CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
CONFLICT RESOLUTION
[EPISODE SIX: PARCEL NINE]
❖ ❖ ❖
When JJ and Rita arrive back at the Chateau and unload the car, John B darts out to meet them just before they can enter. "Okay, okay," he rushes out, already hurriedly raising his hands as if in surrender. "Don't be pissed at me, alright? But I had no choice, considering I'm-- well--"
But muttering something under his breath, JJ, rope under his arm, has pushed past him already and Rita follows him through the screen door and onto the terrace of John B's cabin. The floorboards creak underfoot as they step out -- and then stop abruptly, simultaneously, like an odd pair of twins.
"Oh," Rita manages, the sound escaping through the unintentional O shape of her lip. "Ohh. Oh, noooo."
Sarah Cameron, sat on the couch pressed against the panelled wall of the house, looks meekly up at her with a grin.
Rita can't make herself smile back, both out of shock and knowledge of how badly this is about to go down, and simply let's her eyes flutter up to JJ, who's turned his head to gauge her reaction. They share a look, which Pope, who is sat on an armchair at the end of the terrace, can read perfectly. He gestures toward the blonde, muttering a, "Yup, told you so, John B. They're gonna kill you."
"No, I'm not," says Rita, and as if on cue, a final car door slams outside: Kiara. Rita takes the rope from JJ and announces a sharp, "She is," before she disappears into the Chateau to busy herself dumping their supplies in the kitchen. There's yelling as soon as Kiara steps onto the porch.
"No effing way!" Kie is shouting when Rita emerges through the screen door again, pacing up the terrace before looking sharply at John B, who's joined Sarah sitting on the arm of the half-ragged couch. Rita lingers by the door. "You brought her here? So, what, she's in on this now?"
Hesitantly, John B looks at Pope and JJ, sat on the arm chair together. Pope simply shrugs.
"Look," JJ drawls. "All I care about, is her cut comes out of your share." He jabs a finger at John B.
"Okay, that's cute, JJ," John B retorts, "because by that logic Rita's share should come from your cut."
"I don't want a cut--" Rita goes to protest, but JJ beats her to it.
"Bro, by what bullshit logic is that?" he snaps, clearly having none of it, which Rita appreciates. A stone is thoroughly lodged in her throat, making it impossible to fight back; maybe she's been overestimating how much John B actually likes her. So she's glad JJ's pissed for her. She tries to send him a grateful stare, but he holds John B's eyes, raising his eyebrows with cocky expectancy.
(Rita stomach stirs at the sight of JJ angry, as if she's thrilled by it, and she doesn't know why.)
John B jabs at the air with his hand for emphasis. "We all know you were the one who told her about the gold at midsummers--"
"Yeah, but you know, I don't remember taking a vote on this one," Kie cuts in, and all eyes jump back to where she's stood leaning against a pillar on the porch's fence, arms folded around herself defensively. "And without Rita, you'd be dead. This isn't even about who we tell -- it's about the fact she's a Kook. When this is our thing. A Pogue thing."
"I've gotta say," Pope speaks up, "I'm just a tad uncomfortable with all of this."
"Thank you!" Kie chimes.
"When are you not uncomfortable?" John B quips sarcastically.
"I dunno -- I rode here on the back of JJ's bike pretty comfortably," Pope retorts, his face and voice defensive.
There's a blip in the argument and a moment of silence, birds chirping in the trees just beyond the terrace, before JJ adds with a shrug and a flick of his eyes up to John B, "It's true. Most relaxed I've ever seen him."
Jaw clenching, John B looks away. "That's cute, guys."
"You know," says Kie, gesturing with a shove of her hand toward Sarah, "we were all extremely comfortable until you brought her!"
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Sarah finally snaps, voice dripping with sharp and bitter loathing.
But Rita honestly doesn't know what she's expecting from that remark, because Kiara doesn't hesitate in tilting her head and calling her bluff as she deadpans, "Then leave."
Sarah scoffs, turning her head to John B with a certain, indistinct look in her eye: half amused, half pissed. "I told you."
"Told him what, exactly?" Kiara yells, tilting her head. "That you're a liar...?"
"No, that you're a shit-talking bitch!" spits Sarah.
