SMOKE SIGNALS / OUTERBANKS
ੈ✩‧₊˚ written by catie . . . © vqnillascented
chapter nine ━━ ' making amends '
WALKING ACROSS THE LAWN up to the entrance of Tanneyhill, Alex had a lot on her mind. The last time that she had spoken to Rafe, he had dismissed her ━━ it was like their actions the previous night meant nothing to him. And of course, she was angry, but she really just wanted to talk to him. Maybe he would open up more if his friend's weren't around.
Alex soon caught a glimpse of a person hurriedly coming around to the side of the house. Once they had screeched to a halt, she identified that it was just the boy she was looking for.
She took faster steps, anxious to get over to him. As she go closer, however, she noticed how he was clutching at his arm, his face all screwed up as his chest heaved.
"Rafe?" She furrowed her brow, slowing down her approach, feeling wary.
He snapped his head to look at her, his messy hair falling over his eyes. He had a pained look sewn into his face, and sweat was dripping from him.
"Are you okay? Did you hurt your arm?" Alex motioned to the way that he was gripping at his forearm.
"No, no." Rafe shook his head quickly, turning partially away from her. "I'm fine, I just got into it a little bit with a friend."
"Let me see." She stood in front of him now, reaching for his arm. He jerked away from her touch.
"I said I'm fine, Alex, stop it." He tried to move away from her but she was persistent.
Finally she was able to wrap her fingers around his wrist, yanking his arm back so she could see what was clearly causing him so much discomfort. She gasped at the sight of the inflamed flesh, blisters bubbling up from the wound.
"Did somebody burn you?" She tried to make eye contact with him but he kept his eyes on the ground.
"Yeah, but I deserved it." He scoffed at his own sentiment, pulling his injured arm out of her grasp once again.
Alex shook her head. "Well, we still have to treat the wound."
He kept his face down, but peered up at her through his eyebrows. "We?"
"Yeah, come on." She grabbed his other arm, and started to pull him towards the house. The two of them slipped inside, going straight for the kitchen.
Alex dropped her grip on Rafe to start peeking into every cabinet and drawer. "Do you know where Rose keeps bandages and first aid stuff?"
"The end cabinet on your right." Rafe replied, standing in the corner with a hand over his injury.
"Got it." Alex removed the red first-aid kit from its place on the shelf. She spun around to set it on the island, quickly yanking the zipper open.
"Wait, let's go to me room, yeah?" Rafe stopped her. "What if somebody sees us together?"
"You're right." Alex paused her rummaging through the supplies, scooping up the kit and rushing over to the staircase. Rafe was right on her heels as she made her way up the steps.
He moved in front of her to lead the way to his bedroom, which was two doors down from Sarah's. As she slipped past, Alex peered into her best friend's room, seeing the blonde sprawled out on her bed, entranced by the book that she was reading.
Alex gritted her teeth, feeling a pang of guilt shoot through her. She didn't even want to imagine how Sarah would react if she caught Alex sneaking into her brother's room, after specifically telling her not to get with him, and after Alex had done so anyways.
She regretted the kiss, and she regretted their night together, realizing now that Rafe might not be what she needs. But she couldn't stop her instincts from taking over, her urge to help him stronger than her remorse.
Rafe closed the door once they were both inside his room, and Alex took a moment to look around. The decor was nutraul, almost looking like he hadn't ever decorated or made the space his own, he just threw his stuff inside and called it his room.
The injured boy took a seat on the bed, which grabbed Alex's attention and she sprung into action. After digging through the first air kit for a moment, she found some burn relief cream and some gauze, which she decided would work.
Slowly, she started to spread the medicine on Rafe's arm, keeping her touch light on the sensitive area. Despite her attempted delicacy, Rafe still winced everytime her fingers ran over one of the fresh blisters.
"Sorry." Alex breathed.
Rafe laughed under his breath. "You're okay." He muttered, watching her carefully with his piercing eyes.
