╭ ╮
━━━━ " 📂 "
𝙏 𝙃 𝙀 𝙎 𝙀 𝘼 𝙍 𝙀 𝙏 𝙃 𝙀 𝘿 𝘼 𝙔 𝙎
╰ ╯
THE CHATEAU, THE CUT
KILDARE, OUTER BANKS, (NC)
IT HAD BEEN SEVERAL years since Evelyn Montgomery had blearily opened her eyes and had to take a few moments before she realised she was asleep somewhere in John B. Routledge's old fishing shack of a house. By now it was such a common occurrence that she would recognise every plank that made up the ceiling, or any piece of furniture that may lay in her eyeline.
That morning, which came in the midst of their summer break, was no different. Her head didn't feel as bad as it had the day before, and the room wasn't spinning like it was when she fell asleep - Evie clearly had been dealt incredible cards that morning, because she had expected to wake up with a splitting headache and the sickly feeling settling in the pit of her stomach, but instead she was just... awake.
There certainly was a pressure on her stomach, except she wasn't so sure that it was because she drunk too much or she was having another late night existential crisis - because it was too early for that - and when she began to become aware of her various other limbs again, she shoved herself up onto her elbows, which dug haphazardly into the old mattress scattered with sheets and blankets below her, she turned her head to find the arm belonging to one of her best friends.
It seemed that, in their drunken, probably high (if she could remember) state of stumbling back into the chaperone-less Chateau, she had ended up sharing with JJ and John B again. It happened way too often when it came to summer, when she didn't actually have any expectations except to show her face on the north side of Kildare every so often to assure her parents that she was actually alive, and this time around it so happened that she was right between the two boys she had been best friends with since she was twelve.
It was John B's arm on her waist, much to her surprise, because JJ was usually the clingier one and, well, Evie's head turned to the other side and she found exactly what she was looking for; JJ's head exactly where the curve of her neck had been.
"Hey there, angel." Ah, so that was his pet name of choice this morning, JJ's lips curling up into a hazy smile as he realised she had moved and with a grin, Evie collapsed back down onto the mattress and winced when she felt the spring in her back.
"John B needs to get rid of this thing." Evelyn murmured her reply, not wanting to disturb the final of the three who still happened to be sleeping. "But morning, JJ. No pounding headache?"
"Oh yeah, it's like a freakin hurricane in there. But you make it all better." That didn't really surprise her either; JJ was a flirt at heart and his attentions had been solely focused on her for well over a year now. And, despite the rules, there were certain limitations that they both had bypassed and ignored entirely. "How you feeling, huh?"
"Tired, babe." Evie twisted on her side, John B's limp hand rolling onto the curve of whatever bottoms she currently had on - and she was half sure it was only a bikini - and her eyes met his. Her hand reached up to his hair, pushed blond curls back. "God, you look like a wreck."
"See, that's exactly what I was going for." He hummed, not really having to move that much closer until their noses were brushing. "Do you remember anything?" Her head shook. "Best kind of night."
Evie watched his expression divulge and change, through pain of a headache go through his skull to the early morning bliss of waking up unscathed and in the path of a daze of sunlight. "Do you remember anything?" She asked, although things were slowly coming back to her and she had a stark reminder of traipsing through some kind of forest.
"Kinda. I mean... not a lot. I know we snuck off at some point, like always." He couldn't help but grin and there was absolutely nothing Evie could do to stop him. "We had some fun. We always have fun."
His finger curved under her chin wearily, coaxing her a little further forward, her nose slipping past his. She could feel his breath on the corner of her lips. "Always." She smiled, slowly. "But not when our best friend is asleep on the other side of me."
"Come on, half the fun is in the risk." JJ was nowhere near done, his words imprinting on her mouth before he kissed them off, the hand on her chin reaching the back of her neck to encourage her even closer if it was possible.
But, alas, they were half dead and nothing could quite come of it and moments later they fell apart, still close enough to kiss but nowhere near the energy needed to do it. It didn't restrict their smiles, seemingly, because as Atlas's eyes slipped back closed her fingers traced along the curve of his lips, nails tracing gently over the shape. She looked at him then, as properly as she could when her eyes were heavy with sleep, and he was smiling. Grinning, actually, maybe beaming, ecstatic despite the thunder in his head.
"Fuck off." She breathed out a laugh and watched as his nose screwed up at her words, rolling onto his back and nearly almost falling off the side of their makeshift bed - because it was only double and not king-sized with nowhere enough room for three people, even if the one in the middle happened to take up minimal space.
"Fuck you too, angel." JJ replied. His hand was skimming her thigh, twisting under her skin. It was soft there, from tan and sun cream and coconut-scented lotion, and he pulled her closer like that, sandwiching her to his side. "Fuck you too."
