The contrast in temperature was the first thing he noticed when he got off of the plane.
It was freakin' hot, in Los Angeles. His palms were clammy, the swamp ass came on rapidly, and even though he was used to hot summers, it had been cold enough to see his breath this morning. First thing he noticed, was that aside from the temperature, and the roofing on buildings and houses, Los Angeles was just a bougie, city version of the Carolinas. He was unimpressed, until they got into the cab.
"We're on Rodeo drive. I've only seen this in movies." He told her, bending awkwardly to get a clearer view of the sky, where palm trees soared, high in the trees, and buildings towered and houses looked exactly as he's pictured. "Man, I wish John B could have come." He spoke solemnly, but the smile and awe on his face was priceless. Sarah snapped a photo of her awestruck friend, giggling when his middle finger came to greet her almost immediately.
"So, are you gonna tell me why you had a mini meltdown over a mimosa earlier, or are we gonna pretend it didn't happen?" She asked him, finally, when they got out of the cab at the hotel. They'd sprung for a luxury beachfront hotel, one suite with two bedrooms and two huge bathrooms.
He didn't look at her, and chose to look up in awe at the resort they'd be staying in for the weekend. Sarah had planned on this going his way, obviously. And, they were conveniently located right across the street from the condominium building where Kie had apparently purchased a condo.
He glanced back, and then back up at the hotel. "I like the second option better."
"JJ." She urged, crossing her arms.
"Fine. I haven't been drinking lately." He told her.
"I've noticed. What changed?" She asked him.
He took a deep breath. "After we came home, after we watched all the death, and our house burned down, and all that happened, I was hitting the bottle too hard." He shrugged. "I'm set up for it already. I don't need to wake it up early." He grumbled.
She pursed her lips, and threw an arm around him. "You aren't gonna end up like Luke Maybank." She told him. "I know you aren't him, JJ. You're too special."
"And my Ma?" He asked. She cringed.
"Guess we'll never know about that one." She shrugged. "Unless you wanna take a DNA test? I saw them in the airport gift shop." She giggled. "I'll take one too, a two-Ma special."
He laughed. "I guess you're right."
"I think it's very smart of you. Drinking like this isn't really the best anyway." She told him as they walked to their suite, and letting out a yawn. "I need a nap." She told him, and he murmured in agreement, catching her yawn like a virus.
After they'd called the remaining Pogues back in the OBX to let them know they made it to their destination safely, and took a short nap. They'd meet in the kitchen, both showered and ready to go.
"Ready to go shopping, mister?" She asked him.
"Make me look spiffy, Sar." He told her.
They took off down the boulevard, towards a shop that looked like it would have something more his speed. They'd picked out a pair of dark, straight fit jeans, a black button up, and a pair of new vans. She'd also insisted on some accessories, a new earring for his ear, a shell necklace.
He really felt like he was in the boujee cut. This was crazy.
He'd also always believed the best accessory was confidence. He stepped out of the fitting room, sliding, and popping his collar. Sarah squealed, clapping.
"John B never lets me dress him up." She grinned, and he laughed.
"Bree will let you do literally anything to him, trust." He shook his head. "You have that man wrapped around your finger and practically in a choke hold. You just gotta find a way to get him to agree before he figures it out." He looked in the mirror, messing his hair.
"You want me to coerce him?"
"Well, when you put it like that, it's less fun and more scary." He grinned, and whistled at himself. "If you dress him up like John B, he'll be fine. If you dress him like a kook, he'll flip." He shrugged, turning and checking out his rear in the mirror. "You are really good at picking out a pair of jeans." He whistled.
She rolled her eyes, and he glared, but they both grinned. "You're somethin' else." She told him, laughing as he tried on all the outfits, buying them all because they couldn't decide which was best.
The day had started off fairly well. She woke up in her new bed. A staunch, white, glossy condo, fully modernized. Her bed was soft, but her home lacked charachter, which she planned to fix. One thing was for certain, though, it lacked any traces of her old life. Aside from the ocean.
The Pacific, with the same vastness at first glance, did not carry the same charachteristics of the Atlantic. She can remember JJ telling her that it was the largest ocean in the world, and the vastness allowed for bigger waves.
Perfect swell, Kie.
She shook his blue-green orbs and messy blonde locks out of her head. Pope had told her other things.