She didn't say anything else for the next few minutes, finishing applying the cream and then beginning to wrap up the burn with the gauze.
"Thank you for helping me." He broke the silence, eyes darting down to watch her small hands
Alex paused to look back up at him, a small smile playing on her face. "Yeah, of course."
She broke off the gauze from the roll, pinning it closed. Then, she leaned back, trying to put some distance between them.
But, the more that she moved away, the more that Rafe leaned forward, attempting to close the gap between them. Alex longed more than anything to do the same, but the image of Sarah sitting on her bed, blissfully unaware of the betrayal that was taking place just a few doors over, was stuck on a loop in her mind.
"We can't." She breathed, and this was enough to finally make him stop.
He let out of long exhale, leaning all the way back and letting his head fall down to his chest. "Alex, if you're worried about Sarah, it's fine, she won't find out."
Shaking her head, she replied, "I...I'm not."
He chuckled at her, "It's not like we haven't done more already."
Alex's breath got caught in her throat. "Yeah....we have. And then you left before I woke up and acted like it never happened."
"You're talking about Midsummers?" He asked, and after she nodded he went on, "Our friends were all around, I figured you wouldn't want to them to find out, so I acted nonchalant about it."
"I came up to you asking about it, Rafe." Alex sighed, looking down at the floor. "I wanted to talk and you totally brushed me off."
"Well, I'm sorry, okay?" Slowly, he began to lean forward once again. "I guess I read the whole thing wrong."
When Alex looked up again, Rafe was mere inches away from her face. Her breathing grea shallow and she couldn't stop her gaze from locking onto his lips. Quietly, she said, "You won't do anything like that again, right?"
"Never." His breath was hot against her mouth.
"Okay." She fought back a smile so she could press her lips against his. The kiss was short, but it had reignited many feelings that had been faltering on Alex's end.
She pulled away first, smiling up at him from her place on the floor. "I'm gonna put the kit back before anybody notices that it's missing."
"Good idea," he smirked. "Cover our tracks."
Giggling, she slapped his knee playfully. "I'll be right back."
She stepped out into the hall, shutting the door as softly as possible behind her. After starting down the hall, she completely froze when Sarah's door creaked open.
"Alex, what are you doing here?" Sarah gave a confused look.
The brunette quickly came up with a lie. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to get frozen yogurt with me, but when I was going up the stairs, I tripped and cut my knee. Hence the first aid kit. I was using the bathroom up here to wash off, since the downstairs one was taken."
Sarah's eyes darted down to the knee in question, furrowing her brow even further. "Your knee looks fine."
"Yeah, well," Alex fibbed. "I cleaned it up really good. It wasn't too bad anyways."
"Oh." Sarah seemed to buy this excuse. "Well, I'm glad that you're okay, and I'm extra glad that you're here, because I needed to ask you something."
"What is it?" Alex's mind raced, wondering if she had found out about her secret fling with her brother.
To her surprise, however, Sarah simply lowered her voice down to a whisper and said, "We have to go shopping."
"Why are you whispering?" Alex kept her own voice at a normal volume, finding that she was now the confused one.
Sarah's eyes darted all around, as if she was looking to see if anyone was spying on them. "Because we have to go...with some...friends?"
Merely blinking at her, Alex remained silent for a moment. "Sarah...what the hell are you talking about?"
With a frustrated sigh, Sarah snatched Alex's wrist and dragged her down the stairs. As soon as they stepped outside, Sarah whipped to face her. "John B wants us to meet him at his dock."
"And why couldn't you just say that?" Alex pulled her hand free from her best friend's death grip.
"Because I don't want Rafe to hear, duh." She slowly started to creep her way over to her car, which was parked just a few feet away. "He'd be pissed if he knew we were hanging out with the pogues." She scoffed at her brother's ridiculousness. "We gotta keep secrets from him, right?"
Alex's stomach sank, and she chewed on her lip nervously. "Yeah, of course."