A groan echoed around the room. The hand skirting over her thigh came to a stop. John B sat up, eyes squinted in the light as he looked at them. "Are you two still drunk or something?" He asked, still too sleepy to realise just how close the two were laid.
"Yeah." Evelyn turned to look at him, ignoring the unnaturally needy pull of JJ's hand. "Something like that."
"Well, can you sober up real quick because this place is a shithole." John B didn't lay back down, instead he did what could be considered the opposite and swung his legs over the side of the mattress, pushing himself up to stand.
"Yeah, but when is it not?" JJ pointed out. Evie added a wave of her hand in what seemed to be agreement.
"That's fair." John B nodded. "Yeah, that's fair."
"Give us a minute, JB." Evie said. "We'll be up in no time. Do your chickens still lay eggs?"
"There are so many innuendos there but I'm way too tired to make them." Obviously, the blond wasn't tired enough to not point out their presence.
He was ignored by both of them, Evie forcing herself to sit up again. "I can check. You making breakfast?" John B reached for a t-shirt and pulled it over his head, the same bandana tied around his neck as always.
"Can do." She glanced down and found herself to be pretty correct - she was in nothing but a swimsuit. "Wanna pass us a shirt? One of those button-ups?"
"You got it." John B did as he was asked, and as she covered herself up a little bit the shared look between long-term best friends went unnoticed by her. It wasn't anything new, though, considering what the three of them had been through during their first meeting.
"JJ, you coming?" Evie pushed herself up on the mattress, figure swaying in the echo of the sunlight that forced it's way through half-covered windows.
The shirt wasn't all that big on her, just enough to cover the bikini bottoms and settle around the top like it was meant to be like that. She was all long tanned legs covered in an excessive amount of bruises and cuts with a frayed twist of various coloured twine around her ankles and, quite frankly, neither of the boys could think of a sight much more attractive.
"Yeah." The blond's words were muffled by the old sunken pillow he shoved his head into when Evie's focus had turned back to him, not wanting either of them to see the shit-eating grin that had covered his expression as he realised the comparatives between himself and John B. " Yeah, just give me a minute."
Evelyn's gaze turned to the brunet, who shrugged. " You heard the guy." He said. "We've got OJ and beer if you're wanting mimosas with your eggs, asshat." John B managed to reach out and hit JJ's leg under the cover and chuckled as he yelped.
"You know you need champagne for that." Evie said as she followed John B into his mess of a kitchen.
"Yeah, I know." He was probably the first out of the guys to not make a joke about how stupid it was that she knew that. "But we gotta make do." He reached onto the counter. "Toast?" He threw the bagged bread to her.
Evie examined it. Her nose wrinkled, a shiver racking through her body as she noticed it. "Rotting. And past the point of cutting around it." She threw it back and John B threw it at the trash can, missing horrifically and having to pick it up and shove it in the can.
"Just eggs then. Eggs with beer and OJ." He said.
"Breakfast of champions." Evie nodded, looking around the uneven floor for her sneakers and pulling them on, disappearing out of the house, through the porch and out into the yard. John B watched as she went, JJ joining him moments later.
She could be see crouching by the hen house, lips moving as she spoke something unknown the the chickens within - in that stupid high-pitched voice that came across her every time she had to interact with anything outside of the human race - and the two best friends watched intently as she reached around for their eggs.
All too suddenly, JJ felt his best friend smack his chest. "Dude!" He exclaimed.
"No pogue-on-pogue macking." John B said, far too purposefully to JJ's liking.
"Well, you know, that shit never really applied to us." He said, proud of himself for even being able to do so. Then, he caught John B's eye and raised his arms in mock surrender. "Sorry, JB, forgot." JJ claimed, because it was only those two who knew the realities of each other's situations, and whatever was going on with Evie was a big part of each of those realities. "I'll just make the mimosas. We still have beer?"
"Yeah." John B nodded. "In the fridge with the OJ." He remained in the doorway as JJ left, got to witness the sight of his best friend turning back to the house, proud as she held up what could only be an egg.
JJ joined him again, arm over his shoulder and the bottle of orange juice hitting John B on the chest. "Breakfast of champions, my friend." He repeated. "Breakfast of champions."
⎈
The beer and orange makeshift mimosas were, as Evie could quite easily admit, far nicer than any of the actual mimosas or, with peach juice instead, bellinis that she had drunk in her lifetime (and that number in itself was far higher than she cared to admit given her parents aptitude for dragging their children through a particularly high number of events throughout their lifetimes) and were a good wake up call for the day, and particularly good disguise for crushed up pills that John B swore up and down were Advil, and there was just enough label left on the bottle for JJ to agree with this.
They felt a little better after this, and after the three of them made quite the effort to clean up after the night before, JJ nominated himself to drop Evie off home in the old VW camper and without much worry to whether or not she had left some stuff behind - because she would, no doubt, be back that very evening - they began to make their way to the north side of the island, back to the far too large houses that contained far too privileged people and, much to her dismay, Evelyn's family.
