"Come on, Lane we're burning daylight!" The horn from the VW bus is all too familiar as Fallon Adair tosses on her sneakers, pulling her long hair into a ponytail as she rushes out the house.
"And where are you running off to now?" Her older brother Lawson stops her just as she swings the front door to their small house open, letting the warm summer evening air hit her skin.
"We're just gonna go hang out." She sighs and then grimaces when the horn sounds again, making Lawson give her a disapproving look. "I'll be fine." She says quickly, "I will not come back with a broken nose this time, I swear." She holds her hands out in front of her as she walks backward out of the house, referring to an incident just a couple months prior.
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Fallon!" Lawson calls after her but she's already made a break for it, running towards the old van as Pope slides the back door open, allowing her to jump in before John B throws the vehicle in gear and takes off down the road.
"It's about time." Remarks John B, looking at his oldest friend through the rearview mirror.
"Sorry, I was napping." She blushes a little bit and John just shakes his head with a knowing smile. Fallon, or Lane as her friends typically called her, was basically nocturnal-slept all day, partied/wrote all night. They usually couldn't get a hold of her until the sun was about to set unless she was otherwise aware of any plans that they had.
John B and Lane had been friends since basically birth. She lived just up the shoreline from him and her parents had been best friends with his parents, that is until John B's mom skipped town when he was three, and Lane's parents were killed in a car accident when she was only eight. After this happened, Lane had to move to New York to live with her aunt until her brother was old enough to become her legal guardian. John B and her counted down the days to his eighteenth birthday in their letters and emails to each other. The day finally came in eighth grade, letting her move back to her old house just a quick jog away from her best friend and they slid right back into their old ways-with the addition of Pope and JJ to their little group.
Lane knew of JJ before she left, obviously, but she never thought he would become one of her best friends. She always thought people like JJ only got along with hot chicks and dudes who stole as much as he did, not quiet goofy girls who had never smoked a joint or gotten in serious trouble once in their life. But, of course, all that changed when JJ came tumbling into her life. He rolled her first joint, watched her pickpocket her first tourist, and was the reason she broke her first curfew with Lawson. John B always says that JJ corrupted her but JJ insists he just awoke the beast that was always inside of little Lane.
Then there was Pope. Lane loved Pope like he was another brother. She stood up for him when JJ or John B called him a pussy or said he was too uptight, she knew he had a lot going for him and she was his biggest supporter in the group. She was also the one that could talk him into anything he didn't want to do if nobody else could which maybe she used to her advantage too much but even she could admit it was good for him.
And along came Kiara. Kie was what Lane didn't know she needed. She didn't have any sisters, her mom was gone and the girls at school never liked her for some weird reason (or if they did they were only pretending because they thought her brother was hot). When Kie came into the picture the two girls immediately clicked. They had so many common interests, the environment, music, writing you name it. She was like the sister Lane never had. She would do anything for that girl.
She would do anything for any of the pogues, they were her lifeline at this point. Her and Lawson were constantly butting heads with each other and they were her escape. "Did you bring them?" JJ raises his eyebrows at the brunette.
Lane scoffs, "Did I bring them?" She pulls the twelve-pack of beer out of her backpack, "Who do you think I am JJ?" She tosses him one. "So where are we headed?" She cranes her head to look out the windshield to try and get a sense of where John B was currently driving them.
"We're gonna go check out the new housing development that they built on that turtle habitat," Kie tells her as Lane hands her a beer can.
"Another one?" Her eyes widen, "Jesus Christ those things are springing up everywhere." She shakes her head. Kooks were literally taking over. Now they weren't only ruining the lives of pogues but of innocent animals.
"And Laney isn't going to fall through the deck of this one," Pope informs everyone and looks at the blushing girl sitting next to him.
"That was one time." She mutters. You see, Lane had a little bit of trouble with injuring herself. She was clumsy as hell and just had generally bad luck. She was most of the time covered in minor scratches and bruises from various falls or she was face planting into a glass door and breaking her nose-either way, she should be living in a bubble but she didn't let that stop her from getting in just as much shit as her friends did. They spent most of their time running from security or hopping fences into places that they were most definitely supposed to be far away from it just so happened that Lane was always the one who would get her foot stuck in the fence and lose a shoe.
