submerge
verb. cause to be under water.
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Lee had always loved how the water of the bay looked in the morning light. It reflected golden beams all the way down to the ocean floor, cutting through the murk and illuminating the beauty of the sea life. She pushed at the water above her head for a moment, her eyes squinting open as she watched her honey brown hair swirling in the morning sun. Kicking up to the surface, she inhaled deeply, treading in the cold water and letting the warm sunlight wash over her face. She loved the feeling of strength that the water gave her—it was like being invincible, for just a moment. Every time that she was in the water, Lee was proving to herself that she had the strength not to drown.
"Lee!" John B's voice rang out through the water.
She glanced to the dock, brushing the water out of her eyes to see her friend standing there, urgently waving at her.
"Lee, move!"
Lee frowned curiously before hearing a yell to her left.
"Heads up, Pogue!"
She caught a glimpse of Topper, a Kook that she had never gotten along with, driving his boat straight towards her. Lee took a deep breath as the boat hit her ribs, pushing her under the water as John B shouted her name.
Underneath the boat, Lee scrambled to find a handhold to prevent herself from sliding into the propeller, which was chopping furiously at the water. She was becoming desperate as she could feel the water being sucked backward and pushed out by the propeller, scraping with her nails along the side of the boat. Just as she began to feel the strong pull of the propeller, her hand found a grip on the bottom rung of a ladder. Lee pulled with all of her strength, heaving herself towards the side of the boat. As soon as her feet were pressed against the side, she kicked away from the boat, swimming as far as she could before surfacing.
On the surface, Lee gasped for air, turning as she heard her friends calling her name from the dock. She paddled over, barely registering that JJ and Kiara were yelling at Topper for doing something so reckless. Pope and John B reached their hands out to her, pulling her onto the dock as Topper called out to her again.
"Hey, Lee, try to stick to the swimming zones next time!" he shouted before gunning away in his shiny wakesetter.
"Swimming zones, my ass," JJ cursed as Kiara wrapped Lee in a towel. "He was trying to hit you."
Lee exhaled softly, shivering as the morning air stung her skin. "Normally I notice boats coming. How the fuck did I miss him?"
"To be fair," John B said, "He wasn't exactly trying to alert you that he was coming."
Lee nodded in agreement, pulling the towel tight around her shoulders as Kiara pulled her into a tight embrace.
"I will never doubt your swimming abilities again," Kiara swore, rubbing circles on Lee's back. "That propeller would've pulled me right in." Lee was released from the tight embrace, but Kiara kept a firm grip on her arms. "Are you sure you're okay? He hit you pretty hard—you're already bruising!"
Lee glanced down at her ribs. Sure enough, a purple bruise was beginning to bloom from the center of her abdomen. She was suddenly aware of their sharp pain as she pulled away from Kiara.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Lucky for you dimwits I'm still here to save the day," she joked.
She wandered away as her friends continued talking about Topper. It wasn't the first time that he had done something dirty like that to Lee or her friends—he and the other Kooks had a tendency to mistreat Lee and her fellow Pogues. The distinct wealth gap between the two groups allowed the Kooks to get away with many things, and the Pogues had long since given up on reporting such things to the police. Corruption was rampant in the Outer Banks.
Inside of the house, Lee was greeted by Gavin, a cute boy from her school that had ended up coming home with her the previous night. Lee held in a groan as she looked at Gavin's nervous expression. It was obvious that he wanted to have a conversation that she was very much not interested in. She glanced around the room, carefully grabbing clothing to change into as he approached her.
"Hey, Lee," he began, brushing a hand through his hair. "So—"
"Can I change really fast?" Lee said, cutting the boy off. "This swimsuit is just... not the most comfortable."
She didn't wait for an answer before darting into the bathroom. Just as she had pulled on a pair of shorts over a clean bikini bottom, the bathroom door flew open to reveal JJ. His eyes scanned her body as she held her bikini top tightly over her breasts, shocked at the intrusion.
"JJ!" Lee hissed. "Get out!"
He shrugged, ignoring her as he closed the bathroom door behind him and motioned for her to turn around. "You want me to tie that?"
Lee grimaced. "Not particularly."
She didn't have much of a choice, however, as JJ spun her around, nimbly tying the bikini. His fingers brushed over the cool metal chain of her necklace, hovering there for a moment before harshly slapping her shoulders to let her know that he was done. She turned back to face JJ as soon as he was done, smacking his arm as his eyes fell to her breasts.