Spluttering to a stop, the camper van served as nothing more that a most useful mode of transport and a shield from the judgemental looks of the Kooks as they crossed through into the uncharted, far too well-kept territory. Now, it proved useful in drawing out Evie's goodbyes to her best friend, her eyes darting from the marble columns that held up the front of her house back to the boy beside her.
"You don't have to go if you don't want, y'know." JJ had his wrists resting on the wheel, taking his usual stance of leaning forward and surveying the sheer size of the house in which Evie truly lived. It was hard to remember, sometimes, that she didn't live at John B's house, sleeping on any surface she, or her drunk self, deemed fit, and instead that her bedroom was on the second floor of some mansion on Figure Eight where she had a cleaner and a chef and two parents who earned more in a month than JJ would ever know in his life. "You can come back with me, John B won't care. Neither will Kie, or Pope when they turn up."
"I know they won't care." Evie nodded, earnest. "But my parents will, and I haven't been home in a couple days and I need to go pick out a few changes of clothes and properly shower and stuff."
His eyebrows rose, tongue skimming over his bottom lip as he nodded towards the house. "Yeah, you really look like you wanna go in there." JJ's head tilted. "Come on, E, don't kid yourself."
"I'm not, J." She smiled over at him, one hand closing around the passenger door handle and the other around the straps of her bag (it was the one she always used and most of her friends were fondly aware of it; they had seen many things be pulled out of the faded flower-printed canvas depths). "But I'll text you in about five minutes when I bypass the parents and we can plan for tonight."
The door slammed behind her as she slipped out, feet crunching on the gravel below. JJ had the window down in seconds and she turned back to him, elbows resting on the somewhat dirty ledge that remained. "We don't generally plan these things out, babe, y'just have to come up with a place and we'll turn up. Got something specific in mind?"
"Hm." Evie's head tilted to the right, strands of hair falling over her eyes and she brushed them back. "Maybe just pick me and Kie up and then we can go from there."
"I still have access to that land your dad and Ward Cameron are building on the other side of Figure Eight from when we did a bit of work on it ." JJ offered. "I'll talk to John B about it. Pope can get drinks."
"Yeah, okay." Her fingers drummed against the side of the camper as she stood up. "Yeah. Come pick me up, won't you?"
"You know I will," JJ replied with a nod, a familiar smile growing as he leaned over the console expectantly and she made the effort and managed to kiss him on the cheek.
She shook her head as she turned away, feet dragging as she made her way up the stairs onto the stone porch, past the columns and after turning back to smile at him one last time before disappearing from sight, through the heavy, overly-large front door. It felt like an alarm bell when she heard it shut behind her; a welcome back to hell, landing on the other side after crossing the river Styx.
There were only two things she could ever commend her house on - the fact it was where she had all her possessions (and in a place with actual storage and cupboards) and the fact that it was actually clean because John B and his old brush were nothing in comparison. There were, however, many things that she hated about the place - it was too cold, it had her parents, it had every reminder of the injustices people on the south side of Kildare were facing, and it reminded her of the fact she currently wasn't with her friends.
To everyone on Figure Eight, the Montgomery household was somewhere warm, where they often spent evening parties with the wonderful children - well at least two of them - and it was a beautiful house to spend time in. For the middle child, it was a nightmare house, but she could at least realise she was pretty lucky to be there.
"You haven't broken your record yet." A voice echoed across the hallway just as Evie placed her foot on the bottom step. She stopped, sighed and turned, hand reaching for the bag slipping off of her shoulder. Her father stood by the entrance to the kitchen, arms folded across his chest. "That was only two days, your longest was...?"
"A week," Evie replied quietly. "When it was JJ's birthday."
They had gone camping and gotten a boat to the mainland on a whim and when Kie, John B and Pope gained a conscious and weren't as drunk or high (or neither, for some) as they had been upon deciding to go and returned home, it had been JJ and Evie who stayed behind with only enough stuff for a couple of days but somehow managed to scrounge with what money she had saved (and stolen from her parents) for another few.
That had ended up with her being grounded until the first week of summer - something she hadn't abided by and snuck out all the more - but set her parents up with a number to lord over her head. She could stay out all night, she would only return to them to hear them jeer about how it wasn't longer, and if she was longer then all she would hear was how it was a miracle she was back so early.
And that morning was a perfect example. "I expect you'll be leaving later." Burke Montgomery looked expectant and watched as she nodded. "I see. I don't quite think your mother and I would appreciate it if it was a long stretch again. I understand that it is summer and you are wanting to have fun with your... friends, but it is nice to know that you are alive."
