Prologue: Tiny Cabin
Outer Banks. Paradise on Earth. Home to golfers, fishers, and small business owners. Accustomed to tourists and tropical storms. Currently 86℉ with a mild humidity of 64%. At least, that's what the forecast said an hour ago. It seemed hotter now.
Dressed in a dark yellow cropped tank top and jean shorts, a blonde laid sprawled out on a pad of styrofoam. Tiny pieces of the material could be seen around the room from where they'd escaped a dirt-stained white sheet. A compound notebook was partially open next to the faux bed, discarded moments ago like the mechanical pencil thrown on top of it.
Across the small space, a futon mattress was pressed against the adjacent corner. It was the least comfortable of the three cots, but John B liked it. He'd always liked his beds firmer than the Maybank twins. The boy was there, his back pressed against the mattress and his feet kicked up on a window seal. Eyes closed, hands propped behind his head, the summertime playlist CJ made flowed into his ears. Every once in a while, his foot tapped to the beat, a content smile playing on his lips.
The two had been in what JJ deemed the 'tiny cabin' for an hour. The first thirty minutes were filled with John B pretending to listen to his music while he secretly listened to CJ play her guitar. The girl was completely absorbed in her attempt to build a new melody, completely missing the fact that her best friend couldn't keep his eyes off of her.
Every once in a while, CJ's attention would flash up to him and his heart would skip a beat. He'd unnecessarily pull out an earbud and she would ask questions about how it sounded. She would always speak quickly, her utter passion for music twinkling in her eyes. John B paid rapt attention to every word and would often take the beat-up old guitar to strum out possible chords.
For the next half hour, John B actually listened to his music. CJ had since put the guitar in its spot next to the doorway and plopped down in bed. Compound notebook against her knees, she fixed up the melody and started writing out lyrics. She finished the chorus before the eye strain won out and she threw the book aside, favoring the stars glued to the ceiling.
She remembered when they put the stars up there. It was one of the first additions. JJ had discovered their 6th-grade art teacher kept stars in the cabinets. Bags of them. Naturally, he'd snagged three of them and brought them out to decorate the abode. The stars ran all along the ceiling and only stopped when they reached the top of the windows.
Being mildly afraid of the dark, CJ appreciated to light they gave off at night. They all did. They especially appreciated how breathtaking it made their secondary home. With the curtains open, the night sky peeking through the trees, it was almost like you were surrounded by stars. Since JJ and CJ usually stayed there alone, it was comforting.
Lining the walls were random things. The placement of the beds often changed, but the three always had their respective corners. Those corners had posters and calendars and nick-nacks stapled or nailed into the wood. JJ's corner had a shelf built in above the window which showcased their empty bottles of liquor.
Two plants grew inside the treehouse. Both resided in windows; Aloe in CJ's and lavender in the unclaimed one next to the door. Good for wounds and soothing for the mind. They'd only been there two years; the female Maybank having permanently confiscated them from the middle school's greenhouse.
To anyone who ever came across the old treehouse (and no one did,) it would seem like a hovel. Most wouldn't realize it was everything to three islanders. Found their 5th-grade year, CJ hoarded it to herself for a few days before showing it to her brother. The place became their heaven-sent; their home when their actual residence had become nothing more than a broken dream. Whenever one of them didn't want to be there, they would come out to the tiny cabin. Their father never noticed, or more accurately, just didn't care. The cabin was their place, their little secret. That's why it meant so much to all of them when CJ showed it to John B.
It was a year after she found it that CJ brought him out to their fort hidden in the woods. Only a month after JJ introduced them to Pope Heyward. In the four years since CJ met him (and JJ intruded like a protective sibling,) the boy had given the Maybanks something that they'd never really had. A family. To CJ and JJ, that meant everything. So, when John B had a particularly bad day, CJ took him to the treehouse. For all of its existence, he would be the only non-Maybank to step foot in it.