"One time that I thought your brother was going to kill me," Pope mutters.
"Oh don't worry, Pope," JJ pats him on the shoulder, "he gets less scary the more times you make him mad."
"It's true." Lane nods, agree with her blond friend. Lawson didn't like her hanging out with any of the pogues because he was wildly overprotective of her and thought they were a bad influence but then again so did every authority figure on the Outer Banks. He took a particular disliking to JJ ever since the first time they met and now it was basically just a joke since Lane stopped listening to him about three months into living with him.
John B pulls up to the new subdivision in progress and the crew hops out, strolling down the sidewalk to decide which house they would explore first. Lane makes her way to the house on the corner by herself, her backpack slung over her shoulders and she walks to where the front door is. Of course, it's locked but she couldn't say the same for the window next to it, "Yeesh it's like they're inviting me in." She pushes it up and crawls inside of the house. It was echoey and dusty, not to mention insanely hot. She jogs up the steps to the second level, stepping out onto the deck. It would definitely do for now. She sets her backpack down and leans over the edge of the deck, spotting her friends a couple of houses down, "Yoohoo!" She calls in a high pitched tone, waving her hand at them, "I think we could get into this one pretty easy." She jokes
"I thought you had just run off and got lost." John B chuckles as the rest of them make their way over to the building.
"You underestimate me, Johnny." She scoffs, using the nickname he only allowed her to use. If anyone else used it they were basically a dead man walking. It was sort of like how he could call her by her middle name Joesphine and he wouldn't get punched in the gut-Same energy. She jogs back down the steps and opens the front door for the group, "Hey MTV, welcome to my crib."
"Funny, your crib looks just like every other crib in the neighborhood." Kiara teases as they all start to look around, beers in hand. They eventually make it back to the deck and Lane settles on a platform with JJ, watching John B climb onto the roof.
"Wow, for once I think I'll be the one to not get hurt." She says to the boy next to her, sipping her beer.
"I don't know this thing seems pretty unsteady," JJ says, started to shake the metal tower they are currently sitting on.
"JJ!" She shrieks quickly, bracing herself for it to come tumbling down but the only sound is JJ laughing at her reaction, "Fuck you, that could have actually made it fall." She shoves him.
"Oh, come on I would not have made it fall, this thing is super sturdy." He assures her but she rolls her eyes at him anyway, directing her attention to John B on the roof.
He takes a swig of his beer, balancing on the edge of the roof, "That's, what a three-story fall to the deck?" Pope looks up at him, "I give you about a one-in-three chance of survival."
"Hm," John B licks his finger and holds up his finger to the wind as if testing the breeze, "Should I do it?"
"Yeah, you should jump!" Pope remarks once again, "I'll shoot you on the way down." He points a drill up at John B as if to be threatening but it's coming from Pope so it doesn't really have that effect.
"You'll shoot me?" John B asks him skeptically.
"They're gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers." Kie remarks as she steps out of the house after taking a closer look than any of them did.
"Of course they are, why wouldn't they?" JJ shrugs like it's the most obvious thing in the world, his chin resting on the metal bar in front of him.
"This place used to be a turtle habitat but who cares about the turtles, I guess?" Kie finally notices John B on top of the house and looks up at him, frowning.
"I can't have cold towels." JJ shakes his head.
"Can you please not kill yourself?" Kiara squints up at John, questioning why she was friends with them like she did every day at least once.
"Don't spill that beer, I'm not giving you another one." Lane calls up to him and it's like clockwork that the can falls out of his hands and down onto the deck, "Of course, right as I tell you not to." Lane sighs deeply, "Dumbass."
"Hey, uh, security's here," Pope says, looking over the railing at the patrol car that just pulled up across from the house. "Let's wrap it up."
"Boy's are early today." John B observes as he takes his sweet time still standing on top of the roof.
"Alright, Humpty Dumpty let's roll," JJ tells the brown-haired boy as he rolls off of the platform swiftly, offering his hands up to Fallon to grab her hips and help her down onto the deck because he did not trust her to get down that latter quickly without falling.
"Gary, is that you?" JJ calls over the railing, "Good to see you, man!"