Sarah noticed her friend's hesitation, but decided not to mention it beyond a wary look. "Well, let's go then."
Knowing that Rafe was still sitting in his room, waiting for her to return, Alex forced herelf to nod, "Yeah, let's go."
"HEY ALEX? Can I talk to you for a minute?"
These were the first words that John B said to the girls as soon as he caught sight of them making their way down the long dock behind his house, towards him and his boat.
"Hey, John B. It's nice to see you too." Sarah teased him, shaking her head while she laughed.
"Hey Sarah." He said quickly, turning right back to Alex once the two of them had finally reached him. "Walk with me for a sec?"
"Sure." Alex was confused, but she followed behind him as they left Sarah standing on the end of the dock alone.
"You better start talking." She told him, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Okay, so," he took a deep breath before he started to explain. "JJ, Pope, and I came up with a plan to get Kie and Sarah to cooperate."
"And that is?"
"We're gonna leave them on the boat together overnight." He winced slightly as the words came out, as if he was afraid of her reaction.
Turns out, he had every right to be concerned. She screeched to a halt and barked loudly, "What? Are you crazy?"
"Shhh." He rushed to quiet her, holding s finger to his lips. "
"They'll kill each other."
John B clicked his tongue. "Well, then we won't have to worry about them, will we?"
Alex chuckled, shaking her head at the floor. "You're diabolical."
"Thanks." He grinned. "I think."
The two young teens returned to Sarah, dodging all of her questions, telling her the story that they had come up with on their walk back to her.
"We found another boat in the marsh." John B tried to convince her. "I thought you guys might want to see it, maybe you know who it belongs to?"
Sarah opened her mouth, confusion still raging in her eyes even despite his conviction.
"What if it has something to do with the gold?" Alex cut Sarah off with a question of her own. This made the blonde's eyes widen, and then she nodded quickly.
"We can't just stand here." She hurried to clamber into the tethered boat. "What if somebody came and got it and it's not there anymore? We can't lose a possible lead."
After sharing a descreet high five behind their backs, John B and Alex joined Sarah in the boat, starting up the engine and speeding off, luring Sarah right into a trap.
Alex was just standing on the hull, staring out over the shimmering waves, letting herself enough the cool breeze. When all of a sudden, somebody grabbed her shoulders, sending the shock of adrenaline through her as she jumped from the contact.
She whipped around to see who had dug their own grave by deciding to scare her, not surprised at all when she saw that JJ was keeld over with laughter behind her.
"I can't believe you jumped so hard." He wiped at his eyes, crying from his enjoyment. "That was crazy."
She shoved him backwards, playfully, trying to calm her now-racing heart. "That's so not funny."
"You're smiling though," he pointed to the way that her lips were twitching in an slight grin. "So it must've been a little bit funny."
Alex ducked, using all of her willpower to keep the smile from overtaking her whole face. He watched her with a twinkle in his eye. After staring for a moment, he started to move away, taking steps backwards.
"I'm glad you decided to come, after Kie had gone all crazy on you." He said, and she followed him into the cockpit.
She shrugged. "That's okay. I know how Kie is."
"Yeah," he scoffed. "She told us all about the little trio of Kook princesses that she was in. The only reason that we're not locking you up on this boat with them is that she said she didn't really have a problem with you."
"She said that?" Alex was impressed. "It sure seemed like she did when I stepped on onto the porch the other day."
"Apparently, she was just upset that you didn't pick sides between her and Sarah when they were fighting." He explained, crouching down and starting to mess with a panel in the floor. "So, I think if those two fix their issues, then you should be off the hook as well. But if it doesn't work, then we will not hesitate to lock you and Kie up somewhere alone, so don't get too comfortable."
Alex laughed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the wall. "How are you guys planning on keeping them on here exactly?"
He was able to remove the panel from the floor, revealing a cut out full of tangled wires and ship parts. "You're about to find out." He stuck his head out the opening, calling for John B to hurry and come here.