Then everything erupts into noise: as the girls descend into yelling, there's gasps from the boys. Rita, from across the porch, sees them exchange whispers and money and has to resist her smile, considering the tone of the moment; instead she starts forward, trying to intervene, adding to the cacophonous noise of voices, none of them even listening to each other.
"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!"
Stunned, five pairs of eyes turn to John B. Rita takes a step back, leaning on the porch's wooden fence.
"Kie, you're my best friend, right?" he stresses, looking at her seriously with widened brown eyes.
Lips pursed, she seems reluctant to admit it, but she nods.
He turns his head. "And, Sarah, you're..." He hesitates, breathing out a nervous chuckle, not knowing what to say. Rita can almost feel the cringe approaching like a wave, and it's gonna be a biggie; oh, boy, these two are corny as hell. "You're my..."
"Say it," whispers Sarah.
He smiles, before admitting, "You're my girlfriend." The relevation practically lights up his entire face.
The reaction as a collective is not a very pleased one: JJ has to look away, and when he catches Rita's eye she pretends to lean over the fence and vomit, all as Pope winces and mutters a bemused, "That's new." Rita's glad she's not the only one so bitter about relationships, glad that her friends also roll their eyes and try not to hurl whenever they're witnesses to crimes like PDA -- especially shit like this. Because... Jesus.
"She's your girlfriend now?" Kiara snaps, sounding almost amused, as she folds her arms and raises her eyes as if in thought. Her foot taps incessantly at the wooden floor. "What was all that talk about how you were just using her for information? 'Get a map, cut her loose.'"
Like a dumbass, the guilt is written across his face instantly as his eyes leave Sarah's and his forehead drops to his hand.
Biting her lip, Sarah glances at him. "You said you were using me?" she repeats softly.
John B awkwardly scratches his temple. "No," he says meekly, and is instantly met by a chorus of 'Yeah, you did', which he quickly raises his hands and tries to interrupt: "Look, love just...walked in, okay? I didn't expect it -- it just -- it kind of happened!" He looks at Sarah, who's eyes haven't left his and are tinged with both shock and adoration. Oh, man, Rita can't watch this anymore. "And I'm not gonna deny it! Right?"
"That's corny," Pope whispers, laughing slightly, as JJ retches.
"John B, can you cut the fluffy, lovey-dovey bullshit?" groans Rita with a roll of her eyes, speaking up for the first time since the start of the argument.
"Look," Kie says, before folding her arms and levelling her dark eyes on him. "If she's in, I'm out."
"... Kie, I'm not doing this."
"No, you are gonna decide," she stresses. She tilts her head, voice and eyes practically venomous. "I'm very interested, actually: me or her?"
He shrugs, then says with confidence that Rita knows he shouldn't have: "Both."
"Went for the Hail Mary," JJ whispers, as John B and Kie don't take their eyes off each other.
Then, shoving her shoulder past Rita with unexpected strength, Kie moves swiftly and silently down the porch and disappears through the screen door, her retreating footsteps crunching indistinctly on the overgrowth as she heads for her car.
Smiling sarcastically, Sarah looks at John B. "It'll be cool, right?" she repeats, with an equally as sarcastic nod, before turning away dismissively. A beat passes, and then she stands with a soft sigh, announcing, "I'm gonna leave -- let y'all chat. Let me know." Then she rounds the corner, and despite John B's soft pleading of her name, she's gone and she doesn't look back.
Folding his hands and nodding in a manner that's very ceremonious, JJ stands. "I'd just like to say," he announces, "you handled that beautifully."
John B doesn't look at him when he slaps his hands down into the sofa and storms inside, moving so quickly that Rita feels the breeze from him as he passes her, the screen door smacking loudly against its frame behind him.
JJ sighs, then says, "Divide 'n conquer, Pope," and, like it's been rehearsed, or at least done many times before, they each stand and go their separate ways: Pope heads after Kiara with a ruffle of Rita's hair as he passes, and JJ sends Rita a wink before starting toward the screen door.
"JJ--" Rita blurts before she can stop herself, taking a step forward and reaching for his arm. He turns, raising a brow, and it feels like only now does she realise she's actually spoken, so she swallows and forces herself to go on, "Does John B have a problem with me being here? I can go home, if he wants."