The least dense, the least salty, due to less mixing from climate change.
She closed her eyes, scrunching them.
Impulsivity had never been her thing. She almost regret her decision. Almost. She at least had to try here.
Her phone pinged.
New message from Jason.
Hey, cutie. I was wondering if you wanted to meet up later and grab dinner? Maybe go for a walk down the boardwalk? Lmk
She pursed her lips, but agreed.
New life, get on Tinder, get on with it. This was it. She'd give the other pogues an explanation eventually, maybe even him. But she needed to do this, and if he couldn't see that, she couldn't keep him around.
Sarah stood in front of a landmark, smiling wide and holding a stuffed Giant Pacific Octopus, wearing a silly hat, and kicking her foot up behind her as JJ took the thousandth picture that day. Then JJ turned and held the phone out to capture a selfie of the two of them.
"As much as I'm enjoying bonding with my future, illegitimate sister in law, we've been wandering around for hours, Sarah." He told her, taking a bite of the street corn that he'd ordered earlier. "I don't think we're gonna... What are you looking at?"
Sarah's gaze was set straight ahead, eyes narrowed. "I gotta pee, stay here." She shoved her octopus into his arms a bit too forcefully. But her warnings to stay put were understood when he turned around and his jaw dropped.
Kiara Carrera was slow dancing on the patio of some hoity-toity beach front restaurant, hanging onto a Los Angeles brand kook. Her hair was pin straight, and she wore an outfit she would have made fun of Sarah for wearing. He almost hadn't recognized her. The lead singer of the live band crooned on about Hanging By a Moment, ruining the Lifehouse song for him in it's entirety. He stood motionless, breath hitched, seeing red behind his eyes as he looked on at the heartbreaking sight, holding the octopus he'd won for his psuedo sister in a vice grip, and clenching his jaw.
Deep breath. Deep breath. Deep breath.
"Kiara, what the fuck?" Sarah broke their gaze on each other, making the object of his focus jump.
"Sarah?" She asked surprised.
"I understood you being butthurt and taking off, but no call? Not even for me?" Sarah asked her, tossing her hands up.
"Lady, we're kinda in the middle of-" LA kook tried to intervene, but failed.
"Shut the fuck up, pretty boy, I won't take up too much of your time." She snapped. Kiara stayed silent.
"Do you have anything to say? I mean, I know shit hasn't been great, but you really just up and took off without asking for help from-"
"I needed a break! I needed to get out of the OBX, and get away. Too much has happened. It's not my fault that JJ didn't want to come with." Kiara shot back, getting in Sarah's face. "And now here you come to ruin my date, and ruin my fresh start."
"Ruin your date? Ruin your fresh start? Sorry for being concerned about my best fucking friend. You didn't even give him the chance, Kiara! You've been doing nothing but fight with him, even though he's been putting in an honest effort to be a better man for you. You dropped your news like a bomb, and when he didn't immediately say yes you dipped out. That's on you." Sarah told her, pointing her finger. Silence followed, making her scoff. "Pogues don't turn their backs on other Pogues, Kie. You disrespected your friends, and you disrespected JJ. He came all the way out here to see you, and you fucked him. Just like everyone else in his damn life." She threw her hand out in his direction, making his cheeks flush an even deeper shade of pink.
Kiara turned to look in the direction of Sarah's gesture. He met her face briefly, but he turned to walk away. He'd had every intention of facing her, but Sarah had already said everything on his mind.
"Just so you're aware, whatever your Kook name might be, she just recently ghosted her boyfriend of two years." He heard her drop the bomb.
"Sarah!"
He threw his corn in the garbage, no longer hungry, and trudged into the hotel, swiping his card to get into the lobby, which he was grateful for. She wouldn't be able to follow him. When he finally got into the room, he spied the blunts he'd rolled earlier when he was trying to teach Sarah the art.
They were to leave tomorrow morning. Might as well get a head start on smoking the weed they'd bought at the dispensary. He took a step out onto their balcony and sparked up to the setting sun, letting the tears roll freely down his face.
What the fuck.
What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?
"Jayj?" He heard a voice call, muffled through the sliding door. He knocked on the window, signaling his location. She stepped out onto the balcony, closing the door behind her, and taking a seat beside him on the wicker couch. The cushions sank in when she sat down. They sat in silence, and he passed her the blunt. They watched the sky burst with orange and yellows and golds.