"Like what you see?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.
"I'd like it better without the top on."
Just as Lee opened her mouth with a witty response, there was a knock at the door. "Uh, Lee?" Gavin's voice echoed through.
She shut her eyes in frustration. "Just a sec, Gavin!"
JJ laughed as she threw on a cropped tee. "You seem frustrated, was he not very good?"
Lee sneered at JJ, turning to grab her swimsuit from the floor. "You seem horny, was the girl from last night not kinky enough?"
"Oh, Lee, don't be jealous. You know you'll always be my favorite," JJ said, pinning Lee against the wall with a wink.
She froze as her swimsuit began to soak into the fronts of their shirts. She stared into JJ's blue eyes and wondered if she could bring herself to kiss him before he had brushed his teeth.
"Uh, Lee, I think I'm just gonna go home," Gavin's voice rang out.
JJ went back to the sink, grabbing his toothbrush. Lee exhaled the breath that she had been holding.
"I had fun last night, so, uh, text me anytime."
Lee rolled her eyes. "Okay, see you around, Gavin!" she responded, shoving JJ as he made mocking kissy faces at her. Throwing open the bathroom door, Lee ignored JJ's pleas for her to close it behind her and wandered into the living room. There she saw Kiara pulling on a headband to hold back her wild black hair.
"Sorry if we kept you up last night, boo," Lee said, throwing her arms around her best friend. Kiara only laughed, brushing her tousled black hair out of her face as Lee released her from the hug.
"That was nothing compared to that one boy—what was his name, Caden? Man, he was loud," Kiara said, laughing as Lee sat down on the couch in front of her.
It was routine for Kiara to do Lee's hair in the morning. Lee had never learned to do her hair as a kid because her mother always wanted to do it for her. When her mom had begun to lose her hair from chemo treatments, however, Lee couldn't bear asking her to do it without feeling cruel. She had turned to Kiara, instead, who was all too thrilled to play with Lee's honey brown curls.
Lee grinned, holding back a wince as Kiara pulled sharply at the hairs by her temple. "Yeah, I remember him. Didn't even hook up, he was just loud."
They laughed, ignoring JJ's mocking laughter as he exited the bathroom. Kiara finished two French braids in Lee's hair, pulling them back into a half-up half-down ponytail before giving her the all-clear.
"I love you," Lee told Kiara, patting down the curls that still hung loose near her face.
"You love that I do your hair every morning."
"And you!" Lee insisted, feigning hurt as she stepped onto the back porch to grab her keys. She glanced at Pope, throwing him a quick wave before going back inside. "I'll see you losers tomorrow," she called, hoping her friends could all hear her. "Gotta help mom with some stuff today."
John B poked his head in from the hallway and said, "Tell your mom I say hello!"
"Aw, boo!" Kiara called, blowing Lee a kiss as she walked to the front door. "Bye, babe!"
"I love you, Kie! Don't do anything too hot without me!"
"Lee, you make me so hot!"
"Kie, stop, you're making me so hot!"
The girls continued for a moment before JJ entered the living room, glaring at them. "Could you guys shut the fuck up?"
Lee blew JJ a kiss as she opened the door. "Don't cream your pants, Jay."
She hopped on her dirtbike, custom painted yellow by JJ when he had gotten bored one summer night and had decided that re-painting Lee's bike would be a great idea. She had initially been angry with him about it, but eventually she had agreed that the yellow looked a lot better than its former faded blue. Since that day, it had been named "McQueen," aa reference that had been earned when Lee had a scandalous dream about everybody's favorite race car. JJ liked to joke that she rode Lightning in the sheets and McQueen on the streets.
Home wasn't far from John B's Chateau, just a five minute drive down the main road of the Cut. Lee had once lived in Figure Eight with her parents, on the other side of Kildare Island, but difficult circumstances had made the Carters move out of Kook Town and into Pogue Country. At first, Lee had been upset—she had been forced to leave her home, her school, and her friends behind—but she had quickly grown fond of the Cut. It had a rustic charm that seemed to draw people in, no matter how hard they tried to downplay it.
Now, she lived in a small two-story house with white paint peeling off of every wall, a front porch that sagged slightly on the left side, and a screen door filled with holes that let pesky mosquitoes through in summertime. Her bedroom window was always cracked open slightly because of its too-small frame. The upstairs bathroom sink was well-known for spitting out black water when it was first turned on, so seasoned visitors knew to wait for a second before putting their hands under the faucet. Lee loved every bit of the house.