CJ didn't tell her brother and she didn't ask. It was a spur of the moment decision and she knew in her heart that the boy wouldn't mind. The two spent that spring afternoon finally putting up curtains and cleaning outside while they talked; John B taking a break to 'test out the strength' of the tire swing. Ever since then, John B and CJ spent most of their free time there. They'd just lounge and talk and write music and swing on that tire swing.
That tire swing broke in eighth grade. The year after John B pulled Kiara Carrera into the fold. As soon as it happened, John B rushed them to his house and grabbed a rope from the shed. His dad asked what it was for, but his questioning never stood a chance against a Pogue on a mission. Within two hours, the swing was as good as new and hadn't broken since.
That year came with many new additions. It was the year the plants made their way into the treehouse and the year CJ got her guitar. It was a beat-up old thing, but it was loved; something that was only given to her because Ms. Gonzales saw the potential CJ held. Their doting music teacher had watched CJ for the entirety of her middle school career and saw how truly happy it made her. So, when the teacher got a new acoustic, the old one was passed down to her favorite student.
That was also the year the three found the filing cabinet. A strange olive color, the dingy thing was abandoned by the trashes of the high school. On their way home one day, JJ spotted it. They carried and eventually wheeled that thing all the way to the treehouse and then struggled to get it up the tree and inside. It was totally worth it though. Now, the kids had some form of organization.
The bottom drawer was always locked and CJ had the key stashed in John B's room. It held all of the Maybanks' important documents; things they were worried their father would lose or possibly even sell. The drawer above that held most of their random shit. Notebooks, lighters, etc, and of course, their emergency stash of weed and liquor. Currently, it housed Fireball; CJ's favorite. The top two drawers held clothes. The twins clothes were separated between the two and a few articles of John B's were thrown in with CJ's. Some of them he kept there and some were just clothes CJ had stollen from the boy.
The next year, their first year of high school, is when the queen mattress finally went out. Unable to keep using it, John B pulled out the old futon mattress from his attic while the twins went off to search for new beds. That's how they found JJ's beloved mattress topper and CJ's lovely hunk of styrofoam. All the size of double beds, they pushed them against their individual corners. The corners had been long designated simply so they had spots to put their food and places to hang things on the walls.
Everyone had their own light blanket and pillow. During the winter and cold nights, they pushed two beds together to snuggle close for warmth. Depending on who was there, the beds varied. If it was CJ and John B (on nights JJ was with Pope,) the two would simply bundle up on the styrofoam. Despite liking his beds firmer, John B would never complain. On nights it was the three of them or just the twins, the Maybanks' beds got pushed together. JJ refused to sleep on anything other than his memory foam. A heavy comforter would be pulled out from behind the filing cabinet and wrapped around them; CJ always smushed in between the boys when there were three of them.
Unlike those nights, John B and CJ were as far away from one another as possible in the limited space. Not on purpose, it's just how their beds were positioned. Even with that space, CJ could feel when John B's gaze turned to her.
"Takin' a break?"
Turning to look at the sun-kissed boy, CJ's left leg dropped from where it was propped up on her other knee. On the old mattress, her leg would have bounced, but instead, it sunk into the foam. "Yeah. It was hurting my eyes."
"Well, we wouldn't want that." He said cheekily, a small smirk on his face as he played with the wire of his headphones.
"Shut up." CJ laughed, pulling the pillow out from beneath her head to chuck at the boy. John B raised his hands defensively, catching the old headrest with ease. Lifting his head, he tucked it underneath.
"Now you don't have a pillow. Look what you did."
"Give it back."
"No." John B grumbled, shaking his head with slightly wide eyes. It was his, fair and square. And maybe, just maybe, he liked seeing the smile on her face when he teased her.
CJ's head tilted to the side and she gestured at his unused pillow. "I'll just steal yours."
Getting up from her comfortable spot, the girl meandered over to John B's bed. As soon as she went to swoop up the item, Mr. Routledge snagged it, pushing it underneath her own.
"Johnny!"
Her scolding fell on deaf ears as John B laughed. It was just too funny to get her riled up. She was adorable. She was even more adorable wacking him with the pillow stollen from JJ's mattress.