But JJ shakes his head before she can even finish, adjusting his cap. "Sit down, Dr Spock. I'll handle it."
Once the screen door clicks shut behind him, Rita is left alone with the sound of the wind and the ripple of water in the bay, and she watches a couple of birds hopping along a tree branch in his garden for a moment. She can hear discussion inside, JJ's faint voice announcing that, "You're picking Kie, no question." Rita can agree with that one, but 'love' -- or whatever John B feels, because she doesn't quite believe it's the L word just yet -- is a hardcore aphrodisiac, and there probably won't be any changing his mind.
No. The only resolution is to change Kiara's mind and force her (well, not force, more like gently nudge her) to bond with Sarah again.
Well. Actually... They could force her.
Rita hesitates, before following the route JJ took, slipping through the screen door and stepping into the kitchen, where each of the boys slump against the counters sipping beer. "I have an idea," she announces, avoiding John B's eyes a little awkwardly. "We can do it later today." She copies out the lose plan of her idea, which John B lights up at and jumps in eagerly to add details, making it more concrete.
"You really think that'll work?" JJ asks when they've finished, raising a brow.
"It's conflict resolution 101: superordinate goals," she confirms with a shrug. "And it'd be impossible to ignore each other if they're trapped -- which I admit is a little hard on them, but still. It'll work, I'm sure... Unless they kill each other."
JJ smiles dryly. "Let's have hope."
❖ ❖ ❖
After nipping back home to grab swimwear and a towel, Rita heads out to the dock in her bikini and flip flops, feeling underdressed and naked until she realises this is the sort of stuff everyone wears here. Rolling closer to the perch on which she stands, John B and JJ meet her on the HMS Pogue -- the same boat they'd hunted for the Royal Merchant in.
JJ, standing on a bench at the bow, salutes her with a declaration of, "Cap'n." He's shirtless, just in his swimming trunks, and she tries not to stare at the tanned lines of his abdomen, speckled with water.
She clicks her heels together and salutes back. "Private."
He flicks his eyebrows, smirking slightly as he chews gum in one side of his mouth. "Nice bikini."
That makes her shoulders drop as she gives him a dark look, to which he snickers, before leaning over the edge, one knee and one hand up on the side, the other stretched out for her. She takes it, using it for balance as she hops onto the ledge then over into the boat.
Safe to say, she feels a lot more relaxed aboard the boat this time round.
John B is in the cabin, steering, and when she hesitantly joins him, still a little on edge after that afternoon, he explains to her the plan. "Pope's meeting us in the marshes with Kie in, like, three minutes," he says, and before she can ask the question, he adds, "Sarah's already down below."
Peeping out of the cabin, she can already see JJ taunting her through the hatch in the floor. Very mature. Although she supposes it is her plan.
"Tell him to stop doing that," John B says, as if he's read her mind, looking at JJ over his shoulder with pursed lips and a slightly clenched jaw.
Rita leans against the door frame, too awkward to fully enter, like the cabin is his territory. "What makes you think he'd listen to me?"
"Because JJ always listens to you," John B says, without hesitancy, but also without looking at her -- even when her eyes flicker up to examine his side profile, one of her eyebrows raised. JJ? Listening to her? Well, she's not so sure about that. "He calls you a genius, doesn't he?"
"He's taking the piss."
"I wouldn't be so sure," he replies. Now, finally, he glances at her, hesitancy and awkwardness in his eyes, making him glance back and forth between her face and the wheel and the horizon. There's a stagnant pause. "I didn't mean what I said before. About your cut coming from his share."
"And about being annoyed with him for telling me about the gold at midsummers?"
"Hey, I never said I was annoyed with him."
But when John B meets her eyes, and sees that she's smiling, his face and voice lose their fight and he finds himself smiling slightly too. In the marshes now, he pulls the boat to a stop, turning his body to face her fully and leaning back against the control monitor.
"I'm glad you're with us," he confesses, the kindness in his voice unprecedented and surprisingly genuine. Something about it is tinged with affection.
"Me too," Rita replies after a moment, unable to hold his stare, scared her heart might fumble out of her chest and spill out the embarrassing amount of admiration she has for the Pogues across the floor. "I didn't really have any friends before you guys, so..."