"Mom! I'm home!" she shouted, throwing her helmet on a chair as she walked into their small living room. "Mom?"
"Hey, honeybee!" her mother called, walking slowly from the kitchen. Her head was wrapped in a yellow scarf that day, one that Lee had gotten her from Miss Samantha's boutique near Figure Eight. "How is everyone?"
Lee smiled, pulling her mother into a gentle hug. Her mother locked her bony arms around Lee's frame, her shoulder blades showing through her thin T-shirt. It was just like Laura Carter to ask about how Lee's friends were despite all of her own health issues.
"They're all good. When was the last time that you ate?" Lee asked, pulling out of the hug. She met her mom's eyes, which were as blue as the sky on a summer day. Lee shared her mother's bright eyes but had gotten her sun-kissed skin and honey brown hair from her father.
"Just this morning, I ate some breakfast. Have you eaten today, Lee?"
"No, I didn't want to risk my digestive system on an expired piece of cheese from John B's mini fridge."
Raising an eyebrow, her mother said, "And you're asking me about eating?"
Lee rolled her eyes, going to the kitchen. She grabbed a piece of bread, chewing on it as she looked back at her mother. "There. Breakfast. Now it's your turn."
Her mother rolled her eyes, going to sit at their kitchen table. It was covered with unpaid bills. Medical, electrical, water—you name it, they were behind on the payment. Lee frowned as her mother pushed the pile aside to make room for her daughter to sit down. Laura Carter, despite having thousands of things to worry about, would not watch her daughter eat standing up without a plate. Just thinking of the crumbs all over their kitchen floor would drive her through the roof.
Lee grabbed a plate and sat down. Even with chemo treatments five days a week, she knew that her mother could beat her in a fight.
Her mother smiled. She had won the plate battle without saying a word. "I want you to work on the front garden today. Those pesky weeds are doing a real number on my pansies."
"All of them? I can't tell weeds from flowers sometimes."
Her mother rolled her eyes as Lee put her plate in the sink, surprised that Lee could be sixteen and still unable to recognize the difference between a weed and a flower. Lee may have gotten her father's skills in the water but her mother's green thumb must have skipped a generation.
"The hurricane might pull up any flowers you leave behind anyways, but I'll sit out on the porch while you work," her mother responded, blue eyes carefully watching Lee as she ran upstairs to her bedroom. "Make sure you wear sunscreen!"
"I know, mom!" Lee shouted back, darting into her room to change into summer work clothes.
She winced as she pulled her shirt over her head, eyeing the blue bruise forming between her ribs from Topper's boat. Deciding that there was no point in struggling to put on clothes that would only get sweaty, Lee left behind her shirt in favor of a long line sports bra and compression shorts.
As soon as she had walked outside, Lee could tell that her mother didn't approve of the choice to wear only a sports bra and Nike Pros. When her mother caught a glimpse of the bruise on her stomach, she gasped.
"What is that?" she hissed, standing up and coming to the porch steps to get a better look at Lee's abdomen. "Did you get in another fight?"
"Mom!" Lee protested, her hands nervously wrapping around her abdomen to cover the bruise. She hadn't realized that the sports bra left just enough of the bruise exposed for her mother to spot. "I don't get in fights that often!"
Her mother raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Then what happened there?"
Lee thought for a moment. Her mother knew that she hadn't gotten along with most Kooks since they had moved out of Figure Eight. Despite this, she wasn't sure that she wanted her mom to know that it had gone as far as attacking each other in the water.
"I ran into John B's kitchen counter pretty hard this morning. It'll go away soon." Her fingers drummed on her ribcage, awaiting a response from her mom.
Her mother pursed her lips in thought. She had always been brilliant at detecting Lee's lies, but because of this Lee had gotten good at lying to her.
"Fine," her mom finally conceded. Lee's hands fell to her sides. "Did you put on sunscreen?" she continued, retreating to the porch, glaring at her daughter through huge sunglasses.
"Mom," Lee protested. "I wanna get tan for the summer, how am I gonna do that with sunscreen on?"
"You want to get skin cancer is what. Put this on," her mother responded, throwing a bottle to Lee, who caught it begrudgingly.
Lee frowned but began to smear the sunscreen on her arms and legs, muttering angrily as she got a bit in her eye.
"Make sure you get your back!"
Lee groaned. "How am I supposed to get my back, mom? I swear—"
"I can help with that," a familiar voice came from behind her.
