❝THE BONEYARD❞
sage
the boneyard. the center point of the outer banks, where kooks and pogues shove their differences aside for however long they're there and go right back to hating each other as soon as they leave. john b calls it 'a three layer burrito'.
there's the pogues, us and our friends, the low-class derelicts from the cut, we host most of these shindigs, if i'm being honest, everyone else just shows up on their own accord.
the kooks, their mostly all here on summer breaks to see their families after nine months at whatever pouncy-ass boarding school or kook academy they're enrolled in on the mainland. our natural enemies.
then you have the tourons. completely clueless, here on vacation for a couple weeks with their families. absolute chum for the sharks, aka, my brother and jj.
"hey, you want a beer?" john b asks flirtatiously to a freckle-faced girl who had walked up to the keg.
"don't mind my brother, he's off his meds." i whisper the last bit, john b smacking my shoulder as the girl laughs, taking the beer from him and walking off, john b looking at me in bewilderment.
"dude, what the hell?" he asks angrily, to which i only smirk back.
"i'd rather not come home to you doing some poor random touron in the living room, thanks." i reply, filling my cup and taking a long drink from it and winking at john b.
"what is she doing here?" kiara says from behind us, john b and i looking at her before following her gaze across the beach.
she was looking at sarah cameron, kook princess, who was sitting on top of a washed up buoy. john b works on her dads boat, we've seen her around, but not much else.
"sarah, be careful." a voice said, and topper made his grand entrance. topper was sarah's not-so-pleasant boyfriend. he actually believes pogues are bred to mow lawns, it's pathetic, actually.
"who knows? if we get shitfaced enough we won't have to deal with their bullshit." i say to kiara, who shrugs and gets herself a drink from the keg, filling me up another cup and passing it to me as i take a long drink.
"you want a beer?" john b asks another girl, and i turn around as he walks off with a different touron than before, making me roll my eyes.
"how did i end up with a man-whore for a brother?" i ask kiara, who shrugs next to me.
"who even knows. hey, look at that guy!" she adds enthusiastically, pointing at a boy with a kanken backpack with astrology patches on it.
"go talk to him!" i encouraged, kiara nodding and giving me a small wave before walking off.
"you gonna go mingle amongst the commonfolk?" jj asked from behind me, and i shrugged.
"im looking for morgan, have you seen her?" i asked, and jj shook his head.
"she'll drag rafe down here, she always does." he said, a blonde touron tapping his shoulder.
"we want you to chug with us." she said with a flirtatious smile. jj gave me a look that told me he wanted her gone, so i did what i did best.
i lied.
"he's diabetic, are you trying to kill him?" i asked appalled. "how much have you had him drinking, huh, barbie?"
"i- i didn't know!" she said defensively, and i scoffed.
"yeah, sure." i said, giving her a disgusted look and pulling jj away, who smiled gratefully at me.
"she's been all over me since she got here, it was pissing me off." he explained, and i shrugged as i poured myself another cup from the keg.
"you're usually not one to turn down women, jesse james. what's the deal there?" i asked, and jj shrugged as he sat on a log and i sat next to him.
"you heard me at the motel. certain someone." he said, and i nodded as i took a sip from my cup.
"so who is this mystery woman?" i quizzed, but before i could answer, someone had poured beer on my head.
"what the fuck?" i yelled, turning to see rafe behind me, morgan nowhere to be seen. without hesitation, i had thrown my cup at him, sloshing beer all over him as people around the beach yelled at us to fight.
"you're fucking dead." jj muttered, swinging his legs over the log, but i beat him to it. before i could process what i was doing, there was blood on my knuckles as rafe cameron laid on the sand, groaning as crimson flowed from his now broken nose.
"try again, bitch." i mumbled, wiping his own blood on his now beer covered shirt, everyone around us suddenly silent.
"shows over, folks, move on." john b said from behind me, and i turned to see him smiling widely at me. "and that's my sister." he added happily.
"yeah, what impressive things have you done?" i asked him, and he shrugged.
"i dunno, i'd call getting us the key to that motel room pretty impressive." he replied cockily, and i shoved his shoulder jokingly.
"you're a dork." i mumbled quietly, john b smacking the back of my head. "don't hit me, you bitch!"
i slapped his side as he punched me in the gut, making me double over as i laughed, swinging my legs around to knock his out from under him, making him stumble a bit and put his hands up in surrender.
"alright, alright, enough." he said through laughter as i smiled back at him, jj walking over and throwing his arm over my shoulders.