"We have better sunrises, but the sunsets here knock it outta the park." He finally broke the silence, although his voice cracked.
"I know that you probably don't wanna talk about it, but-" She started, but he shook his head, and cut her off.
"Nah, fuck that. I'm mad, I'm upset, my chest hurts." He told her, voice shaking. "She fucked me over, took my feelings and shat all over them like they meant nothing. I have never tried so hard at anything in my entire life. I put so much effort into being a better guy and I tried so damn hard to listen and be a good boyfriend." His face was read and streaked with tears. He leaned over and put his head in his hands, and though she couldn't hear him, she watched as his shoulders shook with sobs.
"C'mere." She told him, grabbing his shoulders, and pulling him towards her. His large frame collapsed against her, and she placed a pillow on her lap so he could rest his head. He cried, softly, but he allowed himself to cry in her presence. Something he has only ever done with John B.
"Both my parents left me, I lost Big John, and once I thought we lost you and JB." He told her. "This ranks pretty damn far up on the ladder of shit that hurts."
His phone vibrated.
How did the recon mission go?
It was John B. He threw his phone at the ground, and Sarah winced, thanking the universe for the fact that he had a JJ-proof case on it.
"My bad." He said.
"For what?" She asked him, running her fingers through his hair.
"I felt you tense up, didn't mean to scare ya." He told her. She pursed her lips.
"You're like the last on my list of people I'd think would ever hurt me." She told him, laughing.
He sat up, now that the sunset had gone away. The sky was purple.
"Can we go do something?" He asked her.
"Like what?"
"Not be here to think about how the love of my life ghosted me for some knock-off obx life with a kook to go be everything she's not." He told her, standing. "We got a beach, and a million places to explore before the sun comes up. Let's hop too, Sar." He picked his phone up off the ground. "This case is the shit."
Went bad.
He sent his response to his brother, deciding to follow through on his promise to himself to be a good guy. No reason to shit on Kie and then do the same damn thing.
"Do I need to chain you to my side?" She asked him. He frowned.
"I'm not gonna run away." He huffed, looking out at the masses of people. "But I've never been to California, and I got some spiffy new threads and I can hear the club's music from a mile away."
"We're don't have the right outfits." She guffawed. "These places have dress codes."
"Sarah, have you met me?" He grinned, and she grinned back.
"Fuck it, let's go."
After Sarah went to go change into a more practical clubbing outfit, an iridescent strapless black dress and platform sandals, she called John B.
He whistled when he answered the phone.
Damn, Sar, look at you. My beautiful girlfriend.
"Gag." JJ spoke, grabbing a water from the fridge.
Don't be jealous, J.
"My bad." He spoke. "What's up, bro?"
What does bad mean?
"It means bad."
"She was hanging all over some west coast kook." Sarah spat, cursing as she tried to roll a blunt.
"You're going too wide, the round part needs to fold totally over the front." He pointed. "Use your pinky to press down and roll over." He looked up at the phone. "She was dressed like a kook too, totally not Kie."
Did you talk to her?
"Sarah did all the talking for me." He grinned, looking down at the blonde. They grinned at each other.
Holy same smile, you guys have been hanging out too long. John B laughed. Where are you two going now, then?
"Clubbing!" She squealed. John B laughed again.
The two of you look out for each other please.
"P4L, 'cause we still know what that means." She scoffed.
John B and JJ stayed silent, but JJ nodded his head in agreement. "I'm gonna be on my best behavior, and Sarah is also gonna be on hers."
Somehow, I highly doubt that, but I know you'll keep each other safe.
"Bree, I love you, but this fat wad is calling the bouncers name." He waved a band in front of the camera.
"JJ, we are not giving the bouncer a thousand dollars. A C-note will work perfectly fine." Sarah scolded, ripping the money from his hands and giving him three hundred. "And that's why I'm the one who came with you, to keep your impulsive ass in check."
John B pursed his lips, but said nothing more on the subject. Love you guys.
"Love you Bree!" "Love you pookie!" The two chorused, before hanging up.
"Pookie?" He teased.
She hit him on the chest. "Shut up, and let's go, I'm ready to go dance this trip away."