Lee spun around, wielding the sunscreen in one hand, blinking out tears as she rid her eyes of the sting of sunscreen. "I thought you'd still be with that girl," Lee said, smirking as JJ snatched the bottle from her hands.
"Eh, she wasn't kinky enough. Turn around."
Lee did as she was told, shivering as JJ's cold hands touched her back. "Jeez, you been holding ice?" she muttered, squirming under his touch. "What are you doing here, anyways?"
"Figured I'd help Mama Carter with some housework. Hey, Mrs. Carter!" he suddenly shouted, waving over Lee's shoulder at her mom.
"Hey, JJ! Come to help Lee in the garden?"
"Is that what we're doing today? Can't wait!" He smacked Lee's back as he finished spreading sunscreen on her.
She turned around angrily, raising her hand to slap him.
"Lena! Don't you dare hit that nice boy when he's come to help you with your chores!" her mother scolded.
Lee lowered her hand as JJ smirked. When Lee had first brought JJ over to her house, her mother had hated him—to the point that she suggested Lee shouldn't be hanging out with JJ or any of the other Pogues. But, like he had done with Lee, JJ wormed his way into Laura Carter's heart. JJ claimed it was pure charm that got him there, but Lee knew that it was because he had stuck his neck out for her on multiple occasions—proving a loyalty that mattered to both of the Carter women.
"Yeah, don't hit the nice boy," he jeered.
"Don't test me, JJ," Lee warned, walking towards the garden.
"JJ, you better put on some sunscreen, too!"
He groaned but obliged. Nobody refused Laura Carter. Sending Lee a mischievous smirk, he pulled off his own shirt and held the bottle of sunscreen out to her. It took all of Lee's willpower to take her eyes off of JJ's toned abs to instead look him in the eyes.
"Help me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lee scowled at JJ, knowing that he was trying to get her into some kind of trouble, but she agreed anyways. She didn't need her mom yelling at her anymore. "What are you getting at, Jay?"
"What? What do you mean?" JJ said, pretending to be taken aback. "Is there something wrong with asking my attractive friend to rub sunscreen on my back?"
Slapping JJ's back, Lee finished applying the sunscreen and turned away. "You suck."
"You swallow!" JJ responded in a sing-songy voice. Lee prayed that her mother hadn't heard.
Lee didn't enjoy yard work very much, she realized, as she and JJ worked to get rid of the weeds that had taken over her mother's garden. When they had lived in Figure Eight, Laura Carter had been well-known for her fresh herbs and vegetables, frequently having little Lee deliver grape tomatoes and fresh basil to neighbors when they had a bountiful spring. Now, their one tomato plant was struggling to grow amidst the ivy climbing up the walls. It was dusk as Lee pulled angrily at said ivy, ripping it down but seeming to make no headway. She was exhausted from working in the yard all day, and when she was tired she tended to get irritated easily.
"Stupid ivy and its stupid leaves. Nobody even plants this stupid stuff. It just grows!"
A chunk of dirt suddenly hit Lee's arm, interrupting her mindless mumbling, and she turned to see JJ grinning mischievously. She glared at him before bending down to pick up her own piece of dirt.
"Oh, shit," JJ mumbled, taking off around the house.
Lee grinned, running after him with the dirt. She turned the corner around the front of the house, ignoring her mother's pleas to not play in the dirt, and jumped on JJ's back. She smeared the dirt on his face, laughing evilly as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, clinging on tightly. JJ spat out dirt, looking up at her slowly. His blue eyes shone through the dirt covering his face, blonde hair blowing in the breeze. Her skin stuck to his in the areas where her bare abdomen met his back, their bodies sweaty and burned from spending a day in the sun. For a moment, Lee didn't think that he was going to do anything. She was wrong.
He suddenly grabbed the backs of Lee's arms, bending at the waist and flipping her over his head and onto the soft grass below him. She groaned as the wind was knocked out of her, staring up at JJ vindictively. Hesitating for only a moment, she jumped up and grabbed JJ's waist, knocking him flat onto his back so that she was straddling him.
"Aha!" Lee shouted in victory.
It was short lived as JJ grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it in her face before pushing her off of him. She coughed through the dirt, brushing it from her eyes as she watched JJ run to the side of the house.
"Lena, dinner's almost ready. Don't get all dirty before you come in the house!" her mother shouted from the front porch as Lee ran after JJ.
"I won't, mom!"
