HOPELESSLY DEVOTED
an outer banks story
by -spacecadet
CHAPTER ONE: FRIEND ZONE
No one tells you how hard it is to be in love with your best friend. Especially when your best friend is JJ Maybank.
Campbell remembered the day they met like the back of her hand: she was new to the island, an orphan sent to live with her grandparents in the Outer Banks. Her first day at Kildare County Elementary School, dropped plum in the middle of fourth grade. Her new teacher sat her next to a blond-haired boy with eyes like the ocean, eyes that always were focused out of the window, worlds away from the multiplication problems written on the whiteboard.
"Hi," she said, smiling. "I'm Campbell. I'm new."
If they were going to be table partners, it was imperative that they were on good terms. That much Campbell knew.
His eyes trailed over slowly, widening slightly, as if just registering the girl beside him. His eyes locked on her brown curls, her green eyes, the confident tilt of her grin.
"I'm JJ."
"Cam, are you even listening to me?"
The irritated tenor of JJ's voice brought Campbell out of her daydream, and her eyes locked on JJ as he paced back and forth on his front porch. Campbell was sitting in the rickety old porch swing, listening to him rant about something. He'd gone off course so long ago that she wasn't even sure what he was mad about anymore.
"Of course I am," she replied, forcing a quick smile.
He chuckled and shook his head, kicking an empty beer can off of the porch. "No you're not."
"You're right. I'm not. And would you stop your pacing, please?"
JJ sighed and took a seat next to her, pulling his red International Harvester hat off of his messy blond locks for a second to run his hand through them, before setting the hat back. His arm brushed against Campbell's as he did so, and despite the North Carolina heat, she felt goosebumps prick up where he'd touched her.
Goddammit, it was so infuriating.
Campbell hadn't asked to be in love with JJ Maybank. She'd been plenty happy being his friend. It'd been enough, and it still was. She'd be happy being only his friend for the rest of her life, as long as it meant JJ was still there. However, the heart never cooperates, that much Campbell came to realize, and sometime between middle school and high school, she realized that her love for JJ wasn't entirely platonic.
"We should probably get headed over to John B's," Campbell said, standing from the swing. "If we want to catch a ride to the Boneyard."
The Boneyard was a favorite beach of locals, used by pogues and kooks alike. It had decent surfing opportunities, but the real fun began in the summer, when someone procured a keg or two and the teens of the island came together to have a good time.
"Yeah, you're right," JJ said, standing to join her. "We can take my bike."
JJ's motorbike was a loud, red thing that Campbell didn't consider a fully safe mode of transportation. But, JJ hadn't died yet, and he'd done a lot of stupid things on the bike, so she trusted him to drive her on it.
"Hey, you know who's gonna be there tonight?" JJ asked as he led Campbell to the bike.
"Who?"
"Wyatt Turner," JJ said, turning to his friend with a smirk.
Campbell shrugged as she joined JJ on the bike, wrapping her arms around his firm torso.
"And I should care why, exactly?"
"Well, you know, the fact that he's got, like, a massive thing for you."
Campbell scoffed, feigning disinterest and disgust to mask the twinge of sadness in her chest at JJ suggesting that she should be interested in Wyatt Turner.
"Umm, no thanks."
JJ laughed as the bike roared to life, and they took off down the Maybanks' driveway. "What? You're both into the same shit. I bet you'd get along well."
"Same shit like what?"
"Y'know ... surfing?"
"Surfing?" Campbell echoed. "Only Wyatt and every other person on the island likes surfing, J."
As if her unrequited feelings weren't painful enough, the thought of JJ trying to set her up with someone else made Campbell want to hurl herself right off of the bike. Thankfully, John B's home, affectionately known as the Chateau, came into view, and JJ slowed the bike down before Campbell could do any real damage.
It wasn't that Wyatt was a bad guy -- he was kind, funny, and plenty cute, and he was a great surfer. Campbell wished she could be attracted to Wyatt. Anything to take her mind off of JJ.
Campbell hopped off the bike before it had even really stopped. "Please just never mention Wyatt Turner to me again, okay?"
JJ put his hands up defensively. "Noted."
The subject of Wyatt Turner was quickly forgotten as they approached John B's house and their other friends, the pogues. John B's father, Big John, was the most lax parent ever, so he pretty much let the friends use the house as their hangout spot, whenever they wanted.
John B Routledge, Kiara Carrera, and Pope Heyward were relaxing on the dock, sipping on cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon, laughing and joking with each other as they looked out at the marsh. Upon hearing Campbell and JJ's footsteps on the pier, the three pogues turned around, breaking into wild smiles at the sight of their other two friends.
"About time!" John B hollered, standing up to wave with his can.
"I hope you saved some of those for us!" JJ called back as he bounded down the dock towards the others.
Campbell took her time, knowing that all it took was one slightly raised board to take her down, as she was extremely clumsy, and she didn't feel like falling in the water before the party.
"We were beginning to wonder when you two were going to show up," Kiara said, handing Campbell a can of beer.
Campbell graciously accepted it and took a seat beside Kie on the dock, dangling her sandal-clad feet above the water.
"JJ was too busy pacing to notice the time," Campbell replied, sipping the foam off of the top of the can.
JJ scoffed and cracked open a can himself. "Please. Cam was too busy daydreaming to listen to me, so I had to repeat myself."
"Well, you know Campbell," John B replied with a laugh as he teasingly rubbed the top of her head. "She's our little daydreamer."
Campbell rolled her eyes and shoved John B's hand away. "J, did you ever stop to think that maybe you were boring me to death?"
JJ feigned offense, though his expression was contradicted by the playful look in his eyes as he studied his friend. In all honesty, Campbell had been hardcore daydreaming, as was her custom. She was not about to tell JJ, or the other pogues for that matter, exactly what she'd been daydreaming about.
Just as JJ was oblivious to the fact that Campbell was in love with him, Campbell was oblivious to the fact that the other pogues were well aware of her feelings for the Maybank boy. She still thought she held a secret over all of them.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ author's note ✫・゜・。.
well, there's your introduction to HOPELESSLY DEVOTED. this is going to be a rollercoaster ride, my friends.
i am so excited to just write the pogues being kids in this book!
sorry this chapter was a bit short, but the next one will be longer, i promise!
thank you so much for reading, and please let me know what you thought :)
xx,
madi