"You did. You just spat at them." Rita winces. John B grins. "Yeah, JJ told me about that on the way over here. I swear, next time he sees Rafe he's gonna have to be tied down."
Rita grunts. "You'll have to do the damn same thing to me. Especially after what he did to Pope." She nods at his arm. "Same goes for Topper."
John B shakes his head dismissively. There's a blip in the conversation, a dip into silence, before he changes the subject and says, slowly, carefully, "I know you don't want a cut, but we gotta give you something--"
"You're not giving her that John D as well, are you?"
The sarcastic remark comes from JJ, who's stood behind Rita with an artificial look of scolding, arms crossed mockingly.
"No, he most certainly is not," Rita remarks.
"First Kie, now Sarah?" JJ tsks. "You're turning into a bit of a womaniser, John B."
"Don't worry, I won't steal your job," John B remarks, which makes Rita's throat turn dry. She'd never considered JJ to be like that. A womaniser.
Although, it really isn't surprising. Hell, now that she thinks about it, she's starting to wonder how on earth she hadn't predicted that sooner.
But something about the idea of it stings.
Glancing over her shoulder at him, having to squint against the sunshine streaming into the cabin from behind him, she gestures down to the hatch in the floor, already pulled up to reveal the engine. "Well. It's your time to shine, Maybank."
He brushes past her, absent-mindedly placing a hand on her lower back, which if it was anybody else she would have rioted -- but, with JJ, like when he reached into her pocket in the hardware store, his touch is so surprisingly gentle that it's almost invisible. It makes her go hot in the face, and she knows she's blushing and hopes to God that neither of the boys look her way; she's in luck, because both of them are leaning over the engine messing with the machinery.
Suddenly, flip flops sound on the deck behind her and she looks around, panicking for a moment as she thinks Sarah's escaped, but instead it's Kie, who's arrived with Pope in the little dingy.
"Pope said you've broken down. What happened?" she asks, arriving beside Rita and slipping inside the cabin.
JJ looks up, sweat clinging to the hair fumbling over his forehead. "Uh... The alternator's not alternating anymore," he lies.
"It's not charged," says John B.
Kiara moves deeper into the cabin, leaning next to the hatch. "Did you check the plugs?"
Rita takes her chance, backing up a few feet, before hurrying across the deck. The boys are close behind, JJ starting to laugh, and she glances back at the sound of it, and, God, he looks so great when he laughs, and especially when he laughs at her -- so instead of simply jumping and cannon-balling into the water, she does a semi-back-flip: one foot propels her off the boat, her head turning over her feet until she hits the water.
The water is shockingly cold, even in the heat of the day. Two explosions are John B and JJ landing next to her, and she kicks her feet until she resurfaces, the three of them making a mad swim for Pope in his boat. Behind them, Kiara, and then Sarah once Kiara has let her out of the hatch, are both yelling.
"I think I just saw your heels touch your head," Pope says as she reaches the boat, his hand reaching down to give her a hand up out of the water. It hurts her abs, but once she gets her elbows on the ledge and kicks her feet, she swings easily up and over. Clearly having had lots of practice, JJ and John B have much more grace than she does, pulling themselves up and around to sit on the edge.
"Yeah, what was that?" John B asks.
"I dunno, but I liked it," JJ murmurs, sending her a wink.
On the boat, the girls are bickering and hurriedly undressing, but Pope's already pulling them away, each of them laughing and waving.
"Get your asses back here!" Kiara shrieks.
"We can't!" John B shouts back, splaying his arms out in a helpless shrug. "Not 'till you two figure it out!"
Kiara shakes her head. "I will kill every single one of you!"
"You can't just leave!" Sarah yells, straining her voice to be heard across the distance and over the whirr of the boat's engine. "Rita, you can't just let them!"
"It was her idea, Kook Princess!" JJ retorts.
"There's food in the cabin!" Rita adds, trying to feign guilt that she doesn't feel even a trace of. In fact, it's actually quite entertaining. But she gets where Sarah's coming from -- she knows what Ward is like, how protective he can be.
"And JJ rolled a blunt!" Pope exclaims, giving a double thumbs up.
JJ nods, giving an OK symbol with his fingers. "Hydroponic!"
And after that, they're out of earshot, leaving the girls to their own devices.
❖ ❖ ❖
"So you're telling me you've lived here three months and you still don't know how to surf?"
