john b and sarah sat on the porch flirting with eachother endlessly. "do you guys ever stop?" jj asks. "shut up jj, you're just jealous that meilani haywood isn't in love with you yet." pope says. "shut it pope, go find the guts to ask kiara to be your girl already." kiara laughs at jjs statement and hugs pope. "it's okay you'll do it someday" she teases. "has anyone seen lani since last night?" sarah asks. "rafe probably has" jj scoffs. everyone disregards jjs selfish comment. "i went to see her this morning and her dad said she left a couple hours ago to go to chapel hill" john b states. "hold on a second, she went to chapel hill on her own?" kiara says. "yeah, mr. haywood said she needed to go to her special place." no one knew what meilanis special place was or why it was so special but all they knew was that when she went there she was either really upset or had a random burst of adventure. in this case the group opted for the first option. "jj what have you done."

-

-

-

-

meilani wandered the streets of chapel hill until she reached two large gates. she opened one of them and slipped onto the otherside. she sat on the grass and began to talk. "hey mom, it's been awhile." meilani looks at the gravestone, tears welling in her eyes.

when meilani arrives back to the outerbanks, jj is waiting for her at the dock. she completely disregards him and walks past him. "mei, please" he calls after her. she stops in her tracks and turns back to face him. "what do you want?" she asks bluntly. "i want to apologise".

the pair sit on the dock, silence surrounding them. "why rafe?" he asks. "because he showed me how much he changed and how much he cared about me." jj was taken aback by her answer but didn't give it much thought. "i'm sorry mei. i didn't mean what i said. i know rafe is different know, if he proved to my best friend he cares then i'm okay with it." the words 'best friend' stung meilani. she was deep in the friendzone with jj and didn't like it at all.

jj admired meilanis face as she was deep in thought. he thought about how much he'd love to just kiss her but the 'no pogue-on-pogue macking rule rang in his mind. why did he have to be the one who came up with that?

-

-

-

the group was out on the boat yet again. meilani on jjs lap, kiara sitting next to pope messing with him, and sarah and john b up driving the boat, well john b trying to anyways. "hey look at the braid i just did!" jj said excitedly. he showed meilani and she giggled. "an a for effort and maybe a c- for the actual braid." "hey i thought it was my best work so far!"

the group dock in the marsh and all strip down to go swimming. "oi jj, close your mouth you've got a bit of drool" kiara mocks him for looking at meilani so intently. "got a staring problem bub?" meilani asks. jj rolls his eyes and pulls the girl into the water.

after a long day of swimming, the group sit in the van. meilani lights a blunt and takes a pull, blowing the smoke into jjs face. "oh you're definitely going to pay for that." meilani shrugs and takes another pull before passing it to kiara.

-

-

-

-

meilani arrives home to an empty house, jj following in tow. both of them were high as shit but it wasn't unusual to them. the girl begins stripping down to her underwear and climbs into bed. "you're really going to have to stop staring at me like that" meilani says once she's comfortable. "or what? you gonna kiss me?" jj smirks. "don't you try and dare me you know i always win." "i dare you to kiss me haywood." meilani never forfeits a dare, comes with her daredevil lifestyle. she's never been one to give up. it's a meaningless kiss, it's fine, she thought. she motions jj towards the bed and leans up. she pecks his lips and as she's about to pull out jj pulls her back in. no way was he letting her get away that easy. after a few minutes, they separate.

"goodnight jj"

"goodnight lani"