JJ, true to his word, and despite the dress code, had gotten them past security no problem. Partly because of the hundred, and partly because Sarah pouted at the guard and took advantage of her good looks.
The movements seemed to slow down around them when enough alcohol had reached her nervous system. The bass had thrummed heavy, and she felt it in her chest as they swayed to the music. JJ, for as long as she'd known him, had insisted he didn't dance, but here was their own resident bad boy cutting up the floor with her. He wasn't that bad, either, although sometimes she would laugh at him. When guys would get too close to her, he'd only needed to glare before they'd shy away. After all, JJ was not a small man, and the scar on the side of his face that he'd gotten from one of their adventures, didn't make him look any less scary.
Before she had any time to register, the song they were dancing to ended, the lights turned on, and people started filing out. They met each other's gaze, and he started giggling at her.
"What?" She asked, stumbling, as people pushed past her.
"You look like the trashed girl in a movie." He slurred, giggling.
"You don't look much better!" She guffawed. She turned them both to look in the mirror, laughing so hard she leaned forward to clutch her stomach. Her hair was a mess and her make up was smudged somehow. She was glistening with a thin layer of sweat. JJ's shirt buttons were messed up, and he was also sweaty with messy hair. The two stood giggling at each other.
"Guys, you gotta clear out." The bouncer finally told them impatiently.
"Have a good night, man." JJ waved at him, linking arms with a shitfaced Sarah, and letting themselves into the night. It was three am, but people still littered the streets.
Sarah gasped. "JJ, let's go to the beach, and smoke!" She told him, pulling a blunt out of her purse and producing it like a trophy.
He returned her gasp, and they turned towards the ocean, coming to sit on the sand. She lit the blunt, and hit it.
"D'ya know why you're one of my best friends?" She asked, hiccupping. He took the blunt, and puffed on it.
"Why's that, Princess?"
"Cos you don't make shit weird." She told him, smiling. "I have never ever felt uncomfortable around you. Or Pope, but we're talkin about you!" She pointed her finger at him, before snatching the blunt out of his hand.
"I can't make shit weird with you, Sarah, you're like my sister." He shrugged. "Bree's been in love with you since you guys went on that secret mission to Wilmington all those years ago. And, not for nothing, but I only saw you as a Kook, so." He explained. They fell into silence.
"Imagine if I really was though?" She asked, passing him the blunt.
He looked at her, taking the apparatus. "Really was what?" He asked her.
"If we were brother and sister, imagine if it was true for real?" She asked him, and he studied her face very hard, before realizing she was indeed serious. He snorted, before throwing his head back, laughing like a hyena.
"And how would that be, Princess?" He asked her. "You're funny, we live on the smallest damn island, and you don't think we would have figured it out by now?" He asked, trying to catch his breath. "Wooo, that's funny."
"I'm serious though. Maybe it's just because I'm fucked up, but haven't you ever wondered who your mother is?" She asked him. "Because I wonder who mine is all the damn time."
It got really quiet for a moment, and he looked out at the ocean. "In my brain, my mother died a long time ago. Because how anyone could have ever left me alone with Luke Maybank, is something that I would never be able to understand. And, you and I have the same birthday. You're gonna tell me they separated twins at birth?"
She looked at him long and hard. "You're right, but I still wanna take that stupid DNA test thingy." She shrugged. "I think maybe you should too. Maybe you'll gain some peace of mind." She told him.
The buzz was wearing off as they settled into a gentle high. She sighed, bringing her knees to her chest. "I'm really glad you guys accepted me as I am." She confessed.
JJ let out a pained chuckle, before pulling a package of Marlboro Blend 27's out of his pocket. He put one between his lips and sparked up, taking a long drag, before exhaling. "You know, when I first found out John B was macking you, I was against it." He shook his head. "My loyalty was with Kie. Look how that turned out."
Sarah said nothing, and put her head on his shoulder, snatching the cigarette out of his hands and replacing it with the blunt. It wasn't uncommon for the two to share cigarettes or moments like this.
"Kiara will come around, Jayj. Maybe we just need to give her time. But I don't want this to set you back, because whether Kiara is here or not, you deserve to be happy." She told him. "And if shit doesn't work out with her, you'll find someone. There's more to life than just the OBX, look at Pope and Cleo."
"Yeah, I'm glad I took John B's side, Princess, 'cause you're pretty cool." He told her. "We should probably start heading back to the hotel."
After hitting a McDonalds on their way, and smoking the other two blunts they had in their possession, he two blondes found themselves giggling in the gift shop. "If I take this stupid DNA test, will you leave me the hell alone?" He asked her, trying to contain his laughter.
"I'll bet you ten shillings that we are twins separated at birth!" She told him, in her terrible British accent.
"I say it should be pounds, now that we're to riches, Mrs Routledge." He challenged.
"Ah, Mr Maybank, indeed! From the rags we have risen!" She laughed loudly, drawing attention to themselves.
The desk clerk smiled warmly at them, but raised a teasing finger to her lips telling them to be quiet. Sarah swiped two of the Ancestry DNA test kits, and pointed at the clerk. "Can you check us out?" She whispered, although it was still loud, making JJ snort in amusement.