Following JJ up the steps onto the Chateau's porch, Rita tilts her head left to right in consideration. "Two and a half--" Before she can even finish, he spins around and points at her as if in warning to not be so pedantic, and she rolls her eyes with a grin. "Okay, fine, yes. But I don't want to know."
"Nope. Unacceptable answer. Nope. Nope, you're learning. I'm teaching you."
"JJ--"
"Pope!" he hollers, dashing inside to where Pope and John B are already flopping down into sofas with beers in hand. "Can I borrow your board? Rita wants to learn to surf."
Behind him, Rita mouths and gestures desperately at Pope, a mix of 'Please don't' and 'If you do I'll kill you', and his confused eyes flicker between both her and JJ before he says, "Why my board?"
"You have the most...feminine physique," JJ improvises, gesturing loosely at his body. John B watches with a grin as Pope scoffs, offended, and JJ raises his eyebrows in an attempt to be slightly appeasing. "I figured it would be the best match to Rita's."
"You're digging a hole for yourself, my dude," Rita mutters.
Pope rolls his eyes, then, like a begrudging father, sighs and gestures for JJ to help himself.
JJ whoops and, ushering Rita out of the door with excited hands that drum against her arms, he half-shoves her around the corner to where their boards are lined up leaning against the wall. Rita's never seen a surfboard up close, and is surprised at the thickness and height of them: taller than her, and as thick as her fist. He grabs his own under one arm, and then Pope's under the other, and almost knocking her clean off her feet, leads her around the porch before they set off for the nearby dock, where Kiara had gone to sulk earlier that day.
When they reach it, JJ easily drops in, sliding on his butt off the side of the dock, and wades into the water, hands holding his board in place as the soft laps of the waves make it rock occasionally. Expectant, he raises his eyebrows at Rita, who's holding Pope's board with two unsure hands.
"Y'know, go ahead standing there like that, it's a good enough view for me," he quips.
Even his sarcasm doesn't quite snap her out of her long moment of hesitation, and, his smile dropping into a half-serious look of earnest, he reaches up and slaps on the ladder. "Pass me your board and climb down. We'll take it slow."
After another moment, she does so, flinching at the cold water which JJ had definitely lied about, and crosses over to him through the water. It's shallow, the floor made of rocks and sand, and on her tiptoes it barely reaches her abdomen. With a gasp, she dunks her head under in an attempt to get used to it.
"Yeah, you may as well get used to it," he says, before, in one swift manoeuvre, he pushes himself up onto his board to lie on his tummy, then he sits up and let's his legs hang off either side.
"Do we really have to do this? Since when was surfing an essential life skill?"
"Since you met me," he says, as he swishes in the water with his hand for a moment, like he's looking for something dangling by his leg. "Cmon. Make an effort to enjoy your friends' interests, 'n all that." As he pulls out the tether to his board, which he ties around his ankle so his board won't wash away, he watches her scramble onto her board -- her first attempt is successful, but not as smooth as his.
The board seems flimsy as she sits up shakily, and she must pull a face because JJ starts laughing and slides off with a splash to come help her.
"Don't take the piss," she says with a groan.
"Wouldn't think of it," he says, still grinning, and he steadies her board, one hand in front of her and one behind her. "Okay, you have to hold your stomach tight." Then, his ridiculously large hands are on her back and tummy, which makes her suck in and clench, even if the touch is so light it's barely there. He clears his throat, retracting his hands; he must have felt her stiffen. "Shit. Sorry."
She furrows her brow, shaking her head, and takes his wrist in her hand. "It's fine. Show me."
Inhaling, he touches her again, a bit more sure of himself now, and rights her posture. She can feel each of his individual fingers stretching over her back. "Gotta have a lot of strength in your core, y'know?" He finds her tie for her, and puts it around her wrist, fastened with velcro and a click-in button, to keep her tied to the board. "And don't lean back -- you'll tip the board."
She nods.
He drops his hands, holding the board for her again. "Get on your knees," he says, and she glances at him, starting to smirk. Rolling his eyes, he gives her board a little shake, hoping it will wipe her grin away but she only laughs. "Not like that. I mean, we can do that later, but--"
She dunks his head under the water, and when he comes back up, sputtering, and squeezes his eyes open, she's managed to pull herself onto her knees upright on the board.