"You're just asking for it." Kiara shakes her head at him and just like that, they're back on their bullshit, running through the house whooping and hollering and trying to find an exit that isn't blocked by a security guard.
Lane goes flying down the steps, her hair starting to fall out of her ponytail as she runs through the bottom floor of the house, hearing JJ and Pope almost get caught by Gary in the back but she's focused on getting to the van with Kie and John B in front of her. She hops in the front, Kie in the back as John is driving with the back door open ready for the other two boys to hop in.
"Bus is leaving!" JB honks the horn as the boys hop the back fence, Pope hitting the ground pretty hard but he recovers quickly.
"Come on, Boys!" Lane's hanging out the front window, cheering them on as they run to hop in the van, and John B starts to peel out.
"Check out Gary, gunnin for a raise." Pope laughs as they all watch the old security guard try and keep up with their van.
"Come on, Gary!" JJ leans out the side door, "Wait. Slow down slow down." JJ urges John B as he grabs a beer, holding it out to Gary and taunting him with it.
"You're gonna give him a heart attack." Kie scolds as Lane is absolutely losing it in the front seat.
"You're so close, you can do it." JJ encourages him, readying the beer before tossing it at the poor guy, "There you go." He laughs, "They don't pay you enough, man."
"JJ stop. Stop." Kie pulls him back into the van
"Oh, come on that kind of initiative is just begging to be punished." The blond defends himself with a mischievous smile on his lips.
Lane kicks her feet up on the dashboard as they drive out of the neighborhood and through the rest of figure eight, "Can we stop by the shelter?" She looks over at John B and the boys in the van all groan, "Hey," She turns around to glare at JJ and Pope, "I told him I would come back to see him. I promised I can't go back on that." She insists.
"Lane, I don't know how many times I have to remind you of this-" JJ leans between the driver's seat and her seat, "It's a dog. He does not know the meaning of a promise, nor does he probably remember you." Lane had a thing for picking up stray animals as she saw them on the island. Her plan was obviously to keep whatever breed of dog she would sneak into her house but it never flew with Lawson so she either had to find someone to take the animal herself or would end up taking it to the local animal shelter and visiting it every day until it got adopted.
"Shut up, JJ." She glares at him, "Even if Baxter doesn't remember I do remember and that's enough to keep me up at night." She crosses her arms over chest.
"I thought you stopped naming them, you know that makes you more attached to them." Kie sighs
"Okay well, I can't very well go around just calling them all dog and cat. That would be ridiculous." Lane rolls her eyes at her friends like she was the only sane one in this van.
"Look, Lane, even if I wanted to take you to the shelter they close in like ten minutes so it's not going to happen tonight." John B tells his best friend as he continues to drive in the direction of his home.
"Okay fine," She gives in, "You cruel, evil people." She wags her finger at her friends. Obviously, she's joking, she knows that they're probably right, and going to him will not make much of a difference and will only make her sadder about not being able to keep him but she could pout if she wanted to.
"Aw come here Laney bear, I'll make you feel better." JJ reaches for her, grabbing her face and puckering his lips like he's going to kiss her.
"JJ stop!" She laughs, pushing him away, "Get away from me." She wipes her cheek where he managed to get his lips briefly. While she was feigning annoyance she couldn't help the blush that crept up to her cheeks. While JJ helped her achieve a couple of other firsts, he was also her first kiss. It happened just the summer before after he walked her home after a party at the beach. The next day when she saw him he was acting like nothing had happened and they never really talked about it, considering there was the whole no pogue on pogue macking rule it was probably for the best. But that didn't mean Lane didn't think about it all the time, regardless of how much she didn't want to think about it.
"Alright," John B throws the van into park after pulling up to the Chateau that he called home, "Let's not let these beers go to waste, yeah?"
Alright well here this is! Like a lot of us in quarantine, I watched this show in like a day and a half and fell in love with the characters and the plotline so I thought I would try putting my own spin on it. Obviously, this is just a little introduction chapter and I'll get into the nitty-gritty of the first episode in the next one but I just wanted to kick it off with this light one! Let me know what you think and what you would like to see from this story, obviously, I have a few thoughts up my sleeve for Fallon and how she'll add some spice to the Pogues but I always love hearing what readers think is gonna happen!