HOPELESSLY DEVOTED
an outer banks story
by -spacecadet
CHAPTER TWO: TEENAGE DREAM
Parties with the pogues were a usual occurrence for Campbell, and had been since JJ had gotten his first fake ID between the summer of eighth and ninth grade. She remembered the day fondly, how JJ had ridden his bicycle over to Campbell's grandparents house and told her he had something cool to show her.
They snuck up to her bedroom -- her grandparents loved JJ, but they still weren't comfortable about him being alone with Campbell in the girl's room -- and sat on her window seat, and he pulled the ID out of his pocket.
"Gregory Hannigan?" Campbell's nose wrinkled as she read the name off of the plastic card, which was an extremely realistic dupe of a North Carolina drivers license. "You don't exactly look like a Gregory, J."
"Ignore the name, Cam," he said, elbowing her. "Don't you know what this means? Alcohol, whenever we want it."
"No one is going to believe that you're 21, JJ," Campbell teased. He had grown a lot over the last year, but he was still too lanky and scrawny to look like a real adult.
JJ shrugged. "Yeah, but the people in the Cut don't care. They just want to see some documentation that says I'm 21. Plausible deniability, you know?"
That night, Campbell got drunk for the first time. That night, Campbell fell in love with her best friend.
Campbell and the pogues walked into the party at the Boneyard already half-wasted. She gripped an empty can of beer in her hand, her drink for the walk from the chateau to the beach. Kiara had tried to get her to leave it behind, but in her tipsy state, Campbell had protested that she'd be thirsty on the walk and need it. JJ, being the supportive best friend he was, insisted that it was a good idea.
She hadn't gotten more than a few sips out of the beer before she'd tripped over a branch and spilled it all into the grass, but she still had the can. Campbell Sheridan wasn't about to litter.
She tossed the empty can into a pile of others before racing to catch up with JJ. She linked her arm through his and scanned the crowd for familiar faces. There were pogues she recognized from school, and kooks she recognized from ... elsewhere. Mostly from the country club, where she worked as a lifeguard.
"Where's the keg?" She asked, stumbling alongside JJ as he led her through the sand. She'd only had three or four beers at John B's, but it was enough to get her tipsy. Campbell was a lightweight, and she preferred it that way. She was a cheap drunk.
"Right over there," JJ said, steadying her by placing a hand on the small of her back.
Hell, didn't he understand what it felt like when he did things like that? It was heaven and hell in the same breath.
Campbell's breath caught and she stumbled over her feet as JJ's hand touched her bare skin, hitting the part of her back that wasn't covered by her cropped crocheted tank top. JJ caught her by the elbow before she could hit the ground.
"Jesus, Cam, how much did you drink?"
"Not that much," Campbell replied, ripping her arm from JJ's grasp. "Let's go find the keg."
They filled blue plastic cups with cheap, foamy beer and mingled amongst the crowd. Campbell found herself sitting on a log with Kiara, chatting about how stupid the boys could be -- and how much they loved them anyway -- when she noticed a familiar face standing at the keg.
Wyatt Turner was handsome, she'd give him that. He had sandy brown hair, piercing green eyes, full lips, and a jaw that would cut paper. Their eyes met and Campbell quickly turned away, focusing all of her attention on Kie as she recalled what JJ had told her.
She wasn't interested, of course, but she couldn't help but wonder why a boy like Wyatt would be interested in her. How did JJ even know that? Boys as attractive as Wyatt could have any girl they wanted, so what, exactly, about Campbell had captured his attention?
If JJ was to be believed, anyway.
Speaking of JJ ... where was he? Campbell hadn't seen him since they'd all gotten beers and she and Kiara went off in search of a place to sit. The blond boy was nowhere to be seen now. Campbell's stomach twisted at the thought of JJ being off in the darkness with some girl. She had no reason to be jealous, and she knew that, but that didn't ease her envy.
She realized that John B and Pope were also missing, and her jealousy subsided. What were the odds that all three of the boys would disappear to hook up with girls?
"I'm going to go get another beer," Campbell said, abruptly standing from the log.
Kiara raised a questioning eyebrow and looked at the cup in Campbell's hand. "You're not even done with that one."
Campbell looked towards her half-full cup and nodded before bringing it to her lips, swallowing the amber liquid in a few swift gulps. "This one was getting flat," she lied before stalking off towards the keg, fooling nobody but herself.
The beer was all gathered towards a large campfire, and the boys couldn't be far from the beer. Music boomed through a large speaker that someone had hoisted into the back of a pickup truck. Campbell filled her cup at the keg and took a long drink, emptying most of the cup, before filling it once again.