"you want this?" he asked, holding a cup out to john b.
"oh, you got that for me?" he asked, pretending to be bashful, jj playing along.
"oh, yeah, totally- oh, hey sarah!" jj said, and my head snapped towards the blonde he was talking to.
"sarah, can i interest you in a tasty milwaukee beverage?" jj asked, and i looked from him to sarah, who only smiled back and shook her head.
"no, we're actually getting ready to leave." she replied, and jj scoffed.
"oh, come on, is it not fancy enough for you?" jj taunted, to which i backhanded him in the mouth. he looked over at me with raised eyebrows. "what, sage, don't be a killjoy."
"leave it." i muttered, but topper had stepped up from behind sarah.
"y'know, what, man, i'll take it!" he offered, but jj shook his head.
"that's nice of you to suggest, topper, but unfortunately i didn't ask you." jj mouthed, and topper scoffed. "now if you said pretty please, maybe." jj added.
"oh, pretty please?" topper mocked. "pretty please?"
"okay, i think it's time for barbie and ken to head out, how about you two hit the high road and go back to your air conditioning and electricity, come on." i said, gesturing for topper and sarah to leave, gripping jj's shoulder as i did so to stop him from moving towards topper.
"yeah, i'm not taking orders from some bitch pogue, i can tell you that right now." topper said, taking a step closer and getting in my face, the smell of alcohol clear on his breath as i leaned back.
"i'm gonna need you to back the fuck up." i replied. "preferably all the way up the hill to your car, take your toy with you." i added, pointing to sarah who only rolled her eyes.
"dirty pogues." topper said through gritted teeth, and now john b was involved. he didn't hesitate to grab the cup from jj's hand and throw it onto topper, who shoved him backward into the log.
"you got this?" i asked, my brother nodding before lunging back at topper, taking a swing at him, the sound echoing across the boneyard as topper stumbled backwards, immediately returning the punch to john b. before any of us could process what had happened, topper had swung john b around, away from the log, and pushed him towards the water.
"john b, don't make me drown you like your old man, okay?" topper asked, and i clenched my jaw as jj wrapped his arm around my waist to stop me from getting involved.
john b was up again, throwing himself onto topper as they wrestled around in the water, sarah yelling at topper to stop, which only encouraged him to continue.
eventually, topper had the upper hand. his knee in my brother's back, he kept his head under the water.
"he's drowning him- get off me!" i screamed at jj as we both moved over to where kiara and pope were standing.
"do something!" pope said to jj exasperatedly, who hesitated before turning on his heel and running over to his backpack.
"topper, get the hell off him!" i yelled, but topper only shoved john b's face farther under the water.
jj was back, standing behind topper with something in his hand. the click of the gun safety silenced the crowd as topper immediately let go of my brother, taking his knee out of this back and letting him crawl away from him, barely sitting up and gasping for air.
"yeah, you know what that is." jj said threateningly as topper slowly stood up. "your move, broski."
"jj! put the gun down!" sarah yelled, jj looking over at her mockingly.
"did you say something, princess?" he asked.
"we're good, we're good!" topper repeated as jj turned, holding the gun in the air.
"alright, everyone listen up! get the hell off our side of the island!" he screamed, firing the gun twice as people ran in all directions screaming. kiara and pope laid into jj as i turned to john b, who was looking sickly pale.
"b, hey look at me." i said, quickly sitting in front of him and holding him upwards, kiara and pope yelling at jj behind me.
"i don't feel good." my brother slurred, and i nodded.
"yeah, you look like shit." i admitted. before he could respond, john b's eyes rolled backwards and he collapsed onto me.
"guys! help!" i yelled, jj and pope looking towards me, john b slumped on my chest.
"okay, get him to the twinkie, i'll drive." jj said, pope and i picking john b up and basically dragging him across the beach as he spanned in and out of consciousness.
"what's happening?" he asked when we got to the van and sat him in the backseat.
"i'm gonna walk home." kiara said from outside the van, and pope nodded.
"me too." he said, jj and i nodding as he turned the van on, immediately pointing vents towards the backseat with the heat on.
"we're gonna take you home, you're fine." i mumbled, john b laying his head on my shoulder.
"i'm tired." he slurred, and i nodded.
"you can sleep when we get home, okay?" i asked, and he nodded, almost immediately falling asleep on my shoulder. "so shitty at following directions."
kens speaks 🪐
i'm so tired rn bro
also this is long af and i hate that it's all in first person