SEASON ONE,
CHAPTER 29:
ARGUMENTS
"We punch him in the throat."
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AFTER THE INCIDENT on the road and JJ deciding to drive, the group find themselves situated outside of Barry's own home without the man himself. It was no surprise to them all that the entire place looks like a shithole based off of the pure fact it's owned by one of the most known drug dealers in the Outer Banks. The man has turned to illegal substances to keep himself happy, trying his best to get as much scraps of money that he can get his hands onto.
JJ and John B had left the rest of their friends inside of the vehicle while they headed into the house, an evident argument brewing between the pair. Delilah just lets out a shaky sigh, leaning her head back onto Kiara's shoulder. Sarah's fingers are being gently raked through the girls ginger hair to continue giving her comfort. Ever since being dragged away from Barry, Delilah has been extremely quiet and hasn't said a single word to them as to why she wanted to throw more punches his way. But they're all curious, just wanting to be weary in case she suddenly lashes out onto them since her emotions are running high.
"Del, what happened?" Pope asks, voice soft to show that he's just trying to be caring.
"My mom." Delilah replies.
The redhead's voice is so quiet that the three had nearly missed the response given. They all exchange looks with one another, unsure of whether to get her to go into more detail. Pope's eyebrows just furrow in confusion as to why their best friend is suddenly bringing her careless mother up now.
"What?" Pope questions.
"My mom's still here on the island. She's been lying all along. She doesn't go on 'business trips', she goes out to buy herself drugs and hide somewhere. I mean, why lie? Why ruin her life even more with drugs?" Delilah rambles, tears prickling in her eyes once again and having to blink them back.
"Lila..." Kie softly begins, trailing off as she's unable to find the right words to comfort the girl.
"It's fine, I'll be okay." Delilah assures.
Before any of them can continue the conversation, their attention is pulled towards the house as the two boys come strolling out of it. The teenagers step out of the vehicle that they were waiting inside of to talk to them both and get an understanding of what that they just did. Collectively, the four quickly decide it's best not to ask questions as they spot a large wad cash gripped in JJ's hand.
"Alright, so we're looking at five grand each for reparations for putting us through that bullshit." JJ informs.
"You could use it to pay off your restitution." Delilah suggests. "I wouldn't mind if you used my cut of the money for it."
"So that's what we're doing now? We're robbing drug dealers?" Kie questions.
"This Barry guy's gonna find out. And he's gonna come after us." Sarah states.
"Yes, he will. This is not the time to start wilding out." Pope adds.
"How did you guys like having a gun pulled on you?" JJ fries back.
"Relax." John B instructs.
"He had it right here on you, bro." JJ continues, pointing to the brunets forehead.
"Look, we've just gotta go get the gold, okay? Just give me that shit. We're putting it back." John B tells the blond.
The boy reaches his hand down to grab ahold of the stack of money, wanting to return it back inside of the house so that they don't have another target on their backs — even more so from fighting Barry. But JJ is quicker with his actions and harshly shoves John B against the side of the campervan.
"Do you feel like a tough guy? Huh? What are you gonna do when he comes for us?" John B asks.
"We punch him in the throat." JJ replies, confidence in his voice at the idea.
"JJ has a gun. We can defend ourselves." Delilah informs. "I mean, we just put up one hell of a fight back there anyway."
"Yeah, good fucking idea, guys." John B tells them both, sarcastically.
"I'm not putting it back." JJ argues.
"Look, we're sick of your shit." John B fires back.
The brunet boy feels the pressure against his body being released as JJ lets go and steps away. As well as that, a piercing gaze is burning into the back of his head that he already knows is from Delilah. John B just chooses to ignore the girls annoyance of being involved into his side of the argument.
"Oh, my shit?" JJ questions.
"Yeah, your shit." John B repeats.
"Your pulling guns on people shit." Kie reminds.
"You acting like a freaking manic—" Pope adds.
"Pope! I took the fall for you, man!" JJ exclaims, cutting in with frustration. "Do you know how much money I owe because of you?"
"I'm gonna pay you back." Pope assures. "And I didn't even ask for you to do that!"
"I just did pay it back. Right here, right now, by myself." JJ tells him. "You know what? That's exactly what I'm gonna do. Go off by myself."
The blond boy reaches into the vehicle and grabs his bag that was just laying on the floor of it, shoving the money into it. He doesn't give any of them another look as he turns his back and walks away from them. Their eyes all lock onto JJ as they watch him leave them all behind and disappear into the distance.
"JJ!" Delilah calls as she takes a step forwards.
"Red, stop." John B tells her, pulling the girl back towards them.
"Just let him go." Pope instructs.
"No, how can you all say that?" Delilah angrily begins, shrugging JB's hands off of her shoulders as she snaps around to the others. "The amount of times JJ's been there for all of us, defended us in times of needs, and you all just stand there and watch him walk away?"
"Lila—" Kie begins.
"We need JJ and you all know that!" Delilah continues, turning to the brunet. "If you couldn't sit there and watch Kie and I walk away when you claimed you needed us and Sarah, how can you just watch one of your closest friends walk away?"
"Because he's being immature with how he's handling things." John B replies.
"Immature?" Delilah repeats, raising a brow. "He's hurting, John B. And you don't care. You don't seem to ever care. Where were you when we were attacked at the movies? Where were you when he got thrown into jail? Nowhere. Not once have you been there at a fight with us and defended us."
"I was finding stuff out about the gold for all of us, for the dream futures we all want." John B argues.
"How the fuck is that more important than our wellbeing? JB, I could've died twice, and the boys could've too. They weren't holding back." Delilah snaps, becoming more angered. "The gold doesn't do shit to our futures if we're fucking dead."
"John B could've died too." Sarah speaks up.
"And just when I was starting to like you." Delilah says, scoffing. "Topper did that because of you. You were the one sneaking around with John B instead of telling Topper the truth about your feelings. So what if you would've broke his heart by dumping him? Boo-fucking-hoo, he would've gotten over it."
"Lila, come on." Kie urges, voice quiet.
Tears burn in the girls green eyes and threaten to roll down her cheeks if she doesn't remove herself from the argument against her best friends, trying to defend JJ's actions. Delilah spins around on her heel and storm off (just like JJ did) while choosing to ignore all of them. The rest call after the girl in an attempt to reason and possibly change her viewpoint on the situation overall. However, John B realises the mistake that he's made with handling it all, and that none of them will be able to get anywhere with trying because the couple are so alike; their reckless and stubbornness get the best of them at times.