He grins and pulls himself to sit on his own surfboard. "You're a natural. You sure you've never surfed?"
"St Clouds wasn't exactly surfing weather," she says. "It's sort of in the name."
His smile stops being so teasing for a moment, and with a minuscule tilt of his head he pauses and just watches her. Something about it is almost tender, but it also reminds her of a curious child. She's almost about to ask what's got him looking at her like that, before he glances away and wonders aloud, "I'm guessing you miss it a lot."
"Sometimes," she says, and as her chest fills with apprehension she finds the strength to say, "I was pretty lonely for a while. I did my finals in my bedroom. There were weeks where I only saw my dad. And, well, Rafe was the first person to ever really pay me much attention, so..."
After the words are out there, hanging between them, Rita suddenly turns bashful and, clearing her throat, looks away. She smiles wryly at her reflection.
"Sorry. Don't know why I unloaded all that on you."
"Don't say sorry," JJ says. She isn't looking at him, but she can feel the stagnant pause that stretches after his words as he tries to think what to say next. "So you don't talk to any of your old friends?"
Without looking at him, Rita shrugs. "We text. But we're running out of things to talk about, I guess. But it's fine. It's high school. It was never gonna last forever."
JJ sighs softly through his nose, no doubt thinking of the Pogues. "Yeah, I get that. I mean... John B and Sarah? You really think they're gonna get married 'n have kids?"
"They do," Rita remarks.
JJ smiles. "Yeah, I think it's kinda stupid to date at this age. Or to even think about being here forever." That remark surprises Rita enough into looking at him carefully, examining his grimace; she'd never figured how desperate he'd actually be to get off Outerbanks. "We're on an island in the middle of fucking nowhere and kids like Sarah go on vacation to Disneyland and the Bahamas three times a year and think that's life. I don't know what John B's thinking. I don't even know what they have in common. Jesus. Did you hear them earlier?"
"Yeah, well," Rita mutters. Unfortunately, yes, she had heard them, and she'd wanted to throw up just as much as JJ. "It won't last forever, you don't have to worry. They're both sixteen, and there's, like, seven billion people in the world, so I really don't think anyone's gonna meet their soulmate in the same town they grew up in."
"I mean, you're not from around here."
Furrowing her eyebrows, Rita glances over at JJ, trying not to let her eyes visibly widen at the clear implications of what he just said. But he turns his head away from the sun and looks back at her earnestly, as if he knows the implications and said it anyway.
But then he catches himself. Paling, he looks away. "What I mean is, you've been out in the world, I guess. This isn't your hometown. Your soulmate could be here."
Smiling, Rita scoffs. "I'd like to think my soulmate isn't the sort of person who cares about Pogues and Kooks. And he'd be a scholar, not a surfer. And we'd live in London, or Paris, not here."
Even when JJ grimaces, his smile and demeanour remains sweet enough, light with good humour as he teases her -- a far cry from the boy at the party with the gun. How strange it is, how far they've come, from that to being able to talk to each other so easily in the way they are now. "You really think that shit exists in the first place?" he asks.
She shrugs, thinking. "... I'd like to. I think people click. Some people suit each other."
"Dating is just, like, telling each other different things about yourselves until one of you comes across the dealbreaker."
"Jeez, that's pretty grim," Rita laughs, leaning back on her board despite her better judgement and wobbling for a moment.
He just shrugs, pulling a face.
Once she's got her board steady, having to lean forward and hold it to counter-balance, she says without really realising it, "I've not really dated anybody, so... Soulmates is a pretty reassuring concept to someone who feels really alone sometimes."
Again, JJ shrugs. "Yeah, I get that. Even, like, friendship soulmates. But, I mean, John B's like my brother, but even he..." He breathes deeply again, choosing his words carefully once more. "Sometimes I'm scared I ruin everything I touch. And sometimes, I think I ruin the others. Drag them down with me, I guess. And sometimes I even think they hate me because of it." A pause. "It's horrible, but maybe even me and John B won't last."
But Rita shakes her head. "I've seen the way you two act--"
"But friends or not," he interrupts quickly, voice slightly hard, "sometimes I feel like everybody in the whole damn world is just completely alone. Nobody really understands anybody else. Even me and JB."