Momentarily, he forgot about the situation he was in.
"I can charge it to your room." The woman told her. JJ nodded.
"C'mon, Princess, let's get to bed."
"Not before we spit in the tubes! Where's your mailing office, Ma'am?" She guffawed, and nodded prouldy when the woman pointed toward the front door. "Thank you, queen." She spoke, and tossed a hundred dollars down on the desk. "That's because I know you're fucking underpaid."
JJ grabbed her by the arm. "Have a good night ma'am." He told her, while Sarah continued to ramble on about social injustice.
After indulging Sarah in her DNA test shenanigans, with no hope of finding any living, breathing relatives that were not fucked up, he tucked her into bed.
"Hey JJ?" She asked him, from her own bed. The doors to their rooms were open still.
"Hey Sar?" He asked, eyes closed.
"Are you awake?" She asked, making him smile.
"No." He told her.
"JJ." She whined.
"What's wrong?"
"Do you think we're ever gonna find out who our mothers are?" She asked.
He paused. "Maybe we will, Sarah. But right now we should focus on getting some sleep."
He didn't hear a response from his blonde counterpart, aside from a snore. He laughed to himself, before drifting into his own dreamland.
He woke up to his phone ringing four hours later and picked it up to see his best friend's face flash across the screen.
"Hello?" He grumbled when John B and Cleo appeared on the screen.
JJ hated hangovers. They were brutal, and anxiety provoking. It felt like there was an elephant sitting on his chest. The last thing he remembered was talking to Sarah before she fell asleep.
"Rude Boy, how did you sleep?" Cleo asked first, a teasing glint to her tone.
"I have a hangover, and Sarah forced me to take an Ancestry DNA test with her." He grumbled. "A two-Ma special."
"Damn straight." Sarah interjected with a yawn, appearing in the doorway, hair a mess and makeup smudged. "I feel like shit."
"Sarah thinks we're twins." JJ mumbled, not moving when the woman in question sat down beside him taking the phone out of his hands and waving at her husband and their friend.
She slapped his leg. "Do not, I just said imagine if we were twins?"
"Huh." John B was heard, but it wasn't a question, more of an accessory to the thought.
"Sounds like you agree with the princess."
"It seems far fetched that it would have been kept a secret for this long. You don't think you guys would have found out by now?"
"I know, sunshine, that's why I said imagine!"
Silence hung in the air for a few beats, and with each pound of his head, JJ was reminded of one simple thing. Him and Kiara were done. Probably for good. It hurt, and he was angry. He let out a sigh.
"Whelp, SoCal has officially been ruined for me, guys. And the song Hanging By a Moment by Lifehouse." He told them. "You guys can say something and address the elephant in the room."
"She accused me of ruining her new life, so, I'm not really interested in talking to or about her." Sarah scoffed, looking at her cuticles.
"Her new life? "John B's voice floated through the phone. "Is she serious?"
"Seemed pretty deadass to me." The girl huffed.
"This doesn't sound like our Kiara, guys." Cleo clicked her tongue, and was seen shaking her head beside John B. "Something is goin' on with our gyal."
JJ pursed his lips. "Part of me doesn't want to leave. What the fuck is going on with her? I get me, but I don't get why she was a shit to Sarah."
"Shitbird, for once you're in the right. You need to stick to what you're doing, and continue working on your shit." John B told his friend.
JJ sighed, running a hand over his face, and looking at the ceiling. "We're coming home today."
"You are?"
"We are?"
The group spoke in unison.
"Yeah. I don't really wanna spend more time here than necessary." He ran a hand over his face. "Don't wanna see her again for a little while. I need some space." He sighed deeply, letting his palms rest on his cheeks, splaying his fingers over the top of his face, and scrunched his eyes as tight as he could. "So does she, evidently."
The rest of the conversation fell upon deaf ears for the blonde as he sat with the heavy feeling in his chest. Kiara was the one sole thing he had ever been certain about on this earth. He loved her. The only girl that had ever made him feel such emotions, the only one that ever could. She knew him, she saw him. Maybe it had been too much?
He tried to shake these violent thoughts from his mind, thinking back to the book he'd been reading. Being kinder to oneself was the way of leading a life of love. Blah blah bullshit. All that had ever gotten him was knocked down, clearly.
"JJ? Hello?" John B's voice pulled him out of his spiral.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"I changed our flight to leave tonight." Sarah told him. "Is there anything you wanted to do today before we leave?"
"Lay here." He joked, splaying an arm across his face. She slapped his leg that poked out from under his covers. "Ow! Stop doing that! It was a joke. Lemme shower and get this hangover gone, then you pick what we do. But make it far away from this stupid boardwalk."
She nodded. "Noted. Alrighty, guys, that's my cue. I'm gonna go shower too. We'll see you when we get off the plane!"
The four said their goodbyes, before hanging up. Sarah spared a worried glance at her friend.
"Are you sure you're okay, J?" She asked him. He nodded, not meeting her eyes.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine, Sar." Was his response.
She didn't push him further.