Lee was very wrong. She found JJ holding the water hose, pointed straight at her. "JJ, I swear, if you—"
JJ blasted her with water, laughing as she stumbled backwards. Lee blocked her face, spluttering as the dirt at her feet turned to mud.
"I'm gonna kill you," she said dangerously, wiping water from her eyes.
JJ's eyes widened as she took two steps before pouncing on him and pushing him into the mud.
They each laughed as they wrestled in the mud, smearing it across each other's abdomens and painting one another's hair with it. JJ easily overpowered Lee, flipping her onto her back and caging her head with his forearms. She glanced from his blue eyes to his lips, which were caked with mud. Her breathing was shallow and she wasn't sure if it was because she had just wrestled with JJ or because he was looking at her like she was a lollipop and he was a 4-year-old kid. Lee had never kissed someone when she was muddy before, but she was pretty sure that streak was about to end.
JJ leaned down towards Lee, his gaze softening as her lips parted. Just as they were about to kiss, she heard her mother yelling from inside.
"Lee! Dinner!"
Lee's eyes widened as JJ rolled to the side, laying next to her in the mud. She glanced down at the mud all over her outfit. "She's gonna kill me."
"JJ! You too!" her mother continued.
JJ grimaced. "Guess we'll die together, then."
They slowly walked to the front, kicking off their shoes on the porch as Lee's mother yelled at them to not track mud in the house. They both apologized quickly when Lee's mom saw the mud coating their bodies, but she only managed to roll her eyes in response.
"Go get changed—and try to get that mud out of your hair, Lee, you look like a troll."
"Yeah, Lee," JJ snickered as they ran up the stairs to her room. "You look like a troll."
"Shut up, you asshole," she responded, glaring at JJ. "You're lucky you left a pair of shorts here last week," she said, closing her door behind them and wandering to her closet. "I don't think my mom's ready to see you naked yet."
Lee threw the pair of shorts at JJ, who caught them easily. "Your mom would love to see me naked."
"Don't talk about my mom like that."
"You're right. You would love to see me naked," JJ corrected, smirking as Lee walked into the bathroom, beginning to scrub at the mud on her skin. "You know, it'd be faster if we showered together."
Lee grinned flirtatiously. "Maybe another night," she said, shutting the bathroom door in JJ's face.
They both showered quickly and soon the trio had eaten dinner together like one little happy family. Throughout the meal, Lee's mom seemed to insist on discussing Lee's least favorite topics with JJ. The list included Lee's inability to find a boyfriend, Lee's frequent sneaking out, and Lee's most embarrassing childhood memories. JJ had heard much of it before, since he had been at Lee's house for dinner several times a week since they'd become friends. Despite this, he never failed to laugh at Laura Carter's stories and Lee never failed to blush furiously when her mother mentioned one story in particular.
"And this poor boy," Lee's mom continued, "tells her he loves her with no idea what's going on, and all of a sudden this—this—" Her mother was doubled over with laughter as she tried to finish the story.
Lee was furiously scrubbing at silverware, ignoring JJ's chuckles.
"This worm just falls out of her mouth right onto his shoe! I mean, talk about timing!" her mother finished, standing to bring a final plate to the sink.
Lee watched as her mother's hand went to her stomach and her lips pursed. She knew what that meant.
"You'll have to excuse me from doing the dishes, I'm afraid I'm not feeling well," she said, walking towards the bathroom. "JJ, it was great to see you, dear."
"You, too, Mrs. Carter!" JJ called, leaning against the counter by Lee.
Lee was frozen for a moment as she listened. She grimaced as the sound of her mother throwing up reverberated from the bathroom. So much for eating. Lee exhaled heavily, going back to scrubbing the plate currently in her hands. She thought angrily about chemotherapy and hospital bills and hurricanes and Kook Town.
"Hey," JJ murmured behind her, taking the plate out of her hands. "I think this plate is cleaner now than when it was first made. Are you okay?"
Lee clenched her jaw, an angry tear falling down her cheek. JJ watched her quietly, his blue eyes locked on hers. She wanted to drown in them. Her hands intertwined behind her back, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.
"I'm fine," she finally said, marching upstairs.
JJ followed her.
"Are you sure? You can talk to me," he replied, hesitating at the doorway to her room.
Lee nodded slowly, her hands dropping from her shirt. "I'm sure. I just... I need to not think about it."
JJ smirked, entering her room and closing the door behind him slowly. "Well, I hear that I'm a great distraction."
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Updated 8/17/2022.