"Give it back!"
"No can do, princess."
Tongue caught between his smiling teeth, John B watched CJ grumble with a twinkle in his eyes. This was one of his favorite pass times. Messing around and teasing his best friend. Anyone with eyes could see the shameless flirting and practical heart eyes, but some were utterly blind.
With one last final wack, CJ groaned and fell down on the bed next to him. Chuckling, John B wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she lounged against it. To anyone that didn't know them, the motion would seem intimate, but it was completely normal between the two. That didn't necessarily mean it didn't spark feelings in one half of the party, but it did mean they were pushed to the side.
"So, why aren't you working with Kie today?" He questioned, confused seeing as the girls usually worked their shifts together.
Shifting in his arms, CJ turned to look at John B's face. He pretended it didn't make his heart stutter and turned to face her with a curious expression. "The morning prep cook called in sick, so Mike called me in."
CJ worked part-time for Kie's parents. She started last year, Kie talking her parents into it when she began working there. Most of her work consisted of waiting and bussing tables, but she did everything. She helped cook and prep and when she could, she washed dishes. She even played bouncer for the kids that annoyed Mike.
Her good work ethic was something that seemed to shock most people. Of course, that was mostly her father's fault. No one thought JJ or CJ could do any good with their lives stemming from his family tree. However, it earned her fantastic tips, particularly from the ample amount of tourists.
Tucked into John B's side, CJ's focus zoned out on his chest. She wasn't thinking of anything in particular, just lost in her own mind. That happened often. A time where her subconscious ran rampant under the surface, pulling up random fleeting feelings and memories. Within a second, it would be gone, only leaving a stain behind as it traveled on to the next.
Like most times this happened, John B watched her. He caught himself doing that often over the years. Just staring at her. He simply couldn't help himself. He knew the rules and she was his best friend, but he was beside himself. The girl was gorgeous and smart and hilarious. All of her faults and virtues complimented his own and to him, she was perfection. He could never truly be mad at her and at the end of the day, she was his north star. Whenever he found himself lost, she would guide him home. She was the main reason he was getting through his father's disappearance and she was the only one that truly believed he wasn't gone. It just strengthened his knowledge that the blonde was his soul mate. Whether that was romantically or not, he was just thankful to have her in his life.
John B was pulled from his thoughts when CJ's baby blues lifted up to look at him again. For a minute, she lost her train of thought which left her just kind of staring at him for a moment. It left John B captivated, forcing himself not to look at her lips. "Do you think the boys are done fishing?"
The Maybank boy, the most chaotic of the J's, was off with Pope in the HMS Pogue. While John B worked, the boys took his (correction, basically everyone's) boat out on the water to catch some fish. JJ was adamant that they needed to have a barbeque and Pope's dad promised them hamburger patties in exchange for fresh seafood.
"Probably." He answered, reaching his free hand up to boop her on the nose. "You wanna go see?"
The girl only thought for a moment before she was nodding rapidly, lifting herself from John B's hold. The movement left him cold even in the blazing heat and he brushed off the pang that hit his heart.
Strolling over to her bed, CJ grabbed the notebook laying on the wood floor. The book was almost full of songs her and John B had written. Some alone, but most together. Closing the sacred object, she walked over to the cabinet at the end of her bed. Opening the proper drawer, she put the notebook back in its rightful place. In the process, she knocked over one of the many magnets littering the metal. Picking it up, she stuck it back next to JJ's 'up in smoke' sticker.
Spinning around, CJ started for the open door, gesturing John B toward her. "C'mon, let's go."
And like always, John B followed her, like he'd follow her into an erupting volcano.
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Okay, so I tried something different with the introduction than usual. I kind of hate it, but I also kind of like it so whatever. I'm also getting used to writing in 3rd POV, so don't come at me. And I don't usually use that many parentheses, sorry for that. I hope you guys like it so far and that you love the tiny cabin as much as I do, because I really do. Speaking of which, here is a rough ass layout of it.
Until next time,
adios
~SiriusCatBennett