If he hadn't made such a face when talking about her friends then maybe she would have believed what he is saying. "You mean to check that I haven't gone 'full pogue'?" Evie barely blinked. "I mean, that's why you want me to keep coming back, right? Because this is the only thing left that ties me with this part of my life."
"Evelyn, your mother and I have worked hard for you to simply entertain this lifestyle. Whether you like it or not, this is your home, you are expected to turn up everyday." Burke stepped forward out of the doorway and to where she was stood by the staircase. "That wish for everyday might have diminished in its entirety, however when we have important events. There's Midsummers soon, you're expected to go to that and-"
"I agreed to go to that months ago." Evie pointed out. "I willingly went dress shopping with Mom the other week. I've agreed to have my hair done, to sit there and look pretty - I know that's happening."
"Good." He nodded. "Then it seems you will be perfectly agreeable when I inform you that we're having dinner with the Camerons tomorrow night at the Club."
"What?"
"Dinner with the Camerons tomorrow." Burke repeated, adjusting the watch on his wrist and starting up the steps in front of her, heading towards his office and anticipating some kind of resistance that involved a storming up to her room. "You're going to be there to accompany Sarah; your brother has cancelled his plans to be-"
Evie had followed after him instinctively. "You don't mean Elliot's cancelled his plans with Rafe to hang out with Rafe? God, I don't think I've ever been so shocked!" She looked it too, her expression pointed and sarcastic. "Oh - and Noah's not going to daycare so that Wheezie can have someone to watch over because she definitely still plays with dolls and who cares if he's real-"
"Evelyn."
"I'm not friends with Sarah, Dad. I haven't been for years."
"Then you can make a solid attempt to be tomorrow night. Just be glad that you're being asked by me instead of your mother." Burke said, pushing open the door of his office and standing there. "You understand just how important out relationship is with the Camerons, Evelyn, the least you can do is sit and eat a nice dinner with them."
She didn't say anything for a moment, looking considerably flippant with her arms crossed over her stomach, fingers tugging at the bottom of her shirt as it rode up. "Fine. If it's that important." She swallowed and turned away, not really wanting to bother with the conversation anymore because it was reminding her far too much of the fact of what she could have been had she been born without a brain or the initiative to discover how messed up those in the upper end of society were.
"Your mom is looking forward to having you and Noah at lunch." Burke called after her. "Rosa is making those hot sandwiches you all like."
"Right." Evie disappeared into the door of her room, shutting the door behind her oh-so quickly and leaning against it, clutching the small bag she had brought back with her to her chest. That sort of treatment she was used to so it didn't bother her so much anymore. However, the idea of eating lunch with her mom was less than appetising, which was truly a shame because she was missing out on seeing Noah grow up because of that, but she was certain that it would be detrimental to her mental health. And Serena couldn't even make lunch herself, she just had to have the cook make it - which was another thing she couldn't stand.
Evie just really hated her fucking home.
She emptied the contents of her bag onto her cold bed, scooping up the dirty laundry and sneaking out into the shared bathroom to leave it in the hamper, managing to not get caught as she came back to her room and select a couple more changes of clothes and some other stuff she might need, before leaving her newly packed bag by the door and settling on her bed.
And there was another reason she wasn't at home quite so much; she really didn't have anything to do. There was an uncomfortable, sick feeling in her stomach that she didn't really want to address, and her eyes landed on the black screen of her phone.
Her mind was made up in an instance and she reached for it, tapping the screen several times before lifting it up to her ear. It rung only for a moment before it was answered.
"Hey, JJ, how far did you get?" She asked, arm crossing over her stomach and hugging the bare skin there as she pulled her legs up to her chest.
He chuckled; she could only just hear it past the sound of the radio and the rumbling of the old van. "About to cross the bridge, you want me to come back babe?" JJ replied, evidentally all-knowing.
"...Please." Evie pursed her lips. "I can shower at John B's, right?"
"I mean he has working water, sometimes it's a little too hot but he has it." He sounded almost distracted and Evie didn't mention the sound of tires screeching as he made a certainly dangerous U-turn. "You need anymore time to get your stuff?"
"No, I repacked my bag as soon as I got here... You don't mind, do you JJ?"
"Of course not." He replied, earnest. "I'm happy to help, babe, whatever you need. You need a ride? You've got it. You need a hook-up - including drinks, weed, maybe other drugs and the usual sex - you got it. You need a friendly ear, you got it. You need-"
"You paint a brilliant picture, J, so I kinda get the point." Evelyn cut him off.
"I do, don't I?" And now he was smirking, she could easily picture it. "Don't worry about it, babe, I'll be there in a few minutes waiting at the end of your drive. Pick up some snacks on your way out?"
"I think I can manage to do that." Evie agreed. She smiled, sat up. "Thank you, JJ."
"Don't worry, babe, I've got you." Came the reply, and with that, she was able to hang up and get ready to leave once more.