen and limp body are terrifyingly vivid in his conscience, all the crimson goo staining her clothes and pooling on the concrete. The moment he looked into her eyes and nothing looked back but a pair of void sky eyes and the palest skin against bones. He'd tried to wake her up when she'd fallen into his arms, but he was completely horrified, and he'd been unable to move before John B had to swipe her from his hold.
He's still trying to process it all, and even though it's barely been a whole day since he last saw her, the way he longs for her is insanely haunting. He feels the need for her comfort, he wants to rest his lips on her soft ones that feel like clouds against his skin. He wants to hug her, hold her and remind himself that as much as he belongs to her, she belongs to him. At the moment, JJ Maybank wants nothing more than to stare into the pair of ocean eyes that got him on his knees the day he met them.
"And then where are we going?" Pope asks.
Kie glances back at the two boys, "The last place they're gonna look,"
And so, in the serenity of the hip-hop rhythm beating in the radio, the birds' melody entering through the open windows and the hum of the night's slumber, the Pogues plan out a way to round the island and get to the hospital without drawing attention whatsoever. They map every single road of the OBX, drive through the most unvisited areas of the island and eventually decide on an idea that could be the only effective way of getting their fifth pea back inside the pod.
That plan turns out magnificently when the Twinkie pulls over in the woods behind the hospital with no target behind their heads or a single police encounter. The car comes to a smooth stop between some trees behind the large building, but now the real issue lies on how to actually get the girl out of there.
"Okay. . . now what?" Pope asks.
Clenching his jaw and looking out the window at the dark surroundings, JJ's blue eyes morph into determination as he quickly opens the door and hops out of the car.
"JJ, what the hell are you doing?" Kie whispers between gritted teeth and JJ leans into the passenger's seat through the window.
"I mean, she's not gonna come to us, might as well go to her,"
Rubbing her face in distress with a huff of air, Kiara has no other option than to agree to the risky plan. Even if it seems like walking directly into the mouth of a starving whale, she figures there is, actually, no other way of finding Oakley.
Or so they thought.
"Well, Pogues always find their way to each other, right?" A raspy voice breaks the atmosphere and all three heads jerk around towards the woods.
There stands no other than their Oakley, wearing a hospital gown and with her wavy hair let down on her shoulders. Her cheeks are red, as per usual, but a big grin curves her lips opposed every odd being against their favor. JJ's face seems to burst into light as soon as his blue eyes fall upon the beautiful girl standing in front of him, and without thinking it twice, he's wrapping his arms around her and lifting her from the ground in pure bliss. Consecutively, Kiara and Pope sprint out of the van and join the couple, not even bothering to take turns to hug the girl.
Oakley is so happy she doesn't even acknowledge the pain at her side at all the pressure and harsh shoving from the hugs. She's just relieved to have JJ and her two best friends with her for the time being, and before she is hit with reality, she wants to thank the world that at least she escaped that horrid hospital room and can now succumb to JJ's warmth instead of a thin blue blanket's.
"Feels good to be back. Did you guys really risk it to come back for me?" They all get back inside the truck, JJ taking ahold of the girl's wrist as if he could lose her any moment.
"I mean, we definitely weren't gonna leave you behind," Kie replies as she seats in the driver's seat with Pope on the passenger's.
JJ sits and pulls Oakley on his lap, wrapping a delicate arm around her stomach and the other around her legs.
"Plus, lose ends are always a bad oversight,"
Oakley chuckles and nods, resting her head on the crook of the blonde's neck and sighing deeply. The Twinkie falls into a deep silence of unspoken questions. The faint music is the only courageous one to break the tension, but between the Pogues, none of them know how to break the ice and throw the first question. . . or answer.
"You scared us, Oak," Kie seems to be the only one maturely developing thoughts.
At the sound of her voice, Oak slowly lifts her head and looks at her through the rearview mirror. She lowers her gaze once Kie's brown eyes lock with hers and rubs circles on JJ's leg.
"I feel like you guys should know that the person who did this was my father,"
Jerking around, both Kie and Pope's— and even JJ's— eyes widen as they look at the insecure girl. The brunette and the raven-haired boy look at each other in disbelief and Oakley feels anxiety build in her chest just by their wordless reaction and the lack of a solid answer. JJ senses her distress and squeezes her thigh gently.
"Are you kidding me? Is this a joke?— I hope this isn't a sick joke,"
"Pope, I don't think we're in the appropriate moment to be joking around, don't you think?" Oakley sighs, "But anyways. I'll explain everything when I can, but before all that, I need you to explain to me,"
"Yeah. . . We should do that," JJ nods.
And they do.
— ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ —
It comes more like a disappointment than a shock to Oakley Clifton hearing that her best friend has become the island's number 1 searched delinquent for something he did not do at all. But then hearing that her cousin Rafe had done it did hit like a tidal wave. In fact, it was a little excessive to receive such loads of disturbing information all at once, and Kie had to stop the truck in the middle of their way for the girl to empty her insides on the side of the road.
They'd waited for her to stop feeling like she'd pass out any second before trying to explain the last bits of the story, but there was so much to it and so many related people to the murder that she loved dearly that Oakley Clifton couldn't physically take the information. The blame was on John B, which wasn't only a complete injustice but also terrifying for the Pogues, and then, the actual guilty is Rafe, as in Rafe Cameron, her dear cousin. How did life get so flipped? One will never know, but if there's something Oakley is completely sure of is that the Outer Banks are nothing near paradise on Earth.
