Strawberry Sunscreen - JJ Maybank - Outer Banks

Chapter 40 - My Druthers || Part 1

Elizabeth sat back in her chair, her eyes trailing across the pages of the book she was reading. She looked up towards JJ, who had been leaning over his surfboard and running wax along one side of it. Pope had been doing some cleaning in the shed while Kiara sat strumming her ukelele.

JJ eyed Elizabeth, a smirk growing on his face as he caught her watching him. "You wanna help?" He asked her. Elizabeth shrugged, folding the top edge of her book inwards to save the page before leaning forward onto her feet and stepping towards the board. He handed her the wax, which felt weird in her grasp. She wasn't too familiar with surfing, so everything about it was new to her.

She leaned in front of him, mimicking the boy's actions as she pressed the wax onto the board in an undulating manner. He leaned over from behind her, smirking as he watched her move. The boy reached over her, placing his hand over hers. "You have to push down a little more," he said as he applied a slight amount of pressure onto her hand and the wax. He placed his hand on her bare skin at her waist left exposed by her crop, steadying himself over her. Her breath stuttered as his thumb traced along her side, leaving a cool trail as he removed his touch. She turned to look at the boy, who was inches away from her already, smirking. She adored that smirk more than anything.

The boy didn't really need her help. He could have finished with the board easily. But he had gotten a sudden urge, longing for her touch, and he needed to satisfy it.

JJ leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on the girl's lips. Had Kiara and Pope not been around, maybe it would have been longer.

Elizabeth stood up straight, passing the wax back to JJ. He took it from her, and began waxing the board once again, the girl leaning on the table as he spoke. "If you don't apply enough pressure, it won't stick well," he explained.

"Makes sense," Elizabeth mumbled as she watched.

Pope looked up from his cleaning and watched as JJ continued to apply more wax. "That's a lot of wax on your board. Put too much wax, it's gonna be slippery."

JJ raised his eyebrows as he turned to look at the boy, his entire demeanor changing. "Are you telling me how to wax my board?"

"Just saying that's a lot of wax," Pope continued, increasing JJ's disbelief.

JJ scoffed at him, "You're telling me how to wax my board. Are you kidding me?" Elizabeth and Kiara both shared an 'are you serious' look as they watched the boys argue over nothing.

"That's a colossal waste of wax," Pope continued.

Kiara spoke up first, "Guys, really?"

The potential argument was spared by the sound of a horn coming closer and closer to the shed.

"Did you hear that?" JJ asked his friends, who all stopped speaking and listened out for the sound. The car continued to honk, sounding as if it was right outside of the house. Elizabeth smiled as she saw John B's car pull up in front of the shed, with none other than John B in the driver's seat. He got out with a huge smile on his face.

"Either I'm dreaming or John B escaped jail," Elizabeth stated, chorusing with the others who explained their disbelief.

"Guess who's out of the clink, boy!" John B yelled as he walked towards them, his friends all rushing forward to hug him. Kiara embraced the boy first, followed by the others who engaged in a group hug.

"We missed you," stated Kiara while in the hug.

"I missed you guys too," John B stated, eyeing his friends.

When they all stepped away from each other, JJ couldn't help but ask, "How'd you do it? You bust out?"

John B chuckled, "Uh, they dropped the charges."