Rita, from under her eyebrows, flicks her eyes over to him. With a bullet of a glance, she sees he's looking toward the horizon, so she raises her eyes to examine his side-profile carefully.
He swallows. "Like with the gun. And Topper's boat. I didn't hesitate because they're my friends, y'know? Why would I hesitate? In the moment, it seemed like such a a good idea. But now I just feel like I --" He chokes on his words for a moment, and lowers his voice. "Like I ruined everything."
Rita swallows. For a long while, no words come, but JJ doesn't seem to mind her silence; the two of them watch the waves come and go, birds overhead squawking happily.
"Y'know, you're a contradiction, JJ Maybank," she says after a while, quoting him directly from the night of Midsummers, and he glances over at her, rocking on his board as a wave hits them. "Before the night at the drive-in, I thought you were some arrogant, gun-wielding, country-bumpkin Republican." JJ scoffs, offended, but he's still smiling slightly. "It's the fashion! You dress like you should be from Alabama."
"Wow," he says, and he leans forward as if he's about to swim away.
To stop him, she kicks water up to splash him and quickly says, "But what I'm saying is, you're nothing like that. You're not a bad person. And you should have more self-confidence in your decisions."
"Even when they're stupid?"
"Especially when they're stupid. Stupid decisions are like your whole brand."
He smiles at her, so suddenly that her heart catches in her throat.
"I mean, the gun thing? Bit of a dumb move, but I get it," she manages to say. She doesn't know if it's just plain and simple kindness that's making her say what JJ wants to hear, or if she actually does understand. But she doesn't dwell on it, too eager to make him smile. "But Topper deserves the boat thing. And the first thing we'll use the money for, is to pay off your restitution."
JJ shakes his head wryly, but Rita kicks water up at him.
"I'm serious. I'll do it with my own pocket money if I have to."
But, like he still doesn't believe her, JJ rolls his eyes. "C'mon. Let's go a little farther out."
Rita hesitates, unwilling at first to let the conversation go, but JJ doesn't look back before he starts to wade away. So, using her hands to paddle, chest on her knees, Rita follows him away from the dock. It's not far, but it's enough for them to feel a little more alone, just them and the sky and the sea. The rest of Outerbanks only exists in the far distance.
"Hey," she says as they go, "didn't you say you wanted to be, like, a surf teacher or something?"
"Maybe," he says, glancing back at her with a smile. "Why?"
"You'd just be good at it, that's all," she replies.
JJ seems surprised at the compliment and, still smiling, has to look away for a moment before he meets her eyes again. And when he does, it's a special sort of look.
Clearing his throat, he sits up and let's his legs hang off the edge again, the waves rocking him slightly. "We'll stop here," he says, glancing around them and squinting against the sun. Yet again, he splashes into the water, this time only his shoulders and head above the water, and wades over to hold her steady. His eyes raise to hers, smiling and earnest and excited. "Wanna see if you can stand?"
She gives him a look.
"I won't laugh if you fall," he promises, because apparently he's a successful mind-reader who can tell exactly what she's worried about.
"Tell me why I don't believe you?"
"Because I'm lying through my teeth. But still, you should try."
Rolling her eyes, Rita pauses, before she plants her hands on the sides of the board and starts to shift. "Hold me steady," she orders.
"Of course," he says. "Core tight. Lean forward. Try to stay in the dead centre of the board."
In one movement, because she knows if she pauses she'll lose her balance and ruin it all, she pulls her feet under her so that she's crouched. One glance at JJ shows he's grinning encouragingly, and she lifts her hands off the board. It wiggles for a moment, but he's gripping it tight enough that she barely wobbles as her legs start to straighten.
"Good!" JJ says, and then he yanks the board out from under her.
With a gasp as she flies downward, she plunges into the water, and bursts back up with an angry sputter. She rubs the water from her eyes with the heels of her hands, JJ still laughing from the opposite side of her board, leaning his chin on his forearms and looking far too sweet.
"Asshole!" she quips. "What the hell?"
"I'm just being a good teacher," he says innocently, smiling adorably and drumming his fingers against the wood. "C'mon. Do it again."
authors time:
lol it's been a LONG time since i updated this
is this fandom dead?