She felt a tap on her shoulder and spun around, coming face-to-face with the exact person she'd been looking for. A wide smile filled her face, one that revealed just how embarrassingly eager she was to see JJ. She was quickly moving past the point of just tipsy, and was approaching a full-on buzz.
""J!" she cheered, pulling the boy in for a tipsy hug. JJ wasn't much of a hugger, but Campbell was, so he'd been endlessly tolerating them for as long as they'd been friends.
His arm reluctantly wrapped around her, hugging her back, as he reached around with his other arm to top off his drink.
"Where've you been?" JJ asked, sipping his beer.
"Over there with Kie," she replied, pointing towards Kiara, who was now joined by Pope on the log. "Where have you been?"
A mischievous smirk filled JJ's face. "Around."
"Uh huh." Campbell rolled her eyes.
The music abruptly stopped, causing everyone to turn towards the truck with the speakers. A boy standing in front of the truck, presumably the owner, raised his hands defensively.
"My girlfriend wanted to switch the music!" he called out, to which a few people laughed.
The girl standing next to him, presumably the 'girlfriend,' replied, "We needed something better to dance to!" to which many people cheered.
"Dancing?" Campbell said, turning towards JJ with a smirk.
"No, Cam," JJ said, backing away from her.
The music started up again, and Campbell recognized the opening notes of "Disturbia," by Rihanna. It was unarguably one of the best songs to dance to while drunk. In Campbell's opinion, anyway.
She gasped loudly and let out a high-pitched squeal, causing JJ to grimace beside her. She took a long sip from her drink before turning towards him.
"Dance with me, J," Campbell said, offering the boy her hand.
JJ studied her with a smirk, shaking his head. "No."
"Come on, I love this song," she protested, pushing out her bottom lip into a pout.
"Cam, you love every song when you're drunk," JJ replied, taking a sip of his beer.
"Yes," Campbell conceded, nodding. "But you know how I feel about Rihanna."
"And you know how I feel about dancing."
"J," Campbell said, taking a drunken step towards him, though they were already too close. "Please?" She set a hand on his forearm, unknowingly setting off a string of alarms in the boy's mind.
A smile twitched onto JJ's face and he flushed deeply, though it was too dark for Campbell to notice. He let out a long sigh before shaking his head. "You smell like beer."
"Is that a yes? I think that's a yes."
A group of people, pogues and kooks alike, had gathered in the light of the fire and formed a makeshift dance floor on the beach. Some danced innocently with their hands in the air, drunkenly shaking their limbs to the beat of the song. Others, horny couples that needed to find a damn room, were too focused on finding third base to pay attention to the music.
Campbell took JJ's hand and dragged him near the former.
"Oh, is that not what you had in mind?" JJ teased, pointing towards a grinding couple.
The thought of dancing that way with JJ gave Campbell butterflies. She pushed the thoughts away and plastered a look of annoyance on her face. "As if."
She pushed her way into the group of dancers, reluctantly releasing JJ's hand as she began to dance. Dancing was not one of Campbell's talents, but she enjoyed it, especially while drunk. She swayed to the beat, if not the beat of the song, the beat in her heart, at least -- she was never on beat.
"I don't know why you make me dance with you, Cam," JJ said in a low voice, his lips close to her ear so she could hear him over the roar of the party. "You're so embarrassingly bad at it."
The warmth of his breath on her neck gave Campbell chills, despite the humid June heat. Her cheeks flushed as she turned to look at him, her breath hitching as she realized just how close they were together. Her heart raced in her chest and she felt herself sway towards him. Whether it was the music or the alcohol or a combination of both, she wasn't sure. Hell, it was probably neither, it was probably just her stupid heart and her stupid brain and her stupid crush on JJ.
He caught her by the arms and steadied her, taking a step back. "Yet another reason why you shouldn't dance."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ author's note ✫・゜・。.
there is truly nothing i enjoy more than writing party scenes in my book? like idk what book it is, i'm going to sneak one of those in there. idk why ... probably because i like getting drunk with my friends, so my characters do as well?
it's also cold here and i wish i could go get drunk on a beach, so maybe i am living vicariously through campbell and the pogues. also, campbell's a rihanna stan. i've been listening to so much of rihanna's old stuff (it's bringing me back to my cringey ass middle school dances) ever since the super bowl, so i guess that birthed this idea.
i had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and i hope you enjoyed reading it. please let me know what you thought! thanks for reading :)
xx,
madi