"The wheel wasn't turning properly, so I opened this bad boy up and look at this shit man." JJ said once John B had joined him.
"Oh no. That's not good." The brunette tugged at the roots of his hair, and Alex choked back a laugh from the insincerity that was oozing from his tone. "Sarah?"
The blonde joined the others in the room. John B looked over his shoulder, saying, "Do you see that little trap door right there?"
Sarah followed his pointing finger, nodding carefully. "Yeah, what about it?"
"Can you open it? There's a little storage room down there, and I need you to find the toolkit that I keep on here."
"Can't one of you do it?" Sarah pleaded. "I have no idea what I'm looking for."
"Sorry, Sarah," JJ piped up. "We can't move. We're all holding some important cables in place."
"You got this." Alex smiled at her.
"Y'all are too much sometimes." Sarah rolled her eyes, but despite her attitude, she turned and made her way over to the small handle that was imbedded in the floor. She pulled it until the trap door swung open, then she ascended down the small ladder, disappearing inside the storage area.
"Shut the door." JJ hissed at Alex.
"What?" Alex was taken aback.
"Trap her in there." John B urged her. "Hurry."
Without taking another moment to think, Alex rushed over to the open trap door, kicking it gently, causing it to fall closed.
"Hey!" Sarah immediately started to cry out. "The wind must've shut the door! John B! Help!"
Alex returned to the room with the boys, and they all fought their laughter. The sound of a boat's engine approached them and they all peered out through the main window to see that it was Pope and Kiara, arriving on their own, smaller boat.
"Hide." JJ whispered to Alex, pushing her towards the back door. She slipped out of the room as quietly as possible, sneaking around the side of the boat until she could see around the corner, watching Kiara go right for where JJ and John B were.
Alex moved her eyes over to Pope, who had remained in his boat. He waved her over, and she made sure she was extra careful not to let Kiara see her as she approached him.
"Get in." Pope whispered, holding out his hand. Alex let him steady her as she climbed down into his boat. She took a seat on one of the benches, biting down on her lip as she watched the scene play out on the larger vessel with anticipation.
After a moment, Pope started up the engine, slowly moving the boat out to open waters. The next thing Alex knew, JJ and John B were sprinting away from Kiara, diving into the water in a blur. They swam over to the boat and pulled themselves in, joining Pope and Alex.
Kiara ran out after them, but was quickly distracted by Sarah's cries for help. She bent down and yanked the trap door open, scowling when her fears were confirmed by the face staring back at her.
As the two girl's let out their loud exclamations of disapproval, Alex and the boy's continued to speed off into the distance, leaving them behind. Once they were far enough away, the four teens burst into loud laughter.
"Oh my God, I can't believe we pulled that off." John B said.
"They are totally gonna rip each other apart." Alex giggled, clutching at her stomach, which started to hurt from all her laughing.
"Yeah, well, let's not worry about them right now." JJ said, turning to Alex with a devilish smile. "You've got the rest of the day as an honorary Pogue, what would you like to do?"
Alex laughed at his formality. "I don't know, what do you guys normally do?"
The boys exchanged a look, and Alex knew, right then and there, that she would surely regret this.
She spent the rest of the night back at John B's house, jumping off the dock, drinking way too much beer, dancing to whatever loud music that JJ played, and just having a really good time.
When the sun finally went down, Alex decided that she should probably get home before her parents started to worry. But as she walked away, into the night, she couldn't help the ache in her chest, yearning for nothing more than to return to the fun that she had been having all afternoon.
She had a feeling that now that she had gotten a taste of the freedom of being a Pogue, she might never go back.
catie speaks!
hii guys! thanks so much for reading, i hope you enjoyed the chapter! sorry for not updating for a month, i've been really busy with school and everything, but hopefully i'll have more time to write in the summer!
follow me to be notified when i update. votes & comments are also highly appreciated! i have a tiktok which is the same user as here, i post edits and teasers for my fics, including this one. i would love if you'd check that out too 🫶
virtual hugs,
catie :)