They explained the plan as well, asked her how she was, and then it was her turn to speak and tell them all about her brief conversation with her mor. Now, Oakley simply lays her head on JJ's lap while he and Pope joke about something as Kie drives them towards the Cameron house. The girl isn't tired at all, and JJ's presence wakes her up even more merely because of the desire she has of making the most of her time with the boy.
But right now, there's no time to waste.
As they arrive outside Oakley's cousin's house, the girl immediately sits up and watches as Kie walks out of the car.
"Perfectly focused," Pope mutters to the two in the back.
"You sure this is a good idea?" JJ asks one last time.
"She's the only one who can clear John B,"
"Last place they'll look because of how stupid it is,"
While Pope and Kie climb through the house's fence, Oakley slides into one of JJ's old grey sweatshirts and a pair of sandals she left in the back of the Twinkie years ago. JJ watches her change with a gentle smile, his blue eyes taking her all in by moving around her body like a dazed child looking at candy.
"Hey," the boy speaks.
Oakley pulls her hair out of the sweatshirt and looks at her boy, a smile unconsciously coming to her lips just at the gentle connection of their gazes.
"Are you okay?" JJ asks and Oakley's smile widens, revealing a small dimple on her left cheek.
"Yeah. . . You?"
JJ looks around with a sigh and shrugs.
"Yeah, peachy,"
Oakley chuckles and slithers her arms around his torso, letting her head rest on his chest and the addictive smell of his minty and weedy scent fills her nostrils. JJ's arms wrap back around her and his cheek lands on her head as he cradles her body. He places a kiss on her hairline and another on her forehead, forcing her head back until he reaches her nose and makes her giggle. He smiles and continues down until his lips meet hers and they move in sync, eyes sliding shut and hands gripping the other's backs like their lives depend on it.
Their tongues find each other like a desperate reunion after decades apart, and it's never unlike this, for their touches always yearn for each other, and it's no secret. His warm breath and her sweet taste merge into one, becoming, once again, that explosion of life the Earth is bound to get used to. He is madly in love with her, and she is madly in love with him. And everyone else is going to accept it someday, somehow.
Her hands trail up to his hair and his down to her hips as the kiss grows more passionate the second. They let out unintentional noises of delight and the lust in their eyes is bright enough to gloss over their shut eyeballs. It's a youthful love that's unusual to see, but it exists, and it's precisely them.
Finally breaking apart, the two connect their foreheads as their heavy breathing joins in one. Oakley's hands grab the sides of his face and his large ones hold her small hips, pulling her into him as she moves to sit closer to him. Sitting between his legs and leaning sideways against his chest, the girl regains her breath and holds the boy's hand tightly.
"I needed that," he confesses, making the girl release a breathy laugh.
"Yeah, I did too,"
Pressing her against him, the boy gently grabs her chin and tilts her head back so that her clear eyes are staring at him. With that white glimmer at the top of her irises and the beautiful dark hue that usually rests under her eyelids, the girl gives the beautiful boy a smile and blinks calmly. Unable to contain himself, JJ places a finger under her chin and leans forward, pressing a small kiss to her lips and smiling down at her. The irresistible way she licks her bottom lip after kissing urges him to lean into her again, and he pecks her lips again and again and again until it turns into a fully lasting kiss.
The only reason they pull away is Oakley's smile interrupting the kiss and making JJ laugh. He cups the side of her face and litters kisses all over her skin, making her face scrunch and her eyes close tightly. Giggles wrack her body and her hands rest on his chest as she 'tries' to push him off her. In all honesty, though, she could have him next to her all day and wouldn't even mind.
Eventually, the laughing fit ceases, and the two return to a normal position. With her sat between his legs and resting her back against his chest, and him with his arms wrapped around her shoulders and holding her hands on her lap. They stay quiet for a couple of heartbeats, just taking it all in and giving a grieving silence to the nighttime. JJ rubs her knuckles lovingly and she rests her head on him, enjoying the peace while it lasts.
"You know, this seems like the only moment of peace we're gonna have in a long time," Oakley comments.
"If peace is the cost for John B's safety, I don't mind living in the middle of the mayhem,"
Oakley smiles.
"Yeah, me neither," she sighs, "I'm terrified, J,"
JJ gently places his chin on her head and releases a slow breath.
"We have each other. John B has us, we have him, and we have each other. We're gonna get through this just how we get through everything,"
Oak nods her head and hugs his arms tighter around her body, letting her cheek fall on his arm and placing a small kiss on his skin. He resists the urge to melt right then and there and simply leans back and closes his eyes, waiting for the other two to come back safely and to head home and continue planning their next move.
And once Pope and Kie return into the van safely, informing the other two that the plan had unfortunately not fully worked, the four musketeers are ready to skedaddle away from there and go get some needed rest to have fully charged brain cells to come up with something that will save their best friend.
The Pogues are in the deepest shit they've ever been and probably ever will be, but at least they're all trapped in the same hole.
Author here! Sorry I took so long I'm SO SORRY!😩 I had the biggest writer's block I've ever had and was having a very hard time picking up my pace with the writing... But anyways, I'm back! And though the updates may be a tiny bit slow (once a week, once every two weeks), I WILL continue this book! So please don't give up on me! ;).
So, here's chapter 23 for you all and in commemoration to OBX announcing that they are already producing season 3! Literally best day ever. Anyways, please let me know what you think so far AND what you'd like to happen. Keeping contact with my readers really does inspire me a lot to write, and plus, I haven't written what comes next in the story, so you could decide the future of this book...
Ok, that's all, bye! Love you all! <3